text
stringlengths 465
100k
|
|---|
As the founder of America’s largest abortion chain, Margaret Sanger’s ideology for Planned Parenthood was cemented in eugenics, the belief and practice that aims to eliminate certain groups of people.
As a eugenicist, Sanger encouraged the sterilization of persons with less desirable qualities, and strongly encouraged the reproduction of groups with more desirable qualities. Sanger’s disdain for blacks, minority groups, and the diseased and disabled spawned the birth of an abortion corporation that profits off the killing of the weakest and most vulnerable. From its conception, Planned Parenthood was built upon the roots of exterminating individuals deemed “unfit” for the human family.
Today, the spirit of Sanger lives on. According to the Guttmacher Institute, the former pro-abortion research division of Planned Parenthood, African-American women are five times more likely to choose abortion over white women.
Below is a compilation of seven shocking quotes from Sanger, whose legacy birthed the corporation that became America’s largest abortion chain.
1) “We don’t want the word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population.”
In a letter to Dr. Clarence Gamble in December, 19, 1939, Sanger exposited her vision for the “Negro Project,” a freshly launched collaboration between the American Birth Control League and Sanger’s Birth Control Clinical Research Bureau. The letter echoes the eugenic ideologies still visible within the corporate vein of Planned Parenthood today.
It seems to me from my experience…that while the colored Negroes have great respect for white doctors they can get closer to their own members and more or less lay their cards on the table which means their ignorance, superstitions and doubts. We should hire three or four colored ministers, preferably with social-service backgrounds, and with engaging personalities. The most successful educational approach to the Negro is through a religious appeal. We don’t want the word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population, and the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members.
2) “I accepted an invitation to talk to the women’s branch of the Ku Klux Klan.”
In 1926, Sanger spoke at a meeting hosted by the women’s auxiliary of the Ku Klux Klan in Silver Lake, New Jersey. Following the invitation, Sanger describes her elation after receiving multiple speaking requests from white supremacy groups. She writes of the experience on page 366 of her book, An Autobiography:
I accepted an invitation to talk to the women’s branch of the Ku Klux Klan … I saw through the door dim figures parading with banners and illuminated crosses … I was escorted to the platform, was introduced, and began to speak … In the end, through simple illustrations I believed I had accomplished my purpose. A dozen invitations to speak to similar groups were proffered.
3) “A dead weight of human waste.”
In “Pivot of Civilization,” Sanger penned her thoughts regarding immigrants, the poor, and the error of philanthropy. Sanger’s ideology of racial and social hygiene bleeds through her writings on breeding an ideal human race:
Organized charity itself is the symptom of a malignant social disease…Instead of decreasing and aiming to eliminate the stocks [of people] that are most detrimental to the future of the race and the world, it tends to render them to a menacing degree dominant.
Sanger contends that philanthropy to help poor, struggling mothers does not offer women the opportunity to “avoid bringing into the world” more children, but encourages a “dead weight of human weight” that “healthier” societies must shoulder.
It encourages the healthier and more normal sections of the world to shoulder the burden of unthinking and indiscriminate fecundity of others; which brings with it, as I think the reader must agree, a dead weight of human waste.
4) “Birth control is nothing more or less than…weeding out the unfit.”
Sanger famously coined the term “birth control” with the intention of eliminating the reproduction of human beings who were considered “less fit.” In her writings from “Morality and Birth Control” and “Birth Control and the New Race,” the Planned Parenthood founder noted that the chief aim of the practice of birth control is to produce a “cleaner race.” Sanger’s vision for birth control was to prevent the birth of individuals whom she believed were unfit for mankind:
Knowledge of birth control is essentially moral. Its general, though prudent, practice must lead to a higher individuality and ultimately to a cleaner race. Birth control is nothing more or less than the facilitation of the process of weeding out the unfit, of preventing the birth of defectives or of those who will become defective.
5) “Human beings who never should have been born at all.”
In “The Pivot of Civilization” and “A Plan for Peace,” Sanger describes the eugenic value of eliminating persons – minorities, the sick, and the disabled – through sterilization or segregation:
Our failure to segregate morons who are increasing and multiplying … demonstrates our foolhardy and extravagant sentimentalism … [Philanthropists] encourage the healthier and more normal sections of the world to shoulder the burden of unthinking and indiscriminate fecundity of others; which brings with it, as I think the reader must agree, a dead weight of human waste. Instead of decreasing and aiming to eliminate the stocks that are most detrimental to the future of the race and the world, it tends to render them to a menacing degree dominant … We are paying for, and even submitting to, the dictates of an ever-increasing, unceasingly spawning class of human beings who never should have been born at all.
The main objects of the Population Congress would be to apply a stern and rigid policy of sterilization and segregation to that grade of population whose progeny is tainted, or whose inheritance is such that objectionable traits may be transmitted to offspring[;] to give certain dysgenic groups in our population their choice of segregation or sterilization. |
Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.
Aug. 23, 2016, 9:52 PM GMT / Updated Aug. 23, 2016, 10:05 PM GMT By Samuel Sarmiento, MD
Earlier this month, 9-year-old Zion Harvey got to experience what most kids can only dream about: he threw out the first pitch at a Baltimore Orioles game against the Texas Rangers.
But Zion is no ordinary kid, and simply throwing a ball for him was no ordinary feat.
Just a little more than a year ago, in July 2015, at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Zion became the first child ever to undergo a double hand transplant.
When he was just 2 years old, Zion lost both his hands and his legs below the knees to a life-threatening infection. The infection also damaged his kidneys and he received a healthy kidney donated by his mom, Pattie Ray.
They’ve been through it all together. "Without my mom, I would not be right here right now. It's been me and my mom forever," said Zion.
"So when I got my hands, it's like, here's the piece of my life that was missing. Now it's here. Now my life is complete."
Ironically, it was this kidney transplant at age 4 and the immune suppressing drugs that he was already tolerating well that made him an ideal candidate at age 8 to be the first kid in the world to get new hands.
The drugs gave him a better chance at not rejecting transplanted hands.
Zion with his mom Pattie and NBC News correspondent Rehema Ellis.
Last summer, Zion underwent a pioneering surgery that lasted nearly 11 hours. His surgeon, Dr. Scott Levin, chairman of Orthopedic Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania and director of the Hand Transplant Program, led a team of 40 in the operating room but credits everyone — from doctors and nurses to pharmacists and therapists all the way to the housekeeping staff — for providing all facets of life-saving care to the little boy.
"You know, name any entity in a hospital and they touched Zion. It takes a village," said Levin.
The surgery was successful, but recovery from double hand transplant would be a lot to cope with for anyone, let alone for a boy his age.
Numerous challenges lay ahead for Zion. He had a few scary setbacks when it looked as if his body was rejecting the new appendages. Rehab was long and his brain had to relearn how to use his new hands. But Zion is not one to give up.
Within a few weeks of surgery, he was playing with his favorite action figures and even baking cookies with a whisk.
NBC News team with Zion Harvey.
Now, a year later, NBC News returned to visit him to see for ourselves what life is like for Zion Harvey.
“I'm very excited. Because now I can do more than I imagined. Like throw a football. Play baseball. Or, I don't know, do a handstand,” he told us. “So when I got my hands, it's like, here's the piece of my life that was missing. Now it's here. Now my life is complete.”
Today, Zion’s mom, Pattie Ray, admits that her joy is tinged with a little sadness about her little boy growing up and not needing her as much.
"He's very independent. He's a 9-year-old. And he's showing it. We've been tested. So, it definitely has been a year to remember. We've come a long way together," she said.
Nine-year-old Zion Harvey, the world's first child to receive a bilateral hand transplant, throws out the first pitch before the Baltimore Orioles and Texas Rangers baseball in Baltimore, Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2016. Gail Burton / AP
Zion and Pattie Ray are part of a family that continues to exhibit enormous love, resilience and optimism in the face of hard work and challenges. With a medical team that continues to support them, every step of the way.
"Here we are a year later. We're still working very hard as a team. We're still learning. We're still engaged. We see Zion in the clinic. We ask questions. We challenge each other, as we did during preparation," said Dr. Levin.
Zion’s occupational therapist, Kelly Ferry, recalls the moment she knew just how much progress he made. It was that ceremonial first pitch at Camden Yards on August 2.
“We saw him throw out the first pitch at the Orioles game. He picked up his hat. He put it on backwards. And just to watch him do those simple self-care tasks on his own without even thinking about it, it was just tremendous.” |
A perfectly intact frozen cave lion cub, recently discovered in Russia’s Siberian Republic of Yakutia, may provide scientists with a chance to bring the prehistoric predator back to life... By cloning it.
The cave lion cub, which froze between 20,000 or 50,000 years ago, was discovered by local subsoil developers in permafrost on the banks of the Tirekhtyakh River of the Abyisky district of Yakutia in early autumn. Thawing permafrost revealed the animal, researchers at the Academy of Science of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) said as they presented the find to the public last week.
The cub was around one and a half to two months old when it died, the biologists said. Its sex and precise age will be established during further research, which may take several years, they added. Two intact cave lion cubs discovered in Yakutia made headlines in 2015, but the newly-found animal is “even better preserved,” Albert Protopopov, who heads the Department of Study of Mammoth Fauna at the Academy, said.
Read more
According to Protopopov, the uniquely preserved condition of the cub may even see the cave lion species brought back to life. “Cloning via classical technology when the nucleus of a living cell is implanted in an egg is impossible. But nowadays serious work is being undertaken in terms of reconstructing the DNA and one may try to incorporate the restored DNA of the cave lion into the DNA of the modern lion,” he said.
“Since the cave lions are very close relatives of modern African lions, the possibility of their revival is much higher than that of the mammoth, which has no relatives closer than that of the Indian elephant,” Protopopov added as cited by Tass.
The cave lion lived in the Late Pleistocene era, the same period as the wooly mammoth, and went extinct around 10,000 years ago. The predator was slightly larger than the modern lion, lacking a mane and a tassel at the end of the tail.
READ MORE: Don’t feel bad, woolly mammoths needed their moms just like today’s men
Scientists from the Mammoth Museum of the North-Eastern Federal University together with their South Korean colleagues are now working to rebuild the DNA structure from a well-preserved mammoth skin found in Yakutia in 2015 with hopes of cloning the animal in the future. |
Today’s sign we really are living in the future – someone just released an actual virtual reality ‘sex world’ you can walk into.
The Camsoda House VR room is full of actual human models to ogle at while wearing a Google Cardboard VR headset.
Just make sure your Mum doesn’t walk in, as you’ll basically be blindfolded.
It’s the brainchild of CamSoda, a webcam company – and it basically works like a webcam you can walk around ‘inside’.
MORE: How new porn laws are destroying the British adult entertainment industry
The ‘Camsoda House’ VR room will have a team of models inside at all times.
The Google Cardboard app is free, and works with Android handsets with a cardboard set of ‘glasses’.
‘The adult entertainment industry has long been an early adopter of cutting edge technology and virtual reality is no different,’ said Daron Lundeen, President, CamSoda.
‘We want our users to reap the benefits of technological innovation, utilizing our unique capabilities for their pleasure. With that, we give to you the first-ever live interactive virtual reality experience.’ |
In my previous blog post, I mentioned several reasons why the game’s development has slowed down so much. The two biggest problems were caused by JavaScript (slow compile times) and Unity 4 (limited to 4 GB of RAM). For the past couple of months, tinyBuild has been working on converting the game from JavaScript to C# and porting the game from Unity 4 to Unity 5. I’ve got great news! While I was at Anime Expo, tinyBuild finished the JS ~ C# conversion and the Unity 4 ~ 5 conversion!
Because Unity 5 has a lot of differences from Unity 4, I expected the game’s lighting/shading/physics to completely change, and produce countless problems…but, thankfully, the conversion did not result in changes to the game’s appearance or performance! The game looks good, and runs good! In fact, I’m even noticing an improved framerate!
Previously, it took 30 seconds to compile the code, 30 seconds to load into the school scene, and 30 seconds to reload the editor whenever it crashed for using too much RAM. Now that all scripts are C#, it takes 5 seconds to compile the code! Now that the editor is a 64-bit program, it’s no longer limited to 4GB of RAM, so the crashes are no longer happening! On a side note, it now takes 25 seconds to load into the school level! This means that it now takes a minimum of 5 seconds and a maximum of 30 seconds to test a change, instead of taking a minimum of 60 seconds and a maximum of 90 seconds!
I can’t overstate how much of a big deal this is! Allow me to express how I previously felt, and how I currently feel, using a pair of images:
BEFORE
AFTER
Because of the differences between Unity 4 and 5, some new bugs were created. I spent the past 3 days fixing those bugs, and now the Unity 5 version of the game is a 100% match with the Unity 4 version of the game! …or, at least, it should be! There might still be a few lingering bugs that slipped past me…and that’s where you come in!
I’m releasing a new build of the game today – Yandere Simulator’s first Unity 5 build – so that you can look through it and search for any bugs that I might have missed. There is no new content in this build, and there are no new features in this build! I’m releasing this build purely so that you can inform me if there are any brand-new bugs that didn’t exist in any previous builds of the game. If you want to see new content and new features, you’ll have to wait until July 15th, which is when the next build is scheduled to be released.
When I was at Anime Expo, I met with numerous fans who wanted to thank me for the time that I’ve put into Yandere Simulator, and wish me luck with the future of the game’s development. The kind words of countless fans, combined with the huge improvements granted by C# and Unity 5, have given me a ton of newfound motivation to work on Yandere Sim harder than ever before! It’s been years since I felt this excited to develop the game! I’m super eager to see what kind of progress I’ll be able to make now that I’m no longer being held back by the downsides of JavaScript and Unity 4!
As always, thank you very much for following the development of Yandere Simulator! |
Vicky Pryce: ‘We should never have got to this point’
The shock decision of Alexis Tsipras to call a snap referendum for 5 July, just like the socialist prime minister George Papandreou had tried to do in 2011, has torpedoed any chance of reaching an agreement this weekend. Greece will almost certainly default, or at least will get into arrears if it refuses to – or simply can’t – pay the 1.6bn euros it is due to the International Monetary Fund on 30 June.
EU ministers refuse bailout extension for Greece as referendum looms Read more
The institutions are not granting a deferment of the payment, or an extension of the bail-out, while the referendum preparations take place. There is a real worry about the banking system’s survival and continued European Central Bank (ECB) emergency liquidity assistance. Many banks have already run out of cash as Greeks rushed to the ATMs to take out whatever they had still in their bank accounts.
We should never have got to this point. Both sides are equally to blame here. The risks are immense – political and economic, for Greece and the eurozone. The Greek government is framing the campaign as a ‘no’ being a vote against austerity. A ‘yes’ means acceptance of more pain to come. But what they are not telling their people is that in reality both proposals impose broadly similar levels of austerity – the main difference being where the pain is felt. And what they are also not admitting is that what they are recommending people should vote for is effectively to leave the euro – even ultimately the EU – which the population does not want to see happen.
But the Greeks are not stupid. Any chaos in the coming week, involving bank holidays and capital controls, will focus minds. That hope alone might convince the ECB to keep support to the banks still available, in theory at least, until the vote.
