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The Stonemasters: California Rock Climbers in the Seventies
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Their ranks included John Long, John Yablonski, John Bachar, Tobin Sorenson and Richard Harrison, this long-haired band of bros from Southern California, who, armed with little more than frayed cut-offs, dark shades and folded bandanas, heralded the golden age of American rock climbing. They called themselves the Stonemasters—cheeky, but deserved—in their stripped-down, bare-bones approach to climbing, they devised revolutionary techniques, underscored by their renegade attitudes. Balancing intensity and exuberance, the Stonemasters were a team of some of the most innovative daredevils the world has ever seen, and in the early 1970s, these laid-back originators of adventure sports were risking life and limb, long before the X Games had a moniker, before Title IX passed legislation, and before the Z-Boys had a pubic hair to scratch between them.
Hybrid pioneers bound by a communal spirit, these surfers of stone followed the cowboy code, “no complaining, no explaining,” while letting it rip across the mountain ranges of the American West. All hail: El Cap, the Column, Half Dim and Middle Cathedral: these peaks were their stomping grounds, their turf. And together, with a sun-bleached flair for the dramatic, they challenged the boundaries not only of the sport, but of nature, itself, catapulting themselves to the world stage of Yosemite.
In the words of author Jeff Jackson, “climbing wasn’t about victory. It was about style.” Fortunately or unfortunately, in this case, style didn’t trump substance. To be sure, there was real substance—many substances. Intoxicated as they were intoxicating, these new frontiersmen brought a playful free-spiritedness that had been sorely lacking in rock climbing, and thereby inspired an international following of countless kids who emulated them, all trying to talk and dress and climb, fashioning themselves after the Stonemasters, with admirers, past and present, as far-ranging as Patagonia’s founder Yvon Chouinard to Band of Outsiders fall 2011 menswear collection.
But it was more than that—it wasn’t just the way they walked, talked, dressed, climbed—in fact, style is an afterthought of their infectious and innate appeal. I think the main reason why they are still emulated the world over is something far more universal: fun. Look: just look at them: they were having so much goddamn fun, and you can’t help but want to be a part of that. Really, looking at these images, don’t you just want to grab a few ropes and hit the road, in hot pursuit of this happy-go-lucky albeit death-defying community of crags? Poring over the photographs gathered in this book, looking at this picture, in particular, I nod my head at that boyish grin on his face, precariously suspended in thin air, halfway between heaven, above, and sure death, below, captured in a moment of such divine and demented communion, I can’t think of any way to describe it, except Spicoli meets the Sistine Chapel.
That’s just one of hundreds of images tirelessly collected and preserved by Dean Fidelman, the de facto Stonemaster archivist, in the book, The Stonemasters: California Rock Climbers in the Seventies. Individually, I marvel at every climber; each so alive, so present, so connected, and so ballsy, damn you, all, but when viewed as a whole, the Stonemasters greatest contribution to sport becomes most evident: unity and selflessness. Even now, almost forty years later, in the wake of so many climbing expeditions gone wrong, and despite knowing the all too real individual and collective trials and tribulations of the Stonemasters, it’s difficult not to romanticize their moment in the sun. But still, theirs is the legacy of a time and place as eternal as it was ephemeral, offering us one shining instance in which the young were wasted, but youth was not wasted on the young.
–Courtney Eldridge
Courtney Eldridge is a writer living in Los Angeles
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He has been the Prime Minister of this country not once, but twice, so I acknowledge his service to the people of our nation. Tony Abbott gives his victory speech at the Four Seasons Hotel, Sydney. I now look forward to forming a government that is competent, that is trustworthy, and which purposefully and steadfastly and methodically sets about delivering on our commitments to you, the Australian people. Something very significant has happened today. Today, the people of Australia have declared that the right to govern this country does not belong to Mr Rudd or to me or to his party or to ours; but it belongs to you, the people of Australia. It is the people of Australia who determine the government and the Prime Ministership of this country and you will punish anyone who takes you for granted.
And that's as it should be in a great democracy such as ours. So my friends, in a week or so, the Governor-General will swear in a new government. A government that says what it means and means what it says. A government of no surprises and no excuses. A government that understands the limits of power as well as its potential. And a government that accepts that it will be judged more by its deeds than by its mere words. In three years' time, the carbon tax will be gone. The boats will be stopped. (Applause).The budget will be on track for a believable surplus. And the roads of the 21st century will finally be well under way. (Applause) And from today, I declare that Australia is under new management and that Australia is once more open for business. Today, hundreds of thousands of people would have voted for the Liberal and National parties for the first time in their lives - and national parties for the first time in their lives. I give you all this assurance: we will not let you down.
A good government, a good government is one that governs for all Australians. Including those who haven't voted for it. A good government is one with a duty to help everyone to maximise his or her potential. Indigenous people. People with disabilities. And our forgotten families, as well as those who Menzies described as lifters, not leaners. We will not leave anyone behind. I want to thank ... I want to thank my strong and united Liberal and National Party Coalition team. I thank Julie Bishop, Warren Truss, Joe Hockey, I thank the members of the shadow cabinet. I thank my parliamentary team. I thank all our candidates, those who have succeeded and those who haven't, for the faith that you haven't, for the faith that you have placed in me. I thank the Coalition premiers, all of them, who have stood shoulder to shoulder with their federal colleagues throughout this campaign. I thank the Liberal Party organisation, president Alan Stockdale, and federal director Brian Loughnane ... And yes, and yes and yes, it's right that you should show such enthusiasm for Brian Loughnane, because he has run our most professional campaign ever. I thank my personal staff, led by Peta Credlin. Is (Applause) Who is the smartest and the fiercest political warrior I have ever worked with. (Applause) I thank my family, who have given me so much and supported me throughout a public life. I thank the people of Warringah for returning me.
I thank the people of Warringah for returning me as their member of Parliament for the eighth successive time. But most of all, most of all, I thank you, the people of Australia, who have just given me the greatest honour and the heaviest responsibility that any member of Parliament can have. I am both proud and humbled as I shoulder the duties of government. The time for campaigning has passed, the time for governing has arrived, I pledge myself to the service of our country. (Applause) (Crowd chanting) Tony, Tony, Tony, Tony! I have many friends in this audience. I say thank you to each one. We have been on a journey together, a long, long journey together, a long, long journey. May it continue, and may it help to bring better times to this great country of which we are all so very, very proud. Thank you so much. (Applause) Thank you so much. |
Daven Hiskey runs the wildly popular interesting fact website Today I Found Out. To subscribe to his "Daily Knowledge" newsletter, click here.
It happened in 1961—just a little under a year after brothers Tom and James Monaghan had purchased a pizza restaurant, DomiNick’s, for $500. After eight months of running the business as a partnership, James Monaghan decided to trade his stake to his brother for a used Volkswagen Beetle.
Fast-forward 38 years, and Tom Monaghan decided to retire and sell most of the company that was now known as Domino’s Pizza. He got a bit more than the price of a used Volkswagen Beetle, though: He sold 93 percent of the company for $1 billion. One can only imagine the awkwardness at the Monaghan family gatherings. “So, how’s that Beetle running?”
Avoid the Noid
This isn’t the only funny story surrounding this company. In the 1980s, Domino’s Pizza ran an advertising campaign featuring a character known as “The Noid,” who would steal pizzas. The slogan that accompanied Domino’s campaign was “Avoid the Noid."
In 1989, a guy by the name of Kenneth Lamar Noid became convinced that Domino’s was referring to him. Enraged by the perceived personal attack, Mr. Noid held two Domino’s Pizza employees hostage in one of the chain's Atlanta restaurants. During the five hour ordeal, he did not harm the employees, but did get hungry and forced them to make him pizza—which meant that Noid actually was stealing pizza. He eventually surrendered to police. Apparently, one should actually try to avoid the pizza-stealing Kenneth Noid.
Check out more interesting articles from Daven over at Today I Found Out and subscribe to his Daily Knowledge newsletter here. |
The climate agreement delivered earlier this month in Paris is a genuine triumph of international diplomacy. It is a tribute to how France was able to bring a fractious world together. And it is testament to how assiduous and painstaking science can defeat the unremitting programme of misinformation that is perpetuated by powerful vested interests. It is the twenty-first century's equivalent to the victory of heliocentrism over the inquisition. Yet it risks being total fantasy.
Let's be clear, the international community not only acknowledged the seriousness of climate change, it also demonstrated sufficient unanimity to define it quantitatively: to hold “the increase in … temperature to well below 2 °C … and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C”.
To achieve such goals demands urgent and significant cuts in emissions. But rather than requiring that nations reduce emissions in the short-to-medium term, the Paris agreement instead rests on the assumption that the world will successfully suck the carbon pollution it produces back from the atmosphere in the longer term. A few years ago, these exotic Dr Strangelove options were discussed only as last-ditch contingencies. Now they are Plan A.
Governments, prompted by their advisers, have plumped for BECCS (biomass energy carbon capture and storage) as the most promising 'negative-emissions technology'.
What does BECCS entail? Apportioning huge swathes of the planet's landmass to the growing of bioenergy crops (from big trees to tall grasses) — which absorb carbon dioxide through photosynthesis as they grow. Periodically, these crops are harvested, processed for worldwide travel and shipped around the globe before finally being combusted in thermal power stations. The CO 2 is then stripped from the waste gases, compressed (almost to a liquid), pumped through large pipes over potentially very long distances and finally stored deep underground in various geological formations (from exhausted oil and gas reservoirs through to saline aquifers) for a millennium or so.
The unquestioned reliance on negative-emission technologies to deliver on the Paris goals is the greatest threat to the new agreement. Yet BECCS, or even negative-emission technologies, received no direct reference throughout the 32-page package. Despite this, the framing of the 2 °C goal and, even more, the 1.5 °C one, is premised on the massive uptake of BECCS some time in the latter half of the century. Disturbingly, this is also the case for most of the temperature estimates ascribed to the outcome of the voluntary emissions cuts made by nations before the Paris meeting.
“The almost euphoric atmosphere that accompanied the drafts could not be squared with the content.”
The scale of the assumption is breathtaking. It would be the equivalent of decades of planting and harvesting of energy crops over an area of one to three times that of India. At the same time, the aviation industry envisages powering its planes with biofuel, the shipping industry is seriously considering biomass to propel its ships and the chemical sector sees biomass as a potential feedstock — and by then there will be 9 billion or so human mouths to feed. This crucial assumption deserves wider scrutiny.
Relying on the promise of industrial-scale negative-emissions technologies to balance the carbon budget was not the only option available in Paris — at least in relation to 2 °C.
Reducing emissions in line with 2 °C remains a viable goal — just. But rather than rely on post-2050 BECCS, deciding to pursue this alternative approach would have begged profound political, economic and social questions. Questions that undermine a decade of mathematically nebulous green-growth and win–win rhetoric, and questions that the politicians have decided cannot be asked.
Move away from the cosy tenets of contemporary economics and a suite of alternative measures comes into focus. Technologies, behaviours and habits that feed energy demand are all amenable to significant and rapid change. Combine this with an understanding that just 10% of the population is responsible for 50% of emissions, and the rate and scope of what is possible becomes evident.
The allying of deep and early reductions in energy demand with rapid substitution of fossil fuels by zero-carbon alternatives frames a 2 °C agenda that does not rely on negative emissions. So why was this real opportunity muscled out by the economic bouncers in Paris? No doubt there are many elaborate and nuanced explanations — but the headline reason is simple. In true Orwellian style, the political and economic dogma that has come to pervade all facets of society must not be questioned. For many years, green-growth oratory has quashed any voice with the audacity to suggest that the carbon budgets associated with 2 °C cannot be reconciled with the mantra of economic growth.
I was in Paris, and there was a real sense of unease among many scientists present. The almost euphoric atmosphere that accompanied the circulation of the various drafts could not be squared with their content. Desperate to maintain order, a club of senior figures and influential handlers briefed against those who dared to say so — just look at some of the Twitter discussions!
It is pantomime season and the world has just gambled its future on the appearance in a puff of smoke of a carbon-sucking fairy godmother. The Paris agreement is a road map to a better future? Oh no it's not. |
When a spirits company labels something as ultra-premium, odds are what they really mean is “expensive”. There is no real standard on what can be labeled ultra-premium, and not all ultra-premium spirits are good. In the tequila space, there’s also a category of products whose bottle design and packaging are more of a selling point than what’s in the bottle. Some of the prettiest bottles of tequila are also some of the most unpalatable.
It would be easy then to dismiss Clase Azul as another fancy bottle of expensive tequila chasing after the almighty dollar. But if you did, you’d be missing out on one of the few ultra-premium tequilas that actually delivers.
The Clase Azul Blanco tequila has a very soft and sweet nose with just a hint of pepper. The sweetness of the nose and the undercurrent of spice come together into a nose that is downright seductive. The nose has no bite or vapor whatsoever. The entry for the Clase Azul Blanco matches the nose perfectly. Lightly sweet, fresh agave leads right into a pepper spice which builds to a moderate level, peaks, and then finishes all without losing a step. The balance between sweet and spice here is sublime, and the finish leaves both the sweet agave and pepper spice in a clear invitation for another sip. Priced at $70 a bottle, the Clase Azul Blanco is considerably more expensive than some of our go-to tequilas (Tequila Avion, El Tesoro, and 123 Tequila), but we feel that we’re actually getting what we pay for. If you have a sweet tooth and want a tequila that captures the essence of fresh agave and balances it out with a nice soft pepper, this is the tequila for you.
The Clase Azul Reposado has an equally soft and inviting nose as the blanco. In addition to the sweet, fresh agave and pepper, we get a nice soft oak note as well as subtle caramel in the nose. The entry is soft and sweet with the oak, pepper, caramel, and fresh agave all coming together along with a nice vegetal green pepper note. Things ramp up a little in the midpalate where the black pepper, green pepper, and oak spice all come together. The finish is long and delicious and equally as entrancing as the blanco. At around $80, Clase Azul Reposado doesn’t come cheap, but it is delicious with a packaging that shows great love and care for the spirit inside the bottle.
A great spirit in a great package is a rare combination, but Clase Azul manages to deliver something really special, and for the tequila connoisseur, something to seek out. |
News Check out the latest major announcements and news for Arms of Telos
Guides Looking for hot tips on how to use a specific weapon? Or maybe you want to find the best flag routes? This is the place. If you're feeling generous, write your own guide to share with the community!
Wiki These wiki entries serve as the game's manual. Topics in this category are like wiki articles -- anybody can edit them (except brand new users). Find something outdated? Update it!
Answers Have a question? Get an answer! Once you've gotten an answer, make sure to mark it "solved"!
Feature Requests Here's the place to request and suggest features for Arms of Telos and then discuss them.
Bugs Find a bug? Post it in this category! If someone reports a bug that you want fixed, be sure to 'like' their post -- that helps me identify which bugs should take priority. |
Germany will press the European Union to work towards a quick trade accord with New Zealand, Chancellor Angela Merkel says.
Photo: AFP
The German leader was speaking in Berlin after meeting Prime Minister Bill English.
"In particular I, and the government, have repeatedly pushed for negotiating a free trade agreement with New Zealand," she said.
"We think that we can start the negotiations quickly and that the negotiations can be carried out very quickly and efficiently.
"This is the assumption in Brussels, but Germany will apply pressure in the right direction."
Mrs Merkel said there were no plans to link such an accord with New Zealand's willingness to take in more refugees, but she welcomed this country's plans to provide more agriculture-based development aid to African countries.
Mr English said the government aimed to begin talks on a free trade deal with the EU as soon as possible.
"That process is under way. There's a strong commitment to it - there's a clear path and commitment to getting through it as quickly as possible."
He reiterated New Zealand would seek a "high-quality" free-trade deal with Britain as soon as possible after it left the EU.
"We would negotiate an agreement with Britain when it's not in the EU and it's ready to negotiate. We wouldn't see a role to get ahead of that process."
Britain cannot sign its own trade deals with third countries while it remains an EU member, but its Prime Minister, Teresa May, has said it is keen to start preparatory talks so agreements can be reached quickly after it leaves.
Mr English said it would become clear in coming weeks what actions the administration of incoming US President Donald Trump took regarding the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement.
"If there is a change in the American policy and they decide not to sign up to it, then we'd look for other ways of continuing that engagement," English said.
Mr Trump, who has said free trade deals have killed many jobs in the United States, said in November he would withdraw the United States from the TPP. Mr English said New Zealand was keen to see continuing US engagement in Asia.
- Reuters / RNZ |
Many studies have shown that planting strips of wildflowers amidst croplands can help replace some of the biodiversity that is lost in the quest to feed a growing, global population. More recently, studies have demonstrated that the increased biodiversity found in these strips includes species of insects and birds that act as an all-natural pest control, reducing or eliminating the need for pesticides.
How these strips affect crop yields, however, has been largely unexplored. That’s the topic researchers tackled in a study published recently in the journal Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment. They found that the presence of nearby perennial, species-rich wildflower strips increased winter wheat production by 10 percent as compared to control fields.
“Farmers care about biodiversity and they likely also know about the importance of natural enemies of crop pests,” said lead author Matthias Tschumi. “But what is mostly decisive for the farmer is what he gets in terms of yield at the end of the day.”
Scientists from Agroscope, the governmental Swiss Centre of Excellence for Agricultural Research, conducted the research on Swiss winter wheat fields, which are often plagued by the cereal leaf beetle—a major pest in Europe, Asia, and parts of North America. They took advantage of the many farms that have implemented wildflower strips as part of a government subsidy program that aims to boost biodiversity on farm lands.
The researchers selected ten pairs of fields that were similar in terms of their landscape and how they are managed. In each pair, however, one field was adjacent to a previously established wildflower strip and the other to a crop field. (Pesticides were not used on any of the fields.) Over the course of a few months, they measured cereal leaf beetle eggs and larvae, crop damage and crop yields, at 5 meters and 10 meters from the border of the wildflower strip. They found a 44 percent reduction in beetle eggs, putting it under the threshold for pesticide application, a 66 percent reduction in larvae, and 40 percent reduction in crop damage, all at 5 meters. Crop yields, however, increased at both the 5 and 10 meter marks.
The wildlife strips provide habitat for natural predators of other known wheat pests, so reductions in pests other than the cereal leaf beetle—not measured in this study—may have contributed to the increased yields, Tschumi said.
While Tschumi said he was surprised at how big of an effect they found on crop yields, the paper did not take into account any losses in yields that farmers would incur if they set aside arable lands for wildflower strips. He also cautioned that while the range of effect of 10 meters is significant for the scale of Swiss farms, it may be “rather ridiculous” for the scale of many American farms. That said, some of the natural predators present in the wildflower strips are highly mobile, he said, and effects may well extend to greater distances and should be assessed in future studies.
Even still, Tschumi hopes that the findings in this study, which constitute a win-win for biodiversity and farming, will sway more farmers to incorporate wildflower strips into their farmlands. —Catherine Elton | 12 February 2016
Source: Tschumi, M. et al. (2016) Perennial, species-rich wildflower strips enhance pest control and crop yield. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment (220) DOI: doi:10.1016/j.agee.2016.01.001
Header image ©Matthias Tschumi |
As he prepares to leave office, Governor Deval Patrick is quietly transferring 500 of his managers into the state public employee union, a move that will qualify them for a series of 3 percent raises and insulate them from firing when the next governor takes over.
The change will automatically convert 15 percent of the 3,350 executive branch managers into members of the National Association of Government Employees, which has been fighting for the change for years, arguing the employees were “improperly classified” as managers.
While smaller clusters of management positions have been converted into union positions in the past, this is the largest sweep into the union in at least two decades, according to administration and union officials.
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Rolling the managers into the 22,000-member union will effectively protect them from any house-cleaning that might occur when the next governor takes office in January — a particular likelihood if Republican Charlie Baker were to take over after eight years of Democratic leadership.
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Union employees generally have to be removed “for cause,” while managers serve at will.
“With just a couple of months to go in the current administration, this has the whiff of a job protection action just before the governor leaves office,” said Jim Stergios, executive director of the Pioneer Institute, a conservative research organization. “The [next] governor’s team will need to recruit some pretty good people to deliver high-quality services and to address some of the agency failures we’ve experienced as of late. Why limit that flexibility so late in Governor Patrick’s tenure?”
Turning the managers into union employees will also make them eligible for 3 percent raises in January and October of 2015 and July 2016. Those were negotiated by the union and the Patrick administration earlier this year.
Patrick administration officials said the cost to the state would be “less than $500,000” and would not require additional appropriations from the Legislature.
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The Baker campaign said the candidate was not available for comment Friday. Democratic candidate Martha Coakley, who has received support from the employees union, said through a spokeswoman that she respected the agreement that has been hammered out between Patrick and the union.
Katie Hammer, Patrick’s assistant secretary for administration, said the transfer was prompted when the union approached the administration about two years ago and argued that a portion of the workforce should not have been classified as managers, based on their work responsibilities.
“After undertaking a full review . . . we have found a limited number of individuals currently improperly classified as managers,” Hammer said in a statement. “We are working closely with NAGE to finalize implementation of the transfer of these employees into union positions, and expect that process to take several more weeks.”
David J. Holway, president of the union, said he was grateful for the change, which he called long overdue. He said he had been lobbying to convert the managers into union employees since Mitt Romney was governor a decade ago and ramped up his campaign about two years ago.
“l can’t tell you the amount of frustration I’ve felt over the last 7½ years with the Democratic administration not moving on it,” he said. “Finally, someone listened and moved forward.”
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Holway and Patrick administration officials said the change was not motivated by a desire to protect Patrick loyalists from removal by the next governor.
There are 12 levels of managers within state government, and the change will affect those in the lower and middle ranks, levels one to five. The Patrick administration said those include executive assistants, office managers, accounts payable managers, office planners, and procurement managers.
Holway said those lower-level positions did not fit the legal definition of a manager because “a manager has to make policy, and these positions don’t make policy.”
He said that, unlike commissioners and department heads, those managers are not usually ousted when a new governor takes over and installs a new team.
“They’ve never been on the hit list, so to speak,” Holway said. “We wouldn’t expect, if history repeats itself, that any of these people would have been laid off. I don’t think that’s a driving force here at all.”
During the Weld administration in the 1990s, about 40 managers who handled sensitive legal issues were added to the state employee union, according to Patrick administration officials.
Another group of nonunion clerks and program managers were also added to the union. But Patrick’s transfer is of a much larger scale.
Eric Kriss, who was secretary of administration and finance under Romney, was critical of the decision. “What this will do is continue to reduce, as has been done since the 1960s, any layer of what you would call managers,” he said. And once managers are moved into the union, “removing anybody is virtually impossible,” he said.
Michael Levenson can be reached at mlevenson
@globe.com . Follow him on Twitter @mlevenson |
First let’s take a step back and think about the definition of science:
The intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behaviour of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment.
Now, when we think about what kind of experimentation goes on in science, we mostly think of this kind of sciency (Dear Mr. Spellchecker, that’s a real word) stuff [1]:
In fact, that’s the first result on Google Images, if you search for "science". And if you look at other results, they’re all very similar. Some Erlenmeyer flasks containing fluorescent liquids, some atoms, crazy scientists with weird hairdos or tentacles for arms here and there, and some microscopes, and that’s that. Is this really what science is? Pouring liquids from one glass container into another and heating them with fire? It may have looked like that in the past (hundreds of years ago), but modern science is different. Different how? Well, it’s almost entirely based around computers and software.
Looking at recent issues of Science, roughly half of the papers are software-intensive projects [2], and even those that aren’t, you can be sure a spreadsheet or three were involved at some point (spreadsheets are code too). So where are the images of people doing science by staring intensely at Excel? Doing science by writing their familiar command line incantations to process raw data? And doing science by editing C code in Emacs 10 years ago, to ensure the New Horizons spacecraft would find its way to Pluto?
It seems to me we have to recognize that software is a large part of science, much larger in fact compared to Erlenmeyer flasks, and that software development can be proper science, much like heating liquids in a cup.
Recognition
In business, ever since the rise of Silicon Valley and the realization about what a competitive advantage good software can be, it’s become commonly accepted that software developers are people too. Being a developer is now considered one of the best professions available and if you also happen to be good at it, I think it’s fair to say that the cards are currently dealt in your favor.
On the other side of the fence though, in academia, the same revolution has not happened yet. It’s common for researchers to outsource software development on short-term contracts, to software churning black boxes: specification in, software out, as cheaply as possible. Outsourced to anonymous authors that get no credit in papers that rely on their software. It’s even more common for researchers to do their own ad-hoc development, to have to split time between writing code and “doing research” [3], as if software is not a research output by itself.
This climate in academia has several effects and I’ll be as bold as to claim that not one of them is positive. Software quality suffers as there’s almost never time for otherwise recognized good practices, such as automated testing and documentation. Quality suffers additionally because researchers who write software are often not formally trained nor do they have the time to invest in learning more about the art of programming, because writing software is not considered “real work”, so it’s done as quickly as possible. After such software is written and the paper using it is published, there is almost never any time (or motivation) for its maintenance, and unless there exists that rare second paper which reuses it, it falls into disuse and disrepair, its source code buried on an old laptop in some PhD student’s attic.
By building a hub for research software, where we would categorize it and aggregate metrics about its use and reuse, we would be able to shine a spotlight on its developers, show the extent, importance and impact of their work, and by doing so try to catalyze a change in the way they are treated. It won’t happen overnight, and it perhaps won’t happen directly, but for example, if you’re a department head and a visit to our hub confirms that one of your researchers is in fact a leading expert for novel sequence alignment software, while you know her other “actual research” papers are not getting traction, perhaps you will allow her to focus on software. Given enough situations where split-time researchers/software developers are discovered to be particularly impactful in code, it might establish a new class of scientists, scientists dedicated to software development.
But in order for that to even have a chance of happening, we need to, first, recognize software as a primary output of science, and second, fit it snuggly within the highly complex and well-oiled social machine that is academia. And we all know what the oil is that lubricates the cogs of academia. It’s credit.
Credit
As unfortunate as it may seem, very little in academia happens by itself. There exists an intricate reward system that fuels all of science, and while the academic reward system is often heavily criticized for its detrimental side-effects (e.g. publish or perish), it has to be doing a lot of things right to be able to bring us discoveries such as general relativity or the Higgs boson. So yes, to misquote someone famous, it’s absolutely the worst system, but it’s also better than all the rest. And we need to be able to connect research software to it.
Similar to how Figshare has enabled researchers to get credit for outputs like datasets and posters (and this credit has already been used in successful tenure applications), our hub would allow researchers to get credit for software, not only by providing a central location where it can be stored and shared, but also by collecting and displaying information about how and where it is used and reused.
Due to the way software is uniquely structured compared to other research outputs, specifically because of the way how dependencies are explicit by necessity, the credit enigma could be solved in interesting ways, such as crawling the dependency tree to assign transitive credit [4], i.e. getting credit not only when your software is cited, but also a fraction of it when your software is used as a dependency. And down, down the rabbit hole.
OK, so at this point we have a scientist software developer who is not only recognized within her department and among her peers, but also systematically rewarded for her work on software. In other words, she now has a supportive environment which enables her to produce good science by producing good software. I think she’s happy with that.
But what about her software? Is the software happy? Now I don’t have a randomized double-blind study to back me here, but it feels to me that software is happy when it gets reused — and it can only be reused if it’s found.
Discovery
Research software is often incredibly specific, and trying to Google for it is more often than not, an exercise in futility. Imagine, for example, that the problem you’re dealing with is DNA sequence data with worsening quality reads at each end of the sequence. Let’s try and Google that: “worsening quality reads each end dna” — nothing useful, let’s make it a bit more specific with some keywords: “worsening quality reads sequence 5’ 3’ software dna” — there’s a number of ads, but nothing looks very promising, and so you Google forth... this “keyword tango” could go on for so long that you might decide it’s a better use of your time to just write some code on your own. And, no offense, but that’s just about the worst thing that could happen.
If, on the other hand, you could do a quick search on our hub, where the entire web of results is helpfully narrowed down to only research software, and software is already neatly organized into categories, you might instead find “sickle”, a very well-cited software, which deals specifically with:
Sliding windows along with quality and length thresholds to determine when quality is sufficiently low to trim the 3’-end of reads and also determines when the quality is sufficiently high enough to trim the 5’-end of reads.
Aha! So that’s the magic keyword combo!
Finding this software and deciding to reuse it (and perhaps also fix any bugs you encounter) is a very economical choice, especially compared to unknowingly duplicating this work to write your own solution. Not only is it economical, it’s also very much in the spirit of science — standing on the shoulders of giants instead of building your own flimsy castle.
Current state of affairs
You know what the absolutely coolest part of all of this is? It’s that as of a few days ago, such a hub does actually exist! Enter Depsy. Made by the same folks that gave us ImpactStory, and funded by the NSF, Depsy focuses on software, e.g. Pyomo, and people writing that softare too, e.g. R superstar Hadley Wickham. It currently only handles Python and R code, probably the among the most popular programming languages in research, but I’m sure it will quickly grow to handle other languages as well. It's still under heavy development, judging by its GitHub repository, so do be patient, but also try to contribute if you can!
There is one other central hub like it, and that’s my own hackathon project from a while back, ScienceToolbox (GitHub), but I have to very reluctantly admit that it’s currently unmaintained, as there has never been enough spare steam to keep it going after its hackday debut. This also brings up the crucial question of how these hubs can be made sustainable, but let’s leave the topic of sustainable open science infrastructure for another day.
A hub like this is necessarily made up from a number of puzzle pieces, and in terms of collecting metrics about research software, Martin Fenner has experimentally used his open source metrics software (Lagotto) and ScienceToolbox’s list to try and figure out what useful data lies out there.
There is also a great curated software collection for the field of astrophysics, but after this, there isn’t much else out there, and I’m more than happy to be corrected if there is (and will gladly update this section with more information)!
Update Oct 20: Martin Fenner shared a link to the The UK Community of Research Software Engineers, which aims to address the exact problems we discussed above, i.e. lack of recognition and rewards for research software developers.
Conclusion
In a way, the existence of a hub for software in science is held back by the same issues that plague research software itself: the need for it is not really recognized with funders, and the path from effort (building it) to a reward (seeing it effect a positive change) is very winding indeed. I do hope, if nothing else, that I’ve at least slightly moved some needles in the right direction with this post, and that you’ll agree with me when I say that it’s high time to enable research software developers to get the recognition and respect they deserve.
Feel free to discuss this post in HN comments: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10418147.
References: |
In rural West Africa, 150 million people are currently living without electricity.
Oolu, a Y Combinator company launching today, aims to reduce this number by delivering affordable solar energy to West Africa’s off-grid population, beginning in Senegal.
Despite the surge of innovation in solar storage and panel technology, Oolu founder Daniel Rosa says that many people living in rural areas of West Africa still walk miles to the nearest city to charge their cellphones and purchase kerosene for lanterns.
According to Rosa, the average rural family spends around $20 per month on energy-related costs. Considering that Senegal’s GDP per capita was just over $1,000 in 2012, this is a huge expense for many families.
Oolu’s in-home solar system is composed of three adjustable lights and two USB plugs, powered by a battery that holds a charge for up to six hours with maximum output.
For a low monthly fee, Oolu will install the system and perform all necessary maintenance, including free battery replacements and system upgrades.
The company is not disclosing its exact prices (and it anticipates the cost to differ slightly by region), but Rosa says that Oolu has been able to save families an average of 60 percent on total energy spending.
“These communities are, by and large, farmers of cash crops,” says Rosa. “The average Senegalese family is very large — the average household size is ten people — so each family has several cellphones that they need to charge twice a week.”
Oolu’s innovation isn’t the technology behind the solar products that they’re dispensing. The systems are produced by a large manufacturer, and similar products are already being used in areas of East Africa.
Instead, the company’s true feat is setting up a distribution model and payment infrastructure that West African families and community leaders are comfortable with. Oolu has partnered with Orange Money, a Senegalese money transfer company, so that customers can pay the monthly subscription fee from their mobile phones.
“We’re working with Orange Money to bring not only solar, but also mobile payments and mobile banking to millions of rural people,” says Rosa. “People talk about a solar revolution, but really it’s a solar mobile revolution.”
Prior to starting Oolu, Rosa’s co-founder Nilmi Senaratna worked with children in a rural region of Senegal through the Canadian International Development Agency.
“We were tutoring these kids at night, using flashlights and very bad quality lanterns and candles to study,” Senaratna says. “We would even use the dim light of a cellphone to study at night.”
Senaratna began thinking about ways to bring modern technology to communities that are very hesitant to trust outsiders. That’s why the company’s name, “Oolu,” is a word in the local language Wolof that translates to “trust.”
“Rural people are very used to being let down because so many organizations come in and promise wonderful things and then they don’t deliver,” says Senaratna. “Our name speaks to the fact that we’re holding ourselves to a very high standard; when we say we’ll be back with enough systems for your whole community in a week, we do that.”
Oolu has employed a team of 10 people, working on the ground in Senegal, to communicate with clients in-person and aid in the installation of systems.
After a year-long pilot, the company has signed up 500 clients in Senegal. Rosa and Senaratna say they expect to reach 1500 clients by the end of the summer, and they’re planning to launch in another French-speaking West African country in the near future.
And in-home solar systems are just the beginning. Oolu plans to eventually offer a variety of products, from agricultural technology to consumer electronics, to rural West African families using its combination of mobile payments and on-the-ground community support infrastructure.
“The reason why we got into this business in the first place was to work with rural communities to find ways to provide them the technology they really need,” says Rosa. “It’s not just about solar, we really hope to impact these communities beyond that by bringing modern services to rural people.” |
The Cardinals are a team with a lot of holes, and they should be in the market to trade down. But teams looking for QBs know they don't have to pay a premium to get to No. 1 with each of the top three teams in the draft locked in at the position. So the Cardinals just go with the best player in the draft here.
I go back and forth between Allen and Quinnen Williams for the 49ers, and that's because there's no clear answer. Williams is the better prospect, but Allen isn't far behind and fills a much bigger need. Either way, the 49ers should add an impact talent on the defensive line here.
The Jets are in a great spot, as they can sit and hope a guy they're targeting slips out of the top two, or work out a trade with a team looking for a QB in the 6-10 range. But Williams is too good to pass up here as a great fit for the switch to the 4-3 and someone who could quickly be one of the best at his position.
Mock Trade from: OAK If Tom Coughlin decides to move on from Leonard Fournette, what better use of the talented but oft-troubling running back than in a trade up for a franchise quarterback? If the Jags miss out on Nick Foles, Haskins is probably going to be the best option available this offseason. He doesn't bring Blake Bortles' ability to pick up yards with his legs, but he'll be far superior as a passer and give the Jaguars a shot at returning to the postseason in 2019. 2018 College Stats GP PYDS PCT TDS INT 14 4831 70 50 8
5 Drew Lock Missouri , Sr MOCK TRADE from TB QB
Mock Trade from: TB The Broncos are stocked with picks, including extra selections in the fourth (Demaryius Thomas trade) and fifth (Trevor Siemian trade) rounds. That gives them the ammo to move up for a QB and still add quite a bit of talent in Rounds 2-7. Lock is a great fit for John Elway, and if Kyler Murray ends up being a mirage (the way he's handled the predraft process thus far makes me think he's sticking with baseball), the Mizzou QB will be the clear No. 2 option at his position. 2018 College Stats GP PYDS PCT TDS INT 13 3498 62.9 28 8
If the Dolphins are picking this high, that means they probably didn't get a great season from Ryan Tannehill. He has a $26.6 million cap number in 2019, and releasing him would save more than $13 million. If I have to pick which QB will go first in 2018, I'll roll with the accuracy of Stidham, who completed two-thirds of his passes last season in a year where he looked to take a big step forward. If he grows even more in 2018, he has a good a chance as any QB to go No. 1.
7 Rashan Gary Michigan , Jr MOCK TRADE from JAC DT
Mock Trade from: JAC After the top three prospects all go in the first three picks, the Raiders trade down a few spots and essentially turn three first-rounders into four by picking up former No. 4 overall pick Leonard Fournette to be the team's lead back, if he can keep his head screwed on straight. Gary adds a boost of talent on the defensive line and could be the team's best option if they stick at four anyway.
Hockenson fills a role both as a blocker and a receiver, and after he tears up the combine, I feel like he'll be a regular in the top half of mock drafts. The Lions have bigger needs, sure, but when you're picking this high, you just want to take the best players, and this kid has all the tools to be a difference-maker on an offense. 2018 College Stats GP REC YDS AVG TDS 13 49 760 15.5 6
Yes, the Bills need offensive linemen, but what they need more than anything is talent. Oliver will give them some pass-rush talent on the interior of the defensive line but also someone who excels defending the run. If he's available at No. 9, he's going to be worth jumping on as an impact player with a higher upside than any O-lineman out there.
10 Josh Jacobs Alabama , Jr MOCK TRADE from DEN RB
Mock Trade from: DEN Jacobs is someone worth falling in love with, and I expect him to set himself apart from an interesting RB class throughout the next few months. The Bucs got nothing from Ronald Jones II last year, so if they trade back I can see them as a fit for the top running back in the draft. 2018 College Stats GP ATT YDS AVG TDS 15 120 640 5.3 11
The Bengals say they're happy with Andy Dalton. But new coach Zac Taylor has an opportunity here to develop a dynamic talent in Murray, someone with a far greater upside than the current starter. Best of all, Dalton's contract has no dead cap hit if traded -- I think it makes perfect sense to call up Washington and see if they'd like to swing a deal for the solid veteran once the top three QBs are off the draft board. 2018 College Stats GP PYDS PCT TDS INT 14 4361 69 42 7
Ferrell might be the sixth defensive lineman off the board, but that's not a knock on him -- it's just a really deep draft if you're looking to add talent on the D-line. Ferrell had 50.5 tackles for loss in his collegiate career, and he'll bring an edge presence the team desperately needs with Clay Matthews heading to free agency as no longer an impact player and Nick Perry not living up to his big deal.
13 Greedy Williams LSU , Soph MOCK TRADE from MIA CB
Mock Trade from: MIA The Eagles have an extra second-round pick, and that gives them the ammo to hop into the top 15 and get the top cornerback on the board. Williams has question marks that could push him out of the top 10, but I'd be surprised if a guy with his ball skills slipped much further than that.
The Falcons are likely to spend this pick on the defensive side after having so much trouble getting stops last year. Simmons is an elite talent who can make a difference on the interior of the defensive line. Draft him and re-sign Grady Jarrett and the Falcons all of a sudden have a top-tier pairing at defensive tackle.
This certainly isn't the biggest need for Washington, but White is the best player available on my board here, and I love the idea of pairing him with Zach Brown at linebacker and feeling confident about the second level of your defense on all three downs.
The Panthers struggled a great deal on the offensive line this year, and finding a way to protect Cam Newton must be Priorty No. 1 for the offseason. Taylor might be a better fit on the right side, but more than anything the Panthers just need to find young talent.
The Browns might be happy re-signing Greg Robinson and moving forward with their current group on the offensive line, but with so few holes on their depth chart, they could also lock in a cheap, blindside blocker with this pick. Dillard dominated during Senior Bowl week and should be capable of settling at left tackle long-term.
It's an offensive line run in the middle of the first round. There could be as many as seven O-linemen taken in the first round, as a surprisingly deep class meets a clear need around the league. Ford's best fit might be at guard, but whether he plays inside or at right tackle, he'll be a much needed reinforcement for Minnesota.
The Titans took the first step toward addressing their edge situation by drafting Harold Landry in the second round last year, and here they find a running mate in the form of Polite, who is a top-notch pass-rush prospect who still has some improving to do against the run.
Murphy is a smart player capable of handling man-to-man or zone coverage, and his anticipation on routes should have him on the highlight reels often as he chases pick-sixes. Once teams get a good look at him, he could end up getting locked in to the top half of the first round. Pair him with Joe Haden and suddenly the Steelers have the talent to match up with any passing offense.
It's still early in the predraft process, but Adderley continued to impress during Senior Bowl week, and the Seahawks were quick to schedule a meeting with the small-school star. Pete Carroll's defense will need to find a replacement for Earl Thomas this offseason, and Adderley will give them the true center fielder they need to solidify the position on a defense that's gotten young in a hurry.
Sweat had a great Senior Bowl week that should solidify his spot in first round, and I wouldn't be shocked if he winds up much higher than this. The Ravens must do something to boost their pass rush with Za'Darius Smith likely leaving for big money in free agency and Terrell Suggs nearing the end of his career.
Cajuste is just what the Texans offense needs, a huge left tackle that excels in pass blocking who can keep the heat off Deshaun Watson after he was the most-sacked quarterback in the league last year. In fact, his potential at left tackle could cause a team in the top 20 to target him and pull the trigger before the Texans get the chance to land him.
Traded from: CHI Baker has experience playing in all types of coverages, and while he didn't post gaudy interception totals at Georgia, his ball skills are top-notch and he's a disruptive force for receivers trying to make a play. He'd be a great addition to a Raiders defense looking for impact players.
25 Daniel Jones Duke , Jr MOCK TRADE from PHI QB
Mock Trade from: PHI The Dolphins are a team at the beginning of a rebuild, so if the Eagles call them up and offer a second-rounder to move from 25 to 13, they should be happy to do it and land another potential long-term starter on Day 2. And as a bonus, a guy many feel could be in the mix for them at 13 is still available here. The shine came off Jones' star a bit at the Senior Bowl, but he should find a way to sneak into Round 1. 2018 College Stats GP PYDS PCT TDS INT 11 2674 60.5 22 9
Wilkins has been a bit of an afterthought with all the defensive line talent in this class, but when he finally gets drafted he's going to step in and make an immediate impact on the interior of a defensive line. The Colts were shot out of a cannon this year with a healthy Andrew Luck, and upgrading the D-line could be what helps them take the next step.
Traded from: DAL With the pick they received by trading Amari Cooper, the Raiders find their next WR1. Harry has excellent size at 6-foot-4 but also great long speed that will make him hard to match up with for most defenses. So if you're counting, the Raiders picked up an elite edge defender, a corner, a receiver and a running back with their first round picks (after trading down with the Jaguars earlier). Pretty nice haul. 2018 College Stats GP REC YDS AVG TDS 12 73 1088 14.9 9
The weakness of the Chargers defense was exposed in the second round of the playoffs when the Patriots tore their max-DB look to shreds. The Chargers now have to go out and find capable linebackers they can trust to be difference makers. Bush could be a steal this low as a well-rounded linebacker prospect who could play the weak side in L.A.
The Chiefs should have a lot of options late in the first round, but one area they just couldn't compete was in the secondary, with Eric Berry's recovery taking most of the season and help needed at corner as well. With the top three corners off the board and no one else earning a Round 1 grade at this time, they'll take Thompson to give themselves a capable option on the back end.
Traded from: NO The Steelers could have used talent both at inside and outside linebacker in the 2018 draft and got nothing at either position. Part of that is where they were picking, as they saw four potential targets, including Rashaan Evans, come off the board ahead of them. Here they get another Alabama linebacker to address the issue, as Jennings should also be a first-round pick if he can show his knee injury from 2017 isn't an issue.
The Rams traded for Dante Fowler during the season to give them a spark off the edge, but he's on his way to free agency. That leaves them back at square one looking for talent to complement Aaron Donald on the interior. Burns is a pass-rush specialist who would immediately bring a spark in terms of getting pressure on the quarterback. |
A report published in the Washington Post late last week made a shocking claim that a computer code the Obama administration had tied to a Russian backed computer hacking operation had been found inside the systems of a Vermont utility company. In essence, the Washington Post report claimed this was evidence that the Russians possibly penetrated the United States power grid. Subsequent reporting, however, shows that original WaPo report seems to be wrong.
This lead The Post to issue an editor’s note that said an “earlier version of [the] story incorrectly said that Russian hackers had penetrated the U.S. electric grid. Authorities say there is no indication of that so far.”
Now, nearly five days later, The Post has finally admitted that it made a major mistake in its original reporting:
The Post initially reported incorrectly that the country’s electric grid had been penetrated through a Vermont utility. After Burlington Electric released its statement saying that the potentially compromised laptop had not been connected to the grid, The Post immediately corrected its article and later added an editor’s note explaining the change.
As it turns out, federal officials are now telling The Post that the suspicious code found on the computer of a Vermont utility employee is likely “not linked to any Russian government effort to target or hack the utility. . . .”
Further, the latest report states further investigation appears to show the Vermont utility employee “was checking his Yahoo email account Friday and triggered an alert indicating that his computer had connected to a suspicious IP address associated by authorities with the Russian hacking operation that infiltrated the Democratic Party.” That initial part of the investigation finding seems to have set off the firestorm over the weekend on social media.
However, it now appears that federal officials told the utility company “that traffic with this particular address is found elsewhere in the country” . . . which suggests “the company wasn’t being targeted by the Russians.” after all. What’s more, investigators are saying the traffic could be” benign, since this particular IP address is not always connected to malicious activity.”
That is quite a different story from the one published last week that had prominent members of the D.C. -NYC media in frenzy, such as The New York Times Editorial writer Brent Staples who has now seemingly deleted a tweet that read:
Our Russian “friend” Putin attacked the U.S. power grid. https://t.co/iAneRgbuhF — Brent Staples (@BrentNYT) December 31, 2016
Politicians like Sen. Patrick Leahy are are also likely a little red in the face this morning after issuing a stern statement based on the original report that said, “State-sponsored Russian hacking is a serious threat, and the attempts to penetrate the electric grid through a Vermont utility are the latest example.”
However, the reporting had it critics, most prominently Glenn Greenwald who was one of the first to call out The Post’s reporting, writing on Saturday:
There was no “penetration of the U.S. electricity grid.” The truth was undramatic and banal. Burlington Electric, after receiving a Homeland Security notice sent to all U.S. utility companies about the malware code found in the DNC system, searched all their computers and found the code in a single laptop that was not connected to the electric grid.
Greenwald is now seemingly really enjoying himself this morning on Twitter, at the expense of The Post:
The day the Post retracts PUTIN HACKED THE ELECTRICITY GRID! seems like a bad time to mock those who want evidence for such official claims. https://t.co/XMPT1KKLXN — Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) January 3, 2017
He is even seeming to suggest the original report is part of the “fake news” problem:
This has happened repeatedly this year, especially re Russia. Intent is different, but the effect of widely spreading false news is the same https://t.co/0h381ItBHa — Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) January 3, 2017
[image via Gil C / Shutterstock] |
Donald Trump's proposed 20 percent tax on Mexican imports gets cool Texas reception
Keep going to see images of what the the U.S.-Mexico border actually looks like. less President Donald Trump's proposal to add a 20 percent tax on imports from Mexico drew support from Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and a chilly response from business interests.
Keep going to see images of what the the ... more President Donald Trump's proposal to add a 20 percent tax on imports from Mexico drew support from Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and a chilly response from business interests. Photo: Julie Watson, Associated Press Photo: Julie Watson, Associated Press Image 1 of / 20 Caption Close Donald Trump's proposed 20 percent tax on Mexican imports gets cool Texas reception 1 / 20 Back to Gallery
AUSTIN -- A White House suggestion that the United States could add a 20-percent tax on imports from Mexico to pay for President Donald Trump's promised border wall drew a decidedly chilly response from business interests and Texas officials who warned it could adversely affect both the state's budget and business climate.
In Washington, Trump spokesman Sean Spicer added a surprising new twist about how the proposed border wall, which is almost universally supported by Texas officials, would be paid for, saying that Trump intends to fund it by imposing a 20-percent tax on all imports from Mexico.
THE TAX: Trump wants 20 percent tariff to cover cost of Mexican border wall
While Spicer, later in the afternoon, said the tax was just one of several options being considered for paying for the wall, the general reaction of Texas businesses was thumbs-down. They said it would have a dramatic in Texas, which imports far more from Mexico than from any other country.
Business trade groups in Austin said their initial reaction was that a new import tax would drive up the cost of good for Texans, and could adversely affect Texas' thriving import-export market if Mexico retaliates with new tariffs of its own.
In addition, they suggested that the proposal could worsen already-strained relations between the two countries, at a time when Texas businesses were counting on increased trade with Texas' southern neighbor as a hedge against a continuing sag in some sectors of the Lone Star economy.
"Texas' number one trading partner by far is Mexico, and imposing a 20 percent tax on Mexican imports to fund a border wall would hurt the Texas economy," said Chris Wallace, president of the Texas Association of Business. "This proposal could mean a loss of jobs and a hit to state tax revenues. We look forward to working with our Texas congressional delegation and our TAB members to address this proposal and I would encourage our state leaders to make the economic ramifications of this proposal known."
According to U.S. Census data. the top two busiest inland ports in the country are the Laredo and El Paso customs districts, both located near the border. In 2016, the Laredo districts posted well over $250 billion in two-way trade with Mexico, according to U.S. Census data. El Paso did more than $86 billion billion.
Gov. Greg Abbott, who has championed increased trade with Texas' southern neighbor since he became governor a year ago, had no immediate comment.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, an outspoken supporter of the wall who served as Trump's campaign chairman in Texas, told Fox News that he was "not too concerned" at present about any adverse impact of such a tax. He suggested that the proposal might be "the first warning shot across the bow" fired by Trump, and that the tax could end up being something less.
"We need the wall," he told Fox News' Neil Cavuto. "It will work itself out."
State Rep. Cesar Blanco, an El Paso Democrat who chairs the House Border Caucus, said an import tax "will set back trade with our number one trading partner while devastating our state economy and border communities.
"Any tax imposed on Mexican imports will ultimately be passed on to the American and Texas consumer, he said. "So a 20 percent tax on Mexican imports means a 20percent tax on our middle class and working families. "
Federal statistics show Texas imported more than $84 billion from Mexico in 2015. Add a 20 percent tariff, and Texans would pay an additional $16.8 billion for the same goods and services.
"That would up the retail price," said a Houston importer who asked not to be quoted by name. "I'm for Mexico paying for the wall, but this is a bad way to do that."
TRUMP'S MOVES: Abbott applauds president's immigration actions
"There's a lot of cross-border trade that goes on in Texas, and I'm sure a lot of people on both sides of the border won't like this," said Vicente "Chente" Garcia, a landowner near Del Rio and longtime supporter of a wall, echoing the sentiments of other businessmen. "Nobody is going to like paying a tax. In Texas, this will make goods from Mexico more expensive. And who wants to pay more?"
Mexican imports into Texas have been estimated in recent years to total more than $84 billion a year, as part of more than $200 billion in annual trade between Texas and Mexico. Last year, in his first international trip as governor, Abbott visited Mexico to court additional trade between the two neighbors.
"This is a new chapter in the relationship between Mexico and Texas and a new beginning of what has been a rich history," Abbott told Mexican officials during his visit.
Predictably, Texas Democrats took issue with the proposal -- and used it as an opportunity to bash state GOP leaders.
"Texas' economy has already sunk from 3rd to 21st under Republicans Greg Abbott and Dan Patrick, now Trump is taking a shot at our jobs," said Crystal Perkins, the party's executive director.
She insisted that Trump's proposed import tax "will kill Texas jobs, raise the price of goods for Texas families, and slaughter Texas' relationship with its largest trading partner." |
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned “preposterous” comments by a U.N.-appointed expert on Palestinian rights that there was a cover-up over the September 11 attacks, Ban’s chief of staff said on Monday.
The official, Vijay Nambiar, said however that it was not up to Ban to fire the expert, U.S. academic Richard Falk, as demanded by UN Watch, a Geneva-based advocacy group.
Falk wrote in a blog this month that there had been an “apparent cover-up” by U.S. authorities over the September 11, 2001 attacks, in which hijackers flew airliners into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon near Washington.
He said mainstream media had been “unwilling to acknowledge the well-evidenced doubts about the official version of the events: an al Qaeda operation with no foreknowledge by government officials.”
In a letter to Ban last Thursday, UN Watch director Hillel Neuer called on the U.N. chief to “strongly condemn Mr. Falk’s offensive remarks — and ... immediately remove him from his post.”
A letter of reply from Nambiar said Ban “condemns (Falk’s) remarks. He has repeatedly stated his view that any such suggestion is preposterous — and an affront to the memory of the more than 3,000 people who died in the attack.”
Nambiar said Falk and other rights experts were not appointed by Ban but by the Geneva-based Human Rights Council, a 47-nation body created by the U.N. General Assembly in 2006. “Their continuance in their jobs is thus for the Council to decide,” he added.
UN Watch says on its website it is a non-governmental organization, accredited with the United Nations and affiliated with the American Jewish Committee, that aims to monitor U.N. performance against the yardstick of the U.N. Charter.
It supports U.N. goals but frequently criticizes the Human Rights Council, saying it constantly berates Israel but ignores many rights violations by developing countries. It has often targeted Falk, the council’s special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, for anti-Israeli comments.
In a statement, Neuer welcomed Nambiar’s letter but said the Human Rights Council could not be trusted to fire Falk. He said Ban and U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay had “the power and responsibility to play an influential and decisive role.” |
BOASTING pristine beaches, winter temperatures in the 70s and organised dolphin watching, Clearwater, Florida, seems to more closely resemble a snowbird getaway than a mecca for a religion that Time magazine has called a “hugely profitable global racket.”
But for the Church of Scientology’s flock of followers, the beach town emits religious magnetism. It’s been that way since 1975, when the church’s founder, science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, moved his operation there after spending years running the controversial organisation from a ship called Apollo.
The church owns a 10-square-mile chunk of the city, with nearly 70 buildings worth some $US500 million, and approximately eight per cent of Clearwater’s population (just under 110,000 people) is said to be made up of Scientologists. Not immune to the pull is the church’s most high-profile member: Tom Cruise.
According to Page Six, the actor — who has been a member of the religion since the late ’80s — will be moving into a luxurious duplex penthouse in town. The approximately 20,000-square-foot home, worth a reported $US3 million, features a room-size flight simulator, a car elevator, parking for nine cars, a projection room and a private rooftop pool.
Luxuries aside, you have to wonder what Cruise gets in a sleepy town that he can’t get from Scientology centres in world capitals such as Los Angeles, New York and London.
Tony Ortega, the journalist and blogger behind the Underground Bunker, a site highly critical of the church, speculates to The Post that Cruise might believe that “he can receive the most effective and professional counselling in Clearwater — which he thinks will make him a more powerful person and get him closer to being part of a super race.”
Cruise’s penthouse is two blocks from Scientology’s Flag Building, aka the “Super Power Building,” a 350,000-square-foot facility that is the ultimate in devotee education.
“It’s the forefront of Scientology,” said Jenna Miscavige Hill, the niece of Scientology leader David Miscavige. Hill grew up in the religion, but broke free in 2005 and wrote the memoir Beyond Belief. She added, “You get the best training there.”
Clearwater is the only place to go for the highest level Scientology courses. Priced as much as $800 per hour and requiring up to 90 hours per level, these classes get adherents to various stages of Operating Thetan (OT). Essentially, they are a series of discussions — or “audits” — in which practitioners focus on getting rid of body thetans (supposedly spirits from other lives and planets). Once the most advanced of these courses is completed, the promise is that you will be able to leave your body and control matter with your mind. Cruise is said to be an OT-VII, the penultimate level.
“The belief is that you will have superhuman powers,” said Ortega.
But Scientology is said to be struggling — its membership dwindling as millennials turn up their noses at the publicly maligned organisation. A once-highly placed former member who spoke to The Post estimates followers in America at around 20,000 — down from 100,000 in 1990 — despite efforts to lure young people via ads on Craigslist. (A spokesman for the church told The Post, “The Church is experiencing a period of unprecedented worldwide growth with new churches, record increases in our delivery of religious services, as well as accelerating expansion of our worldwide humanitarian programs.”)
Ortega views Cruise’s relocation to Clearwater as the start of Scientology’s reinforced battle to remain relevant.
“When Tom Cruise buys a place in the centre of [Scientology’s] base, it looks like this is where their last stand will take place.”
Word of Cruise’s move comes in the wake of his Tinseltown real estate sales binge: the unloading of his Beverly Hills mansion for $40 million, and a Hollywood Hills compound for $11.4 million.
“Scientology is suffering in LA, and Clearwater is not only where the most money gets made, but it is also the spiritual capital,” Ortega said. “I think it’s important for David Miscavige to show Cruise being there.
(A church spokesman said, “In Los Angeles, our churches are servicing more parishioners weekly than at any time in their history.”)
“All celebrities [in Scientology] eventually go to Clearwater,” Ortega added. “Tom moving to Clearwater is a big deal.”
While SkyView, the building where Cruise will settle down, is owned by real estate developer Moises Agami — a devout Scientologist whose family, according to Ortega, has “donated $10 million in the last few years” to the church — the thinking is that Miscavige had a hand in orchestrating the move.
Mike Rinder, formerly an international spokesman for Scientology and now an outspoken critic of the church, added that “Miscavige has a lot of influence over Tom Cruise. Theoretically, Cruise would move to Clearwater if Miscavige said he should.”
Per Tom De Vocht, who ran the Clearwater operation from 1996 until 2002, “Having Cruise in Clearwater is a big boost. The place needs to look like Mecca, and with him there it appears more alluring.”
(DeVocht, a church spokesman said, “was dismissed” for “financial misdeeds.” Of Rinder, the church said, “He was removed from his position in the church for ... lying.” And Ortega, the spokesman said, is “bigoted” and “obsessively venomous of the church.”)
