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by livingdharmanow in Attachment, Dharma
The klesas. Also known as the afflictive emotions, the three poisons, the defilements. Out of ten total klesas, three in particular are regarded as the “roots” of suffering.
These three poisons are: greed/desire, hatred/anger, and delusion/ignorance.
Buddhism believes that these unhealthy emotions are what keep us trapped in the wheel of samsara, the cycle of human existence which is destined to repeat itself unless we can break out by becoming enlightened.
Ignorance
Ignorance and delusion are considered to be the starting point for the other poisons.
Ignorance does not, in this case, indicate an innocent inability to perceive the truth, but instead an active denial of what is true.
In the Buddhist philosophy, ignorance is a denial to see the world as it is: as impermanent and interdependent. It means that someone doesn’t understand the causes of suffering and how to make it cease, and it means that an individual thinks of him or herself as belonging separate from the rest of the world, instead of being a part of it.
Not recognizing ourselves as being part of the same chain of life, or understanding the impact that our actions have on those around us, cause us to perpetuate suffering in ourselves and others.
Consider this example:
One man thinks of himself as being different from the rest of humanity. His sense of self leads to an inflated ego and a drive to succeed where he is not ashamed of stepping on other people in order to get what he wants. He ignores the connections to other people who have helped him, and instead claims to be a “self-made man.”
He makes it big, and becomes rich, but it never seems to be enough. He’s constantly desiring new things, even though he has more than enough to live comfortably. His grasping nature takes over, and he continues the cycle of abusing others to get what he thinks he wants, even though he becomes dissatisfied very quickly after obtaining something he thought he once coveted.
He doesn’t understand the impact he makes on others, and his inability to recognize the impermanence of all things means that if he loses his fortune, or becomes very ill and close to death, it will be difficult for him to come to terms with the fact that he is no longer the person he’s identified himself as.
The truth is, we’ll never be youthful forever, and our lives are constantly changing. Nothing is truly guaranteed. Remaining attached to what we have despite these truths means that, if/when we lose things, we are left very unhappy.
Ignorance, the beginning of these three poisons, means that we don’t acknowledge or accept these truths, even when they’re given to us.
By accepting the truths of impermanence and interdependence, we can take steps to avoid and manage our future suffering.
Parts 2 and 3 coming soon!
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Mr Furze, 30, displayed his modified his scooter, with an anti-tailgating flame thrower operated by the flick of switch, in the press earlier this week.
But Lincolnshire Police spotted the pictures of Mr Furze allegedly riding his scooter on a public highway – and arrested him on Thursday.
He was held on suspicion of possessing an object converted into a firearm, and was released on unconditional police bail without charge until May 6 pending further police investigation.
Possession of a firearm carries a maximum prison sentence of five to seven years at Crown Court.
Speaking before his arrest, he said: ''Everybody wants a flame thrower on a motor bike.
''I don't need a flame thrower on the back of my bike, I'm not going to set fire to people's car's, it's just something interesting to do.''
The scooter, which was built before Christmas, was Mr Furze's third attempt at the project after the first did not ignite and the second burst into flames.
A Lincolnshire Police spokesman said: ''A man was arrested on suspicion of possessing an object converted to a firearm on Thursday. He was released on unconditional bail.'' |
In the midst of the current, often burning, upheaval in Kashmir, it would be instructive to recall the last crisis of similar though not identical magnitude. Late one evening in the last week of December 1963, newspaper offices in Delhi received telegrams from their Srinagar correspondents (that was the fastest means of communication then) stating that a holy relic, much revered by the Kashmiri people, had disappeared from the Hazratbal shrine causing widespread resentment and anger.
The gravity of the situation sunk in, however, only the next day when reports came in that, despite the bitter cold and heavy snowfall, huge crowds from all over were converging on Hazratbal. I took the first available plane to Kashmir's capital. The entire Delhi-based foreign press corps was on the same flight. Only after reaching Srinagar did the intensity of the popular outrage hit us. The reason was obvious. The vanished holy relic according to the state government, it was "found missing" was a single hair of the Prophet's beard that Kashmiris had venerated generation after generation. They called it moo-e-muqqadas (sacred hair). Their fury was boundless. Even in normal times they could have its deedar (which means the same thing as darshan) only on fixed days in the year and that too, for a short time. Now they wept and wailed, fearing that they had lost the blessing forever, and cursed whoever they thought was behind the sacrilege. Some alleged that someone had stolen the relic, if not to destroy it, then at least to insult the Prophet of Islam. Hundreds of thousands of mourners who surrounded the Hazratbal shrine were absolutely inconsolable and refused to move away from there, as days passed without any trace of the missing relic. They greeted the state government's reassuring noises with contempt.
Mercifully, there was no violence even though the prevalent rage was unmistakable and the situation was becoming more menacing with the passage of time.
What compounded the situation was that the state government, to say nothing of the administration, was at that time in a shambles. Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed, Kashmir's iron-fisted chief minister for a decade, had had to leave under the Kamaraj Plan some four months earlier. He had seen to it, however, that no one with political weight succeeded him. The man he chose for the job was a virtual non-entity named Shamsuddin. The people nicknamed him "Chamchuddin", a play on the word chamcha that in Indian political lore means a sycophant.
The consequences of this state of affairs became manifest on the day when it looked that the sleepless, tired and angry crowds were on the verge of losing patience. Noor Mohammed, deputy commissioner of Srinagar, panicked that the situation would spin out of control. It did seem as if the whole Valley was hanging by a slender thread. He approached the nearest brigade commander and asked him to "take over". The brigadier replied that he would surely do his duty but he must have the request in writing. "Agar likh kar dena hai," said Noor Mohammed who later became chief secretary of Jammu and Kashmir, "toh mein Bakshi Sahib se poochch aaoon" (If this has be to be given in writing, then let me consult Bakshi Sahib"). The Bakshi, let it be repeated, held no official position in the state at that time!
At the very beginning of the crisis, New Delhi had sent to Srinagar a team of very competent officers headed by Home Secretary V. Vishwanathan. Its brief was to watch the situation, advise the state government only when necessary and otherwise refrain from interfering with it. Briskly and tirelessly busy entirely on his own was the intelligence czar of that era, B. N. Mullik. Luckily, on the day when the situation looked like it was blowing up, Mullik was able to announce that the holy relic had been recovered, a caretaker at Hazratbal had been arrested and, therefore, everybody could thank God and happily go home.
If he thought that he would be applauded as a hero, he was mistaken. Those who had by then assumed the leadership of the angry crowds were sceptical. The wily government must have crafted a copy of their cherished relic to hoodwink the people, they said. What the IB chief had brought must be properly verified as genuine. Shanakht (verification) was their buzzword and within minutes, it became the slogan of the masses. At this stage, Vishwanathan intervened and refused the demand. Renewed tension mounted fast.
In New Delhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, though in indifferent health in January 1964, was monitoring the situation minutely. Immediately, he sent his chief troubleshooter Lal Bahadur Shastri to Srinagar. With tremendous patience and skill Shastri negotiated with the votaries of verification and persuaded them not to insist on shanakht but told them that a "special deedar" was perfectly in order. However, the process was so arranged as to be acceptable to both sides.
At the appointed time, the crowds around Hazratbal were mammoth but disciplined. There was a hush. Maulvi Saeed Masoodi, a respected leader, took the microphone and asked the enormous audience: "Is there anyone among you who knows moo-e-muqqadas better than Miran Shah Sahib"? There was total silence. Miran Shah then came forward and held the recovered holy relic before his eyes for a full minute. The suspense during these 60 seconds would have surprised even Hitchcock. Then he bowed his head and said a low but clear voice, "it is moo-e-muqqadas". Wild cheers greeted him. The crisis was resolved but not the underlying issue.
For months, crowds went on agitating: "Asli mujrim ko paish karo" (present the real culprit). Almost everyone knew that the imprisoned Hazratbal caretaker was a mere scapegoat. Also it was believed then and confirmed later that there was nothing ulterior behind what was planned to be a temporary and harmless removal of the holy relic. Apparently, a terminally ill lady in the Bakshi family wanted to have its deedar before dying. Unfortunately, its absence was noticed almost immediately. In his three-volume account of his years with Nehru, however, Mullik blandly states: "The Holy Relic's recovery was an intelligence operation, never to be disclosed".
The writer is a Delhi-based political commentator
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I have just realised that I have never gave a mention to “my partner in crime” in the kitchen..SO without any further ado I would like to introduce Henry , my beautiful Kitchen Aid.
Without Henry my baking life would be absolutely dismal. He’s just six months old now and so well trained. He knows just how I like my cakes mixed and gets my egg whites thick & shiny in no time at all. He really is my right hand in the kitchen but most unfortunately this is one of the rare times that I don’t need him, not for this particular recipe. This recipe calls for Bert his poor cousin the food processor who rarely get’s a look in since Henry joined our Crew.
My brother lives in Boston and I am always pestering him for “American Family Recipes”. His friend from Alabama kindly sent me this particular one, her Mawmaw’s (her Grandma’s) “Chocolate Orange Ring Cake” and in big letters it states MUST BE MADE IN A FOOD PROCESSOR.. I have absolutely know idea why.. but who am I to argue with the expertise of a “Southern Belle”– so Henry is in the corner sulking like most men do when they don’t get their own way!
I adapted the recipe a wee bit, because some of the ingredients like corn syrup wouldn’t be readily available in Irish supermarkets, though you can get a very wide range of American ingredients in Fallon & Byrne in Dublin. I also cut back on the sugar, there was way too much. My teeth felt funny just thinking about it. I’m sure this could be made in a big cake pan or bundt tin, but it said a ring cake tin and it just so happens I have a ring cake tin.. Collecting Cake Tins is one of my hobbies (problems) that and cook books!!.
All in all the Chocolate Orange Ring Cake is an easy recipe, there’s just quite a lot of it. This is a generous cake , it will give you 16 slices !! When I think of orange and chocolate I always think Jaffa Cake so I put my on twist on it by using a few Jaffa cakes in the base and the topping. I also put in a tablespoon of orange liqueur only because I happen to have some left over.
No liqueur, just use orange extract
I layered up the batters in the tin like the recipe said and finished off with a layer of chopped up Jaffa cakes. When the cake is turned out these will end up on the bottom, it gives the cake a bit of crunch. I used baking spray to grease up the tin, I find this much easier then brushing all the corners with melted butter.
“Bert” is a small food processor so it was quite awkward using the food processor for such a large amount of batter. It bakes in a moderately hot oven for 55 mins…While it was baking I went ahead with the crowning glory the beautiful shiny “Chocolate Butter Ganache”. I really like this type of ganache. I usually make mine with cream, but this was made with butter & water and it worked perfectly for pouring on top. Will definitely use this ganache again, it really is the biz for when you just need a quick but delicious cake topping. I finished the top off with chopped up Jaffa Cakes.
Print Chocolate Orange "JAFFA" Ring Cake Prep Time: 20 minutes Cook Time: 55 minutes Total Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes Yield: 16 slices Ingredients 60g white chocolate or white chocolate chips
60g dark chocolate or dark chocolate chips
290g unsalted butter, room temperature
380g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
4 eggs
300g caster sugar
250ml buttermilk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 tsp finely grated orange zest & 1 tsp orange extract
1 pkt Jaffa Cakes Chocolate Ganache: 80g dark chocolate
40g unsalted butter
1 tbsp. water Instructions Preheat oven to 180C. Spray your ring tin with Baking Spray and dust with flour
Melt Dark chocolate with 20g of the softened butter & stir until smooth. Do the same with the white chocolate. Leave to cool.
Place flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a food processor. Whiz together until well mixed and transfer to a bowl.
Beat the eggs together and empty into bowl with the salt and sugar into the processor and whiz for 1 minute. Add remaining 250g of butter to the egg mixture and process for 1 minute. Pour in buttermilk and vanilla and whiz for 10 seconds. Tip in flour mixture and pulse a few times until batter is just combined.
Transfer half the batter to a bowl and stir in the white chocolate. Add dark chocolate mixture and orange zest, extract to the batter in the processor and blend it in quickly until just combined...
Chop up the Jaffa cakes and leave to the side.
Spread half the white chocolate batter into the bottom of the ring tin. Dollop half the dark chocolate batter on top in an even layer. Repeat the layers with remaining batter. Drag a skewer right through the batter and swirl through gently. This will give a swirly effect when the cake is baked.
Scatter ½ the chopped Jaffa cakes over the top. Pressing them down gently into batter
Bake for 55 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Cool the cake in the tin for 10/15 minutes, and then carefully loosen the edges of the cake and invert onto a rack to cool completely
Meanwhile, make ganache by melting the ingredients in a pot over a low heat until melted and smooth. Leave to cool slightly
Pour the ganache over the cake and let it set. Decorate with the rest of the chopped up Jaffa Cakes. 5.0 http://irishbakingadventures.com/henry-my-partner-in-crime-a-chocolate-orange-jaffa-ring-cake/ Please note these recipes are my own and copy righted to http://irishbakingadventures.com/
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Granados and the second or maternal family name is Campiña. This name uses Spanish naming customs : the first or paternal family name isand the second or maternal family name is
Enrique Granados Campiña
Enrique Granados Campiña (27 July 1867 – 24 March 1916) was a Spanish pianist and composer of classical music.[1] His music is in a uniquely Spanish style and, as such, is representative of musical nationalism.
Life [ edit ]
Enrique Granados Campiña was born in Lleida, Spain, the son of Calixto Granados, a Spanish army captain, and Enriqueta Campiña. As a young man he studied piano in Barcelona, where his teachers included Francisco Jurnet and Joan Baptista Pujol. In 1887 he went to Paris to study. He was unable to become a student at the Paris Conservatoire, but he was able to take private lessons with a conservatoire professor, Charles-Wilfrid de Bériot, whose mother, the soprano Maria Malibran, was of Spanish ancestry. Bériot insisted on extreme refinement in tone production, which strongly influenced Granados’s own teaching of pedal technique. He also fostered Granados's abilities in improvisation.[2] Just as important were his studies with Felip Pedrell. He returned to Barcelona in 1889. His first successes were at the end of the 1890s, with the opera María del Carmen, which attracted the attention of King Alfonso XIII.
In 1911 Granados premiered his suite for piano Goyescas, which became his most famous work. It is a set of six pieces based on paintings of Francisco Goya. Such was the success of this work that he was encouraged to expand it. He wrote an opera based on the subject in 1914, but the outbreak of World War I forced the European premiere to be canceled. It was performed for the first time in New York City on 28 January 1916, and was very well received. Shortly afterwards, he was invited to perform a piano recital for President Woodrow Wilson. Prior to leaving New York, Granados also made live-recorded player piano music rolls for the New-York-based Aeolian Company's "Duo-Art" system, all of which survive today and can be heard – his very last recordings.
The delay incurred by accepting the recital invitation caused him to miss his boat back to Spain. Instead, he took a ship to England, where he boarded the passenger ferry SS Sussex for Dieppe, France. On the way across the English Channel, the Sussex was torpedoed by a German U-boat, as part of the German World War I policy of unrestricted submarine warfare. In a failed attempt to save his wife Amparo, whom he saw flailing about in the water some distance away, Granados jumped out of his lifeboat and drowned. However, the ship broke in two parts and only one sank (along with 80 passengers). Ironically, the part of the ship that contained his cabin did not sink and was towed to port, with most of the passengers, except for Granados and his wife, on board. Granados and his wife left six children: Eduard (a musician), Solita, Enrique (a swimming champion), Víctor, Natalia, and Francisco.
The personal papers of Enrique Granados are preserved in, among other institutions, the National Library of Catalonia.
Music and influence [ edit ]
Granados wrote piano music, chamber music (a piano quintet, a piano trio, music for violin and piano), songs, zarzuelas, and an orchestral tone poem based on Dante's Divine Comedy. Many of his piano compositions have been transcribed for the classical guitar: examples include Dedicatoria, Danza No. 5, Goyescas.
His music can be divided into basically three styles or periods:
A romantic style including such pieces as Escenas Románticas and Escenas Poeticas. A more typically nationalist, Spanish style including such pieces as Danzas Españolas (Spanish Dances), 6 Piezas sobre cantos populares españoles (Six Pieces based on popular Spanish songs). The Goya (Goyesca) period, which includes the piano suite Goyescas, the opera Goyescas, various Tonadillas for voice and piano, and other works.
Granados was an important influence on at least two other important Spanish composers and musicians, Manuel de Falla and Pablo Casals. He was also the teacher of composer Rosa García Ascot.
Some important works [ edit ]
12 danzas españolas (1890) for piano; Op. 31, H. 142, DLR 1:2. The contents of the four volumes are: Vol. 1: Galante (or Minueto), Oriental, Fandango (or Zarabanda); Vol. 2: Villanesca; Andaluza (or Playera); Rondalla aragonesa (or Jota); Vol. 3: Valenciana; Sardana (or Asturiana); Romántica (or Mazurca); Vol. 4: Melancólica (or Danza Triste); Zambra; Arabesca.
(1890) for piano; Op. 31, H. 142, DLR 1:2. The contents of the four volumes are: Vol. 1: Galante (or Minueto), Oriental, Fandango (or Zarabanda); Vol. 2: Villanesca; Andaluza (or Playera); Rondalla aragonesa (or Jota); Vol. 3: Valenciana; Sardana (or Asturiana); Romántica (or Mazurca); Vol. 4: Melancólica (or Danza Triste); Zambra; Arabesca. María del Carmen (1898), opera
(1898), opera Allegro de concierto (1903)
(1903) Escenas románticas (1903) for piano. The individual "scenes" are: Mazurca; Berceuse; Allegretto; Mazurka; Allegro appassionato; Epílogo
(1903) for piano. The individual "scenes" are: Mazurca; Berceuse; Allegretto; Mazurka; Allegro appassionato; Epílogo Dante (1908), symphonic poem
(1908), symphonic poem Tonadillas al estilo antiguo, H136 (1910) for voice and piano, settings of a group of poems by Fernando Periquet. Titles of individual songs in the collection are: 1.Amor y odio; 2.Callejeo; 3.El majo discreto; 4.El majo olvidado; 5.El majo tímido; 6.El mirar de la maja; 7.El tra-la-la y el punteado; 8.La maja de Goya; 9.La maja dolorosa I (Oh muerte cruel!), II (Ay majo de mi vida!), y III (De aquel majo amante); 10.La currutacas modestas (duet).
(1910) for voice and piano, settings of a group of poems by Fernando Periquet. Titles of individual songs in the collection are: 1.Amor y odio; 2.Callejeo; 3.El majo discreto; 4.El majo olvidado; 5.El majo tímido; 6.El mirar de la maja; 7.El tra-la-la y el punteado; 8.La maja de Goya; 9.La maja dolorosa I (Oh muerte cruel!), II (Ay majo de mi vida!), y III (De aquel majo amante); 10.La currutacas modestas (duet). Canciones españolas for voice and piano. Titles of individual songs in the collection (perhaps in the right order) are: Yo no tengo quien me llore; Cantar I; Por una mirada, un mundo; Si al retiro me llevas...; Canción; Serenata; Canto gitano.
for voice and piano. Titles of individual songs in the collection (perhaps in the right order) are: Yo no tengo quien me llore; Cantar I; Por una mirada, un mundo; Si al retiro me llevas...; Canción; Serenata; Canto gitano. Cançons catalanas for voice and piano. Titles of individual songs in the collection (perhaps in the right order) are: L'ocell profeta; Elegía eterna; Cançó de Gener; Cançó d'amor; Cançoneta; La boira.
for voice and piano. Titles of individual songs in the collection (perhaps in the right order) are: L'ocell profeta; Elegía eterna; Cançó de Gener; Cançó d'amor; Cançoneta; La boira. Goyescas (1911), suite for piano, subtitled "Los majos enamorados". It consists of 6 pieces in 2 books. Movements are: Book 1: Los requiebros; Coloquio en la reja; El fandango de candil; Quejas o La maja y el ruiseñor; Book 2: El amor y la muerte; Epílogo (Serenata del espectro). El pelele, although not published as part of the Goyescas, is usually appended to it. In performance it is played as the seventh and last piece. It is based on the music of the opening scene of the opera Goyescas, in which a "pelele" is being tossed in the air by the "majas."
(1911), suite for piano, subtitled "Los majos enamorados". It consists of 6 pieces in 2 books. Movements are: Book 1: Los requiebros; Coloquio en la reja; El fandango de candil; Quejas o La maja y el ruiseñor; Book 2: El amor y la muerte; Epílogo (Serenata del espectro). El pelele, although not published as part of the Goyescas, is usually appended to it. In performance it is played as the seventh and last piece. It is based on the music of the opening scene of the opera Goyescas, in which a "pelele" is being tossed in the air by the "majas." Bocetos (1912) which contains: Despertar del cazador; El hada y el niño; Vals muy lento; La campana de la tarde
(1912) which contains: Despertar del cazador; El hada y el niño; Vals muy lento; La campana de la tarde Colección de canciones amatorias (1915) for voice and piano. Titles of individual songs in the collection are: Descúbrase el pensamiento de mi secreto cuidado; Mañanica era; Llorad, corazón, que tenéis razón 'Lloraba la niña'; Mira que soy niña; Iban al pinar 'Serranas de Cuenca'; Gracia mía.
(1915) for voice and piano. Titles of individual songs in the collection are: Descúbrase el pensamiento de mi secreto cuidado; Mañanica era; Llorad, corazón, que tenéis razón 'Lloraba la niña'; Mira que soy niña; Iban al pinar 'Serranas de Cuenca'; Gracia mía. Goyescas , opera, 1916
, opera, 1916 6 Estudios expresivos
6 Piezas sobre cantos populares españoles , which include: Añoranza; Ecos de la parranda; Vascongada; Marcha oriental; Zambra; Zapateado
, which include: Añoranza; Ecos de la parranda; Vascongada; Marcha oriental; Zambra; Zapateado Madrigal , for cello and piano
, for cello and piano 8 Valses Poéticos , for piano, including No 6 Vals Poético
, for piano, including No 6 Trío , for piano, violin, and cello
, for piano, violin, and cello Military March, for piano, Op.38
Media [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
Notes [ edit ]
Sources and further reading [ edit ] |
According to Harvard Law School Professor Jeannie Suk, she and her colleagues have been pressured by students to avoid writing exam questions involving sexual violence or even teaching about the law regarding sexual violence in order to protect students from potential distress.
Like the students arguing they are too traumatized by recent grand jury decisions to complete their final exams, Suk’s account, published in The New Yorker yesterday, is a perverse result of a culture in which intellectual and emotional comfort is prioritized over the core functions of a university. Suk writes about student demands, many of which defy logic and common sense:
Student organizations representing women’s interests now routinely advise students that they should not feel pressured to attend or participate in class sessions that focus on the law of sexual violence, and which might therefore be traumatic. … Individual students often ask teachers not to include the law of rape on exams for fear that the material would cause them to perform less well. … Some students have even suggested that rape law should not be taught because of its potential to cause distress.
Suk aptly compares the situation to one in which a medical student training to be a surgeon cannot handle the sight of blood. Being a competent lawyer requires knowledge of a range of legal topics, which is why law school is designed to ensure students are familiar with basic areas of law—torts, criminal law, Constitutional law, contracts, property, and civil procedure. Regardless of the narrowness of one’s law practice, there’s a reason that becoming a licensed attorney requires a basic knowledge of these areas: legal matters frequently touch on more than one of them.
It’s true that rape is not an easy topic of discussion, like many of the topics included in criminal law classes. Crime is exceedingly unpleasant (my first week of law school was spent reading about murdered babies), and this will never change. It defies reason to exempt discussions of rape, perhaps the second-most serious crime (after murder), from what is intended to be a meaningful survey of the law.
Suk offers another example of the kind of nonsensical requests students are making:
One teacher I know was recently asked by a student not to use the word “violate” in class—as in “Does this conduct violate the law?”—because the word was triggering.
The study of law relies on precision and consistency of language, reflected in our nation’s (and Great Britain’s) rich history of hundreds of years of written court decisions, statutes, and other legal documents. Law schools cannot simply drop words from their vocabularies because of other contexts in which they might be used.
Suk describes the effect these pressures are having on her colleagues:
About a dozen new teachers of criminal law at multiple institutions have told me that they are not including rape law in their courses, arguing that it’s not worth the risk of complaints of discomfort by students. Even seasoned teachers of criminal law, at law schools across the country, have confided that they are seriously considering dropping rape law and other topics related to sex and gender violence. Both men and women teachers seem frightened of discussion, because they are afraid of injuring others or being injured themselves.
It is profoundly troubling that faculty at institutions of higher education—supposedly “elite” schools, no less!—would be forced even to consider not teaching such a critically important subject at the behest of those insisting on emotional comfort. As Suk argues, “If the topic of sexual assault were to leave the law-school classroom, it would be a tremendous loss—above all to victims of sexual assault.” It should go without saying that solving a problem requires talking about it, learning about its history, and—where they exist—discussing the surrounding legal issues. Is the point of law school to make future lawyers feel comfortable, or is it to enable them to be zealous advocates for their clients, who may include victims of rape and other crimes?
If providing students with the knowledge and skills to become excellent lawyers is no longer to be prioritized over comfort, future generations of lawyers may be spared the emotional discomfort that comes with learning about Korematsu v. United States (1944) or Plessy v. Ferguson (1896). Of course, they also won’t be able to recognize the signs if history is about to repeat itself.
Read the rest of Suk’s piece in The New Yorker. |
Press Information Bureau
Government of India
Ministry of Defence
09-September-2015 17:03 IST
Defence Minister Commissions INS Vajrakosh at Karwar
The DefenceMinister Shri Manohar Parrikar, commissioned INS ‘Vajrakosh’, the latest establishment of the Indian Navy today at Karwar, Karnataka.
Karwar is poised to emerge as the Indian Navy’s premier base on the Western seaboard in the not too distant future. Some of the vital naval assets are planned to be based there. Naval units operating out of Karwar are required to be equipped with specialised armaments and missiles. These sophisticated missiles and ammunition require special storage facility and specialised servicing facilities. INS Vajrakosh will have all the required infrastructure and is manned by specialists to meet these requirements..
The rain-soaked commissioning ceremony earlier in the day was marked by traditional naval parade with precision. Captain Arvind Chari, Commanding Officer, read out the Commissioning Warrant and the Naval ensign was hoisted while the Naval band played the National Anthem.
Speaking on the occasion, Shri Parrikar emphasized the importance of a strong and modern navy for a maritime nation like India. He said Navy helps in maintaining peaceful, stable and orderly environment for socio economic growth and national development.
Commissioning of INS Vajrakosh has marked the successful completion of a complex and modern project.The Minister exhorted the crew to ensure that the ‘missiles in Vajrakosh remain ever ready for operational deployment’. He expressed confidence that maritime security of our nation is in capable hands and each ship, aircraft and naval personnel stands tall and ready to protect our nation. He added that it is the task of naval personnel to protect the nation from the enemy and It is our task to ensure that the interest of all those in the armed forces are taken care of.
Speaking on the occasion, Admiral RK Dhowan, Chief of the Naval Staff, noted that Karwaris poised to emerge as the Indian Navy’s most significant base on the Western seaboard in the near future. This Naval establishment has some of the most significant naval assets already in service or being inducted. With the ongoing expansion of the Indian Navy, there has been increase in the number of ships, submarines and aircraft equipped with specialized armament and missiles. These need to be stowed and maintained in the best possible manner throughout their service life.The CNS complimented the crew of INS Vajrakosh, and exhorted them to do their best in performing their technically challenging task.
The commissioning of INS Vajrakosh, the third naval establishment commissioned in Karwar, will allow the Indian Navy to further bolster the offensive and defensive capabilities of its platforms.
Shri Parrikar was taken on a whirlwind tour of the massive complex spread across hundreds of acres of land and was briefed on the future expansion plans including the proposed naval air station and housing complex.
He was also given a demonstration of the modern ship- lift facility for refits and repairs of warships.
On the sidelines of the event, Shri Parrikar also felicitated the fishermen who were instrumental in saving the unconscious pilot of Dornier (DO 240) aircraft which had crashed off Goa on 24 Mar 15. Cdr NikhilJoshi, the lone survivor of the unfortunate accident, is alive today because of the alacrity and the timely help extended by the fishermen community that night.
SK/DKS/RS/SDR/CKP 63/2015 |
Gone are the days when international openings for graduates of Indian B-schools and engineering colleges were restricted to the US and the UK. Malaysia, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are among the countries hiring graduates from top Indian colleges, including the premier Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).
“Over the past five years, we have seen a definite shift. Postings in the US and the UK have become almost negligible," said Sapna Agarwal, head, career development services, IIM Bangalore. “Postings in the Far East, including Singapore and Hong Kong, have increased. Japan is a new destination. The Middle East has been added as an overseas job destination."
Protectionist policies and economic distress in the West are among the reasons behind the spurt in popularity of Asian countries as job destinations among Indian graduates.
“A vibrant culture, shortage of skilled workforce, proximity to home, better career prospects and flexible immigration norms are the key attractions. A number of foreign trade commissions are conducting road shows to promote opportunities for Indian students and professional in their respective countries," said Rohin Kapoor, director, Deloitte.
Companies based in many Asian countries have picked up graduates from IITs this year.
Of the 15 international offers at IIT Madras’s ongoing placement season, three are from Japan, and one each from Taiwan and Singapore. At IIT Kharagpur, of the 18 international offers this year, two are from Malaysia, three from Japan, and one each from Singapore and Taiwan.
Two companies from Malaysia were first-time recruiters this year at IIT Kharagpur.
IIT Ropar saw its maiden international offer come from a Japan-based firm. Mumbai-based SPJIMR (earlier known as SP Jain Institute of Management and Research) got all five international offers from a Malaysia-based company, against no international offers last year.
“The demand for IIT graduates has seen a consistent growth from newer countries including Taiwan and Japan. IIT graduates are hired by architecture firms in Singapore, while mostly electronics firms in Japan pick our graduates," said Debasis Deb, chairman, career development centre, IIT Kharagpur.
At management colleges, most global companies look for graduates who are open to travelling across the globe and not working from one fixed location. While the roles offered by companies in the Far East are in finance, in the Middle East, companies hire management graduates for sales and marketing, according to placement officials at some of the top B-schools.
US offers are still more lucrative when compared to those from Asian countries. But, as Abbasali Gabula, deputy director, external relations at SPJIMR, said, “The cost of living in the US is high as compared to other countries. Also, getting an H-1B visa is tougher as compared to getting a visa for working in countries like Malaysia, Taiwan, Singapore, Dubai and other countries."
Experts predict a rise in the number of offers from the Far East and Middle East in the coming years.
They believe that companies in these regions, after hiring Indian graduates, might eventually set up businesses in India.
“IT companies have done it for techies in the past, and now it applies to management graduates. The idea is to train them and send them back to India for India operations," said IIM Bangalore’s Agarwal. |
When Miguel Zabludovsky opened his first laundry delivery service, Slate, in 2005, he pitched customers convenience: He would pick up their unsorted laundry (literally: he was both CEO and courier), and his subcontracted eco-friendly dry cleaners would clean it however they saw fit. Two years later, he opened his own laundry facility, which for several years cleaned dresses for high-fashion rental service Rent the Runway. Two years after that, he added home cleaning to the business. It wasn’t until 10 years after starting the laundry service, in January 2015, that Zabludovsky repositioned Slate as a tech company.
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At first glance, Slate looks a lot like other “on-demand” apps that leverage mobile technology in order to allow the masses (or, at least, the masses who have disposable income) to summon anything from a late-night taco to a home cleaner. Like these startups’ workers, Slate’s cleaners—who visit every day to make beds, do light cleaning tasks, and tidy and pack up laundry for pick-up by Slate drivers—manage tasks and schedule through a mobile portal. Like these startups’ customers, homeowners make requests about how and when they want tasks completed directly through a newly launched app. But Slate’s business, which started with service operations and later added technology, has been built with almost an opposite business philosophy as startups like courier service Postmates, grocery delivery service Instacart, cleaning service Handy, errand marketplace TaskRabbit, and the many other startups that embrace an Uber-like business model. While those “Uber for X” startups seek to distance themselves from the driving, cleaning, and delivering they facilitate, instead functioning only as a technology layer on top of other businesses, Slate fully believes that it is a cleaning and laundry company. “We’re not techies,” Zabludovsky says. “We’re cleaning 130, 140 houses every day.” Zabludovsky, who over the years has both subcontracted and owned his laundry services, believes it’s better for business to own more of the process, not less. “There is no doubt to us that if we want to be successful, and if we want to be in the cleaning of clothes business, then we have to own that business,” he says. “It’s very difficult to get the kind of consistent quality that you need to provide to keep customers without doing it yourself.” Once promised as the future of “everything,” the “Uber for X” model has recently come under scrutiny as startups in the category falter. Some, like on-demand parking services Luxe and Zirx, have pivoted. Others, like Instacart, have raised prices. And many others have struggled to live up to high valuations. Pundits have even gone so far as to forecast an “on-demand apocalypse.” But there is more than one way to coordinate and deliver conveniences through smartphones—even more than one way to do it for a lower price–and not all of them are dead. While the first generation of “on-demand” companies had a business model similar to the one made famous by Uber, many new service-sector startups are instead launching, or pivoting toward, a philosophy more aligned with Slate. These entrepreneurs are not launching technology companies or even “on demand” companies. They are instead starting child-care companies, retail stores, restaurants, and laundry services that use mobile technology not only for delivery, but as a way to be more efficient at every step of their operations. “You’re seeing models evolve,” says Ron Johnson, the former CEO of J.C. Penney and creator of the Apple Store, who nine months ago started a mobile-enabled electronics retailer called Enjoy. “And that’s what you’d expect in a new area of the economy.”
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Photo: Flickr user John Floyd Why The Uber Model Fails Katie Shea, cofounder of the relaunched Slate, experienced the flaws of the Uber model firsthand. As the former New York City GM for home-cleaning company Homejoy, she managed an operation that matched house cleaners with customers. Because Homejoy added a 20% fee for coordinating the setup, customers expected it to be better than a service they could arrange by themselves. That meant the service had to be perfect, Shea says, especially “in a city like New York or any other big city, where at one mess-up, you just go back to the downstairs laundromat, or the cleaning lady that you paid cash from a friend.” Because all of the cleaners were classified as contractors rather than employees, and Homejoy was just playing matchmaker, Shea wasn’t legally allowed to provide much training or guidance. “We had to be very indirect about it,” she says. “We had to be like, we can’t tell you what to do, but we can tell you that other cleaners who have done this have gotten five stars.” That made near-perfect performance hard to achieve. It turns out that—unlike shuttling a passenger from point A to point B—there are a lot of varied expectations regarding what constitutes a “clean” house. And dissatisfaction showed: According to one report, only about 15% to 20% of first-time Homejoy customers booked again within a month. Amid worker misclassification lawsuits, Homejoy shut down in July 2015. Homejoy wasn’t the only company that found providing good service as a technology-only company to be difficult. At first glance, grocery shopping seems simple enough. But knowing how to identify a beefsteak tomato and when an avocado is ripe isn’t entirely intuitive. So in June, Instacart hired some of its in-store workers as employees. “This is not something you can just enable with technology,” Instacart founder and CEO Apoorva Mehta told me about the decision. “This is something that people need to be trained on and coached on, on a regular basis. And that’s how we succeed as a company, by making sure that it’s a business that customers want to use over and over again.” Shyp, a company that picks up, packages, and ships items for its users, made a similar transition to hiring employees for some roles in July. In a blog post, Shyp CEO Kevin Gibbon explained that the change was “an investment in a longer-term relationship with our couriers, which we believe will ultimately create the best experience for our customers.” Uber has scaled to the point where it can beat the price of alternative options, but “Uber for X” has struggled to accomplish the same. And the appeal of paying a premium for instant delivery is dubious beyond transportation and food delivery. You might be hungry right now, or need to get somewhere right now, and are willing to pay a premium to fill that need now, but for most goods and services, chances are that Amazon Prime’s one-day delivery works just fine. Most people would rather wait a day for an order of paper towels than pay an $8 delivery fee to have them in an hour. Ditto for a sweater, a coffee grinder, or laundry service. Companies like Starbucks, McDonalds, and Target have partnered with on-demand companies because it is an easy way to shift their delivery costs onto customers—who pay hefty, often obscured fees for the convenience—but, as GrubHub’s CEO argued in one particularly brutal takedown of the on-demand food trend, “transferring costs from one party to another is not ‘innovative.’”
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Photo: Flickr user Charley Lhasa What’s Next For a $7 delivery fee and a 55¢ service fee, Postmates will hire a courier to bring me an $11 burger from my favorite restaurant in New York City. For a $9.50 delivery fee and a $19 service fee, it will bring me an iPad from the Apple Store. Startups that have stepped outside of Uber’s business model, however, will bring me lunch or an iPad for free. One of these startups, Maple, is a restaurant. It uses mobile apps not only to coordinate the delivery of its food, but also to make the entire process more efficient by adding tiny efficiencies throughout its entire operation, contributing to a pace of sales almost three times faster than Chipotle. Meals typically cost around $12, including delivery. Enjoy, the service that will deliver an iPad for free, is a store that trains the employees who deliver products to help install them and answer customers’ questions. Instead of a delivery fee, Enjoy makes its profit the same way any retailer would make a profit: on product margins. Because it uses mobile phones to bring products to customers, it doesn’t need a storefront, which makes its margins better than traditional retailers. It also charges a fee to some partners, like AT&T, who offer Enjoy as a delivery option on their websites. “What we’re doing is really hard,” says Johnson, Enjoy’s founder and CEO. “There are a lot of companies that can do delivery, but there’s not a lot of value-add. It’s just logistics. What we’re adding is a human connection. That’s really hard to do. That’s the missing link in a digital world.” Johnson says that in Enjoy’s first nine months of business, it has received five-star reviews 97% of the time. Many of them mentioned an Enjoy’s employee by name. Trusted, a new on-demand babysitter app based in San Francisco, is another example of a startup that has chosen to create a mobile-enabled service business rather than just a technology layer. While competitors like Care.com match parents and caregivers through a portal, Trusted decided quality in a category like child care mattered enough that parents would pay more if guaranteed highly vetted babysitters. The startup, which charges $25 per hour, hires employees after an extensive in-person interview, three reference calls, and two-hour training about how to use the app, which manages schedules and payments. “Our North Star metric is how often parents come back to use our service, and that comes back to if they have a five-star experience very time,” says CEO Anand Iyer. “It’s not like, let’s just try to do the best job we can in matching people.” Slate’s founders also aim for customers who are willing to pay slightly more for a high-quality daily service than they would for a weekly clean. “At the end of the day, any home service is a person business,” says Shea. “We’re dealing with people. And people are imperfect. That’s something that a lot of people forget when they’re launching these businesses. They’re like, here’s my tech platform, I’m going to revolutionize this industry.” The “Uber for X” model is certainly not dead. Soothe, an on-demand massage app, for instance, raised $35 million earlier this month. And owning the entire operation is not an instant success maker: Spoonrocket, a restaurant that cooked and delivered food, recently shut down. There’s not yet a runaway success story for the model that can compare to Uber itself.
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But the appearance of other models is promising for the “on-demand” space, whatever that term might come to encompass. The idea that technology could not only fix anything, but the same technology could fix anything, in many cases proved arrogant. Just as an app’s interface may seem stupidly simple to someone with no knowledge of code or product design, every service industry—cleaning, delivery, grocery shopping, caring for kids—is complicated in its own ways, and often in ways that technology alone cannot improve. |
Authorities say as many as 20 people may have been involved in the plot to attack Paris. Here's what we know about them so far. (Gillian Brockell/The Washington Post)
Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a possible central figure involved in planning attacks that killed at least 129 people in Paris on Friday, bragged in an interview earlier this year about plotting terrorist attacks against the West and evading Belgian authorities, according to Vocativ.
The statements, in which the 27-year-old told readers not to fear the "bloated image of the crusader intelligence," were published in February in Dabiq, an Islamic State magazine published in several European languages, including English.
“I was able to leave … despite being chased after by so many intelligence agencies,” he told the magazine, referring to his ability to get out of Belgium. “All this proves that a Muslim should not fear the bloated image of the crusader intelligence."
[Raids spread across France and Belgium amid manhunt for suspects]
Abaaoud added: “My name and picture were all over the news yet I was able to stay in their homeland, plan operations against them, and leave safely when doing so became necessary.”
European authorities believe the Belgian — the son of Moroccan immigrants — fought for the Islamic State in Syria and goes by the nickname Abu Umar al-Baljiki, according to Vocativ.
Abaaoud, a graduate of one of Brussels’s most prestigious high schools, appeared to move higher in the Islamic State ranks over the years and made no secret of his intentions to strike in Europe, the Associated Press reported.
The Guardian reported that he appeared on authorities' radars after he was spotted in an Islamic State video that showed him driving a vehicle carrying mutilated bodies to a mass grave.
French officials told the AP that Abaaoud is suspected to have ties to other thwarted attacks, including one in which a man opened fire on an Amsterdam-to-Paris train in August but was subdued by three American travelers.
Abaaoud was also linked to a terrorist cell that planned to kill Belgian police officers in the town of Verviers, according to the Guardian. Police killed two suspected plotters during a January raid that triggered a gun battle, the newspaper reported.
[A new Islamic State video threatens a Paris-style attack on Washington]
In his interview with Dabiq — which included photos of Abaaoud posing with an Islamic State flag and the Koran — the militant said he and two other men spent months trying to penetrate European borders before managing to arrive in Belgium.
Their goal, he told the magazine: “Terrorise the crusaders waging war against the Muslims.”
“We were then able to obtain weapons and set up a safe house while we planned to carry out operations against the crusaders," he said, according to Dabiq. "All of this was facilitated for us by Allah. There is no might nor power except by him.”
Discussing the raid that halted those plans, Abaaoud said police arrived with more than 150 French and Belgian soldiers from special forces units. Of his co-conspirators, he said that “both brothers were blessed with shahādah [martyrdom], which is what they had desired for so long.”
Reflecting on his time on the run from Belgian authorities, Abaaoud told the magazine that he narrowly escaped capture, according to the Guardian.
“I was even stopped by an officer who contemplated me so as to compare me to the picture, but he let me go, as he did not see the resemblance!” he said. “This was nothing but a gift from Allah.”
The rebel fighter was tried in absentia by a Belgian court and sentenced to 20 years in prison for recruiting on behalf of the Islamic State in Syria, the Guardian reported.
During an appearance on the French radio station RTL, a French official described Abaaoud as "one of the most active" Islamic State executioners in Syria, according to USA Today.
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One man’s hard lesson after the Eiffel Tower’s darkness was mistaken for a moving tribute
Paris attacks create new tensions over Europe’s migration wave |
LeBron James and Kevin Durant are currently facing off on the court, as they each try to lead their teams victory in the 2017 NBA Finals, and though the two have never played on the same team, it seems that they are former collaborators in an entirely different capacity. According to ESPN, the NBA superstars made a never-before-released rap song together in 2011 during the lockout.
Sources told ESPN that, while Durant was visiting James for workouts in Akron, Ohio, the two decided to write and record the song between sessions. "When approached about its existence, James and Durant, to a moderate extent, confirmed that there is such a track before bursting out into laughter without further comment," ESPN's Chris Haynes writes.
The song's whereabouts are unknown, but someone who has heard the track told ESPN that it was “a quality track” and said that the lyrics were “surprisingly well-crafted and delivered.” The song was considered to be featured in the 2012 film Thunderstruck, which starred Durant. |
Hubbard (Ohio) running back/slot-back George Hill became Urban Meyer’s first Ohio State class of 2016 commitment back in June of 2014. However, as Meyer’s class has since grown it has been known that Hill might not stay in the class.
"No, he's not in the class anymore," Hill's grandmother said. "He told me he de-committed."
The Buckeyes have a commitment from one slot-back, Demario McCall, and that is the position Hill was recruited for by the OSU staff. Hill had been given permission by the Ohio State staff to take other visits and has since done so including Michigan State.
The 6-foot-1 and 210-pound Hill has been known to have an interest in not only Michigan State, but Pitt.
The Buckeyes now have 18 verbal commitments in their 2016 recruiting class.
Hill is a 4-star prospect in the 247Sports Composite. He is the country’s No. 129 overall prospect, the No. 10 athlete, and the No. 7 prospect in Ohio. |
Level of support for Labour leader to head country falls but party’s predicted vote share remains strong despite infighting
Labour poll lead grows to four points – but only 1 in 5 sees Miliband as PM
Labour has extended its poll lead to four points but just one in five people can imagine Ed Miliband as prime minister, according to a poll.
The survey put Labour on 34%, unchanged from last month despite infighting within the opposition ranks and speculation about Miliband’s leadership, with the Tories down one point on 30%.
The ComRes study for the Sunday Mirror and Independent on Sunday put Ukip on 19%, the Liberal Democrats up one point on 8% and the Green Party down one point on 3%.
The proportion of people who said they could imagine Miliband in No 10 has fallen to 20%, down from 25% 12 months ago, with those disagreeing up six points on 59%.
Only 50% of Labour voters said they could imagine Miliband as prime minister, a fall of nine points compared to November 2013.
Almost a quarter (24%) of Lib Dem voters said they could imagine Miliband in No 10.
Only 29% of those asked trusted Miliband to stand up for working people, compared with 22% for David Cameron.
And half of those surveyed expect Cameron to make deep cuts to public services if he is in No 10 after the 2015 election, compared with 24% for Miliband.
ComRes interviewed 2,000 British adults online between November 12 and 14. Data was weighted to be demographically representative of all British adults and by past vote recall. |
From the beginning of his comic book career in "Amazing Fantasy" #15, Peter "Spider-Man" Parker's Aunt May has played a huge role in his life. When her husband (his uncle) Ben died, Peter had to step up to take care of the woman who had raised him ever since his parents had died. For years, "Amazing Spider-Man" had stories where Peter had to raise money to help keep Aunt May from being evicted or pay for Aunt May's medicine. May's frailty was a key plot point in many issues.
RELATED: Spider-Man’s 15 Most WTF? Moments
Due to that closeness, Peter and May could not help but get caught up in the occasional awkward moment together, especially considering the difficulties of hiding a secret identity from someone you spend that much time with! Here, then, are the 15 most awkward moments between Spider-Man and his Aunt May.
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15 May Finds Peter's Costume
Pretty much any teenage boy would tell you that they would not be thrilled with the idea of their mother or legal guardian looking through their room, especially in hiding places like behind bookshelves. Heck, we imagine that most mothers and/or legal guardians probably wouldn't like to find what they sometimes find when they do those types of searches. However, when you're hiding a secret identity as a superhero, you probably should have a better hiding spot for your costume!
In "Amazing Spider-Man" #25, though, that's just what happened to Peter as he came home to find that Aunt May had found his spare Spider-Man costume. Since he had just abandoned his main costume in a fight earlier in the issue, Peter was now without a costume entirely! He ended up having to buy a store-bought costume the next issue! Early Steve Ditko/Stan Lee issues really worked the whole "real life" superhero problems well.
14 "Peter" Chastises May
In a storyline that ended in "Amazing Spider-Man" #700, Otto Octavius, the longtime Spider-Man foe better known as Doctor Octopus, switched bodies with Peter Parker and Peter seemingly died while in Otto's body. However, Otto still had Peter's memories, so he was compelled to become a hero; only he decided he was going to be a superior Spider-Man to Peter.
Otto also decided to improve Peter Parker's lot, getting him the scientific acclaim that Peter never got in his real life. Along the way, he began dating a fellow scientist, Anna-Maria Marconi, who was a little person. When he had Aunt May and her husband, J. Jonah Jameson Sr. over for dinner, May made an oddly rude remark where she questioned the future of "Peter" and Anna-Maria's relationship due to Anna-Maria's height. "Peter" then berated Aunt May in "Superior Spider-Man" #24 (by Dan Slott, Christos Gage, Humberto Ramos and Victor Olazaba) over her comments, and then freaked out further when she forbade him from working with Spider-Man anymore (Peter had come up with the excuse that he was working for Spider-Man, supplying his technology for him). It was quite an awkward little scene.
13 May Discovers Peter is Spider-Man
J. Michael Straczynski's first storyline as the regular writer on "Amazing Spider-Man" opened with a bombshell revelation that Peter Parker might not have gotten his powers from a spider that was irradiated, but rather that he got his powers from a magical spider that transferred its power before it died from the radiation. This was seemingly borne out when a villain named Morlun showed up -- a villain who feasted on so-called "Spider Totems" like Peter.
In the end, though, Peter realized that whether it was the cause of his power or not, the spider was irradiated, so Spider-Man had some radioactive aspects to his power and Morlun recoiled from that aspect of Spider-Man. For their final battle in "Amazing Spider-Man" (Vol.2) #35 (by J. Michael Straczynski, John Romita Jr. and Scott Hanna), Spider-Man pumped himself up with more radiation and in the end, he defeated Morlun, but was also badly injured himself. He went home in his tattered costume and just passed out. The problem was that he was still passed out when Aunt May walked in and discovered him in his costume, learning that Peter was Spider-Man!