David Blanchflower: ‘The worry is if the inevitable default spreads’
Referendum or no referendum? Euro-area finance chiefs rejected a Greek request for an extension of the country’s bailout. The odds are now starting to look like a Grexit from the euro, although probably not from the EU.
Insisting on the status quo full of more austerity produced an increasingly weaker Greece Mariana Mazzucato
Worryingly, there are growing lines at ATMs, and so much money is being withdrawn that without further injections of money the banks will be insolvent. But the average Greek saver is still well advised to withdraw from the banks all the money they have left. Now. Capital controls still seem likely. There is zero evidence that the Greek economy is going to recover from another bout of unneeded austerity, however big it is; austerity doesn’t work. But going back to the drachma at least offers a burst of stimulus as the currency depreciates, pulling in tourists for cheap vacations.
The Greek people have had it up their necks with failed austerity that was supposed to deliver growth, but delivered a depression worse than that in the 1930s in the US. Since the imposition of austerity in 2010, GDP has fallen 25% and is down 31% since the start of the crisis in 2008. Currently, the Greek unemployment rate is 25% and youth unemployment is more than 50%. Happiness measures collapsed since austerity began, and now the Greeks are the most miserable in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
The reality is that Greece has a highly uncompetitive economy and no credible tax collection system. The problems mostly are in the product, capital and housing markets that remain unaddressed. According to the World Bank’s Doing Business rankings, Greece ranks 61st, just behind Tunisia. Greece is 155th in the ability to enforce contracts, just ahead of Laos and Botswana. There has been no reform to speak of. Greece is characterised by endemic tax evasion, a poor tax collection infrastructure, parochial patronage policies, corruption and huge delays in the administrative courts dealing with tax disputes. Greece also has deep structural problems, mostly in product markets with oligopolies in almost every industry, closed professions, administrative and bureaucratic impediments to entrepreneurship alongside barriers to trade and exporting, none of which have been addressed. This baby certainly isn’t over. The worry is if the inevitable Greek default spreads.
Mariana Mazzucato: ‘This cannot be fixed by cuts and more cuts’
The failure to reach an agreement in Greece is because, from the start, the diagnosis has been wrong. So in the end, the patient got sicker – and now wants to stop being treated.
As Greece’s finance minister Yanis Varoufakis has been repeating from the beginning of this crisis, Greece did not have a liquidity crisis, but a solvency crisis. The latter was caused by a competitiveness crisis and made worse by the financial crisis. And this kind of crisis cannot be fixed by cuts and more cuts, but only by a serious investment strategy, accompanied by serious – not token – reforms (e.g. to how the state, and hence also taxation, is run) to bring back competitiveness.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis gives a press conference during a Eurogroup meeting. Photograph: John Thys/AFP/Getty
The conditions of the bailout therefore should have been conditions that emulate the kind of public sector reform and investment strategy that characterises many of the competitive powerhouses of northern Europe – including Germany. Indeed, Greece should not do what Germany says it does (austerity), but what Germany actually does (invest).
Over the last decade, Germany has invested in all the key areas that not only increase productivity, but also create innovation-led growth. Companies like Siemens are the result of a dynamic public-private eco-system in Germany, with high government spending on science-industry links (Fraunhofer institutes), the existence of a large and strategic public bank (KfW) that provides patient, long-term, committed capital to German businesses, a long run-focused stakeholder type of corporate governance (rather than the short-termist shareholder Anglo-Saxon model that southern Europe has copied), an above-average R&D/GDP ratio (rather than the below average one in Greece, Portugal and Italy), investments in vocational training and human capital, and a mission-oriented ‘energiewende’ strategy focused on greening the entire economy.
Imagine the very different types of result we would have witnessed had the negotiations been about stuffing an investment strategy down Greece’s throat, rather than more cuts. “OK, we will bail you out, but reform your country, and kickstart public investments (of the type named above), so that you are ready for the 2020 innovation challenge.”
Instead, insisting on the status quo full of more austerity produced an increasingly weaker Greece, more unemployment and more loss of competitiveness. Now alone, the only hope is that Varoufakis’ insistence on a European-wide investment programme will at least find a national solution. Perhaps it can begin with Greece forming a development bank like the KfW, and use it to kickstart the kind of long-term investment strategy that should have been part of this ‘pact’ from the start. Oh, and Italy’s competitiveness is just as bad. So if Grexit now happens— and Europe does not finally get a proper doctor in the room – get ready for Itexit over the next year. |
June 8, 2017
Jack Kelley and Brandon Kik report on the campaign to defend Northwestern University activists who face discipline for protesting a campus event featuring ICE.
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY (NU) administrators are going after students who protested the appearance of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) representative on campus in May--but the students and their supporters are determined not to be silenced.
On May 26, some 50 students and faculty gathered for a protest, organized by Northwestern's MEChA chapter, outside the student activities center, where administrators were holding a conduct hearing for members of the Coalition of Students for Immigrant Justice who participated in a direct action on May 16.
The activists were part of a larger protest by students voicing their opposition to the ICE public relations representative, who was invited to visit a sociology class. Protesters entered the class during the ICE agent's presentation and demanded to know why he was invited to NU's campus.
The action made international news when the ICE representative's presentation was shut down, forcing him to leave before the class period was over.
Beth Redbird, an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology, said she invited the ICE representative to visit the class, which covered social inequality, to explain how the agency's Chicago field office works within the larger law enforcement structure of the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security. A Department of Justice representative was also going to speak during the class, Redbird said.
Students protest an ICE official invited to speak at Northwestern University (Colin Boyle | The Daily Northwestern)
Redbird also invited an undocumented, pro-immigrant rights student activist to the class and planned for both the ICE representative and undocumented student to answer questions in two separate class periods.
When word got around about the guest speaker, activists from MEChA de Northwestern, Black Lives Matter NU, the Immigrant Justice Project, the Asian Pacific American Coalition, NU Queer Trans Intersex People of Color, and Rainbow Alliance--which make up NU's Coalition of Students for Immigrant Justice--organized a protest against the presence of an ICE agent on campus and the potential threat it posed to immigrant students.
University spokesperson Al Cubbage told The Daily Northwestern after the demonstration that it was "disappointing that the speakers were not allowed to speak." A few days later, several students received notices to appear before a conduct hearing on May 26 for their involvement in the protest. The outcome of the conduct hearing was still unclear as this article was being written.
IMMIGRANTS ON campus, documented and undocumented, have every right to be disappointed that NU invited ICE, an organization that targets and terrorizes immigrants, to propagandize on campus.
When students protested ICE on May 16, they were using their right to free speech to expose what this agency stands for and what its agents do.
ICE raids, which have escalated under Donald Trump, have spread fear through immigrant communities. Members of these communities are now fearful of daily activities like grocery shopping and dropping children off at school--or already traumatizing experiences like appearing in court as a victim of domestic abuse.
Welcoming a representative of ICE onto campus is a threat to all immigrants or non-citizens, including students from abroad, as ICE has already shown little regard for the documentation status of any foreign-born person in the U.S. In March, an ICE agent shot a father in front of his family, none of whom were undocumented, in his own home in Chicago.
The administration is standing by its attack. Cubbage told The Daily Northwestern: "The university believes very much that if you have concerns about an idea or position, the solution is not to censor or prevent someone from expressing those ideas, it is to provide more discussion and more discourse. More speech is better than no speech."
Cubbage and other NU officials would like paint protesters as taking away freedom of speech from ICE agents, but students and faculty have a right--and in the face of such injustice, a responsibility--to use their free speech and speak out against the Trump administration's policy of targeting immigrants through ICE raids that are carried out with impunity.
In fact, there are few government institutions more opposed to the rights of free speech and association than ICE, especially now that it is specifically detaining immigrant activists organizing for justice in their communities.
As socialists, we are committed to the expansion of democracy, which includes standing up to government institutions or right-wing bigots who spread hate. We need democratic organizations and movements to oppose bigotry wherever it rears its ugly head.
This also means exposing the hypocrisy of complaints that there's a danger of ICE representatives having their rights taken away.
"We're not interested in having those types of conversations that would be like, 'Oh, let's listen to their side of it,' because that's making them passive rule-followers rather than active proponents of violence," April Navarro, a Northwestern sophomore who helped organize the protest, told the Daily Northwestern.
"We're not engaging in those kinds of things--it legitimizes ICE's violence, it makes Northwestern complicit in this. There's an unequal power balance that happens when you deal with state apparatuses."
As another protest organizer said in an interview:
There's no way you can have an equal relation between a state institution and someone in that institutional apparatus. If you are going to have dialogue, it has to be between equals. There had been talk about how we 'limited' free speech and the opportunity for free speech and academic freedom. The whole conception of free speech protects dominant narratives--free speech for who is what I would ask."
NORTHWESTERN STUDENTS are building support for undocumented students and a climate on campus where the presence of ICE is unacceptable by publishing a list of demands on the administration, which was published through the Immigrant Justice Project.
These demands include the declaration of Northwestern as a sanctuary campus; services and scholarships for undocumented students, which students are able to access with anonymity; expansion of the Latin American and Asian American studies programs into full departments; and more courses that "have an emphasis on intersectional ethnic studies which include but are not limited to race, class, gender, sexuality and indigeneity."
Activists are also demanding that students within these newly established departments participate in decisions made about staff, faculty and courses.
While institutions like NU punish those on the left for using free speech, an emboldened far right is attempting to organize on campuses and provoke confrontations under the guise of supposed attacks on their rights.
Establishment voices, liberal or conservative, would rather prioritize so-called "civilized debate" than the safety of human beings on and off campuses, and so they are more than happy to protect bigots' rights to speak out.
University administrators have demonstrated that they aren't on our side in this fight. Activists need our own approach for countering the influence of anti-immigrant bigots, which emphasizes organizing all those who oppose anti-immigrant attacks to stand up to reaction on campus and elsewhere. |
JUST A HALF-DOZEN years ago, Seattle was a middlin’ pizza town, dominated by an omnipresent delivery giant and a few nostalgic independents. Fast-forward to the present and suddenly everybody’s default dial-a-dinner is the subject of rapt attention and furious loyalties.
So we set out to make sense of the pie profusion. We call it the Great Seattle Pizza Smackdown.
First we ate and ate (and ate), culling the myriad contenders down to a manageable couple dozen. Then we divided rivals by type, mindful that a crackling Neapolitan slice and a puffy beer-crusted pie are barely even the same food. And we let regional tics inform the selections. The city that launched a thousand Greek-style pizza joints has barely a Chicago-style deep-dish slice to be found. Go figure.
Oh, there will be arguments. And that’s as it should be; pizza’s a rough-and-tumble kind of food. But know this: Just like the old saw goes, pizza really is like sex—even when it’s bad, it’s still pretty damn good.
{page break}
Ballard Showdown
Veraci Pizza vs. Delancey
Ballard is bloated with pizzerias—17-plus dot the North Seattle hood, like so many pepperonis atop a pie. But it’s Veraci ’s portable oven that changed the game. The shared enterprise of Marshall Jett, Errin Byrd, and Krista Elledge—one couple, now divorced, and a sister—was just a wood-burning DIY dome six years ago. Jett and Byrd would hitch the stove to a trailer each Saturday at the Ballard Farmers Market, offering slim slices accessorized with sun-dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, red onions, and chevre. They made it for fun, for extra money, and to feed Seattleites a healthier, tastier ’za.
Veraci’s barely there, brittle crust. Image: Lindsay Borden
A catering company emerged, and four years later came a permanent pizzeria on Market Street. From the start, Veraci’s founders decried the typical overly cheesed pie, anchored by a fat carbo-bomb of a crust and buried in toppings. Jett rolled Veraci’s wispy crust by hand so it was barely there, almost brittle, its outer edges hollow. He administered veggies, meats, and cheeses with a light hand so that his customers could slow down, eat six or seven slices, then leave the table feeling “wonderful, like they just ate some sushi.”
Then, last summer, came Delancey. Darling Delancey. The steamy-windowed storefront just a mile and change north of Veraci was the precious progeny of Brandon Pettit and Molly Wizenberg, an oh-so-cute couple whose courtship, marriage, and foray into the restaurant biz was well documented on Wizenberg’s world-famous, food-fixated blog Orangette. Its opening marked Seattle’s first artisan pizzeria of the New York style, where pizza makers use coal-burning ovens to churn out individually sized pies. But there’s no coal at Delancey, just a wood-burning flame box whose interior temp peaks at 900 degrees. “A wood-fired oven makes the pizza look and smell better, and makes bubbles in the crust,” explains Pettit. “I like bubbles.”
Ballard’s most darling couple opened Delancey, the city’s first artisan pizzeria of the New York style, making bubbly crusts in a 900-degree wood-fired oven. Image: Lindsay Borden
That bubbly crust begins life as organic, local flour from Shepherd’s Grain, the pepperoni is supplied by Zoe’s Meats, and the pork-fennel sausage made in house. Delancey’s bright, slightly sweet tomato sauce goes into the oven uncooked on top of a disk of dough that is blasted from below while whirling, radiant heat scorches its edges with tongue-coating char. This crispy edge is spongy on the inside, and best showcased on the Brooklyn pie, made with aged mozzarella, fresh mozzarella, and Grana Padano. The result is sweet and salty, earthily aged but fecund with freshness, burnt then doughy.
The hour-plus wait is as much a testament to Orangette’s fame as to its food: Most Delancey guests silently hope to catch a swing of the lady blogger’s apricot-hued ponytail. Surprising, then, that this aware crew often finds itself, well into that first slice of the Brooklyn, deep in the clutches of a forget-you’re-in-public, sauce-splattering pizzagasm.
BOTTOM LINE: The only pizzeria in Ballard firing up a truly ecstasy-inducing pizza is Delancey. But if the wait gets too long, find healthy, cracker-crusted delights down the street at Veraci.
{page break}
Greek
Olmypia Pizza and Spaghetti House vs. Acropolis Pizza and Pasta
We won’t contest the notion it was the Italians who really mastered the whole pizza thing, but peek into the ovens of Seattle’s pizzaioli, and you find a surprising number of pies subscribing to the Grecian code of crust. By definition this means a hefty cliff of dough rises thickly around the rim like an easy-grip handle. Sculpting it takes finesse—too much bread overwhelms the toppings; the thinner, spongy interior requires a just-so coating of oil. It’s all about balance.
Cue Evangelos Pappas, who has owned Olympia Pizza atop Queen Anne since 1991. He takes inspiration from time-tested family recipes passed down “from mother to mother to mother to mother.” Pappas started working in a restaurant at age eight, so no wonder that after over 40 years in the biz he churns out pies with innate dexterity. His are masterful collages of texture, such as the Greek, in which a blanket of feta cheese—crunchy golden on the outside, with a smattering of bubbly brown pocks—conceals velvety dollops draped over onions, tomatoes, spinach, and housemade marinara. The biscuity dough starts soft and thin in the center and then bulks up with each outward bite.