The thinking goes that Cruise’s presence in Clearwater will translate to more money for the church, which has assets estimated by Ortega to be in excess of $3 billion. De Vocht recalled the Clearwater headquarters “making $2.5 million a week on services. Then you add another $500,000 [a week] for [local] hotels, restaurants and various amenities,” all owned by Scientology.
While Cruise’s mother, Mary Lee Pfeiffer, and 21-year-old son Connor reportedly reside in the area, De Vocht — who worked closely with Miscavige and spent time with Cruise — speculated that the actor moving to Florida is indicative of something bigger.
“The whole point is for Miscavige to be close to Cruise,” De Vocht said. “Miscavige used to talk about [making] Cruise his right-hand man and second-in-charge. He said he wants to do that because Tom Cruise is an actor and can put across whatever image Miscavige wants him to put across.”
These days, spin is crucial. Books by former church members, as well as the acclaimed 2015 HBO documentary Going Clear and news stories on high-profile defectors such as Crash director Paul Haggis, contribute to Scientology’s tarnished image.
Among the most outspoken apostates is King of Queens actress Leah Remini, who stars in the new A & E documentary series Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath. In her 2015 memoir Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology, Remini describes Cruise as the “church’s most coveted, celebrated and protected celebrity member.”
De Vocht thinks that Cruise truly buys into Scientology’s beliefs in the recollection of past lives, living for eternity and the obsessive quest to remove thetans. “Believing is the only hook that keeps you in,” De Vocht said. (Cruise’s rep did not return The Post’s call for comment.)
Cruise won’t be the first celeb Scientologist to set down roots in Clearwater. Kirstie Alley owns a mansion there, purchased from Lisa Marie Presley, who reportedly left the church in 2014. John Travolta is said to jet into town from a landing-stripped home 118 miles away in Ocala to partake in high-level courses with auditors who are available only in Clearwater. Jazz keyboardist Chick Corea lives near church headquarters and is so inspired by Scientology that he has recorded songs based on the fiction of Hubbard.
But not all is happy among the ranks. Remini, who left in 2013 after 30-plus years of membership — which she has said cost her more than $3 million in donations — recently demanded $1.5 million from the church, claiming that it tried to ruin her reputation and get her current Scientology-themed show pulled from the air.
Cruise will live in luxury in Clearwater, but the treatment there is nothing new for him.
“When he came down, you felt like you were in the world’s best place,” said De Vocht. “If he wanted calamari and the kitchen was out, you went to buy some.”
Other celebs are treated well, but all leave Clearwater a bit poorer. Jason Beghe, an actor known for the TV show Chicago P.D. was a member from 1996 until 2007. He told Ortega about an ill-fated trip to Clearwater, during which he had planned on spending $25,000 for the scheduled courses.
“The first day he was told that he had to go through a ‘security check.’ It’s an interrogation to make sure you’re loyal. That takes two weeks,” Ortega said. “All that time, you’re paying for the room, you’re paying for food, you’re paying to be interrogated.”
Because devotees keep completing levels, the goalpost keeps getting moved. There are “unreleased” OT levels promised for the future; additional courses mean practitioners are pressed to pay potentially hundreds of thousands more in search of enlightenment. Ortega said that, over the course of a lifetime, a Scientologist can spend $2 million on courses, travel and church donations.
He said he’s also noticed more desperate measures on the part of the church. “I have seen co-ordination of celebrities in the last couple years — Kirstie Alley, Nancy Cartwright [the voice of Bart Simpson] and Kelly Preston all finishing OT-VII, [then] going out on tour and talking about it. It told me that Miscavige knows Scientology is in big trouble and asked celebrities to rally the troops.”
Rinder thinks the Clearwater push is part of that. Scientology, he said, is “shrivelling and shrinking all over the world. And when your heart starts to fail, blood gets sent to your brain, not to the extremities.”
In response to queries about Leah Remini, the Church of Scientology did not dispute any allegations but instead referred The Post to this site: leahreminiaftermath.com
This article was originally published on the New York Post |
After last year's rash of outstanding play by first-year quarterbacks, one of these young passers is bound to come down to earth, right?
Russell Wilson insists it won't be him.
Asked Tuesday if he's concerned about the dreaded sophomore slump, the Seattle Seahawks' quarterback swatted the thought aside.
"I don't even know those words," Wilson told reporters, per The News Tribune. "I don't pay attention to it. I think the biggest thing is just focusing on tomorrow and focusing on the day -- the rest of the day that I have and the next couple hours I have here."
When Around The League's Gregg Rosenthal rolled out his top 10 quarterbacks under 25, Wilson landed at No. 5. I don't see him tumbling down the list. Rosey pegged Andrew Luck at No. 1 and named Luck his candidate for a breakout sophomore season. It's hard to battle that thinking. Luck, Robert Griffin III and Wilson all stand a chance of improving on what they accomplished last season.
The same goes for Ryan Tannehill on the Miami Dolphins and Brandon Weeden on the Cleveland Browns. Again, this potentially will go down as the most dynamic quarterback class of our lifetime.
But Wilson gets my vote as the surest bet heading into Year 2. He's a natural leader and tireless worker, prompting Seahawks coach Pete Carroll to say: "His preparation, his habits, his concern and his focus is excellent."
There's an anecdote about Wilson from last season that reveals a lot. In the seconds after the Seahawks fell to the Atlanta Falcons in the playoffs, Wilson immediately turned his focus to 2013: "When the game was over, I was very disappointed, but right before I got back to the tunnel, walking off the field, I got so excited for the next opportunity, next year. Looking forward what we have in the future. We have a great football team."
Sophomore slump, be damned.
Follow Marc Sessler on Twitter @MarcSesslerNFL. |
Roberts: Hey ladies, at least we know what Donald Trump thinks of us
CLOSE Donald Trump is facing severe backlash after The Washington Post released a video of him from 2005. In the video, Trump can be heard making lewd and graphic comments about women.
Finally, we know what Donald Trump thinks of us, ladies.
As if we didn’t know when he told America that Carly Fiorina is just too ugly to be president. (“Look at that face!" he told Rolling Stone, when a shot of Fiorina flashed on a nearby TV. "Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?!")
Or when word leaked recently that he once forced Miss Universe to exercise in front of a group of reporters and referred to her as “Miss Piggy” because she’d gained a few pounds.
Or when he noted that Fox star Megyn Kelly must have been having her menstrual period because she asked hard hitting questions. Who knew that journalists could only ask tough questions one week out of every month?
Now comes a video from 2005, with Trump talking in vulgar, insulting terms about women -- as if we are all just one big walking body part. Or two, actually.
The video, disclosed by the Washington Post, catches Trump talking on a hot mic with Billy Bush, then of Access Hollywood. At one point, the two frat boys catch sight of Arianne Zucker, an actress standing outside the bus in which they were talking as she waited to escort them onto the set of Days of Our Lives.
“Your girl’s hot as s--t, in the purple,” Bush says to Trump.
“Whoa!” Trump replies. “Whoa!”
“I’ve gotta use some Tic Tacs, just in case I start kissing her,” Trump says. “You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful -- I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait.”
“And when you’re a star they let you do it,” Trump adds. “You can do anything.”
“Whatever you want,” says someone, presumably Bush’s.
“Grab them by the p---y,” Trump says. “You can do anything.”
I’d say I’m shocked, that a man who aspires to be the leader of the free world would talk this way about women, much less think this way about women.
But I’m not shocked. And I’d guess you’re not either.
Donald Trump's ego spreads from sea to shining sea. He goes hard and nasty after anyone who challenges him and he seems to take special pride in going after women. He insults us. He belittles us. He absolutely delights in stereotyping and degrading us.
And he's been doing it for decades.
In 1991, he told Esquire: "You know, it doesn't really matter what (reporters) write as long as you've got a young and beautiful piece of ass."
In his 2004 book, "How To Get Rich," he wrote: "It's certainly not groundbreaking news that the early victories by the women on 'The Apprentice' were, to a very large extent, dependent on their sex appeal."
In 2012, he tweeted: ".@ariannahuff is unattractive both inside and out. I fully understand why her former husband left her for a man - he made a good decision."
NEWSLETTERS Get the Opinions Newsletter newsletter delivered to your inbox We're sorry, but something went wrong Our best and latest in commentary in daily digest form. Please try again soon, or contact Customer Service at 1-800-332-6733. Delivery: Mon-Fri Invalid email address Thank you! You're almost signed up for Opinions Newsletter Keep an eye out for an email to confirm your newsletter registration. More newsletters
In April 2015, he tweeted: "If Hillary Clinton can't satisfy her husband, what makes her think she can satisfy America?"
I could go on. And on. And, well, on with his sexist, obnoxious comments.
Yet he now is the Republican nominee for president, with a sizable amount of support from …
…wait for it…
Women.
This is a joke, right?
To quote a not-so-great man: "Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?!"
Read or Share this story: http://azc.cc/2dSDowD |
Prepared Statement: Michael Lopez-Alegria: Hearing on Human Spaceflight Ethics and Obligations
Status Report From: House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology
Posted: Wednesday, June 15, 2016
Human Spaceflight Ethics and Obligations:
Options for Monitoring, Diagnosing and Treating Former Astronauts
Statement of Michael Lopez-Alegria
President, ASE-USA
INTRODUCTION
The Association of Space Explorers is an international nonprofit professional and educational organization that has only one prerequisite for membership having made at least one orbit of the Earth in space. It was founded in 1985 by a small group of fliers from the U.S., the Soviet Union and other countries. Our vision is a world where living, working, and exploring in space will be as familiar to humanity as life on our home planet. We apply the unique perspective of our membership to promote the global benefits of space science, exploration and international cooperation; to educate and inspire future generations; and to foster better stewardship of our home planet. We count among our members over 400 current and former astronauts and cosmonauts from 37 nations, and are organized into four regional chapters -Russia, Europe, Asia, and ASE-USA. The latter is by far the largest, with 214 living members.
BACKGROUND
There is no doubt that human spaceflight is a risky endeavor. Statistical analysis shows that astronauts who fly to and from the ISS aboard a Soyuz spacecraft and spend six months there have a threat of mortality comparable to those of U.S. infantry combatants on D-Day and New York City firefighters on 9/11. Americans engaged in other dangerous professions, such as crop dusting pilots, timber cutters, construction workers and coal miners, are at least an order of magnitude less likely to lose their lives on the job.
The greatest risk during spaceflight is incurred during the dynamic phases of launch and reentry. Massive amounts of energy are focused to propel the spacecraft in the intended direction during launch and insertion, and the same energy must later be carefully and precisely shed for deorbit and landing. NASA spends significant resources to understand and mitigate the risks associated with these stages of flight, as well as to grapple with the primary peril once in orbit an encounter with micrometeoroid orbital debris. As more experience is accrued, lessons are learned and the effectiveness in managing those risks increases.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
The impact of exposure to health hazards in the unique environment of spaceflight is a far less understood danger. These risks include long-observed phenomena like ionizing radiation, weightlessness, with its attendant loss of bone mineral density, noise and toxic exposures, and as well as more recently detected issues like microgravity ocular syndrome. Just as systematic assessment of the mechanical hazards to spacecraft during launch, landing and on orbit is an indispensable tool in the management of technical risk, a thorough grasp of the short-and long term human physiological response to spaceflight is imperative to inform future policies and procedures for managing health risk. Unfortunately, no comprehensive occupational medical surveillance program for NASA astronauts exists today. In the absence of methodical medical surveillance and care for those exposed to these health risks, we are irretrievably losing an invaluable source of data, and are severely hampering our plans to extend human presence beyond low Earth orbit. The former and current astronaut cadre is the only study population that can facilitate our understanding of past and future space-related health risks; it is unforgivable to not monitor their health, and collect and analyze the relevant associated data.
PROPOSED SOLUTION
The nation needs a dedicated astronaut occupational medical program, oriented toward surveillance for effects of the health risks associated with spaceflight and the diagnosis and treatment of resulting health consequences. Such programs exist for the nuclear workers of the Department of Energy, the Department of Defense, and the civil nuclear power industry. The DOE's Former Worker Medical Screening Program provides ongoing medical screening examinations, at no cost, to all former DOE federal, contractor, and subcontractor workers who may be at risk for occupational diseases (National Defense Authorization Act 1993; FWP Office of health, Safety, and Security). Workers are monitored carefully for radiation doses acquired during their work careers, and undergo medical surveillance following retirement for health effects that may be causally related to their occupational radiation exposures. Similarly, workers exposed to industrial dusts, such as miners and foundry workers, are monitored for known diseases whose incidences increase due to these exposures. Both the operation of target organ systems lung function in this case and resulting illnesses, including asbestosis, mesothelioma, and silicosis, are followed. It is important to monitor both for function of target organs at risk as well as the known specific illness tied to these risks. In these industries, there is a recognized obligation to provide both comprehensive monitoring and health care for risks attributable to the workplace. Similarly, NASA has a moral and ethical obligation to provide appropriate long-term surveillance, diagnostic and therapeutic support to current and former astronauts for health conditions related to their work environment, as well as to facilitate the expansion of human exploration beyond low Earth orbit.
HUMAN HEALTH HAZARDS IN SPACEFLIGHT
Radiation
Ionizing radiation is a fundamental aspect of the space environment, with exposure levels much higher than those encountered in any natural terrestrial setting. Astronauts are exposed to a complex milieu of radiation that differs qualitatively and quantitatively from terrestrial radiation sources. Space sources include Earth's geomagnetic fields, solar particles, and galactic cosmic rays (GCR), as well as secondary particles produced when high energy ions impact spacecraft and habitat structures (Operational Radiation Safety Program NCRP Report 142). With the energies and spectra encountered in spaceflight, radiation is and most likely will continue to be the major limitation to human space exploration for the foreseeable future.
Ionizing radiation is known to have many deleterious effects on human health. The combination of the wide spectrum of radiation types and energies inherent in spaceflight together with the negative effect on human health make this an especially complex hazard. It is important to emphasize that the radiation health hazard impacts nearly all aspects of human spaceflight, including vehicle and habitat design, mission duration, exploration mission architecture, crew selection, and monitoring. Although human spaceflight currently operates in a radiation risk zone that has not demonstrated immediate negative health impacts from these radiation exposures, adverse effects may take many years to emerge. These risks require long term statistical analysis of flight crew populations to identify and document medical risks from space radiation. The main medical risks associated with the spaceflight radiation exposure include increased cancer risk, degenerative tissue disease, and possible central nervous system effects. In particular, increased incidence of cancer is a well-known consequence of radiation exposures. Currently, U.S. astronauts work under a career exposure limit that corresponds to a 3% predicted increase in cancer death, tracked as a Risk of Exposure Induced Death (REID). The radiation dose corresponding with the 3% risk is individualized, and is gender and age weighted based on extrapolated data from ground populations. Models used to determine risk levels are still very developmental, and there is considerable uncertainty in predicting consequences of a specific space radiation exposure. Uncertainty is reduced by applying conservative scaling factors. However, the uncertainties of models, combined with conservative scaling factors and limits as applied to actual radiation doses encountered, profoundly affect both individual flight careers and future exploration scenarios.
Astronauts are meticulously monitored for acquired radiation dose during their active flight careers, similar to terrestrial radiation workers. However, the U.S. Government does not provide long term screening to astronauts or treatment for illness which may be space radiation related. This lack of monitoring negatively affects our understanding of the epidemiology of spaceflight, since some of these cancers may not be captured without long term surveillance following active flight careers. Most importantly, survival from most types of cancers is highly dependent on the stage of disease at diagnosis. If a long term screening program similar to what has been implemented in other sectors of government is not in place, astronauts risk later detection and thus worse outcomes of any radiation related cancers. Additionally, there is evidence that radiation induced cancers may be more aggressive than their non-radiation associated counterparts. Clearly, a comprehensive and aggressive lifetime screening program for radiation induced or enhanced cancers is obligatory to find, treat and understand cancers caused by space radiation. Such a program will identify likely cancer types and screening schedules to optimize long term health outcomes. This knowledge base will be systematically built, and will be applied to REID endpoints to determine if radiation limits can be safely increased.
Other radiation health effects are known; however, their relationship to spaceflight radiation exposure is even less quantifiable than cancer. Degenerative tissue diseases associated with ionizing radiation include cataracts, cardiovascular disease, and gastrointestinal disease (Little et al. 2012). Although these issues and diseases have been identified in ground populations exposed to radiation, space flight limits cannot yet be defined due to multiple confounding factors. Likewise, animal studies suggest that long term central nervous system effects, including dementia, Alzheimer's disease, and premature aging, may be associated with large doses of ionizing radiation (Cucinotta, 2012). Much more research is needed to determine actual relationships and mechanistic contributions. However, it is prudent to perform long-term health screening of astronauts for degenerative tissue diseases and central nervous system effects.
Microgravity Ocular Syndrome (Visual Impairment and Intracranial Pressure -VIIP)
In the past few years, a constellation of findings associated with weightlessness involving eye structures and the central nervous system has been identified. The overall syndrome involves swelling of the optic nerve head (optic disc) of the retina, swelling and distension of the optic nerve sheath behind the eye, flattening of the globe of the eye causing a hyperopic vision shift, and small but significant increases in intracranial pressure (ICP). Subjectively, crewmembers note only degradation of visual acuity, with near vision worsening over time on orbit and requiring stronger corrective lenses (Mader et al., 2011). Prevalence of this syndrome is high, exceeding 50% in long duration flyers, with a strong male predominance. Subtle changes have been seen even in astronauts after short duration Space Shuttle missions (Kramer et al., 2012). Determination of ICP involves performing a spinal tap, and this has been done in only a small number of crewmembers postflight. In spite of the anatomical findings seen, crewmembers are not functionally impaired with adequate vision correction; as such, routine performance of spinal taps is not clinically justified. However, indirect findings based on imagery do suggest a small to moderate increase in ICP in the majority of individuals. Currently, there is no direct knowledge about ICP inflight. These vision and anatomical changes may persist in some astronauts postflight, suggesting permanent tissue remodeling.
Microgravity ocular syndrome likely involves adaptive responses to weightlessness that have not yet been recognized, and is one of the most significant physiologic discoveries in human spaceflight. Although only recently recognized, this syndrome is almost certainly not new. Anecdotal reports of vision shifts have been noted for decades among U.S. and other crewmembers. Russian medical specialists noted optic disc swelling in postflight examinations of long duration crewmembers following Mir missions. However, modern diagnostic tools have helped to bring the magnitude of this issue to light. These tools include 3-Tesla magnetic resonance imaging, optical coherence tomography, high definition retinal imagery, and optical ultrasound, the latter two of which may now be performed inflight. The cause and mechanism of microgravity ocular syndrome remain unclear, and are the focus of intensive investigation. A driving factor is most likely the headward fluid shift that occurs in weightlessness, along with other changes in vascular and fluid regulation. Additional factors being studied include high carbon dioxide levels found on spacecraft, heavy resistive exercise, and possible individual metabolic characteristics (Bowman et al., 2013).
Musculoskeletal Injury
Musculoskeletal injuries are occupational risks astronauts face throughout their careers. These injuries often result from daily cardiovascular and weight training, both on the ground and on- orbit. Prior to flight and typically over a period of several years, extensive training is required for astronauts to effectively perform the required tasks needed for space walks, or EVA (extravehicular activity) in a pressurized space suit. In space, daily two-hour exercise sessions are required to counter bone and muscle losses caused by microgravity.
Musculoskeletal injuries are also directly related to the EVA training, which is performed in the spacesuit in the Neutral Buoyancy Lab (NBL). This underwater simulation permits crew members to practice the actual hands-on maneuvers, but requires use of heavy tools, performance of overhead tasks, and working in inverted positions in a 300 pound spacesuit. The suit design results in impingement on the shoulder, specifically limiting scapulothoracic motion. Numerous 6-hour training sessions in a pressurized suit have resulted in a variety of musculoskeletal injuries. Rotator cuff tears, tendonitis, bursitis, and labral tears of the shoulder are common (Viegas et al., 2004). Elbow injuries are also common and include medial and lateral epicondylitis. Since 2002, there have been over 100 cases of shoulder injury, more than a dozen of which required surgical repair, along with several elbow injuries which have required surgery (Scheuring et al., 2009). This training is an occupational hazard with complications that may persist long after employment.
Postflight, astronauts are also at risk of spinal herniated nucleus pulposus (HNP), commonly known as herniated disc. In the immediate 12-month postflight time period, the incidence of both cervical and lumbar HNP is 4.3 times higher in the astronaut population than in controls (Johnston et al., 2010). This is believed to be related to expansion of intervertebral discs during axial unloading in weightlessness. Approximately one quarter of the astronauts with a diagnosis of HNP in the study ultimately required cervical or lumbar surgery.
The extensive history of musculoskeletal injury requiring surgical repair indicates that long term follow up is required to fully understand the impacts of training and spaceflight on crew members. This follow up will also provide valuable information about spacesuit design and countermeasures to prevent injury.
Changes in Bone
Loss of bone mineral density caused by spaceflight is well documented. Detailed studies have determined that microgravity enhances the bone resorption (breakdown) process, particularly in weight-bearing bone structure. Unfortunately, in microgravity, this process is uncoupled from bone formation (Sibonga et al., 2008). The spaceflight average loss for crew members is 1-1.5% bone mineral density per month. This is significantly more than post-menopausal females, who lose 0.5-1% bone mineral density per month. The mechanism of imbalance between bone resorption and formation during spaceflight is now understood based on measurement of various biochemical bone markers of bone formation and resorption. In addition to bone mineral density loss, there are also changes in subcompartment bone as shown by quantitative computed tomography (Carpenter et al., 2010). Mechanical analysis of the bone data suggests that hip strength is reduced after 6-month spaceflight missions (Seemen et al., 2001; Sibonga et al., 2008). These bone changes are significant. To date, two crew members have suffered hip fractures 15-18 months after returning from long duration spaceflight.
Countermeasures to minimize these bone mineral density losses during spaceflight include heavy resistive exercise, bisphosphonate drugs, and nutritional supplementation. Improved exercise hardware (Advanced Resistive Exercise Device (ARED) and advanced treadmill) together with bisphosphonates and better nutritional management have demonstrated improvement in astronaut bone density over previous countermeasures. However, ongoing detailed studies are necessary to understand the complexities of bone quality and the ability to recover bone strength after spaceflight. In addition, there is the added risk of providing bisphosphonates to a population that is younger than the age group these drugs were designed to help, which may cause unanticipated long term health impacts to the astronaut population.
Occupational Exposure to Substances
Historically, astronauts have been exposed to a variety of toxic materials, including formaldehyde (Shuttle, MIR, ISS), urine pre-treat solution containing sulfuric acid and hexavalent chromium (ISS), cadmium (ISS water supply), combustion event contaminants (MIR), ethylene glycol (MIR), methanol (ISS), iodine (STS-1 through 85), nitrogen tetroxide (Apollo Soyuz Test Project), mold (MIR, ISS), Freons and other halocarbons, CO2 and CO. In some cases, degradation of life support equipment over time has resulted in crew exposure to significantly higher levels of trace impurities, for example total organic carbon in the water (ISS). Obviously, these exposures occur in a closed environmental system that the crew cannot leave and must remain in until mission conclusion, despite residual levels of toxic components. Typically, the levels of the contaminants are managed based on toxicity or criticality, likelihood of occurrence, and ability to "scrub" the environment after a toxic event.
While some occupational exposures to this list of chemicals may result in short-term effects, such as chemical burns from urine pre-treat solution or airway irritation from exposure to ethylene glycol, chronic effects require an occupational surveillance program specifically targeting suspected potential outcomes from specific exposures. For instance, formaldehyde exposure has been associated with a greater risk for nasopharyngeal and lung cancer; elevated cadmium levels are associated with chronic kidney disease.
Since these exposures occur in concert with decreased immune function and exposure to ionizing radiation, it is challenging to isolate the impact of specific toxic events. Other government agencies (DOE) provide congressionally-mandated programs to screen for potential adverse health effects for some of these sorts of substances.
Immune System Effects
The immune system is adversely affected by spaceflight (Gueguinou et al., 2009). Recent studies have identified quantifiable changes in immune function, including T cell, natural killer cell, monocyte and neutrophil function, cytokine production patterns, and latent viral reactivation. Factors which may contribute to altered immune response during spaceflight include radiation, physical and psychological stress, persistent circadian misalignment, nutritional deficiencies including antioxidants and vitamin D, and air quality and particulate levels. Microgravity may also directly suppress immune function. Additionally, some microbes may become more virulent in microgravity. Here on Earth, immune system problems can contribute to increased incidence of infection, allergies, hypersensitivities, autoimmunity and increased risk of tumor formation.
Crewmembers have experienced allergic symptoms and rashes during spaceflight which may be related to altered immune responses. Crewmembers who have no allergies on Earth have suffered sneezing and itchy eyes that required daily allergy medication for their entire long- duration mission. The incidence of rashes during spaceflight is 75 times greater than on Earth (Ilcus et al., 2009). These rashes can persist for months, and resist effective treatment. In addition, delayed healing from cuts and scrapes has also been reported.
These observations are consistent with scientific data that demonstrate alterations in immune function during spaceflight. However, consequences to long term crew health are not known. While further research is necessary to determine the actual risk levels for astronauts during spaceflight, these potential clinical outcomes could have either acute or chronic impacts on long duration missions (Crucian et al., 2009), along with long-term effects on occupational health.
SUMMARY
There is a moral and ethical obligation on the part of any employer to exercise due diligence to study all occupational hazards that its employees may encounter in the workplace, to understand the short-and long-term health effects of those dangers, to use all reasonable methods to prevent these risks from negatively impacting the wellbeing of its current and future workers, and to provide care for former employees who suffer health issues as a result of their service. There are a number of significant human health risks associated with flying in space, in addition to the considerable physical hazards of dynamic flight phases. Many of these perils are unique to the spaceflight environment and most evade our full understanding. It is clear that we must do our utmost to mitigate these risks for the cadre of current and future American astronauts by assiduously monitoring the health and, where applicable, treatment of their predecessors. This information is absolutely imperative for the design of missions, vehicles and countermeasures for exploration of space beyond low Earth orbit. Finally, there is a public right to understand the comprehensive effects of spaceflight on human health as the democratization of access to space becomes a reality with the successes of commercial human spaceflight.
REFERENCES
Carpenter RD, LeBlanc AD, Evans H, et al. Long-term changes in the density and structure of the human hip and spine after long-duration spaceflight. Acta Astronautica 2010; 67: 71-81.
Cucinotta F, Wang H, Huff J. Risk of Acute or Late Central Nervous System Effects from radiation Exposure. Human Research Program / Human Research Roadmap Evidence Report, Chapter 6. 2012 http://humanresearchroadmap.nasa.gov/Evidence/reports/CNS.pdf
Crucian B, Sams C. Immune system dysregulation during spaceflight: clinical risk for exploration-class missions. J Leukoc Biol 2009;86(5):1017-8.
Former Worker Medical Screening Program, Office of Health, Safety, and Security. http://www.hss.energy.gov/healthsafety/fwsp/formerworkermed/
Gueguinou N, Huin-Schohn C, Bascove M, Bueb JL, Tschirhart E, Legrand-Frossi C, et al. Could spaceflight-associated immune system weakening preclude the expansion of human presence beyond Earth's orbit? J Leukoc Biol 2009;86(5):1027-38.
Ilcus, L., Johnston, S., Moynihan, S., Kerstman, E., and Marshall, G. Rashes and Exanthems on Long Duration Space Flights. 80th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Aerospace Medical Association, 3 -7 May 2009, California, United States.
Johnston S, et al. Risk of Herniated Nucleus Propulsus Among U.S. Astronauts. Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine 2010;81(6):566-574
Kramer L, Sargsyan A, Hasan K, Polk J, Hamilton D. Orbital and intracranial effects of microgravity: findings at 3-T MR Imaging, Radiology 263 (3) (2012) 819827. (Epub 2012 Mar 13).
Little MP, Azizova TV, Bazyka D, Bouffler SD, Cardis E, Chekin S, et al. 2012. Systematic review and meta-analysis of circulatory disease from exposure to low-level ionizing radiation and estimates of potential population mortality risks. Environ Health Perspect 120:15031511.
Mader, Gibson, Pass, et al. Optic Disc Edema, Globe Flattening, Choroidal Folds, and Hyperopic Shifts Observed in Astronauts after Long-Duration Space Flight. Ophthalmology 2011; 118:2058-69.
Marshall-Bowman K, Barratt M, Gibson C. Ophthalmic changes and increased intracranial pressure associated with long duration spaceflight: An emerging understanding. Acta Astronautica Vol. 87, June-July 2013, pp. 77-87
National Defense Authorization Act 1993, PL 102-484; TITLE 50 CHAPTER 42 SUBCHAPTER VI Part C 2733; Program to monitor Department of Energy workers exposed to hazardous and radioactive substances
Operational radiation safety program for astronauts in low-earth orbit: a basis framework. NCRP Report No. 142; 2002. Available at: http://www.ncrppublications.org/index.cfm?fm=Product.AddToCart&pid=8877679252.
Scheuring R, Mathers C, Jones J, Wear M. Musculoskeletal Injuries and Minor Trauma in Space: Incidence and Injury Mechanisms in U.S. Astronauts. Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine 2009; 80(2):117-124
Seeman E, Delmas PD. Bone Quality-The material and structural basis of bone strength and fragility. N Engl J Med 2001; 354: 2250-2261.
Sibonga JD, Evans HJ, Sung HG, etal. Recovery of spaceflight-induced bone loss: Bone mineral density after long-duration missions as fitted with an exponential function. Bone 2007; 41:973
978. Viegas S, et al. Physical Demands and Injuries to the Upper Extremity Associated With the Space Program. The Journal of Hand Surgery 2004; 29A(3):359-366
// end //
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For the longest moment driving home two days ago, I was convinced that my next birthday, then just days away, would be my seventieth.
I cannot think what trick of mind swayed me to that conclusion. True, I have been looking forward to being seventy, perhaps enough mentally to add a year to my tally. I found myself ruminating that the odds of living long enough to see seventy were looking pretty darn good right then. Well, barring cancer, heart disease, a chronic lower respiratory ailment, or something even more serious.
Those three are the three leading causes of death from age sixty-five on for the next twenty years, at which point stroke outmatches respiratory infection. Prior to age sixty-four, third place goes to unintentional injury.
One may assume, then, that in a post-retirement life after age sixty-five, breathing takes on a greater urgency than not breathing. Not breathing after sixty-five becomes the greater risk than unintentional injury.
I can understand why respiration replaces unintentional injury. Having a potential for injury implies doing some actual activity in which one might be injured. But after sixty-five—we all know this—there’s nothing left to provoke further risk of injury. Newly retired sixty-five year-olds sit around the house mostly waiting for cancer or heart attack and just using air, thereby reducing the possibility of unintentional injury.
Mostly, having passed sixty-five unscathed, I was contemplating the upside of seventy. Being seventy would mean that out of every 100,000 live births seventy years previous I would have outlived 21,952 of them. Not of course that it’s a competition or anything.
For that long brief moment two days ago, I was up and ready for seventy, and why not. Try this, say it aloud: Seventy. Tell me if that word wasn’t specifically meant to slip off the tongue with the least possible effort. There’s a grace and an ease when saying that word. Seventy: magic is in there someplace, and poetry; the word has genuine zing, plus an average 14.1 actuarial years of remaining life expectancy.
I was eager for it, especially after running into a seminary classmate this last fall. I always thought he was younger than me, but, no, I discovered he wasn’t. He dropped it into conversation; he was now seventy. He sounded rueful saying it, half apologizing as if, I’m sure, he feared I might think the less of him for it.
Frankly, I think he wanted me to join his commiseration. I overlooked it and instead told him, you know, seventy always comes after sixty-nine. Yes, he conceded, that is so, a hangdog look veiling his face.
I, by contrast, actually found myself in high spirits, only two days ago as I anticipated becoming seventy, much like a nine-year-old about to reach double digits. I have never been one to close my mind at any age. I eagerly imagined all the possible vistas opening before me at age seventy. Think of it, I am going to be seventy.
Sixty-nine, though, now that’s a loser year, should you want my opinion. People talk about robust seventy-year olds, charming seventy-year olds, vigorous seventy-year olds, athletic ones, too. But do you hear that about sixty-nine year-olds, do you? No; never. Sixty-nine is a lost year.
A seventy-year-old bank robber, just thinking here out of the box, might be described in a newspaper account as rakish, certainly jaunty. The story would carry a chic headline about—according to witness descriptions—how this suave, urbane, polished trendy-style seventy-something pulled off a bank heist that, marvels a quoted police detective, might rival the abilities of a much younger thief. Where a younger man would find the heist daunting, the daring seventy-year old does it with verve and aplomb and gets clean away. That’s seventy for you.
A sixty-nine year old attempting a bank job, well, he’s just another old guy having a hard time adjusting to retirement. If sixty-nine was a glass of water, no question, it’s half empty and draining fast. So, yes, seventy, this month was going to be the inaugural day for one of the best years of my life.
And then my reverie ended. Somehow for the briefest of moments, I added a year. The prospect of becoming seventy momentarily overwhelmed my sixty-ninth year reality. Disenchantment reigned. I am at that spot in life when it may be said, sadly, “He is still agile, but slower and with less ease.”
Old age, perhaps, is the most unexpected thing that can happen to a person. One day, impulsively, it just shows up, a delicate, fragile guest, and entirely homeless with no other place to live. We must grow accustomed to one another, aging and me. Perhaps together we shall find a way to take it all not very seriously, in good humor.
Russell E. Saltzman writes from Kansas City, Missouri, and is also a contributor at Aleteia. His latest book is Speaking of the Dead. He can be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter @RESaltzman. His previous First Things contributions are here.
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This catfish throwing thing may have jumped the shark, even in Nashville.
Nashville Predators head coach Peter Laviolette pleaded with fans Monday to refrain from throwing the bottom-feeding fish or anything else on the ice when the team hosts the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final.
In a video posted on the Predators’ Twitter account, Laviolette said tossing catfish on to the ice could lead to a penalty.
PSA from Head Coach Peter Laviolette. pic.twitter.com/UyMuWDCneJ — Nashville Predators (@PredsNHL) June 5, 2017
“Hey, everyone. Showing good sportsmanship is part of being good citizens of Smashville,” the hockey coach said. “That means not throwing anything on the ice, putting both our players and the officials in danger. Help us secure our home-ice advantage and prevent us from being penalized for unnecessary reasons. Please don’t throw anything on the ice and thank you for being the best fans in the National Hockey League.”
NBC Sports reported that “unofficially five catfish were thrown on the ice” during Game 3 on Saturday.
No penalties were issued, but referees can assess 2-minute, delay-of-game penalties for bad fan behavior.
Preds fans may be willing to take that risk: The Penguins are 1-for-13 so far on power plays. The only power-play goal came when the Penguins had a five-on-three advantage in Game 1.
Game 4 begins at 8 p.m. tonight.
Ben Schmitt is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 412-320-7991, [email protected] or via Twitter at @Bencschmitt.
Ben Schmitt is a Tribune-Review assistant news editor. You can contact Ben at 412-320-7991, [email protected] or via Twitter . |
To everyone having difficulties downloading this map,
I was able to get it working following these steps:
1. Launch Steam
2. Go to your Library
3. Right click ARK: Survival Evolved
4. Select 'View Downloadable Content' in the popup menu
(For me at this point, 'The Center' map was displayed on a list in a new window that opened.)
5. Click the check mark on the box under the 'Install' heading, it should disappear.
6. Wait a second.
7. Click the box again so a check mark appears.
8. Wait another second.
9. ARK should begin downloading an update, indicated at the bottom of the Steam client.
10. When the download finishes, launch ARK, and connect to a server hosting The Center map.
Hope this helps some people!
To everyone having difficulties downloading this map, I was able to get it working following these steps: 1. Launch Steam 2. Go to your Library 3. Right click ARK: Survival Evolved 4. Select 'View Downloadable Content' in the popup menu (For me at this point, 'The Center' map was displayed on a list in a new window that opened.) 5. Click the check mark on the box under the 'Install' heading, it should disappear. 6. Wait a second. 7. Click the box again so a check mark appears. 8. Wait another second. 9. ARK should begin downloading an update, indicated at the bottom of the Steam client. 10. When the download finishes, launch ARK, and connect to a server hosting The Center map. Hope this helps some people! Check this box if you received this product for free (?) Do you recommend this game? Yes No Cancel Save Changes |
Trainspotting Review
Trainspotting is a 1996 dark comedy drama written by John Hodge/Irvine Welsh and directed by Danny Boyle, who would later go on to direct Slumdog Millionaire. The movie has gained a large amount critical praise and a dedicated cult following. It's also one of the few internationally recognized non-Hollywood films.
Story
There isn't much structure to this movie. Most of the film is just going through the life of recovering drug addict Renton (Ewan McGregor) and his friends as they go through many misadventures. It has a main goal in the last 20 mins of the movie, but it feels really out of place compared to the rest of the film, which was just Renton dealing with his drug addiction.
The film has the demonization of drug use very much at the forefront. Horrible things happen to those who are constantly using heroin; a baby dies from her abandoning mother's lack of attention, somebody who starts heroin halfway through the film gets HIV and dies from it, etc. The theme is a warning against addiction and there's a really good scene that highlights this: four of the main characters are having little sexual expeditions and it's all fine and dandy, but then when they wake up the next morning they each have a terrible side effect or result, much like drug addiction. Thankfully, though, this film understands why people can get addicted to this stuff; because it's fun. The entire first monologue at the beginning of the movie is Renton talking about how good the drugs make him feel. This is important to understand if you want to accurately portray drug addiction and what people go through to get rid of it, which the movie seems to want to do.
You'd think it'd be really hard to relate to a bunch of low down tweekers, but you do sympathize with them in the end. You want to see Renton get rid of his addiction because you know he could be happy if he just tried. It's almost like watching a toddler trying to get up on his feet and failing miserably; you still root for him but it's hard to watch.
IMDB characterizes this film as a dark comedy, which is weird to me because I don't remember myself laughing a whole lot. The screenplay does drama way better than it tells jokes. Maybe it's because I'm not usually one for dark comedies or maybe I was supposed to laugh at how stupid all the characters were, but I only laughed at a few parts, but was grossly intrigued by the rest of it.
Technical
The set design is part of what sells the "drugs will ruin your whole life" message that the film is pushing; it looks awful. What I mean is the set design is amazing at making everything look disgusting. There's a scene where they go to "the worst toilet in Scotland" and it really does look like the worst toilet in Scotland. It's symbolic of the slimy, crap filled existence that spawns from a life of drug addiction. Renton's apartment also fits the bill, with holes in the walls, ripped carpeting and rotten floorboards. This also adds the the idea of heroin as a life destroyer, because when he starts to recover from it his surroundings get cleaner and more hospitable. The costume design also does this; when he's on heroin Renton wheres shabby, dirty clothing, but when he's recovering his clothes look cleaner.
The colors also help tell the story, to a point. The clothes of the characters, for example, are colored to match their personality or state of life. For example, there's one friend in Renton's group who doesn't do drugs, but he's a rageaholic. He wears bright red clothes while all his drug addict friends wear muted yellows and greys, showing their dirty, hazy way of life. I can't figure out what a lot of the set colors are telling, though. In many of the scenes in Renton's old apartment there are a lot of Wes Anderson-like colors that pop out from the screen. It looks cool, but I'm not sure there's any purpose to it.
The acting is brilliant all around. This is the most I've seen out of Ewan McGregor in his entire career. He didn't impress me in either the Star Wars prequels (though he did at least try, let's give him credit) or Ghost Writer (but again that entire movie was kind of forgettable so you can't really blame him). This showed me what a great actor McGregor could be and I'm a bit disappointed that he's such an underutilized source in Hollywood. When he's on screen I don't see Ewan McGregor. I see a lost soul trying to find his way through drugs.
Summary: This film is not for the weak in constitution nor those afraid of needles. However, it is a great illustration of addiction and the nihilism and struggle that comes with it. I believe it's not only a great movie, but also an important one. Will I go and see the sequel? Maybe when it's on DVD so I can skip all the drug parts.
A- |
Image copyright Getty Images
Scotland has voted No to independence, prompting a huge sigh of relief to echo through the corridors of Westminster. It means David Cameron has not gone down as the prime minister who lost the United Kingdom. He will not be forced out of office.
Ed Miliband has also not gone down as the Labour leader who lost Scotland to the nationalists. And Nick Clegg will not find himself working with a new prime minister.
But the political consequences of a No vote are huge. This is because Westminster has vowed to say yes to more devolution. The leaders of the three largest UK parties have promised that the Scots will get more powers over their taxes, welfare and spending.
They hope to agree the details by November and publish draft legislation in January. But it wil not be easy, not least because the parties disagree over detail.
Take taxation. The Conservatives say Holyrood should be able to set income tax rates and bands, with just the tax-free personal allowance decided by Westminster.
Who votes on what?
Labour says Scotland should be able to vary income tax only by 15 pence in the pound.
The Lib Dems believe the Scottish government should be able to fix not only income tax but also capital gains, inheritance and a whole range of other taxes. Somehow these differences will need to be hammered out - and soon.
But as well as securing agreement among themselves, Mr Cameron, Mr Miliband and Mr Clegg will have to win support for their plans from within their parties.
Many MPs are worried about what they see as rushed constitutional reform. Others are worried about the lack of consultation. And many Conservatives are asking why they should follow an agenda they believe is being set by former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
And there will be principled opposition by some MPs who think any more power for Scotland should come only with wider constitutional reform for the whole of the UK.
Image copyright Reuters
Many Conservatives believe extra devolution to Scotland should be matched by giving English MPs a greater say over English laws. That could mean, for example, English MPs alone deciding the detail of legislation that affects England, with the whole UK parliament - including MPs from Scotland - deciding the broad principle.
Or it could mean English MPs having total control over English legislation, effectively sitting as an English parliament at Westminster for a couple of days a week.
And Tory MPs will be in no mood to compromise. Many blame the prime minister for putting the Union at risk by the way he handled the referendum and the campaign. They are also unhappy at the haste in which Scotland was offered so much in a desperate attempt to stave off independence.
Giving English MPs greater powers would open up another constitutional can of worms. Labour would be hugely cautious, and not just because its Scottish MPs would resist any loss of influence at Westminster.
Labour would be concerned that if it was elected to government in the future, it could end up with the ability to declare war and agree treaties but not get its domestic budget through Parliament if it had no English majority.
There will also be demands for change elsewhere in the UK. In Wales, there have already been concerns raised that fixing Scotland's public funding formula - as the leaders have vowed - would mean no extra money for the Welsh.
Wales has long complained at what it sees as the unfairness of the so-called Barnett formula which it says is generous to Scotland but less so to itself.
And in Northern Ireland there will be more calls for Stormont to win control over corporation tax, and even more demand for extra resources to relieve the pressure on parties deeply divided over budget cuts.
So the details of this are complicated, the politics tricky and the potential for disagreement huge. But the pressure on the UK parties to deliver will be immense.
If they succeed, then this process would become a catalyst for radical constitutional change that could transform UK politics for the 21st Century. But if they fail the potential breach of public trust would tarnish Westminster's name for good. |
Omarosa Manigault said Donald Trump Donald John TrumpHouse committee believes it has evidence Trump requested putting ally in charge of Cohen probe: report Vietnamese airline takes steps to open flights to US on sidelines of Trump-Kim summit Manafort's attorneys say he should get less than 10 years in prison MORE will keep a list of Republicans who voted against the GOP nominee in the presidential election.
"It's so great our enemies are making themselves clear so that when we get in to the White House, we know where we stand," the former "Apprentice" contestant told the Independent Journal Review.
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She singled out Sen. Lindsey Graham Lindsey Olin GrahamHouse to push back at Trump on border Trump pressures GOP senators ahead of emergency declaration vote: 'Be strong and smart' This week: Congress, Trump set for showdown on emergency declaration MORE (R-S.C.), who announced on Twitter on Tuesday that he voted for independent candidate Evan McMullin for president.
“If [Graham] felt his interests was with that candidate, God bless him," she said.
"I would never judge anybody for exercising their right to and the freedom to choose who they want. But let me just tell you, Mr. Trump has a long memory and we’re keeping a list.”
Graham had said he appreciated McMullin's views on "a strong America and the need to rebuild out military."
The South Carolina senator had been critical Trump throughout his campaign.
Many other Republican lawmakers have also declined to back the GOP nominee, with some saying they didn't plan to cast their ballots for either major party nominee.
Aides for Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonSanders: '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' Former Sanders campaign spokesman: Clinton staff are 'biggest a--holes in American politics' MORE, the 2016 Democrat presidential nominee, in 2008 kept a "hit list" of politicians they felt had wronged her during her loss to then-Sen. Barack Obama Barack Hussein ObamaWith low birth rate, America needs future migrants 4 ways Hillary looms over the 2020 race Obama goes viral after sporting black bomber jacket with '44' on sleeve at basketball game MORE in the Democratic primary. |
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By Travis Allen
A week or two ago I asked on Twitter if people wanted to hear about flipping collections, and the answer was a resounding “yes.” Today I’ll talk about some of the larger collections I’ve purchased, and then discuss some strategies to keep in mind if you choose to do it yourself.
Collection #1 – This remains the largest collection by volume and retail that I’ve purchased so far. I had picked up a few small collections for between $50 and $300 before this, but this purchase dwarfed those. This list is hardly exhaustive, but it had, if memory serves me: two beta dual lands, ~25 revised duals, a nearly-complete set of Legends, a partial set of Antiquities including a Candelabra of Tawnos, about 10 or 11 full sets including Urza’s block, a full set of Zendikar fetchlands, a handful of Onslaught fetchlands, and boxes and binders alike that were filled with random cards from Beta to Zendikar, which by volume were mostly garbage but certainly had plenty of good cardboard scattered throughout. It took the better part of two weekends to pull everything of value out, and another two or three months to break even on the sales process.
Retail value: ~$13,000
I paid: $3,500
Collection #2 – While this wasn’t as many cards as collection #1, nor was it as varied in its inventory, it was solid value throughout. I actually ended up paying more for this than I did #1, even though it was technically worth less. (They can’t always be home runs.) This seller had done his homework, and actually sent a list of basically every single rare in the collection with their average eBay prices. The reason I paid more for less on this collection is simply that the seller was far more educated about what he had. He recognized he wouldn’t be getting full retail, but expected a reasonable rate of return. Included were: 33 Revised duals, 31 Zendikar fetches, 22 Onslaught fetches, 4 FoW, 4 Thoughtseize, 4 Cryptic Command, 2 JTMS, 5 SFM…the list just goes on with hundreds of $3-$50 cards.
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Retail value: ~$9,500
I paid: $5,000
Collection #3 – This is the smallest “large” collection I’ve bought. Unlike the previous two, this is a player that had gotten out of the game recently, so there was a good chunk of Standard cards. In this case, he had everything listed through DeckBox, so I was able to see a complete list of what was coming, as well as their TCG values. He obviously had that information as well, so it was mostly a matter of finding a number that we both agreed on. The most valuable card here was a single Unlimited Underground Sea. Beyond that, there wasn’t anything particularly stellar, just Good Cards. 6 Onslaught fetches, a Taiga, a set of Liliana of the Veil, a few Eldrazi, some Kiki-Jiki, Sphinx’s Revelations, Bonfires, Cavern of Souls, etc.
Retail Value: ~$4,900 TCG Player low
I paid: $2,200
Now that you’re tired of reading about what I’ve done, let’s talk about how to do it yourself.
Where to find collections – There are essentially two types of sellers. The first, and typically most lucrative, is the obvious one: craigslist. I have a tab open to a craigslist search for “Magic” that is always there when I turn on my computer, and I keep an eye on it every day. There is going to be a lot of chaff on craigslist, so patience is required. There was over a year between my purchases of collection #1 and #2. They simply don’t show up that often, and as time progresses, we are going to see it less and less as those stockpiled Magic cards end up in the hands of people like you and I, who then hoard and distribute cards amongst the community. You will, however, see plenty of this:
For the low price of $150, you can have over 1,000 garbage Ice Age, Homelands and Revised commons. Craigslist is really just going to come down to being patient and finding the right lot.
Other options are garage/estate sales, which I’ve found to be pretty unreliable. Typically you’re talking shoeboxes in size. Keep an eye out for these when you’re strolling yard sales with your girlfriend, but don’t expect it to be reliable.
Coworkers/muggle peers are also a potential source. You really want to find people that are about 40-45 years old right now, as that would have made them 20-25 when Alpha came out, which is the perfect age for disposable income on nerd crap like this. You might not want to be asking your three-piece suit boss if they have Magic cards, but I’ll leave the discovery process here up to your discretion.
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The second seller is the knowledgeable type. These are people that have been playing somewhat recently, and have decided to get out of the game for whatever reason. They are much better at accurately valuing their collection, so you won’t be getting duals for $5 apiece here. It doesn’t mean you can’t get a good rate, it just means that there is going to be a lot less of a game where you try and feel out the seller’s knowledge and expectations. In my experience, these transactions are faster, more straightforward, and more numbers-oriented. Both of you know the score, and you’re just trying to find a price you’re both comfortable with.
How to Evaluate Inventory – You can typically get a good feel for what is in the collection quickly, so long as it isn’t completely massive. I like to start with the binders, as those are where you’re most likely to find concentrated value. I also like to check out any decks they may have built, and if the boxes of cards are sorted at all, I at least try to look at lands, artifacts, and blue spells. If it’s sorted by set, I’ll look for Urza block, Mirage, any Legends/Antiquities, Mirrodin block, Future Sight block, etc. Be prepared for most large collections to be overwhelmingly Revised/Ice Age/Homelands/Fallen Empires. When flipping through boxes, feel free to just skip over these sections entirely. You should still go through the painstaking process of looking at each card once you get the boxes home, but when deciding whether to buy the cards, don’t waste both their time and yours looking through what may as well be kindling.
On large collections (over a few thousand cards,) I’ll bring a small notepad to keep track of what I’m seeing. Once the collection is of sufficient size, you aren’t going to be able to make a reasonable offer off the top of your head, nor will you likely have that much cash in your pocket anyways. Writing down quantity of duals/fetches, a rough idea of how many >$5 cards you saw, etc. will help you remember what you’re dealing with when you get home.
Questions to ask – There are a number of questions you want to ask the seller. Their answers will help you understand what you’re looking at as well as what to expect in negotiations. It also helps to make small talk with people while you’re rifling through their property inside their house. Being personable and friendly will make them much more likely to be flexible on price. As a side note, avoid divulging too many details regarding your experience in purchasing collections. If they get the impression you’ve done this quite a bit, they may perceive you as a bit of a shyster rather than an earnest individual that just wants some Magic cards.
“Has anyone else looked at the collection?’’ Here you’re gauging interest. They may lie, so take what they say with a grain of salt. If they tell you they’ve had 8 or 9 emails about it though, they probably aren’t exaggerating by much. It’s not uncommon for lots listed too cheaply to be sold within hours of being listed.
Here you’re gauging interest. They may lie, so take what they say with a grain of salt. If they tell you they’ve had 8 or 9 emails about it though, they probably aren’t exaggerating by much. It’s not uncommon for lots listed too cheaply to be sold within hours of being listed. “Has anyone bought any singles out of the collection?” You want to see if someone stripped the good cards and ran. If they say that yes, that someone bought just a few cards, then that is very likely where the duals and forces went.
You want to see if someone stripped the good cards and ran. If they say that yes, that someone bought just a few cards, then that is very likely where the duals and forces went. “When did you start playing?” Get a feel for when the collection may have started. This tells you what to look for. If it’s after 2002 for instance, you know duals are less likely. You want to hear 1993, or sometime after 1996.
Get a feel for when the collection may have started. This tells you what to look for. If it’s after 2002 for instance, you know duals are less likely. You want to hear 1993, or sometime after 1996. “When did you stop playing?” This will tell you the latest set you can expect to find, as well as how aware of Magic pricing they are. If they played up until Alara block, they’re going to be a lot more aware of how much the cards may be worth, while someone that quit during Torment days has had the boxes collecting dust for years and years.
This will tell you the latest set you can expect to find, as well as how aware of Magic pricing they are. If they played up until Alara block, they’re going to be a lot more aware of how much the cards may be worth, while someone that quit during Torment days has had the boxes collecting dust for years and years. “Why did you stop playing?” This is most salient when they quit recently. If their friends left the game and interested petered out, they likely aren’t in a rush to move the cards. However if something occurred in their life and they need funds quickly, this works in your favor. Someone who really needs $2,000 for car repairs doesn’t have time to shop their collection around. Waving ducats around has a good way of getting things done.
How to decide how much to offer – There are several factors at work when considering what type of numbers to offer.
The obvious place to start is how much you peg the collection at. I try to keep my estimate at just the cards I’ve seen. I’ve brought home one in the past where I looked at one 500 card box, saw some good stuff, and made an offer based on that box. When I got home, it turned out that almost every good card was in that single box.
The knowledge level of the seller is important. If it’s someone clearing out their attic, chances are they’ll just be happy to have it gone and end up with enough to go buy dinner. If it’s someone like the individual in the second example above, you aren’t getting away at 10% of retail. Lowball too much, and you’ll offend them.
Whatever price they listed at will help you understand their expectations. Whoever was selling the cards in that craigslist picture above obviously way overvalues his cards, and even if that whole picture is worth maybe $5, that’s only about 4% of his listed price. There’s no way someone is taking 10% of their listed price. If there isn’t a price listed, that’s good for you. It means they don’t know what’s fair or they’re open to offers.
Sellers typically assign value much more evenly across the collection than is accurate. What this means is that many will assume 5,000 Ice Age cards will be worth a lot more than a shoebox full of revised duals. While this is a pain for buying large, low-value collections, it works both ways. If during examination the inventory seems like it’s mostly garbage with just a handful of notable cards, or even just a single outlier (something like a foil MM Brainstorm), tell them that it’s all a little too rich for your blood, but ask if you can buy just a few singles that you’d love to have for yourself. There’s a good chance they’ll be fine with this, and you’ll be shocked how little people assign to individual cards. Think $2 a card. I typically avoid doing this unless the collection really is just nothing but Homelands commons, and they are expecting way more than is reasonable.
My goal when buying a collection is 30% of retail. That gives you a very comfortable profit margin for making your money back, as you could sell at 70-80% of market and still do well. 30% is fantastic though, so don’t expect this every time. I’ve gone up to about 60% on smaller buys. Your ceiling here is dictated by what exactly you’re buying. Keep in mind what types of sales you’ll be making to recoup your costs. If it’s just piles and piles of $3-5 cards, you’re going to have to put a lot of envelopes in the mail to make that back. That’s a large investment of time, risk as a seller, and shipping costs. However, if it’s basically just a playset of Onslaught fetches and odds and ends, it’s a lot easier to pay a higher percentage because you can move more money in less transactions, they’ll sell faster, and you can get way closer to retail on a Polluted Delta than you can a foil 7 th ed Mana Short.
ed Mana Short. The size of the collection also dictates what percentage you can buy at. Basically, the larger the collection, the less competition you have. If the seller wants $400 for $1,000 worth of cards, there will be plenty of people willing to make that buy. However, someone asking $4,000 for $20,000 worth of cards, while a better price overall, will generate a lot less demand. There simply are not going to be many individuals with the knowledge and capital to make a purchase like that. These very large collections are my favorite. There’s less competition, you can get a great rate, and it’s hard for anyone to turn down a few thousand dollars in cash, regardless of how much their cards are actually worth.
When making an offer, especially via email, I typically like to outline some of things I’m taking into consideration. I may explain that a large majority of the cards they own are from a time period that saw huge print runs, and subsequently they’re not even worth the paper they’re printed on. I may note the wear of the cards if that is a factor, or perhaps point out that while they may have seen certain numbers on eBay, there’s a sizeable loss of profit on those numbers when considering eBay fees, PayPal fees, shipping, etc. Overall, people are going to be more receptive to “Here’s the number I can offer, and this is why” compared to “$600 lmk.”
I touched on this briefly, but their need for expediency is good news for you. If it’s someone that simply decided they’re done and is in no real rush to sell, it will tough to get a great price. An individual in a situation where they need cash quick is a lot more likely to wheel and deal.
When you’re buying someone out entirely, you sometimes get “bonus” stuff. Dice are very common, as are an assortment of deck boxes. I picked up about 40 of those giant oversized cards in a collection at one point. Old Scrye pewter life counters are easily worth over $50. This type of stuff is typically considered throw-in, but enough of it can add some real value to the deal.
What to do when you get it all home – This is easily the most fun part; the discovery process. I try not to look at every single card when I’m evaluating the collection just so that there’s an element of surprise when I get home and open it all up. The best way to approach this is to systematically go through and touch every single card so that you don’t miss anything. As you go through, pull out every single card that catches your eye and every single rare you spot. All of them. I can’t stress this enough. Nothing is worse than going through 20,000 cards, getting to the end, realizing you were pulling out cards later on that you weren’t at the start, and having to do it all again. If some of the stuff you pull out isn’t worth the effort of selling it, it’s very easy to dump it back into a card box. Once you get everything out, start by setting aside everything you want to keep for yourself. Then begin looking up prices of everything you aren’t sure is worth selling. Any commons and uncommons that aren’t worth it can go back into the boxes. Set any bulk rares aside. The reason for this is that when it eventually comes time to deal with getting rid of the leftover chaff, having all the rares separated makes it easy for you to figure out how many there are for reselling or bulking out.