12 Peter is Too Late... Again
In Chip Zdarsky and Joe Quinones' brilliant (if short-lived) series, "Howard the Duck," Aunt May became a supporting character, helping Howard out at his detective agency. She first met Howard in "Howard the Duck" #3, where she assaulted Howard while under the hypnotic commands of the evil Ringmaster. Three days later, Howard ran into her while she was coming home from the grocery store and he accosted her, causing her to drop her packages and her phone (she was on the phone with Peter, asking if he was in a "Fight Club" because of all the bruises he was always getting). She agreed to help him track down the guy who did this, and they headed off, but they forgot her phone and her groceries.
Peter raced to the park as Spider-man, only to find her gone and her phone and packages on the ground. He then hilariously began to blame himself for her seeming abduction, noting to himself that he's so bad at this (since he still blames himself for the death of his Uncle Ben).
11 May's Gynecological Aids
After discovering Peter's secret identity, May decided that she was going to do her best to help her nephew in his life as Spider-Man (in a hilarious sequence in "Amazing Spider-Man" (Vol.2) #37, she right away cancels her subscription to the Daily Bugle for all the mean things they've said about Spider-Man over the years). In "Amazing Spider-Man" (Vol.2) #43 (by J. Michael Straczynski, John Romita Jr. and Scott Hanna), that assistance came in a very awkward fashion.
May and Peter were traveling to Los Angeles to visit Peter's estranged wife, Mary Jane. However, this being right after 9/11, it was particularly difficult for Peter to get his webshooters through security. Aunt May then stepped in to explain to the security agents that they were special geriatric gynecological aids and the embarrassed agents quickly let them through, although not before they chastised Peter for trying to bring a small nail clipper through security.
10 May Returns
Aunt May seemingly died in "Amazing Spider-Man" #400, so Peter and Mary Jane went on with their lives, which included Mary Jane getting pregnant with their first child. However, the baby girl, who they planned on naming May in honor of Aunt May, was stillborn. Right after the baby's tragic delivery, it seemed as though perhaps an agent of Norman Osborn had actually kidnapped the baby.
After some time had passed and he had received some hints that perhaps his baby had not died after all, Peter discovered that Osborn did have "May" in his custody, so Peter quickly rushed to go save his baby. He fought through a series of obstacles before finally getting to the room where "May" was being held in "Peter Parker: Spider-Man" #97 (by Howard Mackie, John Romita Jr. and Scott Hanna) and discovered that the May being held was not his daughter (who actually was stillborn) but Aunt May! She added injury to insult by then hitting Spider-Man over the head with a vase!
9 May Blames Rap Music
After recovering from the vase to the head, Peter then learned that not only was Aunt May alive, but that she was now about to die from a capsule in her brain that, if removed, would detonate a genetic bomb that would reduce everyone to their basic genes. This was all part of an elaborate (and ludicrous) plan of Norman Osborn, wherein he decided to torment Peter by making him think that his aunt died by hiring an actress, genetically modifying her to look like May, kidnapping May and replacing her with the actress, having the actress tell Peter that she knew that he was Spider-Man all along, killing the actress, having Peter discover May was really alive but then the whole bomb thing would happen. That's one crazy, crazy plan.
How, then, though, would Aunt May respond to this? Why would Green Goblin do all of this? Well, in "Amazing Spider-Man" (Vol.1) #1 (by Howard Mackie, John Byrne and Scott Hanna), she came up with her most reasonable guess... it was because of rap music.
8 May Almost Marries Doctor Octopus
In "Amazing Spider-Man" #131 (by Gerry Conway, Ross Andru, Frank Giacoia and Dave Hunt), Aunt May almost had to introduce Peter to his new Uncle... Otto! Yes, May nearly married Otto Octavius, who she had taken in as a boarder years earlier and who had employed her as a maid more recently. Octavius would challenge Norman Osborn's previous plan (with faking May's death) in terms of ridiculousness, as he had discovered that May had inherited an abandoned nuclear plant on an island in Canada and really wanted to use that plant. Ergo, he decided to marry her so that he would get in on that sweet inheritance.
Dr. Octopus, though, was in the middle of a gang war with Hammerhead at the time, so Hammerhead's agents interrupted the wedding and, after the battle, moved to the island when Otto escaped there (with May in tow). The whole island was obliterated in a nuclear blast, with Spider-Man (who hitched a ride with Hammerhead's goons) and Aunt May only barely escaping on a stolen plane.
7 May Knocks Peter Out
Spider-Man's Spider-Sense is one of the more confusing powers out there, as it doesn't always seem to work the way that you would expect. Gerry Conway, for instance, suggested during his run on "Amazing Spider-Man" that Spider-Sense does not go off if the person threatening Peter is someone that he normally would not think is a threat. So, in other words, the danger warning of the Spider-Sense only kicks in if the danger comes from someone unknown to Spidey.
That was revealed very dramatically in "Amazing Spider-Man" #114 (by Conway and Johm Romita), when Spider-Man went to go find the seemingly kidnapped Aunt May at Doctor Octopus' home and found himself knocked out by Aunt May via a vase (the bit from "Peter Parker: Spider-Man" #97 was an homage to this scene). By the rule of Transitive Property of Equality, this means that Aunt May can beat up Firelord.
6 May Shoots Peter
In the issue following the vase attack, Peter realized that May was not kidnapped by Doctor Octopus, but rather was working for him as a maid. She had gone off to get a job of her own after Gwen Stacy verbally reamed her for being too involved in Peter's life. Therefore, instead of Spider-Man being there to rescue her, May saw this as an attacking Spider-Man, trying to pick on her poor, misunderstood employer, who, as it turned out, really had taken her in out of the goodness of his heart due to his fond memories of when she took him in as a boarder. It wasn't until she was already working for him that Octavius discovered that May had inherited the aforementioned nuclear facility.
Therefore, after a big fight between Peter and Doc Ock, May pulled out a gun on Spider-Man and she totally pulled the trigger on him!! Luckily, police and firemen arrived at the house at just that right moment and the sirens distracted her and threw her aim off or else May would have murdered her own beloved nephew!
5 May Tells Peter Off
Following the events of "Brand New Day," where Peter had now never been married to Mary Jane and was now back to living with Aunt May (who did not know his secret identity anymore), Aunt May volunteered for a charity called F.E.A.S.T. (Food, Emergency Aid, Shelter and Training). What May did not know was that her kindhearted boss, Martin Li, was also secretly the crimelord known as Mister Negative.
One of Negative's powers was, when he touched people, he could turn them "negative," in that he could make good people bad, etc. When May accidentally walked in on Mister Negative killing a guy in Li's office in "Amazing Spider-Man" #618 (by San Slott and Marcos Martin), Negative turned his power on May. So, when she returned home with Peter and her new husband, Jay, she unleashed all the hidden things that she thought about Peter but would never say because she was too nice -- mostly this entailed Peter kept screwing his life up and that he was a major disappointment to her. She was too nice of a person to stay negative, however, and she broke free from his influence eventually, begging forgiveness. But the words hurt the most because Peter knew that they were pretty much true.
4 May Walks in on Peter in Bed
After Peter and Mary Jane got married, the writers of the various "Spider-Man" titles often put the newleyweds through the wringer. They dealt with stalkers and bad economic problems that eventually led to Peter and Mary Jane temporarily living with Aunt May at her home in Queens. At the same time, Mary Jane's young cousin, Kristy, was also staying with them.
Aunt May was not exactly used to having a young married couple living with her in her home, so she did not think about how she might want to knock before entering their bedroom; so, when she walked in on Peter and Mary Jane in "Web of Spider-Man" #50 (by Gerry Conway, Alex Saviuk and Keith Williams) to give them some hot cocoa to warm their bodies, Peter explained to her that they were already warming their bodies. Mary Jane added that, yeah, she might want to knock in the future.
3 What's This Sticky Stuff?
In "Amazing Spider-Man" #108, the tail end of Stan Lee and John Romita's run on the title, there was a plot line with Aunt May being overly meddlesome that led to the aforementioned Gwen Stacy freakout. Before we got to that point, however, May first barged into Peter's apartment that he shared with Harry Obsorn to look for Peter. What Peter didn't realize, while he was gone, was that some of his web fluid had fallen out and was oozing out of his doorway.
Now, obviously, Lee and Romita were not intending the scene to look like it does to modern readers, but intentional or not, it's still pretty darn hilarious. Peter luckily showed up just as May and Harry were about to go into his room to see what spilled (Harry nicely explained that it was probably some experiment that Peter was working on in school). Looking behind bookcases, scooping up sticky stuff outside of his bedroom, Aunt May doesn't seem like someone who raised a teenage boy for years!
2 Peter Walks in on May in Bed
As mentioned before, May re-married J. Jonah Jameson Sr., the father to Daily Bugle head J. Jonah Jameson. They got married in "Amazing Spider-Man" #600, but began dating earlier. This was revealed to Peter in explicit detail in "Amazing Spider-Man" #592 (by Mark Waid, Mike McKone and Andy Lanning), when Peter headed to Aunt May's house to change his costume after being stuck in it for days. After taking his costume off and preparing to launder it, he heard rumblings in May's bedroom. He opened the door (not learning the lesson he himself had taught Aunt May about always knocking) and saw May and Jay Jameson having sex.
He quickly ran to the bathroom and tried to wash the view out of his eyes (while bemoaning that he didn't even get a chance to clean his costume); but in the end, Peter was mature enough to give May his blessing with her new relationship.
1 Peter Remembers having Sex with May
As noted before, in the storyline ending with "Amazing Spider-Man" #700, Peter Parker and Otto Octavius switched bodies. However, their old memories remained in their bodies, so the brain that was now in the new body had access to the memories of its former owner. That's how, in "Amazing Spider-Man" #700, Peter was able to at least force Otto to experience all of Peter's memories. Upon doing so, Otto couldn't help but want to be an actual hero, because Peter's sense of responsibility from his memories was just THAT strong.
However, before Otto's body died, Peter also managed to experience Otto's memories in "Amazing Spider-Man" #699 (by Dan Slott, Humberto Ramos and Victor Olazaba), and he got to better understand his old foe, seeing his childhood as an abused kid. He even got to see how Otto saw Spider-Man himself (as a bully, of course). However, he finally got to experience a memory he wished he rather had not experienced: the time that Octavius had had sex with Aunt May! After that, Peter likely welcomed getting brain-wiped!
What's your favorite Aunt May/Peter moment? Let us know in the Comments!
Next Who Would Win? Batman Vs. Iron Man |
Welcome to today’s edition of “Top Shelf Prospects”. Previously I reviewed the prospects of all thirty NHL teams, and previewed the CHL season. If you missed any of my previous articles you can find a complete listing of my them here.
Just 15 years old, Connor McDavid was granted exceptional player status and is the third player to enter the OHL early under this rule. (John Tavares and Aaron Ekblad were 1st and 2nd respectively). The young McDavid has started his OHL career and is looking to show that he deserves the label. Going to Erie, the worst team in the OHL last season, he’s immediately stepped into a top line role and is getting big minutes even to start the season. He’s shown some Chemistry with teammate Stephen Harper (no not that Stephen Harper) and is getting buzz from players like Sidney Crosby as the next big thing in hockey. Today Top Shelf Prospects looks at Connor McDavid, and his abilities and talents.
Centre
Born Jan 13 1997 — Toronto, ONT
Height 5.11 — Weight 170 — Shoots L
I had the opportunity to see a few of Erie’s games in the past week (on video) and I specifically focused my attention on Connor McDavid. The latest phenom is certainly living up to the hype as he is leading the Otters in scoring and has 11 points in 9 games as a 15 year old in the OHL.
Top Shelf Prospects: Connor McDavid impresses as a 15 year old Exceptional OHLer
Lets start with looking at the offensive weapons here, and the kid has it all. Exceptional hands and stickhandling ability, he can dangle past a defender and does an excellent job of protecting the puck and maintaining possession. His hockey sense and decision making is already at an elite level, even moving up to the faster OHL. His decision making and vision are excellent, he reads the play very well and always seems to keep the puck moving in a smart and efficient manner. His passing is outstanding as the young centre has the ability to thread pucks through tight spaces and put passes tape to tape at high speeds. He’s an elite level playmaker. McDavid also possesses an accurate shot, with a good release, but will need to continue to work on his strength and the velocity of his shots going forward.
His ability to make all these plays at a high speed, and to never have to slow down his feet to control the puck is a huge asset. He has the ability to change gears quickly and effectively and this aids him in beating defenders. His top speed is good, but its the acceleration and the ability to vary his attacks, to slow the game down when necessary or to make the quick play that really sets him apart. The unpredictability can leave defenders flat footed as he quickly accelerates around them. Or he can look like he his going to beat his man wide and suddenly slow down, opening up space for a shot or quick play in front of the defender. His agility and edgework is also outstanding. He also has very good balance and is a lot stronger on his skates than I expected. Sure as 15 year old he will occasionally be knocked over by bigger stronger, 19 and 20 year old defencemen, but it doesn’t happen as often as I thought it would knowin his age.
Another impressive asset for McDavid is his two way game. Is he a perfect defensive forward? At 15 just coming into the league, of course not. But his game is far more developed than I expected as well. He backchecks hard, and is a willing defender out there. He works along the boards, and down low, showing grit and determination (but again must put on some weight and strength). He anticipates plays very well and causes turnovers and starts the transition game with a smart play as soon as these occur. McDavid is even being used by the Otters to kill penalties at this point, and he certainly doesn’t look out of place. There is room for improvement here, but McDavid is already far better defensively than the other exceptional status forward, John Tavares was in his first season in the OHL.
McDavid is living up to the hype and I believe it will only grow for him going forward. He’s a special player and a guy all OHL and NHL fans should keep their eye on. The sky is the limit on this kid’s potential, there is no doubt about that. I’m going to be very interested in him going forward over the next several years. |
Michelle Obama: Spokesperson for the Lying Left
Race-baiter Michelle Obama returns to tell America just how racist the Republican Party. She says the Republicans made people “not trust” politics.
At the Pennsylvania Conference for Women, Michelle Obama said when she attended the State of the Union address she got uncomfortable as she noticed on the Republican side of the room there was “all white men.”
According to Breitbart:
“At the State of the Union address … when you are in the room what you can see is this real dichotomy. It’s a feeling of color almost. On one side of the room is literally gray and white. Literally, that is the color palette on one side of the room. On the other side of the room, there are yellows and blues and whites and greens. Physically, there’s a difference in color, in the tone, because on one side all men, all white, on the other side some woman, some people of color.” take our poll - story continues below Will the media learn anything from their biased reporting of the Jussie Smollett story? Will the media learn anything from their biased reporting of the Jussie Smollett story?
Will the media learn anything from their biased reporting of the Jussie Smollett story? * Yes, they've gotten so much wrong recently that they're bound to be on their best behavior. No, they suffer from a bad case of Trump Derangement Syndrome. Jussie who?
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Email This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. Completing this poll grants you access to The Black Sphere updates free of charge. You may opt out at anytime. You also agree to this site's Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. Trending: SCOTUS Justice Send Warning to FAKE NEWS Journalists She continued, “I look at that, and I go, no wonder. No wonder we struggle, no wonder people don’t trust politics. We’re not even noticing what these rooms look like.”
Hard to believe how “sensitive” Michelle Obama can be.
Exactly what have white men done to Michelle Obama? She lived in a black-centric world. And if any men took advantage of her, you can bet they weren’t white. Yet, she appears to have a psychosis for white men.
One would think her fear of white men would have dwindled, given the number of white men it took to get her husband elected? What of those “white men”?
And what of Michelle Obama obsession with the color and gender of people in the room? What about policy?
First, the white men she references are the duly elected representatives of their areas? Secondly and perhaps more importantly, what did Michelle Obama miss in her glance across the aisle?
The Republican Party is more diverse than the Left. I won’t point out the blacks and other minorities, or the women Michelle Obama happened to miss when she glanced over to the other aisle. But they are there. Obama refuses to see them. She’s proud of the so-called diversity of the Democratic Party, a party united in only one thing: hate for America.
Every special interest group on the Left concerns itself with one thing–it’s own interest. La Raza (The Race) cares about the Mexican race. The Congressional Black Caucus cares about blacks. And the list of malcontents goes on.
What Michelle Obama missed in her criticism of the Right is the notion that at the very least they want what’s best for ALL.
Let’s talk “Trust”
We know very little about Michelle Obama’s husband. Look at what the Obamas hide to this day:
Obama’s kindergarten records -So far, no records have been released by the school. Noelani Elementary School officials have not responded to WND’s request for comment. Punahou School records
Occidental College records -Gary Kreep of the U.S. Justice Foundation, demanded these school documents be released but was shut down every step of the way. “Obama’s attorneys bent over backward to block us,” Kreep told WND. “Obama doesn’t want anyone to see those records. He’s trying to hide them.” Columbia University records -Obama claimed to be a part of the Black Student Organization and anti-apartheid activities at Columbia but according to the New York Times, several well-known student leaders did not recall his involvement. When the newspaper inquired, the Obama campaign did not offer an explanation for why the transcript had not been released. Columbia thesis “Soviet Nuclear Disarmament” -Before applying to Harvard, Obama supposedly penned a major thesis in his senior year. It remains sealed.
One would think “the smartest president ever” would at least want to release his Harvard records. After all, he was the first black president of Law Review.
The list of unknowns continues:
Harvard Law School records -According to Politico, Obama’s name does not appear on any legal scholarships during his time at Harvard. His campaign reportedly said his Harvard education was a product of hard work and student loans. Harvard Law Review articles
University of Chicago scholarly articles
Passport –a key witness who had been cooperating with federal investigators in researching Obama’s passport was later found fatally shot in front of a Washington, D.C., church. A police officer found the body of Lt. Quarles Harris Jr., 24, slumped dead inside his car. Medical records -Barack Obama, a relatively young candidate who was said to have been in “excellent health,” refused to release medical records. Instead, he simply provided a six-paragraph note from his physician briefly summarizing 21 years of doctor visits and health information.
Other sealed documents include:
Complete files and schedules of his years as an Illinois state senator from 1997 to 2004
Obama’s client list from during his time in private practice with the Chicago law firm of Davis, Miner, Barnhill and Gallard
Illinois State Bar Association records
Baptism records
Obama/Dunham marriage license
Obama/Dunham divorce documents
Soetoro/Dunham marriage license
Adoption records
In short, Obama remains a stranger to America.
And he acted like it. In his final days as president, Obama lauded his administration for being, “scandal free”. Americans scoffed at the idea, as the list of scandal in America is as long as Obama’s list of unknowns.
So if anybody has destroyed trust in America, it’s the Obamas. |
Aberdeen Asset Management: Day 4 in Numbers
7 - European Tour victories for Justin Rose after triumphing on -16 - at total of 268 strokes
2 - Shot victory margin over Sweden's Kristoffer Broberg after closing 65
11 - Number of players (including Rose) to have won the Scottish Open with all 4 rounds in the 60s (69-68-66-65)
3 - Where Rose will probably move to in the World Rankings
1 - Dropped shot from Rose in the last 49 holes at Royal Aberdeen
21 - Birdies and 5 bogeys in a hugely consistent week where he also found 54 out of 72 Greens in Regulation
6 - Englishmen have now won the Scottish Open
15 - Million Euros exceeded in career earnings on The European Tour for Rose
2 - Runner-up spots for Broberg now following 2013 Alfred Dunhill Championship
3 - Number of times the original course record of 66 was bettered this week (Kristoffer Broberg - 65, Rory McIlroy - 64, Felipe Aguilar/Stephen Gallacher - 63)
8 - Birdies in 12 holes today for Gallacher
2 - Times in the last 3 years that Marc Warren has finished third at the Scottish Open
3 - Scots in the top 10 (Warren, Gallacher, Scott Jamieson)
364 - Miles down the road to Royal Liverpool and next week's Open Championship |
LM Photo via Getty Images Making time for silence can make you feel less stressed, more focused and more creative, according to science.
We live in a loud and distracting world, where silence is increasingly difficult to come by ― and that may be negatively affecting our health.
In fact, a 2011 World Health Organization report called noise pollution a “modern plague,” concluding that “there is overwhelming evidence that exposure to environmental noise has adverse effects on the health of the population.”
We’re constantly filling our ears with music, TV and radio news, podcasts and, of course, the multitude of sounds that we create nonstop in our own heads. Think about it: How many moments each day do you spend in total silence? The answer is probably very few.
As our internal and external environments become louder and louder, more people are beginning to seek out silence, whether through a practice of sitting quietly for 10 minutes every morning or heading off to a 10-day silent retreat.
Inspired to go find some peace and quiet? Here are four science-backed ways that silence is good for your brain ― and how making time for it can make you feel less stressed, more focused and more creative.
1. Silence relieves stress and tension.
Florence Nightingale, the 19th century British nurse and social activist, once wrote that “Unnecessary noise is the most cruel absence of care that can be inflicted on sick or well.” Nightingale argued that needless sounds could cause distress, sleep loss and alarm for recovering patients.
It turns out that noise pollution has been found to lead to high blood pressure and heart attacks, as well as impairing hearing and overall health. Loud noises raise stress levels by activating the brain’s amygdala and causing the release of the stress hormone cortisol, according to research.
An unpublished 2004 paper by environmental psychologist Dr. Craig Zimring suggests that higher noise levels in neonatal intensive care units led to elevated blood pressure, increased heart rates and disrupted patient sleep patterns.
Just as too much noise can cause stress and tension, research has found that silence has the opposite effect, releasing tension in the brain and body.
A 2006 study published in the journal Heart found two minutes of silence to be more relaxing than listening to “relaxing” music, based on changes in blood pressure and blood circulation in the brain.
2. Silence replenishes our mental resources.
In our everyday lives, sensory input is being thrown at us from every angle. When we can finally get away from these sonic disruptions, our brains’ attention centers have the opportunity to restore themselves.
The ceaseless attentional demands of modern life put a significant burden on the prefrontal cortex of the brain, which is involved in high-order thinking, decision-making and problem-solving.
As a result, our attentional resources become drained. When those attention resources are depleted, we become distracted and mentally fatigued, and may struggle to focus, solve problems and come up with new ideas.
But according to attention restoration theory, the brain can restore its finite cognitive resources when we’re in environments with lower levels of sensory input than usual. In silence ― for instance, the quiet stillness you find when walking alone in nature ― the brain can let down its sensory guard, so to speak.
3. In silence, we can tap into the brain’s default mode network.
The default mode network of the brain is activated when we engage in what scientists refer to as “self-generated cognition,” such as daydreaming, meditating, fantasizing about the future or just letting our minds wander.
When the brain is idle and disengaged from external stimuli, we can finally tap into our inner stream of thoughts, emotions, memories and ideas. Engaging this network helps us to make meaning out of our experiences, empathize with others, be more creative and reflect on our own mental and emotional states.
In order to do this, it’s necessary to break away from the distractions that keep us lingering on the shallow surfaces of the mind. Silence is one way of getting there.
Default mode activity helps us think deeply and creatively. As Herman Melville once wrote, “All profound things and emotions of things are preceded and attended by silence.”
4. Getting quiet can regenerate brain cells.
Silence can quite literally grow the brain.
A 2013 study on mice, published in the journal Brain, Structure, and Function, involved comparing the effects of ambient noise, white noise, pup calls and silence on the rodents’ brains. Although the researchers intended to use silence as a control in the study, they found that two hours of silence daily led to the development of new cells in the hippocampus, a key brain region associated with learning, memory and emotion. |
Question:
I pay child support for a child I had with a woman I briefly dated.
When a paternity test revealed I was the father I stepped up and took on the responsibilities as a dad.
With it came an order for child support that takes away almost half of my monthly income, which already was small to begin with.
If I were to take this back to court for a child support modification, would there be a good chance that my payments would be reduced?
Answer:
I am unable to give you legal advice on divorce. I can only give general divorce help for men, though, my knowledge is based on Missouri paternity laws where I am temporarily permitted to practice. Please be advised that I am not certain as to the underlying facts in your case, but can only speculate based upon the information that you have provided to me.
In your case, it is unclear as to whether an administrative order was filed for child support or whether a petition for child support was filed with the family law division in your specific county.
Presuming your child support was awarded through a paternity action in the family law division, then you would have to bring a motion to modify the amount, which can be done if you can show that there are a new set of circumstances that are so substantial and continuing that they render the current award unreasonable or that the numbers in the child support guidelines have changed to cause a 20% reduction in the original award.
How Much Should You Be Paying? Child Support Calculators
At this juncture there is no way to predict whether you would be granted a modification, as I would have to see the original calculations presented to the court as well as additional relevant information in order to determine whether a court would even entertain a modification in your case.
Remember, I am unable to provide you with anything more than divorce tips for men. Consult with a local divorce lawyer for specific legal advice on divorce and child support laws.
To arrange an initial consultation to discuss divorce rights for men with a Cordell & Cordell attorney, including Jennifer de Lyon Stralka, a St. Louis divorce lawyer, contact Cordell & Cordell Law Firm. |
Then the wanderer Vacchagotta went to the Blessed One and, on arrival, exchanged courteous greetings with him. After an exchange of friendly greetings & courtesies, he sat to one side. As he was sitting there he asked the Blessed One: "Now then, Venerable Gotama, is there a self?"
When this was said, the Blessed One was silent.
"Then is there no self?"
A second time, the Blessed One was silent.
Then Vacchagotta the wanderer got up from his seat and left.
Then, not long after Vacchagotta the wanderer had left, Ven. Ananda said to the Blessed One, "Why, lord, did the Blessed One not answer when asked a question by Vacchagotta the wanderer?"
"Ananda, if I — being asked by Vacchagotta the wanderer if there is a self — were to answer that there is a self, that would be conforming with those brahmans & contemplatives who are exponents of eternalism [the view that there is an eternal, unchanging soul]. If I — being asked by Vacchagotta the wanderer if there is no self — were to answer that there is no self, that would be conforming with those brahmans & contemplatives who are exponents of annihilationism [the view that death is the annihilation of consciousness]. If I — being asked by Vacchagotta the wanderer if there is a self — were to answer that there is a self, would that be in keeping with the arising of knowledge that all phenomena are not-self?"
"No, lord."
"And if I — being asked by Vacchagotta the wanderer if there is no self — were to answer that there is no self, the bewildered Vacchagotta would become even more bewildered: 'Does the self I used to have now not exist?'" |
Nova Scotia and the federal government have reached a final agreement to renew the province's RCMP policing contract for another 20 years.
Federal Public Safety Minister Vic Toews issued a statement saying the agreement gives Nova Scotia increased input into controlling costs and standards.
In October, negotiations between Ottawa and some provinces hit a snag when the federal government said it might withdraw RCMP officers from several provinces and territories in 2014 if a new contract was not reached by the end of November.
At the time, Alberta and Saskatchewan had broken ranks with the other provinces that use the RCMP, signing contracts with Ottawa before the others had finished their negotiations.
On Friday, Nova Scotia Justice Minister Ross Landry issued a statement saying the province's new agreement with Ottawa gives the province more control over costs, staffing levels and building detachments.
The RCMP have 37 detachments and more than 1,500 employees in Nova Scotia. |
Prithviraja III (IAST: Pṛthvī-rāja; reign. c. 1178–1192 CE ), popularly known as Prithviraj Chauhan or Rai Pithora in the folk legends, was an Indian king from the Chahamana (Chauhan) dynasty. He ruled Sapadalaksha, the traditional Chahamana territory, in present-day north-western India. He controlled much of the present-day Rajasthan, Haryana, and Delhi; and some parts of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. His capital was located at Ajayameru (modern Ajmer), although the medieval folk legends describe him as the king of India's political centre Delhi to portray him as a representative of the pre-Islamic Indian power.
Early in his career, Prithviraj achieved military successes against several neighbouring Hindu kingdoms, most notably against the Chandela king Paramardi. He also repulsed the early invasions by Muhammad of Ghor, a ruler of the Muslim Ghurid dynasty. However, in 1192 CE, the Ghurids defeated Prithviraj at the Second battle of Tarain. His defeat at Tarain is seen as a landmark event in the Islamic conquest of India, and has been described in several semi-legendary accounts. The most popular of these accounts is Prithviraj Raso, which presents him as a "Rajput", although the Rajput identity did not exist during his time.
Background [ edit ]
Sources of information [ edit ]
The extant inscriptions from Prithviraj's reign are few in number, and were not issued by the king himself. Much of the information about him comes from the medieval legendary chronicles. Besides the Muslim accounts of Battles of Tarain, he has been mentioned in several medieval kavyas (epic poems) by Hindu and Jain authors. These include Prithviraja Vijaya, Hammira Mahakavya and Prithviraj Raso. These texts contain eulogistic descriptions, and are therefore, not entirely reliable. Prithviraja Vijaya is the only surviving literary text from the reign of Prithviraj. Prithviraj Raso, which popularized Prithviraj as a great king, is purported to be written by the king's court poet Chand Bardai. However, it is full of exaggerated accounts many of which are worthless for the purposes of history.
Other chronicles and texts that mention Prithviraj include Prabandha-Chintamani, Prabandha Kosha and Prithviraja Prabandha. These were composed centuries after his death, and contain exaggerations and anachronistic anecdotes. Both Prabandha-Chintamani and Prithviraja-Prabandha portray Prithviraj as an inept and unworthy king who was responsible for his own downfall. Prithviraj has also been mentioned in Kharatara-Gachchha-Pattavali, a Sanskrit text containing biographies of the Kharatara Jain monks. While the work was completed in 1336 CE, the part that mentions Prithviraj was written around 1250 CE. The Alha-Khanda (or Alha Raso) of the Chandela poet Jaganika also provides an exaggerated account of Prithviraj's war against the Chandelas.
Birth [ edit ]
Prithviraj was born to the Chahamana king Someshvara and queen Karpuradevi (a Kalachuri princess). Both Prithviraj and his younger brother Hariraja were born in Gujarat, where their father Someshvara was brought up at the Chaulukya court by his maternal relatives. According to Prithviraja Vijaya, Prithviraj was born on the 12th day of the Jyeshtha month. The text does not mention the year of his birth, but provides some of the astrological planetary positions at the time of his birth, calling them auspicious. Based on these positions and assuming certain other planetary positions, Dasharatha Sharma calculated the year of Prithviraj's birth as 1166 CE (1223 VS).
Education [ edit ]
The medieval biographies of Prithviraj suggest that he was educated well. The Prithviraja Vijaya states that he mastered 6 languages; the Prithviraj Raso claims that he learned 14 languages, which appears to be an exaggeration. The Raso goes on to claim that he became well-versed in a number of subjects, including history, mathematics, medicine, military, painting, philosophy (mimamsa), and theology. Both the texts state that he was particularly proficient in archery.
Coronation [ edit ]
Prithviraj moved from Gujarat to Ajmer, when his father Someshvara was crowned the Chahamana king after the death of Prithviraja II. Someshvara died in 1177 CE (1234 VS), when Prithviraj was around 11 years old. The last inscription from Someshvara's reign and the first inscription from Prithviraj's reign are both dated to this year. Prithviraj, who was a minor at the time, ascended the throne with his mother as the regent. The Hammira Mahakavya claims that Someshvara himself installed Prithviraj on the throne, and then retired to the forest. However, this is doubtful.
Early reign [ edit ]
During his early years as the king, Prithviraj's mother managed the administration, assisted by a regency council.
Kadambavasa served as the chief minister of the kingdom during this period. He is also known as Kaimasa, Kaimash or Kaimbasa in the folk legends, which describe him as an able administrator and soldier devoted to the young king. Prithviraja Vijaya states that he was responsible for all the military victories during the early years of Prithviraj's reign. According to two different legends, Kadambavasa was later killed by Prithviraj. The Prithviraja-Raso claims that Prithviraj killed the minister after finding him in the apartment of the king's favourite concubine Karnati. Prithviraja-Prabandha claims that a man named Pratapa-Simha conspired against the minister, and convinced Prithviraj that the minister was responsible for the repeated Muslim invasions. Both these claims appear to be historically inaccurate, as the much more historically reliable Prithviraja Vijaya does not mention any such incident.
Bhuvanaikamalla, the paternal uncle of Prithviraj's mother, was another important minister during this time. According to Prithviraja Vijaya, he was a valiant general who served Prithviraj as Garuda serves Vishnu. The text also states that he was "proficient in the art of subduing nāgas". According to the 15th-century historian Jonaraja, "naga" here refers to elephants. However, Har Bilas Sarda interpreted Naga as the name of a tribe, and theorized that Bhuvanaikamalla defeated this tribe.
According to historian Dasharatha Sharma, Prithviraj assumed actual control of the administration in 1180 CE (1237 VS).
Conflicts with Hindu rulers [ edit ]
Nagarjuna [ edit ]
The first military achievement of Prithviraj was his suppression of a revolt by his cousin Nagarjuna, and recapture of Gudapura (IAST: Guḍapura; possibly modern Gurgaon). Nagarjuna was a son of Prithviraj's uncle Vigraharaja IV, and the struggle for the Chahamana throne had led to a rivalry between the two branches of the family.
According to Prithviraja Vijaya, Nagarjuna rebelled against Prithviraj's authority and occupied the fort of Gudapura. Prithviraj besieged Gudapura with a large army comprising infantry, camels, elephants and horses. Nagarjuna fled the fort, but Devabhata (possibly his general) continued to offer resistance. Ultimately, Prithviraj's army emerged victorious, and captured the wife, mother and followers of Nagarjuna. According to Prithviraja Vijaya, a garland made of the defeated soldiers' heads was hung across the Ajmer fort gate.
Bhadanakas [ edit ]
Two verses of Kharatara-Gachchha-Pattavali mention the victory of Prithviraj over the Bhadanakas, while describing a debate between two Jain monks. This victory can be dated to sometime before 1182 CE, when the said debate took place.
According to Cynthia Talbot, the Bhadanakas were an obscure dynasty who controlled the area around Bayana. According to Dasharatha Sharma, the Bhadanaka territory comprised the area around present-day Bhiwani, Rewari and Alwar.
Chandelas of Jejakabhukti [ edit ]
The 1182–83 CE (1239 VS) Madanpur inscriptions from Prithviraj's reign claim that he "laid to waste" Jejakabhukti (present-day Bundelkhand), which was ruled by the Chandela king Paramardi. Prithviraj's invasion of the Chandela territory is also described in the later folk legends, such as Prithviraj Raso, Paramal Raso, and Alha-Raso. Other texts such as Sarangadhara Paddhati and Prabandha Chintamani also mention Prithviraj's attack on Paramardi. The Kharatara-Gachchha-Pattavali mentions that Prithviraj had embarked upon a digvijaya (conquest of all the regions). This appears to be a reference to the start of Prithviraj's march to Jejakabhukti.
The legendary account of Prithviraj's campaign against the Chandelas goes like this: Prithviraj was returning to Delhi after marrying the daughter of Padamsen, when his contingent was attacked by the Turkic forces (Ghurids). His army repulsed the attacks, but suffered serious casualties in the process. Amid this chaos, the Chahamana soldiers lost their way, and unknowingly encamped in the Chandela capital Mahoba. They killed the Chandela royal gardener for objecting to their presence, which led to a skirmish between the two sides. The Chandela king Paramardi asked his general Udal to attack Prithviraj's camp, but Udal advised against this move. Paramardi's brother-in-law ruler of modern-day Orai; Mahil Parihar (who harboured ill-will against Paramardi) instigated the king to go ahead with the attack. Prithviraj defeated Udal's contingent, and then left for Delhi. Subsequently, unhappy with Mahil's scheming, Udal and his brother Alha left the Chandela court. They started serving Jaichand, the Gahadavala ruler of Kannauj. Mahil then secretly informed Prithviraj that Chandela kingdom had become weak in absence of its strongest generals. Prithviraj invaded the Chandela kingdom, and besieged Sirsagarh, which was held by Udal's cousin Malkhan. After failing to win over Malkhan through peaceful methods and losing eight generals, Prithviraj captured the fort. The Chandelas then appealed for a truce, and used this time to recall Alha and Udal from Kannauj. In support of the Chandelas, Jaichand dispatched an army led by his best generals, including two of his own sons. The combined Chandela-Gahadavala army attacked Prithviraj's camp, but was defeated. After his victory, Prithviraj sacked Mahoba. He then dispatched his general Chavand Rai to Kalinjar Fort to capture Paramardi. According to the various legends, Paramardi either died or retired shortly after the attack. Prithviraj returned to Delhi after appointing Pajjun Rai as the governor of Mahoba. Later, Paramardi's son recaptured Mahoba.
The exact historicity of this legendary narrative is debatable. The Madanpur inscriptions establish that Prithviraj sacked Mahoba, but historical evidence indicates that he did not occupy Mahoba or Kalinjar. It is known that Paramardi did not die or retire immediately after the Chauhan victory; in fact, he continued ruling as a sovereign nearly a decade after Prithviraj's death. It appears that Prithviraj only raided Jejakabhukti, and Paramardi regained control of his kingdom soon after his departure from Mahoba. Prithviraj was not able to annex the Chandela territory to his kingdom.
Chaulukyas of Gujarat [ edit ]
The Kharatara-Gachchha-Pattavali mentions a peace treaty between Prithviraj, and Bhima II, the Chaulukya (Solanki) king of Gujarat. This implies that the two kings were previously at war. This war can be dated to sometime before 1187 CE (1244 VS). The Veraval inscription states that Bhima's prime minister Jagaddeva Pratihara was "the moon to the lotus-like queens of Prithviraja" (a reference to the belief that the moon-rise causes a day-blooming lotus to close its petals). Since Bhima was a minor at the time, it appears that Jagaddeva led the campaign on the Chaulukya side.
The historically unreliable Prithviraj Raso provides some details about the Chahamana-Chaulukya struggle. According to it, both Prithviraj and Bhima wanted to marry Ichchhini, the Paramara princess of Abu. Prithviraj's marriage to her led to a rivalry between the two kings. G. H. Ojha dismissed this legend as fiction, because it states that Ichchhini was a daughter of Salakha, while Dharavarsha was the Paramara ruler of Abu at the time. R. B. Singh, on the other hand, believed that Salakha was the head of another Paramara branch at Abu. The Raso also mentions that Prithviraj's uncle Kanhadeva had killed seven sons of Bhima's uncle Sarangadeva. To avenge these murders, Bhima invaded the Chahamana kingdom and killed Prithviraj's father Someshvara, capturing Nagor in the process. Prithviraj re-captured Nagor, and defeated and killed Bhima. This is known to be historically false, as the reign of Bhima II lasted nearly half a century after Prithviraj's death. Similarly, historical evidence suggests Bhima II was a child at the time of Someshvara's death, and therefore, could not have killed him.
Despite these discrepancies, there is some evidence of a battle between the Chahamanas and the Chaulukyas at Nagor. Two inscriptions found at Charlu village near Bikaner commemorate the death of Mohil soldiers at the battle of Nagor in 1184 CE (1241 VS). The Mohils are a branch of the Chauhans (the Chahamanas), and it is possible the inscriptions refer to the battle described in Prithviraj Raso.
Sometime before 1187 CE, Jagaddeva Pratihara signed a peace treaty with Prithviraj. According to Kharatara-Gachchha-Pattavali, a chief named Abhayada once sought Jagaddeva's permission to attack and rob the wealthy visitors from Sapadalaksha country (the Chahamana territory). In response, Jagaddeva told Abhayada that he had concluded a treaty with Prithviraj with much difficulty. Jaggadeva then threatened to have Abhayada sewn in a donkey's belly if he harassed the people of Sapadalaksha. Historian Dasharatha Sharma theorized that the Chahamana-Chaulukya conflict ended with some advantage for Prithviraj, as Jagaddeva appears to have been very anxious to preserve the treaty.
Paramaras of Abu [ edit ]
Abu was ruled by the Chaulukya feudatory Dharavarsha, who belonged to a branch of the Paramara dynasty. Partha-Parakrama-Vyayoga by his younger brother Prahaladana describes Prithviraj's night attack on Abu. This attack, according to the text, was a failure for the Chahamanas. It probably happened during the Gujarat campaign of Prithviraj.
Gahadavalas of Kannauj [ edit ]
The Gahadavala kingdom, centered around Kannauj and headed by another powerful king Jayachandra, was located to the east of the Chahamana kingdom. According to a legend mentioned in Prithviraj Raso, Prithviraj eloped with Jayachandra's daughter Samyogita, leading to a rivalry between the two kings.
The legend goes like this: King Jaichand (Jayachandra) of Kannauj decided to conduct a Rajasuya ceremony to proclaim his supremacy. Prithviraj refused to participate in this ceremony, and thus, refused to acknowledge Jaichand as the supreme king. Jaichand's daughter Samyogita fell in love with Prithviraj after hearing about his heroic exploits, and declared that she would marry only him. Jaichand arranged a swayamvara (husband-selection) ceremony for his daughter, but did not invite Prithviraj. Nevertheless, Prithviraj marched to Kannauj with a hundred warriors and eloped with Samyogita. Two-third of his warriors sacrificed their life in fight against the Gahadavala army, allowing him to escape to Delhi with Samyogita. In Delhi, Prithviraj became infatuated with his new wife, and started spending most of his time with her. He started ignoring the state affairs, which ultimately led to his defeat against Muhammad of Ghor.
This legend is also mentioned in Abu'l-Fazl's Ain-i-Akbari and Chandrashekhara's Surjana-Charita (which names the Gahadavala princess as "Kantimati"). Prithviraja Vijaya mentions that Prithviraj fell in love with the incarnation of an apsara Tilottama, although he had never seen this woman and was already married to other women. According to historian Dasharatha Sharma, this is probably a reference to Samyogita. However, this legend is not mentioned in other historical sources such as Prithviraja-Prabandha, Prabandha-Chintamani, Prabandha-Kosha and Hammira-Mahakavya. The Gahadavala records are also silent about this event, including the supposed Rajasuya performance by Jayachandra.
According to Dasharatha Sharma and R. B. Singh, there might be some historical truth in this legend, as it is mentioned in three different sources. All three sources place the event sometime before Prithviraj's final confrontation with Muhammad of Ghor in 1192 CE.
Other rulers [ edit ]
The Prithviraj Raso mentions that Prithviraj defeated Nahar Rai of Mandovara and the Mughal chief Mudgala Rai, but these stories appear to be pure fiction. No historical records suggest existence of these persons.
The construction of the now-ruined Qila Rai Pithora fort in Delhi is attributed to Prithviraj. According to Prithviraj Raso, Delhi's ruler Anangpal Tomar gave the city to his son-in-law Prithviraj, and was defeated when he wanted it back. This is historically inaccurate, as Delhi was annexed to the Chahamana territory by Prithviraj's uncle Vigraharaja IV. In addition, historical evidence suggests that Anangpal Tomar died before the birth of Prithviraj. The claim about his daughter's marriage to Prithviraj appears to have been concocted at a later date.
War with the Ghurids [ edit ]
Prithviraj's predecessors had faced multiple raids from the Muslim dynasties that had captured the north-western areas of the Indian subcontinent by the 12th century. By the late 12th century, the Ghazna-based Ghurid dynasty controlled the territory to the west of the Chahamana kingdom. While Prithviraj was still a child, in 1175 CE, the Ghurid ruler Muhammad of Ghor crossed the Indus River and captured Multan. In 1178 CE, he invaded Gujarat, which was ruled by the Chaulukyas (Solankis). During its march to Gujarat, the Ghurid army appears to have passed through the western frontier of the Chahamana kingdom, as evident by the destruction of several temples and sacking of the Bhati-ruled Lodhruva. The Prithviraja Vijaya mentions that the activities of the Ghurid army were like Rahu to the Chahamana kingdom (in Hindu mythology, Rahu swallows the Sun, causing a solar eclipse). However, it does not mention any military engagement between the two kingdoms. On its way to Gujarat, the Ghurid army besieged the Naddula (Nadol) fort, which was controlled by the Chahamanas of Naddula. Prithviraj's chief minister Kadambavasa advised him not to offer any assistance to the rivals of the Ghurids, and to stay away from this conflict. The Chahamanas did not immediately face a Ghurid invasion, because the Chaulukyas of Gujarat defeated Muhammad at the Battle of Kasahrada in 1178 CE, forcing the Ghurids to retreat.
Over the next few years, Muhammad of Ghor consolidated his power in the territory to the west of the Chahamanas, conquering Peshawar, Sindh, and Punjab. He shifted his base from Ghazna to Punjab, and made attempts to expand his empire eastwards, which brought him into conflict with Prithviraj.
Prithviraja Vijaya mentions that Muhammad of Ghor sent an ambassador to Prithviraj, but does not provide any details. Hasan Nizami's Taj-ul-Maasir (13th century CE) states that Muhammad sent his chief judge Qiwam-ul Mulk Ruknud Din Hamza to Prithviraj's court. The envoy tried to convince Prithviraj to "abandon belligerence and pursue the path of rectitude", but was unsuccessful. As a result, Muhammad decided to wage a war against Prithviraj.
The medieval Muslim writers mention only one or two battles between the two rulers. The Tabaqat-i Nasiri and Tarikh-i-Firishta mention the two Battles of Tarain. Jami-ul-Hikaya and Taj-ul-Maasir mention only the second battle of Tarain, in which Prithviraj was defeated. However, the Hindu and Jain writers state that Prithviraj defeated Muhammad multiple times before being killed:
The Hammira Mahakavya claims that after defeating Muhammad for the first time, Prithviraj forced him to apologize to the princes whose territories he had ransacked, before letting him go. Muhammad invaded the Chahamana kingdom seven more times, but was defeated each time. However, his ninth invasion succeeded.
claims that after defeating Muhammad for the first time, Prithviraj forced him to apologize to the princes whose territories he had ransacked, before letting him go. Muhammad invaded the Chahamana kingdom seven more times, but was defeated each time. However, his ninth invasion succeeded. The Prithviraja Prabandha states that the two kings fought 8 battles.
states that the two kings fought 8 battles. The Prabandha Kosha claims that Prithviraj captured Muhammad 20 times, but was himself imprisoned during the 21st battle. The Surjana Charita and Prithviraj Raso also enumerate 21 battles.
claims that Prithviraj captured Muhammad 20 times, but was himself imprisoned during the 21st battle. The and also enumerate 21 battles. The Prabandha Chintamani gives the number of battles as 23.
While these accounts seem to exaggerate the number, it is possible that more than two engagements took place between the Ghurids and the Chahamanas during Prithviraj's reign. The early victories mentioned by the Hindu and Jain writers probably refer to Prithviraj's successful repulsion of raids by Ghurid generals.
First battle of Tarain [ edit ]
During 1190–1191 CE, Muhammad of Ghor invaded the Chahamana territory, and captured Tabarhindah or Tabar-e-Hind (identified with Bathinda). He placed it under the charge of Zia-ud-din, the Qazi of Tulak, supported by 1200 horsemen. When Prithviraj learned about this, marched towards Tabarhindah with his feudatories, including Govindaraja of Delhi. According to the 16th century Muslim historian Firishta, his force comprised 200,000 horses and 3,000 elephants.
Muhammad's original plan was to return to his base after conquering Tabarhindah, but when he heard about Prithviraj's march, he decided to put up a fight. He set out with an army, and encountered Prithviraj's forces at Tarain. In the ensuing battle, Prithviraj's army decisively defeated the Ghurids. Muhammad of Ghor was injured and forced to retreat.
Prithviraj did not pursue the retreating Ghurid army, not wanting to invade hostile territory or misjudge Ghori's ambition. He only besieged the Ghurid garrison at Tabarhindah, which surrendered after 13 months of siege.
Second battle of Tarain [ edit ]
A 19th century artist's imagination of the Second battle of Tarain
Prithviraj seems to have treated the first battle of Tarain as merely a frontier fight. This view is strengthened by the fact that he made little preparations for any future clash with Muhammad of Ghor. According to Prithviraj Raso, during the period preceding his final confrontation with the Ghurids, he neglected the affairs of the state and spent time in merry-making.
Meanwhile, Muhammad of Ghor returned to Ghazna, and made preparations to avenge his defeat. According to Tabaqat-i Nasiri, he gathered a well-equipped army of 120,000 select Afghan, Tajik and Turkic horsemen over the next few months. He then marched towards the Chahamana kingdom via Multan and Lahore, aided by Vijayaraja of Jammu.
Prithviraj had been left without any allies as a result of his wars against the neighbouring Hindu kings. Nevertheless, he managed to gather a large army to counter the Ghurids. The 16th century Muslim historian Firishta estimated the strength of Prithviraj's army as 300,000 horses and 3,000 elephants, in addition to a large infantry. This is most likely a gross exaggeration, aimed at emphasizing the scale of the Ghurid victory. Prithviraj's camp, which comprised 150 feudatory chiefs, wrote a letter to Muhammad of Ghor, promising him no harm if he decided to return to his own country. Muhammad insisted that he needed time to confer his Ghazna-based brother Ghiyath al-Din. According to Firishta, he agreed to a truce until he received an answer from his brother. However, he planned an attack against the Chahamanas.
According to Jawami ul-Hikayat, Muhammad assigned a few men to keep the fires in his camp burning at night, while he marched off in another direction with the rest of his army. This gave the Chahamanas an impression that the Ghurid army was still encamped, observing the truce. After reaching several miles away, Muhammad formed four divisions, with 10,000 archers each. He kept the rest of his army in reserve. He ordered the four divisions to launch an attack on the Chahamana camp, and then pretend a retreat.