Olympia’s pizza recipes were handed down “from mother to mother to mother.” Image: Lindsay Borden
Another notable Greek joint, Acropolis Pizza and Pasta over in Kirkland seems to have the crust figured out, especially with its pleasant pillowlike texture. Thing is, some pockets teem with so much oil the crust practically disintegrates—delicious—but others yield a tough, dried-out cake. Thank goodness, then, for the oily mess of meats (pepperoni, salami, and sausage) dressing the joint’s titular triumph—piled so high even a generous layer of cheese fails to fully cover it. Add in some veggies and you have a smorgasbord-packed punch that has Eastsiders crowding the restaurant at midday.
BOTTOM LINE: Olympia masterfully balances heritage with culinary craft.
New York Style
Topolino's
A New York Pizza Place
vs.
A New York pie is a matter of hand-thrown dough, exquisite mozzarella, thin crust, simple toppings, and portable slices. And though it’s become the default style of the many pizzerias in town that don’t know how else to categorize their pies—a couple of joints are fiercely intentional about their East Coast roots. Topolino’s and A New York Pizza Place both appear to labor hard for anonymity—they’re dives. With generic signage and plastic tablecloths at ANYPP and hardly room to stand at Topolino’s (Sitting? Fuhgettaboutit!)—the appeal of neither is in their quarters.
Reliably fiesty ‘za at Topolino’s. Image: Lindsay Borden
The appeal is in the pies. At Topolino’s, a Bellevue spot cofounded by Brooklyn expat Robert Abergel, crusts are thin but appealingly puffy, topped with rich whole-milk mozzarella, fresh garlic, and a deftly herbal sauce. We liked the feisty clam pie and a subtler number with pesto and ricotta—we even liked the dingy storefront and brash service, essential New York ingredients.
Across the lake at ANYPP, Doug Armatage runs a less consistent enterprise that nevertheless soars higher. We sampled a few ho-hum pies on cardboard crusts—only to have our socks knocked clean off by the Hudson River, an improbable triumph of chicken, barbecue sauce, ranch dressing, red onions, and cilantro. Huh? say the New Yorkers. But on this pie the crust was perfect: flavorful and crispy and gloriously blistered. A big salad presented an original mix of greens with kalamatas and roasted red peppers. Chocolate chip cookies were gratis. All was right in the world.
But…next time?
BOTTOM LINE: Reliably solid like Topolino’s or periodically stunning like A New York Pizza Place? You make the call.
{page break}
Old World Pie
Wish you could make Filiberto's true Neapolitan pizza? Tough.
In the winter of 1982, while Veraci’s future pizzaioli were all but padding around in diapers, Mina Perry was convincing contractors in her native Italy to bring bricks and building plans for a traditional wood-fired oven to Filiberto’s, the Italian restaurant by Sea-Tac airport she owned with her husband and their partners. By spring, Seattle had a Naples-style pizza oven—the first, most local food experts agree, in the area.
A small, slightly rounded woman of 72 who will as soon raise her voice and shake a finger at a slow server as smile angelically after a compliment about her cooking, or her grandchildren, Perry had been feeding the South End handmade meatballs in her father’s simple, perfect, family-recipe sauce since the early ’70s. (For a brief time, she even fed downtown shoppers. Nordstrom asked her to do some cooking demonstrations for an Italian festival they held in 1974, and her lasagna was so successful they asked her to open what would be the department store’s first cafe. The partnership was short-lived; Perry couldn’t abide by the return policy: “It works for shoes, it don’t work for salami.”)
Perry hadn’t made pizza, however—not like this—since leaving her parents’ restaurant in Mirabella Eclano two decades earlier. When the oven was ready, the Filiberto’s clan sent word to the handful of families who also immigrated to the South End from the Avellino province outside Naples. It must have been quite a dinner. She probably prepared a few pies con la cipolla, with a tangle of sweet, caramelized onions, almost no cheese, and her trademark San Marzano tomato sauce. It’s easy to imagine friends like Carlo Durante, the owner of Alfa of Tacoma, lifting perfectly charred crust to his mouth, closing his eyes, picturing the village, Grandma, his boyhood home…while a couple dozen kids with names like Raffaela and Salvatore had the run of the squat cinder-block building on Des Moines Memorial Drive with its bocce court out back.
Thirty years later, at the end of last April, Perry stood outside what would be her new restaurant and anxiously oversaw the delivery of a second pizza oven. This one was also from Italy, but it came built and ready to go, and would burn gas—provided the movers could negotiate the eighth-inch sliver of wiggle room that the door jamb allowed.
The last six months had been difficult. By this time, it was just her and her son Pat—her partners were gone, and so was her husband; he died in ’02. Displaced by the completion of the third runway, Perry and her son had accepted the Port of Seattle’s buyout offer on their air-polluted property and began looking for a new location somewhere near the brand-new and, at the time at least, very promising Burien Town Square. But then all of the sudden the whole country was broke and paranoid, and the new buildings along 152nd Street were empty and alone. And it wasn’t as if Burien didn’t have enough Italian joints. Notably: Angelo’s and Vince’s, both red-checked-tablecloth holdovers from the era of Frank Sinatra crooning “One for My Baby,” and Abruzzi’s, a downtown Seattle favorite from the same era that had closed in ’94 and resurfaced in nearby Normandy Park.
At her age, Perry might have decided to walk away from it all, but instead she and Pat settled on an annex of the local KeyBank. The place works, and looks, better than that might sound, although nothing with the build-out went smoothly. Or according to budget.
Mina Perry alone knows the ratio of water, yeast, and flour that makes Filiberto’s crust taste like the essence of Italy. Image: Lindsay Borden
“There are people who eat to live and people who live to eat,” she told me one afternoon after the long-awaited, successful reopening of Filiberto’s Cucina Italiana. Perry’s accent is still wonderfully thick and lyrical after all these years; almost every word has that southern Mediterranean “a” before or after it. “There is-a no limit to what they will a-do. These a-people, they have a passion to a-cook, and-a to eat. They don’t a-worry about the cost,” she said.
Perry’s customers certainly don’t—tortellini with meat sauce runs $17—and she’s teaching them not to be in a hurry, either. On Saturday nights they wait an hour for a table, and then another hour to be served that pizza con la cipolla. “I make it all by hand, and I’m proud of that. If they don’t want to wait, I don’t care,” she says of those who come for her Old World food and expect New World timing. There is only one Mina, and she alone knows the ratio of water, yeast, and flour that makes her crust taste like Italy the way perfect pita tastes like the Middle East and buttery croissants are the very essence of Paris.
In a city like ours, it seems impossible—or at least unwise—to declare one pie the best, but consider this: Before a now-beloved local chain sent out their first wood-fired Naples-style pizza, the proprietors came to Mina and asked her if they could study her technique and practice in her oven on her days off.
“Huh! What do you think I told them? If you ask that in Italy they gonna break your legs,” she snapped. “The guy, he tell me, ‘I went to Italy for 10 days and learned to make pizza.’ I tell him, ‘Ten days? You must be smarter than me. I been learning my whole life and I still don’t know nothing.’ ”
Except, of course, she does. —Laura Cassidy
{page break}
New World Neapolitan
Tutta Bella vs. Via Tribunali vs. Pizzeria Pulcinella
Tutta Bella’s certified Neapolitan pizzas (above and below) are made with San Marzano tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and low-gluten flour. Image: Lindsay Borden
Naples has served up pie in more or less the same manner since the sixteenth century, when, history has it, pizza was born in the western Italian town. Immigrants to America were forced to improvise, since wood-burning ovens were scarce and there was nary a San Marzano tomato (said to be the sweetest in the world, thanks to low-acid soil at the foot of Mount Vesuvius). A distinct American-style pizza emerged, but lately some artisan dough rollers have returned to the traditional Napoli style, going so far as to be trained and certified by the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana, a Naples-based organization, which back in the ’90s pestered the Italian government until Neapolitan pizza received recognition as a distinctly regional culinary craft—on par with Chianti and certain cheeses.
Tutta Bella was the first Seattle pizzeria to be certified. Founded in 2004 after onetime Starbucks exec Joe Fugere was inspired by his Italian grandmother—“you don’t know real pizza,” she used to tell him—to learn to make the old-country pizzas that sparked her vaguely insulting nostalgia. In Naples he discovered that product consistency was as fetishized as it was in corporate America: Dough must be kneaded by hand or with a slow mixer and cooked in a bell-shaped wood-fired oven at a temperature of 800 to 1,000 degrees. It must be crafted from low-gluten flour, milled just outside of Naples, and topped with pomodoro made from the aforementioned San Marzanos. Oh and hey, paisano, don’t even think about getting creative with the formaggio, capiche?
It is one thing to be certified, another to keep up with the rigorous standards. Maybe it’s Fugere’s corporate training, but Tutta Bella’s four locations consistently churn out transcendent margherita pies: Fresh mozzarella, spilling sloppily, fuses with those sweet San Marzanos, sea salt, basil, and enough extra virgin olive oil to lend a touch of viscosity. The crust is chewy at the center and charred to a satisfying black crackle around the edge.
The second certification went to Via Tribunali, also opened in 2004. The local chain is best known for its cinematic-cool-meets-Campania interiors, each befitting the neighborhood where it’s found: glam vinyl booths at the Trib inside the Croc in Belltown, rough-hewn bric-a-brac atop the bar in Wild West Georgetown. Eating pizza here starts off well. On the flavor-melding Dante, two handfuls’ worth of bitter, peppery raw arugula is piled high atop an expanse of tomato sauce, salty prosciutto crudo, smoked provole, and cherry tomato. But, for some reason (Prep methods? Undercooking?), the crust at Via Trib tends to turn into a wet blanket before the pie can be consumed. When you eat here, eat fast.
Among the most recently certified, in summer 2009, is Rainier Beach’s Pizzeria Pulcinella —its cozy, daffodil-yellow walls are augmented by cheery light streaming from dangling lamps. Friendly staffers serve up the usual suspects along with original pies like the Chiaia (tomato, eggplant parmigiana, and mozzarella) and the sausage-dotted Vesuvio, a tasty reminder that “meatsa” need not always be an excessive endeavor. The crust is more brittle than Tutta Bella’s and Trib’s, and hollow at the edges. It’s not bad when it has spent enough time in the oven, which alas it does not always have the chance to do. A pizza cannot be saved by even the freshest discs of mozzarella or the brightest basil leaves when the base is barren of char and tastes mildly of undercooked dough.
BOTTOM LINE: Tutta Bella earns its certification as a true Neapolitan pizzeria with unfailingly consistent, perfectly gooey margheritas, while Via Trib and Pizzeria Pulcinella don’t quite get it right every time.
{page break}
Supersize Slices
Talarico's
Northlake Tavern and Pizza House
Northlake pies are piled high with gooey cheese and mounds of toppings. Image: Lindsay Borden
vs.
Unlike steak, there is no animal from which a pizza is cleaved, nothing—save for the size of the oven—to restrict a pizza’s proportions. (But imagine for a second what a wonderful world it would be if cattle made of dough roamed the open range.) And so the weighty responsibility of balancing boundless circumference with the bounds of good taste falls to the pie slinger.
Take Talarico’s, where the mammoth, individually sold slices are isosceles monuments to the power of perception: Yeah, it looks like you’re getting a lot for your money—14 inches from point to outer edge is an intimidating portion—but you’re paying $6 for it; the whole thing smells of gimmickry. Which isn’t to say it’s lackluster: The Coppola—Talarico’s thin yet dense crust covered with spritzes of goat cheese, long ribbons of roasted red peppers, and a dash of garlic—makes an admirable attempt at elevating the classic East Coast slice.
Northlake Tavern, on the other hand, favors depth to surface area. (Credit the appetite of its U Dub clientele for making that formula a success for more than 50 years.) Diameterwise, the meat eater’s special is no bigger than your average pie, but it sags under the weight of mounds—and mounds—of thick-cut pepperoni, Canadian bacon, and chunks of beef sausage that advance to the crust’s borders like Italy’s answer to Manifest Destiny. It’s edible expansionism, where the terrain is soft with fields of gooey mozzarella and provolone and the rivers run spicy with marinara—you know, the kind of place where a mythical beast of yeast and flour might graze. And for the lover of all things big, it’s the Pizza Promised Land.
BOTTOM LINE: Northlake Tavern weighs in with proof that sometimes you can’t have too much of a good thing.
Delivery
Pagliacci vs. Zeeks
Like us, the peeps at Pagliacci and Zeeks categorically reject the notion that delivery pizza, by virtue of its inherently low effort-to-enjoyment ratio, need only be edible to be satisfying. Because really: Why, in a city where it takes longer to drive to a pizza joint than it does to bake the pie, should anyone be denied the right to an exceptional dial-and-dine experience?
We’ll forgive Pagliacci its Orwellian practice of answering the phone by reciting our name and address back to us because, well, the less we have to talk, the sooner the pizza will get here. But we can’t excuse the crust: Why dream up tantalizing topping combos like marinated chicken, artichoke hearts, red onion, peppers, and ricotta cheese only to plop them on the hand-tossed equivalent of a Kenny G concert? It says something about the quality of those toppings that Pagliacci has reigned over the delivery world for more than 30 years, ever since it began as an Italian family hole-in-the-wall on the Ave.
Zeeks elevates the dial-and-dine experience with flat-out delicious pies. Image: Lindsay Borden
So that’s why the following pronouncement might come as a shock. On all counts, the relative newcomer Zeeks (it opened in ’93) is the czar of delivery ’za. From the airy, buttery crust, to the tangy-yet-sweet marinara, a Zeeks pie is a flat-out delicious disk of awesome. Even on the überpopular Puget Pounder—piled with Canadian bacon, pepperoni, mushrooms, black olives, and Italian sausage—the toppings are so flavorful, you’ll taste each one.
Zeeks’ only misstep: Its online ordering option. Makes sense in theory—we go the delivery route expressly to cut down on person-to-person interaction—but they call seconds later to confirm your order. A responsible, prank order–prevention tactic to be sure, but the extra interaction has no place in our antisocial eating.
BOTTOM LINE: Tasty Zeeks makes it safe to phone in dinner.
{page break}
Seattle Style
Flying Squirrel Pizza Co. vs. Serious Pie
Get a pizzaiolo talking about his craft and you’re going to get an earful about correct proofing times and proper firing temps. Some are so bound to the strictures of their tradition they even get their pies certified (see New World Neapolitan ).
Then there are those who favor a more innovative approach. “We went in with no preconceptions besides making really good pizza,” recalls Eric Tanaka, who as executive chef and partner at Tom Douglas Restaurants was one of the visionaries consulted when Douglas decided to open Serious Pie in 2007.
“For four months we drove our baker insane,” Tanaka chuckles. Tanaka and Douglas asked Dahlia Bakery ’s Gwen LeBlanc to come up with a more breadlike pizza crust than they were seeing around town; she produced three versions and the chefs nixed them all. “We wanted crispier, with a little bit of crumb to it,” he explains. So she lightened the dough with a softer flour. Too cakey. She tossed in semolina for texture and wound up with too gritty a crunch.
They went back to the original three—and through trial and error (“and a lot of Gwen shouting at us to get our act together!”) they discovered that the meaningful variable was fermentation. Too little, and the dough would lose flavor; too much, and it would smell too yeasty. The formula had to change whenever the weather did. “Crust is much more art than science,” Tanaka says.