Making your money back – My preferred way of accomplishing this is not eBay, but rather going through established communities. I personally use MTGS, Twitter, and another community forum. Others prefer MOTL and various other sites. If your city has a general MTG Facebook page, that’s a great resource as well.
Buylisting the cards is an option. You will definitely get better rates of return on selling directly to individuals, but it takes a hell of a lot more time than just sending a few hundred cards to whatever vendor and getting a check. This decision is personal preference. I haven’t opted for this, but I can see the appeal.
When planning to sell to individuals, I begin by alphabetizing everything I’m selling and then setting them aside in their own box. Don’t mix the cards up into your trade collection; it’s too difficult to keep track of them if you do. Once everything is in order, I like to create a Google spreadsheet document. It’s accessible from any internet connection, has editing capabilities on the fly, you can share the link as read-only to let people browse at their own leisure, and it makes for easy importing into Excel if necessary. As you sell cards, you need to be absolutely diligent in making sure the list online matches what you have on hand. Once you start getting discrepancies, you begin agreeing to sell cards to people that you don’t actually have, and that is not something you want to be doing. Building a positive reputation is hugely important, as it enables people to feel comfortable sending you several hundred dollars at a time for cards that are sight unseen. For this reason, I would recommend picking one website with reference tracking and sticking with that until you build a solid reputation.
Getting rid of the leftovers – Unless you live in Montana or one of those states where the cattle outnumbers the humans, space becomes a concern, especially once you end up with more than a few thousand spare cards. I’ve had success moving smaller batches around 2,000-5,000 cards on craigslist by being very straightforward with the lot. I put right in the listing that there are no duals/forces, and that it’s a kitchen table collection for a kitchen table price. This gets a little harder to do the larger the pile gets though, as disposable income for kitchen table magic is not very large for any one individual. As you can see, I still have yet to solve this problem entirely myself…
Whew, I had a lot more to say about this than I realized I did. If you decide to tackle this process yourself, I wish you the best of luck. Just don’t do it where I live.
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PHILADELPHIA–Here’s an idea that might work out well for the Miami Dolphins: Jay Ajayi believes the next step of his development is to become a top-level pass catcher out of the backfield, and his new quarterback has a propensity to use them.
One of the things that has Ajayi excited about the arrival of Jay Cutler is how much he threw to running backs in Chicago. Over the seven seasons in which he was mostly healthy for the Bears, Cutler made great use of running back Matt Forte.
Forte, now with the Jets, led Chicago in receptions in three of those aforementioned Cutler seasons and finished second or third the other years. He caught a career-high 74 passes in 2013, when Cutler played 11 games, and topped it the next season with 102. That’s the all-time NFL record for catches by a running back, and it enabled Cutler to post a personal-best in passer rating at 66 percent.
Ajayi, meanwhile, has yet to tap into that facet of his potential. He was targeted on just 35 of Miami’s 477 pass attempts last year and put up 151 yards on 27 catches. That’s one big way in which the offense can improve this year.
“I pride myself on being able to do everything and be on the field for the whole game,” he said this summer. “I believe I have that skillset (as a receiver). It’s really about developing it even more now at this level and trying to push myself to become elite.”
The Dolphins’ record for catches by a running back belongs to Terry Kirby, who had 75 in 1993.
[Five things to know about new Miami Dolphin LB Rey Maualuga]
[Did the Miami Dolphins address their offseason priorities?]
[DeVante Parker is making believers. This might finally be his breakout year.]
Check out The Palm Beach Post‘s Miami Dolphins page on Facebook |
On October 13, our teams will be performing an extended maintenance to make networking improvements on our servers. This maintenance will affect our Arc platform as well as all pages on our arcgames.com domain and games hosted from our servers that are launched from Arc and other platforms. The following games and services will be inaccessible during maintenance:
Arc Games forums
Arc Games main website, product pages and news pages
Arc Games platform including billing and messaging
Arc Games support websites
Battle of the Immortals
Blacklight Retribution (launched from Arc Games)
Champions Online
Forsaken World
Fortuna
Jade Dynasty
Neverwinter (PC & Xbox One)
PWI
Star Trek Online
Swordsman
War of the Immortals
Additional games launched from Arc Games
We anticipate this maintenance to run from October 13 starting at 6:00 am PT and running to 6:00 pm PT. We will be providing updates via our Arc Twitter page and Facebook page as well as social channels for each of our titles.
We appreciate your patience as we work to improve our platform.
Arc Team |
BOSTON (AP) — More than 60 musicians are calling for the Boston Symphony Orchestra to include more female composers and composers of color in its programming.
The Boston Globe reports the Boston-area musicians met with orchestra leadership Monday to discuss changes after sending a letter in October criticizing the lack of diversity.
In their letter, the musicians noted only one of the 73 pieces scheduled for the 2017-18 season was composed by a woman. The rest are from white male composers.
The group is asking the orchestra to add five more works by women and minorities to the current season and have at least 20 percent of the works in the next season come from those two groups.
A spokeswoman for the orchestra says the meeting was productive but released no details.
(© Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.) |
1424 Avenue J, Brooklyn 11230
Best New York City Pizza - Di Fara Pizza in Brooklyn...
Best New York City Pizza - Di Fara Pizza in Brooklyn Unless you are already in the neighborhood, it's a hike getting to Di Fara Pizza, but it's well worth it when you're trekking to get America's best pizza. Domenico DeMarco is sort of a local legend, having owned and operated Di Fara since 1964, hailed from Provincia di Caserta in Italy, he cooks up both New York and Sicilian-style pizza to hungry mob of New Yorkers and tourists willing to wait on long lines spilling out on to the side walks. Using only "Top ingredients" in his pies and with some mentioning of crust trending slightly burnt but even with this, "it's is still a very good pizza" and when it's not,it's transcendent. You'll get a better deal getting the whole pie rather than throwing down $5 on a slice and you want to understand why they are the best before you make the trip, check out the great video about Di Fara http://vimeo.com/16077855 |
Hatay
B
A
Latakia
Iskenderun
Jisr al-Shoughour
Aleppo
20 miles
TURKEY
Mediterranean Sea
Path of Turkish jet fighter, according to Syria
Approximate extent of 12-mile territorial waters
SYRIA
TURKISH VERSION
SYRIAN VERSION
Syrian and Turkish government officials gave conflicting stories of last Friday’s incident at their borders.
State television broadcast this flight path of a Turkish F-4 fighter. As the plane flew at low altitude toward the coast, land-based Syrian antiaircraft batteries fired at it with cannons that have a maximum range of less than two miles. Syrian salvage workers recovered wreckage from the jet showing cannon damage.
The jet “mistakenly entered” Syrian airspace over the Mediterranean, but left after Turkish radar operators warned the crew. There was no warning from Syria. Nine minutes later, the jet was struck by a heat-seeking missile at a point 13 nautical miles from the Syrian coast (A).The jet turned toward shore and crashed at this point (B).
Black Sea
Ankara
Detail area
SYRIA
IRAQ |
One of the perpetual debates in our society is the importance of Hindi versus English. At a broader level, it can be extended to any vernacular language-versus-English debate, and how we risk losing our local languages to English. It is a politically charged issue, with each government trying to show its allegiance to Hindi more than the other.
Consequently, you have the ‘promote Hindi’ drives, with government offices mandatorily issuing all circulars in Hindi and state-run schools largely being Hindi medium.
Meanwhile, English continues to grow like never before without any promotional drive. This is because it offers better career prospects, more respectability in society, a completely new world of informationentertainment and access to technology. After all, you can’t even use a mobile phone or basic messaging apps today without a cursory understanding of English.
Understandably, Hindi lovers and purists lament the new society where the youth shun their mother tongue and want to enter the English world as fast as possible. The more they impose Hindi, the more the youth rebel against it.
What is a Hindi lover (myself included) to do?
And what can we all do to save Hindi without making it seem like a burden or obligation?
There is a solution. It is embracing Roman Hindi. Roman Hindi is not Hinglish. It is Hindi language written in the Anglo-Saxon script instead of Devanagri. For example, ‘aap kaise hain?’ is Hindi for ‘how are you?’, but written in the English script.
Why is this important? Well, because the Anglo Saxon script is ubiquitous. It is on computer key boards and telephone touchscreens. It is already popular, especially among the youth. Millions of Indians, for instance, use Whatsapp where most conversations are in Hindi, although using the Ro man script. Sure, Devanagri downloads are available, but few use them. In fact, many Devanagri key boards on phones use something known as transliteration, where you type in Roman Hindi first and the software will convert the text to Hindi. In other words, the user is still using Roman Hindi.
Roman Hindi is already prevalent in Bollywood posters and in our advertising. Most Hindi movie screenplays are today written in Roman Hindi. Drive around any major city and you are bound to see a hoarding with a Hindi caption written in Roman script.
However, Hindi experts, purists and defenders are either largely unaware or indifferent to these developments. They do not see the difference between Hindi the language and its script. People still love Hindi, they just find it difficult to incorporate the script in their modern, technology-driven lives.
We can save Hindi by legitimizing the Roman Hindi script. This will also have a unifying effect on the nation as it will bring English and Hindi speakers closer. It will also allow other regional languages to become more linked to each other and to English, by virtue of a common script.
Europe, for instance, has more than a dozen different languages. They share the same script. In Indonesia and Malaysia, the local scripts are long gone and they have adopted the English script for their language.
Sure, Hindi purists may not want it this way. They want Hindi to be preserved exactly as it was, with the Devanagri script. However, they forget, languages evolve with the times. And in the globalizing times we live in now, it will do Hindi a lot of good if it also welcomes a global script. In fact, if we make our script globally accessible, it may en courage more people around the world to learn Hindi.
In the past, many Urdu poets published their poems in Devanagri instead of traditional Urdu, only to have wider acceptance. That was then, but today the need of the hour is to update Hindi to a new version.
We could start with some government notices and public signage being in Roman Hindi, and evaluate the response. There is also an opportunity here, as Roman Hindi can create a new industry of print media and books. Millions are already using it. It is just that nobody has tapped into the prospects.
Legitimizing a new globally accessible script for Hindi that will be a class leveller can only be good for the language, which otherwise risks being side lined in the onslaught of English. Let’s not see a language from a purist’s perspective, but rather as something dynamic and evolving to fit in with the times. Waqt ke saath badalna zaroori hai. You understood that sentence, right? |
SCHENECTADY, NY—The near-indescribable pain of a 30-hour labor and the passing of an eight-pound infant through her birth canal will, over time, prove to be the least agonizing part of Virginia Quigley's relationship with her daughter, the 23-year-old first-time mother failed to realize Monday.
"Labor was horrible," says a weakened Quigley, who doesn't know the half of it, as she lies in her bed at Divine Savior Hospital cradling her tiny future nemesis, Caitlyn Rose.
"This is the happiest day of my life," she adds, unaware of how true that observation will prove to be.
Over the next two decades, the young mother will endure a worsening avalanche of agonies. Unceasingly shrill fits for the first 18 months, followed by a sustained campaign of migraine-inducing petulant disobedience and gratuitous defiance, will typify Quigley's relationship with her daughter.
While the shrieking arguments over persistent truancy from school, harrowing episodes of self-mutilation, and pointless stints in rehab are still safely in the future, Quigley lovingly rocks her newborn, enjoying their last small window of peaceful interaction before it forever slams shut.
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"Look at her little face—isn't she the most precious thing?" says father Douglas Quigley, 31, who, in addition to being spared the physical pain of labor, will also largely be spared the psychological pain of raising Caitlyn after abandoning his family in May 2009.
Other horrors that await mother and daughter include: a March 2010 ordeal demonstrating how insignificant postpartum hemorrhaging really is when compared to the deep pain of a hysterical 3-year-old Caitlyn repeatedly screaming, "I hate you! I wish you would die!" before a dozen onlookers in the cereal aisle of a local supermarket; the September 2014 scalding death of a pet gerbil, in which Caitlyn's amoral tendencies will first surface, dwarfing the discomfort of torn vaginal tissue; and, in an incident that will easily trump the intense nausea that tortured Quigley throughout labor, the night in July 2017 when the unsupervised 11-year-old, embittered by her single working mother's inability to provide adequate attention, will steal a bottle of Wild Turkey from a neighbor's liquor cabinet and vomit its contents on the living-room couch.
Also slated to occur is a June 2021 incident in which the father-figure-deprived teenager will have underage sex with a 45-year-old ex-convict named Wheeler, then call crying from a motel room at 4 a.m. A sleepless Quigley will drive 70 miles to pick up her daughter, only to fight bitterly with her all the way home and be two hours late for work, causing her to lose her low-paying job.
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Quigley geared up for motherhood by reading child-care guides and sincerely hopes to be closely involved in Caitlyn's upbringing. However, Caitlyn's hyperactivity and intense flashes of temper will cause her frightened and intimidated mother to retreat into apathetic numbness, which will only accelerate Caitlyn's feelings of neglect and lay the groundwork for a life of destructive behavior.
As the Quigleys prepare to check out of the hospital and take Caitlyn back to their small two-bedroom home, they remain oblivious to their tragic future, including the unexpected arrival of police and child protective authorities alerted by concerned neighbors who will overhear a fight in which Quigley's then-boyfriend, Glenn, will beat and rape 13-year-old Caitlyn while Quigley lies passed out in the kitchen from a punch to the face.
In perhaps the most morbidly poetic chapter of the troubled relationship, a cancer-ridden Quigley will die alone, burdened on her deathbed with the worst pain of her life, after her repeated pleas for aid and comfort go unanswered by Caitlyn, who, though longing for reconciliation with her mother, will refuse to return the calls, saying she is "done" with her. |
Image copyright Getty Images
"Merry Christmas," the president told reporters as he walked across the South Lawn.
It was a warm day at the White House with the scent of roses in the air and it hardly felt like Christmas.
Yet the holiday season was in full swing - a week earlier than many of his predecessors chose to begin.
Trump likes to do things differently, though.
In that spirit, here are five ways that his Christmas is unique.
It started before Thanksgiving
Traditionally the first family's Christmas tree arrives on a horse-drawn wagon some time after Thanksgiving.
For decades, this ceremony has marked the beginning of the Christmas holiday season in Washington.
This year the tree arrived early - three days before Thanksgiving - apparently because of the president's travel plans. On the following day, he left for his private club, Mar-a-Lago, in Florida.
Moving up the date of the tree-arrival ceremony and the president's decision to leave the White House that week were important markers, said St Joseph's University's Katherine AS Sibley.
She says it shows that he and his family have not made the White House a focal point in the way that other first families, such as the Obamas, the Bushes and the Kennedys, did.
"It just seems more like an adjunct to their lives instead of a central place," Sibley explained.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony had its usual glamour and pageantry
No more 'Happy Holidays'
During the presidential campaign, Trump would tell his supporters that people would soon be saying "Merry Christmas" again, instead of "happy holidays", which he has derided as politically correct.
And in October he told supporters he had delivered on that pledge. "We're saying Merry Christmas again," he said.
For his supporters, it's a symbol of defiance against the guardians of acceptable language.
But his critics says it's meaningless. President Obama often said it in his seasonal address, they point out.
Other presidents said it but they didn't make a big deal about it, says New York University's Timothy Naftali, a presidential biographer.
"He [Trump] will pretend he is the first president to celebrate Christmas," said Naftali.
A special present for the people
It's not the kind of gift you'll find under the tree.
Tax cuts don't come covered in wrapping paper.
The president has described his proposed tax cuts as "a great, big, beautiful Christmas present" for Americans.
And the plan has taken a big step towards becoming a reality with the Senate passing its bill.
No pet photos
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Replicas of Bo and Sunny adorned the 2013 White House
He's the first president in more than a century without a pet - so no cute pictures of a first dog, marking another departure from tradition.
Bo and Sunny, the Portuguese water dogs, featured in several Obama Christmas photo-opportunities.
In the George W Bush White House, Barney, a Scottish terrier, once inspected presents under the tree.
Socks, the Clintons' cat, wore a Santa hat.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Spot the difference - 2014 (top) and 2017
'Bah, humbug' for the media
Under previous administrations, the president held a press conference in the briefing room in December. Trump's not likely to do that.
One administration aide told me that she thinks it's beneath him to appear in the briefing room. Instead the president talks to reporters on the south lawn, in the Oval Office or on Air Force One, places where he seems to feel comfortable.
Besides that, he's invited a smaller number of reporters to the White House to celebrate the holidays.
The party invitations have gone out, but a CNN spokesperson said they weren't going to attend because of "the president's continued attacks on freedom of the press and CNN".
That suits people who work for the president just fine.
Upon hearing the news, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, wrote: "Christmas comes early! Finally, good news from @CNN" |
Like the Simpsons before them, the Belchers are heading to the big screen. Deadline reports that 20th Century Fox is making a feature film based on its multiple Emmy Award-winning series Bob’s Burgers, currently set to debut on July 17, 2020. About the movie, Bob’s Burgers creator Loren Bouchard says:
We know the movie has to scratch every itch the fans of the show have ever had, but it also has to work for all the good people who’ve never seen the show. We also know it has to fill every inch of the screen with the colors and the sounds and the ever so slightly greasy texture of the world of Bob’s – but most of all it has to take our characters on an epic adventure. In other words, it has to be the best movie ever made. But no pressure, right?!
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Bouchard declined to say what the burger special will be for the movie, but he has other things on his mind right now. Bob’s Burgers just debuted its eighth season on Fox earlier this week; you can read our review of the premiere here. |
Gary Pinkel meets the media and the adoring public for a press conference at Mizzou Arena going deeper into his reasons for resigning his post after 15 years at Missouri as he continues to undergo treatment for non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a cancer of the blood.
We'll have approximately live updates here as they happen:
Mack Rhoades kicks us off with some prepared comments: "Our student-athletes, in typical Gary Pinkel fashion, he told them you better be in class."Pinkel says that, when Missouri stayed Friday night in Kansas City,�Jeremy Maclin came to see him at the hotel before the Chiefs flew out to Denver: "He said, 'Coach, are you OK?' Then he put his arms around me and told me he loved me."Pinkel says he watched his high school coach and Kent State Coach Don James and thought:�"They pay these guys to coach football. Does life get better than that? I like kids and coaching, for me, I've never worked a day in my life.""The way we run our program, the things we do, I want to have an impact on their lives. That's real, real important."Pinkel: "I don't think I'll ever quit coaching." Said he was yelling at the TV during the Seahawks game last night. Says his wife, Missy, calls him a "couch coach. She's going to have to put up with me now."Pinkel says you don't cure his disease, "you manage it." Also mentioned again that there are people with cancer much worse than him."When you have something like this, you just start thinking about your time. I might live another 25 years, I just don't know what will happen. You re-evaluate your priorities."Pinkel says "you live PET scan to PET scan" with this disease. Talked with family after last one Oct. 26: "This job is every minute of every day. We work 6-7 days a week 9 months out of the year. Is this the right way to spend my time?""I decided at that time I'm going to embrace the healthy times and battle the tough times."On when he told his players: "I put it off a little bit. I don't want to be a distraction."Pinkel said he planned on doing it later, but got a call from his secretary Friday afternoon telling him it was out.�"My players and coaches had to be the first to know. It was about the last thing they wanted to hear, or I wanted to tell them.""I love Mizzou. I've had coaching opportunities, but I felt we could achieve our goals here...We have our problems. We communicate, we talk, and the University of Missouri becomes better and better as we go.""Coach James always said, 'Anything you do, your players will notice. Your leadership goal is very important.' I took that very seriously.""I feel proud today we didn't keep players in even when they made mistakes. The learning experience for them is better than winning a football game."Pinkel said he asked his coaches to stay at the MATC and prepare for Tennessee: "we've got a big game this week." Lauded his staff: "The good thing about me, I'm a great judge of people. After that, I don't know if I have anything.""The toughest thing about this..." Pinkel chokes up... "is my players. I'm going to miss them. Being around them, scolding them when I have to, hugging them and touching them every day. I'm going to miss being around my players.""I told my players, 'I'm going to have your phone forever and you're going to have mine.' Call me any time.""I told somebody, 'If I'm coaching when I'm 70, shoot me.' I wasn't going to get there, but I've been coaching for a long, long time.""When you get cancer, it's so numbing. I'd been so blessed with my health. You're driving around for a week, you look at yourself in the rear-view mirror and say, 'You've got to be kidding me.' For me, it was profound. I've seen all these different people getting treatments. I've heard, coming down the road, someone saying, 'Would you rather die on a football field or on a beach?' I'd rather die on a beach.""I'm going to do something. Try to be significant in something." Says he'll talk with Rhoades about a post in the athletic department.Pinkel says he told his family and "a selection of friends" in May. That's all he told."I'm disappointed in how it came out. I don't know how it did."Pinkel says he planned on telling his staff privately Sunday, then going in and telling the team."It wasn't good. It was awful. I'm a pretty emotional guy, especially with my players. I was a wreck."Pinkel on what his players have taught him: "I've got to hang around just to be cool. Obviously I don't dance very well. We all know that.""I just love go around hugging them, grabbing them by the arm. I tried to be Coach James. I've lightened up a little bit. I think my Toledo players would agree with that. There, I was like a walking machine.""We've had a lot of success. We've battled adversity. And, at the end of the day, I feel we do the right things.""I've heard from people I've met over the years in this business, and they say some of the nicest things to me." Says his daughter has collected some of his tributes. "I'll certainly read it someday. It means a lot to me."Pinkel on his final senior day. Says "that'll be difficult." Said�Andy Hill suggested he greet the seniors on their way onto the field about 10 years ago and he's always "an emotional wreck."Pinkel on working through treatments: "I'm high-energy, man. If I don't have it, I'll find it. There's a lot of people that have it a lot worse than I do."Pinkel: "I've got to decide what I want to do. I've got to do something. If I work, I want to work a normal job. But be significant. I'll just be able to be like a normal person. I feel very peaceful."Pinkel on his successor: "How you build consistency in a program is consistency in winning. This is a very important hire. Not to put more pressure on Mack, but he knows it and he'll do a good job with it. You've got to be committed to facilities, make a financial commitment to be great.""I think we've built a really good program. Let's be great."Rhoades had some availability after the Pinkel presser: "I thought what just happened was a really great tribute. Certainly well-deserving.""It's certainly not something I wanted to do" hire a new coach, "especially when you've got a head coach that's meant so much to this university."Rhoades said he had reached out to Pinkel about something else on the bye week and "in typical fashion, he told me. My immediate reaction was shock. Sad. I was aware of his diagnosis. He reached out to me in May. Certainly didn't share it with anybody. Not my place to do that. I was sad for him. He loves coaching. We'll always want what's best for him and his family. I know he did it for the right reasons."Rhoades said that when Pinkel told him in May, "I think he wanted to still prove to me he could do the job at a high level. But I knew he was going to have to wrestle with his job and his future. But I knew he'd have to do that on his own time.""I knew that if Coach Pinkel, in his diagnosis, felt he couldn't do this job anymore, he'd tell me right away and we'd be ready. And we are."Rhoades said they're still thinking about ironing out Pinkel's role with the university: "I think he can certainly be a great asset to this institution. He's certainly got a lot of friends and relationships."Rhoades: "If Coach had it his way, we wouldn't honor him at all during his final home game. But Coach, you're not going to get it your way."On his impressions of Pinkel: "I felt like I knew a lot about him as a person. Now that I've worked with him, has it changed? I don't know that it does. He's passionate about his student-athletes and university. That might be the one thing, how much he loves this institution. This is a head coach that could have left -- several times -- but he did not."Rhoades on the next head coach: "He will know we'll all be pulling in the same direction. Not just the AD, but the university." |
Image copyright AP Image caption David Bowie died of cancer in January, aged 69.
The last five years of David Bowie's life will be examined in a new BBC documentary, to be screened on the first anniversary of his death.
The film will focus on the star's final two albums, The Next Day and Blackstar, alongside the stage musical Lazarus, which recently opened in London.
It will be directed by Francis Whately as a follow-up to his acclaimed 2013 documentary, David Bowie: Five Years.
The film will feature new interviews and unseen footage, the BBC said.
The BBC Two documentary will be part of a BBC season marking the anniversary of Bowie's death from cancer in January 2016.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Tony Visconti speaks about Bowie's swansong in a clip from David Bowie: The Last Five Years
An unreleased a capella vocal Bowie recorded for Lazarus will form part of the film, called David Bowie: The Last Five Years.
Among the contributors are Bowie's long-time producer Tony Visconti and the musicians who played on The Next Day and Blackstar, who will recreate some of the star's final studio sessions.
"I always hoped that I would make another film about Bowie as we were only able to scratch the surface in the first film, but I just didn't expect it to be this soon," Whateley said.
"However, looking at Bowie's extraordinary creativity during the last five years of his life has allowed me to re-examine his life's work and move beyond the simplistic view that his career was simply predicated on change - Bowie the chameleon.
"Instead, I would like to show how the changes were often superficial, but the core themes in his work were entirely consistent - alienation, mortality and fame."
The season will also see BBC Four broadcasting Bowie at the BBC, a compilation of rarely-seen archive of the star's performances and interviews at the BBC, spanning more than 40 years.
Radio 2 will dedicate an entire documentary to the star's seminal hit Life On Mars, while 6 Music will mark what would have been Bowie's 70th birthday on Sunday 8 January with a day of special programming.
Follow us on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, on Instagram at bbcnewsents, or if you have a story suggestion email [email protected]. |
Not everyone who works for the New York Giants is losing sleep over Victor Cruz.
While Giants co-owner Steve Tisch told reporters this week he's bracing for suitors to make an offer for the restricted free-agent wide receiver, coach Tom Coughlin told Bart Hubbuch of the New York Post on Wednesday that he doesn't see it happening.
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The odds are in Coughlin's favor. After New York slapped Cruz with a first-round tender, any takers must be willing to hand the Giants their top draft pick along with paying Cruz a mountain of cash. The restricted free-agent market is historically silent because the cost is outrageous.
Cruz would stand to make roughly $6 million per season on the open market, judging by the deals netted by top slot men Wes Welker and Danny Amendola. The Giants also have to think about re-signing Hakeem Nicks after next season, but the company line on Cruz is that a long-term contract remains a priority.
Coughlin admitted earlier this month that Cruz's contract situation is "frustrating," but the Giants aren't a team that overpays their players or allows them to bully the front office. If someone offers Cruz the moon, Coughlin can't stop them. Barring the unusual, that isn't about to happen.
Follow Marc Sessler on Twitter @MarcSesslerNFL. |
By Thomas Peace
2014 has begun and it looks like another banner year for historical commemoration. The government of Canada has been clear: we’re now on the road to commemorating Confederation. But as the new year begins, the metaphorical road we’re headed down better resembles the roads at the time of Confederation than anything we’re familiar with today (Montreal and Saskatoon excluded). There’s a rocky ride ahead! The past and its uses remain contested ground as Canada’s history and heritage landscape continues to undergo significant, and potentially lasting, change. However, rather than more of the same, the publication of the large-scale survey Canadians and Their Pasts and Canadian Heritage’s recently launched ‘Have your Say’ questionnaire promise that in 2014 the debates of the past few years may take on new dynamics.
For those of us with an interest in the past, 2014 came in like a lion. In the three short weeks that have passed, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has set out across the country alongside a handful of cabinet colleagues to consult Canadians about Confederation’s upcoming sesquicentennial. At the same time, news reached the public that the expected purge of government libraries has begun in earnest (see here, here, and today’s alarming news about the main library at Health Canada). TVO’s The Agenda with Steve Paiken probed the question of “Does History Matter?” And Historica launched a new set of Heritage Minutes related to Confederation (see Christopher Moore’s blog for some reflection). These events, of course, follow upon a year of similarly high profile events related to Canadians’ understanding of the past. December 2013 alone saw the Canadian Museum of Civilization transformed into the Canadian Museum of History, and the announcement that changes at Canadian Heritage will end funding to the influential Historical Thinking Project.
Generally, debate over these events has enriched our understanding of Canada’s past and how it is constructed (or, perhaps better put, deconstructed). Time and time again, though, I am struck by how rarely interventions to these subjects engage research about the role of the past in our everyday lives. Usually, reference is made to how well Canadians have responded to Historica’s polling as a proxy for engagement with the past and historical literacy (Canadians stink, it seems, at remembering names, dates and places). These types of quizzes, though provocative and useful, are problematic not only because they reflect a bias towards certain types of remembering and performance, but also because they assume there is a single meaningful narrative of Canadian history and that it should be readily accessible to Canadians at all times.
Thankfully, we now have a much more contextual dataset with which we can assess how Canadians interact with the past. Late last year, the results of the Canadians and their Pasts project were finally published in book form, giving us – for the first time – a deep image of historical consciousness in Canada. The conclusions from this study help us to understand the current debate over public commemoration, access to information and the broader politicization of the past.
Canadians and Their Pasts is an ambitious project conducted by seven prominent Canadian historians (Margaret Conrad, Kadriye Ercikan, Gerald Friesen, Jocelyn Létourneau, Delphin Muise, David Northrup and Peter Seixas). Building on similar studies in Europe, the United States, and Australia, the authors surveyed 3,419 Canadians about their interest in the past, activities they engaged in related to the past, their understanding of the past, and how they determine the authority of sources that inform their understanding of the past. With such a broad array of questions, their data and conclusions are important for how we frame current debates around history, heritage and commemoration.
One of their most important conclusions is that the past continues to matter for most Canadians. Picking up on the problems with surveys that emphasize names, dates and places, the study’s authors write: “While much-publicized surveys have reported that more than half [of the country’s population] cannot name Canada’s first Prime Minister or the date when women became eligible to vote in federal elections, they fail to capture the nature of citizen interest in and engagement with the past” (4-5). In fact, if we move beyond the more trivial right/wrong approach to historical knowledge and focus more on how Canadians approach the past, the numbers about broader historical engagement are much more encouraging. Generalizing from their data, the authors suggest:
more than fifteen million adult Canadians are keeping something special to pass on to others, more than ten million are working on collections related to the past, and a like number had visited places from a family past in the previous year. Even more surprising, perhaps, is that nearly half of those who responded to the survey reported that they had recently visited a museum or historic site. (8)
For those of us working in universities, colleges and museums Canadians and Their Pasts also reports positive news. The authors demonstrate that nearly half their respondents took a history course after high school and over 4/5ths engaged with some form of public history in the last year. Although the study points to important differences between Canadians based on education, mobility, region and identity (the findings that Quebecers are generally less interested in the past is particularly surprising), these numbers suggest that, for many Canadians, the past matters.
This begs the questions: If the past matters for so many Canadians, why is the public’s historical literacy a subject of such scrutiny in the media and among politicians? Why can’t Canadians identify Sir John A. Macdonald as the country’s first Prime Minister?
The answer, based on these results, I think, is that national history isn’t as important for Canadians as other aspects of the past. To be clear, I am not saying that Canada’s past isn’t important (Canadians and Their Pasts suggests it is), but rather much like earlier studies conducted in Europe, the United States, and Australia, the history of the family and local community seems to be much more important to the average Canadian than the overarching national historical narrative.
This conclusion helps explain why the Conservative government’s push to commemorate the War of 1812 more-or-less flopped in engaging Canadians with this chapter in Canada’s history and why without a little pick-me-up Sir John A Day (whose popular support rests at about 23%) will likely fail too.
Put simply, these types of commemoration don’t resonate with the public’s sense of the present or the public’s sense of the past. In his analysis Nik Nanos, who conducted the polling upon which these conclusions are drawn, told the CBC that “What’s interesting is that things that affect the day-to-day lives of Canadians, such as the Charter, such as women getting the vote, are actually more likely to have a higher intensity of support.” Nanos’s conclusions about the present are echoed by the authors of Canadians and Their Pasts.
What’s more, the various targets of heavy Conservative cutbacks like Library and Archives Canada, Parks Canada and the CBC seem to be the very places where surveyed Canadians might want to see more engagement with the past. The Canadians and Their Pasts survey demonstrates that looking at old photographs (albeit often family photos, rather than archival photos) and watching history-based television and film programming are two key ways in which Canadians engage with the past. If the government were really concerned about how Canadians engage with national history, it seems that developing history-related programming at these institutions might be a place to start. The restoration of the hastily cut National Archival Development Program, which supported local museums and archives is a good start.
Having written all of this, the culture of commemoration may be changing. Although we remain three years away from celebrating Canada’s 150th anniversary, the government has recently launched a ‘Have your Say’ questionnaire in order to hear what Canadians are interested in celebrating, implying that they are open to suggestions about how to celebrate in 2017. This type of civic engagement promises that we might see commemorative events that better reflect the interests of the country and perhaps respond more closely to what we now know about how Canadians engage with the past.
A lot will have to change, though, to demonstrate that the government is genuine in its attempts to listen to the public. CBC’s Kady O’Malley observed that in previous feedback sessions regarding the 150th logo, citizen-based focus groups pointed the government towards themes of “celebration, pride, party, multiculturalism and immigration, diversity, history, youth and unity.” Despite receiving this feedback, the Canada 150 website, operated by Canadian Heritage, continues to claim that the upcoming celebration will be a time to “celebrate and reflect on Canadian patriotism, sacrifice and commitment to service, the value of personal responsibility, hard work and family, national stability, the rights and duties of citizenship, and fairness and inclusiveness.” The government seems to be moving one way by emphasizing values traditionally associated with the Conservative party despite being advised by the public to continue promoting values with which Canadians have been associated for at least 40 years.
Perhaps more telling, though, about the Conservatives’ unwillingness to learn from criticism and public consultation is the continued absence of the repatriation of the Constitution and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms from their list of “milestones” on the road to Confederation. Despite being cited as the historical event about which the pubic is most interested in commemorating, the Charter (whose 30th and 35th anniversary bookends the Conservatives’ planned commemorations) remains conspicuously absent from the upcoming celebrations. In this case, public interest seems no match against a partisan commemoration of Canada’s past that seeks to downplay Liberal-party contributions to the country in favour of more Conservative-party driven influences and values. Although these tactics may share similarities with those of previous Liberal governments, the current government’s willingness to ignore popular perspectives on the past is unique.
Despite all of this, with the publication of Canadians and Their Pasts, historians, policy makers and producers in the media are now better equipped to explore the relatively hot topic of Canadian history and public engagement. The timing couldn’t be better. As Canada and Canadians begin working our way to the 150th anniversary of Canada’s Confederation, we have a more robust tool box with which to understand how Canadians interact with this country’s past. Knowing what Canadians see as important and how they interact with primary and secondary sources is useful in both creating forums where we can learn from local experts and also teach some of the broader themes in Canada’s past. The study presents an opportunity for professionals working in history-related fields to create environments that encourage thinking historically about Canada’s past.
The ‘Have your Say’ questionnaire is a good place to start and the Conservative government should be commended for beginning this program. Although its open-ended nature and the fact that Canadians can make multiple submissions may reduce its statistical value, the data that it generates (both in responses and metadata) will be useful in helping us understand the moments in Canada’s past that are most significant for Canadians. The questionnaire promises to be a useful legacy of the 2017 commemorations. Historians should push to ensure that the results and metadata from this project are made easily accessible to the public as soon as the questionnaire is complete.
When the work of Canadians and Their Pasts and surveys like ‘Have your Say’ are brought alongside each other, Canadians and historians will be equipped with more data with which to discuss and evaluate how Canadians engage with history and the past. 2014 promises to be an exciting year for those of us interested in public engagement with Canada’s past.
Thomas Peace is a Harrison McCain Visiting Professor in the Department of History and Classics at Acadia University and co-editor of ActiveHistory.ca. |
When Sarah met her husband in London four years ago, she couldn't have been happier. He was an old friend of her brother, knew of her difficult past and promised her a brighter future. He also assured her they would sort out her immigration status. She was an undocumented immigrant from Algeria, but he was a British citizen.
For a while they were happy, but then she became pregnant and everything changed. Her husband's behaviour became angry and controlling. Several months into her pregnancy he threw a hoover at her. After the birth of their son, things got worse. She wasn't allowed to speak to anyone other than her mother and sister. When she fell pregnant for a second time she was attacked again. This time she decided to leave, but was terrified her husband would find her and take her son away, as he had threatened to do many times.
Desperate to find somewhere to escape to, Sarah approached a number of refuges, but because of her immigration status she was turned away from every one.
This is not a lone case. Most women's refuges rely on the payment of housing benefit to cover the rent of any room offered to a victim of domestic violence. For those fleeing abuse who are not entitled to live in the UK - or who have a condition to their visa meaning they have no recourse to public funds - there is often no safe place for them to turn.
"I told Sarah to go to social services and explain her situation because I thought they'd be able to help," her sister, Meriem, says.
"Instead they told her the best thing to do was to leave her son in their care and for her to go back to Algeria. She was on the phone to me crying and screaming saying she couldn't leave her child.
"The only option was for her to come to my house in Manchester. Her husband knew my address, so she was scared he would try to snatch the baby but there was nowhere else to go. I have a disabled husband and three children myself, so we were all worried. I wanted my sister and my family to be safe but everyone we turned to told us they couldn't help."
One organisation which finally did help Sarah was Safety4Sisters, a small group of Manchester-based feminist and anti-racist activists who support women who have survived gender violence. One of the group's directors, Sandhya Sharma, says undocumented women who suffer domestic violence occupy one of the most marginalised positions in terms of public opinion, media coverage and community or state support.
Safety4Sisters
"They are literally caught between multiple and intersecting structures of oppression - patriarchal family set ups and discriminatory immigration law," she says. "They are faced with punitive and draconian state practices and as a result have no safety net, no means to survive and are left vulnerable to further abuse."
In 2012, after a campaign led by women's charity Southall Black Sisters, the government launched what was supposed to be a long-term solution for women in this situation. The destitution domestic violence concession (DDV) provides immediate funding for temporary accommodation for anyone on a spousal visa who experiences abuse. They can then apply for indefinite leave to remain and will be granted leave for three months while the application is processed.
But this doesn't apply to those on student, work or visit visas - or those who are undocumented. Even those who can benefit from the DDV are often unaware of it or do not understand the rules. Many women have limited knowledge of the support available to them or how to access it. Some are dependent on abusive partners who intentionally misinform them and threaten them with deportation or losing custody of their children. This leads to many being fearful of any state intervention.
Southall Black Sisters
Yasmine left Iraq to join her British husband in the UK in 2014, but just two weeks after she arrived he began abusing her.
"He is a psychiatrist and would use mental and physical abuse," she says. "One day he assaulted me very badly. He was boxing me in the head and hitting me against the wall. I was bleeding. I managed to call my friend as it was happening so she could hear it, and thankfully she called the police. He was arrested and I was taken to hospital and referred to victim support."
Because she had a spousal visa she was rightly told she had 30 days to apply for indefinite leave to remain and that she would need to provide evidence of her abuse. But when she contacted the police and the hospital they both told her it would take 40 days to produce the evidence she needed. It was only when she sought the help of Safety4Sisters that she managed to get the documents she required before the deadline passed. They were also able to advise her of the implications of DDV and the financial support she was entitled to, as until then she had no idea that she was able to apply for housing benefit.
Safety4Sisters
According to Women's Aid, the period when a woman is planning or making her exit from an abusive relationship is often the most dangerous, yet a report by the organisation in 2014 showed that 389 women with no recourse to public funds were turned away from refuges that year alone.
"Even if a woman has no recourse to public funds, she should always be able to access a refuge if she needs it," chief executive Polly Neate says. "Her economic status should not infringe on one of her basic human rights – to live a life free from violence and abuse. Refuges are actually forced to turn some women away due to their lack of recourse, despite knowing that that they are fleeing for their lives." |
Veteran Finnish game developer Antti Kallioinen passed away suddenly at the age of 42 on February 24, 2016.
The announcement was made by today by Outland and Resogun developer, Housemarque - a studio Kallioinen called home at various points in his career.
Kallioninen’s game development journey started in 1994, when he began working as a background graphics artist on one of the first internationally published games to come out of Finland, Elfmania.
The developer then joined Housemarque to help create PC title Alien Incident, before leaving to work abroad for over a decade. In his time overseas Kallioinen plied his trade at UK outfit Scavenger, and even co-founded his own studios: Church of Electronic Entertainment and Dreams Interactive.
After eventually making his way back to Finland, Kallioinen spent six years at another one of his personal ventures, social game developer Chat Republic, before linking back up with Housemarque.
At the time of his death Kallioinen was finalizing the company’s Dead Nation spiritual successor, Alienation, as the team's art lead. |
Academy Award-winning actor Denzel Washington says you "can't blame the system" when it comes to black incarceration, but instead we should look at the home first, specifically the epidemic of fatherlessness in the African American community.
"If a young man doesn't have a father figure, he'll go find a father figure," stated Washington.
Speaking to reporters at the New York premiere for his new film, "Roman J. Israel, Esq.," Washington explained that the film centering around a Los Angeles criminal court system has not made him more cynical about the "prison-industrial complex."
"It starts at the home," said the Oscar winner. "It starts at home."
"It starts with how you raise your children," he expounded. "If a young man doesn't have a father figure, he'll go find a father figure."
"So you know I can't blame the system. It's unfortunate that we make such easy work for them," Washington continued.
The actor got personal, discussing how he saw the fatherlessness epidemic affect those around him:
"I grew up with guys who did decades [in prison], and it had as much to do with their fathers not being in their lives as it did to do with any system," said the 62-year-old. "Now I was doing just as much as they were, but they went further."
"I just didn't get caught, but they kept going down that road and then they were in the hands of the system," he said. "But it's about the formative years. You're not born a criminal." |
The Saphonian turbine is more efficient, quieter and safer for birds, its makers claim. Could it represent the future of wind energy?
Innovation always pushes boundaries, but what about pushing the laws of physics? Tunisian start-up Saphon Energy claims it can do exactly that with the Saphonian, a bladeless turbine that harvests more energy from the wind than previously thought possible.
The makers claim that the turbine exceeds Betz’ Law, which caps the amount of kinetic energy that a turbine can harvest at 59.3% of the wind’s total energy.
“The basic idea is that you can’t take all the energy out, because the air would stop moving”, says Ken Caldeira, a climate scientist at the Carnegie Institution for Science.
The Saphonian replaces the blades and rotor with a concave disk. The wind pushes on it in a “back-and-forth 3D knot motion”, explains Hassine Labaied, Saphon’s CEO. The kinetic energy of the wind is first converted to mechanical energy via pistons (connected to the disk), then to hydraulic energy, and then to electricity. Labaied claims to have “very promising results”, showing the turbine is 2.3 times more efficient than a bladed turbine – a level of efficiency that would put it above Betz’ limit.
Related Article: Rural Alaska Shows us the Way for Wind Energy Installations
But not everyone is convinced. Caldeira described the claim as “wacky”. The company plans to address such skepticisms in a detailed demonstration that will be published later in the year.
Whether or not the questions over the turbine’s efficiency are resolved, other advantages it offers are undisputed. It’s quieter than standard turbines, and doesn’t pose a threat to birds.
But its cutting edge will likely be its lower cost. Saphon expects total investment costs to be 30-45% below that of current turbines, since the most expensive parts – the blades and the gearbox – have been replaced with less expensive plastics, fabrics and a hydraulic motor.
That’s an advantage that even Caldeira would be willing to embrace. “The efficiency of extraction is not the issue right now”, he says: “It’s really if you can do it cheaper.”
By. John Eischeid |
The alleged crime ? - voting against a Senate bill that would have established English as the official language of the United States.did not reveal the names of the four senators. But a May 20, 2009 Huffington Post story by Military Religious Freedom Foundation Senior Researcher Chris Rodda does: Democratic Party senators Dodd, Biden, Clinton, and Obama.
It was not the first time that Jim Ammerman has suggested or called for the execution of top US government leaders from the Democratic Party. Unlike common stereotypes of those who promote such incendiary views, Jim Ammerman is neither a right wing talk show host or on the militia movement fringe.
[below: in widely broadcast 1997 video, E.H. "Jim" Ammerman claims Jewish bankers control the US economy and calls for execution of then-president Bill Clinton]
Through his Chaplaincy of Full Gospel Churches, retired Colonel "Jim"Ammerman presides over more than 270 active duty military chaplains, perhaps 7-8 percent of the active duty chaplain force.
Ammerman says he was a friend to the late General William Westmoreland, claims both Texas megachurch pastor John Hagee and Word of Faith televangelist Kenneth Copeland as current friends and states that his agency works with three and four star generals and has allies at the highest levels of the Pentagon as well as in the US Congress and Senate.
The June 20, 2009 Newsweek story by journalist Kathryn Joyce, "Christian Soldiers: The growing controversy over military chaplains using the armed forces to spread the Word", explored Jim Ammerman's involvement in a recently exposed scheme to distribute native-language Bibles in Iraq as well as the controversy surrounding reports from a nonprofit watchdog group, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, of an extensive pattern of illegal and sometimes abusive Christian fundamentalist religious proselytizing in the United States Military. Founded by Air Force academy graduate and Reagan Administration lawyer "Mikey" Weinstein, MRFF was at the center of a May 2009 story, about the spread of fundamentalism in the US military, published in Harpers Magazine.
Ammerman's activities in the civilian sphere are equally notable:
From the late 1990's and up into the 2008 presidential election, Retired Colonel Jim Ammerman has engaged in a pattern of anti-government agitation and, along with one of his top chaplains noted in the Newsweek story, James F. Linzey, has gone on national speaking tours to promote a class of New World Order and Federal Reserve conspiracy theory which has been widely credited with helping inspire acts of right wing violence and also the rise of the militia movement in the 1990's. But these conspiracy narratives are not secular; they are interwoven with apocalyptic Biblical narratives and presented as "Bible prophecy."
[below: VHS cassette box packaging from Jim Ammerman/Prophecy Club video "Immanent Military Takeover of the United States II"]]
James F. Linzey's conspiracy theories, which Major Linzey promoted in 2005 during a Prophecy Club speaking tour and through appearances on Christian media venues in 2005 and 2006, had an overtly racialist, anti-immigrant slant and both Ammerman and Linzey have each publicized a conspiracy theory, long ago debunked, claiming that foreign Jewish banking concerns, including "The Rothschilds", control the American economy through the Federal Reserve. The Anti-Defamation League identifies that class of conspiracy theory as A Classic Anti-Semitic Myth." Holocaust Museum shooter James W. von Brunn promoted that particular conspiracy theory in his writings.
Experts who study the relationship between conspiracy theory and right wing violence, such as Political Research Associates Senior Analyst Chip Berlet, suggest such conspiracy theory feeds a cultural climate that can provoke acts of violence against targeted, demonized groups in society.
Responding to transcripts of several of James Linzey's 2005 radio appearances, Chip Berlet stated,
"Linzey's description of the alleged NWO conspiracy is tainted by historic antisemitic claims and encourages the scapegoating of Jews as part of a global plot. Similar claims made in the 1990s helped mobilize the armed citizens militia movements and provided the justification for some to prepare for conflict which led to violent confrontations with government agents.
Linzey has adopted wholesale the standard Illuminati/Freemason conspiracy theory about the NWO featured by Patriot groups such as the John Birch Society. Linzey however also echoes antisemitic claims such as those found in the notorious hoax document the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, where Jews are named as the ultimate ringleaders. When Linzey talks about the "world bankers" he is using language that is readily recognized by antisemites as meaning "Jewish Bankers." "
[below: in 2005 Prophecy Club-distributed video, James F. Linzey claims "our new would-be world rulers, global banking, are trying to change our whole racial order, our whole social order, our whole political order, and our whole religious order."]
For James F. Linzey, illegal immigrants also appeared to be centrally in the crosshairs. Linzey served as the head command chaplain for the Operation Iraqi Freedom troop mobilization and can be seen in photographs shaking hands with Army head Pete Geren and Navy Admiral Mike Mullen.
During an April 10, 2005 radio show appearance Linzey told listening audiences that,
" I want Americans, I want everybody listening, to go out and buy 5 weapons and 5,000 bullets - for your own protection, for self defense. Because I believe that foreign soldiers will come to our houses, to rape our wives and teenage daughters and kill the men right in front of them - and then the women will bear children of an ethnic stock different from what they are...
...this whole illegal immigration thing is a ploy. It's done deliberately. It's not done by accident. This is not a matter of `Oh, they're coming over the border because they can't get a job in Mexico.' - NO. The world bankers did the same thing to Mexico that they are now doing to America. That's why they're coming up here. Now they want to make us the same ethnic group through intermarriage, and rape, and killing the caucasians." [more transcripts from James F. Linzey radio broadcasts]
[video, below: In April 10, 2005 radio broadcast James F. Linzey claims Chinese troops are training an army of Mexican and illegal aliens who will kill millions of caucasian men and rape caucasian women and teenagers, thus altering the racial makeup of America.]
In a videotaped appearance before a live audience, also from 2005, James Linzey declared,
"Remember, the demons believe in Jesus Christ. They believe in the truth -- see that's Jesus Christ -- and they tremble. And so the demons inside these greedy world bankers are trembling that Americans would come to find the truth about what they're all about. They are as scared as little tiny mice running up and down the curtains in the cathedrals. Now, they're in the cathedrals. They're in the churches. They're controlling pulpits. That's how mainstream Protestantism has declined. Because they invaded the churches, and the mainstream Protestant churches stopped hearing the truth. So they want to squelch the truth by taking over the church. Now, this is not in my notes, but I was inspired by God because these are demonic, dastardly creatures from the pit of hell, and we need to stomp them out."
[Below: James F. Linzey calls for Christians to "stomp out" the "greedy world bankers" Linzey claims control America and Christian denominational churches.]
Both Jim Ammerman and James Linzey have promoted dire conspiracy theories warning that a United Nations takeover of the United States, with the help of foreign troops hidden in national forests and military bases, is imminent. In a January, 1997 talk that was videotaped and broadcast nationally over scores of radio and TV stations, and subsequently cited as evidence in a subsequent Pentagon review of Jim Ammerman's activities, the military chaplain endorser called for the execution of then-president Bill Clinton, for alleged treason.
[below: Jim Ammerman tells his audience, "most of our freedoms are gone. We're basically operating in a police state... martial law has not yet been declared but it could be at any time... we already have more foreign troops, and I'll give you the numbers, in this land, in the 48 states, than we have our own military left here that's not been shipped somewhere overseas. So the takeover could happen at any given hour... but the conspiracy began way back in eons of time ago when, up in heaven, there was an archangel named Lucifer. And he decided that he was going to try and effect a coup."]
President Clinton had signed a secret edict, claimed Ammerman, which in the event of a national emergency would pass control of the government over to the Secretary General of the United Nations. Bill Clinton had also established himself as a dictator, established "nature worship" as the national religion, outlawed Christian churches, established secret FEMA detention centers and, in league with the United Nations, hidden up to 1.3 million Chinese, Russian, German, and UN troops in National Forests and on domestic military bases.
[Below: Retired Colonel Jim Ammerman declares existence of up to 1.3 million foreign troops hidden in US National Parks and on military bases.
During the talk, Ammerman stated that he had been in communication with US military commanders "at the battalion level and above" who were considering taking action against "domestic enemies." Ammerman also suggested his chaplains functioned as a private intelligence network which he could use to influence foreign policy outcomes.
Jim Ammerman gave the January 1997 speech during the second of two national tours, in 1996 and 1997, during which Retired Colonel Ammerman, introduced to his audiences as having "top level [US government] security clearance" and, armed with a Powerpoint presentation filled with dubious and wholly invented bullet-points, told audiences, at paid speaking engagements, that the United States government was imminently ready to institute a police state and throw dissidents into concentration camps.
The context was explicitly religious. The "imminent military takeover" Ammerman warned his audiences of would be the last stage in the establishment of a one-world government, a satanic New World Order under the Antichrist.
Behind the conspiracy, which ultimately traced back to Lucifer's "coup plot" against God according to Ammerman, were Illuminati and Jewish bankers who, through control of the US Federal Reserve, ruled the American economy. Ammerman claimed those same bankers, led by the Rothschild banking family, also controlled the economies of the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, and France.
Bill Clinton secretly took orders from Hillary Clinton, declared Ammerman, because she outranked him in the Illuminati. The Illuminati organization had been created specifically to destroy America's freedom and, in league with "world bankers" who were almost exclusively Jewish, Illuminati were working to financially enslave and bankrupt the US middle class.
Jim Ammerman gave his presentations under the auspices of an industrial-scale antigovernment agitation effort run by a Topeka, Kansas Christian ministry called The Prophecy Club which organized seditious public presentations, videotaped and sold in VHS cassette format and also nationally broadcast by Prophecy Club affiliate stations numbering, at the Club's height in the late 1990's, over eighty radio stations and twenty five TV stations with a theoretical broadcast reach of roughly ten percent of the American population.
At its peak, Prophecy Club speakers addressed audiences in forty US cities across America each month. Many Prophecy Club speakers claimed to have US military or government experience, high level security clearances, and insider's knowledge of sinister government plots. Their conspiracy theories narratives were surprisingly uniform and conveyed a clear message; the government was the enemy.
Some of the Prophecy Club's speakers, such as Texe Marrs, were unabashedly anti-Semitic. One, Fritz Springmeier, is a white supremacist who was convicted in 2003 of bank robbery and can be seen in a Prophecy Club videos [1, 2] viewable on Google Video and Youtube, giving presentations on the "Bloodlines of the Illuminati" and addressing an audience with the message that reptilian alien/human hybrids can be identified by the shape of their eyes. Springmeier, author of an influential conspiracy theory book "The Thirteen Bloodlines of The Illuminati", has helped spawn an entire subclass of conspiracy theory now currently being mainstreamed through a hit pulp fiction series, the "Band of Brothers" books written by GodTV co-founder Wendy Alec.
The Prophecy Club has been almost wholly neglected by contemporary historians but from its inception in 1993 through its heyday in the late 1990's and into the current decade the club has retailed to audiences across America the sort of far-right, anti-government New World Order and Federal Reserve conspiracy theories widely credited with helping to inspire the rise of the white supremacist and anti-government militia movements during the 1990's. According to some reports Ammerman's Prophecy Club videos circulated widely during the late 1990's among the burgeoning militia movement.
Kansas court records appear to indicate that Scott Roeder, accused of murdering Kansas abortion doctor James Tiller, worked for The Prophecy Club during the late 1990's when Jim Ammerman was doing speaking tours with the ministry.
As a subsequent Pentagon investigation into the retired Colonel's 1997 public speaking activities revealed, Jim Ammerman had stated, in a January 7, 1997 radio broadcast, that foreign troops were being trained at Fort Hood, in Texas. At dawn on the Fourth of July, 1997, two militia movement members were arrested, outside of Fort Hood, armed with 1600 rounds of ammunition, ready to attack the foreign troops they believed were stationed at the base.
In a September 25, 1997 letter from the office of Assistant Secretary of Defense Normand G. Lezy, concerning Ammerman's Prophecy Club tours and radio show appearances, Lezy ordered a review of the status of Jim Ammerman's chaplain endorsement agency. In the letter, Lezy wrote that "[o]f specific concern is the perception created by Mr. E.H. Jim Ammerman... that:
a. Chaplaincy Full Gospel Churches chaplains, commissioned in the Military Services, may be used and/or solicited to be used as agents to collect and convey military intelligence information for Mr. Ammerman's political purposes."
Lezy's letter also cited "Mr. Ammerman's encouragement to to affiliate with organizations considered prohibited to military personnel for reasons of their supremacist viewpoints, promoting intolerance, and being detrimental to the good order, discipline or mission accomplishment..."
The third issue of concern was "Mr. Ammerman's videotape presentation 'The Immanent Military Takeover of the USA' and his audiotaped NewsWatch radio interviews in which there is the suggestion of a military overthrow of the United States government."
During the current decade conspiracy theories, wrapped in a veneer of Biblical prophecy, alleging that "Illuminati" and "world bankers" control the US and world economy and are scheming to set up a satanic "New World Order" police-state system, have been globalized and are now distributed by Christian media over broadcast networks that can reach hundreds of millions worldwide.
San Antonio Cornerstone Church pastor John Hagee, criticized during the 2008 election when apparently anti-Jewish comments by the pastor surfaced after Hagee had endorsed GOP presidential hopeful John McCain, Jr., had by the middle of the current decade achieved a broadcast capability which could reach into the homes of up to 100 million families worldwide.
As with Jim Ammerman and James F. Linzey, Hagee has promoted, wrapped in a pretense of "Bible Prophecy", New World Order and Federal Reserve conspiracy theories which identify the Rothschild banking family as the chief foreign financial power controlling the US economy and scheming to undermine American patriotism and bankrupt the middle class by devaluing the dollar.
[Below: short documentary video explores similarity between WW2-era Nazi anti-Jewish propaganda and claims made by Pastor John Hagee, during a sermon Hagee gave in 2003]
GodTV, which broadcasts from Jerusalem and claims its networks can reach several hundred million worldwide, has recently aired a series featuring New World Order Federal Reserve conspiracy theorists including Gary Kah and Paul McCguire. Kah's list of Jewish banking concerns he claims control the US economy is extremely similar to the lists cited by Jim Ammerman and James Linzey.