At dawn, the four divisions of the Ghurid army attacked the Chahamana camp, while Prithviraj was still asleep. After a brief fight, the Ghurid divisions pretended to retreat in accordance with Muhammad's strategy. Prithviraj was thus lured into chasing them, and by the afternoon, the Chahamana army was exhausted as a result of this pursuit. At this point, Muhammad led his reserve force and attacked the Chahamanas, decisively defeating them. According to Taj-ul-Maasir, Prithviraj's camp lost 100,000 men (including Govindaraja of Delhi) in this debacle. Prithviraj himself tried to escape on a horse, but was pursued and caught near the Sarasvati fort (possibly modern Sirsa). Subsequently, Muhammad of Ghor captured Ajmer after killing several thousand defenders, enslaved many more, and destroyed the city's temples.
Death [ edit ]
Coins of Prithviraj Chauhan
Most medieval sources state that Prithviraj was taken to the Chahamana capital Ajmer, where Muhammad planned to reinstate him as a Ghurid vassal. Sometime later, Prithviraj rebelled against Muhammad, and was killed for treason. This is corroborated by numismatic evidence: some coins issued by Prithviraj from the Delhi mint feature his own name as well as the name of Muhammad on the reverse. After Prithviraj's death, Muhammad installed the Chahamana prince Govindaraja on the throne of Ajmer, which further supports this theory. The various sources differ on the exact circumstances:
The contemporary Muslim historian Hasan Nizami states that Prithviraj was caught conspiring against Muhammad, prompting the Ghurid king to order his beheading. Nizami does not describe the nature of this conspiracy.
According to Prabandha-Chintamani by the 14th century Jain scholar Merutunga, Muhammad was enraged when he saw paintings depicting Muslims being killed by pigs in the Chahamana gallery. He then abandoned his plan to let Prithviraj live as a vassal, and ordered his beheading.
by the 14th century Jain scholar Merutunga, Muhammad was enraged when he saw paintings depicting Muslims being killed by pigs in the Chahamana gallery. He then abandoned his plan to let Prithviraj live as a vassal, and ordered his beheading. Prithviraja-Prabandha (dated 15th century or earlier) states that after capturing Ajmer, Muhammad occupied Prithviraj's court. He housed Prithviraj in a building facing this court. One day, Prithviraj asked his minister Pratapasimha for his bow-and-arrows to kill Muhammad. The treacherous minister supplied him the bow-and-arrows, but secretly informed Muhammad of his plan. As a result, Muhammad did not sit at his usual place, and instead kept a statue there. Prithviraj fired an arrow at the statue, mistaking it for Muhammad. As a punishment, Muhammad had him cast into a pit and stoned to death.
(dated 15th century or earlier) states that after capturing Ajmer, Muhammad occupied Prithviraj's court. He housed Prithviraj in a building facing this court. One day, Prithviraj asked his minister Pratapasimha for his bow-and-arrows to kill Muhammad. The treacherous minister supplied him the bow-and-arrows, but secretly informed Muhammad of his plan. As a result, Muhammad did not sit at his usual place, and instead kept a statue there. Prithviraj fired an arrow at the statue, mistaking it for Muhammad. As a punishment, Muhammad had him cast into a pit and stoned to death. Hammira Mahakavya states that Prithviraj refused to eat food after being captured. The noblemen of the Ghurid king suggested that he release Prithviraj, just like the Chahamana king had done to him in the past. But Muhammad igored their advice, and Prithviraj died in captivity.
The 13th-century Persian historian Minhaj-i-Siraj states that Prithviraj was "sent to hell" after being captured. The 16th-century historian Firishta also supports this account. According to historian Satish Chandra, Minhaj's account suggests that Prithviraj was executed immediately after his defeat, but R. B. Singh believes that no such conclusion can be drawn from Minhaj's writings. Viruddha-Vidhi Vidhvansa by the Hindu writer Lakshmidhara claims that Prithviraj was killed on the battlefield.
The Prithviraj Raso claims that Prithviraj was taken to Ghazna as a prisoner, and blinded. On hearing this, the poet Chand Bardai traveled to Ghazna and tricked Muhammad of Ghor into watching an archery performance by the blind Prithviraj. During this performance, Prithviraj shot the arrow in the direction of Muhammad's voice and killed him. Shortly after, Prithviraj and Chand Bardai killed each other.[59] This is a fictional narrative, not supported by historical evidence: Muhammad of Ghor continued to rule for more than a decade after Prithviraj's death.[60]
After Prithviraj's death, the Ghurids appointed his son Govindaraja on the throne of Ajmer as their vassal. In 1192 CE, Prithviraj's younger brother Hariraja dethroned Govindaraja, and recaptured a part of his ancestral kingdom. Govindaraja moved to Ranastambhapura (modern Ranthambore), where he established a new Chahamana branch of vassal rulers. Hariraja was later defeated by the Ghurid general Qutb al-Din Aibak.
Cultural activities [ edit ]
Prithviraj had a dedicated ministry for pandits (scholars) and poets, which was under the charge of Padmanabha. His court had a number of poets and scholars, including:
Jayanaka, a poet-historian who wrote Prithviraja Vijaya
Vidyapati Gauda
Vagisvara Janardana
Vishvarupa, a poet
Prithvibhata, a royal bard (identified as Chand Bardai by some scholars)
Kharatara-Gachchha-Pattavali mentions a debate that took place between the Jain monks Jinapati Suri and Padmaprabha at Naranayana (modern Narena near Ajmer). Prithviraj had encamped there at the time. Jinapati was later invited to Ajmer by a rich Jain merchant. There, Prithviraj issued him a jaya-patra (certificate of victory).
Legacy [ edit ]
Inscriptions [ edit ]
Find-spots of inscriptions from Prithviraj's reign, in present-day India
According to historian R. B. Singh, at its height, Prithviraj's empire extended from Sutlej river in the west to the Betwa river in the east, and from the Himalayan foothills in the north to the foot of Mount Abu in the south. Thus, it included parts of present-day Rajasthan, southern Punjab, northern Madhya Pradesh, and western Uttar Pradesh.
Only seven inscriptions dated to Prithviraj's reign are available; none of these were issued by the king himself:
Barla or Badla inscription, 1177 CE (1234 VS)
Phalodi inscription, 1179 CE (1236 VS): records the grants made by Prithviraj's vassal Ranaka Katiya.
Katiya. Madanpur inscriptions of 1182 CE (1239 VS) Inscription 1: Mentions that Prithviraj invaded the territory of the Chandela ruler Paramardi Inscription 2: Names Prithviraj's father (Someshvara) and grandfather (Arnoraja), and states that he plundered Jejakabhukti (the Chandela territory) Inscription 3: Contains names of Shiva (Tryambaka, Chandrashekhara, and Tripuranta).
Udaipur Victoria Hall Museum inscription, 1187 CE (1244 VS)
Visalpur (Bisalpur near Tonk) inscription, 1187 CE (1244 VS)
In popular culture [ edit ]
Prithviraj Raso version published by the The cover of aversion published by the Nagari Pracharini Sabha
After his death, Prithviraj came to be portrayed as a patriotic Hindu warrior who fought against Muslim enemies. He is remembered as a king whose reign separated the two major epochs of Indian history. His dynasty was classified as one of the Rajput clans in the later period, including in the legendary texts such as Prithviraj Raso, although the "Rajput" identity did not exist during his time. The 16th century legends describe him as the ruler of India's political centre Delhi (rather than Ajmer, which was his actual capital). For example, Abul Fazl's Ain-i-Akbari does not associate the Chahamana dynasty with Ajmer at all. Prithviraj's association with Delhi in these legends further strengthened his status as a symbol of pre-Islamic Indian power.
Prithviraj has been described as "the last Hindu emperor" in eulogies. This designation is inaccurate, as several stronger Hindu rulers flourished in South India after him, and even some contemporary Hindu rulers in northern India were at least as powerful as him. Nevertheless, the 19th century British officer James Tod repeatedly used this term to describe Prithviraj in his Annals and Antiquities of Rajas'han. Tod was influenced by the medieval Persian language Muslim accounts, which present Prithviraj as a major ruler and portray his defeat as a major milestone in the Islamic conquest of India. After Tod, several narratives continued to describe Prithviraj as "the last Hindu emperor".
Memorials dedicated to Prithviraj have been constructed in Ajmer and Delhi. A number of movies and television serials have been made on his life. These include the Hindi movie Samrat Prithviraj Chauhan and the Hindi television serial Dharti Ka Veer Yodha Prithviraj Chauhan (2006–2009). The animated movie Veer Yodha Prithviraj Chauhan (2008) was released in English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu languages. He was also one of the first historical figures to be covered in Amar Chitra Katha (No. 25). Many of these modern retellings depict Prithviraj as a flawless hero, and emphasize a message of Hindu national unity.
References [ edit ]
^ In Datta, Amaresh (1988) The Encyclopaedia Of Indian Literature: Volume Two: Devraj to Jyoti, Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi, India, ISBN 81-260-1194-7 Krishnadatt Paliwal (1988) "Epic (Hindi)"Datta, Amaresh (1988), Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi, India, page 1178 ^ Kaviraj Syamaldas (1886) "The Antiquity, Authenticity and Genuineness of the epic called the Prithviraj Rasa and commonly ascribed to Chand Bardai" Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. 55, pt.1, |
What’s on our teenagers’ minds? In its 59th year, the Las Vegas Sun Youth Forum is intended to answer just that question. The annual gathering, which this year attracted about 1,000 students, provides an opportunity for public high school juniors and seniors to discuss issues of the day in groups of 40 or so students moderated by a community leader. Each group selected one of its participants to reflect on the experience. This column, the last in a series, is written by Caroline Barnhart, a junior at Desert Oasis High School. Her group’s topic was “School Days.” Publisher and Editor Brian Greenspun is turning over his “Where I Stand” column to these young adults, who have something to say.
There are many problems in the world that plague our society. From racial discrimination to terrorist threats to global warming, the list is vast and exhaustive. The Las Vegas Sun Youth Forum serves to bring together hundreds of bright students with divergent viewpoints in hopes that together they might begin to see a solution to some of these issues. I was lucky enough to be one of these students, and luckier still to become the representative of my peers.
Of the topics we discussed, the majority of participants were incredibly passionate about two. The first asked whether transgender students should be allowed to use whichever locker room and/or bathroom they want. The consensus was, absolutely. To deny these students the right to choose is to deny their existence. It is our goal as the upcoming generation to get rid of the stigma surrounding differing gender identities. If we never implement new policies, nothing will ever improve. An alternative that was proposed was to provide gender-neutral bathrooms that would allow students of all genders to be comfortable.
The second topic was sex education and what kind is best for teenagers. Not a single student didn’t agree that teenagers need comprehensive sex education. Several studies advocated by the National Institutes of Health have shown that limited sex education, primarily abstinence-only sex education, is not only ineffective at preventing teenage pregnancy, it contributes to a higher rate of contracting sexually transmitted diseases. Well-rounded education that not only teaches about straight sex, but also gay and lesbian sex, would give teenagers all the information they need to make an informed decision. Why are we withholding information from our teens if the outcome is the opposite of the desired effect?
Regardless of religion, regardless of personal beliefs, the education system has a duty to teach teenagers everything they need to know to make safe choices by hiring competent, well-trained, unbiased teachers. Teenagers are having sex, they’ve been having sex, and they’ll continue to have sex. Why shouldn’t we be making it as safe for them as possible?
Imagine a scenario in which someone has asked, “What’s the safest way to ride a bicycle?” Do you tell them that it’s to not ride one, period? No. You tell them to wear a helmet. Every student agreed, at least to some extent, that the Clark County School District curriculum is incredibly outdated, and that it should be changed to be much more complete and informative. As President John F. Kennedy once said, “The goal of education is the advancement of knowledge and the dissemination of truth.”
To summarize, it was the consensus of the 21 students in the room that transgender teens deserve the right the choose whatever restroom and locker room they use, and that teenagers need extensive sex education to prevent teen pregnancy and STD contraction. Times are changing; new problems and questions are constantly arising that demand attention.
As the younger generation lacks the power necessary to implement the solutions we seek, it becomes the responsibility of the older generation to listen and assist. With persistence, luck and the right opportunities (such as the Sun Youth Forum), it is our hope that the world is left with one less problem. |
Apparent CCTV footage capturing the moment former Russian lawmaker Denis Voronenkov was shot and killed in central Kiev, with his bodyguard injured, has emerged online.
In the video, a man in casual clothes and wearing a hood is seen walking fast, approaching Voronenkov and his bodyguard in the street from behind. When he catches up with the men, he is seen taking out a gun.
The man in darker clothes – the former Russian politician Voronenkov – faces the attacker and then immediately falls to the ground. The camera also captures a girl walking past with her back to the murder scene. She then starts running, apparently scared by gunshots.
The man in lighter clothes – Voronenkov’s bodyguard – is seen throwing himself at the assailant. However, he can also be seen falling to the ground, while the attacker ensures that Voronenkov is dead.
The attacker then tries to flee and turns the corner, out of sight of the video, but the bodyguard is seen firing at him. Seemingly injured and in pain, the bodyguard then checks on Voronenkov, while vehicles drive past, none of them stopping.
The exchange of fire happened in broad daylight on Thursday, in front of the main entrance to the Premier Palace Hotel in central Kiev.
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Ukrainian police later said the former lawmaker was shot twice in the head, and that his bodyguard was injured. The suspected attacker was also injured and later died in hospital, with police saying they've established his identity as a Ukrainian national.
Voronenkov, 45, was a former member of the Russian Communist Party and emigrated from Russia to Ukraine in October last year. He received Ukrainian citizenship in December, having given up his status as a Russian citizen.
The fugitive lawmaker had been on a federal wanted list in Russia and on an international wanted list, charged with masterminding a large-scale fraud.
Less than an hour after the killing, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko called it "an act of Russian state-funded terrorism." Russia has rejected accusations of links to Voronenkov's killing, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov calling any such allegations "absurd." |
The remarkable series of releases from the trio of Keiji Haino, Jim O'Rourke, and Oren Ambarchi continues with I wonder if you noticed "I'm sorry" Is such a lovely sound It keeps things from getting worse , which presents the entirety of an 80-minute set performed at Tokyo's SuperDeluxe in March 2014. While the trio's 2012 performance was divided into two releases (BT 011LP (2014) and BT 012LP (2015)), the single extended performance presented here ranges widely over terrain both new and familiar, from acoustic strings and collective chants to thunderous power trio moves. Throughout all of its transformations, the music here is some of the riskiest and most abstract the trio have yet committed to record. Beginning with chiming percussion reminiscent of Haino's 1995 classic Tenshi No Gijinka , the first side is dominated by Haino's impassioned vocals and performance on the bulgari, a traditional Turkish string instrument. The end of the second side presents a special treat: Haino's first recorded outing on the contrabass harmonica, from which he coaxes bizarre, wheezing textures against a backdrop of spacious bass and percussion. O'Rourke and Ambarchi rarely adopt here the classic rock roles essayed on earlier releases. O'Rourke's bass, which takes center-stage surprisingly often, is sometimes so heavily processed by his array of pedals that it becomes a shifting electronic mass; at other times his roving chromaticism suggests a sort of fuzzed-out free jazz. Ambarchi spends much of the set exploring areas of tumbling free pulse; and even when he locks into a constantly repeated figure on the set's third side, he gestures as much toward Ronald Shannon Jackson's stuttering marching band funk as toward any classic rock moves. When the trio finally moves in the final quarter of the performance into an extended passage of rock riffing, the payoff is immense, as they craft a thudding one-chord epic reminiscent of some of the early Fushitsusha classics before Haino returns to the bulgari, bringing the set back to where it began. Continuing to explore new instrumental and dynamic possibilities while remaining grounded in the trio's previous work, this set also brings with it a unique pleasure for the non-Japonophone listener: for the first time Haino sings many of his metaphysically brooding lyrics in English. Gatefold sleeve with gorgeous photographs by Jim O'Rourke, designed by Stephen O'Malley. Cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin. |
Hub Rules, Hub Applications & More
Product Update, 5 November 2017
Niccolo Maisto Blocked Unblock Follow Following Nov 5, 2017
New week, new update!
Last week we released an update which included a test for splitting premade queues from solo/duo/trio queues. While this was supposed to be a test limited for the weekend, we decided to extend it by a few days to gather more data. The data that we have been seeing is promising and we’ll probably address the results of the test in the next blog post.
But now let’s stop talking about the past and let’s start looking into what’s new!
Hub Updates
This week’s release includes quite a few changes on the hubs. As these are still in a sort of beta phase, we are adding a lot of things based on your feedback.
This release includes:
Hub Applications
Hub owners can now activate applications in the hub settings for private Hubs. This is all done in the Settings tab in your Hub.
When enabled, players will have the ability to apply to join your Hub with the requirements you set out to have in free-text form.
Once an application is submitted, a hub owner or admin can review it and choose if a player should be allowed in to the Hub or not.
Match Management
Starting this week we are introducing our admin tool into the hubs admin system. This means that i) hub owners can now give permissions to manage live and old matches to any role within the hub and ii) users in the hub can have a direct line of contact to the hub’s admins.
As a user if the admin tool is enabled in the hub you will see a “Contact Admin” button in the middle of the match page. Clicking this button opens a live issue into the hubs’ admin section. An admin will now be able to manage the issue from that section and coordinate through the match chat.
As an admin of the hub you can access the match management tools in the admin tab of the hub. Here you can select whether to display issues opened by users directly (Live Issues) or whether to display all matches (Matches).
For each of these issues / matches you can filter by status, team name and assignee and take actions such as restarting a match, setting results or cancelling a match.
This is currently active in ~80% of the open hubs. In the coming days we are going to add it as a default/permanent setting in all newly created hubs and tournaments. Please remember that when talking to an admin through the admin tool you are not talking with a FACEIT representative, but rather with an admin of the hub/tournament you are playing in.
Hub Rules
We’re now making it easier to communicate rules and general information about the Hub.
As the owner of a Hub, you can set your own rules under Settings and Rules.
The Rules page will appear in the Hub navigation menu together with an automatically generated section with details about the settings and policies displayed above the rules text.
Client Update
This week we had a minor client update, while most of the update is not visible (i.e. performance, bug fixing etc.), the one thing that is visible is that the website now knows if you have your client open.
This means that whenever you input a FACEIT url in your browser while the client is running you can now choose to open that section directly on the client instead of the website.
Additionally, based on your feedback we tried to make information about players in the match room more accessible. With the new update profile pages of players in the match room and in the chats are now opened in a modal, which means that you can quickly browse a player’s stats without ever moving from the match room.
If you haven’t tried out the client yet, you can find it through the link below.
New Payment Methods
Over the past two years a lot of you have been asking us to accept more payment methods beyond credit cards and PayPal. We never focused on increasing the amount of revenues for the company, but rather to improve the experience, which is probably why we never improved this before. That said in the last weeks we have been working into organizer subscriptions (i.e. the one currently used by SPL and many other subscriber only in-house leagues) to support organizers directly. This allowed us to upgrade our payment systems and finally add a ton of different payment methods and currencies!
Through this update you can now use over 700 payment methods on FACEIT including local bank cards, ePayment options, mobile subscriptions and prepaid cards. In fact, you could even pay with Bitcoin! Additionally, subscriptions are now priced in local currency when available, making it easier to understand how much you are actually spending.
Other, Misc. and Bug Fixing:
Added grouping for Chrome Notifications, from now on if you get more than one notification of the same type (i.e. message, friend request etc.) while you are offline, you will only see a single notification
Hope you enjoyed the update. See you on FACEIT! |
Just about everyone knows that sending texts while driving is an incredibly bad idea, but a New Jersey court has just decided that not only drivers should be held liable for texting-related accidents. According to a just-released opinion from a New Jersey court of appeals, someone who sends a text message to another person can be held liable for a texting-related accident so long as the sender was aware that the message's recipient was behind the wheel.
We hold that the sender of a text message can potentially be liable if an accident is caused by texting, but only if the sender knew or had special reason to know that the recipient would view the text while driving and thus be distracted.
The court's opinion came out of an earlier texting while driving case: a teenager driving and texting crossed the center line of the road he was on and severely injured a married couple on a motorcycle. The injured couple had already settled with the driver who hit them, but they also sought to charge the girl who sent the driver a message with negligence, saying that she knew she was texting someone who was driving and thus knew she was engaging in distracting and unsafe behavior.
However, in this case, the plaintiffs weren't able to prove that the girl sending the text to her boyfriend actually knew he was driving, so she isn't being charged. However, the court found the argument intriguing enough that it will consider the responsibility of the sender in text message accident cases going forward:
We affirm the trial court's order dismissing plaintiffs' complaint against the sender of the text messages, but we do not adopt the trial court's reasoning that a remote texter does not have a legal duty to avoid sending text messages to one who is driving.
So while the defendant managed to escape prosecution, future texters in New Jersey might not be so lucky. That said, it looks like the court's opinion is worded such that this shouldn't place a burden on innocent texters — a remote sender only has a "limited duty" to those sharing the road with drivers using their phones. "One should not be held liable for sending a wireless transmission simply because some recipient might use his cell phone unlawfully and become distracted while driving," the court determined. Additionally, this isn't a formal law, but more an admission that New Jersey will consider future prosecution of people who sent texts to someone who caused an accident. Still, regardless of the legal implications, it's definitely something worth considering when you're firing off messages to your friends — if you know they're behind the wheel, it might be smart to just send them later. |
Spilling the beans. Lots of them, reporting by Joel Greenberg:
On Tuesday, Israeli newspapers were filled with reports from unnamed military officials, charging that sacks of chemicals, including sulfuric acid, had been loaded onto flotilla vessels with the aim of using the materials against Israeli soldiers. The reports, citing military intelligence sources, said that some activists had spoken in preparatory meetings of their desire to “shed the blood” of soldiers and had threatened to kill those who might board their vessels. “Coming to kill,” said a headline in the Maariv newspaper over a photo of one flotilla ship.
“The State of Israel, with all its army, security services and everything it has is going against a bunch of 20 non-governmental organizations,” Feiler added. “Really, it’s ridiculous.”
yep. They even tattle on the PM’s office for their Hasbarapocalypse–pinkwashing hoax.
A spokesman for Netanyahu said the intern had acted without authorization.
Bwaaaaaaaahh. And the US boat has not even set sail yet. What audacity!
Annie Robbins has done volunteer work for the US Boat to Gaza’s communications team in the U.S. |
In the last several months there have been reports in medical journals about an impending shortage of primary care physicians. This spring in the health policy journal Health Affairs, researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia and the federal Department of Health and Human Services published a study that projected a generalist physician shortage of 35,000 to 44,000 by the year 2025. The researchers based their figures on current physician usage patterns and did not take into account increases that might occur because of rising access to health care.
The news got worse in September, when The Journal of the American Medical Association published a study showing that just 2 percent of graduating medical students are choosing to enter general internal medicine. The students surveyed were concerned in part by what they perceived to be a more difficult personal and professional lifestyle, compared with other fields. They felt that the paperwork and charting required of primary care physicians were more onerous, and they were not eager to care for the chronically ill in a health care system that focuses on acute care.
The potentially devastating public health implications of both of these reports rippled out into the medical community. Last month in an official statement, the American Medical Association vowed to support financial incentives for medical students who choose to go into primary care.
What are the consequences of these projected shortages for patients? According to the Health Affairs report, there are about 75 generalist physicians for every 100,000 individuals. By 2025, when the population will have grown by 18 percent and the number of individuals over age 65 by 73 percent, either primary care doctors will be seeing many more patients than they do now, or several million people will be without a primary care doctor, no matter how accessible health care might be for the rest.
Strike one.
But a recent survey indicates that the primary care crisis may not be looming on the horizon; it may already be at our back door.
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The Physicians’ Foundation, a nonprofit organization that supports physicians’ work with patients, last month published the results of a survey on current medical practice conditions in the United States. Some 12,000 doctors responded, the vast majority of whom were primary care physicians.
Nearly half of them said they planned in the next three years to reduce the number of patients they see or to stop practicing altogether. While these doctors rated patient relationships as the most satisfying aspect of practice, over three-quarters felt they were at “full capacity” or “overextended and overworked.”
Only one-third felt they had the time to fully communicate with and to treat all patients, and 60 percent felt that paperwork demands resulted in less time spent with patients.
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The primary care crisis raises questions not just about future access but about current morale.
“There was a tremendous amount of disenchantment, frustration, all bordering around one thing,” Tim Norbeck, the executive director of the Physicians’ Foundation, said of the survey. "Doctors feel they can’t spend enough time with their patients because of the paperwork and red tape hassles.”
Mr. Norbeck added: “Physicians went into medicine to spend more time with their patients, and that time has just been eroding. There’s serious reason to believe that there won’t be enough doctors to cover people sooner than we thought.”
Strike two.
I won’t envy Mr. Obama as he steps into the White House in January. Any attempt to make health care more accessible will be doomed to failure without an adequate number of primary care physicians and a strong primary care system. The situation in Massachusetts should be a wake-up call. Since a landmark law was enacted in 2006 requiring health insurance for nearly all residents, the state has struggled to provide primary care to the estimated 440,000 newly insured.
Mr. Obama and his team may find ways to give more Americans access to the waiting room, but what if there’s no doctor on the other side of the door? The crisis in primary care must be addressed before any real change can occur; otherwise, the flood of new patients may instead turn out to be a final strike for our ailing health care system.
And at that point for all of us, doctors and patients, the game would be over. |
According to the most recent statistics compiled by the Egyptian Environment Agency and published in 2009, Cairo produces up to 14,000 tons of municipal waste per day. About 60 percent of this waste — or 8,000 tons– is collected, managed and disposed of by the zabaleen, a good portion of the whom are based in Manshiyet Nasser, on the Moqattam slopes.
Zabaleen are self-employed garbage men who collect garbage from urban areas, take it back to their place of residence, sort it out, and then personally sell, recycle, or dispose of it. In the process, the majority of Cairene trash piles up in the zabaleen’s neighborhoods until it can be handpicked and disposed of — meaning they have their thumbs on the pulse of the city’s waste management problems.
So it was of major irritation to members of the Spirit of Youth — an NGO formed by Manshiyet Nasser residents and garbage collectors several years ago to represent the zabaleen and ensure the maintenance of their residences — when Morsy’s “Clean Homeland” campaign coordinators ditched their meetings and ignored their calls for discussions and ideas on how to address the city’s severe waste problems.
“[The campaign] is political propaganda,” says Ezzat Naiem, director of the Spirit of Youth. “They don’t really want to fix Egypt’s waste problems, or discuss how to dispose of the mountains of waste that ends up in zabaleen villages, they want pictures of young Egyptians with brooms for the campaign.”
Weeks ago, president Morsy pledged to fix the country’s garbage problems within 100 days, after which young Egyptians could be seen cleaning the streets for several days.
But despite the streets of Cairo being considerably dirty and in need of a good broom, the main problems are actually with the city’s waste management infrastructures and disposal facilities.
Aside from the 8,000 tons of trash collected by the Zabaleen, the remaining 6,000 tons is supposed to be disposed of by multinational firms that were hired a decade ago.
But over the past couple of years, escalating reports show that garbage trucks have been dumping garbage all around the Cairo ring road, in the desert (often around archaeological sites), and in rural irrigation canals.
Last week Egypt Independent reported on the irrigation canals of Abu Sir, which were shown to be completely blocked and polluted, creating health concerns and damaging agriculture.
Additionally, since the slaughter of Egypt’s pigs in 2009 (due to the swine flu craze), the zabaleen no longer want to collect organic waste because it can no longer be fed to their pigs. Now, they rummage through their collections before returning home, resulting in small piles of garbage scattered all over Cairo’s streets.
Many other severe but smaller scale problems also exist, such as the continuous disposal of hazardous waste into normal waste bins.
“This is the reality of Cairo’s waste problems, and we have the plan and the workforce to fix it,” adds Naiem.
The Spirit of Youth, founded in 2004, was originally setup to represent the zabaleen. However, they have since established a syndicate for Workers in Cleaning, Beautification and Protection of the Environment, and have formally registered 38 companies consisting of groups of zabaleen individuals — meaning they can be hired and required to pay taxes.
Also, according to Naiem, there are currently about 150,000 zabaleen workers that are active and willing to clean Egypt.
So, campaign silence aside, what’s stopping them?
Currently Egypt’s zabaleen are self-funded, and make the majority of their money from recycling goods, or private collection arrangements with specific buildings throughout Cairo.
Naiem’s proposition to the Morsy campaign is to divide up polluted areas into districts and allocate the zabaleen accordingly. Each family of each building could then be required to pay LE5 per month to have the garbage picked up personally from outside their apartment, which translates into serious funds for the Zabaleen.
“With that sort of money, the Zabaleen could personally separate the garbage, recycle what they can, and then send the organic waste to compost sites and the remaining waste to the appropriate facilities — which they do already, but lack finances and motivation to tackle the problem properly,” he says.
Naiem also believes that Egypt should cancel the contracts of the multinational companies, which cost millions of pounds, and reinvest that money into developing further waste disposal facilities.
“Multinational companies can’t function without proper law enforcement and infrastructure, which there isn’t now and will take a very long time to establish,” says Naiem. “Once we have a proper system in place run by the zabaleen that is feasible and works, then we can begin discussions on developing and improving the macro infrastructure.”
But so far, no practical, long-term plans have been provided by the “clean homeland” campaign as of yet.
In a statement to Egypt Independent following the campaign’s initial days, Ali Shelby, a campaign supervisor, said that they planned to follow the Turkish model for waste management, and fix the mixed system created by the old regime that combined the Zabaleen with multinational waste management companies.
But Naiem maintains that Egypt doesn’t have the money or the same issues that Turkey did, and that meetings with the Morsy campaign have been ditched, and follow up calls ignored. “If they were serious, they would at least sit down for discussions and listen to what we have to offer,” he adds.
Waleed El Senussi, a chief coordinator of the campaign, with who the zabaleen were initially in contact with, declined to comment. |
Lead singer Matt Thiessen and guitarist Matt Hoopes chat on a wide array of topics, including the band’s fresh new album Air for Free, redefining Relient K at this point in their career, and what the future holds.
So are you still basking in the Cavaliers title glow?
Matt Thiessen: It’s been weird. I don’t know. How do you embrace it? It’s almost one of those things where now that you have it, you’re like, “What do I do with all this happiness that I have?” Yeah, it’s good, but kind of chill.
Matt Hoopes: I was so nervous watching Game 7. It was such a joy in my heart, that moment. It’s been amazing, yeah. We’re really, really, really happy for them.
Since you wrote the Browns a song with “Mrs. Hippopotamuses,’” is there going to be a Cavs song next?
Thiessen: There actually are some old Cavs songs I put on my MySpace a long time ago when MySpace was a thing. I saw some people tweeting lyrics from one of the songs the other day, and I thought it was funny that it was still somehow out there. I don’t know. I might be done with sports songs for a little bit. I actually have a song called “Sports,” but it doesn’t mention any teams.
I bet you’re glad you’re not in Ohio this week with the RNC Convention in Cleveland.
Hoopes: Yeah, my parents were watching and felt pretty fearful for a national tragedy.
Thiessen: Oh, wow. Yeah, we’ll see what happens. The hotel rooms are all booked up around where we’re from. My wife’s dad was trying to get a hotel in Akron, and he’s like, “Is Jesus Christ himself coming to Akron? What’s going on?” Then we’re like, “Oh, it’s the Convention. It’s just Donald Trump.” Oh my goodness.
So I think this new record is the most eclectic one you’ve done. It’s got the quirky songs, the love songs, the spiritual songs, the emotionally heavy hitting songs, and somehow you’re able to make that come together to encompass all the different faucets Relient K has been over the years. What was that like, just pulling everything together and making it gel like that?
Thiessen: I didn’t really do it on purpose. We spent a long time working on the record, so I guess a lot of different songs came out. To that end, I felt like they all grouped together to go on this thing. That’s cool that you think they all work together like that. That’s nice.
Hoopes: I actually agree with you, Jonathan. It feels like a lot of the songs really do make sense in context. There are these three and four song pockets of the record that seem to make sense, but then for a lot of them it oddly does make sense as a whole somehow someway. That was mainly not as thought out as one would guess, but we’re happy with how it came together.
It was funny. Someone today I saw on Twitter was asking about our song “Runnin’” on the new record, which kind of has a piece from the “Deathbed” song. He was like, “Was that coincidence that these are both track 14?” I was like, “Oh man, we didn’t even plan on that.”
Then he also said something about another song being connected to “Sahara” off of our Forget and Not Slow Down record. It was a funny interaction. I was like, I wish it was that thought out. But no, it just kind of happened. We’re just proud of it.
The last record, Collapsible Lung, got more of a mixed reaction from the fans, and then in between this record and that record you also did the Mmhmm 10th anniversary tour, which is probably regarded as your most successful and best record. Did either of those two events have any bearing on where you decided to go with this record?
Thiessen: Sure. I feel like we’ve been following a pretty safe path ever since releasing the Collapsible Lung record. The 10th anniversary tour was really fun to do, and making an album was obviously the next step after releasing the last one. We took a little while to do it. I don’t know if that helped separate the last album from this album, taking some time.
Hoopes: I think everything you do as a person creates a path that you end up on and where you end up at. Especially as a band and as the scope of our career goes, yeah, I think both those things are the reason we’re here where we’re at today. It’s the reason why our album sounds the way it does.
Collapsible Lung was an interesting time, too. It does seem like a lot of our fans, even from the initial scowling toward it, have really warmed up to it overall. Like, “Oh, there are actually some pretty good songs on there. I maybe was too quick to be angry about this.”
Thiessen: We were going for that with the whole album. We wanted to upset people and surprise people, try hard in some places and really not try at all in other places, and let other people take the wheel just to see what that would turn into. It was an experiment. I like it. I try not to talk poorly about it, but we definitely wanted to make a different record this time around.
With Relient K being just the two of you now, has that changed a lot with the way the band operates?
Thiessen: Not really.
Hoopes: It’s kind of been the underlying story of the last three years.
Thiessen: Even longer than that, I would say.
Hoopes: We finally decided to make that part of the story. We’re back. We’re doing this. We’re excited about this project and also about the band, and the band is now Matt and Matt plus whatever friends we have. We’ve got some good friends, so it’s been good.
I know you worked with Mark Lee Townsend again on this record. What was that like, hooking back up with him? Did you guys bring in any of those other good friends you were talking about to help out with any of this stuff?
Thiessen: Yeah, for sure. Our old drummer, Dave Douglas, came down to Nashville and played on maybe half the songs. I don’t have a count in my head right now. Then our friend Tom Breyfogle, who lives here in Nashville and has a band called Birds in the Airport, he’s actually been playing bass live with us. He plays drums on the other half of the record. Then Mark Lee Townsend was basically the bass player in the band.
That was from the get-go of forming these songs, and that was a really fun experience. Mark’s never been in the band before. This was the first time it felt like there wasn’t someone he was kicking out to step in and have a role, and that changed everything. Mark’s a Beatles nut, so you’re going to hear Beatles-esque basslines throughout Relient K stuff, which is pretty fun for me to be able to experience that.
This record seems to be your most heavily piano-based, or at least certainly up there. Was that a big part of the songwriting for you?
Thiessen: Yeah. We tried to do a guitar heavy, up-tempo rock record at the beginning of the process. It didn’t feel right, so we abandoned the idea, and we have some cool songs left in the chest for the future.
I just banged out a lot of these songs on the piano at my house, showed them to Hoopes, and then we proceeded with the record when there was enough of them. So yes, it was piano, and just chilling and finding free time to do stuff, which was weird because I didn’t have to finish at any time. I could take my time on certain songs.
I really dragged my feet on a lot of it, but that was a fun thing for me to be able to exercise, being at home and writing the record whenever I wanted to. At the end of the whole thing, I had some people looking me in the eye and saying, “Matt, it’s time to finish your album already.” That went on for a couple months before it was done. So I apologize for taking too long, but it was fun to do.
Hoopes: I feel like this album should be released now. It does feel like the summertime. It does feel like this is the right time. It’s allowed us a minute to step back and make this thing that is Relient K that we started in high school, to grab it by the horns again.
Thiessen: By the udders.
Hoopes: Yeah, by the udders. To take a step back and make this want we want, you know? Tour the way we want to tour and make albums the way we want to make albums. I think that was a lot of fun.
It’s funny. I was describing this album to a friend earlier today. I keep saying it’s like piano-based rock music with surf guitars [laughs]. I don’t know exactly how to say that, but I definitely approached the guitar from a different perspective because I liked where the piano was at. I wanted to keep the piano and still focus on that, but approach guitars not from we need a wall of 17 guitar tracks as much as how can we make this song better, you know?
It does feel like a summer record because there are a lot of outdoorsy references, and a lot of animal references as well. Was there a theme you were going for with all those?
Thiessen: It became easier to do, I guess, as it went along. The idea of having a cat, I didn’t have a cat and I wanted to write about the cat, so it was good. That made into referring to a cat in a couple other songs, and even having a song called “Cat.” So really the cat showed up in the ukulele song “Sleepin’” and then he got to be on the rest of the record, because that song was early.
I do like animals. I’ve been feeding birds a lot lately, figuring out which kinds they are and what they sing about. All that stuff. That’s fun. I’ve been writing a lot of solo songs that are all about the woods and nature and that sort of thing. It’s something that’s appealing to me in music.
Is that how you arrived at the concept and title of Air for Free?
Thiessen: Actually, that was a bit of a weird thing. You know that Goo Goo Dolls song where he’s like, “Do you wanna get married?” Do you remember that one? What song is that one?
Hoopes: “Slide.”
Thiessen: “Slide.” So I had this song and I was singing along. I was like [singing], “Marry me.” It was so cheesy, and then I thought of that Goo Goo Dolls song. I thought I would try and rhyme the words and come up with something different. So “Air for Free” came out of that.
The song took shape out of other ideas, too. Like, the second verse had to do more with “Air for Free” than the first verse did, because “Air for Free” didn’t exist when the first verse was written. It was fun.
The first song you released from this project was “Look on Up,” which ended up not making the final cut of the album. What was it like deciding to keep that song off?
Thiessen: I think originally when we released it, the idea was not to put it on the record. Then I think we may have thought it would be on the record, and then we ended up deciding to not put it on the record.
Hoopes: Yeah, it was a very haphazard decision. There was a lot of back and forth about it.
Thiessen: The writing process for that one was different. It wasn’t necessarily written for Relient K, and all the other songs were definitely written for this album. I think that was the biggest difference.
I feel like this album experiments more with song structures than at any point you have in the past. A lot of songs feel like a couple different songs in one. You got some different movements here and there. What was it like playing around with that kind of stuff?
Thiessen: I think whenever you deviate from the norm, it gets a bit annoying. You annoy a listener that’s trying to listen to a regular old pop song. Sometimes what I want to do with music is make it a little bit annoying, or have it jut out a little it. Messing with the arrangement can do that, or just doing anything can screw it up, really. I feel like that’s all over the record.
Hoopes: It almost became a theme of like what you were talking about, the movements within the songs. It just always felt right. It felt like it was bringing a new energy to a song that was halfway done by taking a 90-degree left turn. That felt exciting to me.
When we were putting these songs together and coming up with, OK, what does the tempo change need to be here? What does the key change need to be here? How will the feel of the song drastically change? That was really exciting to me, as far as putting this album together.
And honestly, I think it’s fun to listen to. I enjoy when bands do that. The theme that we had was let’s make ourselves happy. Let’s do music that we feel is important and feels important to us, and feels exciting and fun. I feel like in some ways at least we’ve accomplished that goal.
You’ve done some narrative-based songwriting in the past, most notably on “Deathbed,” and that pops up a little bit on this record as well. You got something like “Runnin,’” which has those different movements we were just talking about. Does that change then how you approach writing a song, if you know you’re going for more of that narrative-based approach?
Thiessen: Honestly, that example in “Runnin,’” I was probably least in favor of putting that there. The song existed from a long time ago. It sounded cool there, and I wasn’t opposed to it 100 percent, but I had to be convinced to do it, mainly because I think it was hard for me to switch to a narrative there.
I like that idea in songwriting. I’d like to write a book some day. I don’t know if I ever could, but narratives are cool and I like to read. Songwriting, some days I just don’t want to think about it as a thing anymore [laughs].
Have you ever tossed around the idea of doing a concept record?
Thiessen: Yeah.
Hoopes: It’s definitely been talked about. Mark, who produced this record, that’s something he’s brought up since probably 2002.
Thiessen: That “Deathbed” song was intended to actually turn into a concept record. The middle song from “Runnin,’” the orphan song, was supposed to be the first track on it. So maybe we’ll finish it, yeah.
Hoopes: Who knows? It’s something he was not only constantly suggesting, this concept album type thing, but also he was the one very much in favor of putting those three movements together. He was really driving that ship, as far as making sure that that happened.
Thiessen: And that’s what you want in a producer. You want a producer that’s excited about something and sees it as something different than maybe what you see it as. It’s fun to follow him.
But yeah, the concept record kind of reminds me of Sufjan Stevens when he said he was going to write about all the states, right? We just haven’t finished it yet, but maybe he’ll write about all 50 states and maybe we’ll finish it. I bet he’s got a lot of states done. He probably just wants to release it all at once. He wants to do an album, right?
Hoopes: An album per state, yeah.
Thiessen: That’s an undertaking.
Another song I really enjoyed and was struck by on the record was “God,” which almost feels like a sequel to “For the Moments I Feel Faint” in some ways. I was curious what do you think has changed for you on that journey over these last 15 years?
Thiessen: Not a lot has changed, yeah. I like going to church. I enjoy it a lot. I don’t go every week. Matt goes every week, don’t you?
Hoopes: Yeah, I go a lot.
Thiessen: Matt takes his kids, and that’s good. Switchfoot is a really good example in this world, and we’re excited to be going on tour with them. That “God” song is cool. It was hard to put on the record, because I didn’t want anyone thinking we were shoving anything, but I think it comes across pretty all right.
Hoopes: I think also the older you get, the more of life you live through, you realize that your faith, your spirituality, your overall view of what’s important in this time that we have on this planet, is much more complex than can be fit into a song, or into an album even, and also that music is in and of itself important.
Music is one of those conduits that allows for expressing some of those feelings. I think if anything we felt there was some pressure taken off. It’s not like you have to have your entire theology spelled out in an album, but it can be a cool expression here and there for sure.
Thiessen: Mark Townsend, before every preproduction day, basically said words over the record and prayed. When you make music, you’re creating something out of nothing. So to do it and give it as gifts, and as you’re doing it embrace it as it’s not for us but to worship and to make music for the joy of making music, when you do it with that attitude, something cool will come out of it. Mark knew that when we started, and I really appreciated him being that leader in that way.
You came up in the CCM market on the first few records, and then were in the major label world for a bit after that. Have you ever felt pressure, either externally or internally, to include or exclude certain subjects on records, or anything like that?
Thiessen: You can start with swearing, I suppose. I try not to swear in songs. I’ve pushed the envelope, I’m sure, to a certain extent on subject matter. I remember writing a song that Matt Hoopes’ mom didn’t like a long time ago, and then more recently we’ve probably gotten some pushback from Collapsible Lung a little bit.
I don’t know. There’s nothing that I want to say that I don’t get to say, I guess. You know, Blink-182, when they can use all the words, you’re like, “Yeah! That’s cool [laughs].”
Hoopes: That’s funny. Yeah, I think it’s mainly been a good thing for us. It’s helped us realize what’s important to us and what is the mark we want to leave on the world. For us, being able to focus on positivity, on things that are important to us, has been a help and not a hindrance. We don’t view it as a set of rules as much as just being able to take a step back.
Thiessen: We have 10-year-old fans. I mean, that’s a cool thing to have. I embrace that and I’m glad that we have them, and younger. When we write songs, I guess we hope that they’ll like them. Sometimes they may not understand everything, but yeah.
One of the cool deviations you throw in on the record is “Empty House,” where you do some Bon Iver/Kanye style vocal effects. What was it like playing around with that?
Thiessen: The interesting part, I suppose, is I didn’t play around with it very much. I didn’t know what to sing over the song, so I hit record and what I did is what the song is, what the one lead vocal is in the song. And then I was like, all right. I’m done. I threw an Auto-Tuner on it and some effects I have on my computer. I was like, great. It’s done.
Matt actually did like it. I thought it was just one of those joke songs I would have around that I would play every once in a while for a friend or I would go back and visit. But Matt thought it was cool enough to go on the record, so we put some more instruments on it. And that’s it.
Hoopes: “Empty House” is a song that to me is one of my favorites, if not my favorite, on the album. I actually pushed at one point to call the album “Empty House.” The reason for that is the first time I heard that demo Matt is talking about that he made, I remember just feeling it. I remember understanding the emotion he was trying to get across, even though all the lyrics weren’t finished and there’s an Auto-Tune on all the way.
There’s something about that that I had never heard before that I felt was important. I felt like we would lose something if we went back and tried to fix it or polish it up too much. I just thought it was amazing that I could feel the emotion he was trying to put out in whatever way I was feeling it.
I think that makes it important and is an interesting way to do it. It feels bold to me to do that. It feels in some ways the most punk rock thing we could do is to release a piano song with an Auto-Tuner on it and a vocoder, having fun with that type of thing.
Two of my other favorite songs on the record I’ll ask about real quick are “Local Construction” and “Man.” Can you talk about those two a little bit?
Thiessen: Cool. “Man” is funny. I’ve never heard anybody say they like that song before.
Hoopes: I’ve seen it a lot.
Thiessen: Oh, that’s cool. That one, I don’t know what it’s about. It was supposed to be somewhat of a continuation of the last song on Forget and Not Slow Down, called “(If You Want It).” There’s some sort of tie in there, with pirate ships and Peter Pan and all that stuff. But yeah, that was one of the first ones I wrote for the record.
Then, “Local Construction.” We live in Nashville. I like to get around in Nashville. I like to exercise. I’ll go run around and one place I like to go is called Love Circle. It’s this hill you can climb, usually covered in trash, but you can look out and see the entire city and the skyline. Depending on what time of day, you can see the sunrise.
There’s so many cranes out there. You can count them all and it’s fun. Sometimes I get 14, sometimes I’m at 22. You can spot all these cranes making all the construction. It dies down. It gets bigger, and then it gets smaller. But anyways, construction as a metaphor, everybody experiences it. It affects your life, and then there’s what you do in your own life. There was a parallel to making the album, and just being a good guy takes work.
Seeing this construction all the time and all these people working, sometimes I feel bad I’m not out there doing something harder, like jackhammering concrete. I don’t want to do that, but I’m glad that people do it for us. Sometimes they put up huge buildings that block the view, but the building therefore becomes the view and the skyline keeps growing. It’s weird to see it change from season to season. So Nashville is just this flurry of construction.
I’ve always been a big fan of both your Christmas songs and your covers. I was curious have you ever talked about doing any more of either of those?
Thiessen: Always. That’s permanently on the docket, yeah. We probably have another Christmas song to record by now.
Hoopes: That we should definitely do.
Thiessen: “Christmastime in North America,” is that what it is?
Hoopes: Yeah, let’s do that one. We got one more Christmas song coming at you there. Do you have any cover requests?
Ooh, cover requests…
Hoopes: We’re going to put you right on the spot.
Thiessen: We’ll cover it right now.
Hoopes: You can text me later. It’s cool.
I really like your “Sloop John B” cover, so I wouldn’t mind another Beach Boys one.
Thiessen: That’s a good one.
Hoopes: A Beach Boys cover album is something I always wanted to do.
Thiessen: Yeah, I would do a Paul Simon and Beach Boys cover combo. That’d be great.
Hoopes: Either that or we had that idea to do the Nickelback and Smash Mouth cover combo.
Thiessen: That’s kind of evil. I hate to talk negatively, but there were songs on the radio that we just couldn’t stand. We were going to cover all of them and it was going to be really great. None of them were by Nickelback or Smash Mouth, though.
You’ve been busy doing a bunch of different collaborative songwriting on the side. Have you been doing any of that lately?
Thiessen: Yeah, that’s always fun. I got to hang out with Gin Wigmore the other day. She’s really nice. We wrote with my friend, Frank, who has produced Darius Rucker and Brad Paisley. Some really cool country stuff. I’ve been writing with that band COIN. I really like them a lot. They’ve been letting me hang out, meet cool producers and just be in the mix. But yeah, life is an adventure on that front for sure.
Sometimes I like to concentrate on the band, sometimes I like to go on songwriting adventures, and sometimes I like to chill. Right now, I’m working on a project with Adam Young from Owl City. I think it’s called Goodbye Dubai. We’ve kind of tweeted about it before or something. Kids know about it. That’s taking shape and that’s really fun. I fly out to Minnesota next week to keep working on it.
You worked with the Fray on their new record, right?
Thiessen: Yeah, and since then, too. I don’t know where they are with their current endeavor, but I’m excited to hear it. I wrote a couple songs with Isaac that hopefully will come out in the future. They’re really great guys. I know Joe and Isaac the best, but they’re really big personalities. I feel like I can learn so much from hanging out with them for just minutes. It’s cool to get to write with people that I’m a fan of.
At this point in Relient K’s career, you are pretty much self-sufficient. You’re on your own label and more or less run the band all in-house. How have you liked taking on all that workload?