Serious pie is serious. Image: Lindsay Borden
They tinkered with their huge 1,000—degree Wood Stone oven, finally settling on six minutes at 650 degrees, with potatoes going on at the beginning, cheese in the last two minutes (“scorched cheese equals greasy pizza,” says Tanaka), and lighter charcuterie closer to the end. They made investigative pilgrimages to the country’s best pizzerias, from Oakland’s Pizzaiolo (“where we learned to finish pies with salt,”) to the legendary Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix.
Serious Pie, the stylishly dim and perpetually packed little joint downtown, is Seattle’s Pizzeria Bianco. All that bakery back-and-forth shows: Crusts are golden and toothsome, chewy within and crispy without, burnished with delectable bits of char. On top go A-list ingredients dictated by flavor and seasonality rather than tradition—hence our category name, the Seattle-style pie. One favorite is shingled with thin-sliced Yukon Golds, fragrant with rosemary and Pecorino Romano; another is dotted with sweet fennel sausage and cherry bomb peppers. Much attention is paid to cheese—which Douglas’s chefs intended to make themselves but learned on about their fourth slammed hour of their first slammed day that would be improbable at best. Like all toppings here, purslane to chanterelles to delicata squash, cheeses are ferociously seasonal—perhaps an Italian truffle variant, perhaps a tart sheep’s milk. The result is simply a masterpiece.
Flying Squirrel makes “everybody pizza” with meat from a local charcuterie. Image: Hank Drew
That fiercely local identity marks South End newcomer Flying Squirrel as a Seattle-style innovator too, crafting its own exuberant combos from mostly organic toppings. One pie features local asparagus, goat cheese, and pine nuts; another—the Washington—stars ham from local charcuterie Zoe’s Meats, with caramelized onions and Granny Smiths. Owner Bill Coury is as irreverent about the rules as Douglas, claiming that he wasn’t setting out to be authentically anything; he just wanted to make a classic American “everybody pizza” with the best-tasting stuff on top. And—judging from the crowds of hipsters and families that throng the friendly, Mexican coke–and–Olympia Beer sort of Seward Park storefront every night—that he has done.
BOTTOM LINE: Flying Squirrel offers pristine toppings on a bumpy landscape of highly flavorful crust, which nevertheless lacks the moisture and chewy satisfaction of Serious Pie’s serious triumph.
{page break}
Hot Mama's
Snoose Junction
At Snoose Junction in Ballard, the zesty gourmet pies and arcade games last well into the night. Image: Lindsay Borden
vs.
For a city so obsessed with food, we are notoriously bereft of kitchens that serve after 10pm. At least someone had the smarts to plant late-night pizzerias in two of the most hopping ’hoods. Of these, Hot Mama’s makes for a nice nightcap, but you don’t frequent these cramped Pine/Pike quarters for the pie. Sure, the New York–style, sloppy, big-as-your-plate slices (word to the wise—fold ’em or floor ’em) get the job done: With each bite the gloppy cheese covers your chin with a three-inch cobweb (yes, it’s that gooey), while the crunch of fresh-from-the-oven crust and slightly sweet pepperoni, toasted just a tad, punctures the early morning fog (even if the lackluster veggies won’t). But the real feast is the people. Here Seattle’s Jersey Shore kids spill over from Kurrent and mingle with glammed-out clubbers and buzzed, bearded hipsters. Throw in tattooed rockabillies and you’ve got one delicious scene, a true slice of today’s Cap Hill culture. Truth is, the morning after, it’s these characters, not the pizza, we (sorta) remember.
Not so with Snoose Junction, which whips up munchies of a higher pedigree. The crust—fluffy without losing firmness—cradles up to eight different cheeses and a zesty mound of gourmet toppings—and puddles of grease big enough to swim in. But who cares when it’s 2am? Once your belly greets a dripping mess of whole-milk mozzarella topped with Yukon Gold potatoes or CasCioppo Bros. Italian sausage, intoxication takes on new form. Added bonuses: elbow room, arcade games at the Ballard outpost, and music that keeps the party going.
BOTTOM LINE: Snoose Junction has us wanting more—whether the sun is still shining or just about to rise.
Healthful
Zaw Artisan Bake At Home Pizza vs. Pizza Pi
Pizza Pi’s vegan and gluten-free pies are so good, they might even win over the carnivore crowd. Image: Lindsay Borden
We know, we know—the very idea of “healthy pizza” just smells like Seattle. But if the concept sounds preposterous, two Seattle joints defining “healthful” in very different ways manage to purify the pie without trading away its essential naughtiness. Zaw successfully does this in its three (soon-to-be four) stark and spotless urban locations, through a commitment to sustainability that extends to the pizza boxes (strictly verboten), the toppings (locally sourced, organic), and even the delivery method (within a mile—by bike).
The idea is artisan toppings on bake-at-home pies, as in the house favorite, the Tailgate—with organic ale-soaked onions, pepperoni, and chewy chunks of Hempler’s bacon, built on whole wheat, gluten-free, or white organic flour crusts. So what if the thin crust tends to go cardboardy after baking. And they ask you to bake multiple pies one at a time, to ensure even heating. And the first-rate toppings lack the supporting nuance—herbs, where are you?—to showcase them most flavorfully. This pizza is free of everything bad except calories and a price tag. Sort of a big one, come to think of it. Whaddya want already.
For those singing out “cruelty-free!” there’s Pizza Pi, a sweetly shabby storefront in the upper reaches of the Ave that supplies vegan and gluten-free pizzas to those who favor them. We are talking Teese Cheese (not-bad soy mozzarella), Field Roast (grain meat, and the best pie here), and a white garlic sauce that turns in a fair imitation of aioli.
“This is the best vegan crust I’ve ever had,” marveled one trusty vegan, hired as a pinch-nibbler for our team of unapologetic carnivores. “And not too much grease!”
BOTTOM LINE: When we asked ourselves which was the greater achievement—pricey pie for foodies or vegan pizza that was edible—there was no question. It’s Pizza Pi.
Novelty Crust
All-Purpose Pizza vs. Jet City Pizza
Jet City Pizza traffics in exotic toppings, but it’s the chewy beer crust that sets the pies apart. Image: Lindsay Borden
Among pizza perfectionists, a pie’s crustworthiness is typically judged against the gold standard of Naples or New York. In these parts, two pizzerias veer proudly off that radar, thanks to secret ingredients all their own. Leschi’s All-Purpose Pizza takes three days letting each golden crust ferment. A crispy-on-the-outside, chewy-on-the-inside marvel that not only achieves admirable heft and elasticity, it offers a gentle spank of sourdough in every bite. A heavily winey red sauce imports yet another layer of intrigue, adding up to a pie that will addict some palates and overwhelm others. (Kids tend to fall into the second camp, though they do love playing with dough at their own sawed-off tables in the airy, arty Jackson Street space.)
Across town and dotting the hinterlands is Jet City Pizza, a drive-by sort of franchise—takeout and delivery only—that traffics in similarly upmarket toppings. At Jet City, though, Thai peanut sauce with red onions and grilled chicken, or coconut, mandarin oranges, and Canadian bacon are piled on crusts fluffy with Redhook ale. You can also order your pie on a hand-thrown buttermilk crust tweaked with Parmesan—but why on earth would you, when the beer crust offers a yeast-puffed featherweight texture with a nearly caramelly malt flavor? Thin-crust aficionados won’t get it at all, and won’t care in the slightest how sublime gyro meat and tzatziki sauce taste on crusts as lush and tasty as bread sticks. That’s okay. More for us.
BOTTOM LINE: Jet City Pizza’s ethereally chewy beer crust is the underheralded sleeper of the year in this category. |
A giant blob of gas and dust far off in the universe mysteriously glows bright green, and astronomers have finally figured out why. Two huge galaxies were observed in the blob's core, and they're surrounded by a swarm of smaller galaxies in what appears to be the birth of a massive cluster of galaxies.
Astronomers spotted the blob's central galaxies using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and the Very Large Telescope at the European Southern Observatory in Chile. The glowing space blob was first discovered in 2000, and the source of its light has been a mystery ever since. Scientists created this video to zoom in on the space blob and reveal its inner galaxies.
One study published in 2011 suggested that polarized light emitted by the blob could have come from hidden galaxies. The new observations with ALMA and VLT allowed researchers to pinpoint two big galaxies as the sources of this light. [See Amazing Photos of the Very Large Telescope]
Further observations by the Hubble Space Telescope and the Keck Observatory in Hawaii revealed the swarm of small, faint galaxies surrounding the bigger two in the heart of the blob. Here, galaxies are forming stars at 100 times the rate of the Milky Way.
A giant green "space blob" - called the Lyman-alpha blob LAB-1 - is seen in this composite of two different images taken by the Very Large Telescope in Chile. The LAB-1 space blob is 300,000 light-years across, making it one of the largest known single objects in the universe. Credit: ESO/M. Hayes
"For a long time, the origin of the extended Lyman-alpha light has been controversial," Jim Geach, the study's lead author, said in a statement. "But with the combination of new observations and cutting-edge simulations, we think we have solved a 15-year-old mystery."
So-called "Lyman-alpha blobs" are some of the biggest things in space. This particular space blob, named SSA22-Lyman-alpha Blob 1 (LAB-1), is the largest of its kind. It measures about 300,000 light-years across, or three times the size of the Milky Way galaxy.
LAB-1 is located 11.5 billion light-years from Earth, so the light we observe from it is almost as old as the universe (13.8 billion years). This means that looking at LAB-1 provides a window into the early history of the universe.
Lyman-alpha blobs consist mainly of hydrogen gas and emit a particular wavelength of ultraviolet light called Lyman-alpha radiation. The light looks green to viewers on Earth, because its wavelength is stretched by the expanding universe during its long trip here.
This is a snapshot from a computer simulation of the evolution of a Lyman-alpha Blob similar to LAB-1. Gas within the dark matter halo is color- coded so that cold gas (mainly hydrogen) appears red and hot gas appears white. At the center of this system are two star-forming galaxies surrounded by hot gas and many smaller satellite galaxies that appear as small red clumps. Credit: J. Geach / D. Narayanan / R. Crain
Once they had observed the sources of light from within the blob, the researchers created simulations of galaxy formation using NASA's Pleiades supercomputer. They wanted to show that ultraviolet light — a byproduct of star formation — scatters off hydrogen gas to create a bright, glowing mega-blob like LAB-1.
"Think of a streetlight on a foggy night — you see the diffuse glow because light is scattering off the tiny water droplets," Geach said in the same statement. "A similar thing is happening here, except the streetlight is an intensely star-forming galaxy and the fog is a huge cloud of intergalactic gas. The galaxies are illuminating their surroundings."
This diagram explains how a Lyman-alpha Blob, one of the largest and brightest objects in the uUniverse, shines. Credit: ESO / J. Geach
The simulations also track gas and dark matter in the blob as it evolves into a galaxy. "Lyman-alpha Blob-1 is the site of formation of a massive elliptical galaxy that will one day be the heart of a giant cluster," Geach added.
Email Hanneke Weitering at [email protected] or follow her @hannekescience. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com. |
Each year, Eric Siebert over at vSphere-Land provides a really groovy service to the community in the form of a Top vBlog voting contest. It’s a way for bloggers and podcasters within the virtualization community to gain recognition from peers and readers for sharing their knowledge. This year, I thought it would be interesting to send out a few questions to the Top 5 vBloggers to tickle their brain a bit over what keeps their creative juices flowing. Perhaps their answers to the following three questions will offer some insights to you as you look towards starting or furthering your own writing habits!
Q1. The Top vBlog voting is driven by both quality and quantity of your writing content. How do you balance work, life, family, and everything else while still creating posts that meet these criteria?
Q2. Where do you derive inspiration to craft content, and how do you then frame it into a coherent post that makes sense to your audience? Essentially – what is your process?
Q3. Looking back on all of the posts you’ve written, what is your favorite (or least favorite) article and why?
A1: I see this as part of my role, Chris. My blog posts are simply write-ups of what I do on a daily basis. For the past couple of years, I have been an interface between customers/field and our engineering/PMs for VSAN. I get requests such as “how does VSAN ..” and “why does VSAN …” and I investigate the reasons. If I can figure it out, great – I let the requester know. Then, I write it up for the next person who might have the same question. If I can’t figure it out, I reach out to engineering, and they usually have some good nuggets of info that I feel is worth sharing with everyone. Its also a little selfish on my behalf as the next person who asks me this question can simply be directed to the post 😀
I would also admit that I’ve got a little more relaxed about publishing content from where I was four years ago. Back then, I’d sweat over pushing the publish button on any post. Now, I don’t worry quite so much – I’ll just edit it afterwards if there is something not quite right. But, it is true what they say – “the best way to spot a typo in a blog post is to publish it”.
A2: If someone needs to ask a question about how something works or how to use something, then we haven’t done a good job in our docs. I see the blog as a way of filling in the gaps between our product documentation, and what you need to know to be successful with a product. For some reason, I do seem be able to write coherently, which is always a plus for a blogger.
A3: Well, there is that joint Rubrik/VSAN white paper post! Only kidding – to be honest, I don’t have a least favourite. You never know what is going to be useful and what isn’t. Sometimes the quick article that you knock out in 5 minutes becomes something that is used over and over again. Other articles where you spend time interviewing folks, making a nice diagram, and you sweat over for hours and days, hardly gets any readership.
A1. In the past, there was no real balance to be honest. When I started blogging and worked as a consultant, I did most of my writing in the evening, on trains, airplanes, hotel rooms, and weekends. Whenever and wherever. As my role started shifting more towards technical marketing and evangelism, I find myself writing more and more during the day and fortunately less during the evening. Although, most book content is still developed outside of work hours.To be honest, never really thought about finding a balance – it is just part of who I am as I have been blogging (on different topics though) for over 15 years now. As I said my role has shifted, my primary responsibility is evangelism for Storage & Availability within VMware, I basically turned my hobby in to a role.
To be honest, never really thought about finding a balance – it is just part of who I am as I have been blogging (on different topics though) for over 15 years now. As I said my role has shifted, my primary responsibility is evangelism for Storage & Availability within VMware, I basically turned my hobby in to a role.
A2. It used to be all based on issues and experiences at customer sites and at my day-to-day job. Now it is mainly based on questions and conversations I have with customers and colleagues. Mainly because I don’t deliver “anything” to customers in terms of projects / implementations any longer. I occasionally spend time in the lab, but most time is spent talking to people and based on that I come up with articles. In many cases, it is a simple tweet that sparks an idea or a VMTN community post.
A3. Definitely my favorite has to be the vSphere HA Deepdive series. I think this is where it all started for me really as I started writing about something that interested many people (vSphere HA is the most used feature in vSphere with vMotion as a very close second). I also had a lot of material to share based on my experience in the field and conversations with developers through email etc. I really saw a big bump in traffic and interest.
Not sure I have a least favorite. I think one thing that has struck me is that you never know how things will go down. Sometimes you write a post which you feel is awesome, and you get 3 retweets and 1 comment. Other times, you write a post which you feel is not adding much, and you get 67 retweets and a dozen comments, and it is the most read for years. You don’t know.