Such conspiracy theories have diffused widely through American society. A search of YouTube videos using the terms "New World Order" and "Obama" produces over 80,000* results, many of which are videos claiming President Obama is part of an alleged, grand New World Order conspiracy.
Fused with Christian supremacist narratives claiming America was founded as an explicitly Christian nation, New World Order conspiracy narratives have permeated American government and politics, and the United States military. Because the theories are disguised as Biblical prophecy they can be spread readily, to little notice from secular society.
Last August 9, 2008 during a sermon at the Sioux Falls, South Dakota Cornerstone Church Jim Ammerman declared that Barack Obama was secretly a Muslim and predicted that if the Illinois Senator won the election, "we won't have a president very long" because Muslims would try to murder the new president - for betraying Allah. If candidate Obama chose Hillary Clinton as his vice presidential running mate and won the election, pastor Ammerman continued, Bill Clinton would arrange for Obama to be killed because "[Bill] wants back in the White House." *note: the number I originally cited was "over 90,000". That was incorrect - the number should have read "over 80,000" |
Published online 29 March 2009 | Nature | doi:10.1038/458561a
News
Ant colonies could be key to advances in biofuels and antibiotics.
Studies of bacteria on leaf-cutting ants could yield new antibiotics. M. MOFFETT/FLPA
In a mutually beneficial symbiosis, leaf-cutting ants cultivate fungus gardens, providing both a safe home for the fungi and a food source for the ants. But this 50-million-year-old relationship also includes microbes that new research shows could help speed the quest to develop better antibiotics and biofuels.
Ten years ago, Cameron Currie, a microbial ecologist then at the University of Toronto in Ontario, Canada, discovered that leaf-cutting ants carry colonies of actinomycete bacteria on their bodies (C. R. Currie et al. Nature 398, 701–704; 1999). The bacteria churn out an antibiotic that protects the ants' fungal crops from associated parasitic fungi (such as Escovopsis). On 29 March, Currie, Jon Clardy at the Harvard Medical School in Boston and their colleagues reported that they had isolated and purified one of these antifungals, which they named dentigerumycin, and that it is a chemical that has never been previously reported (D.-C. Oh et al. Nature Chem. Bio. doi: 10.1038/nchembio.159; 2009). The antifungal slowed the growth of a drug-resistant strain of the fungus Candida albicans, which causes yeast infections in people.
“These ants are walking pharmaceutical factories.”
Because distinct ant species cultivate different fungal crops, which in turn fall prey to specialized parasites, researchers hope that they will learn how to make better antibiotics by studying how the bacteria have adapted to fight the parasite in an ancient evolutionary arms race. "These ants are walking pharmaceutical factories," says Currie, now at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
That's not the end to the possible applications. The ant colonies are also miniature biofuel reactors, Currie reported on 25 March at the Genomics of Energy & Environment meeting at the Joint Genome Institute in Walnut Creek, California. Each year, ants from a single colony harvest up to 400 kilograms of leaves to feed their fungal partners. But no one has worked out how the fungi digest the leaves, because samples of fungus grown in petri dishes can't break down cellulose, a tough molecule found in plant cells. Researchers are keenly interested in better ways to break down cellulose, because it might allow them to make more efficient biofuels than those made from sugary foods, such as maize (corn).
So Currie and his colleagues sequenced small segments of DNA from bacteria and other organisms living in fungus gardens in three Panamanian leaf-cutting ant colonies. They then compared the DNA against databases to identify what species were living in the fungus gardens, and what genes they contained.
This 'metagenomics' approach found that there are many species of bacteria in the fungus gardens that are capable of breaking down cellulose. The team also detected the genetic signatures of fungal enzymes that can break down cellulose, which raises the question of why the fungi can't break down cellulose in the laboratory.
Currie suggests that the newfound bacterial and fungal enzymes might be efficient at digesting cellulose because they have evolved for centuries along with the ant-fungal symbiosis. This could mean that the fungus can only break down cellulose in its natural context, or that the enzymes Currie detected are brought into the colony from outside. "The idea is that the ants' long evolutionary history may help us in our own attempts to break down plant biomass," he says.
Other researchers call Currie's findings interesting, but say they wanted to see a more thorough analysis of the data. "It's interesting that he found these fungal enzymes in the gardens that he didn't expect [based on] what the fungus was capable of doing by itself," says John Taylor, a mycologist at the University of California, Berkeley.
Taylor says that Currie's continued scrutiny of the lives of ants provides insights into the web of interactions necessary for the survival of any single species. "I think the coolest thing about this is that you start with one organism, and then you find more and more organisms involved in the relationship," he says. It may take a village to raise a child; it seems it also takes a village to break down cellulose.
Visit http://tinyurl.com/ddh8o3 to see Cameron Currie discuss his research. |
Perhaps a game of job title bingo?
By Tom de Castella
The economic gloom means a squeeze on salaries. But employers may try to keep staff on side with beefed-up job titles by way of compensation. Instead of "what do you do?" today this question may be phrased in a subtly different form: "what's your job title?" The answer may be as clear as mud, for 21st Century job titles can be a verbal minefield. Unpaid overtime repaid with a new title Job title inflation is everywhere. Last week the Plain English Campaign received a local authority job advert from a member of the public for a "person-centred transition facilitator". "We debated for hours what this means. It might be a social worker dealing with disabled children?" says a spokesman. Other examples from its files include ambient replenishment controller and regional head of services, infrastructure and procurement. Also known as shelf stacker and caretaker. And in her review of 2009, the Financial Times columnist Lucy Kellaway awarded job title of the year to a journalism student whose business card read "Life explorer, multimedia storyteller, experience architect". While some achieve absurd job titles all by themselves, others have absurdity thrust upon them. Newspapers' job adverts reveal a muster station of longwinded titles from the jargonistic - transformation project manager (reablement) - to the comically contradictory - head of offending services - or the downright weird - generic DIP practitioner. A vacancy for a... what? One might argue that at a time of economic crisis, job titles are irrelevant - all that matters is having a job. And a new title - particularly if it signals extra responsibility - can make an employee feel more valued in the absence of a salary rise. Natalie Evans, deputy director of the thinktank Policy Exchange, believes complicated job titles are bad for society. "I'm somewhat sceptical that giving someone a ridiculous job title make a difference to the value we see in our job. It can mean people aren't clear on what they're supposed to be doing. And it undermines public trust because we can't find out whom to talk to at an organisation." Because of the pressure on public finances, the more bizarre job titles may disappear. "There'll be a sharper focus on what people do and their titles. Both the private and public sector will have to focus on core business. So it may be these jobs will simply cease to exist." Up-titling But Stephen Overell, associate director of the Work Foundation, says the days of the self-evident career - the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker - are all but gone. Can your job title fit comfortably on a business card? "The reason these titles are changing is because work is becoming more cognitively complex and developing its own structure and jargon. And common experience is becoming rarer as companies try to find niches and grow increasingly specialised." Yet there is another crucial factor at play. Status, and the desire to flatter. "It's often things like 'partnership relationship manager', a job that might once have been done by a secretary, so there's title inflation at work." The Plain English Campaign notes the increasing number of jobs carrying the suffix "officer" in the past 20 years, particularly among public sector workers. But does it matter? "I don't think there's anything wrong with that at an individual level," says Mr Overell. "But at a general level it tends to confuse, to make things opaque that ought to be made simple." He holds one group responsible. "Human resources are the worst miscreants. They're often responsible for escalating the jargon on their own jobs. I remember one HR manager whose title was 'talent and transformation country manager' and another 'vice president HR (employment relations, outsourcing and change)'." But Angela Baron, of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, says long titles seek to explain what a worker actually does. "People can get very emotional about their job titles if it doesn't reflect their level of seniority or responsibility. All sorts of menial jobs have quite sophisticated titles to make them feel their jobs are important. So on the Newcastle Metro, ticket inspectors are now called revenue protection officers. It has made their jobs sound more important - and why not?" Verging on parody However, such an approach leaves employees open to ridicule. It takes one back to the Victoria Wood sketch in which Hugh Laurie's pompous character - demoted to working in the canteen - exclaims: "I've a challenging new role I'm very much looking forward to delivering popular yet high quality toast." Hugh Laurie up-titles his new role Indeed, job titles seem to be in danger of slipping into parody, says Mr Overell. Take David Brent, the poster boy for management jargon. Ricky Gervais's creation understood the importance of one's job title. Whenever his subordinate Gareth Keenan introduced himself as "assistant regional manager", Brent would interject "assistant to the regional manager". But Ian Jack, the former editor of literary magazine Granta, says the tide may be turning against work that spawns woolly titles. "Nowadays you might ask if a lot of paid work is strictly necessary. We've had such a false belief in the service industries that we have all kinds of esoteric functions like 'head of access and enrichment'. If we can't understand it after five minutes of thought, what does that say?" Short, sweet and to the point So two trends - the shortage of skilled craftspeople, and the huge cost of expanding higher education - may start to change the very nature of work. "The great pressure on the public purse means the target of getting 50% of school leavers to go to university has gone forever." For Mr Jack - who left school and got a job on the local paper - that's nothing to mourn. He complains of a Britain in which "the products of long educations sit on trains fiddling with symbols on their laptop screens or making self-important calls to say they are running late for the meeting". The new economic reality, and a revival of trades and crafts, could begin to reverse that - and perhaps rehabilitate the humble but proud one-word job title. "For me 'reporter' has always been the finest job description you could have," he says. Below is a selection of your comments. I had "senior" added to the start of my job title last year when "only" would have been more accurate. I presume it's in recognition of my hair turning grey at 32.
Peter, Notts For a few glorious weeks I basked under the title of "Global Troubleshooter". Immensely satisfying.
Tori I'm the Group TSR Undertakings UKB Migrations Roadmap Lead. I think it slightly implies something about morticians walking their pet geese south for the winter. It's really nothing to do with that.
Kat Gregg, Coventry My job title is Administration Co-Ordinator. My friends asked me what the difference was between that and my old job, where I was a Senior Administrator. The difference is, simply, that with this one I get a lower salary, but more help from people who's efforts I 'co-ordinate'. Whereas my old job had higher pay (because of the word senior) but more stress, higher demands, expected unpaid overtime and less help.
Kate Jones, Lancaster, UK My job title is: Finance Analyst & BOM Maintainer. It makes sense in the sector I work in, but I imagine is quite unclear to anybody else.
John Andrew, Liverpool My previous job title was "teacher" but I have recently been looking to change career and have been confronted with reams of job titles which mean absolutely nothing to me. For every application I have made I have had to spend extensive time on the internet researching what that job might actually be. Amusing yes, but a serious point is that it all makes it very difficult for someone wanting to transition from one career to another. I'll start my new job soon - Advice and Support Officer (Systems and Operations Management). I'd be lying if I said I knew exactly what that title means.
Becky, Manchester, England I went to a interview last week for a job titled "Facilities Administrator"; once this role was explained, it is actually run-of-the-mill: Assistant.
Sarah, Oxford Several years ago I used to work with a colleague who had the job title - Head of Knowledge Creation. Surprisingly he was actually quite a modest person.
Mark Taylor, Cambridge, UK County-wide Physical Disability and Sensory Services Business Support Assistant.
In short, Administrator.
G Johnston, Cambridge, UK I am a dinner lady but my official job title is lunchtime supervisor.
Joan Rivers, Burton on Trent When I was in the Navy they changed my title from Fleet Chief Radio Mechanician to "Warrant Officer Weapons Engineer (Action Data, Communications and Electronic Warfare). My name badge was so long I kept listing to port.
Mike Sweeney My boss in the bank was always going on about targets and "vision" and as I didn't have a job title he was thrilled when I came up with my own - Sales, Lending and Vision Executive. Of course when I put it in as the reference in a letter I got into trouble for using the acronym SLAVE.
Isla Biggs, Durham The NHS has its own ridiculous job titles. I am currently a senior healthcare technical officer and on Monday I shall become healthcare science associate practitioner. Which do you think is more senior? The answer is neither. They are pretty much the same job at the same level, just different areas.
Rebecca, Leeds I am currently a Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner. Previously while in the same role I have been, a Low Intensity Worker, a Primary Care Mental Health Worker and a Graduate Mental Health Worker. I think when new roles such as mine are created, the language is not there to accommodate it, with jobs such as nurse or taxi driver the language is in place so it makes sense.
Helen, Hertfordshire The funniest one I read at the bottom of an email the other day was "Reputation Manager" - I wonder what Jane Austen would have made of that.
Ellen, Reading For many years I was a "Guest Services Agent"... I was a hotel receptionist (yes the company was American).
Sarah, Hillingdon I'm a "Genetic Haemato-Onchology Research Technician". Could quite easily be shortened to "Lab Monkey".
Claire, London I once had the pleasure of meeting Kevin Mellett, Nasa's man in charge of refitting space shuttles between flights. Pompous job title? Not a bit of it. On his business card he simply describes himself as "Rocket Scientist".
Ewen McLaughlin, Swansea
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Doug Keenan has posted up his correspondence with the Economist and Richard Muller about the BEST paper. I reproduce it here with permission.
The Economist asked me to comment on four research papers from the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature (BEST) project. The four papers were as follows.
Below is some of the correspondence that we had. (Note: my comments were written under time pressure, and are unpolished.)
To: Richard Muller [BEST Scientific Director]; Charlotte Wickham [BEST Statistical Scientist]
Cc: James Astill; Elizabeth Muller
Sent: 17 October 2011, 17:16
Subject: BEST papers
Attach: Roe_FeedbacksRev_08.pdf; Cowpertwait & Metcalfe, 2009, sect 2-6-3.pdf; EmailtoDKeenan12Aug2011.pdf Charlotte and Richard, James Astill, Energy & Environment Editor of The Economist, asked Liz Muller if it would be okay to show me your BEST papers, and Liz agreed. Thus far, I have looked at two of the papers. Decadal Variations in the Global Atmospheric Land Temperatures
Influence of Urban Heating on the Global Temperature Land Average Using Rural Sites Identified from MODIS Classifications Following are some comments on those.
In the first paper, various series are compared and analyzed. The series, however, have sometimes been smoothed via a moving average. Smoothed time series cannot be used in most statistical analyses. For some comments on this, which require only a little statistical background, see these blog posts by Matt Briggs (who is a statistician):
Do not smooth times series, you hockey puck!
Do NOT smooth time series before computing forecast skill Here is a quote from those (formatting in original). Unless the data is measured with error, you never, ever, for no reason, under no threat, SMOOTH the series! And if for some bizarre reason you do smooth it, you absolutely on pain of death do NOT use the smoothed series as input for other analyses! If the data is measured with error, you might attempt to model it (which means smooth it) in an attempt to estimate the measurement error, but even in these rare cases you have to have an outside (the learned word is “exogenous”) estimate of that error, that is, one not based on your current data. If, in a moment of insanity, you do smooth time series data and you do use it as input to other analyses, you dramatically increase the probability of fooling yourself! This is because smoothing induces spurious signals—signals that look real to other analytical methods. This problem seems to invalidate much of the statistical analysis in your paper. There is another, larger, problem with your papers. In statistical analyses, an inference is not drawn directly from data. Rather, a statistical model is fit to the data, and inferences are drawn from the model. We sometimes see statements such as “the data are significantly increasing”, but this is loose phrasing. Strictly, data cannot be significantly increasing, only the trend in a statistical model can be. A statistical model should be plausible on both statistical and scientific grounds. Statistical grounds typically involve comparing the model with other plausible models or comparing the observed values with the corresponding values that are predicted from the model. Discussion of scientific grounds is largely omitted from texts in statistics (because the texts are instructing in statistics), but it is nonetheless crucial that a model be scientifically plausible. If statistical and scientific grounds for a model are not given in an analysis and are not clear from the context, then inferences drawn from the model should be regarded as unfounded. The statistical model adopted in most analyses of climatic time series is a straight line (usually trending upward) with noise (i.e. residuals) that are AR(1). AR(1) is short for “first-order autoregressive”, which means, roughly, that this year (only) has a direct effect on next year; for example, if this year is extremely cold, then next year will have a tendency to be cooler than average. That model—a straight line with AR(1) noise—is the model adopted by the IPCC (see AR4: §I.3.A). It is also the model that was adopted by the U.S. Climate Change Science Program (which reports to Congress) in its analysis of “Statistical Issues Regarding Trends”. Etc. An AR(1)-based model has additionally been adopted for several climatic time series other than global surface temperatures. For instance, it has been adopted for the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, studied in your work: see the review paper by Roe [2008], attached. Although an AR(1)-based model has been widely adopted, it nonetheless has serious problems. The problems are actually so basic that they are discussed in some recent introductory (undergraduate) texts on time series—for example, in Time Series Analysis and Its Applications (third edition, 2011) by R.H. Shumway & D.S. Stoffer (see Example 2.5; set exercises 3.33 and 5.3 elaborate). In Australia, the government commissioned the Garnaut Review to report on climate change. The Garnaut Review asked specialists in the analysis of time series to analyze the global temperature series. The report from those specialists considered and, like Shumway & Stoffer, effectively rejected the AR(1)-based statistical model. Statistical analysis shows that the model is too simplistic to cope with the complexity in the series of global temperatures. Additionally, some leading climatologists have strongly argued on scientific grounds that the AR(1)-based model is unrealistic and too simplistic [Foster et al., GRL, 2008]. To summarize, most research on global warming relies on a statistical model that should not be used. This invalidates much of the analysis done on global warming. I published an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal to explain these issues, in plain English, this year. The largest center for global-warming research in the UK is the Hadley Centre. The Hadley Centre employs a statistician, Doug McNeall. After my op-ed piece appeared, Doug McNeall and I had an e-mail discussion about it. A copy of one of his messages is attached. In the message, he states that the statistical model—a straight line with AR(1) noise—is “simply inadequate”. (He still believes that the world is warming, primarily due to computer simulations of the global climate system.) Although the AR(1)-based model is known to be inadequate, no one knows what statistical model should be used. There have been various papers in the peer-reviewed literature that suggest possible resolutions, but so far no alternative model has found much acceptance. When I heard about the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature project, I got the impression that it was going to address the statistical issues. So I was extremely curious to see what statistical model would be adopted. I assumed that strong statistical expertise would be brought to the project, and I was trusting that, at a minimum, there would be a big improvement on the AR(1)-based model. Indeed, I said this in an interview with The Register last June. BEST did not adopt the AR(1)-based model; nor, however, did it adopt a model that deals with some of the complexity that AR(1) fails to capture. Instead, BEST chose a model a model that is much more simplistic than even AR(1), a model which allows essentially no structure in the time series. In particular, the model that BEST adopted assumes that this year has no effect on next year. That assumption is clearly invalid on climatological grounds. It is also easily seen to be invalid on statistical grounds. Hence the conclusions of the statistical analysis done by BEST are unfounded. All this occurred even though understanding the crucial question—what statistical model should be used?—requires only an introductory level of understanding in time series. The question is so basic that it is discussed by the introductory text of Shumway & Stoffer, cited above. Another text that does similarly is Introductory Time Series with R by P.S.P. Cowpertwait & A.V. Metcalfe (2009); a section from that text is attached. (The section argues that, from a statistical perspective, a pure AR(4) model is appropriate for global temperatures.) Neither Shumway & Stoffer nor Cowpertwait & Metcalfe have an agenda on global warming, to my knowledge. Rather, they are just writing introductory texts on time series and giving students practical examples; each text includes the series of global temperatures as one of those examples. There are also textbooks that are devoted to the statistical analysis of climatic data and that discuss time-series modeling in detail. My bookshelf includes the following.
Climate Time Series Analysis (Mudelsee, 2010)
Statistical Analysis in Climate Research (von Storch & Zwiers, 2003)
Statistical Methods in the Atmospheric Sciences (Wilks, 2005)
Univariate Time Series in Geosciences (Gilgen, 2006) Considering the second paper, on Urban Heat Islands, the conclusion there is that there has been some urban cooling. That conclusion contradicts over a century of research as well as common experience. It is almost certainly incorrect. And if such an unexpected conclusion is correct, then every feasible effort should be made to show the reader that it must be correct. I suggest an alternative explanation. First note that the stations that your analysis describes as “very rural” are in fact simply “places that are not dominated by the built environment”. In other words, there might well be, and probably is, substantial urbanization at those stations. Second, note that Roy Spencer has presented evidence that the effects of urbanization on temperature grow logarithmically with population size.
The Global Average Urban Heat Island Effect in 2000 Estimated from Station Temperatures and Population Density Data Putting those two notes together, we might expect that the UHI effect will be larger at the sites classified as “very rural” than at the sites classified as urban. And that is indeed what your analysis shows. Of course, if this alternative explanation is correct, then we cannot draw any inferences about the size of UHI effects on the average temperature measurements, using the approach taken in your paper. There are other, smaller, problems with your paper. In particular, the Discussion section states the following. We observe the opposite of an urban heating effect over the period 1950 to 2010, with a slope of -0.19 ± 0.19 °C/100yr. This is not statistically consistent with prior estimates, but it does verify that the effect is very small.... If the two estimates are not consistent, then they contradict each other. In other words, at least one of them must be wrong. Hence one estimate cannot be used “verify” an inference drawn from the other. This has nothing to do with statistics. It is logic.
Sincerely, Doug
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Douglas J. Keenan
http://www.informath.org
From: Richard Muller
To: James Astill
Cc: Elizabeth Muller
Sent: 17 October 2011, 23:33
Subject: Re: BEST papers Dear James, You've received a copy of an email that DJ Keenan wrote to me and Charlotte. He raises lots of issues that require addressing, some that reflect misunderstanding, and some of which just reflect disagreements among experts in the field of statistics. Since these issues are bound to arise again and again, we are preparing an FAQ that we will put on our web site. Keenan states that he had not yet read our long paper on statistical methods. I think if he reads this he is more likely to appreciate the sophistication and care that we took in the analysis. David Brillinger, our chief advisor on statistics, warned us that by avoiding the jargon of statistics, we would mislead statisticians to think we had a naive approach. But we decided to write in a more casual style, specifically to be able to reach the wider world of geophysicists and climate scientists who don't understand the jargon. Again, if Keenan reads the methods paper, he will have a deeper appreciation of what we have done. It is also important to recognize that we are not creating a new field of science, but are adding to one that has a long history. In the past I've discovered that if you avoid using the methods of the past, the key scientists in the field don't understand what you have done. As my favorite example, I cite a paper I wrote in which I did data were unevenly spaced in time, so I did a Lomb periodogram; the paper was rejected by referees who argued that I was using an "obscure" approach and should have simply done the traditional interpolation followed by Blackman-Tukey analysis. In the future I did it their way, always being careful however to also do a Lomb analysis to make sure there were no differences. His initial comment is on the smoothing of data. There are certainly statisticians who vigorously oppose this approach, but there have been top statisticians who support it. Included in that list are David Brillinger, and his mentor, the great John Tukey. Tukey revolutionize the field of data analysis for science and his methods dominate many fields of physical science. Tukey argued that smoothing was a version of "pre-whitening", a valuable way to remove from the data behavior that was real but not of primary interest. Another of his methods was sequential analysis, in which the low frequency variations were identified, fit using a maximum likelihood method, and then subtracted from the data using a filter prior to the analysis of the frequencies of interest. He showed that this pre-whitening would lead to a more robust result. This is effectively what we did in the Decadal variations paper. The long time scale changes were not the focus of our study, so we did a maximum-likelihood fit, removed them, and examined the residuals. Keenan quotes: "If, in a moment of insanity, you do smooth time series data and you do use it as input to other analyses, you dramatically increase the probability of fooling yourself! This is because smoothing induces spurious signals—signals that look real to other analytical methods." Then he draws a conclusion that does not follow from this quote; he says: "This problem seems to invalidate much of the statistical analysis in your paper." He is, of course, being illogical. Just because smoothing can increase the probability of our fooling ourselves doesn't mean that we did. There is real value to smoothing data, and yes, you have to beware of the traps, but if you are then there is a real advantage to doing that. I wrote about this in detail in my technical book on the subject, "Ice Ages and Astronomical Causes." Much of this book is devoted to pointing out the traps and pitfalls that others in the field fell into. Keenan goes on to say, "In statistical analyses, an inference is not drawn directly from data. Rather, a statistical model is fit to the data, and inferences are drawn from the model." I agree wholeheartedly! He may be confused because we adopted the language of physics and geophysics rather than that of statistics. He goes on to say that "This invalidates much of the analysis done on global warming." If we are to move ahead, it does no good simply to denigrate most of the previous work. So we do our work with more care, using valid statistical methods, but write our papers in such a way that the prior workers in the field will understand what we say. Our hope, in part, is to advance the methods of the field. Unfortunately, Keenan's conclusion is that there has been virtually no valid work in the climate field, that what is needed is a better model, and he does not know what that model should be. He says, "To summarize, most research on global warming relies on a statistical model that should not be used. This invalidates much of the analysis done on global warming. I published an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal to explain these issues, in plain English, this year." Here is his quote basically concluding that no analysis of global warming is valid under his statistical standards: "Although the AR(1)-based model is known to be inadequate, no one knows what statistical model should be used. There have been various papers in the peer-reviewed literature that suggest possible resolutions, but so far no alternative model has found much acceptance." What he is saying is that statistical methods are unable to be used to show that there is global warming or cooling or anything else. That is a very strong conclusion, and it reflects, in my mind, his exaggerated pedantry for statistical methods. He can and will criticize every paper published in the past and the future on the same grounds. We might as well give up in our attempts to evaluate global warming until we find a "model" that Keenan will approve -- but he offers no help in doing that. In fact, a quick survey of his website shows that his list of publications consists almost exclusively of analysis that shows other papers are wrong. I strongly suspect that Keenan would have rejected any model we had used. He gives some specific complaints. He quotes our paper, where we say, "We observe the opposite of an urban heating effect over the period 1950 to 2010, with a slope of -0.19 ± 0.19 °C/100yr. This is not statistically consistent with prior estimates, but it does verify that the effect is very small...."
He then complains, If the two estimates are not consistent, then they contradict each other. In other words, at least one of them must be wrong. Hence one estimate cannot be used “verify” an inference drawn from the other. This has nothing to do with statistics. It is logic. He is misinterpreting our statement. Our conclusion is based on our analysis. We believe it is correct. The fact that it is inconsistent with prior estimates does imply that one is wrong. Of course, we think it is the prior estimates. We do not believe that the prior estimates were more than back-of-the-envelope "guestimates", and so there is no "statistical" contradiction. He complains, Considering the second paper, on Urban Heat Islands, the conclusion there is that there has been some urban cooling. That conclusion contradicts over a century of research as well as common experience. It is almost certainly incorrect. And if such an unexpected conclusion is correct, then every feasible effort should be made to show the reader that it must be correct. He is drawing a strong a conclusion for an effect that is only significant to one standard deviation! He never would have let us claim that -0.19 ± 0.19 °C/100yr indicates urban cooling. I am surprised that a statistician would argue that such a statistically insignificant effect indicates cooling. Please be careful whom you share this email with. We are truly interested in winning over the other analysts in the field, and I worry that if they were to read portions of this email out of context that they might interpret it the wrong way.
Rich
To: James Astill
Sent: 18 October, 2011 17:53
Subject: Re: BEST papers James, On the most crucial point, it seems that Rich and I are in agreement. Here is a quote from his reply. Keenan goes on to say, "In statistical analyses, an inference is not drawn directly from data. Rather, a statistical model is fit to the data, and inferences are drawn from the model." I agree wholeheartedly! And so the question is this: was the statistical model that was adopted for their analysis a reasonable choice? If not, then--since their conclusions are based upon that model--their conclusions must be unfounded. In fact, the statistical model that they adopted has been rejected by essentially everyone. In particular, it has been rejected by both the IPCC and the CCSP, as cited in my previous message. I know of no work that presents argumentation to support their choice of model: they have just adopted the model without any attempt at justification, which is clearly wrong. (It has been known for decades that the statistical model that they adopted should not be used. Although the statistical problems with the model were clear, for a long time, no one knew the physical reason. Then in 1976, Klaus Hasselmann published a paper that explained the reason. The paper is famous and has since been cited more than 1000 times.) We could have a discussion about what statistical model should be adopted. It is certain, though, that the model BEST adopted should be rejected. Ergo, their conclusions are unfounded. Regarding smoothing, the situation here requires only little statistics to understand. Consider the example given by Matt Briggs at
Do NOT smooth time series before computing forecast skill
We take two series, each entirely random. We compute the correlation of the two series: that will tend to be around 0. Then we smooth each series, and we compute the correlation of the two smoothed series: that will tend to be greater than before. The more we smooth the two series, the greater the correlation. Yet we started out with purely random series. This is not a matter of opinion; it is factual. Yet the BEST work computes the correlation of smoothed series. The reply uses rhetorical techniques to avoid that, stating "Just because smoothing can increase the probability of our fooling ourselves doesn't mean that we did". The statement is true, but it does not rebut the above point. Considering the UHI paper, my message included the following. There are other, smaller, problems with your paper. In particular, the Discussion section states the following. We observe the opposite of an urban heating effect over the period 1950 to 2010, with a slope of -0.19 ± 0.19 °C/100yr. This is not statistically consistent with prior estimates, but it does verify that the effect is very small.... If the two estimates are not consistent, then they contradict each other. In other words, at least one of them must be wrong. Hence one estimate cannot be used “verify” an inference drawn from the other. This has nothing to do with statistics. It is logic. The reply claims "The fact that [their paper's conclusion] is inconsistent with prior estimates does imply that one is wrong". The claim is obviously absurd. The reply also criticizes me for "drawing a strong a conclusion for an effect that is only significant to one standard deviation". I did not draw that conclusion, their paper suggested it: saying that the effect was "opposite in sign to that expected if the urban heat island effect was adding anomalous warming" and that "natural explanations might require some recent form of “urban cooling”", and then describing possible causes, such as "For example, if an asphalt surface is replaced by concrete, we might expect the solar absorption to decrease, leading to a net cooling effect". Note that the reply does not address the alternative explanation that my message proposed for their UHI results. That explanation, which is based on the analysis of Roy Spencer (cited in my message), implies that we cannot draw any inferences about the size of UHI effects on the average temperature measurements, using the approach taken in their paper. I has a quick look at their Methods paper. It affects none of my criticisms. Rich also cites his book on the causes of the ice ages. Kindly read my op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal, and especially consider the discussion of Figures 6 and 7. His book claims to analyze the data in Figure 6: the book's purpose is to propose a mechanism to explain why the similarity of the two lines is so weak. In fact, to understand the mechanism, it is only necessary to do a simple subtraction--as my piece explains. In short, the analysis is his book is extraordinarily incompetent--and it takes only an understanding of subtraction to see this. This person who did the data analysis in that book is the person in charge of data analysis at BEST. The data analysis in the BEST papers would not pass in a third-year undergraduate course in statistical time series. Lastly, a general comment on the surface temperature records might be appropriate. We have satellite records for the last few decades, and they closely agree with the surface records. We also have good evidence that the world was cooler 100-150 years ago than it is today. Primarily for those reasons, I think that the surface temperature records--from NASA, NOAA, Hadley/CRU, and now BEST--are probably roughly right. Cheers, Doug
To: D.J. Keenan
Sent: 18 October 2011, 17:57
Subject: Re: BEST papers Dear Doug Many thanks. Are you saying that, though you mistrust the BEST methodology to a great degree, you agree with their most important conclusion, re the surface temperature record? best
James James Astill
Energy & Environment Editor
To: James Astill
Sent: 18 October 2011, 18:41
Subject: Re: BEST papers James, Yes, I agree that the BEST surface temperature record is very probably roughly right, at least over the last 120 years or so. This is for the general shape of their curve, not their estimates of uncertainties. Cheers, Doug
To: James Astill
Sent: 20 October, 2011 13:11
Subject: Re: BEST papers James, Someone just sent me the BEST press release, and asked for my comments on it. The press release begins with the following statement. Global warming is real, according to a major study released today. Despite issues raised by climate change skeptics, the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature study finds reliable evidence of a rise in the average world land temperature of approximately 1°C since the mid-1950s. The second sentence may be true. The first sentence, however, is not implied by the second sentence, nor does it follow from the analyses in the research papers. Demonstrating that "global warming is real" requires much more than demonstrating that average world land temperature rose by 1°C since the mid-1950s. As an illustration, the temperature in 2010 was higher than the temperature in 2009, but that on its own does not provide evidence for global warming: the increase in temperatures could obviously be due to random fluctuations. Similarly, the increase in temperatures since the mid 1950s could be due to random fluctuations. In order to demonstrate that the increase in temperatures since the mid 1950s is not due to random fluctuations, it is necessary to do valid statistical analysis of the temperatures. The BEST team has not done such. I want to emphasize something. Suppose someone says "2+2=5". Then it is not merely my opinion that what they have said is wrong; rather, what they have said is wrong. Similarly, it is not merely my opinion that the BEST statistical analysis is seriously invalid; rather, the BEST statistical analysis is seriously invalid. Cheers, Doug
To: D.J. Keenan
Sent: 20 October 2011, 13:19
Subject: Re: BEST papers Dear Doug Many thanks for all your thoughts on this. It'll be interesting to see how the BEST papers fare in the review process. Please keep in touch. best james
james James Astill
Energy & Environment Editor
From: D.J. KeenanFrom: D.J. KeenanFrom: James AstillFrom: D.J. KeenanFrom: D.J. KeenanFrom: James AstillA story about BEST was published in the October 22nd edition of The Economist. The story , authored by James Astill, makes no mention of the above points. It is subheaded “A new analysis of the temperature record leaves little room for the doubters. The world is warming”. Its opening sentence is “For those who question whether global warming is really happening, it is necessary to believe that the instrumental temperature record is wrong”. |
THERE was a familiar face at Cumbernauld College last Tuesday when The Fratellis' lead singer Jon - who is originally from Condorrat - paid a visit.
The former St. Maurice's High School pupil was there as part of the celebrations for the opening of the college's new Audio and Media Technology centre, and he said he was very impressed with the new facilities. "The equipment in the department is fantastic. I had a go, with the students showing me how to work it, and they are already professionals."
He added that there were plenty of changes since he was last there: "It's really great. I did a music course here years ago when I was at high school and I haven't been back here for a while."
The 300,000 installation means students can record and edit music and film to industry standards, and it includes a studio built around an Audient Recording Console with outboard equipment from legendary audio companies such as Neve and Avalon. There are also seven Digidesign Pro-Tools HD systems and Avid video editing systems.
Students also got a chance to ask Jon about his experiences of the music business, in a question and answer session. Questions ranged from the sensible, such as who his favourite bands are at the moment, to the more obscure - like 'what's a Fratelli?'
The frontman was first asked about earning a living before he got signed, and he said: "It took a long time - I started playing when I was 17, and I was 26 when we got signed. I couldn't afford not to work. It took me a while to get to what I thought was good enough to get somewhere."
As for what advice he would give to unsigned bands, he was emphatic that they should keep working hard and not be discouraged if they're not successful immediately. "It's a bit cliched," said the 28-year-old, "but never give up - you've got to keep going."
He also told the audience that The Fratellis were signed relatively quickly, only six or seven months after he started that band, but prior to that he had had seven or eight years of really trying and constantly getting knocked back.
The band's debut album Costello Music peaked at number two in the album chart, and BBC Radio 1 listeners voted them the Best Breakthrough Act at the Brits in February this year. And Jon said that he used to say in interviews that a Fratelli was a Glasgow chippy - although found that this didn't translate so well overseas.
The band is also due to play at the SECC on Saturday (September 29) - so what's it like in a chart-topping band? He realises that he is very lucky, he says. "I love it - everything about it's great. It's the only job I was ever cut out to do."
When asked his favourite places to tour, he said America and Japan. As for the land of the Rising Sun, he explained: "Music fans there are a completely different breed and they all do choreographed dances to our songs. One time they were all doing the same dance to Flathead."
But you can't beat the home crowds: "I still like playing back here," he admits. There have been many memorable performances - but once, he explains, that was for all the wrong reasons. When asked what their worst gig was, Jon says that it was in Glasgow for lots of A&R people - and they fell foul of technical gremlins as well having visited the bar beforehand a few times too many. "We thought we'd blown it," he laughs.
And he had plenty of advice for up and coming bands, saying that they should try and write as much as they can while they can. "I always think you should already have half of a second album when you're writing your first - there's less time later on."
"I think songs are really important - it sounds obvious but it's true. There's a whole lot of other bands out there that to my ears sound pretty similar."
As for more practical aspects of putting together a band, he says: "Get personalities that can work together. We were a four piece for a while but it wasn't working - you've got to be a little bit ruthless."
As for his influences and favourite current bands, he says he always goes back to The Beatles and Dylan, and explains that this dates back to the fact that he wasn't allowed to get a CD player until he was 18 so had to listen to his dad's records. As for more modern music, he says he likes Bright Eyes.
The band is now in pre-production for their second album - and now have their own studio in Glasgow where they will be recording. This is particularly handy, Jon says, as it avoids him having to be away from home for months at a time. "It couldn't be more perfect," he said. "I only live five minutes round the corner."
The visit also went down very well with staff at the college, with principal Martin McGuire saying: "The appearance of Jon Fratelli added a real 'rock n roll' atmosphere to our opening. His question and answer session, as well as his willingness to spend so much time signing autographs and posing for photographs, was much appreciated." |
On Sunday night I was going through my Instagram feed and ran across a few photos my lovely friend Adrianne Breaux was posting from Aaron Paul’s Breaking Bad finale party at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Since she did such a bang-up job recapping her experiences with Nick Offerman at Tulane last year, I asked her if she’d be willing to share her experiences at the party with us, complete with photos. She graciously agreed. Her account is what follows below.
Sunday night started as most of my Sunday nights start: A bottle of wine, a new Breaking Bad episode, a couple thousand people, and a bag of pure, blue methamphetamine.
Aaron Paul knows how to throw a farewell party. His Breaking Bad finale screening at the fitting Hollywood Forever Cemetery, which managed to raise 1.8 million dollars for the Kind Campaign, was a night to remember.
Waiting in line was, of course, an event in itself. There were many fans dressed in complete hazmat suits and Walt lookalikes donning Heisenberg hats.
Two employees from a local candy shop handed out bags of “blue meth” from Los Pollos Hermanos buckets.
One fan — dressed as the pink, eyeless teddy bear — held up a sign reminding us to “Have An A1 Day”.
Aaron Paul rode past the waiting crowd and let out a solid “Yeah, bitch!”, to which everyone cheered feverishly. He then threw out his own baggies of blue meth.
Once inside, I made my way through the dark cemetery to the massive lawn. On my way to find a prime spot, I stopped off to visit the infamous RV, which was on display in front of a blue-sky backdrop.
Fans lined up to take pictures in front of the (once) mobile meth lab. Various cast members, such as Bob Odenkirk and Matt Jones (“Badger”), stopped by throughout the night to take photos with fans.
The event truly began when a second RV rumbled toward the stage, smoke billowing from the top. Aaron Paul, decked out in a hazmat suit, exited and jumped on stage where he let out another “Yeah, bitch!” to the pumped up crowd.
After a screening of the pilot, which created a beautiful juxtaposition with the finale, Paul got back on stage to introduce the moment we’ve all been waiting with baited breath for: the finale. He and Bryan Cranston shared a moment and a hug on stage, and it is so painfully obvious that these two men truly have some strong, high school chemistry.
Gauging from the crowd’s reactions to certain key moments of the episode (see: lots of cheering and clapping as creepy Todd met his demise at the hands of Jesse), it seemed to be a very well-received ending to one of the most well-written shows in television history.
Afterwards, the stage filled with stars Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, Giancarlo Esposito, Bob Odenkirk, RJ Mitte, Jonathan Banks, and creator Vince Gilligan (sadly, the wonderfully talented women of the show were absent last night). The Q&A session, led by host Jimmy Kimmel, began with an assortment of audience questions regarding the finale. Vince Gilligan spoke of previous alternate endings ideas, one of which included Walt being “the only one left alive, and everyone else was dead”.
Since the majority of the cast and crew were present in the audience, Kimmel invited practically everyone who’s ever played a character on the show to climb up onto the tiny stage. The “cousins” aren’t so scary when they’re smiling and snapping shots of the audience and no, Huell isn’t still waiting in that motel room (he was snapping pictures and signing autographs by the RV).
Aaron Paul gave us the ultimate Breaking Bad fan experience last night. I couldn’t have asked for a better way to send off Walt and Jesse. I don’t know what to do with myself now that it’s all over. I better call Saul.
Follow Adrianne on Instagram here. |
On October 11th, XBT Provider, the organization who issued the first Bitcoin ETNs in September 2015, announced that two of their Ethereum Exchanged Traded Notes are to be launched on Nasdaq Stockholm’s platform.
Both ETNs, Ether Tracker One (COINETH:SS) and Ether Tracker Euro (COINETHE:SS), are tracking the price of Ether determined by an index rate compromising the average of the three most liquid of a select group of exchanges daily, XBT Provider stated. The only difference between the two ETNs is that Ether Tracker One is denominated in Swedish Krona (SEK) while Ether Tracker Euro is denominated in Euro.
“The listing of these two Ether ETNs is a major win for European investors who have been requesting these products for over a year now. As of today, if investors want hassle-free exposure to the price movements of ether, they simply call their broker or trade on their normal brokerage platform – that’s truly remarkable. We are thrilled to be able to deliver on investor demand via a safe, familiar route in Nasdaq,” Laurent Kssis MD of XBT Provider said.
Exchange Traded Notes are a type of unsecured, unsubordinated debt security, which are based on the performance of a market index minus the applicable fees with no period coupon payments distributed and no principal protection. Such as ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds), ETNs are traded on the major exchanges during normal trading hours.
“We are happy to be able to provide investors with this new investment opportunity. Given the high interest, we have experienced for the previous listings from XBT Provider it is exciting to now expand the offering into this unique exchange traded certificate. While it is important to acknowledge that exposure to an asset in its early stage of development, such as a digital currency, comes with a risk, trading Ether on Nasdaq Stockholm provides investors with the protection provided by a regulated infrastructure, well-known marketplace and accessibility through their ordinary brokers,” Helena Wedin, head of ETP Services Europe at Nasdaq, said.
A day after Nasdaq Stockholm launched XBT Provider’s two Ether ETNs, on October 12, Saxo Bank listed Ether Tracker One and Ether Tracker Euro on its trading platform. Saxo Bank’s quick reaction to add the Ether ETNs was due to the large customer demand for cryptocurrency assets. As of October 14th, the total market capitalization of the cryptocurrency market is near $175 million and continuously surging up as Bitcoin has fully recovered from the Chinese crackdown on both ICOs and cryptocurrency exchanges, and reached an all-time high above $5,800.
“We have increasing client demand for exposure to cryptocurrencies and I am very pleased that we can now offer clients exposure to both Bitcoin and Ethereum through Exchange Traded Notes. Cryptocurrency markets are still at an early development stage and we find that listed products like ETNs without leverage, offering high levels of transparency, are good ways to include cryptocurrencies in our multi-asset product offering spanning more than 35,000 instruments. We continue to follow the developments in cryptocurrency markets and expect to able to add more instruments to our offering going forward,” Saxo Bank’s Head of Markets, Claus Nielsen said in a statement.
The Ether ETNs are available for trading both via SaxoTrader and SaxoTraderGO. Saxo Bank does not offer any leverage on the assets. |
When I was 14, I sat on a moonlit beach in front of a raging bonfire. My youth leader said, “Anything you need to give to God, any sin you want to repent of, write it on a note card and put it in the fire.”
I wrote “Bondage” on my note and folded it so nobody could read it, then I threw it into the flames.
When I was 24, I sat on my couch cuddling a girl who I had spent the past hour spanking, tying up, and ordering around. She looked at me seriously and said “Henri, when you dominate someone, you give them a gift.”
I had come a long way in ten years.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me back up.
Hi, I’m Henri. That’s not my real name -- I chose it for this post in honor of Henri Nouwen, who was a brilliant writer and who was also a (celibate) sexual minority. I’m not using my real name because I’m a kinky Christian, and it’s not exactly safe to be open about fetishes in the Christian community.
I’ve been interested in BDSM since I was a child. For most of my life, I’ve felt like it was something shameful and evil. Today, I believe there is nothing wrong with BDSM, and that BDSM play is a powerful way for partners to share affection, intimacy and trust with each other.
My hope with this post is to explain what BDSM is, why I think it can be a healthy part of loving sexual intimacy, and why I don’t see any inherent conflict between Christianity and BDSM.
This is a two post series, so in the post that follows, I will discuss how kinky folks can integrate their kinkiness with a Christian sexual ethic and also explain about how non-kinky folks can learn from their kinky brethren.
My hope is to start a conversation about how everyone can be accepted in church -- regardless of how they are wired sexually -- and how everyone can show Christlike love and honor to their partner -- regardless of how they are wired sexually.
So let’s dive in.
What is BDSM?
BDSM (which stands for Bondage, Domination/Discipline, Sadism and Masochism) is an umbrella term for a variety of activities where one partner surrenders power to the other. This might be the power to do something to them (for instance, one partner gives the other partner the power to tie them up, or spank them) or the power to tell them to do something (for instance, one partner gives the other partner the power to order them around.)
When someone is interested in BDSM, they are often said to be “kinky,” and when someone is not kinky, they are “vanilla.” Estimates of how many people are interested in BDSM vary wildly, but probably somewhere between 1.8% and 10% of the population participate in BDSM activities.
Kinky people can be interested in giving power, receiving power, or both. Men and women can both be interested in giving or receiving -- while I am a male dominant, there are plenty of men who enjoy submitting. It’s unknown why people gain an interest in BDSM, but there is no evidence that an interest in BDSM is caused by abuse, trauma, psychological issues, or sin (in fact, one study showed BDSM practitioners are more psychologically healthy than the rest of the population).
The important thing about BDSM is that all power exchange is 100% voluntary and 100% revocable. In other words, I can’t tie my partner up unless she explicitly consents to it. And if at any moment she decides she’s uncomfortable, all she has to do is tell me, and I will immediately stop what I’m doing and set her free.
So you can think of it like role-playing; the dominant partner doesn’t truly control the submissive partner, but both parties agree to act as though the dominant partner is in control. It’s similar to live action role play -- it’s fun to pretend you are a mighty warrior, but nobody is actually trying to hurt each other (and hopefully nobody actually thinks they are an orc.)
Consent and revocability separate BDSM from abuse. In an abusive relationship, the victim of abuse does not voluntarily consent to the abuse (or if they do, this is because of manipulation by the abuser), and the abuser will not stop if the victim of abuse asks them to.
In BDSM, everything that happens is totally voluntary, and there are numerous safety checks to ensure that the submissive is enjoying themselves and able to say no if needed.
Lots of other people have given great explanations of BDSM, so if you’re curious to learn more there are lots of resources out there. Laci Green has a (SFW) BDSM 101 video, the Wikipedia entry is a good in-depth explanation of BDSM (although with some moderately NSFW photos) and Xeromag has a wonderful explanation of what BDSM is and why it’s healthy (although again, with NSFW photos)
Why do I like BDSM?
There are a variety of reasons why I like BDSM. It’s fun, it’s creative, it makes it easy to feel present with my partner, and it can be really hot.
But mainly, I like BDSM because BDSM is intimate. When a girl submits to me, she offers me tremendous trust and vulnerability. She trusts that, even though I might cause her pain, I will never harm her. She trusts that, even though I can tell her what to do, I will never lead her into something that is against her best interest.
It’s kind of like the intimacy of leading a partner in a dance or catching a partner during a trust fall, except times a billion. Simply put, BDSM is a way for my partner and I to tell each other, “I love you and I trust you and I want to be close to you.”
Can Christians do BDSM?
Yes, if you do it in a loving way.
When BDSM is used in a unhealthy, unloving way, it becomes a means to self-gratification and the objectification of the self or the other (just like any other unhealthy, unloving sexual expression.)
When BDSM is used in a healthy, loving way, it becomes a conduit of intimacy, love and trust (just like any other healthy, loving sexual expression.)
I’ll talk more about this in my next post, but my basic position is this: If you do BDSM in a responsible, loving, healthy way, then there’s nothing wrong with it.
Many Christians would disagree with me, so let me tackle four common arguments below.
Myth: BDSM is wrong because hurting your partner is wrong.
In BDSM, pain is caused in order to cause pleasure. For most BDSM practitioners, receiving pain is actually an enjoyable experience, because it triggers endorphins, and because it enhances the dominant/submissive experience.
I’ve heard people argue that someone enjoying pain is a sign of past trauma or mental problems, but that’s just not true. There are many common activities where people enjoy pain: just ask any marathon runner in the midst of a runner’s high.
It’s not wrong for a chef to cook a super spicy dinner for someone who loves Thai food, even though it will cause their mouth to burn and tears to run down their face. It’s not wrong for a masseuse to give a client a deep tissue massage, even though digging into their knots might cause the client to whimper and scream. And it’s not wrong for a dominant partner to cause pain to their submissive partner, as long as the submissive partner consents and enjoys the experience.
I don’t enjoy causing pain. I enjoy causing pleasure. If my partner receives pleasure from a back rub, I’m happy to give her a back rub. If my partner receives pleasure from a spanking, I’m happy to give her a spanking. Pain in BDSM is a means to an end -- and the end is pleasure.
Myth: BDSM is wrong because it’s too sexual.
Leaving aside the question of whether or not it’s bad for Christians to be sexual outside of marriage, I want to clarify something. BDSM is part of my sexuality, but BDSM activities are not inherently sexual. Let me explain.
I’m a heterosexual man. If I kiss my girlfriend, that’s an expression of my heterosexuality. But it’s not necessarily a sexual experience -- a kiss is intimate, but it might not be arousing or erotic.
Similarly, I’m a kinky man. If I tie my girlfriend’s hands before we cuddle, that’s an expression of my kinky sexuality. But it’s not necessarily a sexual experience -- cuddling is normally intimate for me but not erotic. Tying my partner’s hands makes it more intimate, not more erotic.
Of course, many BDSM activities are erotic. But just as you can choose a level of physical intensity that is appropriate for your sexual boundaries (perhaps you decide that french kissing is okay, but oral sex is not), you can choose a level of BDSM intensity that is also appropriate for your sexual boundaries.
Myth: BDSM is wrong because it’s wrong to control someone.
True control is based on fear. “I’m afraid of what you’ll do if I disobey, so I let you control me.” Controlling someone through fear is obviously evil.
Healthy BDSM is based on trust. “I trust you to have my best interests in mind, therefore I let you control me.” Or as a submissive friend put it:
When I submit to someone, I submit because I feel safe. It's intimate because there's someone I can trust - whether it's that I trust them to tie me up or I trust them to give me orders. I feel safe and protected, like I can be free and not worry.
In healthy BDSM, the submissive doesn’t feel demeaned or dehumanized. Instead, they feel safe and cared for. They freely submit because they trust the dominant and they enjoy surrendering to someone who they can trust. Just as you might yield to a trusted mentor, teacher or parent, a submissive yields to a trusted dominant.
If control comes from fear, then yes, it’s absolutely wrong. But because healthy submission comes from trust and love rather than fear, there’s nothing unhealthy about BDSM control.
Myth: BDSM is inherently depraved and perverted.
Even after reading every argument in defense of BDSM, some Christians will still believe that it is depraved or perverted. And obviously, if that’s you, then you shouldn’t participate in BDSM.
But the Bible doesn’t talk about BDSM. There’s no verse in the Bible saying that BDSM is perverted -- you just feel that way because BDSM is disgusting to you. And it’s unwise to make moral judgments based on your feelings. (Dr. Richard Beck’s Unclean is a great exploration of the problems that come when moral judgments are based on disgust.)
For instance, the thought of eating dog feels disgusting to me. And I might be tempted to say, “Everyone that eats dog must be sick and twisted.” But there are cultures where eating dog is totally normal, and they are disgusted by us for letting a food animal sleep in our bed!
If you feel like BDSM activities cause harm, then feel free to bring up the potential harm that you’re worried about. And if you feel like BDSM would be sinful for you, then by all means abstain.
But please recognize that feelings of disgust are not a fair basis for moral judgment of other people. Just as you wouldn’t want to throw your dog out because someone from another culture is disgusted by him sleeping in your bed, you shouldn’t reject another Christian for engaging in BDSM.
Conclusion
My core argument is that there is no inherent conflict between BDSM and Christianity. Like any intimate activity, choosing to engage in BDSM could be wise or unwise and loving or unloving. It all depends on the context, the state of your heart, the details of your relationship -- etc. That’s why it is very important to have conversations with trusted friends and mentors about what decisions in BDSM are healthy and loving and which are not.
So I’m not saying you should do whatever you want. But I am saying that it’s not wrong to be interested in BDSM, and it’s not wrong to participate in BDSM -- as long as you follow the same rules that you would in a vanilla relationship (i.e., be loving, wise and responsible).
Do you agree? Disagree? Post your questions in the comments. I’ll be monitoring the comments and responding as I’m able. If you’d like to ask me something privately, email Dianna and she will pass it on to me. |
Oh, heavs forbids we try to protect American kids from being bullied in school … for being perceived as gay! Fox & Friends — a show that, like The O’Reilly Factor, disguises its homophobia by adding question marks to the ends of their commentary — took to Fox News pundit (and axed CNN and MSNBC commentator) Tucker Carlson, who has an entirely misinformed view of how bullying and anti-gay animosity (something taught by parents at home!) come together for brutality.
We applaud school districts for wanting to talk to students, of any age, about the perils of bullying. This sort of preventative measure should be encouraged. But Mr. Carlson this morning tells his enabling host Steve Doocy that he went and checked with the FBI! And they told him they had no evidence of second-graders being tormented with anti-gay epithets. So this mandatory instruction isn’t just a way to push the homosexual agenda, it’s also pointless!
Except, Mr. Carlson, it isn’t.
What these schools are doing is providing a safe environment, early on in children’s tenures as students, to discuss what is wrong with hating other boys and girls because they are LGBT, or are perceived as such. We want the same conversations to take place about why it’s wrong to pick on the Hispanic kid, and the white girl, as it is the effeminate boy or the butch girl. And then maybe, just maybe, we won’t have to deal with this sort of thing.
Tucker: Your advice is for schools to sit back and let students harm each other in horrible ways. It’s uninformed rhetoric like yours that spreads misinformation, and leads to years of endless, needless harassment. The very reason we should be having these talks with young kids, sir, is to prevent them from turning into you. |
The Simpsons are set to meet the Griffins in a crossover episode of Family Guy next year.
Fox announced the two families would meet in an episode titled The Simpsons Guy, where the Griffins take a road trip and end up in Springfield.
Simpsons voice actors Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith and Hank Azaria will all guest-star in the instalment.
The show is scheduled to be broadcast in the US next autumn.
Fox said the episode will see the Griffins "greeted by a friendly stranger named Homer Simpson who welcomes his new 'albino' friends with open arms".
The families become fast friends with Stewie becoming obsessed with Bart and his pranks, while Lisa takes Meg under her wing, determined to find something at which she excels.
Meanwhile Marge and Lois ditch housework for a bonding session and Peter and Homer fight over whose town has the better beer: Quahog's Pawtucket or Springfield's Duff.
Friendly rivalry
In its announcement, Fox offered reaction from the animated patriarchs.
"Fox hasn't spent this much money since they took Simon Cowell tight T-shirt shopping," Peter Griffin said.
Homer Simpson added: "Finally I can get my hands on this guy!"
The shows have poked fun at each other over the years - one episode of the Simpsons features Italian police looking through a book of criminals, in which Peter Griffin's picture appears.
Another episode of Family Guy features a dozen Simpson characters sitting on the jury where Peter is standing trial for drug possession.
However the rivalry has grown more friendly recently, with Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane voicing a prominent character in the The Simpson's 24th series finale. |
The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists on Tuesday released a statement denouncing candidates or election officials who call for making birth control available over-the-counter as a “political tool.”
In the statement, ACOG president John C. Jennings stressed that the organization supports making oral contraceptives available over-the-counter and that this kind of access should be part of a broader increase of “affordable, reliable access for American women to the contraceptives they need.”
“We feel strongly, however, that OTC access to contraceptives should be part of a broader dialogue about improving women’s health care, preventing unintended pregnancies, and increasing use of contraception, including long-acting reversible contraception (LARC). Over the counter access should not be used as a political tool by candidates or by elected officials.”
The statement did not directly name any of those candidates or elected officials but it does follow four Republican Senate candidates — Rep. Cory Gardner (CO), Rob Maness (LA), House Speaker Thom Tillis (NC) and Mike McFadden (MN)— voicing their support for over the counter birth control.
“Of course, cost continues to be a major factor in a woman’s consistent use of contraception, and many women simply cannot afford the out-of-pocket costs associated with contraceptives, OTC or not. That’s why ACOG strongly supports the Affordable Care Act provision that mandates insurance coverage of birth control, as well as other preventive services, without cost-sharing for the patient.”
Read the full statement here.
Shutterstock / varin jindawong |
A team from a small, relatively unknown ultimate school making the College National Championships is unlikely. That same team having only 15 healthy players and being denied practice time by their university the month before Regionals makes the odds even more staggering.
And yet Hellfish, the open team of Eastern Michigan, overcame all to reach their goal.