Hoopes: It’s a lot of fun. It doesn’t come without its problems, but I like that we can do whatever we want whenever we want. It’s calling one guy, rather than making sure a team of people agree with what you want to do. I think right now being nimble, being able to switch gears and do whatever you want, is worth a lot. We try to be thankful for where we’re at and what we’re doing.
It’s not without its problems, though. Like for example, we were on the fence about releasing a CD version of this album in general, just making them. We were like, “Are we just putting out waste into the Earth by creating these compact discs?” So right now our compact disc is running a little bit late because of miscommunications between the graphic designer and the printer. Things that are on us to take care of now all of a sudden, and we are not the best at taking care of those things sometimes.
Thiessen: That’s funny. I’m just now finding out about this.
Hoopes: Yeah, it’s just running a little bit late. It was supposed to be here last week and it’s not here yet. So that’s fun. It will come out, though. We will have a compact disc version.
You grew up listening to CDs. I grew up listening to CDs. Is it almost sad, or bittersweet in a way, that you even have to have a discussion these days on whether or not you’re going to make CDs?
Thiessen: No, not to me, just because of the way history has accepted and then rejected different media forms. I don’t shed a tear for VHS. It’s kind of fun to pop one in every once in a while. I don’t have an 8-track player, but I kind of wish I did. That’d be cool. Vinyl’s good. CD’s are fine, if you have a CD player. I don’t know if I have one anywhere.
Hoopes: Yeah, it’s a funny thing. I do understand that in the scope of our career someone might have all our other records on CD and want to finish it.
Thiessen: Yeah, that’s cool. I would want a CD.
Hoopes: I guess that’s fine. Me, personally, do I care if an album that I’m going to get, if they make it on CD or not? No, I don’t care. I don’t think there’s any tears shed on our end.
You already mentioned it, but the big thing you have coming up in the fall is the Switchfoot tour. It was nine years ago since you toured with them last, which was a really fun time. Can you talk about what you have in-store for that tour?
Thiessen: We don’t have much in-store. We’re still trying to figure all that out, but we’re excited to go on it. It’s going to be a lot of shows and should be fun.
Hoopes: Yeah, we’re really excited to hang out with them. We’re really excited to play a lot of these venues and just enjoy doing what we do. I think this is an amazing context to be able to do that, touring with these guys that we love. It’s feels very positive. It feels like the right move for this record.
Thiessen: We’re really appreciative of them taking us out. They’re pretty awesome. Their live show is really great. I think everything they do is really good. I’ve always been a huge fan of their music.
What do you think of their new album?
Thiessen: I haven’t taken it in as deeply as I normally take in their stuff. I really do like everything I’ve heard so far a lot. I’ve just been kind of waiting to learn Relient K songs before I give it the real. I take in singles at a time, so I’ve been listening to the single for a little bit, just getting into that. It’s really good.
Hoopes: Yeah, I really like it. I really like “If the House Burns Down Tonight.” There’s one other track. The one right before that, kind of slower melody. I forget the name of the track.
Yeah, the one where his voice goes up high.
Hoopes: Yeah, I like that one a lot. There’s some really great moments on the record. I’m really excited to hear some of these songs every night pretty much, and we will.
Thiessen: I think we should play a song with them or something.
Hoopes: Yeah, we’ve been talking to them about doing something with them collaboratively at the end of the night.
I remember you did that song “Rebuild” together last time.
Hoopes: Yeah, that was fun.
I know since “Deathbed” is too long, you probably won’t be able to perform it on this tour, but have you ever performed that live with Jon before?
Thiessen: Not live.
Hoopes: I thought we did it at a festival maybe once or twice.
Thiessen: Oh, yeah.
Hoopes: I don’t know, though. I can’t fully remember.
Thiessen: I don’t know how we did it. Maybe he just came up and did it, and more than likely we didn’t have him in our ears. We, like everybody else, heard it, but we didn’t actually hear it [laughs].
Hoopes: Yeah, I don’t know. We’ve still talked about playing “Deathbed” on this tour. I think it’d be fun. The idea of having only the two bands is that we can each play a full set. We can do whatever we want, right?
The main thing in my head right now is how many of these new songs should we subject people to? How many people actually do want to hear some of these new songs? And which new ones and which old ones? There’s so much catalogue to go through. Songs that we think are fun and songs that maybe we’re a little burned on but it makes for a fun night, you know?
Thiessen: We could do an interactive setlist.
Hoopes: Yeah, we always talk about stuff like that. I think that’s probably the main thing that’s on my mind, seeing that we have a lot of songs.
And then plus any time you’re not on a headline tour, you probably want to do less deep cuts that a casual fan might not be familiar with.
Hoopes: Yeah, so it’s an interesting thing. I feel like there’s some bands that I’ll go see and I almost get angry when they play new songs, and then there’s some bands I’ll go see and they play almost all new songs and I love it [laughs]. I’m just trying to decide what type of record this is for us.
I think this record would be really fun to see live, but that’s just me.
Thiessen: No, thank you.
Hoopes: I think we could eventually, but since we’re co-headlining a Switchfoot tour, I don’t know. It would be a bold move.
Thiessen: Play 100 songs in an hour and 10 minutes. It’ll be great.
Hoopes: We’ll try and make it fun for the people who are watching us.
So wrapping this up then, have you planned anything out for after the Switchfoot tour? Has there been any talk of what is next?
Thiessen: Yeah, it’s funny. Our manager tells me sometimes, “So, this should be our last record, right?” I’m like, “No, it’s not. Nobody said that.” He was as surprised as anyone when I said we’ll just make another one. It’ll be fun to make another one. Hopefully, it won’t take as long this time.
Hoopes: I kind of like the idea, going back to what I said earlier about redefining what Relient K is and how we approach it, and the narrative that we’re back and we’re doing stuff. We can call our own shots now. We can release songs at a time. We can release albums whenever we want. We can make videos and do live covers and just have fun with it. I like figuring out what kind of niches we can fill right now, what kind of space we can occupy.
A lot of your contemporaries are starting to wind their careers down. Anberlin a couple years ago, Motion City Soundtrack and Yellowcard this year. What is that like, to see these bands you came up with at the same time, end? Like you were saying, do you see yourselves being able to continue on in the future? Have you given thought to that?
Thiessen: To every action, there is an equal and opposite. You see guys like Andrew McMahon and Kenny from Starting Line doing new things and keeping it fresh. I think Matt and I are very interested in starting some new projects. I’m doing the thing with Adam, and that’s exciting to me. I’m excited for what Stephen Christian from Anberlin is doing with his life, and I’m excited for what all the other guys are going to do after they put their bands on hold for a little bit.
Every band that breaks up or calls it quits is just taking a break until somebody wants them to play bad enough that they get back together. That’s kind of how I always see it. Guns N’ Roses is still touring, right?
Hoopes: Yeah, that’s pretty wild. I always see it more that if we can continue to define it in the way that we want to, then yeah, we don’t have to necessarily end this project. We can just continue to make it whatever we want to make it. And yeah, we’re not going to tour 250 days a year in clubs right now. That’s just not what we’re going to do, but we still are going to play shows and have fun when we do it. So yeah, we’ll just kind of keep doing it. |
A fast-spreading computer virus that ravaged data systems in Europe and the United States earlier this week has again raised questions about whether United States businesses and organizations are prepared for cyber threats.
The new attack came just a month after the massive “Wanna Cry” ransomware campaign that infected computers across the world using tools believed to have been stolen from the NSA.
Ransomware traditionally renders a system unusable and encrypts data, then requires victims to pay money or perform another action to regain access. "But a growing number of security researchers believe that the new malware merely posed as ransomware to cover up its real goal of destroying data, some concluding that Ukraine was the ultimate target."
“We believe that this was an intentionally destructive attack against the Ukrainian economy,” said Charles Carmakal, vice president at Mandiant, a subsidiary of the cybersecurity firm FireEye. “An attack like this will inevitably happen in the United States.”
The new variant of “Petya,” which has been given several names by cybersecurity experts, first hit Ukraine on Tuesday. The attack spread to the country’s government, banking industry, and the international airport in Kiev. It also affected Russia’s largest oil company, Rosneft.
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Later, the malware spread to other areas of Europe and the United States. American pharmaceutical giantMerck, FedEx, and Cadbury all reported disruptions. A hospital in West Virginia is being forced to replace its entire computer system after being struck by the malware.
The malware also stalled operations at the largest terminal at the Port of Los Angeles, prompting localRep. Norma Torres (D-Calif.) to warn of the “massive impact cyber threats pose to our local and national economy.”
The Department of Homeland Security is monitoring the malware developments and working with partners domestically and internationally to manage the damage, according to DHS spokesman Scott McConnell.
“We stand ready to support any requests for assistance,” McConnell said. “Upon request, DHS routinely provides technical analysis and support. Information shared with DHS as part of these efforts, including whether a request has been made, is confidential.”
The virus locks users out of their computers and demands a bitcoin ransom worth $300. But as the virus spread, it quickly became clear that paying the ransom would not recover the files, leading some researchers to conclude that it was in fact a “wiper” — an attack meant to destroy data.
“Fundamentally, this was a wiper campaign,” said Raj Samani, chief scientist and head of McAfee’s Strategic Intelligence Group. “It appears to be a campaign meant for destruction or disruption. To that end, it was successful.”
Some researchers have traced the original infection to a Ukrainian tax software company called MeDoc, which pushed out malicious updates to users. Hackers likely targeted the company, they say, and leveraged it to spread the malicious code. The malware is believed to have spread to other countriesthrough companies doing business in Ukraine that received the software update.
This has led some to conclude that Ukraine was the original target of the malware, fueling speculation that Russia may have been to blame. Moscow is already suspected in cyber attacks against Ukraine’s power grid in 2015 and 2016.
Dalibor Rohac, a research fellow focused on Central and Eastern Europe at the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute, said that such an attack would fit right into Moscow’s playbook.
“That would fit perfectly into the observed pattern of the Kremlin’s behavior, including its constant efforts to see what it can get away with,” Rohac observed. “And if indeed the Kremlin is behind the attack, we should brace ourselves for more of similar moves elsewhere, including in Western Europe … and in the United States — until there is stronger pushback.”
Still, some contend that the attack was more likely exactly what it looked like — malicious code built by cyber criminals to generate a profit.
“There’s not any sort of giant blinking sign pointing to a nation-state actor,” said Kevin Epstein, head of threat operations at cybersecurity company Proofpoint.
The Petya outbreak is the second ransomware campaign to produce global shockwaves in less than two months. Wanna Cry, which broke out in mid-May, infected thousands of machines in over 150 countries and prompting the Trump administration to convene emergency meetings.
Cybersecurity firm Symantec has tied Wanna Cry to a hacker group associated with North Korea.
The viruses both rely on an exploit called “Eternal Blue” that is widely believed to have been developed by the National Security Agency. The hacking tool, which leverages a software vulnerability in Microsoft Windows, was released by the anonymous ShadowBrokers group earlier this year.
The Petya variant stood out because of its use of multiple mechanisms to spread quickly across a network, even reaching machines that had patched the Microsoft “Eternal Blue” vulnerability.
Carmakal said that he was contacted this week by one organization that had seen tens of thousands of its systems affected by the malware.
“You didn’t see that scale of impact with Wanna Cry within single organizations,” Carmakal said.
The latest attack’s spread has slowed down for now, though Carmakal observed that it could take heavily impacted organizations weeks or months to recover their systems.
There is widespread agreement in the security community that global businesses need to step up securing and defending their networks, since these types of attacks are expected to continue.
“It’s a lot of lessons that haven’t been learned from Wanna Cry,” said Amit Serper, a security researcher at Cybereason who discovered a “vaccine” to protect unaffected machines from the latest malware outbreak. “A lot of unpatched machines, a lot of machines without updates.”
“Point number one is, absolutely this is going to happen again,” said Epstein. “We have seen new variants of ransomware spread every two to three days for the last 18 months — and that’s just ransomware.” |
US Government Officials Admit That They Lied About Actual Impact Of Wikileaks To Bolster Legal Effort
from the and-the-truth-comes-out dept
"We were told (the impact of WikiLeaks revelations) was embarrassing but not damaging," said the official, who attended a briefing given in late 2010 by State Department officials.
You may recall that when Wikileaks released those thousands of documents on the Afghan war, the official US government position was that it should be shamed for putting lives in danger and "compromising intelligence sources and methods." It was only months later that Defense Secretary Robert Gates admitted no such thing was true . We're now seeing the same thing with the State Department cable leak. A number of grandstanding officials such as Rep. Peter King and Senator Joe Lieberman have argued that these leaks have seriously harmed US diplomacy. In fact, we heard how Wikileaks should be designated a terrorist organization for all the "harm" it's done to US interests. This was also a common refrain in our comments -- especially when it came to stories about the alleged leaker, Bradley Manning. Over and over we were told he deserves no mercy for harming American interests.So... it seems rather interesting to see that US officials are now admitting that no serious "harm" has been caused by the leaks . In fact, the White House has admitted privately that it" Implicated as chief among the official liars: State Department spokesperson PJ Crowley, who lead the propaganda campaign against Wikileaks for the past few months, claiming "there has been substantial damage," and that "hundreds of people have been put at potential risk." And yet, when Congress asked the State Department to back up those statements, officials told them it really wasn't that big of a deal:Basically, the details show what many of us have said from the beginning. Some of the revelations may be embarrassing, but that's mainly because stuff was hidden that shouldn't have been hidden in the first place. In fact, many of the reports have noted that the cables seemed to only confirm what many people already knew. Of course, that won't change the opinion of the people who have already made up their minds that Wikileaks is, by definition, harmful -- which was the point of the propaganda campaign.
Filed Under: politics, wikileaks
Companies: wikileaks |
The Mexican has a contract with Force India for next season, but the deal depends on his sponsors agreeing fresh commercial terms to continue backing the outfit.
Although there seems little doubt that matters will get sorted for a fresh one-year contract, Perez said at Singapore on Thursday that things had not yet been finalised.
“I was hoping to be able to be in a position to announce my plans for this weekend,” he said. “We have some delays but I really hope before the next race we can definitely announce where I will be racing.”
Perez had been linked with both Williams and Renault, but is understood to have shied away from both because he wants to be a free agent for 2018 – when a Ferrari seat could be available.
When pushed on what his future was likely to be, he reiterated that he saw no reason to leave Force India right now.
“I always say I will be very happy if I can stay where I am,” he explained.
New rules
Perez also later explained that he believed Force India could continue to challenge the big teams next year, despite a major overhaul of the regulations.
“When you look at the past when we had regulation changes for 2014, in my third race [the Bahrain GP], I was on the podium for this team,” he explained.
“That went well for the new regulations so we have the potential to do so again. I hope we can move up and next year we will do another step up – although fighting with Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes will not be easy.” |
I am writing this from Room 613 of the Quality Inn in Richmond, Virginia. When I went to book the room earlier this week, the website for the hotel noted that – among the usual amenities like a mini-fridge and microwave – my room would be on the top floor, and that it had a city view. They weren’t wrong:
I took that picture from my room’s window, which is just above the AC unit. I also took that picture while in my socks. Once the picture was taken, I realized that my socks felt wet. After walking over to the bathroom sink to make sure that I hadn’t splashed a bunch of water on the floor while brushing my teeth earlier, I walked back to the window, placed my hand on the carpet, and quickly realized that water was dripping from the bottom of the AC unit, sopping up every bit of carpet in its vicinity. That detail of the room was not noted on the hotel’s website.
The website also failed to mention that their free, supposedly high-speed wireless internet would be inaccessible for long stretches, and be excruciatingly slow at all other times. I haven’t even been able to send emails or post wit-filled Kinja comments – those had to go through my phone’s almost-entirely-used-up-for-the-month data plan.
The quality of a hotel’s WiFi is one of those things that you have no way of determining until you arrive in your room and fire up your laptop or tablet. Even then, much unpredictability remains, as there’s a strong chance that the strength of the connection will decrease as more and more people arrive at the hotel and fire up their laptops or tablets. The unreliability of the network connection can quickly get aggravating, and not just for those who need to use a hotel’s WiFi for work (i.e. me) or for those whose hobby involves writing high-quality posts for a travel blog (i.e. also me – also, shut up) – it also affects the many, many people who use streaming services to watch TV, or want to access the increasing number of games on their phone or tablet that require an active internet connection to play. It gets in the way of those who like to Skype their buddies while traveling. It turns something menial like sharing a picture on Facebook or Twitter into a rage-inducing experience. And it makes it really difficult to watch online porn, according to a friend of mine.
As with the cheap hotel experience in general, the best thing to do when it comes to hotel WiFi is to set your expectations really, really low. That way, anything beyond a level of connectivity that’s similar to what you experienced when you first unplugged the line from your phone and stuck it in the back of your Compaq Presario should count as a bonus. That’s what has led to so much of my frustration this weekend – after a good stretch with steady, reliable WiFi in hotels, I was expecting more of the same upon arriving at this weekend’s soggy-carpeted Quality Inn. Shame on me.
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Beyond the unpredictable quality of the connection, what else should you expect out of the WiFi at a cheap hotel (or motel – recall that I use the terms interchangeably)? Let’s go the FAQ route with this one.
1) Will it be free?
Almost definitely. My current hotel is owned by Choice Hotels, which also owns such low-and-mid-range properties like Comfort Inn, Econo Lodge, and Rodeway Inn. The Wyndham Group owns even more of these types of hotels – Super 8, Travelodge, Days Inn, Ramada, Howard Johnsons, and Knights Inn. Both of these companies promise free WiFi at all of their properties. Good for them.
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Other brands like Red Roof Inn and America’s Best Value Inn also provide free WiFi. The only one of the cheapos that doesn’t offer free WiFi consistently is Motel 6, which usually charges $2.99 per 24 hour period (I say usually because – if they have taken over another brand’s hotel, or brought a Mom and Pop place into the franchise fold – in most cases, they will continue to use the free WiFi network that the previous ownership had in place).
Here’s a quick motel tip: Though they are consistently the cheapest option, the added cost of WiFi access puts the price of a Motel 6 on par with those of other motels like Super 8 and Econo Lodge that regularly offer a few more amenities (for one, more breakfast options than just crappy coffee) than Motel 6. Keep that in mind whenever you’re comparison shopping for a motel.
Also keep in mind that I’m talking about the lower end of the hotel scale here. If you’re thinking of splurging for a higher-end hotel, note that a lot of those charge stupid amounts for WiFi use. Also, if you’re driving and the hotel’s in the heart of the city’s downtown, you’re likely going to pay an even stupider amount for daily parking. Put those two together, and your splurging can get out of control quickly.
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2) Is the strength of the WiFi going to be more reliable at a higher-quality place, especially one that charges for it?
No! Oh goodness, no. Well . . . maybe. Let me explain.
I need to gather more examples before I can say this with total confidence, but I’m close to getting there: higher-quality chains have crappier WiFi than the cheaper ones. And why is this? Because the higher-quality places are usually bigger, have more than just 2-3 floors, and run their WiFi through one access points that everyone in the 100+ rooms connect to, which causes the connection to become slower and less reliable as more people sign in. That’s the hell I’ve been dealing with at this Quality Inn, which – WiFi and leaky AC aside – actually offers a very nice room. I’ve also dealt with this in too-many other instances where I’ve decided to pony up a little extra and get something a bit nicer than the $40 Knights Inn off of the highway. Meanwhile, the $40 Knights Inn off of the highway in Columbia, South Carolina where I stayed this past Wednesday had WiFi so speedy that I was able to stream a baseball game on my tablet while watching an episode of Archer on Netflix while also downloading the episode of Fargo that I missed the night before, which was possible because the motel – though spread out over four, single-story buildings – had separate networks set up for each building, which is exactly what any higher-quality hotel should offer on each of its floors so as to justify the extra goddamn expense.
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I’m really pissed at this hotel’s WiFi, guys.
3) So can I watch Netflix and/or Hulu and/or the HBO Go account whose password I got through my neighbor’s mom’s gardener’s mom’s neighbor?
If you can, consider it a victory. Savor that episode of Real Sex 52. Remember, though, if you stream something flawlessly in the afternoon, you might not be so lucky in the evening as more folks show up at the hotel.
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4) And I can BitTorrent stuff, too, because I’m immoral?
Most likely. Red Roof Inn blocks these types of programs. It’s been a while since I’ve stayed at a Motel 6, but I believe they do, too. Most other hotel chains do not.
5) Hey, speaking of immorality, what about . . . you know . . . the naughty stuff?
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I wouldn’t know, because I’m quite saintly. However, according to that one guy I know – who is also quite versed in traveling cheaply – there’s only been one time in all his years of travel in which he’s tried to access a porn site and has been blocked by a hotel’s filters. This did not occur at a chain hotel (it was the Saratoga Downtowner in Saratoga Springs, New York, which has an awesome indoor pool that goes the entire length of the hotel, and is a great place to swim away all your dirty thoughts) – he has never had an issue at a chain hotel. I sure hope he tips the housekeepers well when he’s done with the room.
6) Will my connection be throttled if I use a certain amount of bandwidth?
Are you in Canada? If so, then it’s very possible. Last year, the majority of the hotels I stayed at in Alberta and Saskatchewan had their WiFi network operated by the same company, and that company specified in their terms and services that access would be throttled after using an unspecified amount of bandwidth (and they weren’t kidding – I had several instances in which the baseball game I was streaming on my tablet pooped out halfway through; also, that guy I know – who also happened to travel around Alberta and Saskatchewan last year – said the same thing happened to him while checking out a few-too-many webcam gals). I can’t speak for the rest of Canada on this one, though I’ll find out more later this year when I head up to New Brunswick and Quebec.
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Meanwhile, back in the good ole U.S.A., I’ve never come across a WiFi network at a hotel that has mentioned throttling service. However – and sorry for getting all broken record here – it’s going to feel that way a lot of times in the evening as more people arrive at the hotel and access the network.
And that’s my cue for wrapping things up. Looking down from my window - and getting my socks soggy again because, fuck, I forgot about the leaky AC unit - I can see the parking lot of the hotel start to fill, which means my chance of actually getting this column posted today is starting to decrease rapidly. If you disagree with anything in this post, now’s your chance to leave a nasty comment, as I might not be able to get back online until tomorrow afternoon, when I arrive at my next hotel, which - happily - is a $40 Knights Inn off of the highway.
Previously:
Dealing With Bugs | What’s The Difference Between A Motel And A Hotel? | Trusting WiFi |Dealing With Other Motel Guests | Dealing With Expectations | When Should You Opt For The Cheap Motel? | Should You Tip The Housekeeper?
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The Motel Life: Trusting WiFi I am writing this from Room 216 of the Econo Lodge in Macon, Georgia. The place looks a bit… Read more Read
This is the second of two posts I had planned about motel WiFi - the first one focused on whether or not you can trust unsecured motel WiFi networks, and can be found at the link above. My motel posts are usually accompanied by a picture of the decor in the room where I write the post, but - in the case of this Quality Inn - none of the decor is interesting enough to merit a photograph. If you’d still like to check out pictures of comforters and/or curtains from the places I stay at while traveling, head on over to my Tumblr page, Motel Interiors. Comments are always welcome and much appreciated. If you’d rather email me, drop me a line at [email protected]. |
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Three people given suspended sentences in Guangdong court for ‘disturbing social order’ and working with foreign organisations hostile to China
Three labour activists have been given suspended sentences of up to three years, Chinese state media said on Tuesday, citing their involvement with “overseas organisations hostile to China”.
Zeng Feiyang, director of the prominent labour rights group the Panyu Workers’ Centre, was given a three-year sentence suspended for four years, while his co-workers Tang Huanxing and Zhu Xiaomei received 18 months suspended for two years, the official Xinhua news agency said.
They had been helping workers in the southern province of Guangdong win payment of wages and unpaid benefits in disputes against employers, but were convicted of “ignoring national laws and organising mass gatherings that disturbed social order”, Xinhua cited a Guangdong court as saying.
He Xiaobo: latest victim of China's crackdown on labour activists Read more
Independent trade unions are banned in China, with only the official All-China Federation of Trade Unions legally recognised. However, critics say it often fails to assist workers in disputes.
“I accepted training and funding from overseas organisations hostile to China and, at their request, incited and organised workers to protect their rights in an extreme way,” Zeng said in his closing remarks, according to Xinhua.
“I hope that others will take my case as a lesson and not be conned by such organisations.”
A report on Monday from the Ministry of Public Security claimed Zeng had been misappropriating funds from “multiple overseas groups and foreign embassies” since 2010, Xinhua said.
It quoted activist Tang as saying: “On the surface, we seem to be fighting for workers’ rights, but the real intention was to expand our influence, particularly overseas.”
All three defendants pleaded guilty and said they would not appeal.
Guangdong is one of China’s richest provinces, but is facing growing economic challenges as many factories in the Pearl river delta close or relocate to cheaper Chinese provinces – or countries such as Vietnam where labour costs are lower.
Workers are often left with unpaid wages and no redundancy pay.
The court sentence comes in the midst of what rights groups have called an “unprecedented” campaign of arrests of labour activists, as well as a broader crackdown on dissent that has seen hundreds detained and dozens jailed in the years since President Xi Jinping came to power in 2013. |
There may be a link between your Internet use and how often you end up in the emergency room.
At least that’s one of the curious connections to emerge from a health care analysis project at the insurance division of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
U.P.M.C. is a $12 billion nonprofit enterprise that owns hospitals in western Pennsylvania as well as a health insurance plan with about 2.4 million members. It is at the forefront of an emerging field called predictive health analytics, intended to improve patients’ health care outcomes and contain costs. But patients themselves are often unaware of the kinds of intimate details about their households that insurers and hospitals may use to try to sway their treatment decisions.
The Pittsburgh health plan, for instance, has developed prediction models that analyze data like patient claims, prescriptions and census records to determine which members are likely to use the most emergency and urgent care, which can be expensive. Data sets of past health care consumption are fairly standard tools for predicting future use of health services.
But the insurer recently bolstered its forecasting models with details on members’ household incomes, education levels, marital status, race or ethnicity, number of children at home, number of cars and so on. One of the sources for the consumer data U.P.M.C. used was Acxiom, a marketing analytics company that obtains consumers’ information from both public records and private sources. |
Sen. Bernie Sanders Bernard (Bernie) SandersPush to end U.S. support for Saudi war hits Senate setback Sanders: 'I fully expect' fair treatment by DNC in 2020 after 'not quite even handed' 2016 primary Sanders: 'Damn right' I'll make the large corporations pay 'fair share of taxes' MORE (I-Vt.) is demanding congressional leadership rule out an end-of-the-year vote on the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), after the Obama administration sent out a draft document on the trade deal.
"It is now time for the leadership of the Democratic Party in the Senate and the House to join Secretary Clinton and go on the record in opposition to holding a vote on this job-killing trade deal during the lame-duck session of Congress and beyond," Sanders, a former White House contender, said in a statement Friday.
ADVERTISEMENT The Obama administration sent lawmakers a draft statement of administrative action Friday, which outlines what changes to U.S. law would be needed under the agreement. Sanders, pledging to do "everything I can" to block the trade deal, added Friday that he is "disappointed" the Obama administration is "pushing forward" with TPP. "[They] continue pushing forward on the disastrous Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement that will cost American jobs, harm the environment, increase the cost of prescription drugs and threaten our ability to protect public health," he said. Handing over the draft was a step required under last year's Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) bill. It also allows the White House to send lawmakers a TPP implementing bill after 30 days, though the White House has pledged to work with Congress on when it sends over language.
Congressional leadership has signaled that it's increasingly unlikely Obama's signature trade agreement will get a vote this year as momentum for the deal has stalled on Capitol Hill.
"As long as we don't have the votes, I see no point in bringing up an agreement only to defeat it," Ryan said in an interview with Wisconsin Public Radio. |
Speaking at a news conference Monday, Washington Redskins coach Mike Shanahan again refused to announce a Week 15 starter at quarterback.
Shanahan emphasized that his priority is protecting the franchise's investment in Robert Griffin III, who has been sacked 24 times in the past five games. If RGIII is indeed benched, Shanahan confirmed it would be for the remainder of the season.
The inference is that the coaching staff isn't sure the offensive line can keep Griffin upright.
"I want to make sure he's healthy going into off season," Shanahan explained. "I'll think about it and decide Wednesday."
Regarding his relationship with Griffin, Shanahan said, "I told him I'm his coach," not his "best friend."
If Shanahan is truly considering benching his starting quarterback because of pass protection concerns, he will be setting NFL history. We can't recall a single circumstance where the backup was inserted as a sacrificial lamb because the starter was taking too many sacks.
The latest "Around The League Podcast" recapped all the Week 14 games. |
President Trump’s privately owned properties, including his Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida and Trump International Hotel in D.C., are rife with digital insecurities making them prime targets for hackers, according to a new report.
A recent investigation into four of Mr. Trump’s high-profile properties uncovered a number of poor security practices that may have already been exploited by spies, hackers and other advantageous adversaries, ProPublic and Gizmodo reported Wednesday.
Weakly encrypted Wi-Fi networks, publicly accessible computer servers and the use of outdated software are just a few examples of the gaping security holes identified by investigative journalists in this week’s report following an unsolicited audit of four Trump properties: Mar-a-Lago, Trump International Hotel in D.C. and Trump National golf courses in New Jersey and Virginia.
At Mar-a-Lago, where Mr. Trump has frequently hosted foreign diplomats in addition to his own staffers, the reporters said they found three weakly encrypted Wi-Fi networks capable of being cracked in a matter of minutes, as well as a publicly accessible combination printer and scanner and a misconfigured, unencrypted internet router.
Mar-a-Lago’s website, meanwhile, hosts an insecure login page that could easily be breached by hackers, potentially providing intruders with access to privileged information concerning the private club’s well-placed, high-paying members, according to the report.
Jeremiah Grossman, a former security expert for Yahoo now with cybersecurity firm SentinelOne, described the conditions at Mar-a-Lago as “bad, very bad,” the journalists wrote.
“I’d assume the data is already stolen and systems compromised,” Mr. Grossman said.
Inspections of Mr. Trump’s golf courses similarly identified unsecured Wi-Fi networks at facilities in Bedminster, New Jersey, and Sterling, Virginia, while a probe of the president’s Pennsylvania Avenue hotel found servers running outdated, vulnerable software, as well as a potential gateway to back-end databases containing sensitive information, according to the report.
“Those networks all have to be crawling with foreign intruders, not just ProPublica,” said Dave Aitel, chief executive officer of digital security company Immunity, Inc.
The Pentagon spent $64 million in 2016 maintaining computer networks at White House and Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland, according to the report. Mar-a-Lago, by comparison, budged $442,931 for all its security needs last year, digital and otherwise.
While the hospitality industry is hardly known for its positive cybersecurity practices, gaps identified at the president’s properties pose significant risks given Mr. Trump’s tendency to entertain foreign leaders and U.S. officials alike at his various establishments.
The Trump Organization follows “cybersecurity best practices,” spokeswoman Amanda Miller told the report’s authors in response to their findings.
“Like virtually every other company these days, we are routinely targeted by cyberterrorists whose only focus is to inflict harm on great American businesses,” she said. “While we will not comment on specific security measures, we are confident in the steps we have taken to protect our business and safeguard our information. Our teams work diligently to deploy best-in-class firewall and anti-vulnerability platforms with constant 24/7 monitoring.”
The White House did not respond to requests for comment, according to the report.
Copyright © 2019 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission. |
Just hours after Ford CEO complained of the "huge impact" of Donald Trump's proposed trade plans, following the company's plan to move a substantial portion of its passenger-car production to Mexico from a factory in Michigan, Donald Trump tweeted “Just got a call from my friend Bill Ford, Chairman of Ford, who advised me that he will be keeping the Lincoln plant in Kentucky -- no Mexico," seemingly winning his first 'america-first' victory.
As WSJ reported yesterday, Ford Motor Co. Chief Executive Mark Fields issued a warning about President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed trade policies, saying high tariffs on automobiles and other products coming into the U.S. would be a blow to the auto industry and broader U.S. economy.
Mr. Fields, speaking with reporters on the sidelines of the Los Angeles Auto Show on Tuesday, said Ford has talked to Mr. Trump’s transition team and believes the company can work with the new administration. During a separate interview, he said, “We all share the same objective; we want a vibrant and healthy U.S. economy.” The two sides, however, appear to be at odds on how to achieve that goal. Ford’s plan to move a substantial portion of its passenger-car production to Mexico from a factory in Michigan was heavily criticized by Mr. Trump on the campaign trail. Like many of its rivals, Ford is building more-profitable light trucks in the U.S. while investing in new capacity in Mexico to produce lower-margin small cars.
And then hours later, Donald Trump tweeted...
Just got a call from my friend Bill Ford, Chairman of Ford, who advised me that he will be keeping the Lincoln plant in Kentucky - no Mexico — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 18, 2016
I worked hard with Bill Ford to keep the Lincoln plant in Kentucky. I owed it to the great State of Kentucky for their confidence in me! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 18, 2016
Which was followed by a statement from Ford confirming Trump's comment...
"Today, we confirmed with the President-elect that our small Lincoln utility vehicle made at the Louisville Assembly Plant will stay in Kentucky,” Ford spokesperson Christin Baker says in e-mail statement. “We are encouraged that President-elect Trump and the new Congress will pursue policies that will improve U.S. competitiveness and make it possible to keep production of this vehicle here in the United States”
Leaving Donald Trump with his first victory since being elected.
The question is - why didn't, wouldn't President Obama do this? |
Doctor Who S10E10 “The Eaters Of Light” Spoiler-Free Preview
Are you ready for a bit of Roman revisionism, as Doctor Who offers its own explanation for a real-life historical mystery? “The Eaters Of Light” is a bit special, as it’s the first story of the new series written by somebody who wrote for the classic series; Rona Munro scripted the last ever classic Who story “Survival” and tonally, there are certain similarities (though no really rubbish motorbike crash, thank God). So what can we tease you about it, in sometimes cryptic fashion?
SPOILER WARNING: This preview assumes you’ve seen trailers for this episode.
We’d give this one We reckon this could be a Marmite episode – we actually really liked it, but there’s one bit of fairy tale silliness that may be a little too much for some fans to handle. It’s very atmospheric, with a suitably mythical feel. It’s a little talky in places but some great one-liners for the Doctor, Bill and Nardole, plus some moody visuals keep it moving. There’s a uniformly young guest cast – for a specific reason. Bill gives a very pragmatic – and effective, and short – motivational speech. The Doctor is full of creative insults – rarely has been his close to a PG version of Malcolm Tucker. A lollipop and a TV aerial. Possibly. The monsters are great, though we’d like to have learnt a little more about their MO. The teaser is very similar teaser to last week’s. Bill does something early in the episode that she also did early in last week’s episode. The Doctor doesn’t want to take sides, like last week’s episode. There’s a lot of wandering around caves… like last week’s episode (maybe these two should have been shown further apart in the season?). The Doctor’s only second class at something. The destination is Bill’s choice. “Women in hats” Bill learns about – and, of course, takes the mick out of – yet another of the show’s longstanding gimmicks. That same gimmick then becomes the catalyst for a rather poignant moment. “Oh my god, it even does lip-synch”. The Roman soldiers are more modern than Bill in one surprisingly aspect. Yep, the series’ arc plot kicks into gear in the last few minutes, with a rather moving moment… but the Doctor still has his suspicions. |
(CNN) -- Capping a day of bombastic assertions and harsh accusations on the airwaves and internet, embattled actor Charlie Sheen lashed out Monday at addiction specialists and sitcom executives while proclaiming himself clean and focused thanks to an "epiphanous awakening."
"I feel more alive, I feel more focused, I feel more energetic," Sheen told CNN's Piers Morgan. "I'm on a quest to claim absolute victory on every front."
Appearing in a loose-fitting T-shirt and open-collared shirt, the actor gave his first interview since his long-time publicist Stan Rosenfield resigned earlier Monday because he said he was "unable to work effectively as (Sheen's) publicist."
While still offering playful and sometimes biting remarks, Sheen appeared relatively more subdued than he had in earlier interviews with a host of media outlets. While admitting he might have been too brash at times and done some things he now regrets, he also stressed that he hadn't counted the days since he last did drugs and didn't consider himself an addict -- just someone who lives life to the fullest.
"My motto is to enjoy every moment," he said. "I don't think I would trade any of it because I'm still alive, which is pretty cool."
Sheen said he would go back and finish the season of "Two and a Half Men," which CBS halted last week after Sheen's call to a radio show. He backed off from an assertion, made earlier Monday, that he wanted $3 million per episode rather than the $2 million he had been making -- saying his only hard-and-fast demand was that he and the crew get paid for another eight weeks of work.
He said CBS "had a chance to get rid (of him) a couple of times" -- admitting that he got bored at times with his job -- but instead gave him a raise. Sheen said he could "sort of understand why" show executives felt they had to intervene after a series of high-profile incidents, while reiterating that he felt his private life was his own business and lashing out at show's co-creator, Chuck Lorre, after accusing him of failing to live up to his promises.
"I'm on a mission right now: It's an operation to right some terrible wrongs," he said. "That's what fuels me, the truth."
CBS and Warner Bros. Television said in a joint statement last week that "Based on the totality of Charlie Sheen's statements, conduct and condition, CBS and Warner Bros. Television have decided to discontinue production of 'Two and a Half Men' for the remainder of the season." Lorre himself hasn't spoken publicly in recent days on the situation.
Warner Bros. Television is owned by Time Warner Inc., the parent company of CNN.
CBS previously placed the sitcom on "production hiatus" after the actor began rehab treatments. The show had been scheduled to resume taping on four more episodes this week. It's not clear if "Two and Half Men" will return for a ninth season.
Sheen told ABC he plans to sue CBS "tons" for halting the show.
"Everybody thinks I should be, like, begging for my job back," he told NBC. "And I'm just going to forewarn them that it's everybody else that's going to be begging me for their job back."
"Come Wednesday morning, they're going to rename it Charlie Bros., not Warner Bros.," he said.
"Now they're saying I'm crazy," he told TMZ.com. "I'm passionate and I speak the truth, but I'm crazy."
"I'm grandiose," he said. "I have a grandiose life and I'm embracing it. ... It doesn't fit into their model and their model sucks."
He told CNN that he missed a few rehearsals and occasionally showed up "a little bit sideways," but was always present for tapings and said he always relished performing.
"When I step between the lines, that's the time I get to be free," he said.
Sheen insisted in all four interviews that he is clean -- and ABC revealed the results of a drug test showing that he tested negative for the presence of 10 drugs. He said he passed three drug tests.
The actor told NBC's "Today Show" that he has "tiger blood and Adonis DNA."
"I'm tired of pretending like I'm not special," Sheen said in that interview. "I'm tired of pretending like I'm not bitching a total freaking rock star from Mars. And people can't figure me out. They can't process me. I don't expect them to. You can't process me with a normal brain."
During his CNN interview, Sheen had special venom for psychologists, addiction specialists and proponents of treatment programs including Alcoholics Anonymous, or AA -- calling them "losers," who "have been lying to me for two decades." He said that he "healed quickly," and on his own terms.
"That's ridiculous to have a prognosis about someone who you haven't been in the same room as," said Sheen, singling out Dr. Drew Pinsky, a regular on MTV and other programs who is about to start his own show on CNN sister network HLN. "You should be ashamed of yourself."
Last week, Pinsky told HLN that Sheen "is clearly manic."
Pinsky said Sheen is exhibiting traits of advanced addiction, which he said has a grave prognosis without proper treatment.
Except for one long-ago incident, which Sheen dismissed as an accident -- and despite accounts in recent years claiming he'd hit his then-wife and a porn actress -- Sheen insisted that he has never hit a woman.
He also beat down remarks from his father and fellow actor Martin Sheen, labeling Charlie an "addict" who needs help.
"Relax. He's so dramatic," said Charlie Sheen, adding that he believes his father is out of the country and hasn't called.
He would not talk about recent high-profile incidents during which he allegedly was using drugs and alcohol and became violent, saying only that the people who are talking about the incidents "weren't there" and calling their accounts "the gibberish of fools."
"I can't do that right here, because that means I have to expose people," he told ABC when asked about the incidents. He denied being violent, but said he does have a violent side "when it's needed to protect my family, absolutely. And it's not like anything you'll ever see."
He confirmed, however, that Warner Bros. had sent a memo to security personnel at its studios, instructing that he not be allowed inside.
He said as far as he knows, there are no drugs in his home, but said he will throw them away if he finds them.
Told his fans are worried about him, Sheen told NBC he is fine, saying, "I've always had a plan. I've executed it perfectly."
He denied any anti-Semitic intent behind his earlier comments on Lorre, in which he said Lorre's real name was Chaim Levine -- remarks denounced by the Anti-Defamation League. "I've never had that in my past," he said. "You can look as deep and as far as you want."
Asked whether he is angry, he said he is "passionate. I think my passion is misinterpreted as anger."
The network is "trying to take all my money and leave me with no means to support my family." He said he will fight them "with zeal, and with focus and violent hatred."
Sheen told NBC that CBS owes him a "big" apology -- "publicly. While licking my feet."
He said he has offers for work and has received support from friends including Sean Penn, Mel Gibson, Sylvester Stallone and Colin Farrell. During the TMZ interview, he introduced the reporter to his two girlfriends, whom he called "goddesses."
But Sheen admitted that he hadn't gotten any support, publicly or privately, from his "Two and a Half Men" co-stars or crew.
The actor was "very, very intoxicated, also apparently in a lot of pain" when he was taken to a hospital on the morning of January 27, according to a 911 call from a doctor who had just talked to Sheen.
Porn actress Kacey Jordan has told media outlets that a two-day party preceded Sheen's collapse.
Paramedics went to Sheen's Los Angeles home and then took him by ambulance to a hospital, where he spent several hours. While his representative blamed a hernia for Sheen's pain, he later announced the actor was undergoing rehab at home. In his interview with TMZ on Monday, Sheen also blamed a hernia problem for the hospitalization.
Watch Piers Morgan Live weeknights 9 p.m. ET. For the latest from Piers Morgan click here. |
Portugal midfielder William Carvalho has been named as the best player of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship.
The UEFA Technical Observers, present at every match, chose William as the U21 EURO's outstanding performer, including him as one of five Portuguese in their best XI from the tournament. William, an authoritative central midfielder who plays his club football for Sporting CP, was ever-present for Rui Jorge's team throughout their finals campaign.
The 23-year-old's most impressive display came in the 5-0 semi-final defeat of Germany. William was hugely dominant over his direct opponent Emre Can, another player who had hitherto stood out, helping his side to inflict a record U21 defeat on their opponents. He also played throughout the final against Sweden although he missed his spot kick in the penalty shoot-out which brought down the curtain on the tournament.
William, who already has 13 senior caps to his name, attempted (394) and completed (349) more passes than anyone else in the Czech Republic.
William's tournament in numbers
480 minutes played (joint tournament high)
394 passes attempted (tournament high)
349 passes completed (tournament high)
12 fouls suffered (joint tournament high)
4 attempts blocked
3 fouls committed
1 attempt off target
0 attempts on target |
At the beginning of the northern summer, just three months ago, no one thought North Korea had a missile that could reach the United States.
That all changed on July 4 when North Korea successfully tested its first intercontinental ballistic missile, the Hwasong-14, which could travel as far as Alaska. Weeks later, they tested another Hwasong-14, with a likely range as far as New York. They even released stamps to commemorate the occasion.
KCNA
The same weapon could also reach Australia. It’s designed to carry a nuclear warhead.
Now Pyongyang has conducted what the Japanese and South Korean governments have confirmed was a sixth nuclear test, claiming it was a hydrogen bomb that can be loaded onto an intercontinental ballistic missile.
If that is true, the risk calculations change completely.
Not crazy
The conventional wisdom insists, as Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull did in late August, that if Kim Jong-un started a war with the US, it would be the suicidal act of a small country provoking a superpower.
No defence analysts expect the US to initiate a nuclear conflict with North Korea, although if Pyongyang made a nuclear strike at Korea, Japan, Guam or US bases in the region, that would certainly invite nuclear retaliation from the US.
But Pyongyang has also insisted that its nuclear capacity is only for retaliation or deterrence.
That’s why defence analysts think that Kim Jong-un is not actually insane, despite western opinions to the contrary. They think he is a rational actor, and the North's frequent weapons tests are necessary steps in acquiring a nuclear deterrent against the US, because Kim believes that will give him his best chance of achieving his objectives.
Kim’s number one priority is the survival of his regime.
"Kim Jong-un is not a crazy man," said Professor Sung-han Kim, Dean of the Graduate School of International Studies at Korea University in Seoul. "He knows that he will be dead if he triggers a war. He is thus obsessed with preserving his own regime by maximizing his leverage - through improving nuclear and ICBM capabilities - over the US in the future negotiations."
The point is that once he has reliable nuclear weapons that could land on San Francisco within half an hour’s flight, Kim can make the US considerably less likely to launch a nuclear attack against him no matter what else he does, as well as give him more bargaining power at the table.
0:00 The three latest Intercontinental Ballistic Missile tests by North Korea. 00:00 / 00:00 Share Share on Twitter
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The security dilemma
In some ways the world has begun to accept Kim's logic: more western experts have been arguing the once-unthinkable: that the west will have to learn to live with nuclear-armed North Korea. This argument is well laid out here in Foreign Policy.
That's because a military intervention designed to stop the North's nukes program would be so catastrophic. The likelihood of success of a "limited" strike targeting the leadership is slim, with a whole range of unpredictable consequences. Even a conventional war on the Korean peninsula would likely see at least hundreds of thousands killed in a conflict that could last months and paralyse South Korea, a country of 50 million and the world's 12th largest economy.
But not everyone agrees.
Asian security expert Dr Malcolm Davis from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute in Canberra said “if we live with a nuclear North Korea they can build up their nuclear forces. ... [In ten years] they would have perfected their ICBM and also their submarine-launched ballistic missiles which would give them what’s known as an assured second strike capability, that then makes it much more difficult to place pressure on North Korea in the future.”
A nuclear arms build up in North Korea would lead to a classic security dilemma, where other states respond in kind, producing a spiral toward open conflict even when no side actually wants it.
In other words, if you let North Korea develop its nukes, South Korea and Japan will want them too. Then China would beef up its nuclear arsenal, which would invite a reaction from the US, Russia and India.
“So you have this potential for a much more dangerous nuclear scenario emerging globally as a result of learning to live with a nuclear North Korea,” Dr Davis said. “It may actually be better to try to remove that threat of a nuclear North now rather than letting it build up and having to deal with it when it's much stronger later.”
Dr Davis said the best option left would be re-deploying US tactical nuclear forces in South Korea that were removed at the end of the Cold War, and strengthening missile defence systems, which is already underway.
SBS World News
Under Kim Jong-un, missile tests have increased dramatically in frequency compared to his predecessors.
Can sanctions work? What about ‘freeze-freeze’?
Following the latest nuclear test, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull again reiterated his call for China to do more. US President Donald Trump threatened to halt trade with all countries doing business with North Korea - unlikely as this would include China. But some experts argue Beijing does not have as much influence on Pyongyang as is often thought -or it would not have conducted the nuclear test at all.
Australian foreign minister Julie Bishop is putting her faith in the UN sanctions announced by the Security Council on August 5, which are supposed to be implemented by early September.
The sanctions are the strongest ever - a ban on US$1 billion worth of exports for a country with total exports valued at US$3 billion last year - and it was significant that both Russia and China supported them. They are intended to pressure Kim to return to the negotiating table. But implementation has been problematic in the past, and the US President appeared sceptical of their value after the test on Sunday.
South Korea is finding, as I have told them, that their talk of appeasement with North Korea will not work, they only understand one thing! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 3, 2017
Korea University's Professor Sung-han Kim said public opinion in South Korea is turning against sanctions.
"More and more the South Korean people are frustrated with the effect of economic sanctions due to the lukewarm attitude of China. The voice of supporting South Korea going nuclear or redeploying US tactical nuclear weapons is getting stronger," he told SBS News.
Some who believe sanctions will fail again are advocating the so-called “freeze-freeze” model proposed by Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi in June and explained here in detail by Douglas Mo for the the Council on Foreign Relations.
In this model the US would suspend US-South Korean military exercises “in exchange for the suspension of North Korean missile development and testing." China would monitor North Korea's compliance and provide security assurances.
But Dr Davis is sceptical, saying the North would not genuinely stop its nuclear weapons development.
“And in return for doing that the US has to back out of a key alliance relationship … South Korea would lose confidence in the US, Japan would lose confidence in the US ….Both China and Russia gain as a result of that … At the end of the day it’s rewarding North Korea for its bad behaviour. I don’t see it as credible option.”
KCNA
What about the South?
If you think this sounds grim, spare a thought for South Koreans, who have lived within range of Kim’s nukes - not to mention his conventional, chemical and biological weapons - for years.
Professor Sung-Chull Kim from the Institute for Peace and Unification Studies at Seoul National University and co-author of the 2017 book North Korea and Nuclear Weapons told SBS News that while there is strong support in the south for the US alliance, there is some frustration about the failure of a string of US presidents to take the problem seriously and find a way to get back to the negotiating table with Pyongyang.
“Mr Trump is not popular in Korea… but the issue is not personal popularity,” he said.