A1. When I had started out, there wasn’t much of a balance. When I was a customer, only a tiny portion of my content was related to my day-to-day job. I had also spent a significant amount of my time helping others in the VMTN Community forums (answering questions/writing scripts), which was all done in my own personal time, usually in the weekends and late evenings. Even when I had joined VMware, blogging was not part of my official MBO and although the content benefited both internal VMware as well as our external customers, much of the research/work was done outside of work.
I guess for me personally, I never really thought about this being a balance since I enjoy learning and sharing what I have learned with others. One thing I will say, is that with the recent addition to our family, the option of weekends for blogging or tinkering in the lab is mostly gone. At least there’s still nights (assuming my daughter sleeps through them), else who needs sleep right? 😉
A2. From the very beginning, my inspiration has always been a mix of personal curiosity and helping others solve challenges through creative solutions or leveraging Automation. This is still true today, whether it helping our internal field folks with customer questions or directly with a customer through the various channels (Twitter, Blog, Email, etc). The approach I take is to first understand the problem and then determine if it has already been solved. If it has, than the next question I ask is whether that was the best solution. Often times, I find that what worked a few years ago may not be applicable anymore or there may be better alternatives.
From here, I then start prototyping my ideas in the lab which some times is a lot of trial and error. This is really where the fun is for me and how I learn, which is by doing. If I am lucky, I will come to a solution and then from here, I spend the remainder amount of time, which can some times be more than the research itself as I want to make sure that I can easily articulate the problem, how I solved it and most importantly making the actual solution super easy to consume whether it is a simple script or series of instructions. I also want to mention that this happens over a period of time and rarely do I get through all of this in one setting. In fact, at any given moment, I may have 5-6 of these going at once in various stages.
I have found that walking away and coming back later will always give me a perspective on something that I did not see before or solving a different problem might help with the current solution.
A3. I have so many favorites but If I had to really pick one, it definitely would be articles related to Nested ESXi/Virtualization. I just find it really fascinating that VMware continues to push the boundaries of their software enabling new use cases that it was never originally intended for which is running our ESXi Hypervisor in a VM. This has allowed our customers to easily evaluate, learn and develop against our portfolio of products from Compute, Network & Storage Virtualization to End User Computing without needing a ton of physical resources. I am constantly amazed at the different use cases that our customers have come up with leveraging this awesome technology that VMware has helped pioneered.
A1. I think this is the toughest thing to deal with. I don’t have a steady stream of ideas floating around. Typically, it’s blank stares most of the time and then an avalanche of ideas that start to pour in. Remember the boulder scene of Indiana Jones Raiders of the lost Ark. Yeah, twice the size of that boulder. And with this thing coming at you, you have to deal with life as well. Kids, friends, work and the state of your lab. It’s cosmic balance, the complexity of the idea determines the severity of the state of the lab is in. Therefore, I don’t see it as a balance, or not a thing I strive for, it just happens and you make the most of it.
Being organized helps a lot, having a tool that allows you to store and access your ideas wherever you are, keeps me sane. At home, I have a big whiteboard where I draw and mind map my ideas and questions. Once I have formulated the question I want to answer, I move it into OneNote which I can access everywhere. Sometimes an idea takes a few weeks to becomes an article, sometimes the thoughts keep flowing, and it’s done in a day.
A2. Typically, I get the inspiration after talking to customers, people from the community, or friends who work in IT. I always look for not evident correlations or hidden dependencies. That means a lot of testing is involved and a crazy amount of reading. Typically most content on the web is a copy of a copy of a copy, so either most information is diluted or not entirely correct. Therefore, I tend to hit up patent documents, vendor white papers, academic papers, and if possible engineering presentations, such as the Intel developer forums presentations. To get one golden nugget of information, you have to go through pages and pages of dry content. This can be tough and tests your perseverance, or if the content is riddled with amazing content you have to manage the “look! Squirrel” moments. So when I find something, a one-liner or a whole paragraph I copy this in a dump file with OneNote. Later on, I go through this collection to figure out what to test that helps to structure the article. When dealing with diagrams, I sketch on paper, whiteboard and then eventually digitally using OmniGraffle.
A3. Wow! So many articles that I’m proud of. Not all are consumed equally, but hey that’s life. I think the most favorite is work done for clustering deep dive book. I’m also proud of the memory deep dive I published last year and the NUMA articles I’ve been writing since 2009. It’s incredibly cool to discover your diagrams in official documentation of Intel and AMD.
A1. I tend to focus on a very structured schedule for content creation and use times of the day where I know that I’m better at writing down thoughts (such as the morning). And with anything, practice makes perfect! As I’ve come to learn my flow, style, and have a mental template for how I want to make content look and feel, there’s much less friction to create content as opposed to when I first started. I also don’t sweat it when I can’t get content posted within the timetable that I might like because it’s important to spend time offline doing activities like hiking or being with friends.
A2. Typically, I’m answering my own questions about technology, documenting how I’ve learned something, or publicly answering someone else’s question that has been submitted to me via Twitter or email. Since I’m constantly stumbling on things I don’t know (such as my recent adventures into the world of PowerShell and CI/CD), it’s not too difficult to write about what I’m focused on learning. Plus, I never care if I’m the 1st or 1000th person to write about a topic; I think every voice offers something unique.
A3. I’m really proud of all the work I did to document how NFS works for VMware environments. This is because I was an administrator of a large farm of NFS-fueled VMs and felt like the world was against me in many ways. I didn’t realize that there were so many others doing the same thing until after I posted my discoveries, and now I think NFS is a much more accepted protocol for vSphere environments.
While I don’t have a least favorite post, I do look back on some of my earlier work and wonder … what I was thinking! It’s fun to see my thought processes change from year to year as I changed careers, focuses, and learned a wider variety of technologies. 🙂 |
Among the upcoming fare: live-action series "Stupid Hype" from "Hart of Dixie's" Wilson Bethel and an untitled Justine Ezarik project.
The youth-skewing CW is expanding into the web space, announcing the creation of CWD, the CW Digital Studio, during its upfront presentation to advertisers Thursday.
Launching in the fall, CWD will spotlight original content focused in the areas of animation, game shows, comedy and digital personalities. The shorter-form content will appear on CWTV.com ahead of the network's series offerings, much as trailers do before movies shown in theaters.
Among the initiatives first four projects, are those featuring Hart of Dixie's Wilson Bethel, who was behind Rachel Bilson's Funny or Die music video "Call Me Doctor" and YouTube sensation Justine Ezarik (aka iJustine). The arm, spearheaded by marketing guru Rich Haskins, is also prepping an animated comedy series centered on a acerbic SoHo gallery owner who gleefully takes down celebrities.
“CWD provides us with the exciting opportunity to create additional content tailored for digital platforms, while still reflecting The CW brand and reinforcing our connection with our digital audience,” said Haskins of the first and fully converged broadcast network. “The digital space allows us to explore unique or outrageous concepts and even different formats that wouldn’t be right for traditional television, but that are perfect for online. We’re so thrilled with our first slate of projects, and we’re excited to work with producers and with advertisers to create new content that will be a great extension of their brand and ours.”
Here are details on the upcoming projects: |
Scientists believe that the first alcoholic beverage ever made was a combination of honey, and perhaps grains, that wild yeast and bacteria fermented spontaneously. Someone along the way decided to drink said beverage and voila!
This honey wine/ beer mashup was nothing akin to our modern understanding of mead or beer, but it was the foundation of some of the greatest beverages known to man. Over many years, the two have become distinct beverages. That’s probably because the official term for such a hybrid of beer and mead is braggot, and anything that rhymes with maggot was clearly not meant to be popular.
At heart, mead, aka honey wine, is a truly simple beverage. It can be carbonated like beer, or kept still like a table wine. I have mostly preferred carbonated meads personally. If you let mead ferment fully, and do not add any additional sugars, which is my preference, you’ll end up with a delicious, champagne-like beverage (especially if you use a champagne yeast for fermentation). If you’ve never tried mead, I’d recommend trying offerings from RedStone and B Nektar – both excellent mead makers.
The basic mead recipe is honey, yeast, and enough water to reach the brewer’s desired gravity, or sugar concentration. Frequently mead home-brewers will also add a Yeast Nutrient since honey doesn’t have the same inherent nutrients that malts do for beer which ensure active and healthy fermentation.
I decided to make mead last year after reading one of many brewing books I own, specifically, The Brewer’s Apprentice , written by none other than Greg Koch of Stone Brewing, and Matt Allyn, an award winning home brewer and Certified Beer Judge. Chapter 16 of the book is dedicated to mead, and though I had only tried it a handful of times, I got to thinking this would be a fun experiment.
Since we were mead-brewing virgins, me and the hubs liked the idea of trying a few ‘recipes’. We purchased five 1 gallon fermentors and made small batches using a variety of honeys, specifically Mesquite Desert honey from Trader Joe’s, local raw honey, plus wildflower, buckwheat, and orange blossom honey from Deer Creek Honey Farms.
You’d think all honeys would taste rather similar but there really is a huge difference in the flavor of honeys from different locations and which plants they pollinate. Mesquite honey is a bit spicy, while the orange blossom is citrusy. I personally really liked how the mesquite honey mead turned out. It had a more complex, peppery flavor that I adore.
Basic Honey Mead ‘Recipe’
for each 1 gallon batch, you’ll need:
1 gallon glass carboy
Enough sterile water to fill the carboy with honey added
1 tsp Yeast Nutrient
dry yeast (1/3 packet rehydrated per batch) – we used Lalvin D-47 Yeast and Lalvin RC-212
and Lalvin RC-212 an airlock filled with sanitizing solution For each batch we started with 3 pounds of honey which we warmed in hot water to make pouring it easier. We then started a large pot of boiling water. We boiled the water for 10 minutes to ensure it was sterile, then chilled it by dunking the pot in an ice bath. We sanitized a funnel and our 1 gallon carboys prior to adding in the warmed honey, and just enough sterile water to nearly fill the carboy. Each batch then got 1/3 contents of a rehydrated yeast packet and 1 teaspoon yeast nutrient. Fermentation: We let the mead ferment in our basement, which in the middle of the summer maintains a fairly consistent temperature of around 68 degrees and in the cooler months stays 60 or less. Too hot temperatures (>70/75 degrees F) will result in an unpleasant, ‘hot’ alcohol sensation due to the formation of fusel alcohols during too warm fermentation. After about 1 month we transferred the meads into secondary (more clean, sterile 1 gallon jugs). When we tasted the mead at this point the flavors clearly needed time to mellow and develop. We took the ‘set and forget’ approach with them since we didn’t really know how long it would take for the flavors to be optimal. Our book indicated that 8 months to a year or longer is ideal. We checked on them occasionally to make sure the airlocks still had liquid, but otherwise just let them do their thing. After 1 year of fermentation we decided to taste them. This time, the meads were much more well-rounded. The harshness of young fermentation had dissipated leaving a lovely, honey wine. If you want to keep the mead still, simply bottle like you normally would. Since we wanted carbonated mead, we bottle conditioned using honey as our priming sugar and more dry yeast. My favorite calculator for bottle conditioning has been pretty fool proof, so definitely check that out. A nice, carbonated, dry mead is great for every occasion and can be paired with many chicken, fish and vegetable dishes. For carbonated mead, try serving it in a champagne flute or tall, thin tulip glass. Un-carbonated mead is best in a snifter, white wine glass or tulip. While making mead is certainly a time commitment, it really is worth the time and I highly recommend it! Salud! {If you’re interested in making mead too, the American Homebrewer’s Association has an excellent primer you can find by clicking here which is far more in depth than this post could cover.}
Like this: Like Loading... |
Extending its crackdown against ethnic minority Muslims in the north-western region of Xinjiang, Chinese authorities have asked families to hand-over all the religious items including prayer mats and the holy Quran. Officials in the region have told the families and mosques that Uyghur, Kazakh and Kyrgyz Muslims must give up all these items or face punishment.
"Officials at village, township and county level are confiscating all Qurans and the special mats used for namaaz[prayer]," a Kazakh source in Altay prefecture, near the border with Kazakhstan told Radio Free Asia. "Pretty much every household has a Quran, and prayer mats."
While the process has started in Xinjiang now, it has been reported that Kashgar, Hotan, and other regions have been witnessing this since last week. The authorities have reportedly been sending out notices through social media platform WeChat. The notices also say that apart from the Quran and prayer mats, people must also hand in any religious reading matter as well as things that have the "Islamic moon and star symbol on it."
"We received a notification saying that every single ethnic Uyghur must hand in any Islam-related items from their own home, including Qurans, prayers and anything else bearing the symbols of religion," noted Dilxat Raxit, spokesman for the exile World Uyghur Congress group.
"They have to be handed in voluntarily. If they aren't handed in, and they are found, then there will be harsh punishments," he said. "They are requiring people to hand in these items of their own accord."
Explaining the step, the Chinese officials have said that they were removing all the Qurans published in the last five years, as they featured extremist content. This is a part of China's "Three Illegals and One Item" campaign, which bans numerous items owned by the Uyghurs.
While the ethnic group sees these items as religious, the authorities believe they are illegal. These include knives and flammable items remote-controlled toys, and objects with symbols related to Islam. The authorities, who believe that these items help promote terrorism, have also deemed religious activities and teaching as illegal.
Also, items coming in from Kazakhstan or with anything in the Kazakh language or symbols have been banned. "Any items bearing writing or any other traces of Kazakhstan, including street signs or graffiti, store decorations, arts and crafts items, T-shirts and so on, must immediately be investigated ... and a detailed report made to higher authorities by Sept. 25," the notice earlier said.
China has time and again been urged to respect international human rights laws and stop singling out these ethnic minority communities, but the nation believes that this way, it can focus on "maintaining legality, blocking extremism, and attacking crime," as per the State Council's website.
In the year 2015, the nation invited ire when it forced officials in the Xinjiang region to swear that they will not fast during the holy month of Ramadan. State websites had reportedly been putting up notices asking officials and civil servants, and even students and teachers, not observe Ramadan.
In some regions, officials had even been asked to give oral and written assurances that they "have no faith, will not attend religious activities and will lead the way in not fasting over Ramadan," Reuters reported citing state media. |
It never fails that a superstar girlfriend emerges from the MLB playoffs year after year. Last year it was Larisa Fraser, girlfriend of Ryan Braun, that stole the Internet’s heart. Here’s your 2012 contender for that crown: Lauren Gardner (@LGRed).
You might remember Gardner from BC’s 2011 ‘Next Erin Andrews’ series. That post was followed by a job working sidelines in the Lingerie Football League and ultimately being hired this year by the CBS Sports Network as a sideline reporter.
That’s not the only big news for the former Denver Broncos cheerleader. At some point she also started dating Reds reliever Sam LeCure. Normally that wouldn’t be a major story, but combine MLB WAGs, the MLB playoffs and a sideline reporter and that’s a story. That’s a possible Larisa Fraser waiting to happen.
This is the time of year when TBS is looking for wives and girlfriends holding their hands over their mouths as their significant other is facing a bases loaded jam with 1 out and the tying run is on third. You’ve been warned, TBS. Lauren is your girl.
You might remember Game One of the Reds-Giants series when Johnny Cueto left the game in the first inning. Who came in? LeCure (1.2 innings, 1 hit).