This was the year the Great Lakes Region was going to be different. After several seasons of having only one bid to Nationals, four teams were in the mix with two trips to Cincinnati on the line and it was a new and surprising squad that earned the second spot.
The program of Eastern Michigan is relatively young. Having started in 2001, the team wasn’t very competitive in the early years, with Michigan-B as one of its main rivals, until about 2010, when things began to change. James Highsmith, former captain of Hellfish, and one of their top players, talks to Skyd about the team and their unlikely journey.
“The team took big steps in terms of being a competitive ultimate team in the 2011-12 seasons,” Highsmith says. “We hired a coach in Dave Wozniak (2012 GL Coach of the Year), which made us become a lot more disciplined. As a result, we started playing a more organized style of ultimate that maximized our strengths.”
Since the 2011 shift, EMU has finished 4th, 3rd and 2nd at Regionals, and punched their ticket to the big show only a few weeks ago.
The Hellfish no longer have a coach, and one of the first things you might notice about the team is how small it is. A mere fifteen players make up a very talented and athletic group that include several of the top athletes from High Five, a new and rising club team in the region. The two current captains are Mark Cooks and Austin Engel, with James Highsmith and Johnny Bansfield as two returning 1st-team all-region players. Engel is a rock at center handler, while Bansfield has some of the biggest throws in the midwest and is a huge athlete, along with Highsmith. Cooks, however, who is one of High Five’s best defenders, is out for the season with an achilles tear, while Austin Lewis, one of the few true handlers on the roster, is gone with a torn ACL.
The early challenges became clear in the fall after Classic City Classic. “We travelled to CCC with 9 players and ended up with 2 players out for the season and several other players hurt at the tournament,” Highsmith explains. “At that point, we picked our tournaments for the spring with attendance as our number one criteria, with competition a close second. We had at least 14 at every tournament in the spring and avoided any severe injuries.”
This also put Eastern Michigan on a path that was largely outside the mainstream competition schedule. The team attended only Terminus and the Old Capital Open in the regular season; both were respectable tournaments, but also lacking some of the top teams in country and the hype that went with them.
Despite the small roster, Eastern Michigan had high goals: 1. To earn an extra bid for the region. 2. To never lose a game in a Sunday bracket. and 3. To make Nationals.
The Hellfish had a strong regular season and did fairly well at all their tournaments, especially excelling in terms of their second goal. The team won the Old Capital Open and was 11-1 on Sunday for their season overall (winning 10 straight to close out the spring and clinch their trip). In the regular season, they fell just out of the bid picture, disappointingly coming in a 24th, despite their success.
The first team goal was not achieved, but the third and most important was, and this is largely thanks to NUT and a look at an entirely different (and somewhat controversial) schedule that earned a strength bid. Northwestern, attending only one tournament due to weather and barely making the minimum for games played, was successful enough to garner a second bid for the Great Lakes. The controversy concerning game minimums and the ranking algorithms are hardly new (Whitman in 2011 also comes to mind), but the fact is simple, Eastern Michigan benefitted because of that second bid.
“The biggest change with the Great Lakes region this year was the depth and parity at the top, which came along with a second bid for the region,” Highsmith says. “Going into the season, we knew MagnUM was going to be solid, but didn’t know much about anyone else. We soon found out that it was going to be a four team race for the Great Lakes region. Northwestern securing the second bid was huge, and erased some of the pressure we had from the one bid region in 2013.”
But the team’s dream ran into a roadblock. “After Terminus and Old Capitol, our confidence was at an all time high,” Highsmith explains. “At Conferences, however, we got a serious slap in the face from Michigan who beat us 13-5. We were holding back our offensive strategy a bit, but it still felt like Michigan beat us into the ground no problem.”
And the challenges only increased from there for Hellfish, with unexpected difficulties arriving.
“I would love to say that we readjusted and refocused on making our goal of Nationals, but that’d be pretty far from the truth,” Highsmith tells. “From Old Capitol until Regionals, we had our practice times cut by the University. Our only real option was to do things in pods. We’d have small throwing workouts and try to organize some drills, but with a roster of 15 players and switching the practice times at the last minute, we’d be lucky to get 7 people to show up to anything.”
It was easy to doubt that Eastern Michigan would be able to come through in the end. Northwestern was the team on the rise, with the earned bid, but Illinois had defeated them at their Conference Championships, and Illinois has a history of peaking at the right time to make Nationals, earning four Region Championships in the last five years. With limited players, limited practice time, and three deep teams ahead of them, the outlook was bleak.
Still Highsmith tells of how the team stayed positive. “We were communicating a ton via Facebook and email as a team, telling everyone to stay focused. We were constantly sending out reminders to workout, throw and do whatever it takes to make Nationals,” he says. “In a way, I do think the one month break during the season may have been a good thing. It alleviated a lot of the stress we were having due to finals and gave our bodies a nice break from ultimate, but I do wish it wasn’t a month right before the series.”
Regionals started well for the team, as EMU cruised to wins over Michigan B and Eastern Illinois, but the University of Chicago almost ended Hellfish’s dream. “Chicago deserves a ton of credit for the program they’re establishing and how they played that weekend,” Highsmith says. “In that game, we were caught off guard by the soft cap, and found ourselves down 1 with the cap going off. We battled back and scored an upwind break on universe to win the game. The last point against UC was definitely the scariest moment of the season. Losing that game would have dropped us instantly to the backdoor bracket.”
The next game was against MagnUM and it turned out to be a tough loss. “Michigan came out hot against us, and we fell down early. We fought back with scrappy defense and some offensive adjustments, but ended up losing 15-12. After the loss however, we were still pretty energetic and excited to still have another chance at qualifying for Nationals.”
Sunday was a windy day, with gusts of 25 mph; however, EMU had played in the fierce winds of the North Central at the Old Capital Open and thus had the experience and strategy ready to capitalize. The team struggled early against Notre Dame, but found their offensive stride and won. This showed in the rematch against Chicago. Hucks from Bainsfield and Engels helped put the team up in a big lead, with a 10-2 advantage early, and they never looked back, resting their starters, getting ready for the game-to-go.
The game against Northwestern was a fierce battle. Both teams played tight rotation throughout the game, but Eastern especially so. The squad has been somewhat dismissed because they rely on so few players, even of their small team, but Highsmith explains that this is simply the way they win. “The game against Northwestern was extremely emotional and exciting,” he remembers. “I think we only used nine players total in the game. Many people keep questioning our legs and whether or not we’d be able to succeed playing such a small rotation. What people don’t really understand is that this is the way we know to play. Some of our players have been playing every point of games for the last five years. Others on that line have been doing it for the last three years.”
Despite what outsiders think, Highsmith knows what the team is used to and insists it is the only way they know how to play in college ultimate. The experience and the tight-knit presence of the core cannot be denied. The first half was a fest of highlight reels from both teams, but especially of Eastern’s studs. They fought hard, knowing it was win or end the season. “If you started to feel your legs or body hurt, just know that it’s the last game of the season potentially and there was nothing else to play for.”
Kevin Bruns, coach of Northwestern, acknowledges the other team’s advantage in the conditions. “I would say EMU had the better throws in the wind,” Bruns says. “Highsmith, Bansfield, and Engel all played great games.”
The first half ended on serve, with nice plays from both sides, and one break a piece from both squads. The second half, however, really showed the personality of the Eastern Michigan team. “We got fired up at halftime, and focused on using our legs to win the game,” Highsmith says. “We played some of the hottest D we’ve played all season. Dan Boynton was getting deep D’s, layout D’s and any other type of D you can think of. We just made plays
Defense and athleticism – the trademarks of their success all year – carried them through. A small team, a team that is not afraid to improvise or try different things, a team without a coach and without a status quo or set string of success, was able to grind out the win on hard cap.
The Hellfish are understandably excited about Nationals and believe that the schedule, with fewer games per day, can benefit their tiny team. They are readjusting only a few of their goals, convinced they can make some noise and surprise the field with their success.
Undoubtedly, Hellfish deserves respect for their tenacity and their ability to overcome challenges. With limited numbers, a depleted schedule of tournaments and practice time, and unusual and fluid structure, Eastern Michigan simply overcame, played hard, and won when it mattered.
“Eastern really did things our way,” Highsmith says. “In the Fall, we didn’t pick any general direction that we wanted to mold the team. We didn’t have a system that we wanted to implement or principles that we instilled on offense. Instead, we just played ultimate for a few months and hung out together a ton. We took the good things that we saw from just playing and kept them in our offense, and then built everything around what we saw.”
“15 guys, no coach, and our most popular workout regimen was doing a sprinting tabata a few times per-week. We really focused ultimate, but also on enjoying each others company and enjoying the last season on the team for a lot of our roster. It was quite the journey to get to Nationals, and the way we did it was pretty unconventional.” |
CHICAGO – Chicagoland beer distributor Louis Glunz Beer, Inc. and specialty beer importer Merchant du Vin announce today the arrival of two new brews from Belgium-based Lindemans Brewery—SpontanBasil, a lambic fermented with fresh basil in collaboration with Mikkeller, and Oude Kriek Cuvée René, a lambic made with whole cherries.
Available in limited quantity in the U.S. for the first time, these special-release 750-mL beers make their brief stint at Chicago-area retailers this week.
SpontanBasil:
Brewed with fresh, whole basil leaves, this experimental brew from Mikkeller and Lindemans is oak-aged with distinct herbal aromas. SpontanBasil pours golden with sour tartness complementing the basil in each sip. This 6% ABV authentic oude gueuze beer is light-bodied with a refreshing finish. SpontanBasil is bottle-conditioned for a natural, soft carbonation, and is best paired with Italian dishes made with pesto, basil and tomatoes, goat cheeses, and rich, creamy soups. SpontanBasil can be enjoyed as an aperitif or accompanied by a fresh, flavorful meal.
The collaboration stems from a relationship between Lindemans and Mikkeller, the acclaimed Danish gypsy brewer. SpontanBasil has been recognized as the Best Sour Beer Label at the 2015 World Beer Awards.
Oude Kriek Cuvee Rene:
Lindemans ferments whole cherries in lambic that is at least six months old in 10,000-liter oak foudres to create this traditional kriek before it’s bottle-conditioned. Brewers blend each batch by hand, experimenting with Brett-defined barnyard funk and cherry sweetness.
This award-winning beer earns its name Cuvée René, or “The Pride of the Brewery,” from family patriarch René Lindemans.
Oude Kriek Cuvée René is best enjoyed with Thai red curry-roasted duck, venison with sour cherry-port sauce, and Belgian waffles. At 7% ABV, Oude Kriek Cuvée René pours hazy ruby red with a subtle pink head.
A medley of flavors unfold with each sip, including tart sourness, lemon peel, anise, and sherry, marked by a cherry blossom finish.
The beer was awarded World’s Best Sour Beer at the 2013 World Beer Awards.
About Lindemans Brewery:
Established in 1822, Lindemans Brewery has a long history of brewing lambic beer, Belgium’s historical ales brewed from barley, wheat, and fermented with wild airborne yeasts. Today Lindemans is operated by its founding family in the heart of Belgium’s Lambic region. Lindemans lambics are made available to Chicagoans through Louis Glunz Beer, Inc. and Merchant du Vin.
About Louis Glunz Beer, Inc:
Founded in 1888 by Louis Glunz I in Chicago, Louis Glunz Beer, Inc. is among the oldest beer distributors in the United States, proudly offering Chicagoland the most comprehensive selection of craft, specialty, and import beers representing more than 190 breweries around the globe. The 128-year-old company continually receives recognition for its innovative, family-owned business, including Beverage Industry’s 2013 Wholesaler of the Year, the National Beer Wholesalers Association 2013 Public Affairs Award, and the 2013 Loyola Illinois Family Business of the Year Award. Heading the company is President Jack Glunz, the grandson of the founder, with day-to-day operations led by five of his seven children as members of the fourth generation and with members of the fifth generation also on staff. Louis Glunz Beer, Inc. is dedicated to quality service and beer education |
Scott Sumner is an emeritus professor of economics at Bentley University and director of the Program on Monetary Policy at the Mercatus Center.
President Trump’s appointment of Jerome H. Powell to chair the Federal Reserve can be seen as a vote for continuity, as Powell is widely expected to maintain the policy approach of current Fed Chair Janet L. Yellen. In many ways that’s a good thing. Recent Fed policy has produced stable growth and low inflation, which is all we can really ask from monetary policy. Powell is also well-liked and President Trump’s appointment of Jerome H. Powell to chair the Federal Reserve can be seen as a vote for continuity, as Powell is widely expected to maintain the policy approach of current Fed Chair Janet L. Yellen. In many ways that’s a good thing. Recent Fed policy has produced stable growth and low inflation, which is all we can really ask from monetary policy. Powell is also well-liked and respected within the Fed and will probably be able to work effectively with his colleagues.
Nonetheless, there are a few reasons to be concerned about his appointment. The past four Fed chairs have all been economists, with a deep understanding of monetary policy. Powell is a lawyer. Putting a lawyer in charge of the Fed is roughly analogous to naming an economist to be chief justice of the Supreme Court.
That’s not to say it can’t work. Both positions have lots of extremely qualified staff assisting them, and Powell has already had some on-the-job training during his period on the Federal Reserve Board. But there are lots of more qualified people available, including Yellen. It’s not clear why a change is being made, especially given that That’s not to say it can’t work. Both positions have lots of extremely qualified staff assisting them, and Powell has already had some on-the-job training during his period on the Federal Reserve Board. But there are lots of more qualified people available, including Yellen. It’s not clear why a change is being made, especially given that Yellen’s performance has been excellent by the usual metrics for judging Fed chairs.
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Some might object to the Supreme Court analogy by arguing that being Fed chair simply involves raising and lowering interest rates to keep the economy stable. In this view, low interest rates represent an “easy money policy.” But there’s much more to monetary policy than adjusting interest rates, which is why we should want a highly qualified specialist to lead the central bank.
Even many economists can get confused by the connection between interest rates and monetary policy, but the problem is even more severe among non-economists. Consider this Even many economists can get confused by the connection between interest rates and monetary policy, but the problem is even more severe among non-economists. Consider this recent comment by Powell: “In contrast, the [Federal Open Market Committee’s] easing of monetary policy increased over time as the longer-term economic effects of the crisis gradually became clear. From 2007 through 2013, the FOMC added ever greater support for the economy.”
At first glance, that looks plausible. The federal funds rate — that is, the interest rate targeted by the Fed that banks charge each other for loans — At first glance, that looks plausible. The federal funds rate — that is, the interest rate targeted by the Fed that banks charge each other for loans — fell from 5.25 percent in July 2007 to 2 percent in May 2008. Non-economists might see this as a policy by the Fed of easy money. But in fact, policy was getting much tighter during that time. Rates did not fall because of anything the Fed did; indeed, the Fed did not inject any new money into the economy over that 10-month period. Rather rates fell because the economy was weakening rapidly during the financial crisis. The Fed failed to cut its interest rate target fast enough to reflect this weakness, and hence we tipped into recession.
The last non-economist to serve as Fed chair was because of inflation. His replacement, The last non-economist to serve as Fed chair was G. William Miller . His performance during the Carter administration was so poor that he was replaced after 17 months. Interestingly, his problems were quite similar to what we experienced during the financial crisis, but in the opposite direction. Miller thought that to fight the high inflation of the time it was enough to keep interest rates high. But rates were highinflation. His replacement, Paul Volcker , had a much deeper understanding of monetary economics. He understood that the Fed needed to tighten the money supply to get inflation under control, even if that meant temporarily ignoring interest rates.
Another concern is that Powell believes the Fed should focus not just on macroeconomic stability, but should also try to prevent financial market excesses. As Another concern is that Powell believes the Fed should focus not just on macroeconomic stability, but should also try to prevent financial market excesses. As he said earlier this year: “I would also agree that monetary policy may sometimes face tradeoffs between macroeconomic objectives and financial stability.”
Many economists are skeptical of this view — for good reason. Many economists are skeptical of this view — for good reason. In 1929 , the Fed tightened policy to try to stop a stock market bubble , tipping the economy into the Great Depression. In the long run, a stable macroeconomic environment is most conducive to a stable financial system. Financial excesses are better addressed through regulation, not the blunt instrument of monetary policy.
Despite these reservations, I expect Powell to do fine in the near future. He is a consensus decision-maker in the mold of Ben Bernanke and Yellen, not a more dictatorial type like Alan Greenspan and Volcker. Over the next few years, he is likely to continue Yellen’s policy approach.
The real danger occurs at the extremes of high inflation or a deep recession. It’s at those times that a deep understanding of monetary policy is most essential. A job as important as Fed chair should be given only to the most highly qualified individuals. |
A B.C. woman is pushing for longer Employment Insurance benefits for people battling life-threatening illnesses, so they aren't left in sickness and poverty after a lifetime of paying their dues.
Chilliwack resident Bev MacGregor was diagnosed with breast cancer last summer.
"They did a needle biopsy. September 12th I was told I had two tumours that were both cancerous. September 27th they removed my left breast and 10 lymph nodes," she recalls.
Since her mastectomy she's been undergoing chemotherapy, which is expected to continue for several more months.
But along with dealing with the chemo, she is now also struggling to pay her bills.
"I've worked here my whole life almost and paid into the system and paid my taxes, paid my dues, and I'm kicked to the curb and there's nowhere to go," she told CBC News.
That's because sickness benefits are limited to 15 weeks, meaning her Employment Insurance benefits ran out before Christmas.
That's why MacGregor is now pushing the federal government to extend EI sickness benefits for those battling a life-threatening illness.
"You shouldn't be allowed only 15 weeks. I mean you can't miraculously be cured of cancer in 15 weeks."
No easy way out
MacGregor was actually eligible to receive EI until March when she was laid off by a software company that was downsizing in July.
But once she was diagnosed with cancer and began treatment those benefits were immediately cut short.
The single mother also owns her own condo and has a small amount saved in RSSP, so she is not eligible for social assistance until she drains all her assets first.
She also applied for federal disability assistance, but was not at her last job long enough to reach the minimum 600 hours required to qualify.
That's why the 52-year-old thinks the EI benefits she contributed to all her life should be there to help her out.
"It's just wrong. We pay into that EI and it should be there to help us," she said.
Chilliwack-Hope NDP MLA Gwen O'Mahony is supporting MacGregor's push for improved EI benefits, but notes employment insurance is a federal issue.
"The federal government has got to look at these situations with compassion and they need to relax these rules for women such as Bev," said O'Mahony.
Federal Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development Diane Finley was not available for an interview on Friday.
Her ministry did send an email to O'Mahony on Friday, saying the matter will be given proper consideration. |
Integration of pIC3 into the HEK293 genome. ( A ) The map expected for pIC3 integrated into the targeted site in the HEK293 genome is shown. Cleavage sites for the restriction enzyme NsiI used for the Southern blot experiment are indicated. The probe used against the Puro CDS is shown as a stippled line, the pre‐existing pFW plasmid as grey rectangles, the incoming pIC3 as white rectangles, and genomic DNA as a solid line. ( B ) Southern blot performed on HEK293‐FW cell DNA using the Puro probe. The expected band at 1,782 bp can be seen in the untransfected control lane. DNA from transfection 1 and transfection 3 yielded the 6,075 bp band expected for pIC3 integration. Transfections 1 and 3 differed only in the gRNA used to target the genomic DNA sequence: G1 and G2 plasmids were used, respectively.
In order to verify that the complete vector was integrated into the HEK293‐FW genome in these puromycin resistant transfectants, we performed Southern blotting on the genomic DNA extracted from transfections 1 and 3 using the Puro CDS as a hybridization probe. As a control, we used the untreated host HEK293‐FW cells carrying the original pFW plasmid with no insertion. Cleavage of the host DNA with NsiI should yield a 1,782 bp fragment from the integrated pFW plasmid sequence, while cleavage after insertion of the donor plasmid should yield a fragment of 6,075 bp (Fig. 2 a). As can be seen in Figure 2 b, the Southern blot showed a single band in the wells with transfection #1 and #3 corresponding to the length of ∼6 kb confirming the integration of the complete plasmid.
In parallel to colony counting, duplicate treated cultures from transfections #1 to #5 were expanded for 3 more days and their DNA extracted for PCR and sequencing. In order to verify the integration of the pIC3 plasmid into the HEK293‐FW genome, we amplified the integration junctions by PCR using primers designed to bind ∼150 bp upstream and downstream of the putative DSB, 3 nucleotides upstream of the PAM sequence (Jinek et al., 2012 ). PCR products were ligated into the pGEMT‐EZ vector via TA cloning and amplified in E. coli to obtain cloned integration junctions from the HEK293‐FW cells. Almost all (31/32) the junction sequences exhibited small deletions (dashes in Table III ) of 1 to 43 nucleotides, with only a single insertion of 15 nt (italicized in Table III ). Surprisingly, all four 3′ junction sequences from transfection 1 ended in the sequence CCCGGG (underlined in Table III B). This hexamer represents the last 6 nt of the 23 nucleotide plasmid target sequence of which the nucleotides GGG are the PAM sequence (Fig. 1 ). It is not clear from our results whether the cleavage happened immediately after the PAM sequence or that cleavage occurred as expected three nucleotides upstream of the PAM (Jinek et al., 2012 ), followed by a six nucleotide insertion of a CCCGGG sequence. We sequenced at least three different clones derived from the PCR product of each pool of cells. Surprisingly, for each of the individual junctions, most of the sequences yielded identical indels. The cause of this uniformity is not clear (see Discussion).
The P1 and B2 targeting sequences proved to be the most effective. Indeed, P2 was ineffective, suggesting considerable sequence specificity and suggesting that a wider screen of targeting sequences might improve integration frequencies further. Linearizing the donor plasmid with a restriction enzyme before transfection yielded few insertions compared to targeted DSB cleavage, consistent with earlier studies in zebrafish and CHO cells (Auer et al., 2014 ; Cristea et al., 2013 ). No colonies appeared in negative controls without genomic DNA cleavage.
The constructed pX330 vectors along with the pIC3 donor plasmid were co‐transfected into ∼50% confluent HEK293 cells. The selection was applied for 8 days, after which the colonies formed were fixed and stained for colony counting. The results of targeting different combinations of genomic DNA and plasmid DNA sequences are shown in Table II .
In order to introduce the DSB via CRISPR‐Cas, we used the 8.5 kb long pX330 expression vector developed in the Zhang laboratory (Ran et al., 2013b ). It carries two expression cassettes: a human codon‐optimized Cas9 endonuclease derived from Streptococcus pyogenes with an SV40 nuclear localization signal and a customizable chimeric guide RNA (gRNA) driven by an RNA Polymerase III promoter. To direct the Cas9 to induce a DSB at a defined site in the pIC3 plasmid as well as in the HEK293 genome, corresponding gRNA sequences were introduced into the BbsI restriction site of the pX330 expression vector using standard cloning protocols. Since gRNAs can have variable activities, two gRNAs were designed to induce each DSB: P1 and P2 targeting the plasmid and G1 and G2 (Table I ) targeting the HEK293 genome, respectively (Ran et al., 2013a , 2013b ).
Promoter complementation selection. gRNAs were designed to target the region upstream of the promoter‐less Puro gene provided by pFW (grey rectangles) in the HEK293 genome (solid line) and the region downstream of the CMV promoter on the pIC3 plasmid (white rectangles). The gRNA target sequences in the genome and in the plasmid are shown by thick vertical black lines representing the two different sequences at each of the two target sites. This assay ensures that only site‐specific integration in proper orientation can give rise puromycin resistance. Protospacer adjacent motif (PAM) bases are in grey and the expected DSBs 3 nucleotides upstream to the PAM are shown as dotted lines.
In order to introduce the DNA fragment into a defined site in the genome, we developed the following puromycin resistance assay. The strategy was to target and cleave the DNA sequence upstream of a promoter‐less Puro transgene integrated into the HEK293 genome as well as the sequence downstream of the CMV promoter in a transfecting donor plasmid. As a host, we used a transgenic cell line, HEK293‐FW, developed by Arias et al. (2015) that carries a 5,300 bp plasmid (pFW) harboring a promoterless puromycin gene ( Puro ) inserted into the PLEKHG1 gene of HEK293 cells (chr.6, 150,823,513). As a donor, we used a 4,300 bp plasmid (pIC3) containing a CMV promoter (Fig. 1 ). The insertion of the in vivo linearized pIC3 plasmid into the DSB upstream of the promoter‐less Puro gene, with the proper orientation of the CMV promoter, will drive the expression of the Puro gene, thus rendering the cells resistant to puromycin. The use of such a promoter complementation test ensured that random insertion in the genome or transient transcription of the donor plasmid would not yield resistant clones.
CRISPR‐Cas Mediated Plasmid Insertion in CHO Cells via NHEJ
To test the generality of NHEJ integration, we turned to CHO cells. CHO cells are widely used for the commercial production of therapeutic biologics, a process that involves integration of plasmids bearing minigenes specifying recombinant proteins (Cacciatore et al., 2010). CRISPR‐Cas was used to target plasmid integration into the hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase locus (Hprt) of CHO K1 cells. The idea was to introduce the pFW plasmid coding for the neo gene into the disrupted Hprt gene, thus conferring resistance to both G‐418 and 6‐TG. The X‐linked Hprt gene is present in only a single copy in CHO cells (Grant and Worton, 1989; Xu et al., 2011) and its disruption confers resistance to 6‐thioguanine (6‐TG), allowing the ready selection of knockouts. The 5.3 kb pFW plasmid, which carries a neo gene, was used as the donor. As we did for the HEK293 cells, we transfected the CHO cells with four separate combinations of two CRISPR‐Cas plasmids with guide RNAs targeting the CHO Hprt gene (pHprt1 and pHprt2) and 2 CRISPR‐Cas plasmids targeting the pFW plasmid (pFW1 and pFW2, Table IV).
Table IV. CRISPR‐mediated insertions at the Hprt locus in CHO‐K1 cells Transfection gRNAs targeting the genomic DNA site gRNAs targeting the plasmid DNA site Donor plasmid Colonies 1 pHprt1 pFW1 pFW +++a 2 pHprt1 pFW2 pFW ++ 3 pHprt2 pFW1 pFW ++ 4 pHprt2 pFW2 pFW ++ 5 pHprt1 – pFW + 6 pHprt2 – pFW + 7 – pFW1 pFW 0 8 – – pFW 0 9 – – – 0
Transfected cells were first selected for resistance to G418 and this population was subsequently selected for resistance to 6‐TG. These cells survived both G418 and 6‐TG selection requiring that they had both a neo gene and a disrupted Hprt gene. The pHprt1 and pFW1 targeting sequences proved to be the most effective (Table IV, rows 1–4). Omission of the gRNAs targeting the donor plasmid also yielded some colonies (Table IV, rows 5 and 6), as expected whenever disruption of the Hprt gene and the random insertion of the pFW plasmid occurred in the same cell. No colonies appeared in the negative controls without targeting the Hprt gene.
We used inverse PCR to determine the genomic location of the inserted pFW plasmids in the CHO genome. Genomic DNA samples from transfections 2 and 4 were digested with a four‐cutter restriction enzyme to generate linear fragments (see Materials and Methods). The linear fragments were circularized under conditions that favor intramolecular rather than intermolecular ligations. We used primers specific to the pFW sequence to amplify a fragment that includes the expected plasmid junction and the flanking chromosomal region (Fig. 3). PCR products were ligated into pGEMT‐EZ (Promega) via TA cloning and amplified in E. coli for sequencing.
Figure 3 Open in figure viewerPowerPoint Inverse PCR strategy used to determine the chromosomal insertion site of pFW plasmids targeted into the Hprt gene in CHO K1 cells. Genomic DNA of pooled transfectants was digested with a restriction enzyme that cuts pFW within ∼300–∼500 nt from the targeted plasmid site and at unknown sites in the genomic flanks. The DNA fragments were then circularized with T4 DNA ligase. The flanking genomic sequences were amplified by nested PCR using primers 2 and 3 followed by primers 1 and 4.
Transfection 4 yielded four sequences: all four showed perfect end joining between the targeted plasmid site and the targeted Hprt site (CHOgenome.org scaffold NW_003613932.1 at nucleotide 1137989); both orientations of the plasmid were represented. The sequences from transfection 2 mapped onto the genomic scaffold NW_003613932.1 at nucleotide 1129841, which is ∼2 kb downstream of the DSB targeted by pHprt1 gRNA. This integration site bears no similarity to the intended target. It is not clear whether this integration represents a nearby off target event or whether the cleavage happened at the targeted DSB, with a subsequent ∼2 kb deletion event. In addition to these sequences, each of the two transfections yielded an off‐target integration (Fu et al., 2013; Hsu et al., 2013), each of which unexpectedly included plasmid sequences from untargeted regions. Since these cells are resistant to 6‐TG, it is likely that they all contain disruptions in the Hprt gene; the off target integrations would then be occurring in addition to the targeted integrations.
In order to compare the efficiency (transfectant colonies per treated cell) of the NHEJ insertion in CHO cells to that in HEK293 cells, we used the same Puro gene reconstruction strategy employed in the HEK293‐FW cells. As a target, we used the population of G418 and 6‐TG resistant CHO‐K1 cells from transfection 4 in the experiment described above. We picked the guide RNAs that gave the highest efficiency in HEK293‐FW cells, i.e., G1 and P2, to target the upstream region of the Puro coding sequence present in the integrated pFW plasmid sequence (i.e., now genomic) and the downstream region of the CMV promoter present in pIC3. The CRISPR‐Cas vectors along with the pIC3 donor plasmid were co‐transfected into ∼70% confluent CHO‐K1 cells. After 3 days of expression in non‐selective medium, selection for puromycin resistance was applied for 5 days, after which the colonies formed were fixed and stained for counting. The results of different combinations of genomic DNA and plasmid DNA targets are shown in Table V.
Table V. CRISPR‐Cas mediated insertions at the Puro sequences in CHO‐K1 cells Transfection CRISPR gRNAs genomic DNA site CRISPR gRNAs plasmid DNA site Donor plasmid Coloniesa Efficiencyb 1 G1 P2 pIC3 2,700 0.45% 2 G1 – pIC3 505 0.08% 3 – P2 pIC3 42 0.01% 4 G1 – – 54 0.01% 5 – – pIC3 30 0.01% 6 – – – 29 0.01%
We observed 2,700 colonies in the sample treated with the guide RNAs targeting both the genomic DNA and donor plasmids, representing an efficiency of 0.45%, about three times higher than the 0.17% achieved with HEK293‐FW cells and identical guide RNAs. It is interesting to note that we found ∼500 colonies (an efficiency of 0.08%) by targeting the genomic Puro gene but not the donor plasmid, suggesting that the CMV‐bearing plasmid may undergo cleavage inside the cell and that many of these linearized plasmids were able to provide the necessary promoter activity to the genomic Puro CDS. It should be noted, however, that no such untargeted promoter provision was seen using HEK293‐FW cells.
To determine if the pIC3 plasmid had indeed integrated into the targeted genomic promoterless Puro gene, we amplified the predicted integration junctions by PCR as described earlier; the PCR products were ligated into pGEMT‐EZ vectors, cloned in E. coli and sequenced. The clones from both the junctions resulted in insertions and deletions of up to 20 nucleotides (shown in italicized letters and dashes, respectively, in Table VI). Similar to the sequences obtained from HEK293‐FW cells, many of the clones sequenced from the two junctions were identical. |
Ted Nugent addresses a seminar at the National Rifle Association’s convention in Pittsburgh. (Gene J. Puskar/AP)
Gun owners are pressuring the National Rifle Association to boot longtime board member Ted Nugent from the organization’s leadership ranks after the rock star’s social media outburst that depicted prominent American Jews as the men and women “really behind gun control.”
Nugent, an outspoken Second Amendment advocate, posted a photo on Facebook earlier this week calling Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), “Jew York City Mayor Mikey Bloomberg,” former senator Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, among many others, “punks” who would “deny us the basic human right to self defense and to keep and bear arms while many of them have paid hired armed security.”
The Israeli flag appears over or next to each of the 12 faces in the photo, which is the same one that has been shared many times in white supremacist circles, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
The post prompted applause from anti-Semitic and neo-Nazi groups.
Know these punks. They hate freedom, they hate good over evil, they would deny us the basic human right to self defense … Posted by Ted Nugent on Monday, February 8, 2016
Nugent later posted a photo of Nazis rounding up Jews during the Holocaust and described gun-control advocates as “soulless sheep to slaughter.”
Nugent’s Facebook posts triggered cries of anti-Semitism and prompted gun-control activists and Second Amendment advocates alike to call for his removal from NRA’s board of directors; even several leading voices in the gun rights movement say they can no longer justify his “simple-minded” remarks.
The “Cat Scratch Fever” singer has served on the NRA board since 1995.
An NRA spokeswoman told The Washington Post on Wednesday that “individual board members do not speak for the NRA.”
[Ted Nugent rocks the political world]
Nugent’s comments have landed him in trouble in the past. He has targeted the Supreme Court, Trayvon Martin and Hillary Clinton. He once called President Obama a “sub-human mongrel” — and then apologized. (Even Nugent’s own brother said he had “clearly crossed a line.”)
But he has shown no remorse this time, even as other gun rights activists have taken to publicly criticizing him.
Amid the backlash, Nugent on Wednesday reposted his 2010 tribute to Aaron Zelman, who founded Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership.
“My hero, my American BloodBrother and an American Warrior legend, the great Aaron Zelman perfectly represented all free men who refuse to be controlled by others or denied our God given right to keep and bear arms,” he wrote at the time. “We stand repulsed by the ugly soullessness of unarmed helplessness.”
On Wednesday, Nugent pointed out that Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership recently criticized him for this week’s controversial comments.
“How tragic that the self inflicted scourge of political correctness can blind so many otherwise intelligent people!” he wrote on Facebook.
But Bob Owens, editor for BearingArms.com, wrote online this week that Nugent should have realized he “stepped in it” when “even-tempered pro-gun folks took issue” with his Facebook posts.
Instead, Nugent rehashed his point in another post — comparing Jewish gun-control advocates to Nazis.
“What sort of racist prejudiced POS could possibly not know that Jews for gun control are Nazis in disguise?” Nugent wrote.
Just when you hope that mankind couldnt possibly get any dumber or more dishonest, superFreaks rise to the occasion…. Posted by Ted Nugent on Monday, February 8, 2016
Owens said many gun rights advocates are now “simply done with Nugent.”
“They’re tired of feeling that they have to defend his half-baked rhetoric and simple-minded outbursts,” Owens wrote on BearingArms.com. “Many people are calling for him to resign from the NRA Board and for him to have his membership stripped from him.
“While I think forcing him out of the NRA entirely is a bit much, I do think he owes the world a sincere apology. If he can’t find that sincerity in his heart, then he has no business being on the board of an inclusive organization such as the National Rifle Association.”
[Cheat sheet: Ted Nugent’s greatest hits]
In fact, many gun owners who once supported Nugent seem to have changed their minds.
His recent Facebook posts are littered with negative comments suggesting that he may have gone too far.
One commenter called Nugent’s post “disgraceful.”
“Uncle Ted, I support (many) of your viewpoints, and have been a long term fan of your music,” the man wrote, “but this time you’ve gone way over the line.”
Another user told Nugent: “You sank low here.”
“I call total f—— b——- here,” he wrote. “I am a Jewish conservative gun owner. This is just f—— hate. I’ve always supported you, but f— you Ted.”
Debbie Schlussel, a conservative political commentator and columnist, called out Nugent for mocking Holocaust survivors.
[Nugent says Obama administration is like Nazis]
Robert Farago, publisher of the Truth About Guns, said that Nugent’s remarks “take it to the next, deeply disgusting level” and asked the NRA to act.
“Mr. Nugent should remove this post and ‘clarify’ his statement,” he wrote on his group’s website. “The NRA should distance itself from Mr. Nugent. They should revoke his membership and remove him from their Board.”
Anti-Defamation League Director Jonathan Greenblatt said Nugent’s comments were “nothing short of conspiratorial anti-Semitism.”
“Regardless of one’s views on gun control, this kind of scapegoating of an entire religious group is completely unacceptable and completely divorced from reality,” Greenblatt said in a statement. “It should go without saying that anti-Semitism has no place in the gun control debate.
“Nugent should be ashamed for promoting anti-Semitic content, and we hope that good people on both sides of the gun control debate will reject his tactics and his message.”
Dan Gross, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, took aim at Nugent as well after being featured in the Facebook post.
“Ted Nugent’s latest comments go beyond being anti-Semitic — they are ignorant and do nothing but fuel hate,” Gross said in a statement. “Personally, I am repulsed — my brother was shot and seriously wounded in a religiously-motivated mass shooting on the observation deck of the Empire State Building. Reasonable people on both sides of the debate recognize Mr. Nugent’s comments for what they are: hate speech and nothing more.”
Gross added that Nugent’s posts were “yet another clear sign of how out of touch NRA’s leadership and Board” are with the group’s members.
(h/t Huffington Post)
This story has been updated.
MORE READING:
Jeff Nugent says brother Ted Nugent ‘crossed a line’ with ‘sub-human’ comment
Town to Ted Nugent: Thanks but no thanks |
ABSTRACT
Background: Weight gain and obesity have reached alarming levels. Eating at a later clock hour is a newly described risk factor for adverse metabolic health; yet, how eating at a later circadian time influences body composition is unknown. Using clock hour to document eating times may be misleading owing to individual differences in circadian timing relative to clock hour. Objective: This study examined the relations between the timing of food consumption relative to clock hour and endogenous circadian time, content of food intake, and body composition. Design: We enrolled 110 participants, aged 18–22 y, in a 30-d cross-sectional study to document sleep and circadian behaviors within their regular daily routines. We used a time-stamped-picture mobile phone application to record all food intake across 7 consecutive days during a participant's regular daily routines and assessed their body composition and timing of melatonin release during an in-laboratory assessment. Results: Nonlean individuals (high body fat) consumed most of their calories 1.1 h closer to melatonin onset, which heralds the beginning of the biological night, than did lean individuals (low body fat) (log-rank P = 0.009). In contrast, there were no differences between lean and nonlean individuals in the clock hour of food consumption (P = 0.72). Multiple regression analysis showed that the timing of food intake relative to melatonin onset was significantly associated with the percentage of body fat and body mass index (both P < 0.05) while controlling for sex, whereas no relations were found between the clock hour of food intake, caloric amount, meal macronutrient composition, activity or exercise level, or sleep duration and either of these body composition measures (all P > 0.72). Conclusions: These results provide evidence that the consumption of food during the circadian evening and/or night, independent of more traditional risk factors such as amount or content of food intake and activity level, plays an important role in body composition. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT02846077.
See corresponding editorial on page 1171.
INTRODUCTION
The coordination and timing of specific behaviors and biological processes in the brain and body are necessary for healthy physiologic functioning. Human circadian physiology has evolved to promote certain behaviors and activities during the day (e.g., physical activity, arousal, and metabolism) or night (e.g., sleep and fasting) (1). In mammals, the internal circadian timing system is entrained to the 24-h light-dark cycle through light signals reaching a master clock located within the hypothalamus (2). With the relatively recent widespread availability of electrical lighting, humans have the ability to self-select their light-dark cycles and extend wakefulness activities far into the night (3). This capability to alter the timing of wakefulness can result in a misalignment between behavior and endogenous circadian physiology (3, 4) and has been associated with adverse health outcomes such as decreased energy metabolism (5, 6), impaired glucose metabolism (7–9), and increased cardiovascular disease risk (7, 10).
One potential mechanism for adverse health from the misalignment between behavior and physiology is food consumption at an inappropriate circadian time (11, 12). There have been numerous reports in animal models (13, 14) and human studies (15, 16) that eating during a time normally reserved for sleeping can result in weight gain and adverse metabolic health. Populations that are susceptible to pushing activities to a later clock hour, such as night or rotating shift workers (17) or adolescents and college-aged individuals (18–20), also have a higher incidence of weight gain and obesity (21–23). Therefore, understanding the interaction of the timing of dietary intake with an individual's circadian rhythms is important, particularly because using clock hour to document eating times may not be physiologically relevant due to individual differences in circadian timing relative to clock hour (24).
In this cross-sectional study (registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT02846077), we characterized the eating patterns of college-aged individuals during a week of their regular daily activities by documenting the timing and content of their entire dietary intake with the use of a mobile phone application (Figure 1). The relation of these patterns was then quantified relative to circadian timing, habitual sleep timing and duration, and wakefulness behaviors.
FIGURE 1 View largeDownload slide Raster plots (top) of the ∼30-d protocol from 2 participants: 1 with a large phase angle (time difference) between caloric midpoint (average time at which 50% of daily calories were consumed) and DLMO timing (left) and 1 with a small phase angle between caloric midpoint and DLMO timing (right). The x-axis represents the time of day, and the y-axis represents days into the protocol. The black bars represent sleep episodes, gray hatched bars represent the in-laboratory overnight stay for recording percentage of body fat and a DLMO phase assessment (light <4 lux), the black dotted box represents the week of monitoring caloric intake via the time-stamped mobile phone picture food diary, and the open boxes represent caloric events (i.e., any food or beverage that is not water). Note that the in-laboratory assessment could occur before or after the week of monitoring caloric intake but was during the ∼30 d of the protocol. The black arrow on the top and bottom panels denotes the timing of caloric midpoint relative to DLMO. Relative timing of physiologic events in the 2 participants (bottom). The dotted line is the timing of the DLMO, the gray shaded area denotes the phase angle, and the black shaded area denotes habitual sleep timing for that participant relative to DLMO. DLMO, dim-light melatonin onset.
FIGURE 1 View largeDownload slide Raster plots (top) of the ∼30-d protocol from 2 participants: 1 with a large phase angle (time difference) between caloric midpoint (average time at which 50% of daily calories were consumed) and DLMO timing (left) and 1 with a small phase angle between caloric midpoint and DLMO timing (right). The x-axis represents the time of day, and the y-axis represents days into the protocol. The black bars represent sleep episodes, gray hatched bars represent the in-laboratory overnight stay for recording percentage of body fat and a DLMO phase assessment (light <4 lux), the black dotted box represents the week of monitoring caloric intake via the time-stamped mobile phone picture food diary, and the open boxes represent caloric events (i.e., any food or beverage that is not water). Note that the in-laboratory assessment could occur before or after the week of monitoring caloric intake but was during the ∼30 d of the protocol. The black arrow on the top and bottom panels denotes the timing of caloric midpoint relative to DLMO. Relative timing of physiologic events in the 2 participants (bottom). The dotted line is the timing of the DLMO, the gray shaded area denotes the phase angle, and the black shaded area denotes habitual sleep timing for that participant relative to DLMO. DLMO, dim-light melatonin onset.
METHODS
Participants
Participants (n = 110, 64 males; Supplemental Figure 1 and Supplemental Table 1) with an age range of 18–22 y were enrolled in a cross-sectional 30-d protocol to document sleep and circadian behaviors within their regular daily routines (Figure 1). Participants were of mixed ethnicity (21.0% Hispanic, 76.0% non-Hispanic, and 3.0% unknown) and race (1.0% American Indian, 30.9% Asian, 12.7% African American, 41.8% white, 10.0% reporting >1, and 3.6% not reported). They were recruited through e-mail, paper flyers, and verbal communication. Exclusion criteria consisted of inability to wear actigraphy monitors, inability to download phone application, and travel across >1 time zone within a 3-mo period before and during the protocol. No participants reported night work during the protocol. All participants provided written informed consent, and the Partners Health Care (#2012P001631) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (#1209005240) Institutional Review Boards approved all study procedures.
Sleep and wakefulness actigraphy monitoring
On the day before starting the ∼30-d sleep-wake monitoring protocol, participants met with study staff to learn about specific study procedures, obtain study materials, and complete a series of questionnaires to determine habitual sleep and wakefulness patterns. At the conclusion of the meeting, participants were given a wrist actigraphy monitor (Motionlogger; Ambulatory Monitoring) and instructed to wear the device on their nondominant arm at all times for the duration of the protocol except for when the monitor might get wet or damaged. Participants also completed electronic sleep-wake and exercise diaries during the ∼30-d protocol. Diaries were sent to the participant's e-mail once each morning (0700) and once each evening (2000). Actigraphy monitors were downloaded and checked at weekly meetings, and electronic diaries were checked daily to ensure completion and accuracy of sleep-wake timing. Sleep timing and duration were manually scored from actigraphy and corroborated with diary sleep-wake times (25).
Meal documentation
For 7 consecutive days, participants were asked to record all food and beverages they consumed, with the exception of water, by the use of the mobile phone application MealLogger (Wellness Foundry). MealLogger allowed participants to take a time-stamped photograph of their meal, include a detailed description of the meal content, and identify which meal they were eating (i.e., breakfast, lunch, dinner, beverage, or snack). The 7-d monitoring period for meal timing and content began ≥1 wk after the start of the protocol to ensure participants were familiar with other study procedures. Participants were instructed via detailed presentations how to accurately identify what meal they were eating, how to take a photograph of the meal with an item of known size (e.g., fork, pen) in the frame of reference for portion size estimation, and how to add a detailed description of each meal to identify correct nutrient content (e.g., what type of dressing on a salad, mayonnaise on a bun, or sugar in coffee). Immediately after the photograph was taken, the data were available to study staff via Web access. Dietary and study staff followed up with participants within 24-h after the meal was documented if any clarification of meal composition was needed. If meals were not fully consumed, participants took a second photograph to display what remained.
Inpatient study procedures
For calculation of circadian phase, participants were admitted to the Brigham and Women's Hospital Center for Clinical Investigation Intensive Physiologic Monitoring Unit for one ∼16-h overnight stay. Participants arrived at the laboratory at ∼1400 and were admitted to a sound-attenuated, temperature-controlled suite with dim-lighting conditions (<4 lux). The use of any personal electronic devices (e.g., cell phone, tablet, or computer) was prohibited due to the influence of artificial lighting on circadian outcomes (3, 26). Beginning at 1600, salivary melatonin samples were collected hourly until 0700 the next morning. Participants were instructed to remain seated in a constant posture and not eat or drink any foods for 20 min before saliva collection to limit any potential influences on salivary melatonin assessments. Between the hourly saliva collections, participants were allowed to be ambulatory, sleep in a seated position, or sit quietly. If participants were asleep, they were awakened by research staff to collect saliva. Dim-light melatonin onset (DLMO), an established marker of circadian phase and onset of biological night, was calculated as the linear interpolated point in time at which melatonin concentrations crossed and maintained concentrations above a 5-pg/mL threshold (27).
Body composition was assessed via 4-lead bioelectrical impedance (Quantum II BIA analyzer; RJL Systems). On arrival to the laboratory, participants removed jewelry and electrical devices, laid flat on a hospital stretcher, and electrodes were placed on the participant's right hand and foot. Each impedance measurement was calculated 3 times to provide consistent results; an average of these 3 readings was used for analysis.
Analysis
Meals were scored by the Brigham and Women's Hospital Center for Clinical Investigation dietary staff. All meals were coded in duplicate (i.e., scored by 2 nutritionists) to determine food item and portion size, and any discrepancies were solved to minimize error before scoring for nutrient content by using the University of Minnesota Nutrition Data System for Research software (28, 29). Meals that were identified by the participant as the same type of meal (e.g., dinner) and consumed within 15 min of each other were combined into 1 event (30), with the latest meal documented used for time of the meal to better estimate how late calories were consumed. Participants needed to complete a minimum of 4 d of meal recording to be included in the analysis or otherwise were identified as declining participation in meal logging (Supplemental Figure 1).
We calculated the timing of calories consumed relative to clock hour and relative to the timing of DLMO (Figure 1). Because of the physiologic differences in the percentage of body fat between men and women (31), participants were grouped by sex-dependent criteria of percentage of body fat into lean or nonlean groups (32), which have been used in similarly aged populations (33). The lean group was defined as 5–20% body fat for men and 8–30% body fat for women, and the nonlean group was defined as >21% body fat for men and >31% for women (32). The activity level for each participant was determined from the reported exercise activity from the daily diaries by using percentage of days exercised within the protocol. We also examined activity level by using predefined levels for sedentary (activity factor: 1.20), mild (activity factor: 1.375), moderate (activity factor: 1.55), or heavy activity (activity factor: 1.725) (34). To determine potential misalignment between sleep and wakefulness timing on free days (e.g., weekends) compared with work and school days (e.g., weekdays), social jetlag was calculated as the difference between the midpoint of sleep on free days and on work and school days as quantified by the Munich Chronotype Questionnaire (35).
All group comparisons for men compared with women were performed by using unpaired t tests and for weekday compared with weekend by using paired t tests. Kaplan-Meier survival curves were compared with log-rank tests (36). Multiple linear regressions were performed for associations with percentage body fat or BMI as the dependent variable and sex, caloric midpoint relative to DLMO, 24-h total sleep time, caloric intake, and percentage of calories from fat, carbohydrates, and proteins as independent variables. Pearson correlations were used for associations. All statistics were performed with SAS 9.4 software (SAS Institute Inc.). Of the 110 participants included in the analysis, 4 (3 lean and 1 nonlean) did not have usable DLMO data, 6 did not have usable actigraphy data, and 1 did not have usable social jetlag data.
RESULTS
Daily eating habits
More than 2300 caloric events (food or beverage other than water) were recorded. Approximately 93% of participants documented caloric events for 7 d and 100% for 6 d of monitoring, with a mean ± SD (range) of 3.1 ± 1.4 (1.5–9.3) caloric events/d. The participants denoted ∼19% of the caloric events as breakfast, 20% as lunch, 28% as dinner, 23% as beverages or snacks consumed before a recorded dinner, and 10% as beverages or snacks consumed after a recorded dinner (Supplemental Table 2). The timing of breakfast was 1026 ± 0144 (0457–1757); lunch, 1401 ± 0207 (0900–0127); predinner snacks, 1554 ± 0457 (0612–0439); dinner, 1945 ± 0157 (1532–336); and after-dinner snacks, 2245 ± 0228 (1715–0543), with men having significantly later after-dinner snacks compared with women (P = 0.003; Supplemental Figure 2A). There was no significant difference (P = 0.12) in the clock times at which men and women reached their caloric midpoint (i.e., average time at which 50% of daily calories were consumed). Participants ate significantly later breakfast, lunch, predinner snacks, and dinner on Saturday and Sunday (weekend) than on all other days (weekdays) (all P < 0.05; Supplemental Figure 2B).
Timing of food intake and body fat composition
The lean and nonlean groups both had a similar timing of DLMO of 2325 ± 0148 (1752–0338) and 2303 ± 0130 (1946–0135), respectively (P = 0.29). When the timing of calories was examined relative to the timing of the individuals' DLMO, the nonlean group consumed their caloric midpoint 1.1 h closer to DLMO (i.e., at a later biological time) than the lean group (HR: 1.7; 95% CI: 1.1, 2.6; log-rank P = 0.009; Figure 2A). This was also true for the timing of the latest daily caloric event: the nonlean group ate their latest daily calories at a later time relative to DLMO (0.9 h; HR: 1.6; 95% CI: 1.0, 2.5; log-rank P = 0.03). There was no significant difference in clock time of the 2 groups' caloric midpoints (1614 compared with 1641; HR: 0.9; 95% CI: 0.6, 1.4; log-rank P = 0.72; Figure 2B) or clock time at which the 2 groups consumed their latest daily calories (HR: 1.0; 95% CI: 0.7, 1.5; log-rank P = 0.98).
FIGURE 2 View largeDownload slide Kaplan-Meier survival curves of lean (n = 67; black line) and nonlean (n = 39; gray line) participants' time to pass caloric midpoint (average time at which 50% of daily calories were consumed) relative to DLMO (A) and clock hour (B). Lean and nonlean participants were defined by their percentage of body fat and by sex (32). The dashed curve and corresponding right y axis represent the average melatonin concentrations of all participants, and the shaded box represents the average habitual timing of sleep of the whole population. P values were derived from log-rank tests. DLMO, dim-light melatonin onset.
FIGURE 2 View largeDownload slide Kaplan-Meier survival curves of lean (n = 67; black line) and nonlean (n = 39; gray line) participants' time to pass caloric midpoint (average time at which 50% of daily calories were consumed) relative to DLMO (A) and clock hour (B). Lean and nonlean participants were defined by their percentage of body fat and by sex (32). The dashed curve and corresponding right y axis represent the average melatonin concentrations of all participants, and the shaded box represents the average habitual timing of sleep of the whole population. P values were derived from log-rank tests. DLMO, dim-light melatonin onset.
The postprandial energetic response to food intake (diet-induced thermogenesis) can last >6 h; however, >90% of that response is observed within 5 h of food intake when meals of varying sizes and compositions are examined (37). Therefore, we examined the relation between the caloric midpoint and the timing of caloric events between 4 h before DLMO and sleep onset. By measuring calories consumed between 4 h before DLMO and sleep onset, we expect a portion of those calories will still be digested during and after DLMO (i.e., during the biological night). Individuals who consumed a greater percentage of their daily calories between 4 h before DLMO and sleep onset had a higher percentage of body fat (P = 0.006; Figure 3). Furthermore, individuals with a caloric midpoint at a later clock hour had a greater number of caloric events between 4 h before DLMO and sleep onset (P < 0.001).
FIGURE 3 View largeDownload slide Correlation between the percentage of calories consumed between 4 h before DLMO and sleep onset (x-axis) and body fat percentage represented as a deviation from the sex-specific criteria of lean (n = 67) or nonlean (n = 39) body composition (y-axis). The horizontal dashed line at 0 represents the threshold to be categorized as lean (<0) or nonlean (>0). Data were analyzed with the Pearson correlation. DLMO, dim-light melatonin onset.
FIGURE 3 View largeDownload slide Correlation between the percentage of calories consumed between 4 h before DLMO and sleep onset (x-axis) and body fat percentage represented as a deviation from the sex-specific criteria of lean (n = 67) or nonlean (n = 39) body composition (y-axis). The horizontal dashed line at 0 represents the threshold to be categorized as lean (<0) or nonlean (>0). Data were analyzed with the Pearson correlation. DLMO, dim-light melatonin onset.
Relations between food intake, sleep, circadian measures, and body composition
Female sex (31), positive energy balance (calories consumed more than calories expended) (38), and short sleep durations (39) have previously been associated with a higher body fat percentage. To our knowledge, how these variables contribute to body composition when accounting for the circadian timing of food intake has been not studied. Thus, we tested the contribution of the circadian timing of food intake, caloric amount, macronutrient composition (i.e., percentage of calories from carbohydrates, fats, or proteins), sleep duration, and activity level by using multiple linear regression models that controlled for sex. The timing of the caloric midpoint relative to DLMO was the only variable significantly associated with the percentage of body fat (β = −0.15; 95% CI: −0.27, −0.02; P = 0.02) when controlling for sex. This was also true when we used BMI as our dependent variable (β = −0.23; 95% CI: −0.45, −0.01; P = 0.04).
There was a significant association between the timing of the latest daily food intake relative to DLMO and 24-h total sleep duration (i.e., major sleep plus naps), such that individuals with their latest daily food intake closer to DLMO had less sleep (Figure 4A). No association, however, was found between clock hour of the latest food intake and 24-h total sleep duration (Figure 4B). In this cohort, we found no association between social jetlag and body composition (Supplemental Figure 3A) or between eating duration (the length between the first and last caloric event each day) and body composition (Supplemental Figure 3B). There was also no association between social jetlag and the percentage of daily calories consumed 4 h before DLMO until sleep onset (Supplemental Figure 3C), but there was a positive association between eating duration and the percentage of calories consumed 4 h before DLMO until sleep onset, such that individuals who had a longer eating duration consumed a greater percentage of their calories during that time (Supplemental Figure 3D).
FIGURE 4 View largeDownload slide Correlations between 24-h total sleep time (x-axis) and the time difference of the latest daily calories relative to DLMO timing (i.e., time of latest calories minus DLMO) represented as phase angle (n = 100) (y-axis) (A) and clock hour of the latest daily calories (n = 104) (y-axis) (B). Data were analyzed with the Pearson correlation. DLMO, dim-light melatonin onset.
FIGURE 4 View largeDownload slide Correlations between 24-h total sleep time (x-axis) and the time difference of the latest daily calories relative to DLMO timing (i.e., time of latest calories minus DLMO) represented as phase angle (n = 100) (y-axis) (A) and clock hour of the latest daily calories (n = 104) (y-axis) (B). Data were analyzed with the Pearson correlation. DLMO, dim-light melatonin onset.
DISCUSSION
Weight gain and obesity have reached alarming levels throughout the developed world. Because overweight or obese adolescents have double the risk for high weight status in adulthood (40), and college is a critical developmental time for establishing long-term health behaviors (41), understanding behaviors that may promote improved health is clinically relevant and vital to this population. By studying participants daily across an entire month, we were able to identify habitual patterns that may advance unhealthy metabolic behavior. Accurate assessment of the circadian phase also distinguishes this study from prior research. The synthesis of real-world observations with precise laboratory data enabled us to identify a novel potential risk factor for weight gain and disease: caloric intake relative to the central circadian phase. Previous observations have shown that eating after 2000 in humans is associated with higher BMI (42) and that restricting eating to typical waking hours in humans and rodents decreases weight (14, 30, 43). We here show how these observations are more directly correlated with circadian timing rather than clock time.