“There is a kind of cycle of expectation but frustration - a little hope of North Korea's stepping forward for a talk with the US, [then] North Korea's provocative tests, and the US [having] no apparent intention of talking.
“Gradually deterrence will become the only means to deal with North Korea’s nuclear [capacity], a situation that is against our hope and objective.” |
There’s no assurance a new CEO will turn the tide for Weight Watchers International, Inc. (NYSE: WTW ). But after three years at the helm and WTW stock hitting multiyear lows, there’s no denying it was time to at least try something else.
So Weight Watchers CEO James Chambers is stepping down at the end of this month, and the hunt for a replacement is underway.
Owners of WTW do have an unusual circumstance to chew on, though, and that is the involvement of bigger-than-life Oprah Winfrey.
Not only is she a spokesperson for the weight-loss company, she also owns 10% of all WTW stock, which gives her a seat on the Board of Directors. And it’s been made clear she’s going to have a hand in selecting the next CEO. The question is, what makes her qualified to contribute to that process?
Time for a Change
Calling a spade a spade, Weight Watchers has been in trouble for years now. Sales have fallen every year from 2012’s peak of $1.83 billion to last year’s $1.16 billion. Income has followed suit, quarterly losses recently becoming the new norm.
Blame it on NutriSystem Inc. (NASDAQ: NTRI ) and Medifast Inc (NYSE: MED ), at least partially. Mostly, blame it on dozens of low-cost and even free smartphone apps that help consumers count calories, along with an evolution of healthy eating know-how. The industry is becoming more fragmented rather than less, and informed individuals can do for themselves what they previously needed Weight Watchers to do for them.
To that end, while James Chambers proved himself a very capable manager of broad food lines during his time with Cadbury and Nabisco, weight loss is a different game. He’s either going to make it work, or not. It didn’t work, at least under him. The next chief my fare no better, but owners of WTW stock at least deserve to find out for sure.
Confusing Celebrity With Experience
It isn’t clear as to what degree it was mere name-dropping or to what degree it’s a meaningful factor. However, media mogul and major WTW shareholder and director Oprah Winfrey has been pegged as one of the people that will help select the next Weight Watchers CEO.
As a member of the board of directors, this is one of her inherent roles. On the one hand, the media may have simply use this aspect of the job to bolster headlines. On the other hand, her celebrity influence doesn’t necessarily fade inside the boardroom. She’s easily the most recognizable name on the board of directors, and she’s the company’s second-biggest shareholder.
When it’s all said and done, she’s likely to have the final say in the matter.
And that brings up an interesting question: Should celebrity influence be wielded in a boardroom, particularly when choosing a new CEO of a struggling company?
To be fair, Winfrey has earned the right. She’s a board member because she’s a huge shareholder, and she bought her stake with her own money, which she earned creating her own multi-billion dollar media enterprise. Clearly she’s got a more legitimate level of business acumen than, say any of the Kardashians, who are famous (and presumably wealthy) for nothing other than being famous.
Still, Weight Watchers is an analog company in a digital world, in need of a mercy killing as opposed to a mere overhaul. Oprah Winfrey may be a television and media expert, but her task at hand is still mostly unfamiliar territory to her.
For that matter, the rejuvenation of Weight Watchers is going to be an unfamiliar task to anyone who takes the helm. It’s going to require getting people off their digital devices and wiping away what those consumers have learned for themselves about diet and exercise.
That’s not going to be an easy feat.
As off-putting as the idea of unmerited celebrity influence in a boardroom may be, in this case, it shouldn’t be a concern. Were it another name like Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus or Kanye West, it might be a different story.
Winfrey is eating her own cooking, though, in that she’s got her own money on the line. At 62 years of age, she’s got enough life experience and business experience to know what she doesn’t know, and to read people correctly.
The bigger concern for owners of WTW stock should be the aforementioned challenge … a plethora of alternative weight-loss tools and options, many of which are free to use. Whoever the next chief is, if Weight Watchers can be saved, it’s going to take a massive paradigm shift for the organization.
Shareholders may want to brace themselves for the possibility that the company is becoming increasingly obsolete, following in the steps of the pay phone, the video rental store and typewriters.
Oprah’s not going to change that reality no matter who she likes as the next CEO.
As of this writing, James Brumley did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
More From InvestorPlace |
According to YouTube, videos that bring attention to the ridiculous statements made by the likes of Nancy Pelosi and Maxine Waters are “not suitable for most advertisers.”
The video streaming service has “demonetized” a series of videos published by The American Mirror that many Americans likely find ridiculous.
One, published on September 28, featured Pelosi muttering “oh God” when she was asked a question about gun legislation during her weekly press conference.
Another one showed Waters ranting about Donald Trump and pushing for his impeachment during remarks at the funeral of comedian Dick Gregory.
Pelosi’s video received over 273,000 views, while Waters’s got over 102,000.
Each time, YouTube “demonetized” the video, claiming the content was “not suitable for most advertisers.”
The YouTube site lists several examples of content that violates its “advertiser-friendly content guidelines. Here are some that may apply:
Controversial issues and sensitive events: Video content that features or focuses on sensitive topics or events including, but not limited to, war, political conflicts, terrorism or extremism, death and tragedies, sexual abuse, even if graphic imagery is not shown, is generally not eligible for ads. For example, videos about recent tragedies, even if presented for news or documentary purposes, may not be eligible for advertising given the subject matter.
Are Pelosi’s and Waters’s words controversial in the eyes of YouTube?
Hateful content: Video content that promotes discrimination or disparages or humiliates an individual or group of people on the basis of the individual’s or group’s race, ethnicity or ethnic origin, nationality, religion, disability, age, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or other characteristic that is associated with systemic discrimination or marginalization is not eligible for advertising. Content that is satire or comedy may be exempt; however, simply stating your comedic intent is not sufficient and that content may still not be eligible for advertising.
Are their words “hateful” in the eyes of YouTube?
Incendiary and demeaning: Video content that is gratuitously incendiary, inflammatory, or demeaning may not be eligible for advertising. For example, video content that shames or insults an individual or group may not be eligible for advertising.
Do Pelosi and Waters use “gratuitously incendiary, inflammatory, or demeaning” words about Donald Trump, according to YouTube? And if so, what does that say about them as American elected officials?
To be clear, there is no commentary edited into the videos. There is no ridicule. The clips are just the Democrats’ words for all the world to see.
You be the judge:
In fact, many Democrats would likely cheer the statements made in the videos.
In June, YouTube punished The American Mirror when it posted a video of Hillary Clinton in which she called for “understanding” after radical Islamic terrorists carried out an attack on London.
That was deemed “not suitable,” as well.
YouTube provides an opportunity for a “manual review” of the content, “if you think our automated system got this wrong.” |
Bloomberg News Toll Brothers says worries about the spill has hit consumer confidence, and thus sales of homes. Here, a house being built in Raleigh, N.C.
The BP Oil Spill is an environmental disaster and a serious blow to the businesses and property owners along the Gulf Coast.
But did you know it also was killing “McMansion” sales across the nation?
Toll Brothers, the nation’s largest luxury home builder, warned late Wednesday that its sales activity is running 20% lower than a year earlier. One reason: “worries about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and its effects on the economy and the environment have negatively impacted the outlook of American consumers,’’ the company’s Chief Financial Officer Joel Rassman said in a statement.
(Other reasons include the expiration of the home buyer tax credit and the fiscal crisis in Europe)
This isn’t the only time Toll has blamed the housing market’s problem on a disaster in the Gulf of Mexico (where incidentally, the company builds relatively few homes). Retiring CEO Bob Toll said in late 2006 that Hurricane Katrina, which made the U.S. look like “Bangladesh in a storm — bodies floating upside down, the government seemingly unable to do anything about it” was the beginning of the end of the housing boom, because it shook American consumer confidence.
It wouldn’t be a surprise if the oil spill becomes a convenient scapegoat for what ails businesses.
[Click below to keep reading] |
Abortion providers in Texas reacted with surprise and elation on Monday to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to throw out the state's restrictive abortion law and said they aimed to reopen some clinics shut down since the measure was passed in 2013.
Since the law was passed by a Republican-led legislature and signed by a Republican governor, the number of abortion clinics in Texas, the second-most-populous U.S. state with about 27 million people, has fallen from 41 to 19.
"I am honestly surprised by the Supreme Court decision," Rachel Bergstrom-Carlson, health center manager at Planned Parenthood of Austin, said at the clinic that performs about 250 abortions per month in the Texas state capital.
But Bergstrom-Carlson said she does not think the ruling "all of the sudden creates open access" to abortion for Texas women or that it means other legislation intended to restrict women's access to safe and legal abortions will be scrapped.
Abortion providers said the law imposed medically unnecessary regulations that were intended to shut clinics. Texas state officials said the law was aimed at protecting women's health.
Dr. Bhavik Kumar, who performs abortions at Whole Woman's Health clinics in Texas, said abortion providers will seek to reopen some of the shuttered clinics but do not expect to be able to return to the number in operation prior to the law.
Negotiating new leases and hiring staff will mean a slow return to operations for those that do re-open, Kumar said.
The Supreme Court ruled that both key provisions of the law - requiring abortion doctors to have difficult-to-obtain "admitting privileges" at a local hospital and requiring clinics to have costly hospital-grade facilities - violated a woman's right to an abortion established in a 1973 landmark ruling.
"I am beyond elated," Amy Hagstrom Miller, founder and CEO of Whole Woman’s Health, which operates four abortion clinics in Texas and spearheaded the challenge to the law.
"After years of fighting heartless, anti-abortion Texas politicians who would seemingly stop at nothing to push abortion out of reach, I want everyone to understand: you don't mess with Texas, you don't mess with Whole Woman's Health," she added.
If the Supreme Court had left the law in place, only eight clinics would have remained open, including the Planned Parenthood facility in Austin, a U.S. lower court judge said.
The state's Republican leaders, including the governor and attorney general, criticized the ruling that they said would endanger public health.
"Now abortion clinics are free to ignore these basic safety standards and continue practicing under substandard conditions," Republican Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said. "By its ruling, the court held that the ability of abortion clinics to remain open – even under substandard conditions – outweighs the state's ability to put women's health and safety first."
The legislature meets again next year, and top lawmakers indicated they may look at new abortion restrictions.
The "admitting privileges" provision, requiring doctors who perform abortions to have formal affiliation with a hospital within 30 miles (48 kms) of their clinic, had gone into effect. The facilities standards had been put on hold by courts. |
Bamboo Thoughts and Curing
by Jason Hawk
Bamboo has been used for such a wide variety of tasks by indigenous peoples around the world. Even in modern society, it is said that over one third of the world uses bamboo in some form.
In the country of Japan, bamboo is so engrained in the culture that the terminology for bamboo has expanded into conversation. Bamboo is not just a plant but a unspoken symbol of a Nation. To the Shinto Priests of old, the hollow space in bamboo is where all the Spirits of nature live.
Before Bamboo can be used for any lasting craft it must be cut and cured. Cutting is best in August or Winter, when the water and resins are down. Summer time will work as well for harvesting, but with a higher chance of cracks or splitting. Any cutting device will work for harvesting bamboo. A folding saw or a hefty knife are my favorites. If cutting with a knife, cut at a 45 degree angle with one swipe to prevent splitting or crushing the bamboo. At this point I would like to remind you to stop, take a minute, think about what it is you want to make. Look for the right piece, listen to the breeze though the grove. Find a area that removing a piece will be of benefit to the stand. And finally show respect and reverence, for it is not only a exceptional natural material, but the spirit of a people.
The pieces are cut, the project is in mind and you are on your way. Now What?? The work begins. Seasoning bamboo is something of an enigma to most people. Personally, I have been working with bamboo and various methods of curing it for years, and still, I learn something new each harvest season. The key is to remove the moisture, natural starches and sugars without cracking the bamboo. This may be done with various success rates in the following manner, depending on your geographical area (I.E. temperature and relative humidity). The following are a few methods I have played with over the years.
1. SOAKING: A method commonly used in India is to soak bamboo for ninety days in water. Then set to dry in a sunny area for two weeks. I have tried this technique, but only with limited success, due to the extreme heat during Arizona summers. I have yet to try the same method during the winter season.
2. AIR DRYING: Cut the bamboo leaving the branches and leafs still attached. Store the bamboo upright in the sun for two weeks. Then continue drying in a cool dry place out of direct sunlight, cross your fingers and hope for the best. Depending on the area, watch for molding.
3. ABURANUKI: The Japanese method of drying used by the Shaku hachi or flute makers of Japan.
The oils are removed from green bamboo by heating over a charcoal fire at aproximately 120 degrees C. Thereby, driving the resin to the surface which is then wiped off. The bamboo will change color to a lighter green or a yellowish tint. This method is tried and true. I have had very few pieces crack when using this technique, and no insect or mold problems. The bamboo is then set aside to dry for two more weeks.
I would like to note that most Take Shokunin or Bamboo Craftsmen will set aside their bamboo for two to three years to cure out before using. My personal drying time is much faster. The reason . . . . well, simply put, "I live in a desert, not on a humid island."
What to do now? Say we have a perfectly seasoned piece of bamboo and we are to set off on the adventure of creating your bamboo masterpiece. There are a few things you need to know about working bamboo.
1. Make a pre-cut with a sharp blade before any sawing. This will prevent fibers from splintering during the cutting process.
2. If you need to make holes in your project, you are much better off burning the holes through. The bamboo seems less likely to split during the drilling or later.
Now that you have completed your bamboo masterpiece, what now? You will need to use some kind of finish for your project. The traditional heat and grease works well. Just lightly heat the piece over coals just until it's warm, then liberally apply oil, grease or fat to the piece. At no point should the bamboo become too hot to hold bare handed.
Other methods include the use of modern sealers. Now, to stay primitive there is one excellent sealer I would use: natural shellac. You say, "What, shellac is primitive?" Well yes, used from the times of ancient Egypt . Shellac is nontoxic, food safe, water proof and will last for years. I currently use purchased shellac flakes dissolved in alcohol. If there is anyone out there that has more information on the primitive manufacturing or use of shellac, please send me the info.
E-mail your comments to "Jason Hawk" at [email protected] |
KSP Weekly: A Titan’s flyby and making history!
Welcome to KSP Weekly, everyone. Today, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft will make its last flight near Saturn’s moon, Titan, which is the mission’s last opportunity to closely observe the lakes and seas of liquid hydrocarbons which extend throughout the northern polar region of the satellite and the final opportunity to use its powerful radar to pass through the mist and take detailed images of the lunar surface. According to NASA, the closest approach to Titan is scheduled for 11:08 pm PDT, today. During its flyby, Cassini will pass 979 kilometers (608 miles) from Titan’s surface at a speed of 21,000 kilometers per hour. This overflight also means the beginning to Cassini’s Grand Finale, a final set of 22 orbits between the planet and its rings, ending with a dive into Saturn on September 15th that will end the mission. But we’re here to talk about everything Kerbal and this week was full of advancements, so let’s switch to the topic you came here to read about.
Localization work continues and the relentless bughunt is bearing its fruits. The work is currently more structure related while the volunteers are in their element making suggestions on grammar and layout to refine the text. We’re working with them to ease some of their burdens by doing some language testing and improving in-game debug tools. The first pass of translation for the prerelease is almost complete now, so the teams are looking in the game to make sure the translations actually fit the context. The number of accidental English words that we are encountering in the non-English versions of the game drops by a huge fraction every week! We now have the time and the experience to look at improving the processes involved with localization.
There are other things being done for the final release of 1.3. We’ve localized and prepared Asteroid Day for integration to the release and will be getting the test team onto a balance pass for its contracts soon. Devs also spent some time localizing and fixing some bugs in the Part Upgrade functionality such as applying upgrade node costs correctly. Part Upgrades will now show all stats updates in the SPH/VAB and TechTree. We’ve also focused on polishing the final details for the Russian and Spanish contracts, as well as making sure that the kerbal Names in Japanese look like actual names. Similarly, we worked on fixing some textures that needed some corrections in every language.
Blitworks continues at a very rapid pace with the console builds and our testers are throwing everything at them with rigorous testing. There are important improvements in the control schemes, UI, and general gameplay that are all in focus while we test the achievement progress system on each platform. Save integrity continues to be at the forefront of our minds, and thankfully there’s nothing to report on this matter.
Let’s move on to Making History advancements, where we have not only been very busy on an Architecture/Design level, we’ve also been working on several tasks for the upcoming expansion. Defining base behaviour and structure of the UI and connecting it with the core code. So you could say that there’s been lots of code reviews and reviewing design as we continue our agile delivery. In addition, we continue to work on the ExpansionSystem, fleshing out the bundle pipeline, the developers interaction with it and how that feeds through the magical Jenkins system. This coupled with some work on testing how to get the game to work nicely with the same code base whether or not the expansion is installed. Something that is easy to say but not so easy to do. Luckily for us, we have a very talented development team that is working through all of these tough challenges.
The artists on the other hand continue modeling IVAs and this week they also finished up our new Vostok-inspired model, as well as wrapping up a few last details on the model for our first American-inspired engine. This Vostok-inspired model includes a blend of existing as well as new parts. And since folks will ask - those are separate 0.38m monopropellant tanks you see attached at the base of our Vostok 1 replica!
In conjunction with the new parts, the QA team embrace the task of testing them. This work brings currently known issues that had been deferred into focus. Without getting into too much detail, some of the existing bugs that have already been reported but were unable to be fixed efficiently, are now being thoroughly researched because of the potential impact on the expansion. This of course brings benefits to KSP as a whole.
Finally, we encourage you to participate in our latest KSP Challenge - Have you found a green monolith yet? Share your encounters with these rare easter eggs with the whole community!
That’s it for this week. Be sure to join us on our official forums, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and Facebook. Stay tuned for more exciting and upcoming news and development updates!
Happy launchings! |
Lucas Perez's move from Arsenal to Deportivo La Coruna is edging closer before the end of the transfer window.
Arsenal began the summer demanding £13m for the striker they signed from the Spanish club last summer in a £17.1m deal.
But the Gunners are now set to accept a loan move with a modest fee.
Spanish striker Lucas Perez is poised to leave Arsenal after just one season in England
The 28-year-old, seen in training above, is close to rejoining Deportivo La Coruna on loan
Perez started only four matches after Christmas last season and did not start a game after the FA Cup win at Sutton in February.
Arsenal had wanted a transfer fee beyond £10m but are increasingly resigned to accepting a loan deal.
There has been interest from Valencia and Marseille but Perez is steadfast in his determination to return to Deportivo.
The Spanish club want to do a loan deal with a fee of around £4m with a view to a future transfer.
Perez only scored one Premier League goal for Arsenal but got a Champions League hat-trick |
Dive into the soil of a land corrupted by darkness. Restore life, fight evil, save the day, and return to PopoloCrois!
It’s Prince Pietro's 13th birthday, and all the people of PopoloCrois have come out to celebrate! But among them is a very special guest: Marmela, a representative from an otherworldly kingdom called Galariland. Her country has been ravaged by shadowy creatures who corrupt the soil, preventing crops from growing -- and since this same phenomenon has been occurring in PopoloCrois as well, the king now seeks her counsel.
Her expert opinion? Prince Pietro should visit Galariland personally as an ambassador for PopoloCrois, to see the damage first-hand and learn all the ways the Galari people are fighting back. But once he's there, he finds there's no way home, and his princely name holds little sway over the long-suffering people of this new world.
It is up to you, as Prince Pietro, to make a life for yourself in Galariland while seeking a way home, doing everything you can in the meantime to cultivate the earth and new friendships alike.
A fantastical fairytale adventure awaits! |
Bengaluru: Infosys Ltd’s board did not record the proceedings of a 12 October 2015 meeting where it discussed paying Rs17.38 crore in severance pay to former chief financial officer Rajiv Bansal, said an executive familiar with the development.
The omission again raises doubts on decision-making by the board of India’s second largest services firm, which has just emerged from a tussle with founders led by N.R. Narayana Murthy over corporate governance issues, including the payment to Bansal and a 55% increase in CEO Vishal Sikka’s pay to $11 million a year in 2016.
Infosys’s board only put this payment on record or “minuted" the discussion when it met on 14 January 2016, when the company announced its fiscal third-quarter earnings, the executive cited above said on condition of anonymity.
Infosys row: Where it stands, from Vishal Sikka’s salary to Bansal’s severance pay
This could possibly be one reason which peeved Murthy, who questioned the unexplained and generous payment and publicly lashed out at the board. In published remarks, Murthy even questioned whether severance payments were being made as “hush money" to suppress “some information harmful to the company". On Monday, non-executive chairman R. Seshasayee denied the allegation, which he said was “disturbing".
“All decisions taken by the board must be documented at the appropriate time. If indeed true, it is surprising for a company like Infosys to not have maintained comprehensive and complete minutes," said Hetal Dalal, chief operating officer, Institutional Investor Advisory Services, a proxy advisory firm. “While we believe the amount of severance pay is not material in the context of Infosys’s size, the transaction—and the disclosures around it—could have been handled significantly better."
Significantly, Sikka gave his nod to the separation agreement, which was subsequently approved by the board after it was justified by Infosys’s chief compliance officer David Kennedy, according to two executives, including one board member and the person cited in the first instance. The board member also requested anonymity.
Infosys chairman: No negotiations, but founder inputs will be considered
Kennedy convinced the board’s nomination and remuneration panel that the management had negotiated “well" to bring down the severance to two years’ salary as against the compensation for three years demanded by Bansal, who was represented by his law firm AZB Partners, according to the board member cited above.
An email sent to AZB Partners seeking comment went unanswered.
An email sent to Murthy seeking comment was also unanswered.
Surprisingly, Infosys believes that the question of putting on record Bansal’s severance payment is a “housekeeping" issue and not a cause for concern.
“The board had a call, we discussed and we approved (Bansal’s severance). The fact that some housekeeping issues, recording took place at a later date, to my mind should not cause any concern of anxiety to someone outside the company," said Seshasayee.
“These are things which to my mind happen to many companies. Look we need to tighten the processes of recording... but these are internal issues which we will attend (to), and we have done subsequently," he added.
ALSO READ | Look beyond Tata and Infosys
Calls and text messages to Bansal seeking comment went unanswered.
“Vishal and Rajiv were not comfortable working together," said the board member. “So Vishal wanted Bansal to leave. The management negotiated his severance and it was Vishal who actually signed off on the agreement. Later the agreement was brought before us by David Kennedy."
Sikka, in an interaction with the media on Monday, explained Bansal’s departure as an outcome of “team chemistry issues". Mint could not independently ascertain the reasons for the purported differences between Sikka and Bansal.
“(We were told) management had negotiated well to lower it to two years of salary, and Kennedy also justified (it) by saying paying severance money is well within acceptable standards," said the board member cited above.
Kennedy was sacked by Infosys in December last year, and proxy advisory firms again questioned the rationale of the company offering him $868,250 (around Rs5.8 crore) in severance.
Infosys then said that Kennedy and the company mutually agreed to part ways but clarified that severance pay was part of Kennedy’s employment agreement when he joined in November 2014.
An email sent to Kennedy seeking comment went unanswered.
Mint first wrote about Infosys making a severance payment to Bansal in May last year, when the company disclosed it paid Rs23.08 crore in severance pay, salary and other benefits to Bansal in a footnote to its annual report, which then made a few equity analysts and proxy advisory firms question corporate governance at the company.
In June, at Infosys’s annual general meeting, Seshasayee disclosed that Rs17.38 crore in severance pay was to be paid over 10 instalments, of which two instalments had already been paid by then. Infosys for now has paid Rs5.2 crore in severance to Bansal, Seshasayee said on Monday. |
I mean, we have been promised a lot of things these past five years that didn’t turn out to be the case: death panels, doom. (Laughter.) A serious alternative from Republicans in Congress. (Laughter.)
But we also know beyond a shred of a doubt that the policy has worked. Coverage is up. Cost growth is at a historic low. Deficits have been slashed. Lives have been saved. So if anybody wants to join us in the spirit of the people who have put aside differences to come here today and help make the law work even better, come on board. On the other hand, for folks who are basing their entire political agenda on repealing the law, you've got to explain how kicking millions of families off their insurance is somehow going to make us more free. Or why forcing millions of families to pay thousands of dollars more will somehow make us more secure. Or why we should go back to the days when women paid more for coverage than men. Or a preexisting condition locked so many of us out of insurance.
President Obama marked the 5th anniversary of Obamacare being signed into law in a White House event in which he touted the accomplishments of the law, and poked a lot of fun at Republicans who've done nothing but try to repeal it, including this zinger:He continued, still needling well-deserving Republicans.Those are explanations you're not going to be getting from Ted Cruz or any other Republican. |
Upon looking at the photo above, you may ask yourself, first if this is real (yes) and second, “In what universe did the fellow who plays Hodor from Game of Thrones make it into the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon?” Well, that would be this universe, specifically the one that held the Geek Media Expo last weekend in Nashville, Tenn.
The Falcon cockpit was actually constructed by Greg Dietrich and my good friend, Chris Lee, who is perhaps best described as a genius on par with Tony Stark and a less broody Bruce Wayne. In his spare time, he likes to build things like robots, Stormtrooper armor, and other wonderful gadgets. But the Falcon cockpit itself is part of a larger project called the Full-Scale Falcon in which Lee and a legion of other Star Wars geeks plan to build a life-size model of the Millennium Falcon on a plot of land on the outskirts of Nashville.
It’s actually much bigger than just building the Falcon, too. Lee has previously told me that he’d like the site where the Falcon is built to become a sort of “NASA Space Camp” for kids that want to learn how to build hardware from scratch. But those plans are all in the far future while he and other geeks focus on finishing the replica of Star Wars’ most famous ship.
As for the photo, Lee brought portions of the Falcon cockpit to the GMX event last weekend to show off some of the progress. Hodor actor (and DJ) Kristian Nairn was in attendance and didn’t pass up a photo-op inside the cockpit.
I’ve asked Lee to show me the whole Falcon replica when I visit for the holidays. Hopefully, that means I’ll soon have more info on that Star Wars hardware camp for kids as well as a new slide show of photos.
But for now here’s a gallery of photos from the Full-Scale Falcon webpage.
Also, HODOR! |
A belief in superstition and the ability to control luck is widespread, a phenomenon I explore in a Personal Journal article. A quarter of respondents to a Gallup Poll in 2005 said they believe in astrology, and only 55% firmly replied they don’t believe “that the position of the stars and planets can affect people’s lives.” A quarter of respondents also said they were very or somewhat superstitious the last time Gallup asked that question, in 1996. American lotteries racked up $60.6 billion in sales in 2008, according to the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries.
Mathematicians, as a rule, aren’t a superstitious lot, nor are they prone to mathematically irrational behavior such as trying to beat the house in betting. The American Mathematical Society hasn’t held a conference in Las Vegas since 1972, in part because of the discontent some mathematicians expressed then about the ambience of gambling. “We really do know the odds and they mean something to us, so we don’t play,” said Keith Devlin, executive director of the H-STAR Institute at Stanford University. Devlin thinks that others’ belief in lucky numbers, what he calls “an irrational attachment of significances to numbers,” is “a proxy for our justified sense that numbers are really important to us.” |
Buy Photo Joe McKay speaks during the Blackfeet Business Council induction ceremony. (Photo: TRIBUNE FILE PHOTO)Buy Photo
For two years, between the spring of 2012 and summer of 2014, the Blackfeet people suffered through one of the most chaotic and divisive periods of self-governance the tribe had experienced since its constitution was enacted in 1935.
Personal attacks, repeated allegations of criminal misconduct, manipulation of constitutional authority, a refusal to negotiate — all contributed to a prolonged breakdown in the Blackfeet government that only ended with the installation of new tribal leadership in July 2014.
During that troubled time, various shifting political factions voted to suspend or expel 10 different council members, and 13 different people claimed legitimate membership within the nine-member Blackfeet Tribal Business Council.
There were repeated street protests, some verging upon riots, and confusion over which political faction could claim lawful authority prompted the Native American Bank to suspend authorization for the issuance of tribal checks. Tribal employees went unpaid, and the delivery of goods and services was delayed.
Those chaotic times have now passed, however, many Blackfeet leaders both inside and outside the current administration argue broad constitutional reform must take place to ensure the type of governmental meltdown that occurred between 2012 and 2014 not be repeated.
“What we saw in 2012 was that the law became whoever had the most votes, that they could interpret the Constitution any damn way they wanted to,” said Joe McKay, Blackfeet tribal councilmember and a driving force behind a new effort to rewrite the Blackfeet Constitution. “That’s why we had people being expelled on votes of three and four council members. The law became whatever the hell I want it to be if I have enough votes to get it done. The only thing that ended that chaos was the election.”
During a two-day symposium held in Browning on Jan. 11 and 12, a broad assortment of tribal business leaders, educators, land and resource managers, government officials and community representatives met to discuss constitutional reform on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation.
“The symposium was an effort to educate the tribal membership about the process for change and the issues to be aware of going forward,” McKay said.
Guest presenters included the co-director of the Harvard (University) Project on American Indian Economic Development, a former deputy assistant secretary of Indian affairs who is also an enrolled member of the Crow Tribe, and a University of Minnesota professor actively involved in constitutional reform for the White Earth (Ojibwe) Nation.
The plans for constitutional reform on the Blackfeet Reservation are both urgent and ambitious. McKay said there is a limited window of opportunity for sweeping constitutional change, and that nothing less than a complete redrafting of the Blackfeet Constitution is required.
“This is a rewrite of the entire governmental structure,” he added. “The goal of this group is, by the end of this calendar year, to have a document that the Blackfeet people can vote on.”
Flaws in the Blackfeet Constitution were recognized almost from its inception. Promulgated following Congressional passage of the Indian Reorganization Act in 1934, the Blackfeet were one of approximately 160 U.S. tribes that were handed ready-made constitutions drafted by representatives of the federal government.
Though intended to re-establish the sovereignty of American Indian tribes, these IRA constitutions cemented an imposed system of self-government alien to the traditional institutions the tribes had operated under for centuries.
“Indian tribes like the Blackfeet had their own unwritten forms of social democratic governments by which we regulated our own conduct – long before your folks ever got here,” McKay said. “Rather than look beyond the councils and see what tribes historically did, they looked and they saw tribal councils.”
McKay said the tribal council form of government was imposed as a mechanism of control. It concentrated authority within a small group of appointed tribal leaders compliant to the manipulations of federal Indian agents.
These IRA constitutions vested nearly all authority within the tribal councils, with no legislative branch of government or provisions for independent judiciaries.
In much of Indian country today, tribal councils draft all the laws, control tribal assets, write public policy, can hire or dismiss tribal employees, and oversee the administration all the government offices – right down to a tribal court system where judges can be fired at will by a majority vote of the council.
“It (the Blackfeet Constitution) doesn’t work, not just because of its legal provisions,” McKay said. “It doesn’t work because all the power of the tribe is vested in the tribal council. There’s no separation of powers, no checks and balances, and no ultimate accountability.”
Less than a decade after its passage, social activists within the Blackfeet Tribe began to advocate for constitutional reform. Those efforts have been largely unsuccessful.
“We’ve amended our constitution 11 times since 1935,” McKay said. “Most of those amendments had to do with the number on the tribal council and how we elect them. One had to do with membership – that was in 1962 – and one adopted the Plan of Operations. That was the only one that even looked at the power of the council and all it did was give them more power to administrate things.”
McKay views the enactment of a “clear separation of powers” and the establishment of “an independent tribal court system with clear and fair rules” as fundamental to improving the quality of life for the Blackfeet people.
“The best thing that we can do for our people in terms of creating jobs and hope is to create an environment where people will want to come and do business with us,” McKay said. “We want to send a message, not only to our own people, but to outsiders and non-Indians as well that they will be treated fairly in Blackfeet country.”
Two big obstacles have repeatedly stood in the way of meaningful constitutional reform in Browning: the self-interest of sitting tribal councils to preserve their authority and the contentious issue of tribal membership.
A freshman tribal councilman, McKay sits in the odd position of leading an effort to reduce the powers of his own office. To reconcile that apparent contradiction, he emphasizes that the movement for constitutional reform is not driven from within the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council, but is led by a core group of about 20 community volunteers loosely organized as the Committee for Constitutional Change.
“I have said this from the very beginning, we are not going to go to the council and get a resolution sanctioning us,” McKay said. “For the simple reason that if the council gets mad and decides to rescind their resolution, the theory would be that they could kill the effort. That’s what happened to the last effort in 2010. We’re not going to do that. The tribal council supports it, but it is not an effort that the tribal council itself created.”
A major stumbling block for many of the prior reform efforts has been the contentious issue of tribal membership.
Since 1962, the Blackfeet Constitution has defined those eligible for tribal membership as “all children having one-fourth degree of Blackfeet Indian blood or more born after the adoption of this amendment to any blood member of the Blackfeet Tribe.”
In the intervening 53 years, debate over who is entitled to the benefits and privileges of tribal enrollment have frequently overshadowed attempts at broader constitutional reform. To avoid that pitfall, the Committee for Constitutional Changes has purposefully excluded debate on tribal membership.
“This is not about redefining tribal membership,” McKay said. “This is solely about how we govern ourselves.”
However, there is no denying that a legislative process so broad and inclusive has the potential to provoke strong opposition.
“The resistance to change is great, and generally it is driven by fear,” McKay said. “Those who fear change are then willing to engage in misinformation and in outright lies to try to prevent the people from having the opportunity to vote. People will be out there spreading those lies and trying to rob tribal members of their right to make an independent decision. We understand and will deal with that.”
To oppose an efforts at misinformation, McKay said that all meetings of the Committee for Constitutional Change are open to tribal membership, and that meetings of the recent symposium were videotaped and are now accessible on YouTube under the search title “Blackfeet Governance.”
“Nothing that we’re doing is behind closed doors or secret in any way,” he said. “The next step is to begin the writing process. As we draft, we’ll put that out to the people and get their feedback – and we’ll continue that process until we have a document that we can present to the council that could get approved.”
Read or Share this story: http://gftrib.com/1RqReaJ |
Internet coffee house coming to downtown Houlton
Houlton’s historic downtown will soon have a new Internet cafe and collaborative workspace.
HOULTON, Maine — Houlton’s historic downtown will soon have a new Internet cafe and collaborative workspace.
Spearheaded by Jim Bell, a Houlton native who returned to the area in 2015, Wired Houlton will soon open for business at 23 Market Square, in the storefront formerly occupied by Shelly’s Cafe. Bell plans to opens the cafe in mid-July, but coffee lovers will be able to get a taste Friday, June 30, as part of the Midnight Madness celebration, when Bell will be serving up freshly brewed iced coffee.
In considering business opportunities, Bell realized that an Internet cafe and collaborative workspace would provide a much-needed opportunity for the community to come together, whether for work or play.
Wired Houlton is intended to offer a fun, casual café environment in which to kick back and relax. Guests can gather with friends, read a book from the cafe shelves, or surf the Internet on the wireless network.
At the same time, Bell plans to address the needs of the growing number of people in the area who work from home by offering what’s known as “cowork space” — a place in which people can come together to enjoy greater productivity and a sense of community.
“At Wired Houlton, cowork participants will have access to high-speed Internet, videoconferencing capabilities, quiet work or meeting space, and other office services, all in a comfortable, relaxed setting,” Bell said.
He plans is to start fairly simple and gauge the demand for space and services, and adjust based on user feedback. Wired Houlton will also provide a different type of collaborative workspace by opening a shared commercial kitchen, available to members of the community at reasonable rental rates.
Bell’s goal is to provide opportunities for the development of food-based businesses by renting shared kitchen space, local entrepreneurs eliminate the often-prohibitive expenses associated with setting up these facilities.
Bell is working with Kathryn Harnish, co-owner of Took a Leap Farm and The Vault Restaurant, to develop the kitchen and build programs that support individuals who want to explore food-based business opportunities.
He plans to offer a full coffee bar, with hot and cold brewed coffee, espresso drinks, tea, and other specialty drinks. Wired Houlton’s quality coffee will come through a partnership with Storibord Coffee Roasters in Fort Fairfield and will be complemented by a small selection of breakfast, lunch, and “anytime” food options that will change daily.
“I wanted to open a casual, friendly gathering place — somewhere our friends would want to hang out and where folks would want to settle in and work,” said Bell. “Doing so in downtown Houlton was important, as I believe that Market Square is the heart of our community, and it needs a more vibrant village center. I’m looking forward to building community through coffee, cowork, and conversation … and can’t wait to open the door to something new in Houlton this summer.”
Follow Wired Houlton on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/WiredHoulton for updates on opening plans and other important news. |
Liverpool – Dortmund 4:3 (5:4)
4:3
After a tense first leg, both teams faced up at Anfield in a much greater attacking focus and the result was a more chaotic game. It was decided by intelligent changes from Klopp in the second half as he produced another miracle, yet this time from the opposite dugout.
Formational Changes
It was interesting two see changes in shape from both dugouts after the stalemate in Germany. The most surprising adaption came from Tuchel, who abandoned the 3-chain which we saw in the first leg as he opted for a much more orthodox 4-2-3-1 shape; one similar to what we saw throughout the hindrunde. Piszczek moved into a more standard full-back role whilst Castro joined Weigl as a double pivot. Kagawa came into the 10 position and was headed by the attack of Reus, Mkhitaryan and Aubameyang.
Klopp also moved away from his 4-3-2-1 shape used in the first clash and opted for a similar 4-2-3-1 shape. Roberto Firmino came into the aside in place of Jordan Henderson as he moved to a position on the right side of the attack. Being back at Anfield, this was immediately a more attacking set-up from the now-hosts as they looked to create better support around Origi who was often isolated in the first leg with Liverpool’s direct ‘smash-and-grab’ game.
Tuchel’s Defensive Shift
Another big change from the last match was Tuchel’s defensive strategy as his team now defended in not only a largely different shape, but in a significantly lower block too. During Liverpool’s construction they were more passive and there were many less attempts to actively create defensive access (an ability to press the ball effectively) when there wasn’t any before.
With the change of shape, Dortmund dropped into what was between a 4-4-2 and a 4-4-1-1 based on the positioning of Shinji Kagawa. The two forwards were primarily passive and would cover any passing angles into the Liverpool pivot with their cover shadows. On the occasions they would move up, it would only when defensive security was sufficient and the rest of the block rarely followed higher.
Through a deeper-situated defence, Dortmund ended up winning back possession in deeper positions and therefore often had greater space to counter-attack into. During offensive transition, they worked to exploit the problems Liverpool caused themselves through their weak shape and broke well through the centre.
This change was ultimately successful, or at least in the opening stages of the game, as Dortmund put themselves into an early 2-0 lead. Both goals came from regains in deep positions followed by fast counter-attacks with the attacking quartet playing a large role in both.
The first came after an attack inside Dortmund’s third broke down with a misplaced pass on the wing. Liverpool were very poorly structured to form any counterpress and Dortmund were able to break quickly towards the opposition goal.
In the second, Liverpool’s structure was improved but still quite weak with particularly poor vertical staggering. The breakthrough came more from some strong dribbling by Reus who was then able to thread Aubameyang through into space behind, after the Gabonese forward initially had moved away to create a separation from Sakho on his blind-side.
Liverpool Exploit Compactness Issues
In comparison to the first leg, Liverpool’s attacking ability improved by some distance as a result of Klopp’s adaptions as well as some deficiencies in the German shape.
Defending in their 4-4-2 formation, Dortmund possessed some issues with compactness when they were without the ball and were particularly stretched horizontally. This was to some extent influenced by the orientation of the two wide midfielders as both Mkhitaryan and Reus were situationally oriented to the respective Liverpool full-backs. The result of this was quite a poor coverage of the half-spaces during these moments and Dortmund’s control of the three central columns was lacking. Although their coverage of the full-back was not as tight as you see in most teams, it created somewhat of a disconnect between the winger and his ball-near 8 at times which gave Liverpool opportunity to take advantage.
When the wingers weren’t focused on covering a wider player, Tuchel’s side still had some issues in spatial coverage which stemmed more from weak staggering of the midfield as well as a similar level of low compactness across the whole block. Aside from the orientation of the wingers, the man-oriented nature of Weigl and Castro was also momentarily problematic for Dortmund when faced with Liverpool’s central trio.
In their own right however, Liverpool were much stronger with the ball than the first leg. Away in Dortmund, Klopp took on much more of a ‘smash-and-grab’ strategy and looked to disrupt Dortmund’s defence through numerous long balls to Origi – something which ultimately payed off as the Belgian striker opened the scoring.
Back at home, their attack was much more multi-faceted and their now-occasional direct game was complemented with better ball circulation on the floor too. The formational change supported Liverpool’s attempts too as they benefited from better occupation of the attacking midfield zone with improved spacing across the attack. Their extra attacking midfielder was important in Liverpool progressing the ball between the Dortmund lines and they were more often able to find the ball behind the pairing of Weigl and Castro, often in the half-spaces which were left unprotected as I mentioned above.
Although their possession was often somewhat restricted to the flanks against Dortmund’s 4-4-2, Liverpool spaced the wings quite well and with situational overloads through the movements of the ‘3’ were able to move the ball back inside through the half-spaces. Their attacking shape commonly allowed at least 2 forwards to shift over to the ball-near half-space and with the support of a full-back and ball-near 8
Dortmund’s Improved Attack
Dortmund themselves were also better in possession with the switch to a 4-2-3-1 helping their cause at Anfield. The issues they faced with the defensive line in the first leg were no longer in effect and they had greater presences in higher zones too. With Weigl now supported by Castro in the first line of midfield, Tuchel’s side were more able to progress the ball out of the build-up phase with stronger overloads being created around the Liverpool press.
Their biggest improvement came in the higher areas where the introduction of Kagawa in place of Durm resulted in a more dynamic attack based around breaking through the left of the pitch. The Japanese 10 frequently moved towards the left where he could combine with Reus and Schmelzer whilst Castro moved forward into the centre from a deeper position. Dortmund were able to focus their attacks around particular spaces and their capacity to structure themselves for combinations was improved too.
Moved out to a position on the right, Mkhitaryan was isolated at times but dealt better with this role than in previous performances. He frequently moved inside towards the centre where he could act as a free man and occupy spaces which Kagawa left whilst when he was in possession on the right he was more successful in dribbles whilst his capacity to keep the ball helped too.
Whilst Liverpool’s change of shape gave them better presence in the half-spaces, their own protection of the same areas was decreased in defence. The ‘2’ of Milner and Can were unable to cover the midfield as widely as they had done with Henderson last week and Milner’s tendencies to man-mark out of possession often left his teammate stranded in deeper positions. Whilst their horizontal compactness in midfield had been such an important factor in their defensive stability in Dortmund, they were much more stretched last night and Dortmund had greater success between the lines.
Klopp’s Changes and Dortmund’s Loss of Control
After the interval, the game became much more hectic as Klopp’s side looked to cause a more chaotic game which, at 0-2, would give them a good chance to get back into the game. Tuchel’s Dortmund are a team which depends largely on control of the game and tempo in possession of the ball with their philosophy on positional play. When they don’t have control over the rhythm, they tend to struggle quite significantly with and without possession of the ball.
In possession of the ball, Liverpool’s midfield became significantly narrower with smaller distances between the forwards whilst Milner was given even more licence to take up advanced positions off of the ball. This adaption gave the hosts greater presence in attack and disrupted the stability of the game with their greater attacking focus which made both teams less secure in defence. In chase of the game, the intensity of their pressing also became greater and Dortmund’s already-limited ability to construct possession from deep became even more restrained.
Just after the game moved into the final 30 minutes, Klopp made a clearer change as Liverpool moved into a loose 4-2-2-2 shape through the introduction of Sturridge and Allen. Milner and Can (later Leiva) acted in the first line of midfield whilst Allen and Coutinho played extremely attacking roles higher up. Daniel Sturridge came into the game and played high alongside Divock Origi.
The result of these substitutions was an extremely attacking formation which created large numbers in attacking areas. Liverpool tempo in possession increased massively and looked to use this increased presence in attack to use combinations through the centre of the pitch and have better success when they took a direct approach. The impact was almost immediate as a fast exchange of passes in the 65th minute resulted in a Coutinho shot which beat Weidenfeller’s left hand to make it 3-4 on aggregate.
Klopp changed shape in the 62nd for greater presence in the central attacks allowing for better combinations #lfc pic.twitter.com/UrAFEdoica — Tom Payne (@TomPayneftbl) April 15, 2016
With an overload of players in the attacking zones, destabilised much of the remaining order in the game and played extremely vertical as they looked to constantly attack the Dortmund box. The German side’s already-weak control was progressively diminishing as the second half wore on and their defence simply didn’t cope against the strong offensive pressure from Klopp’s team.
Tuchel’s reaction to the game’s rhythm changes was quite poor and also had a part to play in the final result. In reaction to Liverpool’s heightened attacking focus, Dortmund sat deeper and deeper and placed little pressure on the opposition in deeper spaces. The hosts dominated the counterpressing and could restart many attacks immediately after a clearance whilst Dortmund’s ability to maintain possession was nowhere to be seen against opposition pressing.
The switch to a 5-man defensive line only emphasised the issues Dortmund previously had and the introduction of Gündogan was far too late as by that time, Liverpool were completely in control of the match. His decision to replace Kagawa for Ginter to achieve greater defensive presence immediately backfired too, as they conceded from corner to the front post where Kagawa had intercepted every single one previously.
Conclusion
In summary, Klopp’s strong tactical changes in the second half inspired a complete turnaround in the game. He deprived Dortmund of the one thing they require most and the rhythm of the game changed entirely. The switch to increase attacking presence created significant pressure on the Dortmund defence until a cleverly-worked deep free-kick resulted in Lovren winning the quarter-final tie for the hosts. |
The boycott by the opposition has raised the possibility of by-elections and is a setback to Erdogan [AFP]
Two of Turkey's principal opposition parties have boycotted parliament's swearing-in to protest against a ban on jailed candidates who won seats in June's parliamentary elections.
The decisions by the secularist, centre-left Republican People's Party (CHP) and the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) meant that more than 30 per cent of candidates elected abstained from Tuesday's ceremony.
"We will not take the oath unless the way is open for all our deputies to take the oath," Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the CHP leader, said earlier in the day.
The CHP, which won 135 seats in the 550-seat legislature in the June 12 election, took its decision after a court rejected an appeal for the release of two of its victorious candidates.
"These people received the support of the people, and people expressed their will on behalf of these two deputies, and I think our action is designed to make sure that the right to elect and to be elected is fully respected," Faruk Logoglu, a CHP member, told Al Jazeera.
"We understand that this action is not going to produce the desired outcome until the governing majority party comes up with a solution that is acceptable."
'Lame' institution
Logoglu said that while the parliament would still be able to function, as the ruling AK Party holds a majority, it would do so as a "lame" institution.
The BDP, which won 36 seats, announced its bycott decision last week after the Election Commission ruled a candidate must forfeit his seat because of a conviction for spreading "terrorist propaganda" and awarded the seat to a runner-up from the AK Party.
The boycott has raised the possibility of by-elections and is a setback to Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister.
Read more about the Turkish elections 2011
There is a rule that if more than five per cent of MPs resign, their seats will be thrown open for by-elections.
However, the fact that candidates cannot resign unless they have been sworn-in, leaves the issue in a grey area.
Erdogan, who heads the AK Party, has pledged to build bridges and seek consensus with the opposition as he prepares to draft a new constitution to replace one written during military rule.
The opposition parties argue that the jailed politicians are entitled to parliamentary immunity and should be freed to take up their seats in the house.
They have also called on Erdogan to amend the necessary laws to facilitate the release of detained candidates.
But Erdogan has indicated his party had no immediate plans for an amendment, saying the problem would be solved later with a more democratic constitution.
He criticised the opposition parties for nominating jailed candidates late on Monday, saying: "Could they not have found other candidates? They nominated these people knowing that it would cause such a problem." |
1
Decriminalization of Sex Work: Policy Background Document
I.
Policy Overview
Amnesty International is opposed to the criminalization or punishment of activities related to the buying or selling of consensual sex between adults. Amnesty International believes that seeking, buying, selling and soliciting paid sex are acts protected from state interference as long as there is no coercion, t hreats or violence associated with those acts. Legitimate restrictions may be i mposed on the practice of sex work if they comply with international human rights law (
i.e.
, they are for a legitimate purpose, appropriate to meet that purpose, proportionate and non- discriminatory). Amnesty International believes states have a positive obligation to reform their laws and develop and implement systems and policies that eliminate discrimination against those engaging in sex work. Additionally, states must actively seek to empower the most marginalized in society, including through supporting the rights to freedom of association of those engaging in sex work, establishing frameworks that ensure access to appropriate, quality health services and safe working conditions, and through combating discrimination or abuse based on sex, sexual orientation and/or gender identity or expression. Amnesty International understands the imperfect context in which individuals choose to become sex workers (or miners or foreign domestic workers). We know that some individuals engaged in sex work do not have the necessary resources or information to leave commercial sex work when they want to. At the same time, we believe human rights principles requires policy-makers to value the voices of those who are directly affected by inequality and discrimination. We believe that policies which purport to support and improve the situation of the resource-poor must focus on empowering the disenfranchised and directly addressing structural disadvantages such as poverty, not on devaluing their decisions and choices or criminalizing the contexts in which they live their lives. We believe that a policy based on human right principles that values the input and experiences of sex workers is the most likely to ensure that no one enters or stays in sex work involuntary. Amnesty International considers children involved in commercial sex acts to be victims of sexual exploitation, entitled to support, reparations, and remedies, in line with international human rights law. States must take all appropriate measures to prevent violence a nd exploitation of ch ildren. The best interests of the child should, in all cases, be a primary consideration and the state should preserve the right of the child to be heard and to have his or her views given due weight in accordance with their age and maturity. See Amnesty Internati
onal’s
policy on decriminalization of sex work for a more detailed explanation of the
organization’s |
Illumination-Universal’s “Despicable Me 3” has opened in China with an impressive $20.1 million on its first day — the best opening for an animated movie ever in the country.