Don’t say we didn’t warn you guys. Gardner-LeCure. The MLB playoffs power couple to have your eyes on.
[@LGRed] [@mrLeCure] |
Let's talk about Wrath, and Item Dependency in SMITE
So, yeah. During this tiny little mini meta of which we'll HOPEFULLY only be enduring for another week or so, we saw the removal of power pot, and that's had huge implications with some of the balance. And most importantly of all, we've been seeing Wrath as a constant pick-up for the jungler now. So I want to explain a little bit of why this is happening, and go into Item Dependency as well during it.
First off Wrath: There is a pretty simple explanation for this one. Removal of power potions make clearing early harder (you often had both jungle and solo with power pot, now neither have them), and sets your health pool back a decent way due to it. So there's a simple solution to this: Wrath gives you the damage you lack. If your enemy gets Wrath but you don't, then you're going to be behind, and you're going to either be behind all the game, or get first blooded and be a non-existent factor for the rest of it. You'd be worried about going for objectives if that Wrath is near, since only co-ordinated bursts of damage (multiple ultimates) will be able to beat the power of someone coming in and using Wrath on that objective and stealing it. So there's only one solution. Pre-emptively get it yourself so you can't fall to the power of Wrath.
This is what is so infuriating, because Wrath as an item is awful. It deals 480 damage to a SINGLE buff camp minion. This is less than half of the health of the jungle camp boss (the one with the buff) when that boss is spawned (it's exactly half when the buff is at Level 0). You can't kill a minion with Wrath. It is at least true damage (may want to mention that in the description Hirez) but it doesn't account for minion scaling (for large cyclops that's 65 health per minute), nor does it even account for the fact that Health on jungle camps is higher than intended (https://www.scribd.com/doc/166529015/The-Word-of-Thoth-A-Smite-Mechanics-Guide for the formula), which means that the 2nd time you take a buff, assuming you're doing it on the 4 minute respawn timer: 1,545 health, you're not even doing a third of that cyclops' health.
Even when you think about the 1250 true damage on Fire Giant or Gold Fury, even then it's minuscule in amount. You have to be well timed, coordinated and, you have to be tanky as hell, or quite often you'll just get focused and CC'd to death. Bacchus is probably the easiest god to get those secures on, but you're still at risk if you aren't the main team around an objective.
A 1s stun is pretty nice, but every single character has a form of strong CC in some way normally. Gods like Hun Batz and Nemesis it's a little better on since they don't have easy to use CC (Batz has to use ulti, Nemesis is all about slowing the target to a stun basically).But Ne Zha, Serqet, Thor, Fenrir, Awilix, Mercury, Ratatoskr, Susano, they all have some form of strong CC (notice I'm not using hard, soft since these cross those boundaries), whether it's a stun, knockup, pull or whatever. The only god who you could potentially say is a jungler without CC is Ao Kuang, but he still has the basically stun ultimate which has an execute on it, and even then he bursts so fast you won't need even need the whole 1s stun.
And then to top this ALL off, it's a 2 minute cooldown. It's a ridiculously long cooldown for at most a second stun. So as you can see, all of the bits separately are just god awful, so why pick it up? Well that harks back to what I said. If you don't, you're behind. You have to screw yourself by picking it up, just in case the enemy does as well. You have to depend on this item to save you, because if you don't have this item, you can very well just immediately lose.
And that's Item Dependency. There are a couple of them you see in SMITE, and they have HUGE impacts on meta. Stuff like power potion are an item dependancy. If you don't get it, you're probably going to be behind, so the meta is all about having the power potion early. You HAVE to get boots, it is a requirement. If you don't, you have to make the movement speed up in tons of other weird and janky items, so you effectively lose out on the "spare spot" you got from it. With hunters, you are required to buy Ichiaval. If not you're guaranteed down 60 physical power, and very few items can make that back up so you have to even out that power. With mages, you cannot start without Vampiric now, since if you start with Soul Stone you have no sustain, you'll be going back to base far more than normal, and you'll be losing out on gold & xp. If you can think of an item you buy on every single character, no matter what, that's an Item Dependency. You HAVE to have the item, maybe not because it's too good to pass up, but it's what will happen if you DON'T get that item. You're forced into buying something, so you can't look for others.
A perfect example of this is the old Golden Bow and Junglers. Golden Bow is an amazing item for a jungler, but why did no one get it? Well it's pretty simple. You had to buy Bumbas and red pot, so you had no space to get Throwing Dagger. After that you have to have boots otherwise you don't have the speed to move around the map. After that, you don't need a clearing tool like Golden Bow, as you're already in the teamfighting stage, you need damage and defense. Throwing Dagger was set up in an attempt to bring some junglers back into the meta, but you can see, there was just no way that it could happen, because you have to overcome 5 Item Dependencies to put this new one in, and the only way you can do that is by making it super powerful, so it gets abused elsewhere *cough* hunters *cough*.
The idea behind Throwing Dagger was a good one, but unfortunately if you don't execute ideas perfectly, they just become out of control, and painful to play against, this is why I'm worried about new power potions in 3.14. They can't be an item that you HAVE to pick up anymore, but trying to make them into a separate pathway for people is just going to make things worse. I just have to hope that they don't try and bring the power potion back into the early game, and keep it as a late game choice, but a very useful lategame choice (one idea I had was it giving %power with a higher cap, so it's more useful, but only as you go further into the game), but these Item Dependencies are a real issue in SMITE in a lot of cases, they guide the meta, but usually not in a fantastic way, and I really want to see what Hirez plans to do way into the future, in Season 4, with these dependencies, because as I said, they will guide the meta, for good, or for worse.
Reply · Report Post |
Meet Patton, a 9-week-old Goldendoodle who may or may not become the next presidential pet. (Note: this video features no sound.) (Capehart Photography)
Patton, a 9-week-old Goldendoodle who may or may not become the nation’s first dog. (Courtesy of Lois Pope)
The Trump family, as far as is publicly known, does not own any animals. Unless something changes, that means that Donald Trump could become the first president in 150 years who does not have a pet.
Well, not if Lois Pope has anything to say about it. Pope, a prominent philanthropist in Palm Beach, Fla., who advocates for veterans’ and animal causes, said in an interview Tuesday that she is in possession of a 9-week-old golden retriever and poodle mix that will soon become the first dog. Pope said she notified Trump, whom she has known for more than two decades, about the Goldendoodle in writing and showed him a photo of the pooch at the Trumps’ recent Thanksgiving event at their Mar-a-Lago home.
[Donald Trump really needs to get a dog]
“He said, ‘Go over there and show it to Barron,'” Pope said, referring to Trump’s 10-year-old son. “He said, ‘He’s going to fall in love with him.’ He said, ‘Barron will want him.’”
When she showed the photo to Barron, Pope said, “this big smile came over his face, and it just brought tears to his eyes.”
Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks said in an email Tuesday that “no decisions have been made” about the dog. But Pope said she is confident that the Trumps will take the puppy, which she named Patton after George Patton, a World War II general Trump has said he admires.
“I’m sure. Every president has a first dog,” Pope said. “It goes with the presidency.”
From Obama to Reagan, take a look at the pets that have made the White House home. (Claritza Jimenez/The Washington Post)
[First a polar bear petted a dog. Then a polar bear did what polar bears do: Ate a dog.]
Not every president. But it is true that White House dogs have played a prominent role in many presidencies, acting as fluffy public relations representatives who frolic in a perfectly nonpartisan manner on the lawns of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
The Clintons had a chocolate Labrador named Buddy, as well as a cat named Socks. In 2009, President Obama joked that deciding what breed of dog to get was more wrenching than selecting a commerce secretary. After considering a Labradoodle and defying the pressure of the animal rescue lobby, Obama ended up choosing a Portuguese water dog named Bo. The Obamas got another, Sunny, in 2013.
Lois Pope showed off her outfit before Donald J. Trump spoke at the Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Fla., in March. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
Pope said she had Barron Trump in mind when she chose Patton. Moving to the White House will be stressful for a young boy, she said, but it would be less so with a canine friend around.
“It’ll help with the transition. It’ll take away some of the wonder and awe,” said Pope, who added that she could not divulge where she acquired the puppy. “I mean, can you imagine moving into the White House as a child? It’s hard.”
Before that happens, however, Patton must be potty-trained, which Pope said she is in the process of doing. Next, Patton will receive what Pope, whose Life Foundation sponsors awards for “hero dogs” who have helped humans, called “hero dog training.” This will enable him to be not just a companion to the first family, but a protector.
President Obama at the dedication of the American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial in 2014. Lois Pope, who helped fund the memorial, is fourth from left. (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)
Other Patton attributes: He is part poodle, so he will not bother people with allergies. He is also incredibly cute, Pope said.
“He’s lying right here in front of me,” she said. “Hi Patton! Hi! He’s a good boy. He’s a good boy. He’s trying to eat a basket. We don’t do that. No, we don’t do that,” Pope cooed to the puppy.
“It’s going to be hard for me to let him go,” she said. “But I will do it. Because the boy is more important than I am.”
For the moment, however, it’s not clear that she’ll have to part with Patton. As he is with the position of secretary of state, Trump is apparently still weighing the appointment.
1 of 74 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × Here’s what President-elect Donald Trump has been doing since the election View Photos He has been holding interviews and meetings as he prepares to enter the White House. Caption He has been holding interviews and meetings as he prepares to enter the White House. Jan. 19, 2017 President-elect Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, visit the Lincoln Memorial before the “Make America Great Again” concert. Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue.
Read more:
Chimpanzees recognize rear ends like people recognize faces
Quiz: Can you tell a popular baby name from a top dog name?
The longest cat fence in the U.S. was just built on a Hawaiian volcano |
Water fluxes
A typical simulation box consists of a single-layer MoS 2 , a graphene sheet (acting as a rigid piston to apply the external pressure), water and ions (Fig. 1a). Here three pore edge types for MoS 2 are considered to study the effect of terminating atoms and pore chemistry on the rate of water permeation and ion rejection. The first type of pore, which is labelled as mixed in this study, is a combination of molybdenum and sulfur atoms. The other two pore types are labelled as Mo only and S only, as these are terminated by molybdenum and sulfur atoms, respectively (Fig. 1b). Water fluxes through various MoS 2 nanopores as a function of the applied pressure gradient are presented in Fig. 2a. Three MoS 2 pore types (mixed, Mo only and S only) were studied to explore their rejection rate and flux. To investigate the relative performance of MoS 2 over other two-dimensional materials, a graphene nanopore, which has been shown to be promising for water desalination, is also considered11,19. For the sake of comparison, the three MoS 2 pores and the graphene pore have approximately equivalent accessible pore areas (mixed, A=55.45 Å2; Mo only, A=56.42 Å2; S only, A=57.38 Å2; and graphene, A=59.67Å2). Our results indicate that the Mo only pore has the highest rate of water permeation followed by the mixed, S only and the graphene pore for all the applied pressures (Fig. 2a). Water flux through the mixed pore is intermediary between Mo only and S only nanopores. The higher water fluxes through MoS 2 nanopores compared with graphene nanopores imply that for a desired water flux, a smaller applied pressure is needed with MoS 2 nanopores. Later, in this paper, we will explain the physical chemistry and geometrical foundations of MoS 2 pore that give rise to a higher flux.
Figure 1: Simulation box and different pore architectures. (a) Schematic of the simulation box consisting of a MoS 2 sheet (molybdenum in blue and sulfur in yellow), water (transparent blue), ions (in red and green) and a graphene sheet (in gray). (b) Left: Mo only pore type. Right: S only pore type. Bottom: mixed pore type. Full size image
Figure 2: Water permeation and salt rejection. (a) Water flux as a function of the applied pressure for mixed, Mo only, S only and graphene nanopores with similar pore areas. (b) Percentage of ion rejection by various pores as a function of the applied pressure. Pores with different edge chemistries as well as various pore areas (denoted by A) are considered. (c) Number of water molecules (#) filtered through Mo only pores as a function of simulation time for different pore areas at a fixed pressure of 250 MPa. Full size image
Salt rejection efficiency
The other important aspect in water desalination is the ability of the membrane to reject ions. The percentage of total ions rejected by the MoS 2 and graphene pores is plotted as a function of the applied pressure in Fig. 2b. The rejection is calculated after 1,700 water molecules have filtered through the pores for all pressures. Pore sizes ranging from 20 to 60 Å2 are considered for the three types of MoS 2 pores. The ion rejection decreases at higher pressures as high pressures induce higher forces on the ions giving rise to more ion translocation events. The ion rejection of small pores (for example, 18.02 Å2) is found to be 100% for all types of pores. For larger pore sizes, ions escape through the pore reducing the rejection efficiency. For the pores with equivalent areas (mixed, A=55.45 Å2; Mo only, A=56.42 Å2; S only, A=57.38 Å2; and graphene, A=59.67 Å2), the general trend for ion rejection is quite similar regardless of the type of the pore (Fig. 2b). In other words, ion rejection is mainly dependent on the pore area and the type of the pore plays a less important role, for example, for the four pores considered, the difference in rejection is <10% even at a high pressure of 350 MPa.
As shown in Fig. 2c, the water filtration rate increases sharply as the pore area increases from ∼20 to ∼50 Å2. The sharp change in the water flow rate is due to the formation of single-file chain of water in small pores (∼20 Å2). As shown in ref. 11, the water flow rate is considerably reduced because of the weak hydrogen bonding in single-file chains. For efficient water desalination, pore sizes should be chosen such that both the ion rejection and water filtration rate are optimized since very small pores lack high permeation rates and large pores (wider than 60 Å2) fail to effectively reject ions.
As observed by Cohen-Tangui et al.19 for graphene, the polarizability of water also has a little effect on ion rejection in MoS 2 nanopores. To introduce the effect of polarization, the flexible simple point charge (SPC/F) model38 was used. The ion rejection percentages associated with the flexible water model are within 2% of those modelled with the SPC/E water.
Permeation coefficient
To quantify the water permeability through various pores, we compute the permeability coefficient, p, across the pore. For dilute solutions39,
where J w is the flux of water (# ns−1), V w is the molar volume of water (18.91 ml mol−1), ΔC s is the concentration gradient of the solute (1.0 M), N A is the Avogadro number, k B is the Boltzmann constant, T is the temperature (300 K) and ΔP is the applied hydrodynamic pressure (MPa). The permeability coefficients of the mixed, Mo only, S only and graphene pores were calculated to be 71.64, 83.61, 62.69 and 59.32 # ns−1, respectively. These coefficients are expected to also hold true for small applied pressures (<10 MPa), which are normally used in water desalination, since the relationship between the external pressure and the rate of water permeation is observed to be quite linear (Fig. 2a). Previous studies40,41 also show that water flux in small nanochannels is linear with respect to external pressure. The permeation rates through various pores (Mo only>mixed>S only>graphene) can also be explained by the energy barrier that a water molecule needs to overcome to enter the pore. These barriers were computed to be ΔE Mo only =8.50 k B T, ΔE mixed =8.84 k B T, ΔE S only =9.01 k B T, ΔE graphene =11.05 k B T, which are consistent with the results in Fig. 2a. The details on the energy barrier calculations are documented in Supplementary Fig. 1.