A potential mechanism for increased body fat in response to later meal timing may be a decreased thermic effect of food (TEF) (5, 44, 45), which is the energy expended in response to a meal. In controlled laboratory settings using whole-room indirect calorimetry, the TEF response to a meal consumed at ∼2230 decreased by ∼4% relative to the same meal at ∼1830 (5). Other findings also indicate a possible time-of-day variation in the TEF (44). Specifically, consumption of a snack containing 20% of the total daily intake at 0100 produced a smaller TEF than the same snack at 0900 and 1700 (44). Of special relevance here, given the associations of body composition with meal timing relative to the circadian phase and not clock time, we previously showed the morning-evening difference in the TEF was caused primarily by the circadian system (45). Thus, one possible consequence of eating closer to or after DLMO may be a lower TEF response, which would contribute to a positive energy balance and weight gain over time. When we examined the percentage of total daily calories consumed from 4 h before DLMO until sleep onset, a time in which we would expect the TEF to be decreased, we found it was significantly associated with increased body fat. Although we did not have a direct measurement of energy expenditure or energy balance, making it difficult to demonstrate causality (i.e., that eating at a later circadian phase influences body composition), future work should take into account actual measures of energy expenditure in response to real-world food choices.
The absence of a relation between sleep duration and percentage of body fat in our data was unexpected, because insufficient sleep has been associated with higher weight (39, 46, 47). However, in those previous studies, when sleep is restricted in controlled laboratory settings and food is provided ad libitum, participants increase their caloric intake (48–50) to exceed the additional energy demands required to maintain wakefulness (5), and this excess consumption of calories occurs after dinner and closer to or after DLMO (49, 51). This eating pattern mirrors what we observed in this real-world setting when food was easily accessible in the college environment, because the shortest sleepers consumed their last daily calories closer to or after DLMO. Thus, short sleep may not directly contribute to weight gain per se, but rather when sleep is shortened because of a delayed bedtime or night and/or shift work, it may increase food consumption and enable dietary intake closer to DLMO.
Conversely, the weight loss observed during time-restricted feeding schedules (30) may also result from a change in the timing of consumption relative to DLMO. It was notable in the current study with well-characterized behaviors that although we did see a relation between the circadian timing of caloric intake and body composition, we did not see any associations between social jetlag and BMI, as have been previously reported (35). It is possible that our limited sample size did not provide sufficient power for a significant correlation between social jetlag and body composition. Alternatively, the timing of meals with respect to DLMO may have been the underlying mechanism in the correlations observed in the literature, and social jetlag may be a proxy measure for individuals eating later meals. Further, we did not see a relation between eating duration and body composition, similar to what has been reported in the literature (30). When eating durations are restricted, however, weight loss ensues (30). We again hypothesize that one underlying mechanism for this weight loss may be reducing the amount of calories consumed close to DLMO timing, because participants in the current study with longer eating durations ate a greater number of calories closer to DLMO. Before the translation of this work to clinical settings, randomized controlled trials based on our findings are needed. One such study would include altering the timing of meals of the exact same food content in relation to melatonin timing (e.g., providing meals within 4 h of melatonin or restricting calories to when melatonin concentrations are low).
Our study has several limitations that need to be considered in future work. First, we cannot dismiss the potential for underreporting of calories consumed or participants changing their eating habits during the meal-tracking protocol. To help avoid underreporting, the meal-tracking protocol was designed to occur when participants were in the midst of 30 d of data collection, reducing potential alteration of habitual patterns due to novelty. Furthermore, participants who recorded ≤2 meals within a 24-h period were sent an e-mail to confirm they had recorded all food or beverages consumed for that day. Second, and as noted above, we did not have a direct measure of energy expenditure to capture the full scope of energy balance. We attempted to account for this by including activity (measured as percentage of days with exercise) into our regression models. Third, across the 30 d of data collection, we only had 1 overnight assessment of the circadian phase, thereby limiting our ability to identify the relation between slight changes in the daily timing of DLMO and the timing of food consumption for each meal. However, because typical room lighting at night can produce only a small shift of ±1 h in the circadian phase (52), we do not anticipate a shift significantly impaired our conclusions. Lastly, we acknowledge that our population of college-aged individuals may not be representative of the entire population in food choice or timing. Our college population most likely had a delayed circadian phase compared with children and adults (18–20). We note that those other populations, who are expected to have earlier circadian timing, may be more vulnerable to the effect of eating meals at a later clock hour, more likely on weekends (30), because it would be closer to their (earlier) melatonin onset. Other populations with known late eating are night and shift workers, who also have increased rates of obesity (23). Examination of the timing of caloric consumption relative to melatonin onset in non–college-aged populations is needed to extend our findings.
In summary, our findings are the first, to our knowledge, to highlight eating patterns in real-world settings by using advanced food diary techniques and reveal that the timing of caloric consumption relative to melatonin onset is associated with increased body fat percentage, whereas caloric intake, the macronutrient content of the calories consumed, the amount of sleep obtained, and clock hour of the caloric consumption were not associated with body composition. These findings emphasize the importance of considering internal circadian timing of food consumption, in addition to the traditional risk factors of diet and exercise, for understanding healthy metabolic behavior, particularly as our society moves toward individualized health care strategies.
We thank the MIT Media Laboratory Affective Computing and the Brigham and Women's Hospital Center for Clinical Investigation staff.
The authors' responsibilities were as follows—AWM, CAC, and EBK: designed and conducted the research, analyzed the data, wrote the manuscript, and had primary responsibility for the final content; MG and FAJLS: designed the research, analyzed the data, and wrote the manuscript; AJKP, LK, KY, and LKB: conducted the research, analyzed the data, and wrote the manuscript; and all authors: read and approved the final manuscript. CAC has received consulting fees from or served as a paid member of scientific advisory boards for Bose Corporation, Boston Celtics, Boston Red Sox, Columbia River Bar Pilots, Institute of Digital Media and Child Development, Klarman Family Foundation, Koninklijke Philips Electronics, N.V., Samsung Electronics, Sleep Multimedia Inc., Vanda Pharmaceuticals, and V-Watch/PPRS. CAC has also received education/research support from Cephalon Inc., Mary Ann & Stanley Snider via Combined Jewish Philanthropies, Optum, Philips Respironics Inc., ResMed Foundation, San Francisco Bar Pilots, Schneider Inc., and Sysco and has received lecture fees from Annual Congress of the German Sleep Society (DGSM), CurtCo Media Laboratories LLC, Global Council on Brain Health/AARP, Harvard School of Public Health, Integritas Communications Group, Maryland Sleep Society, National Sleep Foundation, University of Michigan, and Zurich Insurance Company Ltd. The Sleep and Health Education Program of the Harvard Medical School Division of Sleep Medicine (which CAC directs) has received educational grant funding from Cephalon Inc., Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd., Sanofi, Inc., Sepracor Inc., and Wake Up Narcolepsy. He is the incumbent of an endowed professorship provided to Harvard University by Cephalon Inc. and holds a number of process patents in the field of sleep/circadian rhythms (e.g., photic resetting of the human circadian pacemaker). Since 1985, CAC has also served as an expert on various legal and technical cases related to sleep and/or circadian rhythms, including those involving the following commercial entities: Bombardier Inc., Continental Airlines, FedEx, Greyhound, and United Parcel Service. CAC owns or owned an equity interest in Lifetrac Inc., Somnus Therapeutics Inc., and Vanda Pharmaceuticals, and received royalties from McGraw Hill, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and Philips Respironics Inc. for the Actiwatch-2 and Actiwatch-Spectrum devices. FAJLS has received lecture fees from Bayer HealthCare, Sentara Healthcare, and Philips. EBK has received travel reimbursement from the Sleep Technology Council, Wire In-Brain Conference, Free Health LLC, Employer Health Benefit Congress, and the Associated Professional Sleep Society, and has served as consultant in cases involving transportation safety and sleep deprivation. The remaining authors had no conflicts to disclose.
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© 2017 American Society for Nutrition |
As concerns mount over people’s exposure to the plasticizer bisphenol A in everyday products, it’s also contaminating the air near manufacturing plants: U.S. companies emitted about 26 tons of the hormone-disrupting compound in 2013.
Although research is sparse, experts warn that airborne BPA could be a potentially dangerous route of exposure for some people. Of the 72 factories reporting BPA emissions, the largest sources are in Ohio, Indiana and Texas, according to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Toxics Release Inventory.
No one has measured what people in nearby communities are exposed to. But the exposures are likely to be localized and smaller than other sources of BPA.
BPA breaks down quickly in the environment. But it also can attach to particles that infiltrate lungs, said Bruce Blumberg, a University of California, Irvine, biology professor.
“Inhalation of compounds is a big exposure route that most people do not usually consider for BPA,” he said.
BPA, used to make polycarbonate plastic, food can linings and some paper receipts, is found in almost all people tested. Low doses can alter hormones, according to animal tests, and exposure has been linked to a wide range of health effects in people, including infertility, cardiovascular disease, obesity and cancer.
In the only study of its kind, Japanese researchers reported that BPA was ubiquitous in the atmosphere worldwide. They suspected the emissions came from the manufacturing and burning of plastics.
In the United States, chemical manufacturing accounted for 54 percent of the BPA air emissions, while metal manufacturing and metal fabricating accounted for 21 and 20 percent, respectively, according to the EPA database. In addition, U.S. companies in 2013 reported releasing 3,313 pounds of BPA to surface waters, the EPA database shows.
The amount of BPA emitted into the air has been dropping in recent years. Although the number of companies reporting BPA emissions has remained about the same over the past decade, in 2013 the total tons declined 41 percent from 2012 and almost 66 percent from 10 years ago.
Kathryn St. John, a spokesperson for the American Chemistry Council, which represents chemical manufacturers, said the data don’t reflect what people in surrounding communities might be exposed to. Factors such as the proximity of people to the plants and whether the emissions are continuous or intermittent are important when determining people’s exposures.
St. John added that there is “no evidence that inhalation exposures are of concern.” Studies have not provided any information on what happens to BPA if inhaled, such as whether it is absorbed in the lungs and if absorbed, whether it is metabolized.
But Wade Welshons, an associate professor at the University of Missouri who studies endocrine-disrupting compounds, said airborne BPA could be absorbed through the lungs as well as the skin.
Both and inhalation and skin absorption “would deliver more BPA to the blood than an oral exposure,” he said.
Blumberg and Welshons said since these routes would bypass metabolizing organs such as the intestines and liver, airborne exposures may be more dangerous than food exposures.
“The liver is a great organ for metabolizing substances, lungs are for absorbing, not for metabolizing,” Welshons said.
No one has investigated the potential health effects of inhaling BPA. Regulatory agencies only consider oral doses when analyzing potential effects, Blumberg said.
Several communities with the biggest BPA emitters are also home to large volumes of other toxics from industrial plants.
Deer Park, Texas, had 4,100 pounds of BPA and 2.8 million pounds of other air toxics in 2013, while Defiance, Ohio, had 6,600 pounds of BPA and 387,454 pounds of others, according to the industry reports filed with the EPA. Freeport, Texas, home to a Dow Chemical plant, had 905 pounds of reported BPA air emissions last year and an additional 1.74 million pounds of other toxics.
Compared with exposure from consumer products such as polycarbonate plastic and food cans, there has been little concern about airborne BPA. “But this lower concern level is based on relatively little data,” said Laura Vandenberg, an assistant professor of environmental health at the University of Massachusetts Amherst who studies health effects of BPA. “This is something I would say is not discussed in-depth on our field but it should be.”
There isn’t a lot of research on what happens to BPA when it’s released into the air. BPA degrades fairly quickly, but it also can attach to dust particles, Vandenberg said.
Researchers tested for BPA in the dust of homes, dorms and labs at and around Murray State University and the University at Albany in 2011. They estimated that, while diet is the still the major exposure route, people’s BPA exposures through dust are about the same as the low concentrations that cause health problems in lab animals. It’s not clear how the BPA got into the dust; it could have been from indoor sources.
Sudan Loganathan, who led the study while a student at Murray State University, said the estimated daily exposure for people through dust was low compared with food exposure. But, she added, “when you look at the average dust intake for adults and then infants, this is more of a concern for infants. They are on the floor, and there’s more hand-to-mouth contact.”
Blumberg said air quality monitoring should expand to test for BPA.
“There are a lot of people studying inhalation exposure with things like particulate pollution, ozone and other major components of exhaust, but not much at all when it comes to chemical exposure like BPA,” Blumberg said. “That’s a big open area right now.”
This article originally ran at Environmental Health News, a news source published by Environmental Health Sciences, a nonprofit media company. |
Remember those retail stores that a rumor recently claimed Google is planning to build? According to Android chief Andy Rubin, Google doesn't need them. AllThingsD reports that Rubin responded to questions about the rumored stores at a roundtable talk earlier today, saying that he doesn't feel that consumers need to actually go to a store and try a product before buying it anymore. The exec went on to say that Google's Nexus program is still too early on to necessitate having the devices in stores anyway. When asked if Google was even just toying with the idea of launching its own stores, Rubin flatly said that "Google has no plans and we have nothing to announce."
Rubin's statements about the rumored Google stores are definitely a bummer for anyone that's been excitedly imagining what it'd be like to waltz into their local Google outlet, interact with the products and possibly walk out with some new toys. As we've seen before in tech, though, companies often say that they won't be doing something until they ultimately do. Just because Google says that it doesn't have plans for its own stores now doesn't mean that it won't be interested later on, especially since the shops would be a good way for consumers to try out products like Google Glass.
Rubin and his Google cohorts also talked a bit about other rumors that've been swirling around the company and Android lately. On the topic of Samsung's success with Android, Rubin said that's "mostly about execution," adding that Samsung has made large investments in growing its brand. He added that other device makers are making profits, even if those profits don't come close to Samsung's, and that those firms will need to figure out their own way to fight Samsung if they want more cash.
Finally, Google Play head Jamie Rosenberg declined to comment on the subject of Google's rumored upcoming subscription music service. Recent reports came out claiming that Google is currently in talks with music labels about launching a streaming service similar to Spotify, with a free ad-supported tier as well as a paid tier. The service is currently rumored to be launching in Q3 2013.
Via AllThingsD (1), (2) |
When I started doing classroom-based research involving computers in the late 1990s, the first thing I had to do was bring some computers into a classroom. My adviser had gotten a grant for six first-generation Bondi Blue iMacs to be installed at the middle school where we doing our research. As soon as we entered the school carrying those inviting gumdrop-shaped machines, my worries about finding participants evaporated.
Computers anywhere, especially in middle school classrooms, were still relatively uncommon back then, and we were able to parlay their novelty into direct engagement with our educational intervention.
App Inventor makes it possible to quickly and easily dive into building mobile applications for phones and tablets.
Nowadays, computers are far more prevalent, and students routinely carry mobile devices with far more computing power than those first-generation iMacs. While there is still a subset of students (adult and youth) who are interested enough in computer science that they'll sit in front of whatever device is available, the novelty and engagement of working on a computer are not enough to pull in kids that might otherwise pass by.
It's still possible to grab students with engaging device-based education, but now you need to use the mobile devices that your learners use all the time. This is where App Inventor shines.
A mobile programming framework
App Inventor is a programming framework for building Android applications using a visual blocks language (similar to Scratch or Snap). It was first prototyped by Hal Abelson and Mark Friedman while Hal was on sabbatical from MIT at Google, and it has since evolved from its original roots as a Java-based frontend to the USB debugger to a web-based one using the Blockly library.
App Inventor makes it possible to quickly and easily dive into building mobile applications for phones and tablets.
In the canonical introductory exercise, learners build a simple soundboard application—tap the picture of a cat and the phone plays a "meow" sound. After building the framework, learners can replace the sound with whatever they would like, add extra buttons, and build a custom soundboard with whatever amusing sound effects they desire. As soon as their first app is built, learners tend to immediately show off their work to their peers (especially ones that aren't yet working on an App Inventor project), playing whatever humorous sounds they recorded.
It's that phenomenon, where novice programmers immediately show off what they've built—a legitimate standalone application that can run on any Android device—that makes App Inventor such a compelling platform for teaching computer programming today. There may come a day when hand-built mobile applications go the way of the early iMac hockey puck mouse, but that day has not yet come.
Event-driven approach
App Inventor encourages learners to take an event-driven approach to thinking about their program. This model is very useful for modern programming (consider how much work is done by modern programs inside an event dispatch loop). By skipping over the notion of a main() that executes to completion, we can dive directly into asking questions like "what should happen when the user presses this button?" This can be a very natural way to teach programming concepts, especially with a project-based approach.
The App Inventor environment has two major parts, client and server, both of which are open source, under the Apache 2.0 license.
While you can run your own instance (especially cool if you want to build custom blocks that extend the language in some way), most users use the free instance running at appinventor.mit.edu. The web client is built around the Blockly library, another open source project that originated at Google. Blockly is designed as a kind of meta-language, a framework for building blocks-based programming languages for the web. I frequently use the Maze Blockly puzzle as the first introduction to blocks-based programming and thinking like a programmer, but Blockly can also be used to generate JavaScript code as well.
On the server end of things, App Inventor is a big Java server built to run in a Google App Engine container. The server handles mundane things like storing people's work, login credentials, and so on, as well as the more exciting and interesting compilation process by which users' blocks representations are converted to Android Package Kit (APK) files that can be downloaded and run.
In addition to the programming interface, users need to have an execution context. The simplest option is installing a special companion app on their Android devices. The companion app can be paired with their App Inventor session and will provide a live-updating instance of their work. In practice, I have found some school WiFi environments can't support this, as it requires peer network connections between the users' computers and devices). In those situations, either a USB debugger connection can be used between the phone and computer or an emulator can be run on the computer itself. If there is a shortage of usable devices, having students work on the emulator first makes sense, and then they can take turns uploading their applications to the phone. Students can also work by exporting their code as an APK and installing it directly on a device (provided third-party, unsigned apps are allowed on the phone), but that workflow is slow. That's why it's better to use live updating, especially for the companion app, as the USB connection can be quite tricky to establish (sometimes requiring the installation of drivers and always requiring the installation of the Android Debug Bridge).
Putting App Inventor into practice
The design environment allows the user to build screens out of interface widgets such as buttons, input fields, and canvases (which can contain movable sprites or be painted to directly). The design environment also allows the activation of phone-specific inputs, such as orientation/shake sensing, the camera, and even Ajax requests to remote APIs.
The programming environment, as mentioned above, is largely event-driven. A block of code is triggered when something happens, often a tap or a clock tick every N milliseconds. The block can contain standard imperative language constructs (loops and branches) and can set an app-global variable state. It is also possible to define functions with local parameters and return values (or ones that manipulate global state, which is a common novice approach with straightforward applications).
This, for example, is the animation routine for a Flappy Bird clone called "Appy Bird"—the sprite moves every clock tick. Also, on the clock tick, the sprite's velocity is reduced by a constant amount (simulating acceleration downwards), and on a screen tap, the velocity is set to an upward (positive) constant value. By adjusting the game's tick rate and acceleration, it is possible to fine tune for the most satisfying gameplay feel.
The Appy Bird game is a bit complicated when introducing App Inventor, but it's well within the reach of someone who has a bit more experience (or wants to continue building games after a week or so of introductory work).
While it is (or perhaps was three years ago when Flappy Bird was in the pop culture zeitgeist) fun to build an interactive flying pig game, App Inventor provides a handle on many other features that are unique to mobile devices. For example, your students may enjoy building something that responds to the tilt orientation of the device (perhaps moving a marble sprite around a maze by tilting), records the G forces the phone is experiencing (and graphs it by direct-drawing to a canvas), or interacts with the phone's SMS system to auto-reply to all incoming texts with, "Sorry, I'm driving right now, but I'll get back to you later," whenever the phone is traveling above a certain velocity (as computed by its GPS).
One of my students built a tool that allowed students to take geotagged pictures of murals in their neighborhood to upload to a Google Fusion Table (which then displayed the murals on a map overlay for the class and school to see). The direct-draw canvas (where students learn the strange coordinate system of computer displays) can be quite compelling to math students. A common challenge I give is: "draw a square wherever the user taps," extended to "let the user pick a number N, and then draw regular N-gons where they tap," culminating in "use the application storage system to remember the drawing the user made so they can reload and edit it later." (Note that the app storage erases when the application is run in debug mode, so direct-loading an APK is needed to really test this feature).
3 tips for teaching App Inventor
There are a number of good resources about using App Inventor to teach programming concepts, such as David Wolber's book App Inventor 2: Create Your Own Android Apps and the material at appinventor.mit.edu.
In addition, I've discovered a few principles you can use with any App Inventor lessons, whether you're teaching younger kids or adult learners. These principles derive from a model of project-based inquiry learning, which is used in math and science education in grades six through 12 (which, naturally, is aligned with the research I was doing in the late 1990s with those iMacs).
1. Engage your learners with a simple project that encapsulates some programming concept, but don't explicitly teach the concept first.
It is common in teaching to lecture about an idea first, and then provide a lab or problem set that exemplifies that concept. I prefer inverting this relationship; as the teacher, I know that my students are ready to learn about if/then/else constructs, but I don't need to start the class in front of the whiteboard explaining them. Instead, I can leverage a strength of a blocks-based language: Syntax errors are very difficult to create and blocks tend to be self-documenting. If I create a simple challenge that requires a language construct, I can usually let students figure out how those constructs work in the service of solving the challenge. As a specific example, after they do the simple cat soundboard exercise described above, I challenge my students to make the cat stop meowing after the button has been pressed five times. There are a number of ways to accomplish this, but all require tracking some kind of state and making a decision based on that state. Afterward, I will do a brief lecture that synthesizes what they did and then return to a new challenge: After the silent cat has been tapped an additional five times, it should say, "stop it." Ultimately, this program does not differ much from a FizzBuzz assignment (except that it does not use modular arithmetic), but it is far more engaging.
This single and simple principle for teaching using App Inventor is extraordinarily powerful and important. While many people in computer science learned well in the lecture-then-demonstrate environment that pervades education, orders of magnitude more people did not respond well to that teaching style. In general, a lecture is more useful when the listeners know enough about the topic that it makes sense to them immediately—that is, they see the utility while you are talking about it.
2. Allow your students a chance to be smart in different ways.
Some people want to learn to program because they want to make games, or tell stories, or build clever interactions. If you structure assignments in a way that affords creative expression, you will be constantly surprised with what your students build. In practice, this primarily means making sure that the underlying projects you select are extendible in many directions. The soundboard could easily evolve into a multi-button synthesizer panel, it could embody a game of remember-the-sequence, or it could just have a lot of really clever sounds and funny images. If you give your students different ideas about what they could build and then give them time to build interesting things, they will not only stretch their own understanding, they will usually run up against the next important concept in your progression (such as in the soundboard lesson sequence, either looping or functional decomposition, depending on which features the students elaborate on).
3. Encourage small group work.
This aligns with the first two points: If you allow for a rich set of project-based learning experiences, your students will work and learn better together in groups, especially groups that are heterogeneously mixed by ability and interest. It is important to keep a close eye on how your groups are functioning and encourage frequent role switching (e.g., who is driving the keyboard, who is asking questions and monitoring progress, who is designing interactions).
If you apply these three principles to teaching App Inventor (or really, any kind of programming education), your students are likely to be more actively engaged with the lessons and constantly surprising you with how much they can build with relatively few language constructs. |
“Modern Christians hope to save the world by being like it. But it will never work. The church’s power over the world springs out of her unlikeness to it. Never from her integration into it.” –A.W. Tozer
I love Jesus and I want something more.
Something more than Bible study.
Something more than church on Sunday.
Something more than Christian radio, movies and bookmarks.
I want to experience Christ.
I want to know what it means to walk with Him and follow hard.
I feel the frustration of a thin, dry, predictable faith.
I’ve been sold something that does not hold
• When the rain comes down.
• When life doesn’t line up neatly.
• When babies die and cancer goes uncured.
I want more.
When Jesus walked the earth, religious leaders gave people a lot of rules.
It hasn’t changed much:
• Don’t read certain books or watch certain movies.
• Wear the Christian mask of perfection, the one without cracks where light never escapes
• Don’t hang out with those people.
• Blend and fit in – look how we look, say what we say, do what we do, go where we go
Jesus is found in all the places I think He shouldn't be. Click To Tweet
Does anyone notice Jesus hung out with drunkards, gluttons, lepers, tax collectors, women, the disabled – those society had no use for?
And I wonder – if I’m following Jesus, shouldn’t I do the same?
I’m part of the problem when my life looks like everyone else’s.
What good is another Bible study if I’m never willing to put it into practice?
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.
And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Matthew 22:36-39 NIV
Love God, love people. That’s it – that’s what God calls us to. It seems so simple.
The challenge is the love part – Jesus love is hard.
Love that gives without getting.
Love that is complicated and messy and inconvenient.
Love that involves people I don’t like or relate to.
Love that calls me to broken places.
Love that tells the truth even when it’s hard and offends.
Easy to limit my faith to Bible study, prayer groups, church.
Easy to stay with who and what I know while living a sanitized, empty faith lie.
I want to walk with Jesus, feel His scars, place my fingers where Thomas placed his.
Jesus was radically different, He loved and lived in ways no one understood.
He saved me to send me.
Send me into the world – the world where I already live.
To share the gospel both with how I live and words I say.
He calls me to persecution and suffering, rejection and ridicule.
The student is not above the master.
I cannot live an easy, problem free life and follow Jesus. Click To Tweet
Jesus speaks out against legalistic religion that cripples love.
He touches lepers.
He befriends the friendless.
He ticks off the establishment.
He sacrifices and loves unconditionally.
I must do the same. Sweet Jesus, I must do the same.
In my selfishness and sin, I don’t want to.
I want the lie. I want to believe I’m fine.
I want to believe it doesn’t matter how I spend my money if I tithe.
I want to believe following Jesus means doing exactly what I’m already doing.
I want ease, I want comfort.
Jesus calls me from atop the water.
He invites me to leave the comfort and safety of the boat.
Arms wide open, He promises to never leave me.
He won’t let me drown.
The boat feels safe, secure.
The water is choppy, dangerous.
The choice is mine.
I want the waves and adventure.
I want the safety and security of the shore.
These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught. Isaiah 29:13 NIV
Wild, radical Jesus will never be domesticated or contained.
Following Him requires all of me – not just the parts and pieces I choose to give.
It’s leaving and cleaving.
Inhaling and exhaling.
Dying and living.
It’s becoming willing to make the sacrifices real love demands.
• Willing to do what I don’t want to do.
• Willing to go where I don’t want to go.
• Willing to give up people, places and things I’d rather not give up.
• Willing to love when it’s hard, messy and inconvenient.
• Willing to obey, willing to follow.
The willingness happens in the will breaking.
Christ is always found in the breaking, in the broken.
Jesus broke to break open Heaven.
If I want to find and follow Christ, I must do the same.
If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. Luke 14:26-27 ESV
So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:33 ESV |
MUSLIM women have launched an audacious campaign to win the vote at Scotland's biggest mosque.
A group of students, many aged under 20, say they are being effectively barred from taking part in elections because applications from women to become voting members are being turned down.
Dubbed "Muslim suffragettes", the group believes Glasgow Central Mosque, Scotland's biggest place of worship, is in breach of its own constitution, charity rules and discrimination laws.
The mosque, which can cater for up to 2,500 worshippers, has no female members but allows women to pray and wash in segregated areas.
Nazia Iqbal, 19, a phar- macy student at Strathclyde University, this weekend wrote to the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) asking whether the mosque had undermined its charitable status by refusing to accept her application to become a member.
Iqbal said: "I was shocked when I was knocked back. I just found it downright wrong that a committee decided that women can't be members."
The Campaign for Women's Votes in Our Mosques claims there is nothing in the Koran saying women cannot play a full role in places of worship. Some mosques in England and the US allow women to become voting members and stand for election to their ruling committees.
An OSCR spokesman yesterday said any complaint from Iqbal would be considered, while mosque president Bashir Maan pledged to look into why applications from women had been turned down. |
My favourite Christmas song is by Chris Rea. You know the one. Rea’s voice, sounding like the erratic spurt of an automatic coffee machine somewhere halfway up the M1, sings:
Driving home for Christmas / Oh, I can’t wait to see those faces.
The first thing that sets the song apart is that it’s ambiguous – cryptic, even, in a way that Cliff’s mistletoe and wine or even The Pogues’ domestic melancholy isn’t.
We assume Rea is speeding up the motorway to see his family – a wife, perhaps, or some gap-toothed kids who’ll climb all over him the moment he walks through the door with snow still stuck to his coat – but we don’t know for sure. They’re just called ‘faces’.
It's an odd moment in the whole Christmas experience Rea has chosen to capture here. Not the actual day itself, or even a broad sense of ‘the season’, but the anticipation of Christmas, the unstoppable journey towards it.
Well I'm moving down that line / And it's been so long / But I will be there / I sing this song / To pass the time away
The man in the car is so anxious, he is singing to himself. And though he claims to be excited, can’t we detect just the faintest note of apprehension in his voice?
Is the ‘home’ Rea is hurtling towards a small town or village he left long ago? Are the ‘faces’ he can’t bring himself to name ones he isn’t sure he really wants to see?
For Rea, is the excitement of Christmas tinged with a trepidation tempting him, beneath the cheerful façade, to veer his car off the nearest bridge and plunge to an icy death?
I think the answer is yes.
Because to me, 'Driving Home For Christmas' is a song for those of us still caught between our first families and our second, who are grown up but as yet without partners or children of our own.
Take the inevitable night out on the town every trip home for Christmas entails. For every catch-up-pint with an old mate and the accompanying delight – usually three drinks in – of realising that nothing has really changed and your friendship is rock solid, there is the moment you catch eyes at the bar with a ghost.
A ghost, of course, is someone from the past who returns to haunt you – in this case a 6’ 3”, bleary-eyed caricature of a teenage boy whose name you can’t recall, but who insists on filling you in on the various melodramas – divorce, lay offs, medical complications related to ecstasy abuse – that have afflicted him in intervening years, as you stand there wobbling with recollections of how he and his friends once threw stones at you outside Carlo’s chippy for no good reason.
Or worse – a woman whose heart you thought you once broke, looking beautiful in the way that only a woman who has outgrown you and moved onto better things can, telling you how they’re a lawyer now, engaged to a doctor, living somewhere in Kent. Faces.
Top to toe in tail-lights / Oh, I got red lights on the run
Then there is the inevitable solo stroll you take, just to get away from it all for an hour, through the streets you once roamed as a sullen teenager.
Last Boxing Day, when I embarked on this particular nostalgic pilgrimage, I opted to go past my junior and middle schools, just to see what sort of memories they could still conjure.
When I got there, both buildings lay in ruins: the first, a gaping wound of soil waiting to be covered with a block of flats, the second, long-since disused for educational purposes, burnt to the ground in an act of bored local vandalism.
An extreme example. But piece by piece your childhood is being desecrated by indifferent agents of progress: makeshift football pitches turned to tarmac, sweet shops morphed into Subways, back alleys you once hid down to get drunk transformed into smooth-stoned office blocks.
Soon there'll be a freeway / Get my feet on holy ground
Your past moves on without you, and so it should. But Christmas, for those us still trapped between your first family and the one you’re supposed to start anew, is a time when there is nothing else to do but confront that change in all its discombobulating strangeness.
The joy – and in some ways the torture – of this time of year is that it places you in a time loop, both collectively via the same old songs and films that play over and over, and personally, by the routines and conversations you re-enact for three or four days every year with your family. Christmas, in its repetition, is our national period of self-reflection. And sandwiches.
And while, I imagine, one of the many joys of starting a family of your own is setting the terms of that time loop yourself, building a version of Christmas that your children will accept and enjoy unconditionally for as long as they are children, for those of us still stuck in life’s middle ground, Christmas is about straddling both the pleasures and perplexities of the past.
But don’t worry. As Chris Rea, author of the greatest ever Christmas song points out, whatever our experience this time of year, we’re not alone.
I take look at the driver next to me / He's just the same / Just the same…
This article first appeared on esquire.co.uk in 2013
***
MORE FROM THE RANT:
How Tinder Made Me Hate My Own Face
Why You Should Give All Dress Codes A Miss
An Open Letter To Trolls
*** |
The few times we have picked up visitors from the airport, I have felt the need to add a disclaimer as we headed out onto the main road back toward base. Basically, don't judge this place until we get to where you can see the water. The general rule of thumb here is that nature on Guam is gorgeous, even breathtaking in places. But the manmade stuff is what our Thai cooking instructor would outspokenly label "not beautiful." The same elements of moisture, rain, humidity, sun, and heat that make things tend to break also tend to make their beauty deteriorate at an alarmingly fast rate. In fact, destruction may be the only thing around here that happens quickly. The few times we have picked up visitors from the airport, I have felt the need to add a disclaimer as we headed out onto the main road back toward base. Basically, don't judge this place until we get to where you can see the water. The general rule of thumb here is that nature on Guam is gorgeous, even breathtaking in places. But the manmade stuff is what our Thai cooking instructor would outspokenly label "not beautiful." The same elements of moisture, rain, humidity, sun, and heat that make things tend to break also tend to make their beauty deteriorate at an alarmingly fast rate. In fact, destruction may be thething around here that happens quickly.
This is Guam's central library (there may be more, but this is the only one I know of). As you can see, it is broad daylight, a time when perhaps someone may want to go check out a book to, say, learn something. Too bad it is closed. And even if it were open, it sure doesn't look very inviting. Power washer, anyone??
Last Sunday I woke up and specifically remembered to grab my camera before leaving for church so I could hopefully get some around town shots for the Broken, Slow, Ugly Guam series. Ironically, our brand new church sign was vandalized the night before, so it added one more shot for the series. Not great for our church (although it is cleaned up now), but it sure does highlight how frustrating it is to try to keep things here looking nice.
A pretty typical look down Marine Corps Dr., the main drag. "Not beautiful."
Some apartment buildings. And no, this isn't a "bad" part of town, per se. This picture was taken from the parking lot of the fairly nice resort hotel where our youth group spent the day at the water park yesterday. The ocean is directly behind the white apartment building. Not exactly swanky waterfront real estate.
Parking lot... and a great example of why I haven't bought any nice shoes in the last 15 months. (And also why there will be a major shoe shopping spree in September 2012... just warning you now Nick).
So many businesses close and are never repurposed. They sit at main intersections and rot.
This is the building (or what's left of it) on the other side of the vandalized wall. I can't even tell from this what it was once supposed to be. This is the building (or what's left of it) on the other side of the vandalized wall. I can't even tell from this what it was once supposed to be.
This is the old marquee in front of the police department, home of "Tha Non*Sense Kings."
There is a sad display of graffiti on the island. Unlike some urban centers, it's not artsy graffiti, just bored teenage punk spray paint use. Although I have to ponder if the colorfulness of the spray paint in this case doesn't at least slightly detract from the giant moldy dirt drippings down the side of the wall?PS - Nick just alerted me that in the above picture, there is a TOILET ON THE ROOF! How did I miss that???Finally, I don't know about you, but this is EXACTLY where I want to go for home improvement advice and materials. Look out Home Depot! |
CLOSE Trettenbach is a student at Rochester Institute of Technology whose hormone replacement therapy Kontor had overseen. Justin Murphy
Annamaria Kontor (Photo: Lazar Buki photography)
Rochester Institute of Technology is facing at least three state- and federal-level civil rights complaints relating to the dismissal earlier this year of a staff doctor who was managing hormone replacement therapy for transgender students.
The doctor, Annamaria Kontor, was on staff at the college's Student Health Center. She is a pediatrician who had attended, at RIT's expense, several training sessions on hormone replacement therapy (HRT), and was monitoring that therapy for a handful of students until she was fired May 24.
She points to unanimous guidance from professional organizations that primary care doctors, with some basic training, are capable of monitoring HRT for patients. RIT, like other area colleges, does not have a specific written policy on the topic.
Nonetheless, Kontor's termination letter stated: "The Student Health Center's practice prohibits prescribing hormone therapy for the purpose of gender transition."
It was signed by Dr. Wendy Gelbard, the college's associate vice president of Student Health, Counseling and Wellness. In an essay submitted to the RIT student news magazine, the Reporter, which first wrote about Kontor's firing in July, Gelbard maintained that administering and monitoring HRT for transgender students was "beyond the scope of practice of the Student Health Center."
"While we strive to offer a breadth and depth of services, it is not possible to meet every student's health care needs within the scope of practice of the Student Health Center," she wrote. "That being said, we are fortunate to be situated in Rochester, where there is a strong medical community rich with resources."
Kontor declined to comment until the end of the internal RIT complaint process, which has been delayed several times. RIT spokeswoman Ellen Rosen said the school and Gelbard would not comment because it was "a personnel matter," and declined to address more general questions about the university's policy.
Both sides, though, have established their positions publicly, through interviews and, for Kontor, on a personal website.
Gelbard also wrote that Kontor had ignored several notices not to provide hormone therapy to transgender students.
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There does not, however, appear to be any university policy that addresses the topic one way or another. An archived version of the Student Health Center's website shows the description was changed two months after Kontor's firing. Where it first said the center offers "comprehensive primary care" and stressed "continuity of care," it now describes "basic primary care," and does not mention continuity of care at all.
Kontor has denied receiving any warnings about HRT. Among the points RIT would not publicly address is how Gelbard learned of Kontor's care for transgender students; according to the Reporter, she found out through a review of student records.
The fundamental question is whether a nonspecialist such as Kontor is capable of monitoring hormone replacement therapy for transgender patients.
The leading medical organizations have all endorsed primary care doctors' ability to do so. They include the American Academy of Family Physicians, The American Academy of Pediatrics and the World Professional Association of Transgender Health.
"With appropriate training, feminizing/masculinizing hormone therapy can be managed by a variety of providers, including nurse practitioners, physician assistants and primary care physicians," according to WPATH's guidelines.
The American College Health Association issued transgender recommendations in 2015, including that schools "train clinical health care providers on the initiation and continuation of gender-affirming hormones."
According to her website, Kontor has participated in dozens of hours of care in transgender health care, including a weeklong conference sponsored by WPATH. She also served on the advisory board for RIT's Q Center, a campus hub for LGBTQ students, and attended a full-day workshop and expert panel on the topic through RIT's Center for Women and Gender last December.
That panel included Emma Forbes-Jones, a WPATH-certified psychologist in private practice in Rochester. She said prescribing hormones for transgender people is no more complicated than doing so in other contexts, including birth control or ovarian disease.
"Prescribing HRT for people with a gender dysphoria diagnosis is within the allowed practices of primary care ... and I know (Kontor) obtained training that qualifies her to prescribe," Forbes-Jones said. "The fact that RIT appears to be picking and choosing what best practices are allowed is, I think, pretty terrible. And it leaves people hanging, because qualified providers are really in limited number."
More: NY vows to protect LGBTQ students
More: RIT: professor was hired before solicitation charge
The main community provider for transgender care is Trillium Health, which sees about 350 patients.
Bill Schaefer, director of Trillium's Transgender Center, said the wait for a new patient visit is typically several months, though the organization is now adding additional staff to meet the demand.
Ryan Roy waited until he arrived at RIT in September 2016 before coming out as transgender; he feared being ostracized in the conservative community in Maine where he grew up.
He began hormone replacement therapy at a Planned Parenthood in Ithaca that November, then began seeing Kontor for regular check-ups and prescription refills.
Ryan Roy, a transgender student at Rochester Institute of Technology. (Photo: Justin Murphy)
The first he learned of her dismissal was when a request for a new refill that he sent her through the campus messaging system came back as undeliverable. Trillium had no appointments for months, and the college didn't provide any other help, he said.
"At that point I was stranded, without anyone taking care of my prescription," he said. "It was very sudden and abrupt."
Roy filed a federal Title IX complaint alleging discrimination and also initiated a petition through RIT's student government, gathering 431 signatures. It has not yet received a response; student government leaders did not respond to a request for comment. OUTspoken, an LGBTQ group on campus, hosted a forum on transgender health last week.
Another student, Henry Trettenbach, said it took him several months to get an appointment with Trillium. Both he and Roy also said RIT was entirely unhelpful after Kontor's dismissal, including not notifying them that she'd been fired to begin with.
Henry Trettenbach (Photo: Justin Murphy)
Trettenbach also filed a Title IX complaint, and Kontor filed one with the New York State Division of Human Rights. Kontor was scheduled for a closed-door hearing Thursday.
"She’d talk to you to be sure you’re OK — she paid more attention to me than any other doctor," Trettenbach said of Kontor. "I just wish we could go back to how it was last year, where you could go to the Student Health Center and have your appointment, and that’s it."
Rosen, the RIT spokeswoman, wrote in an email: "Our staff works tirelessly to ensure students get access to the care they need and we have an assigned case manager who is a tremendous resource in identifying community specialty providers and assisting students to ensure access to care without interruption."
More generally, Forbes-Jones said, RIT has earned a reputation as welcoming to LGBTQ students. It offers gender-inclusive housing, where people of different genders can choose to live together, and most campus communications do not use gendered pronouns.
"In many ways, RIT has been ahead of the curve (on transgender issues)," she said. "This practice of not allowing primary care doctors to do something that falls under primary care, and excluding this set of kids, seems out of step from the direction they seemed to be moving in. … They have a broader reputation as an institution that’s welcoming to the trans community, and this is definitely not in line with that."
[email protected]
Other local colleges also do not offer hormone replacement therapy
Rochester Institute of Technology is noteworthy in that transgender students once could have their hormone replacement therapy (HRT) managed by an on-campus pediatrician, then had that service removed. For the most part, other local campuses have never offered it at all.
The University of Rochester's student health center allows that practice in theory but currently does not have any pediatricians trained to do it. Instead, students seeking HRT are referred to the Adolescent Medicine division at the University of Rochester Medical Center.
The College at Brockport, Nazareth College, Roberts Wesleyan College and SUNY Geneseo all refer transgender students to outside specialists for HRT; Brockport said it is trying to increase its capacity to serve transgender students.
Monroe Community College has no primary care physicians on staff, only a nurse practitioner and physician's assistant.
St. John Fisher College’s Health and Wellness Center offers general medical care to all of its students. Specialty care is referred to outside specialists or may be provided by the College medical team in direct collaboration with those specialists, and based on their scope of practice.
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The Monday, May 23rd edition of WWE Raw was up slightly this week to 3.26 million viewers, up three percent from last week.
This show came the day after the Extreme Rules PPV with the cliffhanger ending featuring the return of Seth Rollins.
The number was hurt by the Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Toronto Raptors NBA playoff game that did 6.14 million viewers. For a comparison, Raw last week did 3.17 million viewers but the Golden State Warriors vs. Oklahoma City Thunder NBA playoff game did 8.71 million viewers, which was much tougher competition.
The first hour was actually slightly down from last week, but the rating was up because the show didn't have the big third hour drop of the week before.
The three hours were:
8 p.m.: 3.36 million viewers
9 p.m.: 3.33 million viewers
10 p.m.: 3.12 million viewers
Dancing with the Stars' final Monday night show of the season featuring UFC's Paige VanZant in the final three contestants did 12.34 million viewers. The show brought in 69% of its audience by women in the 18-49 demo.
The Friday replay of Monday Night RAW from May 16th did 467,000 viewers on SyFy with no promotion whatsoever. That show, and Wynona Earp (which site friend Lance Storm has a small role in) were the only two shows on that network to crack the top 150 cable programs for the night. |
During an LCS-game in march you could see a new face amongst the experienced players in Gambit Gaming. In the midlane, a Swedish soloqueue-star made his LCS-debut after quitting school the year before. About six months later, Felix “Betsy” Edling is a respected LCS-player with no plans on going back to school, but he also has worries about Leagues future as an esport.
– Riot is losing a lot by making the game so team-focused. You should be able to outplay your opponent one on one, he says to Aftonbladet Esport.
The plan was originally to take a one-year break from high school to be able to spend more time playing the game, but after establishing himself in the LCS, Betsys plan is to keep playing fulltime.
– In a way the offer from Gambit came out of nowhere. I barely knew anyone there and to be honest I probably had more foes than friends in Gambit. But it feels great to play in a team like this, with players that has won big tournaments back in the day. Coming in to play with someone like Konstantinos ”FORG1VEN” Tzortziou was also really cool. It feels like I came out of nowhere straight in to Gambit and the LCS, but the adjustment went well, he says.
”Had a decent first split”
The life as a pro-player in Berlin has been relatively problem-free so far, even though Betsy have found both pros and cons in the transition from living in Sweden.
– It’s cool being a pro, especially the fans. The pressure can be tough sometimes, but that can’t be avoided. In the beginning we didn’t do that well, I had a lot of talented players around me but we had a lot of pressure. I think I had a decent first split myself, he says.
During the summer split, Gambit had a very unfortunate opening, with five straight losses. They managed to somewhat bounce back and were close to the playoffs, but ended up in the relegations.
– It didn’t feel good to play in the relegations, but we were almost certain that we would beat mousesports. We felt very secure, partly because it’s such a big difference from playing on stage compared to at home. Getting used to the stage was unexpectedly easy for me. Initially I was really nervous, but when you sit down at the computer all the pressure just disappears, he says.
”xPeke and Froggen are not as good anymore”
Europe has historically been a region filled with midlaners of high international standard. But according to Betsy, Riot has changed the game in a way which makes it very hard to stand out individually.
–I don’t like the game being as team-focused as it is. You can’t play aggressive one on one anymore, it’s a lot more about the team. For example in Gambit, our playstyle is toplane-focused, which makes it so that I can rarely do anything in mid. I don’t remember the last time I died one on one in midlane. I think I would benefit from a play more focused around the midlane, players like Enrique ”xPeke” Cedeño Martínez or Henrik ”Froggen” Hansen are not as good anymore as they once were, he says, and keeps on explaining.
– I think I could be one of the best midlaners in the LCS, but at the same time it’s hard to compare individual skill now that it doesn’t really matter anymore. Sadly it feels like Riot is losing a lot by making the game so team-focused, you should be able to outplay your opponent one on one. They should allow snowballing, like in Dota. It would make the game more fun, both to watch and play. As it is now I don’t watch much League, I don’t find it interesting. If I didn’t play, I probably wouldn’t be watching it, he says.
Going in to worlds, do you get motivated by watching the top teams play, or does it feel bitter not being there?
– I didn’t expect going to worlds during my first LCS-season, but that might be my goal for the next season. I’m rooting for SKT; they are the most fun to watch. When it comes to the Europeans Fnatic is the big hope, but they will never go further than the semifinals. I don’t think H2K or Origen can get out of their groups, Betsy says. |
Posted on Jun 8, 2012 in Electronic Games
Day Z – Interview with Dean ‘Rocket’ Hall, the Game’s Creator
Shambling hordes of zombies
Dark. It’s pitch black dark. I can barely see my hand in front of my face. On my back is a tactical pack, filled with two cans of beans and some bandages. On my hip rides a dowdy Makarov and a few extra magazines. The moon comes out from behind some low clouds. Behind me I can hear the surf, and in front of me a stand of tall pines marches up a steep hill. There’s a light on the road, moving quickly from the west. I drop to the ground and scuttle under the brush as another man runs past, a road flare clutched in his hands like a sprinter’s baton, casting a surreal, flickering red glow around him.
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Hot on his heels come the groaning cadavers; I can feel the footfalls of the dozen or more of the beasts chasing him. He turns, fires his own pistol dry, but it’s no use. They’re on him before he can reload, pushing him down again and again, devouring him to the bone. My gun is drawn but I’m panicking, my screen shaking with my avatar’s fear, ears filled with horrified gasps. When he is no more, the zombies calm and begin to drift away. After a long while I crawl forward to take his beans.
So begins my time in Chernarus, an eastern European land filled with the living Zed …
The ferociousness with which Day Z has gripped the gamer zeitgeist is incredible. The game’s player base soared from several hundred to over 75,000 in a matter of just a few weeks. Its core, a two-year-old military simulation called ArmA 2, is now the top-selling game on Steam. It’s exceeding the previous month’s sales by over 500%, and Amazon has been forced to temporarily suspend sales to wait for more activation codes from the publisher, Bohemia Interactive (BI). Many outlets have written about the game, but few have thoroughly grilled the man behind it all. I cornered Dean "Rocket" Hall in Elektrozavodsk, held him at gunpoint, and made him talk.
Polygon, Rock Paper Shotgun, PCGamer, Gamasutra, even the BBC have recently done pieces on Day Z. But Dean could feel the momentum building months ago. "Social media has enabled this to happen with incredible speed, despite no advertising and several weeks before the gaming media started to pick up on the trend." The success of the title has bewildered reviewers if for no other reason than its existence. Nearly everyone who has written about it has asked why hasn’t this game been made before? The elements, persistent worlds, large open maps, military gun porn, and cooperative gameplay have existed for years now. Why did it take so long for Day Z to emerge, and why now?
Using practical military tactics will help you survive. Some weapons have attached lights, and these are highly sought-after.
"Money," says Dean. "Authenticity is not for everyone. Call of Duty and Medal of Honor offer packaged experiences. Such experiences are easier to explain to the customer, and if you can’t explain the product people don’t know about it. ArmA spent a long time largely ignored by reviewers because they didn’t understand the product." Dean understands the product more intimately than most, and not just because he works for BI. Dean is a soldier who has had the uncanny ability to use computing power to refine his craft.
"When I left school, I joined the [New Zealand] Air Force as an officer. I left after five years and did some project jobs before becoming a Producer with Sidhe Interactive. I left that when I got jaded/bored with the industry and re-enlisted, as an [New Zealand] Army officer this time.
"I started making simulation product for the things I needed. On my own officer training, I made a detailed model of the Waiouru Military Training Area in New Zealand. My first ‘field’ test was for my navigation exercise, completed alone. I made a detailed rendering of all the main features from several angles so that I had a complete terrain appreciation. Then I started to use my simulation to actually practice what I was going to be doing with my squad when I was in command … I realized … that most training is completely ineffective. I learnt best when I had the chance to develop the correct mental processes prior to conducting an activity. If I was able to conduct that activity, to a certain level of authenticity, prior to encountering it in the physical world, the results were much better."
Hey, buddy, didn’t your mother ever teach you to use a napkin? This was an entry in the Day Z forums photo contest.
ArmA prides itself on modeling the minutia of weapons and contains a complex ballistics model that tracks gravitational and environmental forces on projectiles. It expands on those principles to model tanks, jeeps and Humvees, even helicopters and C-130s. It is a rich, diverse experience that demands rigorous command and control from player leaders. But to Dean, that’s not the point of computer simulations: only so much reality can be achieved through a keyboard, mouse, or controller.
"You don’t need realism, but you need to model the situation, the emotions, and the processes inside people’s minds if you want them to gain a significant training result out of the system … You need to flick a switch in people’s brain, to get them to realize that their results in the scenario matter."
To flick that switch Dean has made the unusual decision to add persistence across all of Day Z‘s servers, a strategy that had lead to all manner of development complications. All players’ avatars and inventory, and especially their location on the 225-km2 Chernarus map, are saved on a central server. Anyone playing on any of the many hundreds of servers that have sprung up must phone home to this server to get critical continuity information. The benefit is that a player can log out of a server in Chicago, say, and then back into a server in Norway the next day and be in the same place in the game, with the same gear. But when they die, they end up on the beach with everyone else, with just a tin of beans and a pistol in their pack.
The road less traveled … well, now it is, anyway. This was an entry on the Day Z forums photo contest.
Players have to eat, drink, and stay warm to survive. To do so you must live off the land, either killing other players or local fauna for sustenance. This mirrors Dean’s own survival training, deep in the jungles of Brunei.
"I was completing jungle training as part of my exchange with the Singaporean Armed Forces. I wasn’t used to their diet, so after about six months of training I was already struggling as the only white guy and never having eaten so little on training. The New Zealand Army really gets huge meals. So when I arrived for the jungle training I was struggling. The course was pretty tough, a heavy infantry package, and I was the platoon commander. It was some serious bush there, and trying to do a platoon attack was comical at times. I suffered a lot from local water–induced stomach problems, and during the main survival component I ran out of food very rapidly during the movement phase. I caught two tiny fish but didn’t have the energy to light a fire at that stage. Three days later I was so hungry I ate the rotting fish whole. I tried to eat ferns for a while. Eventually I gave up and just lay down waiting for it to be over. It was pretty grim. I lost about 25 kilograms within a very short space of time, my hair started falling out, and my nails turned yellow." His body was shutting down, consuming itself to keep him alive. But he hung on until extraction.
"On the way out, when we linked up with the rest of the platoon, someone gave me a biscuit and I think I cried for about an hour. I don’t think anyone has ever done something as nice as that. I felt pure elation over a biscuit.
"Looking back … it just doesn’t really seem to describe it, but it is sort of hard to describe all the stuff in between, the friendships I made. And I mean really, it’s the stuff in between that really matters. Maybe that’s what helped me with Day Z … the things you can’t put your finger on … that stuff matters. A lot. The friendships, they are the kind of friendships that can only be made in a very desperate situation. When you are starving, in the middle of a fly-infested jungle … covered with leaches. You learn who your real friends are. And you don’t ever forget."
Day Z‘s development continues. The latest patch, 1.5.8, removes a mechanic that re-skinned player killers as bandits. Bandits are "not what Day Z needs right now," Dean tells players on the official forums. A humanity meter, which falls when you kill your fellow man, has been reserved for "another purpose," he says. Story elements are in the works, rumors of scripted events without context appearing in some of the larger settlements. There is much more to Day Z that Dean isn’t talking about right now. But the community of players is growing, and while it’s harder than ever to know who your friends are, those you do find are invaluable. Good luck out there. You’re going to need it.
About the Author
By night Charlie Hall is a writer for Gamers With Jobs (www.GamersWithJobs.com). His relevant interests range from pen-and-paper role playing games, to board games and electronic games of all types. By day he is a writer for CDW Government LLC. Follow him on Twitter @TheWanderer14, or send him hate mail at [email protected]. He, his wife, and daughter make their home in far northern Illinois. |
Kim Cooper, left, with her children Sharna, 17, Dillon, 14 and Bradley, sitting on step, 11. Their dog Lulu is also pictured.
Kim Cooper gave up the Auckland rat race so she could achieve her dream of owning her own home.
The single mum and her three children were living in Ranui, west Auckland, and barely affording the rent payments when they took the plunge to move south to Invercargill.
"You have to do what is right for yourself and not for your friends," she says.
"My friends all owned houses and had partners and I was going to be starting over. But it was the right thing to do.
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"The long-term gain has been worth it for me."
The 38-year-old's rent in Ranui went from $350 to $410 in two years.
Even though she was working part-time to support her family all the money was sucked up each week, she says.
Cooper ended up moving in with her father, paying $370 a week in rent.
But then she made the decision to move to Invercargill in March 2014, renting a four-bedroom house with two heat pumps, HRV system and a fireplace for $250 a week.
That enabled Cooper to save about $150 a week. In September last year she bought a house for $105,000 with a 10 per cent deposit. The property is 1000 square metres and the house is about 140 sqm.
Cooper now pays $123 a week for her mortgage and there are no water rates.
"The hardest part was leaving my friends and family up in Auckland, but we've been back about six times in the past two years," she says.
The 2013 census showed home ownership rates in west Auckland dropped three per cent since 2006, with 65 per cent of houses filled with owner-occupiers. The drop is 50 per cent higher than the national average.
Titirangi has the most owner-occupiers in west Auckland at 87 per cent of homes in the suburb, according to Census data.
The biggest drop in home ownership between 2006 and 2013 occurred in Birdwood west, with a fall of 14 per cent to 77 per cent owner-occupiers.
The lowest home ownership rate is in the area around the Lynn Mall, at 41 per cent.
Te Atatu MP Phil Twyford says the change is not good for the community.
"West Auckland has always been a place where people came to get a start in life, because homes were affordable. But now first home buyers are getting hammered. Home ownership rates are falling and in many neighbourhoods more and more homes are rentals."
Figures released by a government agency shows west Auckland is still a reasonably priced area to rent compared to other Auckland areas.
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment's Tenancy Services data from the first six months of 2016 shows bonds lodged and average rental prices in Auckland suburbs.
The median rental price in west Auckland suburbs ranges from $420 to $480, with the lowest priced suburb being Kelston and the highest Avondale.
Henderson had the highest number of bonds signed in the past six months with 332 signed.
It also was the only west Auckland suburb to note bonds signed for one-bedroom boarding house rentals.