The figure is 17.5% above the opening of Illumination’s “Minions,” which set the record two years ago. It’s also the sixth-biggest debut day of the year.
“Despicable Me 3” had already hauled $286.8 million worldwide through Thursday with the international take hitting $171.6 million and the domestic total at $115.2 million.
“Despicable Me 3” is directed by Pierre Coffin and Kyle Balda, and co-directed by Eric Guillon. The film stars Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, and Trey Parker. The pic follows Carell’s Gru, who discovers that he has a twin brother named Dru, while the Minions are jailed.
The 2015 “Minions” spinoff was a massive success, earning $336 million domestically and $823 million internationally, including $68 million in China. “Minions” is the top Illumination performer worldwide with $1.16 billion, followed by 2013’s “Despicable Me 2” with $975.8 million, 2016’s “The Secret Life of Pets” with $875.5 million, and 2016’s “Sing” with $633 million.
“Despicable Me 3” has set records as the biggest animated movie opening weekend of all time in Argentina, Brazil, Egypt, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Middle East, Netherlands, Ukraine, and Venezuela. In addition to China, it’s opening in France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Trinidad, and Iceland this week. |
Religion has at times come in the way of love, happiness and friendship. But this time it wasn't to win.
Rising above his religious beliefs and the faith he practiced, Razzak Khan Tikari, a resident of Chhattisgarh, did what only a few of us have the heart to do. Breaking all religious barriers Razzak, despite being a follower of Islam, performed Hindu rites for his deceased friend, Santosh Singh.
Catch News
Singh who belonged to Harda area and was living with his family in Baitul, was suffering from critical health condition to which he succumbed on 20 September. He is survived by his wife Chhaya and their eight-year-old daughter.
Unable to arrange money to perform proper religious rites for her deceased husband, Santosh's wife was helpless. At this time, Santosh's friend for years Razzak came forward and took the responsibility of carrying out all the religious rites and to cremate the body of his deceased friend. Razzak, despite being a Muslim, never let religion come in the way of his friendship. He performed all the rites as per Hindu tradition and cremated Santosh's body.
Don't Miss 94.2 K SHARES 48.6 K SHARES 64.9 K SHARES 19.2 K SHARES 35.3 K SHARES
"Religion should not become a barrier in friendship," Razzak was quoted telling Catch News.
This certainly leaves us with one thought - is it really so difficult to keep religion aside and believe in the power of love and friendship. Well, with Razzak's live example it doesn't seem like it. |
Geneticists are now estimating that the Spanish Inquisition led to large amounts of intermarriage between nominally converted Muslims and Jews with Catholics in Spain after 1492.
From that date, the Spanish state forbade all religions but orthodox Catholicism in Spain, making Jews and Christians who chose to remain convert.
A new study finds that 1 in 10 of Spanish men has haplotypes (genetic patterns) on the y chromosome identical with that of North Africans (i.e. Moroccans, Algerians, Tunisians). And this study suggests that 1 in 5 have haplotypes identical with Jewish males.
The evidence with regard to Spanish women is inconclusive. (This article doesn’t seem to realize it, but this is because only a minority of Jewish women have ‘Palestinian’ patterns in their mitochondrial DNA; male Jewish merchant communities established around the Mediterranean from about the 800s AD took local wives and converted them, so the majority of Jewish women don’t have distinctive genetic markers.)
I’m not so sure that the Inquisition can explain these results, since the numbers seem incommensurate with the result.
There were about 100,000 Marranos or forcibly-converted Jews in Spain after 1492 (many Iberian Jews fled to Holland, North Africa or Istanbul to retain their faith).
There were initially some 315,000 Moriscoes or forcibly-converted Muslims in the 1500s. But at the beginning of the 1600s, these were expelled, as well. By 1609 it is estimated that all but 10,000 to 15,000 of these Catholic secret Muslims had been expelled (France, Italy, and North Africa were the major destinations of the victims of this ethnic cleansing).
Spain’s population in the 1500s was about 8 million.
So I don’t see how 50,000 Marranos males could produce a situation where 1/5 of the present-day male population is descended from them. And, the huge Arab and Berber population of medieval Spain and even the 300,000 there in the 1500s, with whom there would have been intermarriage, should have left a larger genetic heritage in Spain than just 1/10. Moreover, I would challenge the idea that most of the mixing only came after the conversions post-1492. People sleep with each other across cultural boundaries and don’t tell the historians about it. And, people convert from Islam to Catholicism and pretend they’d always been Catholics, something that could have been going on surreptitiously all through the centuries of the Reconquista.
Anyway, the haplotypes distinctive to Sephardic Jews are indistinguishable from those of Palestinians and Lebanese. So my guess is that the geneticists are finding descendants from the Phoenicians and from Arab populations that invaded North Africa and then Spain, along with descendants of Jews.
Work on the genetic history of the Phoenicians in the Mediterranean is now also being pursued. |
Why is the concept of Jean Grey as Phoenix still relevant after thirty-seven years? The classic and controversial “Dark Phoenix Saga,” written by famed X-Men writer Chris Claremont and published by Marvel in 1980, continues to impact not only X-Men movies and X-Men comics but most Marvel comics hitting the stands.
A History of “Dark Phoenix Saga” for Noobs
The original five X-Men consisted of Cyclops, Iceman, Beast, Angel, and Jean Grey. Similar to the Invisible Girl in FANTASTIC FOUR at the time, Jean’s weak power set rendered her inconsequential to the team. The X-Men, including Jean Grey herself, considered this an indisputable truth.
Jean played the role of nothing more than a token female in early X-Men comics but at least she appeared in X-Men comics at all. The 1950’s and 1960’s weren’t so long ago. Clearly, women were repressed in a man’s society.
The first X-Men comics released less than thirty-five years after women became eligible to vote. A woman’s place included marriage by thirty (or face social abandonment), total devotion to her husband above her own needs and wants, and financial servitude. I remember seeing what my mother wrote in her 1959 yearbook when someone asked her what she wanted to do with her life. I asked her why she wrote “secretary.” She responded, “what else could I have been back then?”
My mother’s response heartbreakingly spoke to the challenges women faced and continue to face in our society. To put things more in perspective, the American Equal Pay Act passed by Congress in 1963 stated women should be paid equal to men. X-Men comics premiered in the same year the Act passed.
In the 1960’s, X-Men comics failed to deliver good numbers. For a while, Marvel sold only reprints of older issues. Then, Len Wein and others created a new international team of X-Men consisting of Storm, Wolverine, Thunderbird, Sunfire, Nightcrawler, and Colossus. The new team of X-Men replaced the original characters, except for Cyclops who remained. However, Jean Grey soon returned to the X-Men.
“Dark Phoenix Saga:” A Sign of Changing Times
The Normal Rockwell culture of the American 1950’s (among many other things) gave rise to feminism. As second-wave feminism spread throughout the western world, women characters like Jean Grey seemed to purport stereotypes rife in popular culture damaging to women. New X-MEN writer Chris Claremont developed a response to second-wave feminist criticisms of the portrayals of women in pop culture. Thus, Jean Grey became the Phoenix.
Powered Up: Journey from Phoenix to Dark Phoenix
This new international team of X-Men exploded onto the scene and revived the failing series paving the way for Jean’s evolution. When asked if his plan all along was for the mantle of Phoenix to go to Jean Grey, in an interview on the ComicsVerse Podcast, Chris Claremont responded: “It was always the redhead.” In the same podcast interview, he further describes Jean as “fiery.”
The relevance of Claremont’s plan for Jean Grey heightens when considering how flawlessly it all played out. From “The Phoenix Saga” to “Dark Phoenix Saga,” Claremont and the creative team effortlessly hit every mark needed for a story of such epic magnitude. Scenes built on top of each other beautifully, weaving a story over time culminating in the greatest possible emotional gut punch. After all, what made “Dark Phoenix Saga” successful wasn’t the Phoenix itself. The success of “Dark Phoenix Saga” lies in the heartbreak of Jean Grey’s fall from grace — her seduction of innocence, if you will.
Rise of the Phoenix
Jean Grey’s death seems imminent in the pages of ALL-NEW, ALL-DIFFERENT X-MEN #100. The X-Men need to travel home from space. The spaceship they travel with sustained damage to the autopilot system. Deadly levels of radiation caused by a solar flare loom towards the spacecraft, threatening all their lives.
Jean thinks she can fly the ship back to Earth while the other X-Men wait safely in a containment unit that blocks radiation. She believes she can use her telekinesis as a shield against the radiation and survive. She absorbed the pilot’s knowledge of how to fly the spaceship telepathically. The X-Men fear for her life. Most notably, Cyclops cannot contain his fear and grief at the idea of losing Jean. Jean Grey telepathically renders Cyclops unconscious. Thus, he does not stop her from flying the ship. The other X-Men lock themselves in a containment unit.
Jean’s courage and selflessness in this issue make up an example of what makes her so inspiring. As a child reading, I loved seeing a woman take charge of the situation and make the executive decision to subdue her boyfriend so that she could achieve the greater good — getting her friends to safety.
A Strong Start Later Muddled by Retcons?
Countless retcons and re-retcons convolute exactly what happened. It’s up to another article to explore the precise nature of the Phoenix and Jean Grey. Here, we’ll go with the original intention of the creators.
Jean manages to fly the plane to Earth. The plane crashes in the middle of the Jamaica Bay in Queens, New York. The X-Men rise to the top of the water one by one. Everyone assumes Jean died. In a fit of rage and denial, Cyclops frantically searches for her. Finally, the water bubbles. Jean emerges from the water reborn as Phoenix.
Later, the creative team behind the newly retitled UNCANNY X-MEN explain Professor Xavier telepathically tampered with Jean’s mind during her youth. He placed psychic barriers in Jean’s mind that dampened her immense power as a safety measure from Jean losing control. Jean pushing her abilities to the limit flying the ship broke through the psychic barriers. Newly powered up, Jean Grey is no longer Marvel Girl. She now calls herself Phoenix.
Upon further inspection, Jean breaking through Xavier’s barriers in her mind resonates. An older man “who knows best” prevents a woman from attaining her potential as a human being. Jean’s freedom from Xavier’s barriers mirrors the feminism happening in the outside world. Women all across the United States broke free from the shackles placed on their potential to be whoever it is they want by the patriarchy. They, like Jean, started to break free from years of repression.
Jean’s New Powers
Jean’s powers infinitely augmented to the degree that she controls matter telekinetically at the subatomic level. She can rearrange molecules and transmute one thing into something else simply by willing it to occur. Her telepathic powers also reached cosmic levels. Her role on the team now the opposite of how she started, Jean Grey as Phoenix became the most powerful member of the X-Men in an instant.
As Phoenix, Jean Grey won battles against everyone from the Shi’Ar’s Gladiator to heralds of Galactus.
Several factors contributed to Jean’s role as Phoenix correlating to the most popular time in X-Men history. First, as the powerhouse of the X-Men team, no one tired of watching Jean kick serious ass. Additionally, certain male characters reacted to Jean’s new powers in similar ways men reacted to women’s liberation. To put it mildly, they were scared. They didn’t know what to do with themselves. At times, Cyclops seemed like he lost his very identity. Decades later, we finally learn just how emasculated he feels as the arm candy to the most powerful cosmic force in the universe.
How to Seduce the Phoenix
In not quite FATAL ATTRACTION style, we learn what happens when a man tampers with the mental wellness of Jean Grey in the “Dark Phoenix Saga.” The Hellfire Club, led by Sebastian Shaw, Harry Leland, Donald Pierce, Emma Frost and Jason Wyngarde, plans to rule the world by gradually amassing power as a secret society. The goals of the Hellfire Club carefully contrast with Magneto’s ideology. The Hellfire Club concerns itself with world domination while at this point, Magneto seems like another victim of humanity’s ugliness. He constantly attempts preemptive strikes against his former oppressors.
Lady Grey, the Black Queen of the Hellfire Club
The Hellfire Club realizes their plan for world domination could be much simpler if only they had the power of the Phoenix on their side. Jason Wyngarde (as Mastermind) concocts a plan. With the help of Emma Frost and her telepathy, Mastermind would feed into Jean’s mind implanted memories of a past life she fictitiously lived. Memories of the past life designed to open Jean to the “dark side of the [Phoenix] force” include a time when she and Jason lived as a married couple in the 1700’s or early 1800’s. Jean, as Lady Grey of the 1800’s, thought the other X-Men her servants and Storm her slave (whom she slaps across the face for speaking out of turn).
Mastermind’s plan attains success after entering Jean Grey’s mind and implanting enough memories of her fictitious past life that Jean believes it to be her reality. The romance they share in her false memories somehow gave her a taste of how good selfishness and meanness feel. Jean subsequently surrenders to the illusion completely. She loses touch with reality and thinks she’s the Black Queen of the Hellfire Club.
Dark Phoenix Rising
Upon a later attempt to use Jean’s powers as a weapon, Jean catches onto the Hellfire Club’s plan. To say Jean feels angry would constitute an understatement of epic proportions. Mastermind’s plan backfires in a huge way when it drives Jean a little too crazy. She breaks through his illusion as a charming and handsome man, subsequently revealing him as older, unattractive, and frail.
Jean’s response to Mastermind’s violation of her mental safety is met with Medea-esque consequences. Jason didn’t only violate the sanctity of her private thoughts. He used them against her to put her in harm’s way. Mastermind physically seducing Jean by confusing her more than just connotes rape.
His arrogant thinking of Jean as a plaything, once she appears subdued, causes his downfall. Instead of killing Mastermind, UNCANNY X-MEN overlaps with SANDMAN: DREAM COUNTRY. Jean gives him what he wants. She bestows near limitless power onto him by connecting his mind to the entire universe. However, Jean knows Jason cannot handle the immense power Jean gave to him. He is swiftly driven insane by the psychic overload and becomes catatonic.
The Dark Phoenix as a 1980’s Medea
In what would later become a pattern of behavior, some view Jean’s response to Mastermind as harsh or an overreaction. I can’t imagine anything less true. As a man, I cannot begin to understand the pitfalls women face now, let alone before the feminist movement. That’s why I see a clear connection to Medea’s reaction in her eponymous play and Jean’s response in “Dark Phoenix Saga.” Medea’s anger stems from her treatment as a foreign woman as deemed necessary by social convention. Jean’s anger appears no different.
Jean embracing her rage and becoming Dark Phoenix isn’t merely about the mental and physical rape Mastermind caused. Jean’s reaction is the reaction of many women finally free to respond however they want. Her anger far outreaches the deeds of the Hellfire Club. Jean is angry about having her mind tampered and violated, yet, another time. She is angry regarding her marginalization as a member of the X-Men. She is angry about the twenty-four years she’s been alive up until this point and not had the freedom to reach her potential. The Hellfire Club represents the shadow government of the patriarchy. Mastermind represents the face of the Hellfire Club. At that moment, Jean reacts with the ferocity I can only imagine some women felt by their oppression before the women’s movement.
“The Dark Phoenix Saga:” Jean Unchained
In no uncertain terms, Dark Phoenix consumes Jean Grey’s personality. As the famous saying goes: “Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.” As Dark Phoenix, Jean destroys an entire solar system with billions of inhabitants. Next, Jean takes on the whole team of X-Men in addition to Beast and Angel. She effortlessly defeats them. In a final plea, Cyclops tells Jean she cannot and will not kill the X-Men because she loves them.
Scott’s speech awakens Jean within the Dark Phoenix. It appears pre-Hellfire Club Jean still exists beneath the absolute power of the Dark Phoenix, now considered a separate entity from Jean. Jean begs Scott to help her. As Jean remains in control, Xavier utilizes the moment to strike her with a mind blast. Jean awakens as Dark Phoenix. She and Professor Xavier engage in psychic battle. Xavier appears the victor. He places psychic barriers in Jean’s mind once again similar to how he did when she was a teenager. For the moment, Jean appears to be in control and the Dark Phoenix persona suppressed.
The Shi’Ar Empire as Another Wave of Patriarchal Influence on Jean as the Dark Phoenix
Just as it seems Xavier saved Jean and restored hope, Xavier’s girlfriend Lilandra teleports Jean and the X-Men to the Shi’Ar Empire. The Shi’Ar want to kill Jean by means of capital punishment. Lilandra, the Empress of the Shi’Ar Empire, deems Jean too dangerous to live after she destroyed a star in a solar system.
Dark Phoenix nor Jean were aware (or didn’t care to know) one of the planets in the star’s solar system was inhabited by billions. Professor Xavier invokes a Shi’Ar law akin to trial by combat. The X-Men don’t even question their decision. They mean to protect Jean with their lives, even if it means losing theirs.
After an epic battle between the Shi’Ar’s high guard and the X-Men, the royal guard harms Cyclops. Jean gradually begins to lose control. Before she becomes Dark Phoenix again, she commits suicide to prevent herself as Dark Phoenix from destroying the universe, a backup plan she had all along. This fact only makes Cyclops grieve that much more.
The end.
There you have it! Though, don’t get confused. No experience of reading a summary can supplant the awesome experience of reading the actual comic book.
Unpacking the “Dark Phoenix Saga” and the Psyche of Jean Grey
Various interpretations of the “Dark Phoenix Saga” can be deduced by Jean’s behavior and Chris Claremont’s excellent writing. I may have read the “Dark Phoenix Saga” more than any other comic book arc in my lifetime. The lenses with which I look through “Dark Phoenix Saga” evolve frequently. Finally, I have come to certain conclusions in my personal interpretation of the work.
A Positive Spin on Negative Behavior?
Perhaps at first glance, Jean’s inability to deal with the power of Phoenix might convey a common misconception that women’s minds are somehow weak. It might appear to some the text infers Jean Grey can’t handle the power of the Phoenix, but a man could. Indeed, this interpretation contains validity. After all, we interpret the world as we see it, and each human being sees the world differently.
However, I ask if another interpretation may enter the arena. In regards to Jean as Dark Phoenix consuming a star for energy that destroys billions of one of its planets inhabitants, I look to Medea once more. When a person or persons starve and subsequently are presented with all the food imaginable. It can be reasonable to suggest the starved person, who once had all the time in the world to previously contemplate their famine and appreciate a meal, might gorge themselves. Their overstuffing a likely result of a primary fear or anxiety they might never eat again.
Much like these starved individuals, women also endured starvation. After Hillary Clinton’s Presidential Election loss in 2016, plenty of arguments exist that the title of last most powerful woman in the world belonged to Ancient Roman Regent Empress and mother of Emperor Nero — Agrippina, the Younger. Could you fathom not only lifelong oppression but human history long oppression? To this day, and certainly in the days “Dark Phoenix Saga” premiered, women rightfully felt starved. Like Nora in Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, some women felt like nothing more than slaves to a patriarchal system where they never stood a chance for any opportunity to follow their bliss.
Dark Phoenix as a Representation of Collective Suppressed Anger in Women
Again, Dark Phoenix is the summation of the absolute rage one can only imagine women as a whole might’ve felt. For the first time in human history, women had the opportunity to eat the food only men allowed each other to eat. Women were understandably ravenous. Using Jean Grey as Dark Phoenix as both a metaphor and lens for this rage, it makes sense only a star could quench the thirst in Dark Phoenix’s parched throat.
Like Medea, when pushed to the brink of survival — actually, like anyone or anything pushed the brink of survival, Jean ensures her own. In Jean’s case, she makes her anger heard by her desperation to stay alive eclipsing the realization of her action’s consequences. In no way am I suggesting women would choose rage over their own morality. By contrast, my statements regard the metaphor of Dark Phoenix. Her actions illustrate how angry some women might feel subconsciously. In no way would they do anything similar.
Under the Thumbs of the Hellfire Club, Shi’Ar Empire, and Charles Xavier
The Shi’Ar strips Jean Grey of her agency like the Hellfire Club did before them. Both institutions subscribe to vastly different ideologies. However, both institutions, like the patriarchy, intend on imposing their will onto Jean. Professor Xavier, the Hellfire Club, and the Shi’Ar Empire want the world to reflect their desires. They believe they know best how the world should be. This robs Jean of choice much like the patriarchy robbed most women throughout human history.
Jean’s final action before death is something many women never have the opportunity to do — choose. Rather than any other outcome occurs outside of her control, Jean makes a choice to end her life. Jean knew she might die. If she had to, she wanted the decision to belong to her and only her.
Jean Grey’s Choice: Why Jean’s Decision to Kill Herself can be Interpreted as Feminist
A slew of arguments interprets Jean Grey’s suicide as her near-infinite power killing her. However, other interpretations can also be validated when considering Jean Grey’s particular circumstance. First, Chris Claremont chose Jean to become the Phoenix. That choice, in itself, speaks volumes. The turning tides of the times influenced Claremont. He welcomed the change with arms wide open.
I ask you to consider Jean’s inability to cope with the power inside her from a different perspective. While the power of the Phoenix overwhelmed Jean, Jean fought back and won twice. Rather than thinking the Phoenix Force overwhelmed Jean, think of the strength necessary to fight back against one of the cosmic forces of creation itself. Jean Grey, an ordinary woman from Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, had the constitution of character required to subdue and, even, overcome a cosmic force. That’s no easy feat.
Jean Grey Succeeds Where Others Might Have Failed
Numerous alternate dimension stories, some contained in WHAT IF? comics, tell tales of what might have happened if other characters (in particular men) contended with the Phoenix Force. Each story ends in utter and complete disaster.
The “Dark Phoenix Saga” is not a story about what happens to Jean Grey after she is corrupted by power. Rather, “Dark Phoenix Saga” is the story of Jean Grey, a woman powerful enough to overcome the barriers placed on her by men with their own agendas. It is the story of a woman victimized by men and the patriarchy they represent and how she crawled her way out of the psychological consequences of its crushing hold only to embody the antithesis of her oppressors. The acts of Jean Grey are kindness, selflessness, and generosity. Particularly as she sacrifices her life in spite of the opportunity to rule over her oppressors as a Vengeful Goddess.
In effect, Jean Grey displays selflessness on a mythical scale. Like Jesus Christ, an argument exists Jean dies for the sins of the patriarchy. She dies from the consequences of the subconscious and taboo wish fulfillment some women might feel to provide the slightest relief from the painful knowledge ceilings exist on a woman’s journey towards greatness that do not exist for most men.
Jean Grey and the “Dark Phoenix Saga” Outside the Feminist Lens
Oppression is ubiquitous in our world. Therefore, in addition to women, other oppressed peoples emotionally connect with X-Men comics. However, the LGBTQA+ community identifies with many of Jean Grey’s struggles as a result of Dark Phoenix.
The Power to Change the World
As Phoenix, Jean exhibited subatomic particle control. She often used this power to rearrange her clothes and don her X-Men uniform. While threatening her parents in a display of power, she transmutes a plant — a living thing — into something entirely crystalline.
While the patriarchy forced some women to disinherit their goals, it also questioned the humanity of LGBTQA+ people and women who dared stray for their predestined path. In an equally horrifying scenario, one can imagine how terrified LGBTQA+ people must have felt. To imagine any display of your benign desire to love another person met with ridicule and violence ingrains in that person a sense a shame. To simply be who you are, to take off the mask of the public persona for a quick second puts LGBTQA+ people in danger for centuries.
Not until Marvel’s ALPHA FLIGHT in 1992 did there exist a gay character in mainstream comics. Northstar admitted his homosexuality in a fight during issue #106. Shortly after, the character was benched until the 2000’s. Therefore, the LGBTQA+ community lacked a character of their same makeup with whom they could identify.
Storm versus Jean Grey and the Dark Phoenix as LGBTQA+ Icons
While many consider X-Men’s Storm a gay icon, the LGBTQA+ community also finds common ground with Jean Grey. Like women, the gay community has much to be angry about. Consensual homosexual intercourse wasn’t legalized until the 2000’s in the United States. Many gay men and women endured sexual harassment, hate crimes, and sexual abuse from heterosexuals. To consider one might imagine having fantastical powers able to fight off their oppressors is no stretch of the imagination. The more psychologically injured a person feels, the more power they might require to fight back. Enter Jean Grey as the Phoenix, a woman with infinite power and the ability to warp reality at her will.
As Phoenix, no prison can contain Jean. She can escape or fly away on an interstellar scale. In a world that hates and fears you simply for being who you are, wouldn’t it be amazing to change it? Who wouldn’t want to feel safe to be themselves both in their own homes and out in the world? The power of the Phoenix would easily grant its host these opportunities.
Gay Rage?
Anger emerges as the result of oppression and violence. As the world becomes slightly more accepting of non-heteronormative lifestyles, members of the LGBTQA+ community feel the freedom to finally express their rage. They feel vengeful like Medea, enslaved like Nora in Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, and an overwhelming sense of rage like Dark Phoenix. They find Jean Grey struggling to break free from her anger and manage it a noble war. After all, adopting the same kind of violence that caused one’s rage drags them down to their oppressor’s level.
Like the X-Men, the LGBTQA+ community lives in a world that hates and fears them. However, instead of striking preemptively like Magneto, they choose non-violence or opt for self-preservation and protection. The power of Phoenix or Dark Phoenix means having the ability to defend one’s self against others who try to harm them simply for leading their lives. Thus, as to all those who ever felt “othered,” the LGBTQA+ community finds a soulmate in Jean Grey.
X-MEN: THE DARK PHOENIX SAGA: Creation versus (Self-)Destruction
We live in a Judeo-Christian paradigm. The fact is indisputable. Mankind’s obsession with light and dark and good and evil traces back to our beginnings in Mesopotamia. Since medieval times, the Western World predominantly dealt with three religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. These three religions make up what people call the Abrahamic religions. However, prior to the ubiquity of Abrahamic religions, what we now call pagan, an umbrella term for earth-based religions, maintained a different perspective.
The Hellenes and the Romans of Ancient Greece and Rome, while aware of concepts of good and evil, were not as preoccupied with the good/evil binary. The ancients never considered goddesses like Hero, Athena, and Aphrodite good or evil. Rather, in their anthropomorphism of nature, goddesses (and gods) resembled people in ways the Abrahamic God did not.
Amongst the Landscapes of Meta-Paradigmal Morality, Ancient Goddesses Exist Between the Categories of Good and Evil
Ancient women left offerings for Hera for protection and strength. Hera could display enormous compassion. On the other hand, Hera also displayed jealousy, vengefulness, and anger. The same women she oversaw the protection of, also considered her acts against Zeus and his many extramarital lovers vindictive or, even, malicious.
The ancients saw the goddess Aphrodite every bit as three-dimensional as Hera. A man named Pygmalion falls in love with a statue he created. Aphrodite takes pity on him and uses her divine powers to make the statue come alive, thus providing Pygmalion a life with his beloved. Alternatively, Aphrodite routinely engages in romances outside of her marriage to Hephaestus. Ares is Aphrodite’s primary lover, however, Aphrodite also looks outside her relationship with Ares. Subsequently, she begins a romance with Adonis who Ares later murders out of jealousy. Like humans, Aphrodite has difficulty controlling her impulses and desires.
The Dark Phoenix as a Modern and Vengeful Ancient Goddess
In “The Dark Phoenix Saga,” Jean as Dark Phoenix has the power of a goddess. Due to no goddesses existing in the Abrahamic religious paradigm, the only way to examine Dark Phoenix’s popularity and role as a goddess lies in returning to the past and the ancient goddesses of Greece and Rome. Goddesses Hera and Aphrodite exhibited a range of emotional traits. They neither embodied good nor evil but, rather, they embodied the landscape between good and evil. Dark Phoenix also exists in the in-between of good and evil. Make no mistake, extremes of Jean’s awareness of her pre-Phoenix persona absolutely battle the Dark Phoenix as a pure creature of rage. The important distinction is the Dark Phoenix was full of rage, not evil.
In some cases, rage subsequently follows pain as the initial emotion. Under the lens used to discuss Dark Phoenix here, Jean Grey rightfully feels rage. However, if we peel back a layer or two, we can easily deduce Jean Grey and Dark Phoenix’s rage resulted from pain followed by resentment.
Jean Grey’s Childhood Trauma
Jean’s powers of telepathy manifested when Jean’s friend, Annie Richards, got accidentally hit by a car just outside of Jean’s home during their childhood. Jean psychically connected to Annie so strongly, when Annie died a part of Jean died too — literally. As a result, Jean suffers a fate imposed on her by the patriarchy for the first time. As a child, Jean Grey spends years of her life in a mental institution as a result of the trauma she experienced when Annie died.
Perhaps no one had ill intentions. Still, the fact never changes that the world considers Jean mentally unstable. The world rewards Jean Grey for her metaphorical empathy and her taboo display of naked emotion by utterly misunderstanding her, exiling her, and forever condemning her to a life of ostracization.
Jean Grey Origins: Planting the Seeds of Pain and Resentment
Jean’s parents and sister always remained supportive and loved Jean throughout her struggles. However, Jean’s powers manifested in her youth. A child has no reasonable expectation the world contains as much danger and unpredictability as it does. Jean grew up in a middle-class home in Rockland County, New York. Her tiny world consisted of only her loving parents and older sister. Jean’s first contact with reality ends with her institutionalized for living her life and selflessly displaying empathy.
One can imagine the inconsolable hurt a young Jean Grey might’ve felt. The world separated her from her parents and sister. They treated her for a mental illness, much like LGBTQA+ people were, and her savior, Professor Charles Xavier, was another man, albeit a kid one. When Jean Grey finally joined the X-Men, Xavier and Cyclops marginalized her due to her weaker powers. For many, the combination of all this could easily lead to resentment.
Jean Grey versus Dark Phoenix and Me versus Me
People often struggle with addictions, intrusive thoughts, self-repression, external oppression, and anxiety. An estimated 25% of the population suffers from anxiety. Furthermore, issues surrounding mental health are often stigmatized, even in the most developed nations where studies are easily accessible to the public. In my experience, some of the most progressive and liberal people I’ve met scoff at the idea of receiving treatment for mental health issues. Even the words “mental health” connote something shameful in most people’s minds. Due to the inability of various cultures to treat mental health with the same seriousness and urgency as physical health, those who suffer from psychological afflictions may feel shame, embarrassment, confusion, or guilt.
Humanity’s rejection of mental wellness causes dissonance in those who endure its pitfalls. Most mental health issues go undiagnosed and untreated. People are left to fend for themselves. Due to forced use of their own coping mechanisms, Jean Grey struggling to break free from her Dark Phoenix persona mirrors peoples’ own battles with mental health.
Some people inaccurately categorize those suffering from addiction as weak. They believe the addicted individual needs more willpower. People afflicted know overcoming addiction has little to do with willpower. Moreover, they understand how society looks down on them for their disease.
Jean Grey’s War with her Inner Self Mirrors Our Own
In “Dark Phoenix Saga,” Jean expresses her difficulty living with a hunger for “a joy, a rapture beyond all comprehension.” These might not be the exact same words someone suffering from addiction might use, however, the metaphor applies nonetheless.
Anyone who feels rageful, overly angry, suffers from addiction, or obsessive-compulsive disorder easily identifies with Jean breaking through her Dark Phoenix persona. While feeling consumed by one’s affliction, moments of alternative thoughts creep into the mind. As someone who deals with some of the same issues I’m discussing, I wish I had more moments where my essential self broke through the moments my addictions consumed me. Those opportunities afford a check-in with one’s behavior. Sometimes, when you catch yourself acting out of anxiety, fear, or anger, you can interrupt the pattern and calm yourself.
Jean Grey’s Inner War with the Dark Phoenix Makes Her the Everywoman
All of this isn’t only true for those suffering from a mental health problem. Anyone can relate to not having the skills to stop thinking harmful thoughts or feeling self-sabotaging negativity. “The Dark Phoenix Saga” serves as a beacon to all those who relate. Kitty Pryde is often considered the everywoman. However in “Dark Phoenix Saga,” Jean’s battle with her darker instincts primally tell the story of almost every person alive or dead. It might be one of the reasons the X-MEN: DARK PHOENIX SAGA trade will forever remain a classic in the same way as Medea and A Doll’s House. “Dark Phoenix Saga” strikes a primal chord deep within the souls of its readers.
The war waged in our minds will never cease. We’ll always look to characters and works of art to provide the sanctuary of knowing we do not stand alone in the battle against ourselves. Jean Grey overcoming her darkness and using her will to selflessly save the universe at the cost of her own life sets a beautiful example for the rest of us to follow. Now, it’s up to us to follow it. |
In fiscal year 2015, BC Hydro paid $1.064 billion to independent power producers (IPPs), an average of 7.9¢ a KWh.
In fiscal year 2016, BC Hydro paid $1.229 billion to independent power producers and, in the quarter ended March 31 2016, it paid 9.8¢ a KWh, a 23% increase of the unit cost in the preceding fiscal year.
In fiscal year 2015, BC Hydro sold electricity to Alberta and Western USA for $775 million, netting an average of 3.5¢ a KWh.
In fiscal year 2016, BC Hydro sold electricity to Alberta and Western USA for $460 million, netting an average of 3.1¢ a KWh, a 14% decrease in the unit cost in the preceding fiscal year.
Had IPP’s sold their power for the same price that BC Hydro realized in trade markets, they would have realized:
In FY 2015, $591 million less ;
; In FY 2016, $782 million less.
The deals will get better for IPPs. BC Hydro’s website now announces that it has contracted for 19,290 GWh from these private producers. That is 35% more than purchases in the just completed fiscal year and follows an established trend.
The chart is prepared from annual sales reports issued by BC Hydro. This shows the total sales to the utility’s three main customers groups: residential, commercial and heavy industrial.
This entire subject is not one that BC Liberals like to discuss. I’m told they have BC Hydro working on a revised demand forecast and have had major problems trying to force square pegs into round holes. Even without Site C, it would be impossible to justify further purchases from private power producers. If BC Hydro continues dumping power on external trade markets, prices will be reduced to even lower levels.
That outcome will make expensive Site C power an even bigger financial disaster. |
Astronauts To Vote From Space
In this day and age, people engage in their right to vote from all over the world. But this Nov. 4, few ballots will have traveled as far as those cast by two NASA astronauts.Commander Edward Michael Fincke and Flight Engineer and Science Officer Greg Chamitoff are living and working onboard the International Space Station. Though they are 220 miles above Earth and orbiting at 17,500 miles per hour, they will still be able to participate in the upcoming election. A 1997 bill passed by Texas legislators sets up a technical procedure for astronauts -- nearly all of whom live in Houston -- to vote from space.A secure electronic ballot, generated by the Harris and Brazoria County Clerk's office, is uplinked by NASA's Johnson Space Center Mission Control Center. An e-mail with crew member-specific credentials is sent from the County Clerk to the crew member. These credentials allow the crew member to access the secure ballot.The astronauts will cast their votes and a secure completed ballot is downlinked and delivered back to the County Clerk’s Office by e-mail to be officially recorded.To highlight their unique voting situation and to encourage others to exercise their civic duty, Fincke and Chamitoff sent a special message that will air on NASA TV starting Monday, Oct. 27.Joined by Expedition 18 Flight Engineer Yury Lonchakov, Fincke and Chamitoff also beamed down a message celebrating the upcoming 10th anniversary of the station's launch. The first station piece, the bus-sized Zarya module, was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, on Nov. 20, 1998. In the 10 years since, 76 flights have been launched to the complex. The orbiting laboratory has now grown to a mass of almost 600,000 pounds and an inside volume larger than a four-bedroom house. |
Several days before Gov. Jan Brewer signed Arizona's controversial immigration bill, Congressman Raul Grijalva called on the rest of the nation to boycott his home state if the new proposal became law. National organizations, Grijalva said, should cancel upcoming conventions slated to be held there.
"If the state follows through with this, the cost will be high," Grijalva warned.
Turns out, he was right: so far, the state has lost between $6 million and $10 million in projected business revenue, with 23 group hotel bookings--from small meetings to large conventions--having been canceled in protest since the stroke of Brewer's pen, according to the Arizona Hotel & Lodging Association.
Hotels don't want to disclose which clients have canceled, for fear of alienating businesses. So far, the most widely publicized cancelation has come from the American Immigration Lawyers Association
"It's clear that the bill has had an economic impact on the state. It's impossible to say that it hasn't," says Glenn Hamer, CEO of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce.
The business community--and the hotel and lodging industry, in particular--has been put in something of an awkward position by this development. Businesses were agnostic about the bill before Brewer signed it; now, they're feeling its backlash.
The hotel industry had no position on the bill as it came through the legislature, and, now that it's been passed, it sees little point in taking one now. The point is moot, the group says.
"It wasn't even on our radar screen," says Kristen Jarnagin, VP of Communications for the Arizona Hotel & Lodging Association, the trade group for the hotel and tourism industry in Arizona. "It was never considered a tourism issue."
It's quickly become one, and that's an important thing for the state. Tourism is Arizona's number-one industry, off and on, vying for that title with the technology industry, according to Jarnagin. It's a $12 billion industry in the state, and it contributes $1.4 billion in tax revenues.
The Arizona business community, predictably, isn't too pleased with Grijalva--or anyone else calling for a boycott. It's misguided to damage one industry and its employees, when the real political enemies of the boycotters reside in the state house and the governor's mansion.
"You don't hurt the legislature, you don't hurt the management of the hotel, really," Jarnagin says. "But the people who will immediately and drastically lose their jobs and lose their health benefits ...are the hourly associates on the front lines of this issue, and, again, largely the Hispanic people that you're trying to stand up for, usually, by making a political statement like this are the ones that get hurt immediately."
And there's the rub: in canceling a big convention, a group can cost a hotel hundreds of thousands of dollars in logging, food, beverage, and entertainment revenue. Which means Hispanic service workers can get their hours cut when the hotel's budget takes a hit, and if they fall to part-time status, they lose their health benefits. Which seems a bit counterproductive to the boycotters' aims. The hotel and restaurant industries mirror state demographics on the whole, Jarnagin says, meaning at least 30 percent of hotel and restaurant workers are Hispanic, including management.
The Arizona Chamber of Commerce finds itself in a similar predicament.
"It's a wildly inappropriate reaction to that bill to call for a boycott. In terms of peaceful protests, in terms of making the case that this law has problems and needs to be addressed, there are appropriate ways to deal with laws, and we just strongly believe that any sort of call to boycott is just wrong and is going to harm a lot of people," Hamer, the Chamber of Commerce CEO, told me.
The Chamber didn't have a stated position on the bill as it came through the legislature, either.
A note about the business community and immigration law, in general: they typically don't like immigration restrictions, the same way other conservative constituency groups do. Businesses like being able to hire labor, and they like cheap labor; any demagoguery against letting immigrants into this country seems unproductive, to them, when they need people to work. A front-line of the immigration debate has been employee verification--an electronic records system, e-Verify, was implemented under President Bush--and, generally, businesses don't like to be held to higher-than-reasonable standards. If it's difficult to verify that an employee is here legally, either because records are hard to come by or because identity theft is rampant, they don't want to be penalized for failing to do so.
But now that the law is posing a problem for businesses, what can they do?
Their response, so far, has not been to lobby for the bill's repeal. They have, on the other hand, spoken out against the boycotters. Beyond that, it gets a bit murky.
The Hotel & Lobbying Association has made its problems known to Brewer and state legislators.
"We voiced those concerns, and we continue to work closely with the governor's office and the legislature to let them know what's happening to our associates," Jarnagin said.
It is not, however, pushing for a repeal of the law. Since it's already been signed, Jarnagin says, the point is moot. And AZHLA insists its lobbying clout is weak, citing the state legislatures' decision to cut funding from the tourism office last year, reducing one of its revenue streams (from taxes on hotels themselves) to zero, and bringing the overall state tourism budget down from $26 million to $8 million.
The Hotel & Lodging Association is planning to tell prospective visitors that they can feel safe visiting Arizona, without harassment. There's confusion, right now, as to what the bill actually mandates: what people need to be able to present to police if stopped, and whether they can be randomly stopped on the street and asked for driver's licenses. AZHLA says it's getting a flood of phone calls with prospective visitors asking what will happen if they head across the street from their hotel to a convenient store, and they forget their driver's license.
As a result, the AZHLA plans to put FAQ's on its website about what people can expect. There's no massive ad campaign in the works, Jarnagin says, citing AZHLA's low budget.
But in providing information to visitors--and doing its job to try to convince them Arizona is a safe and wonderful place to visit, in the face of this new law--puts the AZHLA in a borderline position of having to defend the policy. It says it has to be careful about this, and wants to just give people the facts. It doesn't want to take sides in a divisive political issue.
"I think we're trying to walk the fine line of providing the facts and information and letting people know who a boycott really hurts," Jarnagin says. "But I can definitely tell you that in doing that we are receiving a lot of feedback from people on both sides."
The Chamber, meanwhile, seems content with the law itself. It would entertain changes to it that would make it clearer, Hamer says, that it is not intended to target Hispanics--but Hamer says Gov. Brewer has already made that clear. Hamer notes that the law is popular. It doesn't seem, from talking to him, that the Chamber is inclined to stand in the way of something that, f rom this CBS/New York Times poll , appears to enjoy a majority of public support.
When asked if there's anything the Chamber can do, in response to the economic hit, Hamer says it's a good question.
"I think, and this isn't really us so much as it's probably the governor continuing to explain what the law does and doesn't do, and I believe where we can be helpful is continuing the call, which we will continue to do, for a federal solution once and for all for our immigration mess," Hamer says.
We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to [email protected]. |
Filipino caregiver Karen Talosig is faced with the choice of giving up her teenage daughter in the Philippines or her dream of permanent residence in Canada. After waiting in the queue for her immigrant status for five years, Talosig received a letter from Citizenship and Immigration Canada this week that her 14-year-old daughter, Jazmine, has been found “medically inadmissible” to join her in Canada because she is deaf.
Karen Talosig (right) returned to Iguig, Cagayan, Philippines, to attend the elementary school graduation of her daughter, Jazmine. ( family photo )
While immigration officials speculated Jazmine’s deafness could cost Canadians $91,500 for health-related services over five years, Talosig said the girl is just a normal kid and does not require any special care. “Jazmine loves photography. She loves dancing. She enjoys cooking with my mom. She likes Selena Gomez like a lot of teenagers do even though she can’t hear her music,” said Talosig, 38, who says she works four jobs, up to 80 hours a week, looking after children, the elderly and a paraplegic client in Vancouver. “She is very independent, highly functional. The only difference is she is deaf. She was born so profoundly deaf that even a hearing aid is not needed. To me, the government’s decision is discriminatory.”
Article Continued Below
A registered nurse in the Philippines, Talosig came to Canada in 2007 under the then live-in caregiver program. In 2010, she worked enough hours to qualify for permanent residency and submitted her application. Talosig’s immigration application was opened at the Manila visa post at the end of 2013 and Jazmine was asked to submit to a medical exam, during which authorities learned she was deaf. Last June, Talosig was asked to file further documentation on the girl’s condition and needs. “Your child . . . is a person whose health condition might reasonably be expected to cause excessive demand on social services in Canada,” said the June 3, 2014, letter from the Canadian embassy in Makali City. “This client has bilateral profound sensorineural hearing loss (deafness) that might reasonably lead to her requiring social services (special education funding) the cost of which would likely exceed the average Canadian per capita costs over five years.” Based on reviews of Jazmine’s medical file and history, both the Burnaby Public School Board and the British Columbia Provincial School for the Deaf have submitted support letters arguing that the girl will not likely require special education funding.
“We do not anticipate any additional costs to educating Jazmine at the B.C. School for the Deaf, beyond the regular per pupil funding for all students in B.C.,” wrote the board’s assistant superintendent Heather Hart. Helene Whitfield, who has hired Talosig to look after her two children for years, said the family’s supporters, including relatives and other employers, have promised to provide for all Jazmine’s needs if required.
Article Continued Below
“Karen is hardworking and trustworthy. She works four jobs in order to cover all her legal fees. She raised my child at the expense of not raising her own,” said Whitfield. “After almost a year of providing the Manila visa post with every item of documentation, they still refused the child to join her mother here in Canada, and now the mother has to either give up her rights to the child or leave Canada. Neither of which is a good option.” Whitfield said a decision on “excessive demand” of social services should be based on the actual circumstances of an individual and not on general stereotypes. Talosig said she has written to Immigration Minister Chris Alexander in the hopes he will listen to her plea and reverse the bureaucrats’ decision on humanitarian and compassionate grounds. “I’m just devastated,” said Talosig. “Jazmine’s father died of a severe asthma attack when she was 8-months-old. I had to leave her to my parents when she was 7. I’m all she has. All we want is to reunite in Canada and have a better life here.” Both Alexander’s office and the immigration ministry declined to comment on the case, but said Talosig has been given another 60 days to respond to the notice officials sent her this week. |
PLEASE NOTE THIS IS A CLEARANCE ITEM. THERE IS NO RETURN/REFUND ON THIS PRODUCT.
We have revamped the Billow v1 with new and improved features; introducing the Billow v2! The glass section now measures 23mm in diameter (we wanted to keep the 5ml e-liquid capacity and made it shorter than the Billow v1), but the base and the top cap of the Billow v2 are still 22mm in diameter allowing it to still sit flush on all of your 22mm mods!
Features:
New barrel and groove exterior design with two piece chimney
Rebuild and make adjustments to your wick and coils without dumping out your juice
Deck is designed with cotton grooves for convenient wick placement
No more screws to fill juice or adjust airflow
Adjustable Airflow Ring
Peek Insulator for low sub-ohm durability
Bigger Airflow Hole on the Airflow Ring and Deck
Wide Bore Delrin Base Drip Tip
5ml Capacity
Note: The Airflow Ring's resistance (how easily it turns) can be adjusted to your liking by slightly screwing in or screwing out the small screw under the Airflow Ring.
Coil Recommendation: We recommend building 2.5mm or smaller diameter coils for the Billow v2. We made the deck size small to increase flavor and to keep the 5ml capacity.
Replacement Glass Piece can be purchased here: https://eciggity.com/billow-v2-morph-tank-glass/
The Billow v2 Nano Kit for the Billow v2 can be purchased here: https://eciggity.com/billow-v2-rta-nano-kit/
The Stainless Steel Section for the Billow v2 can be purchased here: https://eciggity.com/billow-v2-stainless-steel-sleeve/
Includes:
1x Billow v2 RTA by EHPRO and Eciggity
1x Wide Bore Delrin Drip Tip
1x Bag of O-Rings, Screws, and Screwdriver
Warning: This product is for advanced users only and proper precautions/handling should always be used. Never use any atomizer on a hybrid mod with a 510 connection that is flush or shorter than the 510 threading of the atomizer to avoid any possible injuries.
Disclaimer: Please use extreme caution when working with Li-Ion (Lithium-Ion), LiPo (Lithium-Ion Polymer) and any other rechargeable batteries. The user should have fundamental knowledge of batteries and battery safety before using these types of batteries to avoid injury. Always charge in/on a fire-proof surface. Never leave charging batteries unattended. Do not use any rechargeable battery as well as any battery charger if any visible damage is present, as well as if the cell or charger has been stressed through mishandling or accidental causes even if damage may not be visible. Always store and transport rechargeable cells in a safe, non-conductive container in a controlled environment. Dispose of all battery cells and chargers in accordance to local laws and mandates. Eciggity will not be held responsible for any damage or injury caused by misuse or mishandling of Li-Ion, LiPo and any other rechargeable batteries. |
One Nation senator says he’ll continue voting in Senate while court considers his eligibility as Greens leader accuses him of changing his story ‘more times than I’ve changed underpants’
The One Nation leader, Pauline Hanson, has referred the eligibility of her colleague Malcolm Roberts to the high court herself, after months of confusion about his citizenship status.
Roberts has accepted the motion, but says he will continue to vote in the Senate while the high court considers his eligibility, despite the cloud over his citizenship status.
Hanson’s motion came less than 24 hours after Greens leader, Richard Di Natale, secured the numbers in the Senate to refer Roberts to the high court despite One Nation’s objections.
Di Natale: Roberts's story has changed more times than I've changed underpants – as it happened Read more
Di Natale was planning to move the Greens’ motion on Wednesday afternoon, but Hanson got there first.
The Senate president, Stephen Parry, said he hoped the high court would now settle the matter promptly.
Roberts told the Senate he was keen for the high court to clarify his eligibility, and said he was confident it would rule in his favour.
He said the court would give him a fair hearing, unlike the media, which he blamed for misrepresenting his past statements about his citizenship status and eligibility.
“As I expected, and as the media has confirmed, elements of the media have misrepresented my position and statements, not once, not twice, repeatedly,” he said on Wednesday.
“In the interests of honesty, openness and transparency, and with support from senator Pauline Hanson, I will tender my citizenship documents to the high court to confirm that I was eligible to be elected as a senator.