Physical chemistry and geometry of the pore
Water flux (Q) is a function of density (ρ) inside the pore, velocity (V) of water through the pore and the area of the pore (A), (Q=ρ·V·A). In water desalination, increasing the area of the pore limits the salt rejection capability of the pore. As the area of the pore increases, the efficiency of rejection decreases25, leaving ρ and V as the control parameters to increase water flux through the pore.
As shown above, Mo only pore exhibits the highest rate of water permeation. This can be explained by the higher water density (ρ) and velocity (V) in the Mo only pore compared with those of the S only and mixed pores (Fig. 3a–c). The average density of water follows the order of Mo only>mixed>S only (1.47, 1.37 and 1.31 g cm−3, respectively). The denser packing of water molecules at the Mo only pore can be attributed to the hydrophilic nature of Mo sites42 at the edge of the nanopore, which attracts water molecules to the pore interior. It has been shown that the molybdenum surface has a water contact angle close to 0° (molybdenum is a transition metal with a large atomic diameter)42. Attraction of water molecules towards Mo sites becomes more obvious by comparing the mixed and S only pores densities (Fig. 3a). In the mixed pore, the existence of 50% Mo sites gives rise to higher density in the centre of the pore compared with that of S only pore (Fig. 3a).
Figure 3: Water density and velocity profiles. (a) Water density distribution in the radial direction in the mixed, Mo only and S only pores with equivalent pore sizes (mixed, A=55.45 Å2 ; Mo only, A=56.42 Å2; S only, A=57.38 Å2) at a fixed pressure of 250 MPa. (b) Density map of water distribution in Mo only (i) and S only (ii) pores. Blue denotes a zero probability of finding a water molecule and red indicates the highest probability of observing a water molecule. (c) Axial velocity of water molecules in the radial direction for mixed, Mo only and S only nanopores. Full size image
Next, we explored the velocity profiles in the pore for all the three different pores. The velocities are also higher in Mo only pores compared with mixed and S only pores (Fig. 3c). The average velocity of water is 8.26, 7.53 and 7.51 m s−1 for Mo only, mixed and S only pores, respectively.
To shed deeper insight into the physical understanding of why the velocity of Mo only pore is higher compared with mixed and S only pores, we computed velocity profiles at the sites of S and Mo for both pore types of Mo only and S only (Fig. 4a,b). This is achieved by binning both pore types at Mo and S sites and averaging velocity at each point for a large number of sets of simulations. We observed that in the Mo only pore, the velocity is higher at Mo site compared with the S sites. Unlike Mo only pore, we did not observe the velocities to be higher in Mo site in the S only pore, (Fig. 4a,b) which implies that the arrangement of Mo and S sites matter for velocity profiles (see Supplementary Fig. 2 for more evidence on geometry dependency of the velocity in the pore).
Figure 4: Effect of pore type on water permeation and salt rejection. (a) Axial velocity of water molecules in the radial direction at the location of S and Mo atom layers in the Mo only nanopore of A=56.42 Å2 at 250 MPa. (b) Axial velocity of water molecules in the radial direction at the location of S and Mo atom layers in the S only nanopore of A=57.38 Å2 at 250 MPa. (c) Cartoon representation of the pore architecture for Mo only, S only and graphene nanopore. (d) Performance of various membranes in terms of their ion rejection and water permeation rate. Water permeation rate is expressed per unit area of the membrane and per unit pressure as l cm−2 per day per MPa. Full size image |
The Malik Report
I've been allowed to Tweet this stuff, so:
A very legit little bird told me that the Wings will fill their assistant/video coaching vacancies today, and will tap the WHL. — George Malik (@georgemalik) July 30, 2014 Hearing the assist. coach will be Jim Hiller, who just parted ways with the Tri-City Americans. — George Malik (@georgemalik) July 30, 2014 One-year deals, that's the name I've got, I'm not good at rumor-mongering but the source is super legit, so it's no rumor. Deals today. — George Malik (@georgemalik) July 30, 2014 Hiller had a very good record with Tri-City... http://t.co/vzYLsQihTa was traded to Detroit in Coffey deal: http://t.co/JydoMQOBC6 — George Malik (@georgemalik) July 30, 2014
Hiller was indeed Paul Coffey's roomate back in 1993, and he didn't last very long in the NHL, but the 45-year-old native of Nelson, BC spent three years at Northern Michigan University, and as soon as his playing career ended, he became an assistant coach for Tri-City. He spent one year as the head coach of the BCHL's Port Alberni Bulldogs, and then he went on to coach the Chilliwack Bruins for 3 seasons, and he spent the past 4 seasons with Tri-City, taking them to the WHL final in 2009.
The Tri-City Herald's Anne Fowler covered the circumstances of Hiller's departure from Tri-City in early May...
Jim Hiller was one of the longest-tenured and winningest coaches behind the Tri-City Americans bench, but after a lackluster year in which the team finished 29-33-4-6 and last in the U.S. Division, the Americans decided they needed to take the team in a new direction. Hiller, who had been with the Americans since 2009, was fired Friday after five seasons. In his wake, he leaves two U.S. Division titles, a Western Conference title, a .619 winning percentage and a Western Hockey League Coach of the Year honor in 2012. “Jim is a good man and a good hockey coach,” said Tri-City general manager Bob Tory. “He came in and a did a good job following Don Nachbaur. But every coach has a shelf life. I felt our team needed a fresh face and a fresh voice. The situation was given a lot of thought. I looked to others for input, and in the end, we came to a consensus as to what was best for the team.” Hiller coached 360 regular-season games with a 210-124-11-15 record over five seasons. He did not return calls for comment. ... The Americans hired Hiller as their 19th head coach at the start of the 2009 season to replace Nachbaur, who left the team after six seasons to coach the Binghamton Senators (AHL). Hiller inherited a wealth of talent and over the course of his first four seasons, the Americans won at least 40 games, including a 50-18-2-2 record in 2011-12. In the playoffs, Hiller coached a franchise-record 57 games, winning a club best 29. In his first season, the Americans went 13-9 in the postseason, winning their first Western Conference title before losing in the WHL finals to the Calgary Hitmen in five games. In 2012, the Americans won the U.S. Division title with 104 points, edging Portland by two points. The Winterhawks would have the last laugh, sweeping Tri-City in the Western Conference final. Tri-City lost in the first round of the playoffs the last two seasons.
And the Vancouver Province's Steve Ewen reported that Hiller turned down offers from the Vancouver Giants to pursue another path:
Scratch Jim Hiller from the list of prospective Vancouver Giants head coaches. Scratch him for the time being, at the very least. This episode is tending to be fluid. Hiller, the former Tri-City Americans and Chilliwack Bruins bench boss, has apparently told the Giants that he’s looking at other options, according to WHL sources. Possibilities for Hiller? He and former NHL rearguard Brad Werenka, who was his teammate at Northern Michigan University, have apparently put together an analytics program that draws rave reviews from everyone they show it to. I talked to someone who figured he might take the year off from coaching to get the program in the hands of NHL teams.
As Twitter is a collaborative business...
Quoting Team Sweden GM Tommy Boustedt:
"[Assistant coach Rickard] Gronborg, Babcock and I get a very interesting lecture by Jim Niller on a new system of player evaluation."
Hiller also had to guide the Americans through controversy as 25-year-old journalist Tieja MacLaughlin was dating Tri-City's Jackson Playfair, and she threatened the player.
If you remember Hiller from his hockey cards, yes, he did play for the Wings for about five minutes (image via The Trading Card Database), and yes, he has a "fight card" on Hockeyfights.com.
I didn't receive any news as to whether Hiller would be working with the Wings' forwards or whether he'd be working with the Wings' defensemen, which is Tony Granato's specialty.
Comments
Add a Comment
Please limit embedded image or media size to 575 pixels wide.
Add your own avatar by joining Kukla's Korner, or logging in and uploading one in your member control panel.
Captchas bug you? Join KK or log in and you won't have to bother. |
There are a lot of people of various backgrounds who believe you shouldn't talk about religion or politics with strangers. President Donald Trump doesn't feel the need for trepidation, and he mixed both subjects while speaking at a commencement ceremony for the largest Christian university in America on Saturday.
While addressing the Class of 2017 at Liberty University, a private, Christian college located in Virginia, Trump told a crowd of thousands, "In America, we don't worship government, we worship God." His claim was part of a larger speech centered around what he claimed is faith's inherent ties to the United States of America, invoking examples like elected officials swearing on the Bible upon taking office.
Though the speech appeared to be a hit with the cheering crowd, it sparked backlash amongst people from other walks of life, who were concerned with America's constitutional promise to separate church and state:
Though many critics were focused on what they saw as a breach of a fundamental American promise, others mocked Trump for invoking faith at all given his background:
Though the audience he was speaking to is worth considering—highlighting religion will certainly play to a crowd assembled at a Christian university—Trump's speech follows a trend of attempts to blur the line between religion and government. President Trump's administration has repeatedly sought to limit or ban entry to America from citizens of a group of Muslim-majority countries, and in early May Trump signed an executive order promising to give religious groups broader access to political speech. The legislation has been panned by several groups concerned with civil liberties, including the ACLU.
POST CONTINUES BELOW
Christian voters were a key demographic for Trump in the 2016 election. Exit polls conducted in the aftermath of the campaign showed evangelical Christians preferred Trump to Hilary Clinton by a margin of 65 percent, while voters unaffiliated to a religion preferred Clinton by a margin of 42 percent. |
Petrobras workers at Campos Basin started indefinite strike, against the latest wage increase offer by the Brazilian oil firm. The company proposed wage increase of 6%, which is below the country’s inflation rate of 8.9%. According to the workers and trade union FUP, the company should propose increase at least covering the inflation to keep their standard of living. Moreover, the strikers are also unhappy with the plans of Petrobras to change the employees contracts, so the company could reduce the number of working hours for employees.
According to Brazilian labor laws, workers have the right to renegotiate pay and benefits every year on specific dates. Workers usually try to convince companies to increase salaries to levels at least close to the inflation accumulated in the previous 12 months, to compensate for lost purchasing power.
“The proposed contract revision that Petrobras presented to FUP and its unions is an affront to workers”, said the FUP coordinator, Jose Maria Rangel. “Nothing is going to guarantee our demands, the maintenance of our salaries except a fight. FUP and its unions will provide a tough response”, added the coordinator.
However, Petrobras is implementing restructuring, assets sales and cost reduction in attempt to reduce the 125 billion USD debt, accumulated after the corruption scandal and drop in oil prices.
Campos Basin is oil rich area, covering both onshore and offshore fields. It is the most productive region of oil production in the country, accounting for 60% of the Brazilian output. |
An amnesty advocate that President Barack Obama’s White House publicly promoted as part of its “Champion of Change” series has been indicted in federal court on charges of fraud.
Bonnie M. Youn, who Obama’s White House touts on its website as “a recognized Asian American & Pacific Islander (AAPI) community leader in Georgia,” was indicted on three criminal charge counts in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia Atlanta Division on April 1, according to publicly filed court documents.
The first indictment count alleges Youn committed perjury with regard to an alien illegally in the United States. The second indictment count alleges that Youn violated a federal immigration law that prohibits bringing illegal aliens into the United States and harboring them, alleging she did so “for the purpose of commercial advantage and private financial gain.” The third indictment count alleges Youn illegally tampered with witness testimony, specifically alleging she influenced the illegal alien–whose identity is kept anonymous in the indictment–to provide false information about employment in the United States to federal agents.
The indictment, signed by U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates and two Assistant U.S. Attorneys, indicates that Youn’s alleged illegal activity began “on or about February 9, 2009,” just as President Obama took office at the beginning of his first term and before she was honored by the White House. The third indictment count says that the alleged witness tampering began on or about August 15, 2011.
An arrest warrant was filed for Youn Tuesday.
Youn is listed on the White House “Champions of Change: Immigration Reform” website. That site, which along with a page specifically about her remains on WhiteHouse.gov after she was indicted on these criminal charges related to the White House’s honoring of her, states she was awarded the title for being like Cesar Chavez. “The White House honors eleven people who embody the spirit of Cesar Chavez’s legacy and commit themselves to working in their communities to advocate and organize around immigration-related issues,” the White House says on the website that features Youn.
Youn’s bio on her WhiteHouse.gov page says she “has worked tirelessly to provide a voice for immigrants and AAPI communities.”
“She led teams that organized the 2013 Georgia AAPI Legislative Day, gathering the largest number of AAPIs in history at the State Capitol to meet and lobby elected officials,” the White House wrote. “In 2012, she worked closely with the White House Initiative on AAPIs to organize its Southeast Regional Action Summit at Emory University in Atlanta. The Summit brought together over 500 participants to meet federal agency officials, culminating in a town hall meeting discussing concerns about immigration, healthcare and mental health issues, small business, and housing needs. Her current passions are advocating for more AAPI judges and political appointees, challenging state legislation that disenfranchises immigrants, and creating a legacy of a sustainable AAPI Commission for Georgia.”
The White House also notes that Youn is a “principal” of her own law firm Youn Law Group.
According to a press release from the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA), Youn received the White House honor from President Obama in late March 2013. “Today, the White House honored 10 individuals with the Cesar Chavez Champions of Change Award,” the press release, dated March 26, 2013, reads. “Among the 10 honorees is Bonnie M. Youn, who is a member of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA).”
Youn Indictment |
President Obama acknowledged on Thursday that he lived with his Kenyan uncle for a brief period in the 1980s while preparing to attend Harvard Law School, contradicting a statement more than a year ago that the White House had no record of the two ever meeting.
Their relationship came into question on Tuesday at the deportation hearing of his uncle, Onyango Obama, in Boston immigration court. His uncle had lived in the United States illegally since the 1970s and revealed in testimony for the first time that his famous nephew had stayed at his Cambridge apartment for about three weeks. At the time, Onyango Obama was here illegally and fighting deportation.
Advertisement
On Thursday, a White House official said the press office had not fully researched the relationship between the president and his uncle before telling the Globe that they had no record of the two meeting. This time, the press office asked the president directly, which they had not done in 2011.
“The president first met Omar Obama when he moved to Cambridge for law school,’’ said White House spokesman Eric Schultz. “The president did stay with him for a brief period of time until his apartment was ready. After that, they saw each other once every few months, but after law school they fell out of touch. The president has not seen him in 20 years, has not spoken with him in 10.’’
The White House said Obama’s immigration case was handled “without any interference from the president or the White House.’’
Onyango Obama’s immigration case raised numerous concerns about a potential conflict of interest after his arrest in August 2011 for drunken driving in Framingham. The arrest revealed is outstanding deportation orders and his relationship to the president.
Shortly after his arrest, he told an officer, “I think I will call the White House.’’
Obama is the second relative of the president’s father to face deportation to Kenya since he took office.
Advertisement
Zeituni Onyango, Obama’s sister, won asylum in 2010 after a federal official disclosed days before the president’s historic election in 2008 that she was living illegally in the United States, in Boston public housing.
President Obama had written in his memoir, “Dreams from My Father,’’ that he had met Zeituni Onyango, his aunt.
But his relationship with his uncle, nicknamed Omar, was less clear.