The suburb of Blockhouse Bay fetched some of the highest prices out west with some rentals going for more than $580. The hot suburb of New Lynn saw three-bedroom homes costing a median price of $495 per week to rent. |
(foto: Breno Fortes/CB/D.A Press)
Correio
flagrou, na manhã de ontem, uma tentativa de furto de motocicleta no Setor Comercial Sul. Por volta das 10h, a reportagem passava pela S2, sentido Shopping Pátio Brasil, quando viu um pedestre se aproximar de um motociclista parado em um sinal vermelho e iniciar uma briga. Era o proprietário, que identificou o veículo dele com o ladrão. Para não deixar o suspeito fugir, o dono deu um tapa no capacete do criminoso, imobilizou-o e o segurou até que equipes da Polícia Militar chegassem ao local. O suspeito mora em Santa Maria e tem antecedentes de homicídio.No momento da abordagem, quem passava pelo local se assustou com o golpe do tipo gravata que o homem aplicava no suspeito. Alguns pedestres chegaram a pedir que o proprietário soltasse o homem, que usou uma chave falsa para dar partida na moto. Alexandre Araújo Souza, 38 anos, então, explicou que a vítima era ele mesmo e por pouco não perdia o veículo que usa para percorrer as obras onde trabalha como técnico de edificações.“A gente sabe que não deve reagir a um assalto, mas, na hora, eu nem pensei, agi no impulso. É complicado porque eu trabalho dia e noite para, de repente, um bandido levar o meu bem, algo que adquiri com o fruto do meu suor. Se não fizesse isso, certamente não veria mais a moto”, afirma. O acusado foi detido por tentativa de furto e encaminhado à 5ª Delegacia de Polícia (Área Central), onde a ocorrência foi registrada. |
Apple Bacon and Blue Cheese Stuffed Pork Chops – thick cut pork chops stuffed with a delicious stuffing made with apples, bacon and blue cheese.
I’m going through a pork phase again. All I can think of is juicy pork chops and bacon. I think I need to strive for more balance in my meals. I know what I can do, a week of pork chops, a week of salads with bacon, a week of stuffed chicken with bacon, etc. Yeah I think that might work, and I’d say that’s pretty balanced, wouldn’t you?
But hey, what’s a girl to do when she is faced with pork chops and bacon. Simple, my dears! You stuff the pork chop with the bacon! I bet you didn’t think of that, did you?
You don’t have to be a man to enjoy thick juicy pork chops stuffed with the most incredible stuffing made with bacon, apples and blue cheese. Can you say flavor bomb? These pork chops will rock your world. Your life will literally be better for having these stuffed puppies!
But you know this isn’t a novelty, let’s face it, pork and apples go together like chocolate and marshmallows, like Abbott and Costello, like fish and chips, like cream and sugar. I think you get it. Like wisdom and age? Toast and butter? Starsky and Hutch? Heart and soul? Sticks and stones? Peanut butter and jelly? I think I’ll stop here. Nuts and Bolts! Meat and Potatoes! Pen and paper! Salt and pepper! My fav, mac and cheese! I promise, I’m done.
But when you add bacon and blue cheese, well you’ve elevated the flavors to a whole new dimension. I just love saying that. A whole new flavor dimension. I promise I didn’t have anything to drink, oh maybe just a glass of wine, that’s all.
Anyway, the stuffing! Simple. Apple. Bacon. Blue Cheese. Shallots. Garlic. Done.
I used pork loin chops, but the bone in pork chops would work just as well, just make sure that whatever pork chops you use, that they are cut pretty thick, about an inch. Cut a little pocket inside each pork chop, just use a sharp knife, make sure you don’t cut yourself, and then stuff those puppies with all your stuffing, about 1/2 cup of stuffing in each. Doesn’t matter if it sticks out, it’s all good.
I fried my pork chops on both sides for about 5 minutes per side, and because I don’t want to eat raw meat, I popped them in the oven for about 20 minutes at 400 F degrees and baked until done to a crispy perfection. Oh I added some rosemary too because rosemary and pork go together like needle and thread, wine and cheese, day and night, black and white. Ok, I’m done! Promise.
Pros and cons? Leaps and Bounds? Tom and Jerry!
If you guys love this recipe, and most importantly make it yourselves, please let us know. Take a picture and tag it #jocooks on Instagram so we can see it. I always love to see what you guys come up with!
Apple Bacon and Blue Cheese Stuffed Pork Chops Apple Bacon and Blue Cheese Stuffed Pork Chops - thick cut pork chops stuffed with a delicious stuffing made with apples, bacon and blue cheese. 4.88 from 8 votes Print Pin Prep Time: 10 minutes Cook Time: 40 minutes Total Time: 50 minutes Servings: 4 Calories: 477 kcal Author: Joanna Cismaru Ingredients 4 pork chops
1 large shallot chopped
2 cloves garlic minced
1 apple peeled cored and sliced small
4 slices bacon chopped
3/4 cup blue cheese crumbled
1 tbsp fresh rosemary chopped
salt and pepper to taste love what you see? Follow @jocooks on Pinterest! Instructions Preheat oven to 400 F degrees.
Cut a pocket in each pork chop, bone in pork chops can be used as well. Season each pork chop with salt, pepper and rub them with the rosemary. Set aside.
Cook the bacon in a large oven proof skillet. Reserve 1 tbsp of the bacon in the skillet, and another tbsp for later, discard the rest.
Fry the shallot and apple together, for about 3 minutes until apple softens. Add garlic and continue cooking for another minute. Turn off heat and add blue cheese to skillet and stir.
Spoon about half cup of the stuffing into each pork chop.
Add remaining bacon fat to skillet and add heat. Place pork chops in skillet and cook on each side until they start to brown, about 5 minutes per side.
Place skillet in preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes. Notes Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on products used. Nutrition Calories: 477 kcal | Carbohydrates: 8.2 g | Protein: 30.7 g | Fat: 35.3 g | Saturated Fat: 14.9 g | Cholesterol: 109 mg | Sodium: 849 mg | Fiber: 1.5 g | Sugar: 4.9 g tried this recipe? rate it below tag @jocooks on instagram and hashtag it #jocooks
Nutrition Facts Apple Bacon and Blue Cheese Stuffed Pork Chops Amount Per Serving Calories 477 Calories from Fat 318 % Daily Value* Total Fat 35.3g 54% Saturated Fat 14.9g 75% Cholesterol 109mg 36% Sodium 849mg 35% Total Carbohydrates 8.2g 3% Dietary Fiber 1.5g 6% Sugars 4.9g Protein 30.7g 61% * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
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Piers Morgan has called JK Rowling “a shameless, lying hypocrite” on Twitter following the author’s tweets about US President Donald Trump’s alleged refusal to shake a disabled child’s hand.
Footage emerged on social media on Friday appearing to show Mr Trump ignoring a child in a wheelchair, prompting the author to send a series of critical tweets, calling the president a “monster of narcissism”.
However, another clip showed Mr Trump leaning down towards the child and speaking to him, while the Monty’s mother, Marjorie Kelly Weer, took to Facebook to confirm that the president did not ignore her son.
She wrote: “Uummmmm....If someone can please get a message to JK Rowling: Trump didn’t snub my son & Monty wasn’t even trying to shake his hand (1. He.s 3 and hand shaking is not his thing, 2. he was showing off his newly acquired secret service patch). Thanks.”
Piers Morgan criticised Rowling for lying and neither deleting the tweets and apologising.
The Harry Potter author wrote on her social media account which has more than 11 million followers about Mr Trump and her own experience.
Piers Morgan has hit out at JK Rowling. Picture: Jeff Spicer/Getty Images
She posted: “Trump imitated a disabled reporter. Now he pretends not to see a child in a wheelchair, as though frightened he might catch his condition.
“This monster of narcissism values only himself and his pale reflections. The disabled, minorities, transgender people, the poor, women (unless related to him by ties of blood, and therefore his creations) are treated with contempt, because they do not resemble Trump.
“My mother used a wheelchair. I witnessed people uncomfortable around her disability, but if they had a shred of decency they got over it.
“So, yes, that clip of Trump looking deliberately over a disabled child’s head, ignoring his outstretched hand, has touched me on the raw.
“That man occupies the most powerful office in the free world and his daily outrages against civilised norms are having a corrosive effect.
“How stunning, and how horrible, that Trump cannot bring himself to shake the hand of a small boy who only wanted to touch the President.”
The following day Morgan replied to Rowling telling her to “delete these lies” before calling her “a shameless, lying hypocrite”.
Morgan has continued with his requests for Rowling to remove the tweets today. |
An elderly man in southern Germany thought he had found an unexploded World War II bomb in his garden. Police were relieved to find something quite different.
Police in Bretten in the southern German state of Baden-Württemberg received an alarming phone call on Thursday. An 81-year-old man told them he had found an unexploded World War II bomb in his back garden.
After arriving on the scene, police were surprised to find a 40-centimeter-long (15.7 inches) dark zucchini that, in the officers' own words, "really did look like a bomb."
Read more:
- Frankfurt to evacuate 70,000 while World War II bomb defused
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Concluding the 5-kilogram vegetable presented no threat to the public or the immediate vicinity, police decided to call off deploying its Explosive Ordnance Disposal Service.
Unexploded ordnance in Germany - a legacy of the Allied Forces What is unexploded ordnance? Unexploded ordnance (UXO or sometimes also abbreviated to UO), unexploded bombs (UXBs), or explosive remnants of war (ERW) are explosive weapons such as bombs, shells, grenades, land mines, naval mines and cluster munitions that did not explode when they were deployed. Unexploded ordnance still poses the risk of detonation, even decades after they were used or discarded. Unexploded ordnance in Germany - a legacy of the Allied Forces Why does Germany have a bomb problem? Between 1940 and 1945, US and British forces dropped 2.7 million tons of bombs on Europe. Half of those bombs targeted Germany. Experts estimate that close to a quarter of a million bombs did not explode due to technical faults. Thousands of these bombs are still hidden underground, sometimes a few meters down and sometimes just below the surface. Unexploded ordnance in Germany - a legacy of the Allied Forces How big is the issue? The industrial Ruhr area and the Lower Rhine region were heavily bombed, as were the cities of Dresden, Hamburg and Hanover. So this is where most of the unexploded ordnance is found. Bombs are usually unearthed during construction work or are discovered during the examination of historical aerial images. Experts say it could still take decades to clear all of the remaining unexploded ordnance. Unexploded ordnance in Germany - a legacy of the Allied Forces What happens when an unexploded bomb is found? When confronted with the discovery of an UXO, UO or a UXB, bomb disposal experts have to decide whether to defuse it or to carry out a controlled explosion. Many have lost their lives on the job. German authorities are under pressure to remove unexploded ordnance from populated areas. Experts argue that the bombs are becoming more dangerous as time goes by due to material fatigue. Unexploded ordnance in Germany - a legacy of the Allied Forces How many bomb disposal experts have died? Eleven bomb technicians have been killed in Germany since 2000, including three who died in a single explosion while trying to defuse a 1,000-pound bomb on the site of a popular flea market in Göttingen in 2010. Unexploded ordnance in Germany - a legacy of the Allied Forces Which was the biggest evacuation? A 1.8-ton bomb dropped by Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF) was found in the city center of Augsburg on December 20, 2016. The find prompted a large-scale bomb disposal operation and consequently the evacuation of over 54,000 people on December 25. To date, this remains the biggest evacuation for the removal of World War II unexploded ordnance in Germany. Unexploded ordnance in Germany - a legacy of the Allied Forces What’s the latest? Authorities conducted another big bomb disposal operation in May 2017, with 50,000 residents in the northwestern city of Hanover forced to evacuate their homes. Thirteen unexploded ordnances from the 1940s were removed. Hanover was a frequent target of Allied bombing in the latter years of the war. On October 9, 1943, some 261,000 bombs were dropped on the city.
But what had caused the nutritious legume to land in the man's garden?
Read more: "My Life as a Courgette" is an Oscar Hopeful
In a statement, the police said they believe "an unknown person — concerned with independently disposing of the product — might have thrown the zucchini over the garden hedge."
Related Subjects World War II
Though World War II ended in 1945, German authorities still occasionally find unexploded bombs throughout the country.
Berlin's Tegel Airport was forced to close in August after the discovery of a Russian-made dud. In March, a major motorway in Dusseldorf was closed after a British bomb was discovered by construction workers.
Alexander Pearson |
Not quoting Proust, in philosophy, is a mistake. The search for the lost time is central to modern philosophy. Thinker of love and jealousy in particular, Proust makes us understanding the motivations of the heart and the pangs of love. Thinker of memory as well (famous theory of affective consciousness, evidenced by the madeleine), Proust describes a subjectivity marked by confusion and internal chaos, hopelessly alone with her anguish, finally sentenced to misfortune.
Marcel Proust Quotes
Proust, subjectivity and others:
– “The links between an individual and we exist only in our thoughts. The memory grows fainter relaxes them, and despite the illusion that we would be fools and where, out of love, friendship, politeness, respect, duty, we cheat others, we exist alone. Man is the creature that can not emerge from himself, who knows other than himself, and saying the opposite, lies ”
Proust and love:
– “Probably few people understand the purely subjective phenomenon which is love, and that’s kind of creation of an additional, distinct from that of the same name in the world, and whose Most items are from ourselves ”
– “Each person is destroyed when we cease to see him, then his next appearance is a new creation, different from that which immediately preceded it, if not all”
– “Love is great, we are not thinking how the real woman there is little room”
– “What is in the presence of the loved one is a negative stereotype, we develop later, once at home, when it was found at his disposal that inner darkroom whose input is pay as you see the world ”
– “Experience should teach me – if she never learned – to love is a curse as there is in those stories, against what we can do nothing until the spell has ended”
Proust and jealousy:
– “This anxiety is to feel that we love being in a place of pleasure where you’re not where we can not reach, it is love that’s him did know, love, which she is somehow predestined, by which it will be captured, specialized, but when, like me, she came to us before he even made an appearance in our lives, it fleet in the meantime, wave and free, without specific allocations in the service one day a sense, the day after another, sometimes the filial affection or friendship for a friend ”
– “Once we dreamed of possessing the heart of the woman he loves; later, feeling that he possesses the heart of a woman may be enough to make you love”
– “With love had disappeared the desire to show he had more love”
– “Happiness can never take place. If circumstances happen to be overcome, the nature of the struggle carried out within and is gradually changing enough so that our heart desires something other than what he will have . And if the episode was so fast that our heart has not had time to change, nature does not despair of it to defeat us, a way later it is true, more subtle but equally effective. Then at the last second that the possession of happiness is taken from us, or rather the same as possession by evil cunning nature burden destroy happiness. Having failed in everything in the domain of facts and life is an impossibility last, the psychological impossibility of happiness, which nature creates. The phenomenon of happiness does not occur or may lead to the most bitter reactions ”
– “Albertine was like a stone around which it has snowed, the generating center of a huge building that rose above the plane of my heart”
– “It is better not to know, to think as little as possible, do not provide any jealousy concrete detail”
Proust and the habit:
– “The influence of anesthetic habit having ceased, I began to think, feel, things so sad”
Proust and the madeleine of memory:
– “When a distant past nothing subsists, after people are dead, after the destruction of things alone, more fragile but more enduring, more unsubstantial, more persistent, more faithful, the smell and flavor are still long , like souls, remembering, waiting, hoping, the ruin of everything else, and bear unfaltering, in their almost impalpable droplet, the immense edifice of memory”
– “The memory of a certain image is but regret for a moment”
Proust and happiness:
– “We do not know his happiness. It is never as unhappy as we believe”
– “For happiness is only beneficial for the body, but it is grief that develops the powers of the mind”
– “As for happiness, it has almost only one purpose, making the possible misfortune”
Proust, pain and suffering:
– “Pain is a powerful modifier of the reality of drunkenness”
– “The force that makes the most times around the earth in one second is not electricity, is pain” |
Titanfall 2
Pilots en Titans verenigen zich!
Tem je Titan en bereid je voor op een ongelooflijke first-person gevechtservaring in Titanfall 2! Het vervolg introduceert een nieuwe singleplayer-campagne, waarin je de unieke band tussen Pilots en Titans kunt ontdekken. Of baan je knallend een weg door een nog intensere multiplayer-ervaring met 6 nieuwe Titans, uitgebreide Pilot-vaardigheden, ongelooflijke nieuwe wapens en vaardigheden, en nog veel meer.
Beleef een fascinerend singleplayer-verhaal.
Titanfall 2 bevat een singleplayer-campagne boordevol actie en inventieve wendingen. Speel als een karabinier van de Militia die achter vijandelijke linies een geharde Titan uit de Vanguard-klasse tegenkomt. De twee moeten samenwerken tijdens een missie waarop niemand ze had voorbereid.
Geniet van ongeëvenaarde multiplayeractie.
Het vervolg geeft spelers de multiplayergevechten die ze van de franchise mogen verwachten. Til de first-person actie naar het volgende niveau met meer Titans, meer vaardigheden en dodelijkere technologie. En zorg ervoor dat je opvalt te midden van alle chaos met nieuwe, uitgebreide aanpassingsmogelijkheden voor Pilots, Titans en configuraties!
Speel mee met vrienden aan The Frontier
Titanfall 2 introduceert netwerken, het sociale weefsel waarmee oude en nieuwe vrienden zich snel en makkelijk in de bloedstollende actie kunnen storten. Of je voorkeur nu uitgaat naar sociale of competitieve matches, jij en je ploeg kunnen je aansluiten bij het perfecte netwerk of zelf een netwerk creëren. |
Performers pose during a promotional event of the movie "Iron Man 3" at the Imperial Ancestral Temple in Beijing. The movie includes top Chinese actress Fan Bingbing and some footage shot inside China - additions aimed at tapping into the country's lucrative and booming cinema market. (JASON LEE/Reuters)
Even the nerdiest comic-book fan would be surprised to learn what cutting-edge technology secretly fuels “Iron Man’s” action-packed heroics: a milk-grain drink called Gu Li Duo from China’s Inner Mongolia.
That’s according to the Chinese version of the new blockbuster, which was released here complete with other surprising (read: odd and, at times outright nonsensical) footage inserted by producers to win the favor of Chinese officials.
If aesthetically jarring, the gambit has paid off handsomely. “Iron Man 3” raked in more than $64 million in its first five days and broke Chinese records with its May 1 opening-day haul of $21 million.
It’s a sign of how eager Hollywood has become to court China’s Communist Party leaders, who maintain an iron fist over the country’s booming movie market.
This is how an invading swarm of Chinese soldiers in last year’s “Red Dawn” suddenly became North Koreans. And how Bruce Willis’s character mysteriously came to spend much more time in Shanghai than Paris in last year’s “Looper.” And why the outbreak sparking the zombie apocalypse in Brad Pitt’s “World War Z” this summer has been rewritten to originate from Moscow instead of China.
U.S. producers often spin such tweaks as an attempt to appeal to Chinese viewers. But experts say their more crucial target is the Chinese government’s 37-member censorship board, which each year approves just 34 foreign films for Chinese screens and reviews all their content. With China becoming the world’s second-largest box office market last year, failing to make that list can mean the loss of tens of millions of dollars.
U.S. film executives have described a process that involves heavy negotiation and wooing as they try to win approval. To please the authorities, studios have been willing to add Chinese actors, locations and elements to their cast, adjust release dates and tweak plot points to flatter or at least avoid offending Chinese officials.
It has been tough, however, to predict exactly what will tick off Chinese party censors, who often flag scenes not only for violence and nudity but also political sensitivity.
They have at times fixated on small details such as shots of unsightly laundry hanging from Shanghai residences in “Mission Impossible 3” and a passing reference to the Cold War in one line of a James Bond film. Time-travel dramas were inexplicably but effectively banned in 2011 by Chinese authorities, who called it “disrespectful of history.”
But the government board has sometimes surprised as well, raising eyebrows for instance when it greenlighted last year’s “Hunger Games” — a movie about an authoritarian government that represses its people using a combination of propaganda and brutal force.
The latest cautionary tale came last month when Quentin Tarantino’s “Django Unchained” was yanked from some Chinese theaters as the movie was rolling on opening night in China.
Was the problem those geysers of blood in the revenge fantasy flick? (Tarantino had already toned down the color and splatter to a more modest fountain, a Sony official told a Chinese newspaper.) Was it the scenes of repressed slaves rising to overthrow masters (always a touchy subject here where party leaders live in fear of revolution)? The exact reason has not been explained, but the film’s release has been rescheduled for May 12.
The stakes are high. Chinese box-office revenues grew 30 percent last year to $2.77 billion, and the Motion Picture Association of America has predicted China will overtake the United States as the biggest movie market by 2020.
From the beginning, the makers of “Iron Man 3” took no chances, setting what may be a new bar for accommodating Chinese officials.
They made the movie a joint venture, teaming with Beijing-based DMG Entertainment. Government officials were invited on set to monitor filming. The name of Ben Kingsley’s villain, the Mandarin, was stripped of any Chinese association by transliterating his name as “Man Daren,” which has no meaning in Chinese.
The most jarring changes, however, were a few minutes of footage added to the film, including the opening plug for the drink from an Inner Mongolia-based company — a sweet mixture of milk, grains and food additives — which viewers are told, via a commercial-like bit of bold text stripped across the screen, can revitalize Iron Man’s energy.
Other added scenes — which make only slightly more sense — feature a Chinese doctor and his unnamed assistant, played by one of China’s most popular actresses, Fan Bingbing. Some of the film’s most over-the-top dialogue comes when the two discuss how the world’s expectations and the life of Marvel’s lucrative hero hinge on them and their unique Chinese medical abilities.
While Chinese audiences have flocked to theaters, the extra footage has sparked much ridicule online and even within party-controlled media. Some called the Chinese actors’ token screen time insulting. Others mocked the filmmakers for apparently selling out to the government.
One microblogger named Bumblebee Marz compared the new scenes to chicken ribs — a common expression denoting the most tasteless and undesirable cut of meat in Chinese cuisine. “Not essential at all,” the blogger said.
Meanwhile, other studios are racing to go even further. The makers of next year’s “Transformers 4” have come out with a new idea to increase their own China-friendly quotient: a reality TV contest in China that will award four winners speaking roles opposite the robots.
Expressing a common disregard for Michael Bay productions that seems to transcend national borders, one Chinese microblogger under the handle ZaoanWuanWanan coolly observed, “the Transformers series just keeps degenerating.”
Li Qi in Beijing contributed to this report. |
Interplay Productions, Inc.
Developed by
Delphine Software International
Released
1995
Also For
3DO, Amiga, Apple IIgs, Atari ST, DOS, Genesis, Jaguar, Macintosh,
SNES, Symbian, Windows, Zodiac | Combined View
Genre
Action
Perspective
Side view
Visual
Fixed / Flip-screen
Gameplay
Platform, Puzzle-Solving, Shooter
Setting
Sci-Fi / Futuristic
Description
A young physics professor named Lester conducts a particle experiment. Suddenly, something goes wrong, a lightning strikes, and in a moment Lester finds himself in a strange alien world. Now he must fight for his life, first with his bare hands, then with a gun he finds. But what gives him courage is that he is not alone. One of the aliens who escapes from the prison together with him helps him on his dangerous quest. Friendship can overcome all the obstacles. Out of This World combines shooting, platforming, and puzzle-solving elements. The game is divided into stages; some of them are straightforward and can only be accessed one time, while others are connected to each other, constituting a larger environment. Exploration and problem-solving are emphasized. Many levels include challenges not seen in the previous ones. Tasks may involve environmental puzzles, timed sequences, precise jumping, and combat. Typically, enemies are defeated by using an energy gun found in an early stage. The gun's regular function is shooting energy projectiles. By pressing down and holding the fire button the player can activate an energy shield which protects Lester from regular attacks, allowing him to fire from relative safety until it evaporates. Finally, by holding the fire button even longer the gun creates powerful blasts which can disrupt shields. Most enemies are equipped with similar guns and are able to perform the same actions as Lester. Fighting enemies therefore requires tactical usage of regular attacks, shields, and bombs, as well as learning enemy patterns. Each level can be accessed by typing a code the player learns after having completed the level. If Lester dies, the level must be restarted. There is no on-screen interface and no in-game dialogue in the game. Vector graphics are used for creating the game's environments and animated cutscenes.
From Mobygames.com. Original Entry |
View Photos MIKE SIMARI, DAVID DEWHURST, AARON KILEY, MORGAN SEGAL, THE MANUFACTURERS
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Say “hooligan,” and most will picture alcohol-fed football (soccer) fans of limited tooth count smashing one another in the face. Their vehicular equivalents have a similar appetite for volatile fuels—you’ll see no vehicle here listed on any EPA “greenest” list. The applied violence here, however, results in nothing more than glares from onlookers and childish laughter inside the cabin from such behavior as burnouts, power slides, large applications of torque, and general tomfoolery.
Smooth is fast, but sideways is fun. Why? Because it is. Those who don’t get sideways won’t like burnouts, either. It’s like asking a certain segment of the population why they insist on using pillow shams, which should be removed before using a pillow for things such as sleeping.
These cars are built to take the abuse. Outsize personalities need to be backed up by overbuilt hardware, and these vehicles deliver. Although hooligan vehicles might look a bit menacing, their talents aren’t always overtly broadcast. Often, those that boast loudest fail, such as Chevrolet’s thankfully offed SSR. Driving it was like tucking an oversized, blunt bowie knife into your belt and walking around a sporting goods show.
Torque and hooliganism go together like Sunday mornings and winding roads. All the vehicles here dish it up—except for maybe the last one, a shortcoming easily compensated for with total mechanical indifference (think rental car) and dutiful applications of gravity (all cars accelerate at the same speed when pushed off a cliff).
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View Photos MIKE SIMARI, DAVID DEWHURST, AARON KILEY, MORGAN SEGAL, THE MANUFACTURERS
2008 Chevrolet Corvette Z06
It’s rare indeed that a car capable of truly exotic performance still welcomes a stiff paddling. The resulting wails and shrieks from engine and tires are not like those of a chastened child but of a happily spanked BDSM participant. It’s amazing that this 505-hp vehicle was conceived and produced in one of the most risk-averse and litigious countries on earth. The Z06 delivers speed on the end of a long, sharp blade, whereas most others in the same performance index hand you a safety razor. Want to drive really fast? Avail yourself of a couple inches of pedal travel. Want to punish tires, your ribs, and your passenger? Ask in anger, and the Z06 will respond in kind, its talents delivered with a wicked grin.
View Photos MIKE SIMARI, DAVID DEWHURST, AARON KILEY, MORGAN SEGAL, THE MANUFACTURERS
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2008 Dodge Charger SRT8
Few vehicles offer proof of complicity regarding the automotive/big-oil cabal quite as well as the burnout machine that is the Dodge Charger SRT8. The petroleum industry gets a twofer when you romp on the go pedal, burning gas and tires in voluminous quantities. Hell, we’re surprised the EPA doesn’t require the rear tires to pass some kind of particulate-matter dispersion test, such is the inevitability of their going up in smoke. Asking the SRT8 or, more precisely, the insta-maniac at the wheel, to behave is as futile a gesture as pleading with your dog not to go hunting for treats in the cat box. The easily located button ridding your afternoon of traction control gives blessing to the smoky trinity of 425 horsepower, rear-wheel drive, and a total lack of mechanical empathy.
View Photos MIKE SIMARI, DAVID DEWHURST, AARON KILEY, MORGAN SEGAL, THE MANUFACTURERS
2008 Ford Mustang GT500KR
Few things can conjure the glory days of the muscle-car era like axle tromp, that terrible bouncing of spinning tires that is unfortunately a bit inevitable when you’re channeling the torque of almost four Ford Focus engines through a solid rear axle. The 540 horsepower and 510 pound-feet of torque are simply the most power a manufacturer has had the balls to send through a muscle-car-era rear suspension, knowing damn well what would happen: burnouts, worn suspension bushings, more burnouts, and happy customers with a gut full of Shelby Kool-Aid. The temptation to fry tires might be tempered by the KR’s price tag—$79,995 plus the cost of a Focus or two, depending on how unfriendly your friendly neighborhood Ford dealer is feeling.
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View Photos MIKE SIMARI, DAVID DEWHURST, AARON KILEY, MORGAN SEGAL, THE MANUFACTURERS
2008 GMC TopKick
Few celluloid moments have made us as proud to be American—or as ready to join in the fight against apartheid—as when Mel Gibson strapped his GMC Sierra 3500 dualie pickup to an illegally funded mansion in Lethal Weapon 2 and tore it off the foundations. Car and Driver had a similar moment, minus moral justification, when we used a GMC TopKick to raze a small and tired barn. This probably could have been accomplished with a lawn tractor, but why go squirrel hunting with a BB gun when you can roll up with a howitzer? The GMC TopKick Ironhide edition, as seen in Transformers and available at any GMC dealer, is available with a chuffing 8.1-liter V-8 making 450 pound-feet of torque or a 6.6-liter turbo-diesel making up to 620 pound-feet of quivering torque. Either will be more than happy to turn you into the Shiva of construction, destroying buildings such that others can rise anew.
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MIKE SIMARI, DAVID DEWHURST, AARON KILEY, MORGAN SEGAL, THE MANUFACTURERS
2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 / 2008 Chevrolet TrailBlazer SS
The Grand Cherokee SRT8 and the Trailblazer SS are like a pair of linebackers waiting to smack the back of your head with bountiful torque. They both employ big, nasty American V-8s to accelerate large, heavy, box-shaped forms from a stop with alacrity usually reserved for sleek, lithe-looking things. No burnouts from the Jeep, thanks to four-wheel drive, but effortless stoplight victories in either require only judicious application of brake and throttle and perhaps the subsequent talents of a good traffic lawyer.
View Photos MIKE SIMARI, DAVID DEWHURST, AARON KILEY, MORGAN SEGAL, THE MANUFACTURERS
2008 Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG
The only thing more irresponsible than being a hooligan is being a hooligan with four terrified, carsick, or whooping passengers. The C63 produces entirely improbable acceleration numbers, crushing proper sports cars such as the Audi R8. That 60 mph comes in just 3.9 seconds from a vehicle with two-wheel drive means the button marked ESP (for Electronic Stability Program) is essentially a lighter strapped to the fuse of an expensive, fuel-fed smoke bomb. Just fore of the steering wheel, which features a flat bottom à la DTM race cars, are paddle shifters, the better to slash through each of seven forward gears and snap, crackle, and pop your way back down the cogs; engine overrun here is a pleasurable-sounding thing and sure to worry fellow commuters. We can’t forget the CLK63 AMG Black Series, essentially a two-door version of the sedan with 500 horsepower, evil bodywork, no back seat, and an exhaust roar Wagner would write into an opera.
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View Photos MIKE SIMARI, DAVID DEWHURST, AARON KILEY, MORGAN SEGAL, THE MANUFACTURERS
2008 Nissan Frontier NISMO 2WD
Sometimes spinning tires puke smoke; sometimes they sling mud, sand, and gravel. The two-wheel-drive Nissan Frontier NISMO combines a bunch of stuff we like: a rock-solid chassis shared with the big-brother Titan, a 261-hp V-6, and rear-wheel drive with an electronically controlled limited-slip differential. We’re surprised there isn’t an optional navigation system that directs you to mud pits and sand dunes, because that’s exactly where we’d go to get stupid. The NISMO model boasts Bilstein off-road shocks and skid plates to ward off warranty claims by owners doing things that we’re, um, not suggesting they do. Just ask stadium and desert truck racers. Rear-wheel drive and abundant power place one steering mechanism in your hands and the other below your right foot. Enjoy.
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View Photos MIKE SIMARI, DAVID DEWHURST, AARON KILEY, MORGAN SEGAL, THE MANUFACTURERS
2008 Mazdaspeed 3
Your chances are better of hitting the lottery than the Mazdaspeed 3’s EPA combined fuel-economy figure of 20 mpg. This has nothing to do with governmental agency incompetence (amazingly) or any mechanical deficiency; it’s simply nigh impossible to keep your right foot much off the floor. Mazda even equipped the 2.3-liter, turbocharged engine with direct injection to aid in fuel economy and emissions, and alas, this also helped it make more midrange torque. It’s this grunt, made into a propensity for apex munching through superb suspension tuning and a limited-slip differential, that makes you want to drive less than responsibly, all the time. Mazda gets a demerit only for limiting the amount of turbo boost, and thus power produced, in first and second gears in an effort—thankfully failed—to disallow owners the joy of shredding front tires, however less pleasurable it is than shredding rear tires.
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View Photos MIKE SIMARI, DAVID DEWHURST, AARON KILEY, MORGAN SEGAL, THE MANUFACTURERS
2008 Subaru Impreza WRX STI
No car does dirt better than the Subaru WRX and STI. They were born to do one thing: cover a stretch of dirt, tarmac, snow, or all three faster than any other vehicle. A gaggle of World Rally Championships says they do it well, and few cars feature the results of motorsports experience—including advanced all-wheel-drive systems and big turbocharged power—as directly and at as pedestrian a price. You can even slide a hot-dog cart in the dirt, but few vehicles feel so absolutely at home doing so as Subaru products.
View Photos MIKE SIMARI, DAVID DEWHURST, AARON KILEY, MORGAN SEGAL, THE MANUFACTURERS
Your First Car
This scribe’s first car was a Chevrolet Beretta GT shared with his sister. Any enthusiast will embrace whatever it is he or she has, often polishing a turd; as such, I owned the best-detailed Beretta in the Northeast. Then there was the third-hand, ragged-but-quick 1989 Taurus SHO, from which I learned that some cars require you to own both metric and standard tool sets; that the Japanese, in this case Yamaha, do it better; and that few things are as fun as watching your passengers’ faces when you “forget” to apply the brakes when pulling into parking spots fronted by concrete walls. First-car ownership usually coincides with high school, where physics class formulas can help you calculate the speed required to jump the ditch in your neighbor’s field and auto shop is available to help you weld in new shock towers while you curse Bo Duke, who made it look so easy. |
The Washington Nationals got to celebrate a no-hitter Sunday, and Thomas Boswell finally got to see one in person. (Katherine Frey/The Washington Post)
Baseball press boxes know everything. At least about baseball. So, when a reporter has covered baseball for 40 years, including a decade on the 100-plus-games-a-year beat, plus close to 20 years of attending games as a fan from the age of eight on up, and he has never seen a no-hitter, he gets a nickname.
Jinx.
That’s me.
I’ve even gone to hundreds of big league games as a fan since I became a sportswriter. But I’d never seen a no-hitter until Sunday. Lemme tell you, it was worth the wait. Because it was no ordinary no-no.
Washington’s Jordan Zimmermann pitched one of the most memorable games in history on Sunday at Nationals Park — a no-hitter made special by an amazing game-ending, extra-base-hit-saving, full-speed, total-layout, reach-backwards and snag-it-as-you-crash catch by rookie left fielder Stephen Souza, Jr.
Probably the defensive play of the year in the last game of the season for the first no-hitter by a Washington pitcher since 1931.
That catch may have surprised me as much as any play I’ve ever seen, because as soon as Christian Yelich’s line drive up the gap left the bat, I just shrugged because I’d seen this movie so many times. Yawn. Of course, broken up with two outs in the ninth with 35,085 hearts broken. I watched, but I knew.
Even as Souza landed in a glorious heap, I half expected the ball to roll out of his glove. When it didn’t and Zimmermann celebrated, I suddenly had a nice, genuine little feeling which I didn’t expect. I don’t believe in superstitions and hexes and I certainly don’t think my presence at anything influences its outcome. But guilt being what it is, you somehow wonder if you’re a little to blame for the spoiled fun.
That Zimmermann and Souza could defeat my unintentional whammy only makes their feat … well, it doesn’t change it at all. But it certainly dials up the irony quotient for me. Several times in my career I have jumped in the car in the sixth inning with a no-hitter-in-progress in old Memorial Stadium or Camden Yards in Baltimore or at RFK Stadium in D.C. or at Nationals Park.
My wife says, “You know you’re wasting your time.” I say, “It’s my job.” But I think, “Maybe it’s just my job to jinx it.” Once, I got to Camden Yards as Mike Mussina took a no-hitter into the ninth inning. There was no place to park. So I just abandoned my car 50 yards from the home plate entrance and ignored the heavy-set police officer who was yelling and pursuing me. I never even got a glimpse of the field before the crowd groaned en masse and the no-hitter was gone.
The whole episode only took three minutes, and the cop believed my double talk (while I walked double-time) blathering my “thanks” to him for being nice enough to let me “drop off” something for somebody. Tires screech, clean getaway — and another innocent no-hitter killed in its crib.
So, the story gets around. When there’s a no-hitter in progress it’s normal to hear someone mutter, “Well, Boswell’s here, so we don’t have to worry about writing a no-hitter.” Of course, we like to write them. All baseball scribes are closet workaholics. But it’s part of the code to pretend that you’re lazy.
Still, it surprises people that someone with Baseball Writers’ Association of America card No. 23 (out of more than 1,000) has never seen a “no-no,” which is the most common of all of baseball’s uncommon events. It’s just unusual enough that everybody’s seen one. Or even a few of them.
A perfect game? Four home runs in a game? An unassisted triple play? Very few of us have seen those in person, and we want to hear about them from those that have.
So, now I’m like everybody else. My uniqueness has vanished. Usually, you might call that a loss.
But not when you used to be, but no longer are, jinxed. |
September 1 marks 10 years since one of the most horrifying terrorist attacks in Russia, the Beslan school siege which saw over 300 people, 186 of them children, killed. Events to commemorate the massacre are taking place across the country.
The site of the tragedy, former school #1 in Beslan, a small town in Russia’s North Ossetia, will become the center of the remembrance ceremonies which have been annually held since 2005.
READ MORE:‘I don’t feel guilty’: Single surviving Beslan terrorist unrepentant 10 years after tragedy
READ MORE:The City of Angels - 10 years after Beslan
In what has now become a tradition, the three-day events to commemorate those killed in the attack, will start at the schoolyard with a bell ring. Such bells ring in all Russian schools on September 1, symbolizing the beginning of a school year. For survivors of the Beslan massacre and relatives of the victims it is the bell toll that divided their lives 'before' and 'after'.
Hundreds of people, including public activists and top officials, are expected to come to the site to pay their tributes to the hostages and those who lost their lives in the tragedy. They will lay more flowers and light candles at the walls of the ruined school building and a recently opened monument: a 50-meter long granite memorial with the names of all the victims carved on it. Toys and bottles with water will be brought in: the captives were held in the cramped, stuffy school gym and suffered from unbearable heat and thirst.
On September 2, a requiem concert will be held on the stage of Beslan’s culture center. On Wednesday, at a ceremony in the schoolyard, students will release into the air 334 white balloons - the number of people who died in the hostage crisis. Later in the day, the commemorating ceremonies will move to the town’s cemetery – called The City of Angels – where hundreds of the victims were laid to rest.
The bloodiest terrorist attack in Russia’s history claimed - in official figures – the lives of 186 children, 118 relatives or school guests, 17 teachers, 10 special forces officers, 2 Emergencies Ministry employees and one policeman. A further 810 people were injured.
RT looks back at 2004 Beslan hostage crisis
Wednesday, September 1, 2004
The Day of Knowledge, the beginning of a school year. A long-awaited event for first-graders: dressed nicely, with their brand-new school kits they rushed to Beslan’s school #1 for their First Bell ceremony. Many pupils were accompanied by relatives and younger siblings. A noisy crowd of people – including 859 students and 59 teachers - gathered in front of the school building for festivities.
Shortly after 09:00 am local time 32 heavily-armed gunmen on two vehicles broke into the school and opened fire. Several civilians were killed in the shootout between the attackers and local police who ran to the scene after first gunshots were heard.
The terrorists ordered the people to get inside the school building. Between 50 to 100 people – primarily high-graders and adults – managed to run away, but about 1,100 hostages were forced into the sports hall.
The gunmen barricaded doors and windows in the gym and started mining the building with explosive devices. Russian media reported that there were two women wearing suicide-bomb belts among the attackers.
At around 10am one hostage, an adult man Ruslan Betrozov, was reportedly shot dead in the gym, right in front of the children, after trying to talk to the terrorists and calm down the captives.
By 11am the school territory was surrounded by police forces and residents of nearby buildings were evacuated. Senior public officials arrived at the site. Two authorities suggested exchanging themselves for captured children, but the terrorists turned down the proposal. President Vladimir Putin canceled his summer vacation in Sochi and returned to Moscow.
The attackers, filming everything that was happening inside the school, announced they would only talk to the president of North Ossetia, president of the neighboring Republic of Ingushetia or Vladimir Rushailo, who was Russia’s Interior Minister in 1999-2001. The latter was however confused with Professor Leonid Roshal, a famous Russian pediatrician, by the hostage who was taking down the note. The terrorists demanded the withdrawal of armed forces from Chechnya (a Russian republic in the North Caucasus) and the release of a group of arrested gunmen.
The hostage-takers threatened to blow up the school in case police attempted to storm the building. They put children in the windows using them as human shields and said they would kill 50 hostages for every killed member of their group and 20 – for every wounded one.
At 3:50pm the Russian Air Force delivered the first groups of Special Forces troops.
Between 4 and 4:30pm, a blast and shooting were reported in the seized school. Several hostages died and their bodies were thrown out of the windows shortly later.
Dr. Roshal, though unwanted by the gunmen, still managed to establish contact with them at around 8pm. They insisted that the presidents of Ingushetia and North Ossetia, along with Putin’s advisor Aslambek Aslakhanov, must participate in the talks as well.
By 9pm a large crowd of people – mainly the hostages’ relatives – had gathered outside the school building. The gunmen refused to accept medicine, water and food for the hostages.
Thursday, September 2, 2004
Negotiations between Roshal and the attackers continued late into the night, but brought no breakthrough.
In the morning, the head of oil refining company RussNeft, Mikhail Gutseriev, offered terrorists money in exchange for hostages. They declined the proposal.
At 2pm President Putin made his first official statement on the situation: “Our main task is, of course, to save the lives and health of the hostages. All actions of our forces dealing with the hostage release will be focused on that exclusive task.”
As a result of negotiations, by 4pm the gunmen agreed to meet with former Ingush President Ruslan Aushev. After the talks, 26 hostages – women with babies – were released. The gunmen also handed a message to Aushev with their demands: the withdrawal of troops from Chechnya and full sovereignty to the republic.
Meanwhile, Roshal continued negotiations with the attackers, asking them to allow food and water be passed to the captives, but the talks yielded no positive results.
Friday, September 3, 2004
Several blasts rocked the school and shooting was reported during the night and early in the morning.
Those released said that the number of hostages inside the building was over 1,000 instead of 354 as it had initially been thought.
Shortly after the noon, the terrorists allowed Emergencies Ministry workers to approach school to retrieve the bodies of those killed that had been lying in front of the building for two days.
At around 1pm, as rescuers got to the site, two powerful explosions ripped through the school gym followed by gunfire. It was not immediately clear what caused the blasts, but later reports suggested that the gunmen provoked them accidentally. According to one version, a suicide bomber blew herself up. According to another, explosive devices placed into hoops in the gym fell down.
The blasts triggered chaos, with hostages trying to flee through a hole in the wall and terrorists opening fire on them. Security forces returned fire and helped a dozen captives run away, often sheltering them with their own bodies.
The gunmen attempted to force the remaining hostages from the partly ruined sports hall to the canteen.
At 1:10pm security forces started storming the building. Snipers opened fire on terrorists’ firing points while troops were evacuating the hostages. Federal Security Forces (FSB) officers broke into the gym: there were dozens of wounded and exhausted hostages there, but the terrorists had moved to the school canteen and were shooting from there.
At about 2.20pm a blaze broke out in the sports hall. By the time fire brigades arrived at the scene, the majority of hostages from the gym had been evacuated. About a hundred special forces troops were inside the building. Five militants were reportedly killed.
After 3pm evacuation from other parts of the school was still ongoing amid a continuing gunfight. Mobile medical units were deployed in the area to immediately help the wounded before taking them to hospitals in Beslan and Vladikavkaz.
Between 6 and 7pm, after it was established that there were no more captives in the school building, troops used Shmel rocket infantry flamethrowers against the militants. Two T-72 tanks were also deployed in the nearby area. By 9:30pm the hostage-takers were proclaimed eliminated and shortly before midnight the school was under full control of security forces.
Saturday, September 4, 2004
Rescuers continued recovering the bodies of the victims from the school debris.
Relatives who had not found their loved ones alive flocked to hospitals and examined the long lists of injured placed on the walls, hoping to find names among them.
Those who lost hope had to look among the dead bodies.
President Putin arrived in Beslan in the early hours on Saturday and visited one of hospitals.
Sunday, September 5, 2004
The official death toll rose as some of the badly injured died. Over 50 remained in critical condition.
The first funerals took place.
North Ossetian Interior Minister, Major General Kazbek Dzantiyev, announced his resignation. He said that “as an officer and a man” he had “no right” to occupy his post after what happened in Beslan.
Monday, September 6, 2004
Mass funerals took place in Beslan. Two days of national mourning began in Russia.
The aftermath of the Beslan hostage crisis
A decade on, the survivors of the tragedy still cannot forget those terrible days they spent on the verge of death. Those who lost their loved ones do not believe their psychological wounds will ever heal. They keep coming to site of the attack – which has since been turned into a memorial – and to the cemetery, the City of Angels, one of the rare graveyards in North Ossetia where both Christians and Muslims were laid to rest.
“There are no Muslims and Christians here. They are children. They are innocent creature. And all people come [to the cemetery] – Christians and Muslims…They come in tears and go in tears,” Kaspolat Ramonov, the keeper at the City of Angels told RT. His family was taken hostage in 2004. The wife and son seriously injured and his eldest daughter was killed. |
Recently I was experiencing a lot of fuss about user interactions, but what captured my attention was mechanism related to “hold on hover” state and action following this procedure. Let’s start with how I got tricked in the first place which is great example of “not moving your cursor”.
It was a dark, rainy day – one could say, not a bad time to sit in front of a computer without guilt. Drops were hitting my window and wind started to bend trees harder and harder. Warmth of tea standing next to the keyboard was already gone, but what’s going to happen earned my whole attention and cold liquid was not a problem at that time.
Naaah, it’s been an average day and I was caching up on Twitter shouts. One of which was a retweet with blog post (apparently on Svbtle) about user experience methods, written by an UX expert (I guess or some sort of specialist, well… or not). I did a fast scroll to get an idea of what the article is about and check if I can read it right at that time (means it’s short) or I should send it to Kindle (long and needs more attention, but you can read about “send to Kindle” in my review and how I use it).
Move your mouse! It’s a trap!
When I reached the bottom of the article I saw a pink dot, similar to this one (yes, this one is black cpt. obvious):
I guess some smart (and shifty, but we will get to that) person realized that people will want to interact with the pink dot – at least out of curiosity. I put my cursor on the spot and suddenly text appeared “Don’t move your mouse. Keep it still!” and I increased “Kudos” count.
Side note: It’s pretty old mechanism, there is ever over 2-year old, open JS library, but apparently I managed to keep quality of websites I visit high enough to not meet such tricks.
What drives me mad:
Time to give “Kudo”, or +1 if you prefer, was actually shorter that time you need to read the pop-up info; before you realize what’s going on, you contribute unintentionally. Point can’t be taken back, it’s not a toggle, there is no -1 or it’s not as obvious as it should be.
I got tricked and that’s what this kind of implementation [of such a mechanism] is, pure trap to increase points counter by guile.
Don’t get me wrong, I like prize points and mechanisms that allow community to reward great piece of knowledge, but if you trick people to get karma, whole idea is becoming pointless. I won’t even start with a complain that it makes you spend time on contributing to a “like counter” – side activity.
It’s wrong, plain and simple, that didn’t change since 2012.
Hold to delete
Next inspiring tweet was about “hold to delete” mechanism, which generic intention isn’t bad in my opinion. However, I would say lesson to get the whole idea of this procedure can be expensive and there is high risk of the lesson not being learned.
.@pingdom's "hold to delete" UI is awesome. Way to rethink the 'Are You Sure!??' dialog box, guys! http://t.co/0aHMKci1UV — Will Dages (@willdages) April 28, 2014
I assume (hope) this kind of mechanism won’t be available to manage your domains, but even accidental deletion of a photograph, message or an important note can cause some damage. Personally I like to think about the worst scenario possible, because somebody WILL have an idea to implement this in “triple confirmation zone” – don’t lie to yourself, people are “creative”.
How I see first use of this kind of mechanism (Let’s assume the one from tweet above, drop-down, then “Hold to delete”):
User is looking for a delete option. He/She finds drop-down and sees “Hold to delete”. Not being sure how it works, (s)he hovers over the button and wonders if click and hold will do the job,… but it’s already gone. Congratulations, your folder with family album backup was successfully deleted.
Well, user is lucky if it was intentional and (s)he wanted to remove the album, but I don’t have to explain this situation if action happened when freely browsing website and just getting to know your way around a service.
That’s only one example and technical side of things, but we can’t forget about comfort.
When at your PC, it’s not a big deal to move your cursor over “Hold…” area, but when we consider users of touch devices, comfort isn’t as obvious. Phone which is usually being operated with 1 finger, horizontally, could pass a conveniences test, but tablet and all-in-one are very often used in vertical state. I will leave it to your imagination or (if you are at your PC/all-in-one etc.) you can try holding finger on this dot for 3 seconds.
Comfortable? Don’t worry, only 4 more photos, after all we won’t be bothering with bulk actions for 4 images.
There are actions that should be hard(er) to perform
Ask yourself a question “Why deleting was designed to be harder in the first place?”. It’s an easy one, but it really explains why “Hold to delete” isn’t the mechanism you want to implement with a delete button.
When you add something by accident, it’s not a big deal, you just need to remove it. Nothing bad will happen when you pick edit option, move to an additional category or decorate with extra tags. All this actions have something in common, they are additive and we can with no worries assume that they are easily reversible (Don’t you dare to bring image data information up.). The problem with all kinds of removal procedures is finality, restoring these changes is either impossible, hard to make happen or just not worth it, but still frustrating.
Arrive at the point, what can we do?
It’s not too productive when you just sit down and complain on somebodies solution, so I started thinking how to make friendly confirmation which will:
Centralize “delete” action, so user doesn’t have to move from a delete button area. Be hard enough to minimize accidental removal and remain comfortable.
In the end I came up with “slide to delete”.
We are already using it every day to accept and reject calls, unlock or mute phones, it’s pretty much proven to be accident proof when being fast and comfortable at the same time. Another important thing, it’s as easy to perform on desktop as on tablet or phone.
What’s your thought? Do you have any ideas how to improve it? Write it down, you can use comments section. Do it before you forget it.
Finally, if you would like to read more about actions I encourage to take a look at this SO discussion and Harry Brignull’s article about artificial delays.
Update:
After posting this piece on r/web_design and I’m really content with the discussion.
First of all I have to admit that “slide to delete” confirmation can work in favour of touch devices and produce a flaw when working with mouse. All I can think about right now is to adjust confirmation to user’s device, there are tools to do that, but on the other hand it can be confusing – always compare pros and cons.
Idea which got the closest to my intentional goal is morphing delete button to a confirmation one, after click. However, it would need a small adjustment, for example to place NO switch in place of the delete one and move yes to the side, avoiding accidental confirmation this way (ex. double-tap). As mentioned in discussion, Reddit got it right with report link.
The last suggestion, trash bin, isn’t bad; but I feel like it’s not universal enough. Although, if you are in need of fast solution of deletion mechanism and option to restore data, I would call it perfect. Great example would be posts in WordPress, trashing takes one click (no confirmation), but gives you a way to restore removed objects.
Different solutions are pouring out, but it’s safe to say that “hold to delete” is not the way to go, unless you are 100% sure that amount of advantages outweighs risk it generates.
Links:
Kudos jQuery plugin (version with removal, that’s a plus)
Svbtle
Should list item specific actions be hidden on default and revealed on hover or always be displyed?
Adding delays to increase perceived value: does it work?
Discussion on r/web_design |
For Immediate Release
For Immediate Release
Dec. 16, 2012
Families throughout the nation mourn the horrific deaths of 26 people, including 20 young children, killed Friday during a Newtown, Conn., mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
‘It’s impossible to imagine the depths of despair and grief that the victims’ families are experiencing right now,’ said Geoffrey J. Neale, Chair of the Libertarian National Committee. ‘Our hearts go out to every one of them.’
In the immediate aftermath of news surrounding the shootings, pundits and politicians called for new restrictions on firearm ownership, exactly the opposite of the approach needed to combat tragic gun violence in schools.
‘We’ve created a ‘gun-free zone,’ a killing zone, for the sickest criminals on the face of the Earth,” said R. Lee Wrights, vice-chair of the Libertarian Party. “We’ve given them an open killing field, and we’ve made the children of this country the victims.”
Wrights pointed out that merely the knowledge that armed people will be present acts as a deterrent for would-be shooters.
“They’re not going to walk into a police station, and why not? Because that’s where the guns are,” he said.
The Federal Gun Free Schools Zone Act prohibits carrying firearms on school grounds in most cases, effectively criminalizing the right to self-defense in places filled with the most vulnerable citizens. Without that federal prohibition, adults working at the school would have been free to defend themselves, very possibly saving the lives of many of the young children and adults who were slain in this horrific tragedy.
“We must stop blinding ourselves to the obvious: Most of these mass killings are happening at schools where self-defense is prohibited,” said Carla Howell, executive director of the Libertarian Party. “Gun prohibition sets the stage for the slaughter of innocent children. We must repeal these anti-self-defense laws now to minimize the likelihood they will occur in the future and to the limit the damage done when they do.”
Responsible gun owners can and do prevent mass shootings from occurring and escalating.
A 1997 high school shooting in Pearl, Miss., was halted by the school’s vice principal after he retrieved the Colt .45 he kept in his truck.
A 1998 middle school shooting ended when a man living next door heard gunfire and apprehended the shooter with his shotgun.
A 2002 terrorist attack at an Israeli school was quickly stopped by an armed teacher and a school guard.
A 2002 law school shooting in Grundy, Va., came to an abrupt conclusion when students carrying firearms confronted the shooter.
A 2007 mall shooting in Salt Lake City, Utah, ended when an armed off-duty police officer intervened.
A 2009 workplace shooting in Houston, Texas, was halted by two coworkers who carried concealed handguns.
A 2012 church shooting in Aurora, Colo., was stopped by a member of the congregation carrying a gun.
At the recent mall shooting in Portland, Ore., the gunman took his own life minutes after being confronted by a shopper carrying a concealed weapon.
For several years after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, gun prohibitionists blocked pilots from carrying firearms. But after it became undeniable that guns are an essential line of defense against hijackers and other terrorists when the lives of innocent passengers are at stake, Congress finally passed legislation allowing it.
It’s time to take the same approach with teachers, school administrators, and security guards, who should be allowed to carry the tools necessary to protect the students in their care. It’s time to put an end to gun-free zones and make it much easier for responsible adults to arm, train, and protect themselves and the people they love from the violent criminals who seek to harm them.
“You can’t depend on somebody else to take care of your own life for you,” Wrights said. “It’s too precious to put it into the hands of somebody else, particularly when the seconds count.”
The Libertarian Party Platform on Self-Defense states: ‘The only legitimate use of force is in defense of individual rights — life, liberty, and justly acquired property — against aggression. This right inheres in the individual, who may agree to be aided by any other individual or group. We affirm the individual right recognized by the Second Amendment to keep and bear arms, and oppose the prosecution of individuals for exercising their rights of self-defense. We oppose all laws at any level of government requiring registration of, or restricting, the ownership, manufacture, or transfer or sale of firearms or ammunition.’ |
Ontario Releases Basic Income Consultation Feedback
Province Moving Forward with Pilot Program in 2017
March 16, 2017 9:30 A.M. Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services
Ontario is releasing a report that summarizes the feedback gathered from thousands of people across the province on how to design and deliver a basic income pilot.
Basic income is a payment to eligible families or individuals that ensures a minimum income level. It is designed to help people meet their basic needs while supporting long-term social and economic prosperity and security for everyone.
More than 35,000 people and organizations shared their ideas on a range of topics including who should be eligible for a basic income, which communities to include, how a basic income should be delivered and how the pilot should be evaluated, during the consultations.
Consultation feedback supports a basic income pilot that:
Includes Ontario residents aged 18-64 living in socially and economically diverse communities, in urban, rural and northern locations
Helps people living on low incomes meet their basic needs
Lifts people out of poverty, with long-term improvements in health, employment and housing.
The consultations help build on the advice the government received from the Honourable Hugh Segal in his discussion paper.
The province continues to engage with First Nations, urban Indigenous, Métis and Inuit communities to ensure their unique perspectives are heard and to tailor a culturally appropriate approach that reflects their advice.
All input received through the consultation process is being considered as the government works to introduce a plan for Ontario's Basic Income Pilot in spring 2017.
Exploring new ways to help people living in poverty reach their full potential is part of the government's plan to create jobs, grow the economy and help people in their everyday lives.
Quick Facts Between November 3, 2016 and January 31, 2017, about 1,200 participants attended 14 public consultations held in communities across Ontario. Over 34,000 people completed the online survey. Written submissions were received from more than 80 community organizations and groups with expertise and experience in fighting poverty.
The province is looking to create a pilot that would test how a basic income might benefit people living in a variety of low income situations, including those who are currently working.
Finland launched a guaranteed income pilot in January 2017 and the Netherlands and Kenya are also looking at developing pilot projects that test the idea of a basic or guaranteed annual income.
Y-Combinator, a California technology company has announced it will be piloting a basic income project that is expected to run for five years. |
The gunman was a white male mechanic who worked out of San Diego and lived in a luxury apartment complex. He was said to be burdened by loads of credit card debts and was under financial stress.
According to reports, he was invited to his best friend's pool party to celebrate a 50th birthday. That's when he began shooting at the crowd. The victims were all African-American except for one Hispanic. His best friend was reportedly shot as well. It was later reported that the female victim has succumbed to her injuries.