“I am very confident I am eligible, because otherwise I would not have signed that nomination form.”
When Roberts said One Nation stood for “honesty, transparency and accountability”, numerous senators laughed.
Di Natale criticised Hanson’s decision to move the referral motion herself, saying she was only doing so to appear principled and to get ahead of the Greens’ motion.
He said there were “serious questions” about Roberts’ eligibility, and it should not have taken pressure from the Greens to get One Nation to act honourably.
“This is somebody who has made commentary publicly about his status as a dual citizen that bears no relationship with the facts,” Di Natale said of Roberts.
“His story has changed more times than I’ve changed underpants.
“[He] has steadfastly refused to engage in what should have been the appropriate conduct in the first instance, and that was an adjudication within the high court.”
The Australian Greens are in crisis: will Doctor Di Natale take radical action? | Katharine Murphy Read more
Senator Derryn Hinch told the Senate he had a sit-down with Roberts on Tuesday, and said Roberts assured him that he had taken “all reasonable steps” to confirm his sole Australian citizenship before he nominated for the election last year.
“But following further information I’ve received in the past 24 hours, I now believe, and I don’t want you to pull me up so I won’t say the senator lied to me, I’ll just say I believe he was very economical with the truth,” Hinch said.
Roberts’ decision to keep voting in the Senate despite his eligibility being referred to the high court is unusual.
The Nationals senator Matt Canavan, who has stood aside as minister for resources and northern Australia while the high court considers his own eligibility, has pledged not to vote in the Senate until the high court resolves his case.
Roberts’ account of his citizenship status has changed repeatedly in recent weeks, and a statutory declaration he tabled in the Senate on Tuesday failed to clear the matter up.
His statutory declaration confirmed he was presently not a citizen of the UK or India, and was a citizen of Australia only – but it did not clarify whether he was an Australian citizen only when he nominated for the election last year.
Documents published by BuzzFeed on Tuesday again confirmed that Roberts had been a British citizen in the past, contradicting the senator’s claim last year that he had “never held any citizenship other than Australian”.
It is understood that attorney general, George Brandis, approached Di Natale’s office on Tuesday evening to inform him of Hanson’s decision to refer Roberts’ eligibility to the high court herself.
Labor and the Coalition preferred One Nation to refer Roberts to the high court themselves rather than the Greens, because they did not want to set a precedent of rival parties referring political opponents to the high court to test their eligibility. |
A very simple recipe for a delicious grilled burger.
Ingredients: 3 servings
1 pound of 97/3 ground beef
3 medium sized red potatoes
1/2 of a red pepper
4 ounces of onions
1 large head of broccoli
20 baby carrots
Salt, black pepper, and granulated garlic
1 tablespoons olive oil
Directions:
Burgers:
In a bowl mix ground beef with 1/2 tablespoons of black pepper, 1/2 tablespoon of granulated garlic, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt Form into 3 even sized patties Throw onto the grill for 5-8 minutes each side.
Vegetables:
Steam Fresh Broccoli and Carrots until tender.
Home Fries:
Dice potatoes into even chunks Dice Onion and pepper into small chuncks Heat 1 tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet Add onions, peppers and potatoes into the skillet. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cook until the potatoes are crispy on the outside. Make sure to flip and stir potatoes making sure to get an even cook.
Estimated Nutrients: Per Serving
Calories: 436
Fat: 16 g
Carbs: 25 g
Protein: 45 g
Cheap Ebook Cookbooks for Beginners:
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Crockpot Cookbook: 100 Quick and Easy Recipes for Healthy Slow Cooker Meals (Crockpot Recipes, Crock Pot Cookbook, Crock Pot Recipes Cookbook, Slow Cooker Recipes)
Clean Eating: 25 Healthy Recipes to Lose Weight with Amazing Speed
30 Healthy Dinner Recipes For Rapid Weight Loss: Impress Your Loved One! (Best Recipes for Dieters Cookbook Book 1)
For more recipes follow me on Pinterest @mvernst07
And for help with meal planning visit $5 Meal Plan |
After hitting 200 million users in the period of nine months, Instagram now has 300 million people, who use its photo app every month, and most surprising fact is that 70% of its users are not from the US.
With continuous efforts, Instagram has grown stronger in the last four years. Although, FaceBook had tried to acquire Instagram. People today share 70 million photos each day, and it has over 30 billion photos in total.
If we print all photos of Instagram then no one knows it might be reaching the height of the Empire State Building? The Mount Everest? Or Outer Space?
Check this out? Photo world has made an enticing one-pager, agreed?
Now Instragram is looking to strengthen its authenticity because of its network’s steady growth.
To avoid fake and look alike accounts, Instagram has announced to launch verified badges for celebrities, brands, and athletes.
With promoted posts, company has now started to generate some revenue. Although in the beginning, Instagram had no clear business model. Advertising on Instagram is currently only available for a selected group of advertisers.
Although, Twitter supports better visuals these days, but anyhow Instagram is a winner with 300 million fans as people use the images to share their passions and opinions. |
Buy Photo Photo of Yonkers police badge and uniform hat at a police promotion ceremony at Yonkers City Hall, Jan. 31, 2013. ( Mark Vergari/The Journal News ) (Photo: Mark Vergari/The Journal News)Buy Photo
Westchester prosecutors dismissed charges against another defendant Monday in the wake of an investigation into an improper search that ended with the death of a suspected drug dealer.
Felony drug charges against Kino Smith were dismissed in Yonkers City Court, although what role two Yonkers officers who are under investigation played in Smith's case has not been revealed.
"The D.A.s are being very upstanding here," said Hugh Jasne, Smith's lawyer, following the dismissal. "It's obviously nothing they've done wrong. It's a couple of cops who decided they were above the law."
Detective Christian Koch and Officer Neil Vera were relieved of their shields and weapons last week and remain under investigation by the Yonkers police Internal Affairs Division and the Westchester County District Attorney's Office.
The investigation began more than four months ago, after the March 21 death of Dario Tena. Tena, suspected of dealing drugs, fell to his death out a third-floor window at 141 School St. after police arrived to execute a search warrant.
Koch had submitted a sworn affidavit for the search warrant, and included information he got from Vera. Authorities soon determined that the affidavit contained "material false statements," and cases Koch and Vera have been involved in have come under close scrutiny.
Smith became the seventh defendant unrelated to the Tena case to have his drug charges dismissed. Three of those defendants were arrested in the same case and had faced mandatory state prison time on a Class A felony before their charges were dropped.
One of those defendants, Joseph Yearwood, sued the department and Officer Alex Della Donna in federal court last year, alleging that the officer took $5,100 from him while fabricating claims that Yearwood possessed cocaine. Yearwood's lawsuit was dismissed this year after he did not respond to several requests from the court.
Yearwood claimed that police went to get a search warrant only after entering his apartment illegally. Neither Koch nor Vera were named in the lawsuit and it was unclear what role they played that led to the charges being dismissed.
Last month, the lawyer for Wilfredo Ruiz and Elizabeth White reached a $20,000 settlement agreement with city lawyers in a federal lawsuit that named Della Donna, Koch, a sergeant and two other officers. They claimed that they were falsely arrested in September 2011 after police illegally searched Ruiz's apartment and White's car. The charges were dropped a week later. The lawsuit does not spell out Koch's role and the lawyer could not be reached for comment.
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Jasne, Smith's lawyer, said dismissing the charges was the right thing to do from a credibility standpoint.
"The bottom line is, nobody is going to believe anything these guys say," Jasne said.
Twitter: @jonbandler
Read or Share this story: http://lohud.us/1s6jWBd |
Deputy editorial page editor
Of the deluge of sexual-harassment stories gushing forth in recent weeks, one of the most disturbing — one of the creepiest, really — has also been one of the least noted: the allegations involving federal appeals court judge Alex Kozinski.
There are, certainly, more egregious fact patterns. But of the powerful and prominent men who have been accused of preying on powerless women, Kozinski occupies an especially troubling role: There are few jobs whose occupants are more insulated from scrutiny than that of federal judge.
The insulation is appropriate; indeed, it is constitutionally mandated. Yet as we have seen in case after case, Harvey Weinstein to Charlie Rose to John Conyers Jr., it may be precisely that untrammeled power, the sense of invulnerability from consequences, that enables such abuse. When you're a star — or a judge — they let you do it.
A week ago, The Post reported allegations that included Kozinski calling a clerk into his chambers to show her pornography and ask whether it aroused her; suggesting to a clerk for another 9th Circuit judge that she should work out naked; and making other court staffers uncomfortable with sexual innuendo or outright ogling. Friday evening, the allegations crossed the line into unwanted physical contact, with additional women coming forward, including four — a law student, a lawyer, a law professor and a former judge — who described Kozinski touching them without consent.
Bad enough, because Kozinski holds a lifetime appointment to the federal bench, where his duties include hearing appeals involving sexual harassment and sexual assault. Bad enough, because a judge and law clerk enjoy a relationship that is at once uniquely intimate and inherently unequal.
But it would be wrong to understand Kozinski as just one among 179 federal appeals court judges. He is among the most influential and celebrated, an icon among conservatives and — perhaps another explanation for why the reports about his behavior took so long to surface — a reliable "feeder judge" for those seeking Supreme Court clerkships.
Kozinski has always been known as a brilliant, transgressive provocateur. His willingness to push the boundaries not only of stodgy judicial writing ("The parties are advised to chill," he concluded one opinion) but also of stodgy judicial behavior was part of his charm, or so it seemed. In 1996, Kozinski wrote for Slate about going — at the invitation of a law clerk, gender unstated — to an outre "lingerie party" that included a "bondage peep show."
After the Los Angeles Times reported in 2008 that Kozinski maintained a publicly accessible website that included pornographic images, a judicial investigation reprimanded him for "poor judgment."
Kozinski dismissed the harassment allegations, telling the Times, "If this is all they are able to dredge up after 35 years, I am not too worried," and, in a statement Friday, cited his "unusual sense of humor."
It remains to be seen whether such insouciance is justified. Writing for Slate, Dahlia Lithwick recounted how, as a young clerk to a different 9th Circuit judge in 1996, she called Kozinski's chambers to firm up drink plans with one of his clerks. Kozinski himself answered the phone. Lithwick recalls: "The judge asked where I was. I said I was in my hotel room. Then he said, 'What are you wearing?' "
Southern Methodist University law professor Joanna Grossman tweeted that during her 9th Circuit clerkship, in 1994 and 1995, "Kozinski sent a memo to all the judges suggesting that a rule prohibiting female attorneys from wearing push-up bras would be more effective than the newly convened Gender Bias Task Force."
Nancy Rapoport, who clerked for a different 9th Circuit judge in 1985 and 1986, described how Kozinski invited her to drinks and asked, "What do single girls in San Francisco do for sex?"
And, most heartbreaking, former clerk Heidi Bond, one of the women who went on the record with The Post, elaborated on Kozinski in an online essay. She described how Kozinksi, during her clerkship in 2006-2007, referred to her as his "slave" and asserted his complete "control" of her behavior.
How, after an abusive outburst, he would ask, "Heidi, honey. . . . Do you still love me?" and kiss her cheek, expecting a kiss in return. How he showed her a "knock chart . . . listing all the girls that he and his friends had banged while they were in college." How she "felt like a prey animal."
How the trauma of working for Kozinski almost dissuaded her from moving on to clerk for Supreme Court Justices Sandra Day O'Connor and Anthony M. Kennedy. How she "could not escape the notion that my career success was built entirely on my silence."
Even before the latest story broke, one or more Kozinski clerks took the extraordinary step of resigning, and 9th Circuit Chief Judge Sidney R. Thomas ordered a judicial misconduct review. Let the process proceed — but if the behavior is anything like what has been alleged, this man has no business sitting in judgment of others.
Read more from Ruth Marcus's archive, follow her on Twitter or subscribe to her updates on Facebook. |
Posted by Hobo to Halfway There at 8/28/2006 09:30:02 AM
Posted by LC to Zeno at 3/21/2008 10:13:00 AM
Posted by sublunary to Halfway There at 8/21/2008 10:06 AM
Posted by Aramael to Halfway There at 8/22/2008 6:50 AM
Godamn this is a good blog.Godamn I am subscribing to it.(Godamn)I consistently come away in awe of how eloquently you write, and how you make choosing exactly the right word seem so effortless. You also seem to find subject matter in a wide variety of places, and you link contemporary and long-past events in unexpected ways.I found your blog about a month ago via your comments on Pharyngula and have fallen completely in love with your writing. Every entry is a pleasure to read.Love your blog by the way. It's very measured, and you always have something interesting to say. |
In less than two months, restaurant critic Brad A. Johnson and I embarked on a gastronomical journey through Disneyland Resort that, at times, was both gut-wrenching and palate-pleasing.
It was a plum assignment. We bought annual passes – before the prices went up! – and spent most workdays doing what we love to do: eat and evaluate.
To review 70 restaurants in six weeks, we decided to divide and conquer.
Brad tackled 20 table-service restaurants.
Me – the Fast Food Maven? Some might say I drew the short stick, tasked with dining at every quick-service restaurant, from buffets to food carts and walk-up counters.
Brad gets Carthay Circle while I get Clarabelle’s in Toontown?
It couldn’t be that bad, could it? My Disney bucket list did include legendary foods – the corn dog, the swirly pineapple soft serve and lots of Mickey Mouse-shaped creations.
My strategy going in: Never eat the whole thing, and graze – which doesn’t take much willpower when the food is mediocre. And that was the case most of the time.
I never threw up, but I did spit out a couple foods that were too gross to swallow.
During the homestretch, I hit a wall.
With Disney California Adventure closing earlier than I had expected, I went on a half-hour binge one night. I sampled beer-battered onion rings, a chicken sandwich, a salad, a burrito and a tamale. On my way home, with the smell of combo plate leftovers wafting through my car, I grew nauseated.
My stomach cramped. I was in a full-blown digestive distress – my body’s punishing reaction to the final leg of my Disneyland diet.
I made it home on autopilot. My husband sensed my green aura as I stumbled through the door.
“How’s it going?” he asked.
“Not good,” I told him.
I curled up in bed, chewing a mouthful of Tums. I still had six more restaurants to hit to meet deadline.
“Can I go on?” I thought to myself.
Rest and antacids revived me: I finished a few days later.
My six-week Disneyland diet included 198 meals over 105 visits to 50 restaurants.
Did I gain weight? Surprisingly not.
Did I find things I loved? Absolutely.
Was it a magical experience? Not by a long shot.
But, ultimately, it was a food journey I will never forget.
Here’s a roundup of what we learned.
Brad’s takeaways
1. Anybody can rent a scooter if they’re too lazy to walk around the parks all day.
2. Lunch is consistently better than dinner at restaurants that serve both.
3. Thousands of parkgoers are turned away every day when they realize that they needed to make reservations several days in advance for one of the table-service restaurants.
4. The Monte Cristo at Cafe Orleans is exponentially better than the supposedly same sandwich at Blue Bayou.
5. The best Margaritas are at Tortilla Jo’s and Cove Bar; avoid the horrible Margaritas at the walk-up stand at Pacific Wharf.
6. Wednesday is the best day for getting into a table-service restaurant without a reservation.
7. Restaurants in Downtown Disney are frequently booked out for private events by conventioneers, but typically on weekdays only.
8. Carnation Cafe is the only place in Disneyland where you can get malts, and they’re much better than the malts at Ghirardelli or shakes at Flo’s Cafe in California Adventure.
9. You can eat at the bar at Steakhouse 55 without a reservation, but they don’t serve steaks at the bar, so what’s the point?
10. All restaurants at Disney, even the nicest ones, desperately need deep cleaning. Tables and chairs are guaranteed to be sticky and grungy.
11. The best (cleanest and most private) restrooms inside the parks are inside Blue Bayou and Carthay Circle.
Nancy’s takeaways
1. Disney doesn’t do beef well. With the exception of the new First Order chorizo burger at Galactic Grill (formerly Tomorrowland Terrace), the burgers are horrible. And the buns? They dissolve under the lightest of spreads. I constantly found myself using a fork on most sandwiches. Other beef fails: the steak gumbo at Royal Street Veranda, the French Dip at French Market, the sirloin and cheddar sandwich at River Belle Terrace and the carne asada at Cocina Cucamonga.
2. Disneyland rocks entertainment and theming, compared with Disney California Adventure. However, when it comes to food, California Adventure is far superior.
3. Cast members will not question a solo adult ordering a kid’s meal.
4. Never pay for bottled water. Any restaurant with a soda fountain will give you free ice water. Just ask!
5. Many of the best fast-food restaurants are nestled in odd locations.
6. Can’t eat it all? Don’t toss food in the trash. Most restaurants offer to-go containers.
7. I don’t have a sweet tooth. But if I had to choose eating savory or sweet at Disneyland, sweet wins every time. Sugary confections are magical.
8. Most legendary Mickey-shaped foods are overrated. The Mickey pretzel, beignets and pancakes are not worthy of Walt’s beloved mouse. The rare exception: the embossed Mickey Mouse waffle at Plaza Inn. But make sure you drown it with caramel banana sauce. (Brad concurs, and he doesn’t mince words: “The Mickey-shaped beignet was disgusting.”)
10. Disneyland appears to be shrinking. Returning to the park after a two-year passholder break, I was struck by how unbearable the crowds have become – even midweek, when it should be manageable. There’s literally no room to walk, especially before and after the fireworks show. I can see why the park is putting the squeeze on passholders by raising prices. Disneyland has outgrown its space. I can’t imagine what it will be like when “Star Wars” land opens.
Nancy Luna was born and raised in Orange. She’s been an on-and-off Disneyland passholder for more than 15 years.
Contact the writer: [email protected] |
You might think that you have “happily ever after” down to a science. But before you reserve the table with a view, set up the elaborate scavenger hunt, or aggravate your roommate’s allergies with rose petals all over the apartment, you may want to consider the actual science that goes into those butterfly feelings. Dr. Ty Tashiro stopped by Wake Up! with Taylor to provide some insight. According to his recent book, The Science of Happily Ever After, infatuation can actually be a harmful emotion that prevents two out of three couples from their fairy tale ending.
“Some people ask, ‘Why can’t I be in that passionate love, that kind of high intensity love for forever?’, but it’s actually really bad for your health if you stay that way for years… those butterflies in the stomach are a stress response,” Dr. Tashiro said. “If you look at people under brain scans when they’re infatuated, ask them to think about their partner – it’s a total neurological disaster because their higher functioning parts of the brain shut down.” |
Today’s post continues where we started last week with an update from the Mars Express Flight Control Team at ESOC on their preparations for the 19 October Comet Siding Springs flyby. Today: defining the challenge!
Before we look at Mars Express in more detail and decide what we can do to try and protect it from the speeding particles in the comet’s coma (the cloud of dust and gas surrounding the nucleus), we should take a moment to briefly describe the spacecraft and the encounter period.
The shape and structure of spacecraft are normally described using a coordinate reference frame. For Mars Express, we on the team often use a more informal description where the high-gain antenna is referred to as the ‘front’, the thrusters are on the ‘bottom’ and the instruments face out from the ‘top’.
Nice view of MEX – Click image for a 3D model
As these directions are given from the Mars Express point of view, the MARSIS (Subsurface Sounding Radar / Altimeter) booms are therefore mounted on the right of the spacecraft.
Further, the left and right side each have a solar array extending away from the main spacecraft body that can rotate through 360°.
Hacked-up version of the nice view showing spacecraft directions (some of you may prefer to assemble your own MEX paper model – Ed.)
Constraints, constraints…
The spacecraft is, in principle, able to turn in any direction, however the left, right and rear sides have radiators for shedding heat from the platform and payload systems and should not be illuminated by the Sun.
The top should also not be pointed toward the Sun as some of the instruments require cooling to operate effectively and optics may be damaged by direct sunlight.
During scientific observations, the instruments are pointed toward a target to collect data, and – for communication – the antenna must point toward Earth.
These two tasks, as you may have guessed, do not happen at the same time and science data is recorded and downlinked to Earth later.
Also, for the majority of observations, the attitude of a science observation is in no way compatible with communications pointing.
Finally, the solar arrays should be pointed towards the Sun whenever possible to generate electricity (although power can be stored in batteries for short periods).
The orientation of things
This image illustrates the relative orientations of Mars, the comet, Earth and the Sun on 19 October.
The particles in the coma are ejected away from the comet with a speed of a few metres per second (m/second) but as the overall speed is so high we are treating them as arriving along a line parallel to the path of the comet.
In other words, we are treating them as a stream of hyper-velocity particles washing past, over and around MEX.
It is worth noting the relative direction of Earth and Sun; if we want to stay in touch with the spacecraft during the flyby, the antenna must point toward Earth.
So, in summary, the direction in which we orientate the spacecraft and the solar arrays has a big impact on how Mars Express communicates with Earth, generates power, controls its temperature and conducts science observations.
Now we have additional factors, as we have an interesting target passing by that our science teams really wish to observe as directly as possible – but with it comes a stream of potentially damaging particles!
The threat…
These particles might not only physically abrade the outer surface of the spacecraft (which can damage insulation, radiators and instrument optics), but also – if large enough – can penetrate parts of the spacecraft structure.
Additionally, at the impact speed expected here, even minute specks of dust will be converted into an electrically charged plasma, which can lead to a current and might short out and damage some of the electronics.
The challenge…
So the challenge we face is simple: how do we orient the spacecraft to maximise the science possibilities, best protect the most vulnerable and critical areas of the spacecraft body, respect the always-present pointing restrictions, maintain communication and minimise the possibility of any damage from hyper-velocity impacts?
The answer, which we are developing now, will undoubtedly lie in trade-offs: to reduce risks and maximise science and survivability.
We do know one thing for certain: there is no perfect answer!
More news next week!
– Andy, Michel, Kees, Simon and Luke |
Australian dollar could be poised for significant drop
Posted
I'm constantly looking at financial markets commentary. I may be a little biased in saying this, but I've noticed recently that writing about every movement in the Aussie dollar, and predicting where it may move, seems to be a national pastime.
I can see where the interest is coming from — a significant movement one way or the other in the currency can affect your plans.
It can make travelling more or less expensive, it can turn a business profit into a loss and a weak currency can cushion the blow of collapsing economy.
So where to then for the Australian dollar?
I'm going to outline where you can expect the dollar to move over the next six months. Hopefully it'll give you a better idea of how the currency is placed rather than relying on day-to-day commentary that seems to regularly contradict itself.
I'm also going to chicken out with my forecast and give you two likely scenarios, rather than one.
And I'm not going to tell you what I think until the end of the column. So you'll have to read to the end, or skip straight to it!
AUD as an asset
The Australian dollar is just like any other asset. It holds value, and that value can be analysed.
There are a few strong forces holding the Australian dollar in the range it's found itself in now, and a few minor forces pulling it here and there.
So let's break it down.
Interest rates
By far and away the biggest factor affecting the Australian dollar, against the US dollar, is the interest rate differential between the two countries.
It's for obvious reasons too. Traders and investors chase "yield" or a "return" on investment.
An interest rate is a return on money held in deposit. So if you're able to borrow money in a low interest rate environment, and invest it in a higher interest rate environment, of course you would — especially if you don't even need to borrow the money to invest or deposit it.
So long as Australia's official cash rate stays materially higher than the US Fed Funds rate (currently a gap of around 1 per cent), Australian deposits will look more attractive, and foreign investors will buy Australian dollars in order to take advantage of that "yield differential".
That's why we all go so bananas over an RBA interest rate decision or anything that comes out of Federal Reserve chairwoman Janet Yellen's mouth ... because it ultimately has a direct effect on the Australian dollar.
Economy
Economic data plays a big role in moving the Australian dollar too. Much of it though is indirect — meaning that better economic news points to the likelihood of a rate rise in the near term, while poor economic news points to a rate cut.
For instance last Thursday, despite official figures showing a fall in Australia's unemployment rate, the number of full-time jobs actually fell by over 50,000 in the month of September. That was the biggest monthly decline in more than five years.
It was seen as a weak jobs report and the Australian dollar fell both in Asian trade, and then again in European and North American trade too.
Another crucial data point is inflation or the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
People's eyes glaze over with this one. I'm not sure why because I sure as heck would like to know if the cost of living is going up — might prompt me to ask for a pay rise!
Central banks around the world, including Australia's Reserve Bank, actually target a level of inflation. In the RBA's case it's for a CPI of between 2 and 3 per cent. That's considered to be a "goldilocks" range for inflation, which keeps the economy humming along nicely.
This week, the official quarterly inflation figures were subdued, but probably not enough to prompt the Reserve Bank to cut interest rates on Melbourne Cup Day.
Interestingly though, a big contributor to the increase in prices was a near 20 per cent increase in fruit prices caused by bad weather. That most likely won't be repeated.
You can't argue with the numbers though, so based on this latest data, you'd likely conclude that the Reserve Bank will stay on the sidelines at its November meeting. Naturally, this have given the Aussie dollar a nice little tailwind recently.
Commodities prices
The Australian dollar is a commodities currency. That means the dollar generally appreciates when commodities prices (such as oil, iron ore and coal) rise in value.
Australia is a resource-rich country, so naturally as commodities prices rise and fall, so does Australia's overall 'worth', and the currency responds to that.
Recently we've seen strong rises in oil, iron ore and particularly coal.
Oil rose off the back of the possibility of OPEC cutting production back, and the pick-up in the price of iron ore and coking coal is likely related to the ramp-up in steel production from China.
China is meant to be cutting back on steel production as part of its reform agenda to transition to a more consumer-based economy — but that ain't happening, obviously.
The world's second largest economy is also risking a rather large commodities crunch in the medium term (China has a debt to GDP ratio of around 250 per cent).
Geopolitical factors
Of course overseas politics plays a part in the value of the dollar too.
To name just a few risk events: Brexit, the US election, developments in the South China Sea, and the central bank policy decisions of the European Central Bank, the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan; they all influence the dollar.
Risk appetite
What is "risk appetite" you ask? Put simply, it's how hungry investors are to take a gamble on something. If the economy and the markets are buoyant, people tend to jump in the market to make a quick buck. The aftermath of any financial crisis is at the opposite end of the spectrum.
Generally speaking, the 'happier' investors are around the world, the more likely it is that the Australian dollar will rise in value, and the opposite is true.
Forecast
So wrapping it all up, right now, investors are 'happy'.
The Australian economy is humming along, the US Federal Reserve hasn't yet raised interest rates again, China has an annual growth rate above 6.5 per cent, commodities prices are rallying and, geopolitically, we're not on tenterhooks.
That might help to explain why the Australian dollar has found itself in quite a solid 'technical' range between 74.5 and 77.5 US cents.
That's a relatively high exchange rate given the headwinds facing the Australian economy, but the economy is in fact holding up.
Or as a contact of mine at Westpac, Sean Callow, recently put it, "the speculative market seems to have already priced in fair bit of good news for AUD."
However, and that's a big "however", all the points mentioned above could turn around very quickly.
China's currently embarking on an unsustainable debt binge, the US will need to raise rates at some point and commodities prices (along with risk appetite) will likely turn down on the back of all that. Some of the major growth forces driving the Australian economy too (property bubble), are also precarious at best.
For me, the risks to the Australian dollar are to the downside.
It may well get as high as 78 or even 79 US cents in the short term, but I suspect it will be between 70 and 75 US cents early next year, and possibly even lower by mid-2017.
Longer-term, if the Australian economy hits the skids — as one or two economists are predicting — the dollar could, and should, fall into the 50s to cushion the slump.
Disclaimer and disclosure: This is not financial advice. The writer currently has a short position in the Australian dollar, meaning that he may profit if it declines.
Topics: currency, money-and-monetary-policy, economic-trends, consumer-finance, australia |
This article is a travel topic
NOTE: As of November 8th, 2017, the United States set new restrictions on U.S citizens traveling to Cuba. For more details, view The U.S. Department of the Treasury press release
Get in [ edit ]
Catedral de Sab Cristobal, Havana Vieja (Old Havana)
Varadero beach, Cuba
The beach at Caletón, near Playa Larga
Travel is allowed for the following categories:
family visits business of the U.S. government, foreign governments, and certain intergovernmental organizations journalistic activity professional research and professional meetings educational activities religious activities public performances, clinics, workshops, athletic/other competitions, and exhibitions support of the Cuban people humanitarian projects activities of private foundations or research or educational institutes exportation, importation, or transmission or information materials certain export transactions that may be considered for authorization under existing regulations and guidelines
Note that "tourist travel" is still prohibited.
Arrangements can be made through any service provider complying with the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control regulations regarding Cuban travel.
With a license [ edit ]
Try calling Cuba Travel Services, with offices in Miami, Los Angeles and Puerto Rico, for additional information. They operate direct flights between the United States and Cuba and can assist licensed travellers with all their travel accommodations. +1 800 963 2822.
All US citizens are obliged by the US to have a license even if they go through a third country.
Licenses allowing persons from the US to spend money in Cuba are granted to certain classes of people for particular purposes.
A general license requires paperwork verifying that you qualify under the exception and may apply to the following:
Persons visiting close family in Cuba who are not Cuban nationals
Professional journalists on assignment in Cuba
Full-time professionals conducting academic research or attending professional conferences
Persons on official government business
Persons engaging in religious activities
Persons visiting close family who are Cuban nationals
You or your tour provider must maintain records for five years proving that you led a full schedule of activities as defined by your "general license."
A specific license requires paperwork and Treasury Department approval on case-by-case basis. You may be approved for a specific license if you fall into a certain class of persons. Note that a specific license may be granted to an institution (eg university, church) under whose auspices an individual may then travel without applying separately to the State department, or a specific license may be applied for and granted to an individual. Some of the classes of persons who may be granted a specific license are:
Full-time graduate students conducting academic research to be counted toward a graduate degree
Undergraduate or graduate students participating in a study abroad program of at least 10 weeks in length
Professors/teachers employed at a US institution travelling to Cuba to teach
Freelance journalists
Persons engaging in humanitarian projects
Persons engaging in non-profit cultural exhibitions
You can travel to Cuba for purposes of tourism. However, even US citizens whose primary interest is tourism can get authorization to travel under the auspices of a program whose activities are sufficiently religious, educational, cultural, or otherwise exempt to qualify for a license.
It is even possible for an individual with a credible background in, say, freelance journalism or academics, to craft a "mission" for their visit which successfully gets them a permit. Further details and forms are available from the US State Department.
Travelling under a People-to-People program [ edit ]
There are a handful of organizations offering tours to Cuba under the People to People program, licensed by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), US Department of the Treasury. If you don't fall into one of the categories described above, you might want to search for these tour organizers. Be sure to inquire as to typical group size. Larger tour companies may allow groups of up to 20-25 people, which may be detrimental to genuine cultural experience. A tour group size of 4 - 8 people will ensure that you actually get to know the culture.
The best advertized tour company in this field is InsightCuba. The most famous is National Geographic Expeditions because of the writers and photographers travelling with them. They bring large groups. Offering a balance between quality, economy and in-depth cultural experience is Soltura Cuba Travel. They are well-known for small group size and for supporting local community projects. Accolades Tours is developing a people-to-people performing group itinerary for orchestras, bands, and choirs where groups would experience local music as well as perform for Cuban audiences.
Prices for People-to-People tours to Cuba may vary from $1790 USD (Soltura Cuba Travel) to $5900 USD (National Geographic). Some companies include airfare, while others simply provide assistance in booking airfare.
There are only two Cuban Companies authorized by the Cuban government to work with Americans for People-to-People programs. Those companies are Havanatur and San Cristobal. They are run by the Cuban military. US-based tour companies that bring large groups usually contract out with them. On the large tour groups, you will be lodging at the same hotels, guided by the same guides, moved on the same buses and visiting the same spots.
If you want to visit Cuba, the only thing you need to do is to sign up for any scheduled trip from one of these companies and also be willing to comply with the full itinerary. They should keep records of your trip for at least 5 years, but best to keep a copy of the itinerary for your records to be safe. You will be travelling under their "umbrella" license.
The process for registration in this kind of tours is very easy. You only need to provide your personal information and travel preferences. Pay the booking fee. Then they confirm your flight with the airline departing from a city in the US, Mexico, or Canada to Havana. Then you pay the full balance for your package and receive the letter of authorization, a copy of the license, your visa and your flight ticket.
Without a license [ edit ]
Note: While in the past Cuba did not stamp US passports, allowing US travelers to visit Cuba without detection from their government, Cuba recently started stamping US passports as a matter of policy. If you use Global Entry your stamps will not be scrutinized on re-entry to the US. [1] Note, however, that if you perjure yourself by neglecting to mention that you were in Cuba, the fine is quite steep.
Be forewarned that, while rare, you may face steep fines upon re-entering the US if you are caught. In the past, many US citizens traveled without a license, doing so by way of other countries (many of which have routine flights to and from Cuba) to escape detection. Such countries include the Bahamas, Canada and Mexico. The Bahamas, Costa Rica, Panama, and Jamaica, now have US Customs Pre-Clearance facilities at many of their airports, however that is if you are flying back into the United States. I flew from London Heathrow to Nassau in 2008 and my passport was stamped leaving the U.K. as well as upon entry into the Bahamas. However, much to my surprise, leaving Nassau from the International terminal, there is no Bahamian immigration. Again this was in November of 2008. It's worth looking into, to see if they have now added Bahamian immigration upon exit.
Via the Bahamas [ edit ]
From Nassau, Cubana offers flights to Havana daily, except on Saturdays. Bahamasair offers flights on Wednesday and Saturday. This is the cheapest and quickest route flying direct to Havana, especially for those living in the South Florida area.
A common practice for US citizens travelling to Cuba via Canada is a two-leg flight: a flight booking for a flight to (and from) Canada and then a separate booking for the flight to (and from) Cuba. The two legs must be booked separately, as airlines such as Air Canada prohibit the booking of U.S. origin passengers to Cuba. Alternately, one could drive or be driven across the border and dropped off in a Canadian city, and proceed to depart from there. This is more easily done for people near Detroit, Buffalo, or Seattle as non-stop flights to Cuba depart from either Montreal, Toronto, Windsor or (seasonally) Vancouver.
Mexico is considered safer and is probably the most popular. However, it still carries some risk: If one travels from Mexico, to Cuba, and then back to Mexico, he will have two Mexican entry stamps; having two consecutive Mexican entry stamps could raise suspicions if your passport is checked carefully. If you decide to re-enter Mexico from Cuba, you may be able to convince the Mexican immigration officer not to stamp your passport.
It used to be that you could try to use a birth certificate + US ID to enter Mexico the second time so you will only have one stamp on your passport. This was allowed under Mexican law for US citizens, but since 1 March 2010, all US citizens – including children – have been required to present a valid passport or passport card for travel beyond the “border zone” into the interior of Mexico.
Another possibility is to leave Mexico over land using a passport card; there are no stamps to examine.
Another safe bet would be to purchase an open-jaw ticket (Cancun-Havana and then Havana-Guatemala city, for example). Mexico does not stamp passports on exit; It would appear on your passport that you flew from Cancun to Guatemala City (or whatever city is your final destination out of Havana).
Cancun is one of the easier gateways with several different airlines offering daily flights to Havana. Although possibly worrisome to show up not knowing what to expect, if you arrive earlier in the day it is usually possible to walk up to one of the airline counters and buy an onward ticket for same day travel as flights on this route are rarely full. Try Cubana or Aeromexico (2 times a week).
U.S. citizens also travel via countries without U.S. customs stations (Guatemala, Venezuela, Panama, Cayman Islands, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Haiti, etc.) to reduce the likelihood of being caught. A substantial number simply take their chances, hoping they will not be questioned. U.S. citizens are advised by Cuban travel agents not to bring back anything identifiably Cuban (including tickets and receipts) before re-entering the country.
By boat [ edit ]
There are no regular ferries or boats to Cuba from foreign ports, although some cruise liners do visit. Yachters are expected to anchor at the public marinas. Also, most ports are closed and tourists are not permitted to walk around them. Private vessels may enter at Marina Hemingway in Havana or Marina Acua in Varadero. Entry requires a passport and visa.
Comparison between fake and real Cuban cigars.
View over the rooftops of Trinidad , Cuba
Agriculture and Propaganda; common sights on the road in Cuba
Classic car maintenance on the streets of Havana
Following the renewed diplomatic relations between the US and Cuba, Americans can now import $400 worth of goods from Cuba. Of that $400, a maximum of $100 can consist of tobacco products and alcohol combined. In addition, the ban on US credit and debit cards has been lifted.
Tourists normally carry enough cash for a short Cuba trip. Most bring their own currency; confirm that yours is accepted and calculate the most recent exchange rates at the Banco Metropolitano [2]. Because Cuba imposes a 10% penalty on the exchange of USD, it is not recommended to take larger sums of US dollars to Cuba. Travellers converting over USD1,000 generally choose euros or Canadian dollars. For the better rates it is best to organize in advance. Finding the best exchange should never be left until the last minute; US airport and retail forex kiosks offer some of the worst exchange rates. With two conversion (for example, USD>CAD>CUC$), costs can range anywhere between 8-20% depending on the amount and exchange rate at two banks; the relative savings (or loss) can be significant for the budget traveller. For longer trips, exchange what you need in stages. It is a waste to reconvert a lump sum of unused CUCs at departure, perhaps losing on yet another transaction. For shorter trips, be practical: how many visits to an ATM or bank would be necessary on a 7-day vacation? The foreign exchange booths (CADECAs) in Cuban airports offer extremely fair rates. However, always be mindful of the calculations and never change for CUC$ on the street.
Note that only a few currencies can be exchanged in Cuba: US dollars, euros, pounds sterling, Mexican pesos, and a few others. This is important to remember if you are spending a long time in another country in the region (e.g. Dominican Republic) and are used to using that country's currency. You will be unable to exchange these currencies anywhere in Cuba.
The average tourist will rarely use CUP$ (moneda nacional), but a few pesos can be useful in local places.
All the normal precautions apply for travelling with a large amount of cash: some travellers use money belts and/or travel security devices; others rent a hotel safe (it is not necessary to be a guest to do so). Most just carefully hide valuables amongst their belongings, carrying a small amount of daily cash. Tourist theft in licensed casas is very rare; a licensed owner has every incentive to protect you so respect their rules & security. Staying in unlicensed casas (houses) is riskier for theft, as is being drunk, bringing in shady locals, etc.
Sensible travellers will generally avoid any electronic- or paper-trail evidence of unlicensed expenses that may be an issue upon return.
As an alternative to carrying only cash (and contrary to popular belief), US travellers cheques are accepted and economical. However, unlike many destinations, travellers cheques are less convenient and cannot be replaced on island if lost/stolen. Also, proof is required for cashing; remember to bring your receipts with you to the Cuban bank!
Another option used primarily for family remittance, several debit & rechargeable payment cards might make sense for long-term or repeat travellers, especially as "back-up" or emergency funds: students abroad, take note! Investigate the different fees & terms, and allow three- to four weeks for the debit card pick-up on island. As of January 2008, the favored debit cards used by Canadians, Europeans and others include Duales [3], CaribbeanTransfers, and Telecash-AIS [4].
Also, repeat visitors may wish to consider opening a bank account in Cuba. From a Canadian bank, the wire cost is not excessive for larger transfers such as a semester's expenses. Unlike many Canadian and European banks, very few US institutions are authorized to make licensed transfers (via bank wires) to correspondent banks in Cuba. To facilitate & speed this extraordinary type of transaction (IF possible), get the correspondent banks' SWIFT & IBAN codes in advance. Keeping money in a local Cuban bank may be the safest option for a regular and repeat Cuba traveller.
Lastly, anyone suffering catastrophic loss would probably have to visit their Consulate or Embassy. Emergency funds can be arranged this way, but the process will be time-consuming and the fees will be extraordinarily expensive.
Regardless of nationality, it is extremely unwise to carry on your person/baggage any evidence of possible embargo violations, or to discuss any travel expenses with a US government official. A vigilant, prudent traveller knows s/he is under no obligation to do so, regardless of what some border guard threatens. The above constitutes neither a recommendation nor legal advice; it is provided only as informational reference and the common-sense of many previous Cuba travellers.
Stay safe [ edit ]
As of July 2015, the U.S. finally has an embassy in Havana again, located at what was formerly the United States Interests Section in the Vedado district, along the Malecon. They can assist you with replacing lost/stolen passports or getting emergency funds.
It is advisable to carry a photocopy of your passport on the street (rather than your original) to lessen the risk of losing it. Hotels rent security boxes (even to non-guests) for 2 CUC per day to store your passport and other valuables. Remember, you will need your passport whenever staying at a hotel or casa particular; bring it with you when you leave Havana (or elsewhere) for the rest of the country.
Get out [ edit ]
You are allowed to bring informational materials (books, CDs, records, etc.) and certain types of artwork into the US. Importing other types of Cuban goods is not allowed. Having any article, receipt, coins, etc that display "hecho en Cuba" opens the door to further inquiries about having a travel license. It is best to do a pre-departure cleanup of all baggage.
Whether or not a traveller has a license to visit, it is illegal to bring into the U.S. any Cuban cigars or spirits; cigars without labels may be presumed to be Cuban and possibly confiscated. Violating this law is likely to compound unlicensed travellers' woes, making them easier targets for prosecution. Also, if unlicensed, bringing back anything that can be identified as Cuban would cause problems, especially if US authorities decide to search your luggage.
U.S. citizens caught travelling to Cuba without a license will not be denied re-entry, but may be subject to civil penalties of several thousand dollars and/or criminal prosecution. Making false statements to USCIS agents can be added to the charges if you falsely report your travels (e.g. omitting Cuba) at the POE (port of entry). This problem leads some travellers to give an honest declaration along with an attempt to justify their visit under the general license if they come under scrutiny. Others simply omit Cuba and take their chances. Invoking your Fifth-Amendment right to remain silent may also come in handy when filling out forms or answering more questions whose answers might incriminate you. Simple advice is to smile, then decline to chat because all this travelling has made you tired. Giving conflicting stories at this point could be construed as making false statements (18USC 1001). Many violators successfully avoid fines by contesting the notices, with the government backing down rather than putting the effort into prosecution and testing their restrictions in court (the constitutionality of OFAC's "presumption of guilt" regarding spending money in Cuba has not been tested in the courts thus far). Currently, the National Lawyers Guild [5] and the Center for Constitutional Rights [6] provide legal representation for US citizens accused of violating these restrictions.
This is a usable article. It touches on all the major areas of the topic. An adventurous person could use this article, but please plunge forward and help it grow! |
By Sam Wang, Research Associate at the Council on Hemispheric Affairs
To download a PDF version of this article, click here.
Every day since 2015, thousands of Ecuadorians have crossed the bridge from Tulcán, Ecuador to the border town of Ipiales, Colombia to go shopping. Goods they purchase in Colombia include food, cars, television, and even bulldogs. On a holiday weekend between May 27 and 29, more than 50,000 Ecuadorians crossed the border to Ipiales.[1] Some shoppers come from as far as Quito, a five-hour drive south of the border. Ecuadorians purchase goods in Colombia en masse due to a simple fact: prices in Colombia have become significantly cheaper. For example, a 50-inch TV costs $1,300 USD in Ecuador, but less than $800 USD in Colombia.[2] The situation has become of such concern to the Ecuadorian government that last year, President Rafael Correa issued a “call of conscience” to Ecuadorians, asking his compatriots to “offer support to the national production” by buying Ecuadorian products.[3]
In addition to Panama and El Salvador, Ecuador is one of the Latin American countries that uses the U.S. dollar as the only official currency. Ecuador does not print its own bank notes. In recent years, the U.S. dollar has continuously appreciated against other currencies in Latin America, making the price of goods in Ecuador higher than that in neighboring Colombia and Peru. Ecuador abandoned its old currency, the sucre, during a severe economic crisis in 2000 and has been using U.S. dollars ever since. With the appreciation of the U.S. dollar, doubts have emerged regarding the fate of dollarization. A recent Wall Street Journal article stated that Ecuador “has the misfortune to be an oil producer with a ‘dollarized’ economy that uses the U.S. currency as legal tender.”[4] The appreciation of the U.S. dollar against other currencies has decreased the net exports of non-oil commodities from Ecuador, which, coupled with the fall in oil prices, has constrained the country’s potential for economic growth.
The government of Ecuador has also cast doubt on the success of dollarization; as early as 2014, Correa said that “dollarization was a bad idea.”[5] In the same year, he established a parallel electronic currency for domestic use, which some believe is the first step of de-dollarizing the economy. However, proponents of dollarization believe that it has generated considerable macroeconomic benefits to Ecuador in the past 16 years. Through an examination of the impacts of dollarization in the 21st century and the economic principles behind it, this article argues that both the positive and negative impacts of dollarization are perhaps being overstated, and that a de-dollarization process would provide more negative effects than positive outcomes for Ecuador.
Why Dollarize?
Before delving into a discussion of the pros and cons of using dollars, one should first examine the history of dollarization in Ecuador. In the late 1990s, Ecuador experienced a severe economic crisis due to a combination of low oil prices, the low tax base of the non-oil sector, and big public sector wage increases.[6] The value of the sucre fell drastically, and the inflation rate galloped to 96.1 percent in 2000.[7] Ecuadorians first started adopting dollars informally in an effort to avoid losing their purchasing power, and massive capital flowed out of the country due to the exchange rate crisis.[8] In the same year, in order to halt capital outflow and hyperinflation, Ecuador decided to substitute its currency with the U.S. dollar. [9] The decision to dollarize the economy slowed hyperinflation, stopped the free fall of sucre, and stabilized the financial market, all of which significantly helped resolve the economic crisis. Although the exact impact of dollarization on Ecuador’s economic growth is beyond the scope of this study, after dollarization, Ecuador has enjoyed an average annual economic growth of 4.4 percent, higher than many Latin American countries.[10]
Benefits of Dollarization
There are several benefits of dollarization that should be noted. Most evidently, it decreases transaction costs in international trade, which normally occur whenever people exchange one currency for another. Dollarization eliminates this cost in the trade with the United States, Ecuador’s largest trading partner, since businesses do not need to change from one currency to another. It also promotes long-term investment and trade since businesses tend to be reassured by the stability of the exchange rate.[11] In fact, Ecuador’s export to the United States has increased since dollarization, while the exports of neighboring Colombia and Peru, whose economies are both larger than Ecuador’s, have stagnated, although dollarization may not be the only factor of such an increase.
Source: Author’s elaboration with data from UN Comtrade
The second benefit of dollarization is a lower risk of inflation.[12] By using a foreign currency, an officially dollarized country assures itself of a rate of inflation close to that of the issuing country because confidence exists that inflation in the dollar will continue to be low.[13] However, it should be noted that the adjustment to lower rates took several years after the abandonment of the sucre. The inflation rate stayed at double digits in 2001 and 2002, and did not go below five percent until 2004.[14] Some economists predicted that inflation rates in Ecuador in the medium- and long-term would be relatively consistent with U.S. inflation rates, but in 2011 and 2012, it climbed up again to around five percent.[15] In comparison, the U.S. inflation rate since 2000 has never exceeded four percent.[16] Dollarization is not enough for a country to have a stable inflation rate. In the case of Ecuador, a developing country, the associated risk premium is still higher than that of the United States, a developed country with relatively high economic stability.
Proponents of dollarization also refer to another advantage: currency substitution prevents the Central Bank from having its own monetary policy. This seems very counterintuitive, since monetary policy is one of the two instruments that a government can use to influence a state’s economy. Proponents of dollarization argue that the elimination of a national currency means that government deficits must be financed through fiscal policies, which include the fairly transparent methods of raising taxes or accumulating debt, rather than through printing money.[17] Unlike the U.S. Federal Reserve, but similar to many central banks in Latin America, the Central Bank of Ecuador is not an independent institution but an agency of the executive branch. This is explicitly stated in Article 303 of the Constitution of Ecuador.[18] In the United States, the independent Fed is able to institute sound monetary policies that are not subject to the political whims of the administration, but when a central bank is in complete control of the executive branch, there is a possibility that the government would implement expansionary monetary policies intended to provide an economic stimulus before elections or finance a growing government budget deficit. In both situations, an overly aggressive expansionary monetary policy would lead to a rising inflation rate and a falling exchange rate, which would contribute to destabilizing the economy. Such cases have occurred in the past in Argentina and Venezuela.[19] Proponents of dollarization argue that it gets rid of the moral hazard, by which politicians can infinitely finance public spending by increasing the money supply, and instead leads to budgetary discipline and more responsible government spending.
Putting aside the questions regarding whether Latin American governments are capable of developing sensible monetary policies and whether an independent central bank is preferable, dollarization does not fully address its proponents’ concern of growing public spending, since it does not curb expansionary fiscal policies. The government expenditure of Ecuador has increased from 20 percent of the GDP in 2000 to a high 44 percent in 2014.[20] In comparison, the government expenditure of Colombia, Peru, and Mexico has never exceeded 30 percent of their respective GDPs since 2000.[21] Consequently, since the Ecuadorian government cannot print money, it financed spending through debt. In the past decade, the debt-to-GDP ratio has also increased from a low of 16.4 percent to 33.1 percent in 2015.[22] The increasing government debt has not reached an alarming level, but the considerable increase in government spending necessitates caution. The government of Ecuador has taken steps to address the issue; in April, President Correa announced a two percentage point increase in sales tax, a new wealth tax for millionaires, and the possible sale of government assets.[23] These measures will help finance an increasing budget and maintain fiscal sustainability. Nevertheless, dollarization does not impact fiscal policies, and has virtually no effect on the rising budget.
Disadvantages of Dollarization
The biggest advantage of dollarization in the eyes of its supporters is precisely the reason why others are critical of it—the central bank is unable to have its own monetary policy. The use of the U.S. dollar as legal tender means that one of the two instruments for influencing the economy is unavailable to the government. The absence of monetary policy, besides making it harder for the government to intervene during times of recession, has an adverse effect on exports. A weak domestic currency stimulates exports, and a strong domestic currency makes the country’s exports less competitive in the international market compared to goods from other countries.[24] In the past two years, the U.S. dollar has appreciated considerably; the dollar index, which measures the relative value of the U.S. dollar against a basket of foreign currencies, has risen about 25 percent since 2014.[25] This makes Ecuador’s exports less competitive in the international market. In fact, in 2015, Ecuador’s non-oil export value dropped by 5.9 percent from the previous year.[26] In comparison, products from countries such as Colombia and Peru, both of which saw their currency depreciate against the dollar, became relatively cheaper and more competitive.
Even during times when the dollar is not rising, the instrument of monetary policy would give Ecuador an option to stimulate the economy through “competitive devaluation,” which refers to the strategic and large-scale depreciation of a domestic currency to boost export volumes.[27] For example, starting in 2013, the Japanese government deliberately depreciated its currency in order to make Japanese exports more competitive.[28] Without the option of implementing such policy, Ecuador’s exporters are dependent on the fluctuations of the market. Especially in times of economic crisis, countries without monetary policy have to go through internal devaluation, which restores competitiveness by reducing labor costs. and is often a much longer and more painful process.
Despite the benefits of having control on monetary policy, a de-dollarization in Ecuador would not do much to help its export sector, given that the underlying problem is that Ecuador’s economy is dependent on oil. The dependence has been a structural problem ever since Ecuador discovered its oil resources. In 2014, 52 percent of Ecuador’s export value came from petroleum.[29] Since then, oil prices have fallen significantly; the Brent Crude decreased from $100 USD per barrel to less than $50 USD today, which dealt a heavy blow to the economy of Ecuador.[30] The dominance of the oil sector makes it extremely hard to rely upon monetary policies to boost export for two reasons. First, a currency depreciation does not help oil export because oil is priced and traded in a world price denominated in U.S. dollars. A country’s capacity to produce oil is also limited; Ecuador cannot immediately increase oil production even if there is a sudden increase in demand. Second, the revenue brought in by oil exports is in U.S. dollars. If Ecuador de-dollarizes, a large and constant inflow of U.S. dollars would lead the national currency to appreciate because there will be a constant demand for changing the petrodollars to the national currency, whereas export sectors, such as manufacturing gain an advantage when the national currency depreciates. This means that the positive, effect of a currency depreciation on exports would be largely offset by the effect of petrodollars. In order to overcome the petrodollar effect, oil-producing countries have to depreciate their currencies much more than non-oil-producing countries to increase export value. However, a country cannot permanently conduct expansionary monetary policies, since doing so would both lead to a high inflation rate and encourage irresponsible government spending.
Moreover, placing the responsibility of boosting exports solely on currency depreciation would potentially neglect other ways to promote exports. In 2011, Colombia and Peru, Ecuador’s only neighbors, joined the Pacific Alliance with Mexico and Chile. The regional trade block has eliminated tariffs on over 92 percent of goods, eased intra-Alliance visa restrictions, and integrated stock markets of their members.[31] The elimination of tariffs makes goods from those four countries more competitive in other countries of the Alliance. Especially relevant is the advantage afforded to Colombia, whose banana and flower industries are as significant and competitive as Ecuador’s. Ecuadorian exporters will face increasing competition with their Colombian counterparts when they sell goods to Mexico, Peru, and Chile. Instead of fixating on the issue of dollarization, the government of Ecuador and international economists should be more inclined to promote regional economic integration and abolish tariffs between Ecuador and other Latin American countries.
Concluding Remarks
Both supporters and opponents of dollarization have overstated the policy’s effects on the Ecuadorian economy. Dollarization is not a sole remedy for all economic problems, but neither is having a national currency. De-dollarizing the economy today would trigger market uncertainty and lead to economic instability, which would inevitably hurt Ecuador. Furthermore, the fact that Ecuador’s economy is heavily dependent on oil is a sad but unavoidable truth that cannot be changed in the short term. This is not to say that the government should significantly shrink the oil sector—oil revenue is a crucial source of funding for social projects that benefit the lower class. Nevertheless, to offset the negative effects of using U.S. dollars, Ecuador should enact policies that maintain macroeconomic stability, such as setting up a rainy day fund for economic downturns, and promote regional trade and integration to boost its exports within the region.
By Sam Wang, Research Associate at the Council on Hemispheric Affairs
Original Research on Latin America by COHA. Please accept this article as a free contribution from COHA, but if re-posting, please afford authorial and institutional attribution. Exclusive rights can be negotiated. For additional news and analysis on Latin America, please go to: LatinNews.com and Rights Action.
Featured Photo: U.S. Dollars. Taken from Google Images.
[1] “Ipiales, La Despensa Colombiana De Ecuador.” EL PAÍS. 2016. Accessed July 13, 2016. http://internacional.elpais.com/internacional/2016/06/20/america/1466376543_846138.html.
[2] “¿Por Qué Correa No Quiere Que Ecuatorianos Compren En Colombia? – Latinoamérica – El Tiempo.” El Tiempo. Accessed July 13, 2016. http://www.eltiempo.com/mundo/latinoamerica/por-que-correa-no-quiere-que-ecuatorianos-compren-en-colombia/16343555.
[3] “Ecuador Les Pide a Sus Ciudadanos No Comprar En Colombia.” CNNEspañol.com. 2015. Accessed July 13, 2016. http://cnnespanol.cnn.com/2015/09/02/ecuador-le-pide-a-sus-ciudadanos-no-comprar-en-colombia/.
[4] Cui, Carolyn. “Cheap Oil and Strong Dollar: Ecuador’s Twin Troubles.” WSJ. Accessed July 13, 2016. http://www.wsj.com/articles/cheap-oil-and-strong-dollar-ecuadors-twin-troubles-1448320496.
[5] “Correa Says ‘dollarization Was a Bad Idea’; Says That Ecuador’s Reliance on the Dollar Puts Country in a Financial ‘straight Jacket’ | CuencaHighLife.” CuencaHighLife. 2014. Accessed July 13, 2016. http://www.cuencahighlife.com/correa-says-again-that-dollarization-was-a-bad-idea-says-that-ecuadors-reliance-on-the-dollar-puts-country-in-a-financial-straight-jacket/.
[6] “Ecuador and the IMF.” IMF. Accessed July 13, 2016. https://www.imf.org/external/np/speeches/2000/051900.htm.
[7] “Ecuador Inflation Rate (consumer Prices).” Index Mundi. Accessed July 13, 2016. http://www.indexmundi.com/ecuador/inflation_rate_(consumer_prices).html.
[8] “Ideas Have Consequences: The Case of Dollarization in Ecuador.” Atlas Network. Accessed July 14, 2016. https://www.atlasnetwork.org/news/article/ideas-have-consequences-the-case-of-dollarization-in-ecuador.
[9] Ibid.
[10] “Dollarisation in Ecuador.” Adam Smith Institute. Accessed July 13, 2016. http://www.adamsmith.org/blog/international/dollarisation-in-ecuador.
[11] “Basics of Dollarization.” Global Policy Forum. Accessed July 13, 2016. https://www.globalpolicy.org/pmscs/30435.html.
[12] “Dollarization Explained | Investopedia.” Investopedia. 2004. Accessed July 15, 2016. http://www.investopedia.com/articles/04/082504.asp.
[13] Ibid.
[14] “Official Dollarization and the Banking System in Ecuador and El Salvador.” Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Accessed July 13, 2016.
[15] “Ecuador Inflation Rate | 1970-2016 | Data | Chart | Calendar | Forecast.” Trading Economics. Accessed July 13, 2016. http://www.tradingeconomics.com/ecuador/inflation-cpi.
[16] “United States Inflation Rate (consumer Prices).” Index Mundi. Accessed July 15, 2016. http://www.indexmundi.com/united_states/inflation_rate_(consumer_prices).htm
[17] “Basics of Dollarization.” Global Policy Forum. Accessed July 13, 2016. https://www.globalpolicy.org/pmscs/30435.html.
[18] “República Del Ecuador Republic of Ecuador Constitution of 2008 Constitucion De 2008.” Ecuador: 2008 Constitution in English. Accessed July 13, 2016. http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Constitutions/Ecuador/english08.html.
[19] “10000 Years of Economy.” Cité De L’Économie Et De La Monnaie. Accessed July 13, 2016. http://www.citeco.fr/10000-years-history-economics/contemporary-world/hyperinflation-in-argentina.
[20] “Ecuador – Gasto Público 2016.” Datosmacro.com. Accessed July 13, 2016. http://www.datosmacro.com/estado/gasto/ecuador.
[21] Ibid.
[22] “Ecuador Government Debt to GDP | 1990-2016 | Data | Chart | Calendar.” Trading Economics. Accessed July 13, 2016. http://www.tradingeconomics.com/ecuador/government-debt-to-gdp.
[23] Casey, Nicholas. “Earthquake Jolts Ecuador Into Enacting Long-Avoided Fiscal Changes.” The New York Times. 2016. Accessed July 13, 2016. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/24/world/americas/earthquake-jolts-ecuador-into-enacting-long-avoided-fiscal-changes.html?_r=1.
[24] “Interesting Facts About Imports And Exports | Investopedia.” Investopedia. 2013. Accessed July 13, 2016. http://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/100813/interesting-facts-about-imports-and-exports.asp.
[25] “U.S. Dollar Index (DXY).” Market Watch. Accessed July 13, 2016. http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/index/dxy.
[26] “Download Trade Data.” UN Comtrade. Accessed July 13, 2016. http://comtrade.un.org/data/.
[27] “Interesting Facts About Imports And Exports | Investopedia.” Investopedia. 2013. Accessed July 13, 2016. http://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/100813/interesting-facts-about-imports-and-exports.asp.
[28] “Japan’s Devaluation Warning for Europe.” WSJ. Accessed July 13, 2016. http://www.wsj.com/articles/japans-devaluation-warning-for-europe-1426548519.
[29] “What Did Ecuador Export in 2014? @Atlas_facts.” What Did Ecuador Export in 2014? Accessed July 13, 2016. http://atlas.cid.harvard.edu/explore/tree_map/export/ecu/all/show/2014/.
[30] “Brent Crude (Sep’16) (@LCO.1 :).” CNBC. Accessed July 13, 2016. http://data.cnbc.com/quotes/@LCO.1.
[31] “B|Brief: The Pacific Alliance 2.0 – Next Level Integration.” Bertelsmann Foundation. Accessed July 13, 2016. http://www.bfna.org/publication/bbrief-the-pacific-alliance-2-0-next-level-integration. |
It's been one year since Edward Snowden revealed he was the source of the leaked details on the NSA's Prism surveillance programme. His revelations massively rocked public trust in the internet and shocked even the most cynical of conspiracy theorists. The aftershocks have been felt worldwide, particularly by tech giants and politicians.
With headline after headline detailing such high-profile repercussions, it begs the question: how has Snowden changed the attitude of ICT decision-makers towards the cloud?
NTT Communications sought to find some answers and carried out a study of 1,000 ICT decision-makers in large companies in the UK, France, Germany, Hong Kong and the US. It found that there are four areas where businesses have felt the shocks, all of which have led them to rethink the way they store and manage sensitive commercial data:
1) Data sovereignty tops the agenda
In the post-Snowden world, data sovereignty – where data is physically hosted – is now a hugely contentious subject for businesses. There are now very few ICT decision-makers that believe location is irrelevant when it comes to storing company data. This is because keeping sensitive information in a country where the authorities can access or monitor it without consent constitutes a significant business risk. As a result, many European organisations (97%) that are looking to adopt cloud are now choosing providers located in their own region. This trend also applies to businesses already using cloud services – some are now choosing to move their data to a location where they know it will be safe.
2) Training to keep up to date on compliance and regulation
ICT decision-makers are now much more aware of the need to have a detailed knowledge of legislation affecting their data. More than four fifths of CIOs (84%) feel they need more training on data protection laws. For companies that operate in the legal or financial sector this is particularly important. Despite the fact that surveillance can occur without their consent or knowledge, they're still required to adhere to the strict data regulations. Therefore, the NSA allegations have prompted many of these organisations to rethink the training programmes they carry out.
3) Changing procurement and delaying projects
Snowden is compelling ICT decision-makers to be tighter in their due diligence. Just over half (52%) of ICT decision-makers are now carrying out checks in greater detail on cloud providers during the procurement process, which includes researching the physical location of the data centre, its security credentials and who actually owns the company. However, there are some ICT decision-makers going even further, deciding to abandon, delay or even avoid the cloud completely as a direct result of the revelations. These are obviously natural reactions, but businesses need to remember that provided they scrutinise cloud providers, they can alleviate security fears and still reap the benefits of cloud computing.
4) Looking to alternatives for data security
82% of all ICT decision-makers globally agree with proposals made by German chancellor Angela Merkel for separating data networks. In theory, this should work, but in practice it is near-impossible as it raises serious questions for businesses trading outside of Europe and the individual levels of risk and security each EU country is willing to shoulder.
This suggestion has sparked a discussion about alternative methods for securing data, with encryption emerging as the most viable option. However, there has been a debate on whether the NSA could crack some of the encryption coding causing more fears about data surveillance. This could present market opportunities for vendors to fill the gaps and offer enterprise-grade encryption with their current offerings.
Prism has shaken businesses and changed their attitudes towards cloud computing – and understandably so. But confidence can be rebuilt. Encryption is now being discussed more than ever as a counter-measure. In the short-term, the most effective solution is partnering with cloud providers that can keep information in-country. This way, businesses can still harness the benefits of cloud computing while keeping their valuable data safe.
Len Padilla is vice president product strategy at NTT Europe
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The woman gave birth to a daughter after undergoing IVF treatment, but later found out that her egg had been fertilised with a stranger's sperm.
SINGAPORE: A Singaporean woman who conceived a child in an in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) sperm mix-up at Thomson Medical cannot claim "upkeep costs" for the child.
The Court of Appeal on Wednesday (Mar 22) rejected an appeal by the woman against an earlier High Court decision, which ruled that she was not entitled to bring the claim for upkeep costs against Thomson Medical, its fertility centre and the centre's senior embryologist and chief embryologist.
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The woman - who is Singaporean Chinese and is married to a German man of Caucasian descent - gave birth to a daughter, Baby P, in 2010 after undergoing IVF treatment. The parents noticed that Baby P's skin tone and hair colour were noticeably different from their own, and was also markedly different from that of their first child.
A blood test showed that Baby P's blood type could not have been a combination of both parents. Further investigations revealed that the woman's egg had been fertilised with the sperm of an unknown Indian donor, instead of her husband's.
The woman then sued Thomson Medical and the other three respondents, as well as sought upkeep costs which are the expenses she would incur in raising Baby P such as for basic necessities and for post-secondary education among other things.
The respondents admitted liability but argued that she should not be allowed to recover upkeep costs, arguing that there was "something distasteful, if not morally offensive" in treating the birth of a healthy child as a matter for compensation. The High Court ruled in their favour, and the woman then appealed to the Court of Appeal against the High Court decision.
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The panel of five judges - which included Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon - unanimously dismissed the appeal, saying that the claim for upkeep costs would be "against public policy".
"It amounts to a claim for an indemnity for the costs of raising a child and places parents in a position where their personal interests as litigants will conflict with their duties as parents," the judgment read.
However the Court found that the woman had suffered a loss of "genetic affinity" and said it would leave the amount of damages to be awarded to the High Court to decide. |
We’ve been working for some time—with your help—to ensure that improvidently granted patents don’t threaten exciting and growing 3D printing technology. The good news is that with the help of the Cyberlaw Clinic at Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society, we’ve been able to challenge a number of such dangerous patent applications at the Patent Office.
But we’re not done.
The project to challenge patent applications covering 3D printing technology is important not just because of the promise of that technology, but because we’re relying on a fairly new legal procedure called Preissuance Submissions. That procedure allows third parties to participate in the patent application process by providing patent examiners with prior art. As we’ve said before, we’re glad to see the Patent Office open up the process to those who might not be filing patents themselves, but who are affected by the patent system everyday.
Yet, just as we feared, the process is not an easy one. For starters, searching the Patent Office’s website for pending applications is hard. And then, even if you can identify applications, it’s tough to know which ones really pose a danger to a growing technology. And, finally, the most important step of all: uncovering and submitting helpful information during the short window of opportunity.
That’s why we’ve decided to partner with Ask Patents, a project of Stack Exchange, to help find the best prior art to attack what we think are some pretty questionable patent applications. Ask Patents takes basic crowd-sourcing principles and calls on the public to help out:
Citizen volunteers and other interested parties will be able to ask about applications that they think are suspicious. Others can answer, identifying possible prior art, and using our upvote/downvote feature to rate any examples of prior art that other people found.
We think this is an exciting way to take advantage of the new Preissuance Submission process. Mostly because we think you, the people who use and build 3D printers or any other technology that might be threatened by bad patents, are in the best position to make this process work. (You can also learn about other applications you can help with by following Ask Patent's twitter account.)
So let’s get started! Here are the first three applications we’ve posted at Ask Patents. Please read about them and share any prior art you might know about (but time is of the essence; the windows to submit prior art may start closing as soon as April 4, 2013 ). We also hope you’ll further join in the conversation by upvoting the submissions from others you think are best (and by sharing information you have on even more patent applications). Once we’ve identified the best prior art for the following three, we’ll submit it to the Patent Office.
CALL FOR PRIOR ART: 3D Printing application “Process for Producing Three-dimensionally Shaped Object and Device for Producing Same” (13/503217): http://patents.stackexchange.com/q/3494/3363
CALL FOR PRIOR ART: 3D Printing application “Additive Manufacturing System and Method for Printing Customized Chocolate Confections” (13/432424): http://patents.stackexchange.com/q/3493/3363
CALL FOR PRIOR ART: 3D Printing application “Ribbon Filament and Assembly for Use in Extrusion-based Digital Manufacturing Systems” (13/530191): http://patents.stackexchange.com/q/3495/3363 |
“Apple Inc. was ordered by a jury to pay damages to Mirror Worlds LLC for infringing patents related to how documents are displayed on a computer screen,” Susan Decker reports for Bloomberg.
“The federal jury in Tyler, Texas, awarded $208.5 million in damages for each of the patents infringed. The verdict form was unclear as to whether the amount applies to the three patents collectively or would be charged individually. Lawyers for closely held Mirror Worlds declined to discuss the verdict,” Decker reports.
MacDailyNews Take: Tyler, Texas. Rocket Docket.
Decker reports, “Mirror Worlds, a software business started by a Yale University computer-science professor David Gelernter, claimed Apple’s iPod music device, iPhone and Mac computers infringed its patents. Apple challenged the validity of the patents and whether they were infringed, according to court records. Gelernter said after the verdict he was ‘tremendously grateful’ to his lawyers for ‘their overwhelmingly brilliant performance.'”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Excessive. |
You'll see a lot of interesting swings, outfits and equipment if you hang out at enough pro-ams. Odds are, with some of the characters who make up pro-am groupings, there will always something you've never seen before.
In the case of Greg Chalmers playing a pro-am on Monday, he shared this hilarious piece of equipment that one of the members of his group carried in his bag. Yes, an actual foot wedge. And it looks like it's actually used from time to time, too.
The fact that this exists is hilarious. This would be the ultimate gag gift -- that golf buddy who is notorious for kicking his ball into the fairway deserves one of these.
An actual foot wedge. Count this under the category of things we never thought we'd see. But thanks to Chalmers, we're now searching eBay for an actual foot wedge. Love it.
RELATED: 11 items you need to wear on the golf course this fall
WATCH MORE VIDEOS FROM THE LOOP |
Thirty-three years ago, a Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back named James Wilder was heading into his fourth season at age 26. Wilder wasn’t a complete unknown (he’d been a second-round pick just a few years earlier), but he wasn’t exactly a household name, either. How could he be? He had just 1,334 rushing yards across three NFL seasons to that point.
But in 1984, the Bucs worked Wilder more than any running back in NFL history had been worked before. He received an incredible 407 carries that season, with which he gained 1,544 yards and scored 13 touchdowns. Not only that but he also caught 85 passes for an additional 685 yards. That’s 492 touches over the course of 16 games, or 30.75 per game.
In the ensuing 32 NFL seasons, not a single player has topped 30 touches per game while playing 10 games or more. The closest anyone has come is Ricky Williams’ 292 touches in 10 games with the 2000 New Orleans Saints.
Fast forward to this offseason. To last week, to be exact. Arizona Cardinals coach Bruce Arians said he is aiming to get his star running back, David Johnson, 30 touches per game during the 2017 season. “He’s still too young to overuse,” Arians said.
This week, Johnson agreed with that assertion. “I’m still young,” Johnson said, per the team’s website. “I’m still on my first contract. So I feel I can definitely handle 30 touches. I did it last year, basically, with running the ball and catching it out of the backfield.”
Johnson’s claim that he “did it last year, basically,” is, of course, slightly off. Johnson totaled 293 carries and 80 catches in 16 games for the Cardinals, though he did leave the final game early due to an injury. If we take his numbers across the first 15 games (288 carries and 77 catches), he averaged 24.3 touches a week. He’d have to touch the ball around 90 more times over the course of a 16-game season to average 30 a week.
Regarding the assertion that he’s too young to overuse, well, Johnson is about to head into his age-26 season as well. It should be noted that after handling 492 touches in 1984 and 418 in 1985, Wilder experienced injury issues and became far less effective throughout the rest of his career. Johnson is already a far better player than Wilder ever was, but better players have handled lesser workloads and experienced sharp drop-offs in production as well. There’s a reason the so-called “370-carry rule” exists.
The Cardinals have a special talent in Johnson, and he should be a foundational offensive player for them for a long time. He can be just as important and just as impactful handling 22-25 touches a game as he can with 30, without the added risk of breaking down his body. |
Tom R. Bennett was the copilot on Trans Australian Airways flight 408 on the 19th July 1960, when the world’s first midair sky-jacking took place.
The aircraft, a Lockheed Electra Mk 2 (VH-TLB) was operating the last Sydney to Brisbane flight for the day. Forty three passengers and six crew were on board.
The terrorist was a Russian man named, Alex Hildebrandt. Airport security was decidedly lack back then compared to today. Somehow, Hildebrandt had managed to board the plane with a fully loaded sawn-off .22 calibre rifle, a boot knife and the components to assemble a bomb powerful enough to blow the aircraft out of the sky.
During the flight Hildebrandt went to the bathroom and pieced together his explosive device, a torch battery attached to a detonator linked to two sticks of gelignite.
The armed terrorist then paced up and down the aisle brandishing his lethal gun-and-bomb combination while threatening everyone on board.
Rather than instantly cave in to Hildebrandt’s demands, First Officer Bennett calmly approached the man in an attempt to converse and calm him down.
Hildebrandt responded by firing a warning shot that narrowly missed Bennett’s head.
Bennett immediately responded by punching the terrorist in the face. The First Officer then pulled the wires from Hildebrandt’s hand, essentially disarming the bomb.
Captain Lawrence then intervened to assist First Officer Bennett to subdue and completely disarm the hijacker, who was restrained and secured with handcuffs carried on the aircraft.
The pair then proceeded to land the plane at its designated stop of Brisbane, with all 43 passengers unharmed.
Unsurprisingly, Tom Bennett was awarded the George Medal for his heroic actions that day. Captain Lawrence was also commended for his part in restraining the high-jacker.
Because of his ‘warning shot’, Hildebrandt faced charges of the attempted murder of First Officer Tom Bennett. He was also charged with carrying an explosive detonating device with the intention of destroying the aircraft.
He was initially sentenced to a combined fifteen-year jail term, three years for attempted murder, ten years for attempting to destroy the aircraft and two years for carrying the explosives charge.
However, due to the fact he was only 35 minutes into the flight when he began assembling the bomb, Hildebrandt was able to argue a successful appeal. In short, he was still in New South Wales jurisdiction at the time of the incident and should have been sentenced under their state law.
This had no effect on the subsequent time the man spent in prison mind you. After serving the first three years of his sentence for attempted murder in a Brisbane based prison, the appeal in the New South Wales court saw him delivered straight into one of their prisons for the remainder of his original sentence.
We can only assume that First Officer Bennett continued his career in the air, armed with one hell of a story to one day tell his grand-children.
(Sources / Image Credits: Wikipedia, TAA Museum) |
Images in Google Map will now look sharper and more detailed as Google Maps will be using imagery provided by Landsat 8. The new satellite captures images with greater detail, colour accuracy and at a better frequency than its predecessors. This means the images on Google Earth will look a lot clearer now. Landsat is a joint initiative of USGS and NASA and has been used to observe earth since 1972. The Landast 8 was set in orbit in 2013.
If you want to experience the new imagery yourself, simply load up Google Earth or Google Maps on your platform of choice. Mountain View has already integrated the new satellite data from NASA and the US Geological Survey, so the company’s apps and websites are better than ever.
Of course, the Landsat 8 satellite is only one of many sources of imagery for Google’s satellite view. Depending on where you look, and how zoomed in you are, Google will show you images sourced from the US Navy, the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans, NOAA, DigitalGlobe, Astrium, and more.
If you only want to see images provided by Landsat, you can head over to the LandsatLook Viewer, and scrub through over forty years worth of visual data of the earth.
**Source** |
I understand why you hate these video games. I really do. I understand why you shake your head as I play them. The truth is I don’t always understand the impulse myself. Why do I want to hurt myself. Why do I choose to put myself through this physical pain and stress. What is the benefit? What is the evolutionary benefit.
I will not become more attractive to a potential mate if I get a gold medal on Inferno IV on Trials Fusion. Completing a Onebro run in Dark Souls II will not help me protect my offspring from predators. On the contrary there’s a far greater chance of me ignoring his cries for help when he slips in the bathtub and gurgles his way to an early funeral if I’m completely engrossed in a video game.
Why the hell do I play video games that are so goddamn difficult. Why do I continue to punish myself.
On the Saturday night just past I had friends over to visit. Everyone arrived a little earlier than I expected and I was midway through Inferno IV, the most difficult Trials Fusion track in a series already noted for its bewildering level of difficulty. I was embroiled in an incredible struggle. One obstacle towards the end of the track was giving me problems. When my guests arrived I was sitting at about 150 faults. 15 minutes later I had run the clock out and was sitting at 400 faults.
I had essentially repeated the same 10 metres of virtual track 250 times, failing each time. Hitting retry. Failing. Hitting retry. Failing.
I had done this before. I did the exact same thing in Dark City Run in Trials Evolution, and the exact same thing with Inferno II in Trials HD. Had I been alone, this would have been business as usual. Most likely I would have started the track from scratch again with a calm exterior, every cell of my body throbbing with a barely restrained rage. I would probably have given myself hives.
But this time it was different. This time, for a short period, I had an audience.
And that audience forced me to look at myself through a slightly different lens; an otherworldly, out-of-body gaming experience. I saw myself through their eyes. What did they think, watching this adult man fail at the exact same obstacle, in the exact same way, 250 times. I must have looked like a rat in a skinner box.
This was Mark Serrels in his natural habitat. This is how Mark Serrels spends his spare time.
On some level my friends must have understood. Most likely they had played video games themselves. I think everyone understands the impulse to play video games — as escapism, as a means to learn and practice some useless skill. There are multiple different ways to ‘enjoy’ video games and I think the lay person tends to understand most of them. But I’m not sure if my friends could grasp what they just witnessed: a human being writhing in anguish, continually returning to the thing that caused him pain, like a moth butting heads with a sixty watt lightbulb.
They didn’t understand and when I started to think about it, neither could I.
The next day, as I turned on Dark Souls II, I realised that approximately the last 120 hours of my gaming life had been spent with video games that made me feel the following emotions: frustration, anger, impotence, fear, rage, disappointment. So many negative emotions. But still I came back, time after time.
As human beings we have the ability to endure short term misery for some, as yet intangible, long term goal. Take exercise, for example. It fucking hurts to lift weights, or run for a decent length of time, but we do it because it helps us to get fit, or to look more physically attractive to others. Same goes for eating healthily, or dieting, or stopping smoking. We have the capacity to grit our teeth and endure because the rewards come later.
A video game like Trials or Dark Souls doesn’t really have the same benefits.
And it doesn’t necessarily have the rewards we attach to a certain type of game/art either. That idea that we’re broadening our horizons or flexing our intellectual muscles. Dark Souls is not a Rubik’s Cube. Trials is not Sudoku. The skills you acquire will not be applicable to any other area of your life.
But I continue to punish myself. As do hundreds of thousands of others.
Why?
It’s difficult to quantify, difficult to define. There are a lot of reasons to like games like Trials or Dark Souls. Trials, for example, has pitch perfect controls, mind-bending track design. Dark Souls is a brilliant example of world building, has an incredible sense of scale, an incredibly rewarding combat system.
But the difficulty. Why do we enjoy the difficulty? Both of these games would be markedly less interesting if they were less difficult; I don’t think anyone could possibly deny that.
Why?
I think the short answer is this: it feels good to be good at something. It feels good to improve, even if that ‘thing’ is pointless and has no impact on your social standing or any standing for that matter.
There’s also the idea of revelling in your own ability to stubbornly persist when others crumble. In that sense difficult games are a type of mental exercise: will you continue, will you give up in the face of this virtual, pointless trial? When you continue where others have failed there is an enormous sense of satisfaction. That sense of satisfaction might be misguided and elitist and ultimately pointless in the grand scheme of anything, but it is intoxicating. Intoxicating enough to be compelling. Compelling enough for you to chase that next high.
But it’s an empty feeling. A hollow chase. I remember finally getting Gold on every single track in Trials Evolution. I remember that sense of satisfaction. That swell of pride in my chest. Even in hindsight it was quite the achievement. I put the controller down. I felt really good for a second, then nothing. I told my wife, ‘hey I did it’. Barely registered. She was just happy she didn’t have to hear the bloody intro song on loop.
I leaned back in the couch. Looked into space and thought to myself, ‘well, that’s that I guess’.
The end. |
* Bersani says economy, jobs will be top priority if elected
* Says Italians need “truth not fairy tales” about crisis
* Commentators says Bersani now has to re-unify party
By Philip Pullella
ROME, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Pier Luigi Bersani won a run-off primary election by a huge margin on Sunday to become the Italian centre-left candidate for prime minister in national elections early next year.
In his victory speech, Bersani promised to tackle Italy’s economic crisis and high unemployment if elected and said his Democratic Party would have to win by telling Italians “the truth, not fairy tales” about the grave situation.
Bersani has said repeatedly that in power he would stick to tough budget commitments made by technocrat Prime Minister Mario Monti, but seek to soften the impact on workers and the poor and put more emphasis on economic growth.
Markets have expressed some wariness over an alliance between Bersani, who is head of the centre-left Democratic Party and a former communist, and a party called Left, Ecology and Freedom.
With more than 80 percent of the 9,200 polling places reporting, Bersani had 60.9 percent of votes to 39.1 percent for Renzi. The results were in line with two exit polls.
“I was always confident and tranquil but I did not expect to win by this much,” Bersani told a victory rally after his rival, Florence mayor and fellow Democratic Party member Matteo Renzi, conceded defeat.
Bersani, 61, will now stand in national elections, likely in March, against a still-to-be-chosen centre-right candidate to take over from Monti.
“It won’t be simple but we can’t ignore the fact that we are facing the greatest crisis of the post-war period and the greatest problem of all is jobs,” he said of Italy’s economic situation.
Italy’s unemployment stood at 11.1 percent in October and its public debt is equivalent to 126 percent of national output.
During the campaign, the contrast was marked between the bald, slow speaking professorial Bersani and Renzi, who bounced around platforms at rallies in open shirts and jeans.
Renzi had painted himself as a Kennedy-esque reformer, saying Italy’s largest centre-left party needed a big shake-up.
He had accused the older generation of the Democratic Party of failing to present a credible alternative, allowing former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s centre right to govern for so long.
Despite the big victory, commentators said Bersani would now have to woo back some 40 percent of the party, many of them young, who voted for Renzi.
Monti, favourite of the business community, has said he will not be a candidate next year but might come back if the election does not provide a clear winner.
Another possible future role for him is as president of the republic and guarantor that austerity reforms agreed with Italy’s European partners continue.
Berlusconi’s scandal-plagued right, forced from government by the financial crisis a year ago, is in disarray.
Berlusconi said on Monday he would wait to see who wins the centre-left primary before deciding whether to run himself. He has repeatedly changed his mind in the last few weeks on whether to do so.
Some analysts said the victory by Bersani might spur Berlusconi to get back into the game.
“Indeed, a Bersani-led PD is likely to embolden Silvio Berlusconi to form his own party in the hope of keeping the centre left out of power and reviving the fortunes of Italy’s centre right,” said Nicholas Spiro, managing director of Spiro Sovereign Strategy in London.
The centre-right is divided over whether they should hold its own primary. Fabrizio Cicchitto, head of Berlusconi’s PDL party in the lower house, who wanted primaries said: “We have paid and will continue to pay for this political void”. |
Bainbridge Island City Manager Douglas Schulze has banned the possession and consumption of cheese at the town’s city hall Friday.
No, not this cheese; this cheese.
The ban, of course, comes on “Blue Friday” before the Seattle Seahawks host the Green Bay Packers in the NFC championship game at noon Sunday at CenturyLink Field. While the vast majority of screaming fans will be decked out in Seahawks blue, there will be a few straggling Cheeseheads in the house.
“Fans of the Green Bay Packers are frequently seen wearing obnoxious wedge-shaped foam hats painted yellow,” states Schulze’s Executive Order 121212, so numbered for Seattle’s 12th Man. “Due to the relationship between the Green Bay Packers, their fans, and cheese, the possession of and/or consumption of cheese or cheese flavored products shall be banned in Bainbridge Island City Hall on Friday, January 16, 2015.”
No word yet on whether this is considered cheese under the law.
Visit seattlepi.com for more Seattle Seahawks news . Contact sports editor Nick Eaton at 206-448-8125, [email protected] or @njeaton |
Early in the year the defense was a complete mess. At one point, the run defense was 30th in the league. Just a couple of weeks back the Red Zone defense was dead last. And the overall unit was 32nd in the FO DOVA rankings back in September.
Take a look at the numbers from the last 2 games:
Points – 29
Yards – 445
Sacks – 13
Takeaways – 7
RZ defense – 3 for 8
3rd downs – 6 for 28
Rushing – 53-203 (no TDs)
The defense is starting to come together. We’ve seen flashes (WAS, DAL), but I think this is the best the group has played all year. You might argue that Matt Moore and Mark Sanchez aren’t Brees & Rodgers. That’s fair. Still, Moore (8 TDs, 1 INT) and Sanchez (7 TDs, 1 INT) were on hot streaks when we played them. Those guys were forced into rough outings by good Eagles defense. And they had skill players around them Bush, Marshall & Plax, Santonio, Keller, LT, Greene.
The overall rankings for the defense:
10th in yards
10th in passing
17th in rushing
19th in scoring
1st in sacks
15th in takeaways
30th in Red Zone (64.3%)
14th in yards per play (5.4)
19th in yards per carry (4.3)
25th in opp. QB rating (88.4)
Some good, some bad, and some still pretty ugly. The RZ defense is improving. We’re holding teams under 50% in the last 3 games. That’s encouraging.
The thing I’m happiest about isn’t the numbers, but rather the vibe. Our players are playing with confidence. They are flying around the field. Our guys are passing the eyeball test. They look like a good defense.
STs mistakes (both by Curtis Marsh) led to turnovers deep in our own territory in the last 2 games. There was no panic. The defense got the ball right back in each game. RZ takeaways seemed like a fantasy idea (like Unicorns, El Dorado, or the Fountain of Youth) for most of the season. Sure, we knew they might exist, but our defense thought they were just theoretically possible and not realistic. Now we’ve had consecutive games with them.
Castillo has figured out how to use all of his players in order to get maximum productivity. Look at what the LBs did yesterday: 8 solo tackles, 1 TFL, 1 PD, 1 INT. And the Jets: 16 solo tackles, 1 sack, , 1 TFL, 1 INT. The Jets had David Harris, Calvin Pace, and Bart Scott on the field. We can’t compete with them player for player and name for name. But our LB corps of Brian Rolle, Akeem Jordan, Jamar Chaney, Casey Matthews, and Akeem Jordan as a group can function well. And our LBs out-played the Jets yesterday.
DRC is finally settling into things and looks worlds different. This is the guy we saw at Lehigh, who is incredibly gifted. It took him a while to get comfortable, but something is clicking. He’s now looked good in his last 3 games.
Kurt Coleman was the best Safety on the field yesterday. He covered, blitzed, and tackled well. Nate Allen also had a good game.
Up front, the line is playing terrific. Castillo is letting them get creative and the players love that. They are stunting and looping from some different alignments. Jason Babin is deadly as a speed rusher from LDE, but we’re also finding out that he’s pretty good when he loops inside as a stand-up rusher. He, Jim Washburn, and Castillo are definitely in sync right now. And it is great to see a guy like Phillip Hunt coming along. He’s now got 2 sacks in 2 weeks. That is one less than Jerome McDougle had in his 37-game career. Hunt may never be a starter in this league, but he can be a good situational rusher. He’s not getting lucky sacks. He’s getting into the backfield and being disruptive on multiple plays.
Life is good for the Eagles defense right now, but Saturday’s game at Dallas is going to be the biggest challenge of the year. Struggle in Big D and the defense goes right back to getting ripped by fans and the media.
It is great to see the defense playing better, but they haven’t done enough to earn our trust to this point. Make us believe. Go on the road against a winning team and shut down a red hot QB who has a lot of weapons to work with. That might just make believers of us all.
* * * * *
Couple of numbers from Reuben Frank:
First five games, Eagles allowed 352 yards and 26.4 points per game. Last nine games, they’ve allowed 314 yards and 19.9 points per game.
Eagles allowed 5.0 yards per carry, 140 rush yards per game 1st 5 weeks. Since then, 98 per game and 3.9 per carry. |
Southampton misfit Juanmi is poised to return to Spain with Real Sociedad in a £2million deal.
The 22-year-old forward joined from Malaga for £5million last summer but has made just two starts and 19 appearances overall.
Juanmi turned down David Moyes while he was managing Sociedad but the Spanish side have maintained contact and enquired about a deal in January.
Southampton misfit Juanmi is poised to return to Spain with Real Sociedad in a £2million deal
However, Southampton manager Ronald Koeman could not afford to let the Spain international go as they waited for injuries to clear up.
Sociedad, who finished in ninth place in La Liga after a final day win over Valencia, have now returned and hope to complete a deal quickly.
Saints could finish as high as fifth in the Premier League, depending on Manchester United's result against Bournemouth in their rearranged clash on Tuesday, after an impressive campaign at St Mary's. |
This question is brought to you by Gibbous Outamon of Rifterlings, and by the letter G (for gank!).
They want your body.
What do I do?!
Option 1: Warp off
Option 2: Crash the gate
Find an opportune moment to do this. Either when they are not particularly near you, someone else draws their attention away, or something. If none of these happen, try to wait for as long as you can (to aggravate the campers, or hope something does happen). Hit "approach" back to the gate. Hit that propulsion mod! HIT IT HARD! (You do have a propulsion mod, right?) Turn on any tank modules you have! Active tank, resists, everything! You only need to survive a few seconds! OVERHEAT ALL THE THINGS! Once within 4-5 km, spam the heck out of the "jump" button. GOGOGOGOGO!! If you have a MWD and they turn it off, be cool and coast to the gate. Jump! Mock the assailants in local before changing system. Watch for anyone following you through the jump. You may need to evade again on the other side.
Or, in lovingly-rendered drawings:
The sound effects are completely necessary for this to work.
Caution: at no point should you return fire! This will stop you from going back through the gate! Don't let the adrenaline get the best of you.
Now, I should specify some caveats:
Excessive webs will keep you from reaching the gate. If a Rapier or similar is present, you are likely dead.
Microwarpdrive ships are vulnerable to fast-locking enemies with warp scramblers. If there are frigates around, you may have to be extra careful.
Lastly, remember this does not have a 100% success rate. There are a lot of things that can go wrong, but this is usually one of the best ways to escape.
Option 3: Run the camp
This is the least normally applicable thing to do, but it is feasible when your ship is exceptionally fast compared to their ships, and they do not have very good long range capability. Often, if this is true, option #1 is more applicable, but there is a middle ground of cases where #1 is not possible.
The concept behind it is banking on you being technically "caught", but then escaping. This means that yes, you will be pointed, and will take some damage, but you will be able to somehow escape. This escape is via a combination of sheer speed and blapping their tacklers (frigates/interceptors). Its success rate is iffy, but when it works, you feel like a badass.
Cynabal approves of this product and/or service.
The steps:
Make sure your overview is showing all brackets in space (yes, including moons). Look around for a warp-able celestial object with no enemies "in your path". This is a judgment call -- there is not much advice I can give here. If you are in a bubble in nullsec, try to also find the fastest way out of it possible. Select it, hit "align". Turn on and overheat your propulsion mod. Watch for enemy response. If fast ships start chasing you, hold your course and mow them down. If long-range ships are pounding you too hard, try to alter course to break their tracking (if they're guns, not missiles). Stick around to mess with them (particularly effective in a Vagabond or Cynabal), or warp off. Mockery is required.
And, of course, the caveats:
This is a bit more resilient to webs, but a Rapier still spells doom.
Does not work if they have high long range damage (artillery, heavy missiles, etc)
If you screw it up and something heavy/resilient tackles you, you're screwed.
Kiting experience is very useful in pulling this off.
If you die doing it, you look very stupid. So, when do I do each of these?
I was going to do a long-winded explanation of this, but I can't think of any better one than just a flow chart. So... here you go (click to zoom in):
And, last but not least...
Good luck, and don't beat yourself up for dying if you do. Learning to avoid and handle gate camps is really hard.
Now, go forth and pew!
So you're going about your business and jumping through a gate. You arrive on the other side, and find yourself in a group of baddies. Welp.Okay, first things first. There is something really important you must do:No, really. You have 60 seconds of cloak. That's enough time that the enemy gang (depending on its size) could probably kill you over and over and over again. Just relax, and figure out a solution.The three most common things to do are to either simply warp off, crash the gate, or run the camp. While there are other solutions (fight, light a cyno, cloak-MWD trick , call in the blob/cavalry, etc) they are not within the scope of a sudden "oh god, I'm in a gate camp, what do I do" situation, and thus are not covered here.This thing here:You could definitely try this. However, if you fail (they target you and point you), you will most likely die.This is a bit more sophisticated than option #1, but it is still pretty simple. The objective is to get back to the gate you came through. Steps: |
Members of the 173rd Airborne Brigade perform a training jump in Germany in 2011. Some 600 soldiers from the 173rd will go to Eastern Europe to train NATO forces, according to the Pentagon. Matthias Schrader/AP
Roughly 600 infantry troops from the storied 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team are heading to Poland and the three Baltic states, in the first major movement of U.S. ground troops to Europe since Russia’s incursion into Ukraine earlier this year.
Four companies of roughly 150 soldiers each will head to Poland, as well as Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and stay for roughly a month, said Pentagon spokesman Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby. The forces will be relieved by future rotations of airborne infantry troops through at least the end of 2014, if not beyond. Twelve F-16 Fighting Falcon jets and a support staff of roughly 200 people was sent to Poland earlier this year.
Soldiers from the 173rd, based out of Vicenza, Italy, witnessed some of the harshest combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. The gritty actions of its 2nd Battalion in the Korengal Valley were documented in the 2010 documentary, “Restrepo.” They will be engaged in “infantry training exercises,” with troops from the four countries, all NATO treaty signatories, according to Kirby.
The Pentagon’s decision is more than just a gesture to reaffirm solidarity with its NATO allies, Kirby said.
“Any time you put troops on the ground ... it’s more than just [symbolism],” he said.
The USS Taylor will also steam into the Black Sea, where the USS Donald Cook remains. The Taylor had been there in February during the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, and had to be retrofitted in a Turkish port after running aground. The Donald Cook made headlines earlier in April when a Russian fighter jet buzzed it. Kirby confirmed there have been no further interaction with Russian forces since.
The deployment of the 173rd will be strictly on a bilateral basis with those four countries, not through a larger NATO action. Concerns have circulated, including through a report from the Atlantic Council, that some other members of NATO are reticent to get involved militarily in action clearly designed to test the Russian resolve.
Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove, NATO’s top general and the commander of U.S. European Command, remains in discussions with other NATO leaders over further plans, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said last week.
“Russian aggression has renewed our resolve to strengthen the NATO alliance,” Hagel said Thursday, while speaking at a press conference with Polish National Defense Minister Tomasz Siemoniak. The pair hinted troop movements would take place in the coming weeks.
“These measures are not meant to provoke or threaten Russia. Instead, [they are meant] to demonstrate NATO’s continued dedication to collective defense,” he said. “De-escalation has been our focus, and Russia must take steps to make that happen.”
Kirby said Tuesday there will certainly be further announcements of troop exercises and other activity on both a bilateral basis and through NATO writ large.
The front page of Russia’s state news service, RIA Novosti, included nothing of the ongoing tensions in Ukraine, fueled largely by Russian forces operating there, U.S. officials have said. Instead, headlines included reports of Russia’s navy expanding to new bases in the Arctic, new Mig fighter jets to be stationed in Western Russia and new robots to assist in strategic missile defense.
Putin said last week, at roughly the same time as Hagel and Siemoniak’s announcement, that Moscow does not fear any NATO expansion.
“We will choke them all. What are you afraid of?” he said while speaking on his annual live Q&A call-in show. |
The easiest thing to do when something extraordinary happens in the first week of the season is to dismiss it as a product of small sample size. If a player suddenly goes from meh to marvelous, odds are he’s going to crash back to Earth as soon as he’s exposed by a few more games.
Then there’s the curious case of Kendall Graveman. A thoroughly unremarkably pitcher for the first two-plus seasons of his major league career, Graveman came into this year with a 4.08 ERA (which looks even worse when considering that the A’s home park favors pitchers) and a weak strikeout rate of just 14.5% (5.6 per 9 innings pitched). Graveman drawing Oakland’s Opening Day assignment had far more to do with a lack of healthy and qualified alternatives than anything else.
A week later, Graveman sits at 2-0, with a 2.08 ERA. The even bigger surprise might be his strikeout rate: After starting his career as one of the least likely pitchers in the game to miss bats, he’s punched out 12 batters in his first 13 innings pitched of the season. So what gives?
Simply put, no pitcher has changed his approach more in these first few days of the season than Graveman. In 2016, the right-hander threw his sinker 56% of the time, but still mixed in plenty of other offerings. This year, he’s doing something you’ll almost never see in a starting pitcher: Throw one pitch almost every time. Through his first two starts of 2017, a jarring 87.8% of Graveman’s pitches have been sinkers. Even that figure doesn’t tell the whole story though. All but 1% of his pitches have been sinkers...or four-seam fastballs and cutters. The sinker and four-seamer both check in between 94-95, while the cutter clocks just shy of 91. And there’s more. Not only is Graveman throwing some variant of a fastball virtually every time...the vast majority of his pitches are pounding the bottom of the strike zone, or lower.
Can he keep this pace up, throwing everything hard, everything down, and getting everyone out with that one pitch? It’ll be tough. Graveman is essentially doing a Zach Britton imitation right now. But Britton doesn’t need to deceive opposing batters nearly as much in 12-15 pitches as Graveman must throwing 100. Bartolo Colon is the only other active starter who leans anywhere near this heavily on one pitch, and Colon is basically a unicorn. Graveman’s also given up a ton of hard contact in his two starts, while giving up two long balls, and stranding 97.6% of the runners he’s put on base.
So, yeah. As fun a story as Graveman’s been so far, I’ll take the under.
25. Philadelphia Phillies (3–3, plus-10) |
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - APRIL 13: Bulldogs head coach Luke Beveridge speaks to Stewart Crameri during a Western Bulldogs AFL training session at Whitten Oval on April 13, 2017 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Michael Dodge/Getty Images/AFL Media)
Western Bulldogs forward Stewart Crameri will miss the remainder of the 2017 season with a hip injury.
Crameri had surgery earlier this week, which was considered successful, and the 28-year-old is expected to be available for the start of the 2018 pre-season.
“While the surgery to improve Stewart’s hip was quite extensive, we are confident that it will dramatically improve Stewart’s function and performance,” said Bulldogs Medical Services Manager Chris Bell.
“It’s disappointing for both the club and Stewart, but we will support Stewart and put a comprehensive rehabilitation program around him to give him every opportunity to have a full pre-season campaign heading into 2018.”
Crameri played the opening two games of the 2017 season before experiencing hip soreness.
Like the Indigenous Guernsey design? Click here to purchase yours at the Bulldogs Shop today! |
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