Witnesses said that the suspect held a beer in one hand while shooting at multiple people with the other. When the police arrived, the suspect pointed his gun at the police and was eventually shot dead by three of the police officers.
Police arrived at the scene in the midst of mayhem and unloaded on the man as he raised his firearm at them. It appears to be a suicide by police and it worked.
The shooter was getting wasted while getting wasted.
Financial burdens are not a reason to go off the deep end. People can and will recover from bankruptcy and debt. It's a struggle, but it's entirely possible. Seek financial and mental help any time you feel overwhelmed. Don't ever be ashamed of your situation - just fix it and take control of your life. You CAN do it and you will be successful at it.
Here's more information on the San Diego pool party shooting. Motivation is being investigated.
SAN DIEGO, Calif. (KABC) -- Eight people were injured, one fatally, and a suspect was killed at an apartment complex in San Diego Sunday night, officials said.
The gunman apparently opened fire at a birthday party in the pool area of a complex in the University City area of San Diego around 6 p.m. Officers spotted the gunman still armed at the scene and engaged with him.
"The suspect pointed the gun at our officers and three of our officers fired on the suspect and the suspect went down and the suspect is deceased," San Diego Police chief Shelley Zimmerman said. The gunman was identified as Peter Selis, 49, a resident of the complex.
Here's a picture of the deceased shooter, provided by Dominic Garcia on Twitter. Not sure why it's blurred out, as that's the shooter and it should be seen.
This is the scene during the shooting, provided by William on Twitter.
Here's the shooter, Peter Selis.
Here's video footage in which you can hear the sounds of the shots. |
Portillo's is a chain, but it's a great one. I've been wanting to say that for while, because its name comes up often on the site when discussing street food in Chicago, and while that could be because it has numerous locations—including an especially prominent one in River North—the mentions are mostly due to the surprisingly consistent and occasionally excellent food. More on the latter in just a second.
I should clarify that Portillo's is a local chain (though there are a few outlets in other states), and that it has a hot dog history as colorful and authentic as Gene and Jude's. Basically, it goes like this: In 1963 Dick Portillo converted a six by twelve foot trailer into the Dog House in Villa Park. Fast forward fifty years, and after a name change, lots of hard work, and some savvy business sense, Portillo's is now the "largest privately owned restaurant company in the Midwest." (If you want the full history, click here.)
That's not a bad story, but just about every chain has one just like it. Well, except for the independent part, which matters much more than you'd think. Though a large operation, Portillo's has loads of quirks, most of which are designed to improve customer service. The River North location may be inundated with an endless deluge of locals and tourists, yet it's almost always remarkably clean. Lines can get epically long, but a fleet of workers help speed up the process by taking orders before customers get to the cash register.
That same attention to detail is prevalent in the kitchen, and no fast food operation of its size in the city is as consistent at as many things. Of course, that sounds like I'm damning it with faint praise. Consistent is all well and good, but what about the delicious? Certainly, it's not as wildly wonderful as Hot Doug's. No, but there are some exceptional finds on the menu, which I found out after multiple visits.
Check out the six best dishes at Portillo's, and then let me know what I missed. Is there some dish that I've overlooked? I'd love to hear about it!
Portillo's Hot Dogs
100 West Ontario Street, Chicago, IL 60654 (map)
312-587-8910
portillos.com
This post may contain links to Amazon or other partners; your purchases via these links can benefit Serious Eats. Read more about our affiliate linking policy. |
15 Fun Valentines Day Family Traditions Valentine’s Day is one of my favorite holidays, because it celebrates the purpose of life.
No, not chocolate, LOVE!
Parents often ask me how they can find time to deepen their connection with their children, given how busy they are. Because Valentines Day is all about love, it gives you the perfect opportunity to create more love in your family, not only between parent and child, but between siblings.
We all need to be cherished. But despite our good intentions, too often we forget to tell the people we love just how precious they are to us. Valentines Day reminds us to tell all of our loved ones (not only our sweethearts) how glad we are that they're in our lives.
Want some simple ideas to celebrate Valentines Day, when you’re too busy, too broke, and maybe even too harried to remember that you really adore these people you live with?
1. Rethink Gifts.
Valentines Gifts are NEVER about the item or product. That teaches all the wrong lessons about love. Make this about the heart to heart expressions that build intimacy and connection. That means handmade cards, extra loving time together, or massages, not purchased gifts.
If you must buy a gift, choose it using the GIFT test: does it create more Gratitude, Intimacy, Fondness and Trust between you, or does it just impress? In other words, a bottle of inexpensive champagne, some sandwiches, and an invitation to a massage and picnic supper in bed after the kids are asleep meets this test a lot better than jewelry or candy. Or try one of the gift ideas below -- for adults or kids.
2. Alternate gift ideas:
A Letter of Appreciation.
The best gift of all is always a simple letter to your loved ones detailing how grateful you are to have them in your life. Be as specific as possible; “The way you let me sleep in the morning while you make the kids breakfast” and "The way you dance with such exuberance” are more satisfying than “You’re lovable,” because the recipient feels seen and appreciated. Don’t worry if it isn’t eloquent. Any heartfelt love letter will be cherished by the recipient much more than a store-bought gift. This isn't only for your partner; children feel loved when we notice who they are and what they contribute to us, our family, and the world. Your kids will will reread your letters during tough times. They'll save them for the rest of their lives.
The best gift of all is always a simple letter to your loved ones detailing how grateful you are to have them in your life. Be as specific as possible; “The way you let me sleep in the morning while you make the kids breakfast” and "The way you dance with such exuberance” are more satisfying than “You’re lovable,” because the recipient feels seen and appreciated. Don’t worry if it isn’t eloquent. Any heartfelt love letter will be cherished by the recipient much more than a store-bought gift. This isn't only for your partner; children feel loved when we notice who they are and what they contribute to us, our family, and the world. Your kids will will reread your letters during tough times. They'll save them for the rest of their lives. Homemade Valentines.
Children may pester you to purchase things for them -- how can they not, when they're surrounded by constant buying messages and opportunities? -- but they feel most loved when we spend time WITH them, or doing something FOR them, including making something for them. Why not make Valentines? This can be as simple as 15 minutes with red construction paper, scissors, and magic markers, or as elaborate as a joyful, creative family project for three hours. Need inspiration? There are web sites galore. But I usually stick to the simplest: construction paper hearts with a deeply felt message detailing something you appreciate about the recipient.
Children may pester you to purchase things for them -- how can they not, when they're surrounded by constant buying messages and opportunities? -- but they feel most loved when we spend time WITH them, or doing something FOR them, including making something for them. Why not make Valentines? This can be as simple as 15 minutes with red construction paper, scissors, and magic markers, or as elaborate as a joyful, creative family project for three hours. Need inspiration? There are web sites galore. But I usually stick to the simplest: construction paper hearts with a deeply felt message detailing something you appreciate about the recipient. A gift certificate for a backrub or foot massage every night for a month.
Kids feel loved when we listen to them and give them an opportunity to talk through their daily challenges. Every single day, spend 15 minutes snuggling with each child before bed. Not reading, that's separate. Snuggle time is just chatting, or snuggling companionably. Most kids love a backrub and hand or foot rub. Darkness helps you connect soul to soul. After the month, you'll realize the gift was really to you, and you won't be willing to give up your new habit.
3. Get up a few minutes early so you can enjoy opening each others' Valentines at breakfast
Be sure to include something heart-shaped or sweet to eat.
4. Let your kids know your love is with them all day
...by tucking little construction paper hearts with love notes into their backpack, lunch, jacket pocket, etc for them to find throughout the day.
5. Make the dinner mood festive.
Make the dinner mood festive with a short family dance party before dinner. Don't forget the romantic slow dance for the grown-ups! Finish with a family hug. After the dancing, eat with candles on the table.
6. At dinner, go around the table and give each person a chance to give an appreciation
...to every other family member. They don't have to be earth-shaking to strengthen relationships.
"I appreciate Eli for helping me with my homework....I appreciate Mom for spending special time with me at bedtime....I appreciate Dad for always being cheerful....I appreciate myself for getting out of the house on time in the morning."
7. Find five minutes to spend by yourself giving thanks for those you love.
One at a time, visualize yourself hugging them, and them beaming back at you. Let the infinite tenderness of your love for them wash over you. Ask for help to let go of anything that gets in the way of being close to this person, who is so precious to you.
(Does the idea of asking for help bother you? It doesn’t have to be God, or even the healing spirit of the universe, that you’re talking to. It could simply be your own deepest wisdom, which is also the heart of love. The interesting thing about asking for help in this way is that, in my experience, it always works... although not necessarily as we would have expected.)
8. Spread the love.
Before Valentines Day, invite your kids' friends to make Valentines. Good music (theirs), delicious snacks (your job) and a digital or instant camera ("Here's a picture of me making your valentine") seem to provide enough cool context for tweens and even younger teens to let themselves enjoy this project. In fact, inviting friends always seems to double the fun, whatever their age.
9. Keep Valentines from past years and decorate the house
...with them for the week before and the week after. Each year you’ll ooh and ah over beautiful ones from the past, and the messy, misspelled hearts from the little ones will become priceless evidence of their past adorableness, which even they will treasure as they get older. For the month of February, your house will be papered with love.
10. Your kids can make very simple Valentines for their class
...which do so much more to fill kids' cups than the store-bought "fast-food" ones. Just cut out hearts, or run them out of the computer. Your child can color and decorate and elaborate as much or little as he wants. Or take your child's drawing and have it color-xeroxed with red ink, then just write in the names.
11. Make some extra valentines
...to pass out as you go through your day. You’ll be amazed whose day you’ll be moved to brighten: the subway token clerk, the grocer, coworkers, neighbors, a homeless person you pass on the street. And you'll go home with your own heart glowing and a few sizes larger. You might even just want to leave anonymous valentines at each neighbor's door.
12. Need candy to make the day complete?
In our house, sweets were never a major part of Valentines day, but my kids certainly came home from school with treats, and we often make cookies if we can find the time. Be aware that teachers say the red dye is worse than the sugar in setting kids off, and scientists think red dye is pretty bad for you. Chocolate, on the other hand, is the perfect food, according to the strictly unscientific research I've conducted.
13. How about a telephone Valentine chain?
Call someone dear to your family and pass the phone around to take turns telling this person you love them. Then ask that person to “Pass it forward” by calling someone they love, asking that person to call another, etc.
14. Sound surround yourself with love.
This is the day for your Love Song playlist. Or let your kids create a new one. Skip the heartbroken ones and go straight for celebration, all day long!
15. Love in Practice.
If you'd like your kids to take pride in making the world a better place, Valentines Day is a great opportunity to make love tangible in the world by taking valentines goodies or homemade valentines to a nursing home, hospital, or soup kitchen.
As four wise teachers once said, “In the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.”
However you decide to celebrate, I hope February 14 brings more love into your life. Happy Valentines Day! |
The Australian and the global fossil fuel industry have been given stark warnings by two heavyweights of the international finance sector that their future will not just be constrained by political decisions to limit emissions, but by the lack of, or the high cost, of finance.
The first warning comes from Deutsche Bank, which says that China’s use of thermal coal is likely to peak within a few years, and by 2017 it could become a net exporter of thermal coal rather than a large importer. This, says Deutsche Bank, is likely to have a significant impact on coal prices.
The implications for the Australian coal sector, and its massive expansion plans in ports, mines and rail infrastructure in Queensland and NSW – led by the likes of Gina Rinehart and Clive Palmer – is that the long term price of thermal coal will not be sufficient to make these investments profitable. They could, in fact, become the acts of the greatest futility if they go ahead.
The second warning comes from leading credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s, which in a report released on Monday predicts credit downgrades and negative outlooks in the oil sector because of the potential carbon constraints driven by global climate change policies.
S&P says future carbon constraints need to be factored into credit assessments for the oil sector – along with uncertain future oil prices and rising operational costs – and financial models that rely on past financial performance are no longer adequate.
“By analysing the potential impact of future carbon constraints driven by global climate change policies, our study shows a deterioration in the financial risk profiles for smaller oil companies that could lead to negative outlooks and downgrades,” said Michael Wilkins, head of environmental finance at Standard & Poor’s. He says these downgrades could occur in the next three years.
S&P focuses in particular on three operators of the controversial oil sand mining industry in North America, and questions the business model of investing more capital in tar sands, noting that the companies analysed need to refinance nearly half of their $13.6 billion in corporate bonds in coming years, and may have trouble doing so.
“This research shows that credit ratings need to start looking at alternative futures, as a carbon constrained world will not see past performance of this sector be repeated,” it says.
Ironically, both the S&P and the Deutsche Bank reports came as one of the biggest oil producers in the world, Shell, delivered its own in-depth report that predicted that solar would emerge as the dominant energy provider in the world by the turn of the century.
Shell, which ironically quit the solar business a few years ago – although its Japanese offshoot Showa Shell owns Solar Frontier – says that solar could provide between 37 per cent and 70 per cent of the world’s energy by 2100.
But even these scenarios are predicated on a world in which politicians and financiers respond poorly to the science and a world that fails to reduce emissions until the 2050s. Independent organizations such as the International Energy Agency suggest that needs to occur by 2020, however, but Shell’s optimistic view appears to be characterised by its reading (or lack of reading) of the science. It confidently predicts that emissions will not fall until the 2050s – when the link between Co2 emissions and changing climate will finally be proven.
Deutsche Bank, on the other hand, says action is quite likely, and much, much earlier. It points to the case of China where the new administration is under huge pressure to reduce air pollution levels, which have soared in the past 12 months to 40 times acceptable levels, and put the government under enormous pressure to take action.
In one scenario painted by the Deutsche Bank team led by chief economist Jun Ma, China’s imports of thermal coal would cease by 2017, nearly a decade earlier than most forecasts, and coal consumption would fall from 68 per cent of total energy consumption to 32 per cent by 2030. Clean energy consumption would grow by 12 per cent annually over 2013-2020. as more incentives were put behind solar, wind, gas and nuclear.
China, the second biggest coal importer in the world after the EU, would become a net exporter, tipping the balance in the global coal market. Deutsche Bank coal analysts say in a separate report that this would blow a hole in the global seaborne coal market and send thermal coal prices towards $70/tonne. Australia would be the hardest hit of any coal exporters because it has the highest marginal cost.
Indeed, Deutsche Bank says that even at $87/tonne, some 43 million tonnes of export production from Australia would be forced offline, and investments in Queensland’s Galilee Basin, such as the massive GVK Alpha coal mine part owned by Gina Rinehart, would be delayed. At such prices, these projects would not be profitable, and could not attract finance. It would also have significant profit impacts on current operations for Anglo American, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto.
While Shell relies on a future scenario based on past experience, when fossil fuel giants have been able to influence global and individual country policy, the report by S&P, in conjunction with The Carbon Tracker Initiative, says that this view of the world may be no longer valid.
“Global energy use and the resulting emissions may have to change or we will have to adapt to a warmer world; arguably, it’s likely we will need to do both,” S&P notes. “As a consequence, financial models that are based on past performance and creditworthiness may not be relevant in the future.”
Carbon Tracker’s research director James Leaton said emissions ceilings have clear implications for the future fundamentals of the oil sector, both in demand and price. “The uncertainty around the future of carbon intensive fuels needs to be translated across credit analysis of business models going forward.”
Simon Redmond, a director in S&P’s oil and gas team, said even in the IEA’s 450pppm scenario, the outlook in the very near term for ratings changes in unlikely to be much different.
“However, as the price declines persist in our stress scenario of weaker oil demand, meaningful pressure could build on ratings,” he says. “First the relatively focused, higher cost producers, and then also more diversified integrated players, as operating cash flows decline, weakening free cash flow and credit measures, and returns on investment become less certain and reserve replacement less robust.”
The S&P report should not be seen is isolation. In January, HSBC said in its “unburnable carbon” report the market value of oil majors such as Shell, BP and Statoil were at risk because they could be forced to leave much of their resources in the ground. This message of risk, and its effect on financing, was taken up by Bloomberg New Energy Finance, whose recent conclusions that wind farms and solar farms were already cheaper than new build coal and gas-fired generation in Australia were largely based around the rising cost of finance for fossil fuel generators, influenced primarily by carbon risk.
And in the past few weeks, investment banks such as UBS, along with Macquarie Group and Deutsche Bank have all noted how the solar industry is reframing energy markets in Europe, and beyond, and turning once profitable coal and gas fired generators into marginal businesses, and forcing many to close or to embrace a more rapid change to renewables and distributed generation.
Just last week, Duke Energy, the largest utility in the US, said the plunging cost of solar would redefine the traditional utility business. The second biggest, NRG, has already stated that solar will cause a revolution in the energy industry.
And to those miners who believe that India will remain a beacon in the fog, CLP Holdings, the Hong Kong based company that is one of the largest power companies in Asia, said it wouldn’t invest any more money in coal-fired generation in India following the disastrous results of its latest 1,200MW investment, which is losing money from lack of access to coal and poor quality supplies. It will focus entirely, it says, on renewables such as wind and solar from now on in India. |
Do black holes live forever?
Since nothing can escape from the gravitational force of a black hole, it was long thought that black holes are impossible to destroy. But we now know that black holes actually evaporate, slowly returning their energy to the Universe. The well-known physicist and author Stephen Hawking proved this in 1974 by using the laws of quantum mechanics to study the region close to a black hole horizon.
The quantum theory describes the behavior of matter on the smallest scales. It predicts that tiny particles and light are continuously created and destroyed on sub-atomic scales. Some of the light thus created actually has a very small chance of escaping before it is destroyed. To an outsider, it is as though the event horizon glows. The energy carried away by the glow decreases the black hole's mass until it is completely gone.
This surprising new insight showed that there is still much to learn about black holes. However, Hawking's glow is completely irrelevant for any of the black holes known to exist in the Universe. For them, the temperature of the glow is almost zero and the energy loss is negligible. The time needed for the black holes to lose much of their mass is unimaginably long. However, if much smaller black holes ever existed in the Universe, then Hawking's findings would have been catastrophic. A black hole as massive as a cruise ship would disappear in a bright flash in less than a second. |
Editor's Note: This is the first article in CNN's "End of Privacy" series. Join the conversation on Twitter by following @cnntech and #endofprivacy.
(CNN) -- An average internet user can dig up all kinds of details -- both juicy and mundane -- about the life of Louis Gray, a 33-year-old from Sunnyvale, California.
Like some tech early-adopters these days, Gray thinks privacy is a dying concept.
Among the personal nuggets a quick search reveals:
• Gray has three children: 2-and-a-half-year-old twins named Matthew and Sarah; and Braden, who is three months old and was born prematurely. The twins dressed up as Peter Pan and Tinker Bell, respectively, for Halloween this year -- and when they hear techno music, they jitter around like they're on nonexistent trampolines.
• Kristine Gray, Louis' history-loving, school-teaching wife, makes some interesting -- and potentially embarrassing -- purchases on their family credit card. Among them: $109.25 per month to rent a breast milk pump from El Camino Hospital Maternal Connections. The last time she made such a purchase was November 29.
• Louis Gray -- who espouses Democratic politics and Mormon religious beliefs -- blogs about tech and has worked at an app company called my6sense since August. He spent $321.81 on groceries last month at Safeway. Also during November, he rented dozens of movies and TV shows from Netflix, including "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure" and "Dexter," a Showtime series about a serial killer. He goes to the dentist at Great Smiles Care Dental in Cupertino, California. He's been there once in the past two months.
• His phone of choice is the Samsung Epic 4G. Give him a ring. His number, as his public Facebook page blabs, is 408-646-2759.
Welcome to the world of public living -- where most everything about a person's habits, location and preferences is just a few clicks away.
While Louis Gray's case is a bit extreme -- he posts publicly to two blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and Blippy, a site that automatically uploads credit card purchases from the family Visa -- this type of digital laundry-airing isn't all that uncommon these days. A half-billion people use the social network Facebook, and each of those users posts an average of 90 "pieces of content" on that site each month, according to the company.
As people share more information about themselves online, the internet, in effect, has created a public transcript of consciousness -- storing our thoughts, locations, social lives and memories in data warehouses all over the world.
This has enabled technological advances and shaped our social interactions.
It's also really freaked some people out.
With a dearth of established, effective methods to manage online privacy, and with digital marketers looking to profit from users' online lives, some privacy advocates and everyday Web users worry people have lost control of their identities on the internet.
The benefits of sharing
For Silicon Valley types -- always the early adopters of technology -- this trend toward all-public living is awesomely useful.
"People have really gotten comfortable not only sharing more information and different kinds, but more openly and with more people," Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a January interview with the blog TechCrunch. "That social norm is just something that has evolved over time."
All of this sharing leads to online friendships and forged connections, the social media mantra goes. Old friends are reconnected. Distant parents see pictures of their kids' day-to-day activities.
Eric Leist, a 22-year-old from Boston, said he found a job because he posted many details about his professional life online. "I feel like I benefit more than I put myself at risk," he said.
Living in public online also leads to a better Web experience, Zuckerberg said at a Facebook event in April. That's something Gray agrees with. Dozens of people comment on the pictures of his kids he puts online and on the credit card purchases he automatically syncs with Blippy.com. Putting this info out in the public means anyone can discover it and benefit, he said.
"We should err on the side of being open and transparent and participating in a community online rather than putting up these walls that make us live in secret," he said by phone.
Sharing also improves internet services. As companies like Facebook and Google learn about peoples' Web browsing histories, preferences and connections to other people, the sites are able to tailor content to the user.
Go to the music-streaming site Pandora, for instance, and you're likely to see pictures of your Facebook friends popping up on the page every time a song they like plays. Facebook and Pandora wouldn't be able to do that unless you told those sites what kind of music you like.
Stealing information
But there is, of course, a darker side to all this sharing.
Some privacy advocates say shared information may jeopardize personal safety. Earlier this year, a widely publicized site called PleaseRobMe.com collected status updates from Twitter and Foursquare that indicated a person was away from home. That info, in theory, could help burglars figure out the best time to break into a person's house or apartment -- when no one's there.
Even basic information on online social networks can be used what the U.S. government calls "social engineering attacks."
"Using information that you provide about your location, hobbies, interests, and friends, a malicious person could impersonate a trusted friend or convince you that they have the authority to access other personal or financial data," the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team says on its website.
That happened to Beny Rubinstein last year when a hacker compromised his friend's Facebook page and falsely asked his Facebook friends for help. Rubinstein wired the hacker more than $1,100, thinking his real friend was in trouble in a foreign country.
Others say internet users may not realize how much information they're giving up just by browsing the Web.
Digital marketers like RapLeaf, for example, are getting better at sniffing through people's Web-browsing histories and online identities to compile user profiles that can be sold to advertisers.
These targeted marketing campaigns have drawn the ire of some members of Congress and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, which, on December 1, called for the United States to create a "do not track" list for the internet, which would let users essentially opt out from all targeted marketing and tracking.
"Industry must do better," the agency says in its report, which warns consumers that if they use the internet, location-tracking smartphones or online social networks, they're likely sending information about themselves, and possibly friends, to an unknown list of advertisers and marketers.
Lacking privacy tools
There are tools available to internet users who would like to protect some aspects of their online privacy. Users can opt out of tracking by certain marketers, clamp down access to their social networking sites and employ online pseudonyms as a way to keep some info relatively private.
Privacy controls like these are widely used, especially by younger generations. A Pew Internet & American Life survey of people age 18 to 29 found more than 70 percent of them had changed the privacy settings on their social networking profiles.
But these tools only go so far.
Virtually any information posted online can become public in an instant. An info-thief easily could take a screen grab of a private Facebook message and post it on a public blog. Private Twitter feeds -- viewable only by people who the author approves -- can be "retweeted," or re-posted, onto the public internet. And third-party Facebook apps have admitted to taking information from app users, against Facebook's rules, and selling that data to advertisers.
Privacy settings on sites like Facebook have become so confusing that some users feel they've lost control of their privacy, said Sherry Turkle, an MIT professor and author of the upcoming book, "Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other."
Internet users these days have a "sense of always being tracked and always being watched," she said. That leads to people censoring themselves and presenting a version of their life that is "kind of inauthentic" -- much like they're performing in a play they know everyone will see, she said.
5 tips for protecting your privacy online
In the long term, these performance-based communications are dangerous for our personal relationships and for society, she said. They make us less human.
Creative ways to protect identity
With privacy tools lacking, some social networkers have invented unique ways of controlling their online identities.
Dana Horst, a 28-year-old in Chicago, blogs and tweets under a pseudonym and has a private Facebook account -- efforts aimed at keeping her personal and professional lives separate.
"It could be a complete placebo effect," she said. "I don't have any great faith that privacy settings are impermeable. My mom is a friend on Facebook and I have things set so she can only see certain things (I post on the site), but would I ever be surprised if one day that went away?" No, she said, adding that she might have to offer her mom an apology: "Sorry I curse, Mom!"
Chanee Jackson, a 23-year-old in Atlanta, Georgia, said she only puts information on her Twitter, Facebook or Foursquare accounts if she'd also feel comfortable reading that info to a stranger in coffee shop -- or her mom. "You really have to manage your Twitter image," she said, adding that she keeps a second, private Twitter feed for personal conversations with close friends.
Some teens "deactivate" their Facebook accounts each time they log out of the site so that their friends can't alter their pages; and others delete every comment or photo posted to their Facebook walls as a way to maintain control over their increasingly important online identities, said Alice Marwick, a post-doctoral researcher and social media expert at Microsoft Research.
It's not that people don't care about privacy, Marwick said -- quite the opposite. People care about privacy, but websites like Facebook and Google haven't evolved to the point that online communications work in the nuanced way our real-life conversations do. Meanwhile, younger people are somewhat trapped because they need these online tools to function, she said.
"The teenagers and 20-somethings we talk to -- a huge aspect of their social life goes on online," Marwick said. "Not participating in online life is like not having a phone or not going to parties -- it's choosing to opt out of an important part of their social community. It's not really a choice for many young people."
'End of privacy?'
So does that mean we have to give up privacy to function? Should we all, like Gray in California, start casting our credit cards, locations and baby photos into the ever-churning river of the internet?
And, if so, does that mean privacy -- a concept that, for centuries now, has been an important part of life in democratic societies -- is done for?
Many tech luminaries say yes.
"Privacy is dead," Mashable's Pete Cashmore wrote on this site in 2009, echoing a popular refrain in the tech world. "And social media hold the smoking gun."
Gray agrees, too.
"I think we need to plan for all of our activities to be discoverable and indexable -- forever," he said. "Facebook is being very aggressive in terms of making things public that aren't previously public. Then you combine that with the deep archives of search engines."
People should act as if they're being watched, he said, and enjoy the benefits of having access to such a rich trove of personal information on the internet.
But perhaps things are still evolving.
Marwick, the social media researcher, said tools such as Facebook and Google -- as well as privacy-minded competitors like Diaspora and Path -- will continue to evolve, as long as users make it known that privacy is important to them.
danah boyd, who researches how people use social media tools with Marwick at Microsoft Research, put it this way in a speech at a March tech conference:
"Neither privacy nor publicity is dead," she said, "but technology will continue to make a mess of both." |
For the first time in three decades of the Forbes World's Billionaires List, there are over 100 Indian billionaires. Only three countries, U.S., China and Germany, have more.
India's rise in the global wealth list is aligned to the country's burgeoning economy that recently surpassed Britain to become the fifth largest in the world.
SEE ALSO: 9 Tech Millionaires Under Age 30
Paytm's Vijay Shekhar Sharma is the youngest Indian on the list with a net worth of $1.3 billion. The 38-year-old's wealth soared in 2016 along with his company's valuation.
The Alibaba-backed mobile wallet is now valued at $4.8 billion and boasts of 200 million users. It also made its first international foray last week by launching in Canada.
Mukesh Ambani, meanwhile, continues to be India's richest man with a net worth of $23.2 billion. Worldwide, he is at number 33.
Two other Indians feature in the Top 100: steel baron Lakshmi Mittal (No. 56; $16.4 billion) and IT entrepreneur Azim Premji (No. 72, $14.9 billion).
Here's the full list.
The U.S. continues to have more billionaires than any other nation, with a record 565, up from 540 a year ago. China is catching up with 319. (Hong Kong has another 67, and Macau 1.) Germany has the third-most with 114, and India has 101.
"It was a record year for the richest people on earth, as the number of billionaires jumped 13 percent to 2,043 from 1,810 last year, the first time ever that Forbes has pinned down more than 2,000 ten-figure-fortunes," Forbes said.
Bill Gates topped the list for the fourth year in a row with a fortune $86 billion, up from $75 billion last year. He's been the richest person in the world for 18 out of the past 23 years.
And Amazon’s Jeff Bezos was the biggest gainer of the year, adding $27.6 billion to his wealth which is now worth $72.8 billion. He moved into the top three for the first time, up from No. 5 a year ago.
Meanwhile, 78 people fell off the list, including 33 from China. Notable Indian omissions include the Bansals of Flipkart, India's largest e-commerce firm and Amazon rival, who had debuted last year.
Incidentally, the Bansals have fallen off China's Hunan Rich List too. |
× Expand Gelek Badheytsang
Stop and consider the salad in your sandwich, the berry in your smoothie or the saag in your paneer. If you didn’t grow that piece of leafy green yourself, or buy it directly from a farmer at your local farmer’s market, chances are it would’ve been handled by a line of workers employed at the Ontario Food Terminal.
Until recently, Thupten Nyendak could’ve been one of them. He worked full-time for Fresh Taste Produce, one of the distribution companies (called “warehouse tenants”) at the Ontario Food Terminal. Since April 21, Nyendak and 13 of his colleagues have been on strike, protesting low wages, lack of job benefits and workplace harassment. They have been bargaining for a first contract since November.
I meet with Nyendak, better known as “Jack” to his friends and co-workers, last Thursday morning on the picket line. We are joined by Tenzin Nawang Tekan, an organizer at the Parkdale Community Legal Services (PCLS), with whom I hitched a ride, and Sonam Chokey, a friend who is also national director of the Tibetan activist group, Students For A Free Tibet Canada. Tekan brings a pot of Tim Hortons coffee and Tibetan-style bread for the workers. She has been coordinating actions and spreading word about the strike: creating a Facebook page, designing placards, distributing flyers, and sharing a steady stream of Twitter posts and photos.
She says she heard about the strike on CBC Radio and "had to come, not just to support fellow Tibetans, but other things we are fighting against: precarious employment and immigrant abuse. They’re all connected.”
The morning is clear and unseasonably cold at 7 am. Thupten and his co-workers have been here everyday at 1 am since the strike began.
The Ontario Food Terminal is located beside a strip mall near the mouth of the Humber River in a semi-industrial zone on the Queensway. The Humber Wastewater Treatment Plant is about a block east across the street. On warm days, the smell of the sewage hangs like a fetid, funky cloud over the area, causing unsuspecting drivers and their passengers to wonder who ripped a silent one as they drive through.
At nearly 20 hectares in size, the Food Terminal is where almost all the produce in Toronto – be it organic or GMO, local or from California — is delivered, sorted and sold. With more than 400 seasonal vendors and 21 permanent warehouse vendors, the Food Terminal distributes nearly 2.5 million kilograms of fruits, produce and horticultural products everyday to hungry mouths in the Greater Toronto Area and beyond. Thousands of workers are employed by the vendors to ensure smooth delivery of food. Of this workforce, almost 400 are Tibetan- Canadians.
Before they joined the Teamsters back in October, Nyendak says Fresh Taste workers who complained about being shortchanged on hours worked or requested a pay raise would be told by management "to walk. There are many other Tibetans like you outside, they’d tell us," says Nyendak.
Because he was one of the more vocal employees, Nyendak says he tolerated less of this kind of treatment, letting management know whenever they crossed the line. His confident personality is one of the reasons his colleagues appointed him union steward.
Then there is Zaheed Shamshadeen. Originally from Guyana, he is one of the three non-Tibetans among striking workers at Fresh Taste. He has been an employee at Fresh Taste for 18 years, starting at $12 an hour. He has been earning $14.50 an hour for the last eight years.
“They treat me like shit,” says Shamshadeen, who is reluctant to speak at first. Nyendak encourages him. “Zaheed, tell them how they bully you.”
“They call me names,” Shamshadeen says. He looks downcast.
In spite of his shy nature, there's a steely sense of determination from Shamshadeen. He has been coming here at 1 am, from Mississauga, and leaving at 1 pm everyday since the strike began. He has a mortgage to pay, a family with young kids to look after, but he has no plans of giving up. “It takes me 45 minutes by TTC one way,” he says. “But I’m going to keep protesting. They can’t keep treating us like this.”
The sales team and the administration staff of Fresh Taste are not joining their warehouse colleagues on the picket line. Thinley Sangpo, one of the older Tibetan workers, chimes in: “These [the sales team] are kids of around 20, 30 years old. They have no respect. None whatsoever.
“They’re not all that much more educated than us,” Sangpo adds. “We have better knowledge about the work that needs to be done at the company, and then a guy comes, and in less than two years, he starts making $40 an hour. That doesn’t make any sense.”
Sangpo, who hails from Kathmandu, Nepal, is a veteran of Fresh Taste. He lives in a rental apartment in Parkdale with his wife and two children. But like most of the striking workers here, this is his first brush with labour strife.
“It has been an eye-opening experience,” says Sangpo. He frowns as he searches for words. “You don’t know the extent to which you have been mistreated, because on some level you think this is normal. But how can there be other places at the Food Terminal where workers get paid $20 an hour as a starting wage? And meanwhile you have someone like Zaheed who gets paid less than $15 even after 18 years of work. How is that fair?”
“We are not asking for more than what we deserve,” Sangpo continues. “We are just asking for what everyone else is already getting.”
This isn’t Fernando Costa’s first labour disruption. Costa was previously employed at Rite-Pak Produce, a neighbour of Fresh Taste. He is slightly distracted as I try to interview him. He is managing the flow of the cars through the picket line and into the Food Terminal, letting them in at two-minute intervals. This protocol was agreed to between the picketing workers and the Ontario Food Terminal Board. As someone who was part of the union drive at Rite-Pak 20 years ago, Costa is perhaps the most knowledgeable of the bunch.
"It might take a week. Two weeks. A month," he says. "But we’re gonna stay put until they come to the table. They [the Tibetans] are strong. I’m sticking with them.”
Fresh Taste, for their part, have hired temporary replacement workers to maintain operations. Beyond that, there has been little comment from management, and no response to requests for comment from NOW on workers' charges.
Nyendak says management distributed sealed envelopes to each of the workers before they took strike action. Inside were letters promising to raise wages. But it was nowhere near the $21 figure that Nyendak and his union argue is industry standard at other warehouses at the Food Terminal.
There was also that time when a son of one of the managers at Fresh Taste threatened to bring his group of friends and beat up one of the workers. The police were notified and he has since apologized.
At the Food Terminal, striking workers are joined almost daily by a steady stream of supporters from different community groups and labour organizations, people like Pam Frache, the Ontario coordinator for Fight for $15 and Fairness labour rights advocacy group.
Frache and her group have been lobbying the Wynne government to review labour laws, and enforce regulations to make sure employers treat and compensate their employees fairly. For her, this protest is a part of a growing movement she believes ties together labour rights movement from different sectors: cleaners, airport staff, grocery store workers. “This race to the bottom is an unsustainable business model,” she says, referring to how wages in Ontario haven’t kept pace with inflation.
Melissa Sobers, who works for the labour rights organization Real Food, Real Jobs, has been working to build campaigns targeting food subcontractors. “People can’t be living in poverty anymore,” the 24-year old organizer says, "especially people supporting families."
She hears the group shouting slogans behind her and is distractedly momentarily. She continues, “This kind of struggle is happening across the city, across the province and across Canada. It touches my heart that everyone is coming together on this. It’s not just a workers issue. The Tibetan community right now is feeling the pressure; they’re seeing the discrimination here. I know this because I am of Caribbean descent; people feel that everyday in Toronto.”
Cole Webber, a colleague of Tekan’s at Parkdale Legal, has been organizing tenants in Parkdale, many of them Tibetan-Canadians. He has driven to the protest site and brought along two of his friends, both of whom work in the food and retail sector. One of them, Tom McGee, connects the labour strife here with workers’ movements in places like Mexico. “It’s crazy that there are people here willing to pay premium prices for their niche, organic diet food, and meanwhile, we’ve got workers at the Food Terminal who are barely making ends meet.”
Cheri DiNovo, the NDP MPP for Parkdale-High Park, where most of the Tibetan-Canadian workers live, has been on the picket line with workers, too. The Food Terminal is located in Liberal MPP Peter Milczyn’s riding of Etobicoke-Lakeshore, but so far he has made no public statements on the matter. His office has not returned calls from this reporter.
DiNovo’s party has been pushing for anti-scab legislation. Without that, she believes, there is no incentive for employers to come to negotiate with striking workers. The Ontario government has no intention of introducing such legislation, says Craig MacBride, press secretary to Labour Minister Kevin Flynn, via email.
DiNovo continues: “Many of the Tibetans who are protesting know what real oppression is. And for them to come here, after all they’ve been through, and to be treated this way is just shameful.”
This broad demonstration of solidarity swells the chest of Sangpo. There were moments early on, he admits, when he had doubts. “We’re not as educated. We’re humble and hardworking. I want to get back to work, as soon as possible. But once you know something like this (he gestures to the picket line), you become aware of your rights. You feel how your dignity is being kicked around, and it eats at your heart. You can’t allow them to continue treating you like this, because then they’ll do the same to others too.”
This idea that immigrants should be glad to have a job has been prevalent in online comments on the Food Terminal strike. The sentiment is captured in part by a recent incident involving a car that ran through the picket line. The driver, in a video of the incident posted by CBC, comes back not to apologize but confront workers. He had, while plowing through the picket line moments earlier, knocked a Fresh Taste worker to the ground.
“Everyone single one of you Fresh Taste people I treated with respect!” he screams, gesturing angrily at the group. “You come in here and kick my car?” This idea of respect, it seems, ends when it causes a traffic delay.
[email protected] | @nowtoronto |
Hulk smash. According to numbers released by Disney, "Marvel's The Avengers" has already grossed $218.2 million internationally, including $33.1 million on Monday. Couple that lofty number with foreign openings in Russia and China on Friday, and "The Avengers" could reach $400 million internationally by Sunday night.
And then there's the domestic potential.
Pre-release tracking has the Joss Whedon film on course for at least $150 million during its three-day opening weekend -- and perhaps more. After all, not only is excitement for the Marvel film at fevered levels, but "The Avengers" will have the benefit of being in 3D -- an extravagance not afforded to last month's box-office hit, "The Hunger Games." All told, "The Avengers" could gross $600 million worldwide within its first week of release.
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" hold the U.S. record for biggest opening weekend with $169.1 million in sales. "The Dark Knight" and "The Hunger Games" are in second and third, respectively, with $158.4 million and $152.5 million.
For more on "Marvel's The Avengers" and its box-office domination, check back to HuffPost Entertainment this weekend.
[via THR]
30 Most Anticipated Movies of the Summer |
Photo credit: Tea Partier | Youtube
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A 2007 interview with Playboy magazine reveals that Bill Maher defended the pedophilia relationship between Seattle-area schoolteacher Mary Kay Letourneau and her 12-year-old male, Vili Fualaau. Maher told the magazine that he’s the only guy who he’s ever heard defending Mary Kay Letourneau.
Shockingly, Maher said that the gender of the child should determine whether teachers should have sex with the kids, this was after he was pressed on whether he thinks teachers should have sex with underage students and be jailed for the offenses.
Maher advocated for the sexual abuse of a 14-year-old boy who was abused by Debra Lafave another teacher who had sex with a student, adding that it was such a great memory for the 14-year-old boy. However, he claimed that if a 28-year-old male teacher had sex with a 13-year-old girl, that is a crime. This evidently shows that Bill Maher advocates for a homosexual pedophile.
One day argues that Maher’s comments were meant to create some humor since he’s also a stand-up comedian but the 2007 interview is not the only time he made such statements. Back in 1998 episode of his ABC talk show, Politically Incorrect, he supported Letourneau raping Fualaau. He said that Letourneau was jailed because she was in love, adding that the mother was jailed because she won’t conform to what society feels should be the perfect American family.
One of the guest on Maher’s show, Celeste Greig who is a conservative activist reported that Letourneau was, in fact, raping Fualaau all the while, Maher insisted that it wasn’t rape. It, therefore, renders Maher’s comments condoning sex acts with children illegitimate in light of recent news. Maher has taken credit this week for the public downfall of Milo Yiannopoulos.
Maher hosted Yiannopoulos on his HBO talk show, Real Time with Bill Maher. Speaking to the New York Times, he defended himself as to why he hosted Milo, adding that he thinks people saw an emotionally needy Ann Coulter wannabe who was trying to make a buck off of the left’s propensity for outrage. However, as much as Maher is trying to take credit for downing Milo, the fact that he advocated for homosexual pedophile renders his argument vague. It’s evident that Maher is a pedophile homosexual and he ought to resign from the HBO talk show. |
In this last week, the master branch of GTK+ has seen 335 commits, with 13631 lines added and 37699 lines removed.
Planning and status
Emmanuele merged his wip/ebassi/gsk-renderer branch into the master branch, effectively adding GSK to the API; there is an ongoing effort in improving its performance profile, as well as porting more widgets to the GskRenderNode API
branch into the branch, effectively adding GSK to the API; there is an ongoing effort in improving its performance profile, as well as porting more widgets to the API Benjamin added new GdkWindow constructors for input and child windows, which will eventually replace the generic gdk_window_new() API
constructors for input and child windows, which will eventually replace the generic API Timm removed more deprecated API from GTK+
Timm also replaced all the get_preferred_* family of virtual functions with a single GtkWidgetClass.measure virtual function, thus simplifying the implementation of widgets
family of virtual functions with a single virtual function, thus simplifying the implementation of widgets Matthias started a new migration guide for application developers that wish to port their code from GTK+ 3.x to GTK+ 4.x
Chun-wei Fan updated the Windows backend of GDK following the deprecations and API changes
The GTK+ road map is available on the wiki.
Notable changes
GDK now tries to do a better job at detecting if a GL context is using OpenGL ES, a core OpenGL profile, or a legacy OpenGL profile.
New deprecations in the gtk-3-22 branch for API that has been removed from the master branch: gdk_window_set_debug_updates() — will be replaced by appropriate rendering in GSK GtkContainer:child — no replacement, as it’s just a C convenience property for use in variadic arguments functions gdk_window_set_background* family of functions — no replacement gdk_window_set_wmclass() — no replacement, as it was already marked as “do not use” gdk_drag_dest_set_proxy() — no replacement various GdkScreen API — replaced by GdkMonitor
branch for API that has been removed from the branch: Jaime Velasco Juan vastly improved the “native” Windows theme in the gtk-3-22 branch, to better match the Windows 7 visuals
branch, to better match the Windows 7 visuals Lapo Calamandrei has fixed the appearance of circular buttons in Adwaita
Bugs fixed
772922 – GtkMenu: Try using gdk_window_move_to_rect() more often
– 773029 – [gucharmap] style-set signal problem
– 773246 – Typo in css color definitions documentation
– 773180 – Don’t second-guess whether our GDK GL context is GLES
– 773113 – tests: fix clipboard test by loading correct icon
– 771694 – GtkSourceView completion popup window not shown, no grabbed seat found
– 771205 – Buttons with circular style class have a suddenly clipped shadow at the bottom
Getting involved
Interested in working on GTK+? Look at the list of bugs for newcomers and join the IRC channel #gtk+ on irc.gnome.org. |
In a recent interview with the Fox Business Network, legal scholar Alan Dershowitz announced that because of U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison's past ties to Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, he (Dershowitz) is prepared to “resign [his] membership to the Democratic Party after 50 years of being a loyal Democrat” if Ellison is named as the next DNC chairman.
It's actually hard to figure out exactly what's got Mr. Dershowitz in such a snit. It's not as if Ellison represents some type of sudden, radical departure from what has become the mainstream Democratic position regarding race and religion. In fact, when it comes to racialism and anti-Semitism, Ellison is a mere piker compared to Barack Obama, for whom Dershowitz voted twice. That would be the same Barack Obama who spent 20 years worshiping in the church of a racist Jew-hater named Jeremiah Wright; the same Barack Obama whose longtime close friend and mentor, Professor Rashid Khalidi, was a devoted ally of the late Jew-killer extraordinaire, Yasser Arafat; the same Barack Obama whose policies toward Israel were described by a Likud Party chairman as “catastrophic”; the same Barack Obama who, according to Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren, has plunged “Israel’s ties with the United States” into “a crisis of historic proportions”; and the same Barack Obama who, in an act of historic treachery just a few days ago, permitted the passage of a U.N. Security Council resolution demanding an end to Israeli settlement-building in the West Bank.
By any metric one chooses, Keith Ellison's resumé makes him an absolutely perfect choice to continue this proud Democratic tradition of endlessly stoking the fires of racial and religious antagonism.
While attending law school in 1989-90, for instance, Ellison, who had converted to Islam in 1982, wrote several student-newspaper columns where he: (a) stated that the U.S. Constitution is “the best evidence of a white racist conspiracy to subjugate other peoples”; (b) advocated slavery reparations as well as the creation of a geographically self-contained “homeland” for black people in the Southeastern United States; (c) praised the Jew-hating Nation Of Islam (NOI) organization for “all of its laudable work”; and (d) defended the incendiary NOI spokesman Khalid Abdul Muhammad—a black supremacist who once praised a black gunman for killing six white commuters (and wounding fourteen others) in a racially motivated atrocity aboard a New York City train—as a hero who possessed the courage to “just kill every goddamn cracker that he saw.”
In February 1990, Ellison participated in sponsoring Kwame Ture (a.k.a. Stokely Carmichael) to speak at his law school on the topic of Zionism's ties to “imperialism” and “white supremacy.” The speech was replete with anti-Jewish slander—hardly a surprise, given that Ture, who in the '60s had called for “killing the honkies,” was now in the habit of proclaiming that “the only good Zionist is a dead Zionist.”
Ellison supported, and was affiliated with, the Nation of Islam and Louis Farrakhan for at least a decade, from the late 1980s through the late '90s. Notwithstanding Farrakhan's long, well-documented history of venom-laced denunciations of “white devils” and Jewish “bloodsuckers,” Ellison described him as “a role model for black youth” who was “not an anti-Semite”; as “a sincere, tireless, and uncompromising advocate of the black community and other oppressed people around the world”; and as “a central voice for our [black people's] collective aspirations.”
When Farrakhan supporter Joanne Jackson—the then-executive director of the Minneapolis Initiative Against Racism—asserted in 1997 that “Jews are among the most racist white people I know,” Ellison declared that he and his NOI comrades “stand by the truth contained in [Jackson's] remarks.”
In February 2000 Ellison gave a speech at a fundraising event sponsored by the Minnesota chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, on whose steering committee he previously had served. Also in attendance was the former Weather Underground terrorist Bernardine Dohrn, a longtime Obama friend and political ally who had once devoted her life to the goal of fomenting violent revolution across the United States. Incidentally, that 2000 fundraiser was held on behalf of onetime Symbionese Liberation Army terrorist Kathleen Soliah, after her apprehension for the attempted murder of some Los Angeles police officers. Ellison called for Soliah's release, and also spoke favorably of such high-profile killers and leftist icons as Mumia Abu Jamal, Assata Shakur, and Geronimo Pratt.
But alas, America would still have to wait another six-plus years before Ellison would finally grace the U.S. Congress with his presence. Following his electoral triumph in 2006, Ellison's victory party featured a number of his supporters shouting “Allahu Akbar!”—the traditional battle cry of Islamic jihadists.
Between 2006 and 2016, Ellison spoke at a minimum of twelve fundraising events sponsored by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), an organization whose co-founders had close ties to the Islamic Association for Palestine, which functioned as a public-relations and recruitment arm for Hamas—the infamous horde of missile-launchers and suicide bombers committed to the mass murder of Jews. At one of those dozen CAIR fundraisers, Ellison urged his listeners to support Sami al-Arian, the former University of South Florida professor who already had confessed to aiding and abetting the terrorist group Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which, like Hamas. has always had a fondness for the smell of dead Jews.
Ellison has also spoken at numerous conventions held by organizations like the Islamic Society of North America, the Muslim American Society, and the Islamic Circle of North America, the Muslim Public Affairs Council, and the the North American Imams Federation—all of which are closely affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood. The Brotherhood, you may recall, advocates the use of violent jihad for the creation of a worldwide Islamic caliphate ruled by strict Sharia Law, and is the parent organization of both Hamas and Al-Qaeda.
But apart from that, the Brotherhood is quite moderate.
In 2007 Ellison denounced what he called the baseless “persecution” of several officials of the Holy Land Foundation (HLF) who were being tried on charges that they had funneled millions of dollars to Hamas. The trial ended with a hung jury on most counts, but the following year the HLF defendants were retried and convicted on all charges.
In a July 2007 speech, Congressman Ellison likened the Bush Administration's military response to the 9/11 attacks, to the manner in which the Nazis had exploited the 1933 burning of the Reichstag in Berlin: “It’s almost like the Reichstag fire, kind of reminds me of that. After the Reichstag was burned, they blamed the Communists for it, and it put the leader [Hitler] of that country in a position where he could basically have authority to do whatever he wanted.”
During “Operation Cast Lead” (OCL)—a December 2008/January 2009 military operation in which Israel sought to quell the aggression of Hamas and other terrorists in Gaza—Ellison made it quite clear that his hatred for America was equaled by his contempt for Israeli Jews. Stating that he was “torn” on the issue, he refused to support a nonbinding House resolution “recognizing Israel's right to defend itself against attacks from Gaza” and “reaffirming the United States' strong support for Israel.” In September 2009, Ellison called for an end to all U.S. aid to Israel.
In 2009 as well, Ellison met with Mohammed al-Hanooti—a leading U.S.-based fundraiser for Hamas—at a campaign event for Virginia House of Delegates candidate Esam Omeish, who had previously exhorted Palestinians to follow “the jihad way” in their struggle against Israel.
While Ellison is fond of pro-jihadists like al-Hanooti, he's not too keen on Muslims who seek to persuade other members of their faith to reject jihad and Islamic supremacism. In the fall of 2009, for instance, Ellison disparaged Zuhdi Jasser, a Muslim activist who has consistently warned about the threat that political Islam poses to the West, as an Islamic “Uncle Tom.”
During his 2010 congressional re-election bid, Ellison accepted campaign contributions from such notables as Jamal Barzinji and Hisham Al-Tali—both of whom had previously served as vice presidents of the Saudi-dominated, pro-jihad International Institute of Islamic Thought, and both of whom had been identified by the FBI as U.S. leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood.
In September 2012 Ellison condemned a portion of the Republican Party Platform which stated that “there must be no use of foreign law by U.S. courts in interpreting our Constitution and laws.” Characterizing this as a manifestation of anti-Sharia intolerance, the congressman said: “It's an expression of bigotry.… They're demonstrating hatred toward Muslims.… [T]hey're the party that is basically a bigoted party and they have now officially declared themselves against a whole segment of the American population ...”
During Operation Protective Edge—a 2014 Israeli military incursion that was launched in response to a dramatic escalation in rocket fire against Israel by Hamas-affiliated terrorists in Gaza—Ellison penned a Washington Post op-ed arguing that any ceasefire should be predicated on Israel ending its blockade of Gaza. Curiously, he made no mention of the fact that the blockade, which explicitly permitted the import of humanitarian supplies and other basic necessities, had been implemented out of necessity in 2007, due to Hamas's relentless importation and deployment of deadly weaponry from its allies abroad.
Also in 2014, Ellison was one of only eight Members of Congress to vote against a House Resolution to increase the amount of U.S. financial aid that was earmarked to help Israel maintain and develop its Iron Dome missile-defense system—a system that had successfully intercepted 735 Hamas rockets aimed at Israeli population centers during Operation Protective Edge.
To be fair, we should note that Ellison is no less concerned about Israel's national security than he is about America's. Indeed, when President Obama announced in September 2015 that he planned to admit 10,000 Syrian refugees to the U.S. during the ensuing year, Ellison said: “Ten thousand is not enough. Aren’t we the people who say, ‘give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses’? We must do more for families who are not safe in their own homeland.” He said this in spite of the fact that the Islamic State's bloodthirsty savages had openly vowed to secrete their own terrorist operatives into the refugee masses, as well as the fact that high-ranking government officials like FBI Director James Comey, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, CIA Director John Brennan, and FBI Deputy Assistant Director Michael Steinbach had all said that it would be impossible to reliably screen out terrorists posing as refugees.
In 2015 as well, Ellison voiced his unequivocal support for the passage of the Iran Nuclear Deal, which allowed the Islamist regime in Tehran to enrich uranium, build advanced centrifuges, purchase ballistic missiles, fund terrorism, and have a near-zero breakout time to a nuclear bomb approximately a decade down the road. “This deal is a triumph of diplomacy over war and proves negotiation is an excellent method of peacemaking,” said Ellison.
Last year, Bernie Sanders used his influence to secure, for Ellison, a major role in formulating the Democratic Party’s platform for the presidential election campaign. As terrorism expert Steven Emerson reports: “Ellison and other delegates supporting Sanders wanted the Democratic Party platform to delete a description of Jerusalem as Israel's 'undivided capital' and wanted to gut language opposing the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement targeting the Jewish state.”
At the Democratic National Convention last July, Ellison was a featured speaker in a session held by the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation—part of an alliance of anti-Israel organizations that promote the Boycott, Divestment, & Sanctions (BDS) campaign. Ellison himself supports BDS, a Hamas-inspired initiative that aims to use various forms of public protest, economic pressure, and court rulings to advance the Hamas agenda of permanently destroying Israel as a Jewish nation-state.
But lest you think that Ellison's only qualifications for the post of DNC chairman are his Jew-hatred, his admiration for Islamist radicals, and his utter contempt for his own country, don't neglect to credit him also for the high regard in which he held the late totalitarian dictator and mass murderer Fidel Castro. After Castro died this past November, Ellison sang his praises as a “revolutionary leader” who had nobly “confronted a system of government that excluded everybody except the military and the money-rich”; who had “[stood] up for peace and freedom in Africa”; who had “[taken] on the South Africa apartheid military forces and defeated them”; who had “deployed doctors anywhere … people were sick”; and who had “made medical education very available [and] made medicine available.”
So, here's to Keith Ellison—in hopes that he will get the DNC chairmanship that a man of his caliber so richly deserves. |
Colorado is leading again, this time with a permanent tax break on recreational marijuana. The state is lowering the tax from 10% to 8% effective in July 2017, a move that could cut into Colorado’s black market. Colorado was the first state to legalize marijuana for recreational use, and now it’s passed a marijuana tax relief. There is even a one-time tax holiday on September 16, 2015, from the 10% state sales tax.
Gov. John Hickenlooper signed the provisions into law, noting that this should lower the price of legal cannabis. A voter initiative is set too. The question for voters is whether Colorado can keep the estimated $58 million in pot taxes collected this fiscal year. Colorado’s Taxpayer's Bill of Rights—TABOR—requires the state to issue refunds to taxpayers if the state’s spending or revenue collections exceed the previous projections. To try to avoid the refund requirement, legislators introduced HB 15-1367, creating a ballot initiative to allow Colorado voters to approve of the state keeping the $58 million in marijuana revenue.
Regardless of whether the ballot initiative passes, Colorado did lower the sales tax on marijuana from 10% to 8% beginning July 2017. Eliminating the sales tax for just September 16, 2015 meets constitutional obligations. But even that one day tax hiatus has a price. The tax holiday is expected to cost about $100,000, plus $3.6 million for a one-day elimination of the 15% excise tax.
If voters agree to let Colorado spend the tax money, the earmarks are pretty clear. Colorado has already approved Proposition AA, which outlines how marijuana taxes would be spent. If the ballot initiative passes, the revenues will be used for the voter-approved projects: $40 million to the construction and repair of public schools, $12 million to the Marijuana Tax Cash Fund (funding to oversee enforcement, prevention programs, public health initiatives, and costs of legalization), and the remaining $6 million to the state’s general fund.
If voters vote no, Colorado will have to issue refunds to growers and users to the tune of about $33 million. The remaining $25 million would go to all Colorado taxpayers, whether they bought marijuana or not. This $25 million would go via the state’s tiered refund system, with $19.7 million returned to cultivators who pay the 15% wholesale excise tax rate. Plus, on January 1, 2016, the government will reduce the sales tax rate on marijuana from 10% to 0.1% until the reduction in collections equals $13.3 million or June 30, whichever occurs first.
With all this complexity, why the September 16, 2015 tax holiday? The one day tax break is due to what Gov. Hickenlooper called a “fiscal glitch” with the state constitution. September 16, 2015 was picked because an end-of-year fiscal report is due to be certified the previous day. And the revenue figures are looking better. According to state figures, $700 million worth of legal cannabis was sold in Colorado in 2014. The tax tally was $76 million.
In Oregon, a 20% tax is being considered but has not yet been passed. It may be learning from Colorado, which is proving to be flexible and innovative with its marijuana taxes. Even so, time will tell whether the still healthy illegal market will slow down.
For alerts to future tax articles, follow me on Forbes. You can reach me at [email protected]. This discussion is not intended as legal advice, and cannot be relied upon for any purpose without the services of a qualified professional. |
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