In November 2011, a White House spokesman said he had no record of the two ever meeting. The Washington Post had also reported that scholars believed the two had never met.
The White House never moved to correct the record, until the president’s famously private uncle took the witness stand in Boston immigration court two days ago.
Onyango Obama, now a 69-year-old liquor store manager in Framingham, said he had helped numerous students and had relatives in the United States, including his nephew, Barack Obama.
He said the president had stayed with him at his Cambridge apartment for three weeks when he came to attend Harvard Law School in the 1980s.
“It’s a good thing to let your nephew stay with you,’’ he said after the hearing, adding that in his family, “your brother’s kids are your kids as well.’’
The president’s father, Barack Obama Sr., had helped Onyango Obama come to America in 1963 to attend an elite boys’ school in Cambridge. But Obama testified that he could not afford the tuition after the first year and graduated instead from public school in Cambridge. He said he went on to earn a degree in philosophy from Boston University, but the university would not confirm that.
Advertisement
On Tuesday, immigration Judge Leonard I. Shapiro granted Obama legal residency based on what he said was his good moral character and a section of federal law that allows him to get a green card because he arrived before 1972.
The president’s father, Barack Obama Sr., and his family were rarely in the president’s life. Obama Sr. died in a car crash in 1982. The president was raised by his mother’s family. |
You could live in a home with a stable tenancy that is clean, safe and cheap, has mechanisms for accountability and ethical practices, can save taxpayers money and can even invest in your community.
Or, on the other hand, you could live in a more expensive, not as safe and clean home where upfront costs are high, your tenancy and deposit could be taken from you with little notice and no one cares whether you interact with your neighbours or how your rent is spent once it leaves your pocket.
These two scenarios depict situations that exist, highlighting differences between the social rented sector, the first scenario, and the private rented sector (PRS), the second.
In the PRS, where one in three homes are rated as non-decent, you are twice as likely to live in a non-decent home than in the social rented sector. In fact, according to the latest English Housing Survey, social housing has a lower proportion of non-decent homes than the owner-occupied sector too.
As the second highest social security spend after pensions, housing benefit is something more often associated with social housing than private rented housing. It is clear that there are fundamental flaws in society if we are spending £24bn a year on helping people to pay for where they live and, as most would agree, it is something that needs to be reduced. However, this huge sum is getting larger every year and, according to the Department for Work and Pensions, the PRS will be the sole driver of the increasing bill for the foreseeable future.
This is disappointing as, in housing benefit terms, the PRS costs us £23.41 per claim per week more than the social rented sector, this difference equates to upwards of £150m per month or more than £1.8bn per year. To put this into context, the bedroom tax was projected to save £390m in its first year. This means that for every £1 the government saves, very controversially, through the bedroom tax, it wastes nearly £5 subsidising spiralling private rents.
Something else that is little known about the PRS is, that as a tenure extolled for giving flexibility to young professionals, it actually houses more children as a proportion than social housing does. Whether with a couple or a lone parent, dependent children live in 32.2 per cent of private rented households compared to 30.6 per cent in social housing.
For children, lack of stability in housing tenure is often cited as a key hindrance to their educational attainment and with the mean length of tenure being four times more in social housing than in the PRS, the social rented sector offers that opportunity for consistency as a base for educational attainment.
Having the option to stay at one address for a long time also gives people the stability to plan for the future, make connections with the neighbours, and provide more incentive to volunteer in the local community. A commitment by the current and future governments to building more social housing would provide growing families and future generations with the stability needed to thrive at school, in work and in the community.
Another reason why increasing current levels of social housing construction would benefit society can be seen in The National Housing Federation’s 2011 Neighbourhood Audit. This report shows that housing associations alone invest £750m annually in all kinds of community initiatives, helping to improve the lives of eight million people. Unfortunately, due to its nature (89 per cent of landlords are private individuals) the PRS just doesn’t have the capacity for this kind of community investment. Of course, social impact is not only judged by the amount of money that is spent and social landlords invest time in the community, employ and train people from the community, provide opportunities to volunteer, help give a voice to the community and much more that impacts positively on people’s lives.
So, with greater stability, less strain on housing benefit, a better standard of homes, greater social impact and its many more benefits, it is time to recognise all the good that social housing can bring to individuals, families, communities and society as a whole. And it is time for the next government to raise construction levels and commit to building at least 100,000 new houses a year as homes for social rent.
Andrew Rynham is a steering group member of the SHOUT (Social Housing Under Threat) campaign group. He tweets @AGR__
SHOUT is a volunteer-run, cross-party campaign group. Its core aim is for a dramatic shift in current public investment policy, so that at least 100,000 new social housing homes are built per year by 2020. It is on Twitter @4socialhousing |
A police officer shows the photo of a woman killed in Greater Noida. A police officer shows the photo of a woman killed in Greater Noida.
It has all the trappings of a murder mystery, albeit one that hasn't been solved. There have been at least seven killings, all women, in the last couple of months in Greater Noida. Their mutilated bodies have been found dumped along the road or in open fields. And yet, neither the victims nor the culprits have been identified by the police so far.
In the latest case on March 3, the partially disfigured body of a woman in her 20s was found in a drain in an open field opposite ATS Society in the Kasna area. According to the police, the woman had been allegedly raped and murdered somewhere else before being dumped here. "There was no trace of blood near the body. We also did not find any mobile phone or personal belongings, and as a result she could not be identified," said police inspector Rajinder Singh Yadav.
"The victim's clothes were torn and it looked like she had been raped. It was found by a person who had come to the field for his morning ablution," recalled Brijesh Kumar, a resident of Dadri, who often visited ATS Society.
On February 12, another woman was found dead and dumped on the roadside in the nearby Kot Gaon village. "According to postmortem reports, this woman was not raped. We have sent some details to Agra for further analysis," said sub-inspector Narender Kumar Sharma.
A few kilometres away in Raipur village, another burnt body of a woman was found near the road. "The murder happened on the intervening night of February 14-15 and because the woman was found charred, we have not been able to identify her either," informed Rajinder Singh of the Ajaibpur police station.
Asked why so many bodies have been found in the area and no headway made so far, Singh said, "It is easy for anyone to come from far and dump bodies here at night. In this chowki, we have to look after six villages with just six officers," adds Singh. He further emphasised that most people in this area have turned rich overnight after selling their land to construction companies. "It makes it easier for them to cover tracks after a killing or maybe two."
In February in Dankaur, another woman was found dead and her face smashed with a boulder. According to sources, the woman was allegedly raped too. In another case, the severed torso of an unidentified woman was found in a drain near Sector 35 on January 7. Adding to the woes of the police, on January 2, another was found dead near Sector 135 along with the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway. On December 24, an eight-month pregnant woman was found shot dead in a park near Sector 55. In none of these cases the police have identified any of the deceased or their assassins. |
The Report from Iron Mountain is a book published in 1967 (during the Johnson Administration) by Dial Press which puts itself forth as the report of a government panel. The book includes the claim it was authored by a Special Study Group of fifteen men whose identities were to remain secret and that it was not intended to be made public. It details the analyses of a government panel which concludes that war, or a credible substitute for war, is necessary if governments are to maintain power. The book was a New York Times bestseller and has been translated into fifteen languages. Controversy still swirls over whether the book was a satiric hoax about think-tank logic and writing style or the product of a secret government panel. The document is a favorite among conspiracy theorists, who reject the statement made in 1972 by satirist Leonard Lewin that the book was a spoof and that he was its author.[1]
Publishing history [ edit ]
The book was first published in 1967 by Dial Press, and went out of print in 1980. E. L. Doctorow, then an editor at Dial, and Dial president Richard Baron agreed with Lewin and Victor Navasky to list the book as nonfiction and to turn aside questions about its authenticity by citing the footnotes.[2]
Liberty Lobby put out an edition c. 1990, claiming that it was a U.S. government document, and therefore inherently in the public domain; Lewin sued them for copyright infringement, which resulted in a settlement. According to The New York Times, "Neither side would reveal the full terms of the settlement, but Lewin received more than a thousand copies of the bootlegged version."[2]
Likewise, an edition was brought out in 1993 by Buccaneer Books, a small publisher reprinting out of print political classics. It is unclear whether this was authorized by the author.
In response to the bootleg editions, Simon & Schuster brought out a new hardcover edition in 1996 under their Free Press imprint, authorized by Lewin, with a new introduction by Navasky and afterword by Lewin both insisting the book was fictional and satire, and discussing the original controversy over the book and the more recent interest in it by conspiracy theorists.
A new paperback edition was published in 2008.
Contents [ edit ]
According to the report, a 15-member panel, called the Special Study Group, was set up in 1963 to examine what problems would occur if the United States entered a state of lasting peace. They met at an underground nuclear bunker called Iron Mountain (as well as other, worldwide locations) and worked over the next two years. A member of the panel, one "John Doe", a professor at a college in the Midwest, decided to release the report to the public.
The heavily footnoted report concluded that peace was not in the interest of a stable society, that even if lasting peace "could be achieved, it would almost certainly not be in the best interests of society to achieve it." War was a part of the economy. Therefore, it was necessary to conceive a state of war for a stable economy. The government, the group theorized, would not exist without war, and nation states existed in order to wage war. War served the vital function of diverting collective aggression. They recommended "credible substitutes" and paying a "blood price" to emulate the economic functions of war. Prospective government-devised alternatives to war included reports of alien life-forms, the reintroduction of a "euphemized form" of slavery "consistent with modern technology and political processes", and - one deemed particularly promising in gaining the attention of the malleable masses - the threat of "gross pollution of the environment".
Reaction by Lyndon Johnson [ edit ]
U.S. News & World Report claimed in its November 20, 1967 issue to have confirmation of the reality of the report from an unnamed government official, who added that when President Johnson read the report, he 'hit the roof' and ordered it to be suppressed for all time. Additionally, sources were said to have revealed that orders were sent to U.S. embassies, instructing them to emphasize that the book had no relation to U.S. Government policy.[3]
Hoax or real? [ edit ]
When it was first published, controversy surrounded the book over the question whether it was a hoax or real. In an article in the March 19, 1972 edition of The New York Times Book Review, Lewin said that he had written the book.[4]
The book was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the "Most Successful Literary Hoax." Some people claim that the book is genuine and has only been called a hoax as a means of damage control. Trans-Action devoted an issue to the debate over the book. Esquire magazine published a 28,000-word excerpt.[2]
In a remembrance of E. L. Doctorow published in 2015 in The Nation, Victor Navasky asserted his involvement in creating Report from Iron Mountain, naming Leonard Lewin as the main writer with "input" from economist John Kenneth Galbraith, two editors of the satirical magazine Monocle (Marvin Kitman and Richard Lingeman) and himself. [5]
Purported statements made by John Kenneth Galbraith in support of authenticity [ edit ]
On November 26, 1967, the report was reviewed in the book section of The Washington Post by Herschel McLandress, supposedly the pen name for Harvard professor John Kenneth Galbraith. McLandress wrote that he knew firsthand of the report's authenticity because he had been invited to participate in its creation; that although he was unable to be part of the official group, he was consulted from time to time and had been asked to keep the project secret; and that while he doubted the wisdom of letting the public know about the report, he agreed totally with its conclusions.
He wrote: "As I would put my personal repute behind the authenticity of this document, so would I testify to the validity of its conclusions. My reservation relates only to the wisdom of releasing it to an obviously unconditioned public."[6]
Six weeks later, in an Associated Press dispatch from London, Galbraith went even further and jokingly admitted that he was a member of the conspiracy.[7] The following day, Galbraith backed off. When asked about his 'conspiracy' statement, he replied: "For the first time since Charles II The Times has been guilty of a misquotation... Nothing shakes my conviction that it was written by either Dean Rusk or Mrs. Clare Boothe Luce".[8]
The original reporter reported the following six days later: "Misquoting seems to be a hazard to which Professor Galbraith is prone. The latest edition of the Cambridge newspaper Varsity quotes the following (tape recorded) interchange: Interviewer: 'Are you aware of the identity of the author of Report from Iron Mountain?' Galbraith: 'I was in general a member of the conspiracy, but I was not the author. I have always assumed that it was the man who wrote the foreword – Mr. Lewin'."[9]
See also [ edit ] |
Thursday, July 14, 2016
SUSSEX, ENGLAND—Laser scanning has revealed evidence of a prehistoric farming collective in England’s South Downs National Park, according to a report from BBC News. The evidence was detected using lidar, in which a laser beam mounted on an airplane scans the ground and produces a 3-D model of features. Findings from the survey indicate that a field system already scheduled to be protected as a monument made up just a portion of a large area of prehistoric cultivation that extends into land that is now wooded. This suggests that a vast expanse was farmed by people living in the region before the Roman invasion, raising questions regarding who grew the crops, who ate the food they produced, and where they lived. "The scale is so large that it must have been managed, suggesting that this part of the country was being organized as a farming collective," said Trevor Beattie, chief executive of the South Downs National Park Authority. The survey also detected the route of a Roman road between Chichester and Brighton that had been long suspected. For more on archaeology in England, go to “A Villa under the Garden.” |
Gary Johnson has more newspaper endorsements than Donald Trump. (Reuters/Brian Snyder)
This post was originally published Sept. 13. It has been updated with additional endorsements.
Gary Johnson had another "Aleppo moment" last week. Then he picked up two more newspaper endorsements.
Despite recent gaffes that have exposed holes in the Libertarian presidential nominee's foreign policy knowledge, Johnson now boasts five daily newspaper endorsements. Republican nominee Donald Trump has zero.
Johnson's newest backers are his biggest to date. The Detroit News endorsed him last Thursday, one day after a town hall event on MSNBC in which he struggled to name a foreign leader he admires. The Chicago Tribune, one of the nation's 10 largest newspapers, followed on Friday.
The Tribune and the Detroit News joined the Union Leader of Manchester, N.H., the Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal and the Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch in endorsing Johnson. The Winston-Salem Journal gave its support to Johnson shortly after the former governor of New Mexico asked "what is Aleppo?" during a TV interview.
All five papers behind Johnson have traditionally supported Republicans for president. In its 143-year history, the Detroit News had never backed a non-Republican. Before endorsing hometown candidate Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, the Chicago Tribune had never backed a Democrat and rarely declined to support the GOP nominee.
Other reliably conservative newspaper editorial boards have shunned Trump and endorsed Hillary Clinton. The list includes the Arizona Republic, Cincinnati Enquirer, Dallas Morning News and Houston Chronicle.
[Donald Trump is making conservative newspapers do things they never thought they would do]
In case you've lost track, that is nine right-leaning editorial boards at daily newspapers that have spurned the Republican nominee and endorsed one of his rivals. And in what could be a sign of things to come, a member of the Wall Street Journal editorial board, Dorothy Rabinowitz, wrote last week that electing Clinton "is what stands between the American nation and the reign of the most unstable, proudly uninformed, psychologically unfit president ever to enter the White House."
Many more newspapers will issue endorsements in the next five weeks. Trump still has a lot of time left to get on the board. But the real estate magnate struggled to accumulate endorsements — from the press and from fellow politicians — during the GOP primary. The National Enquirer endorsed him, as did the New York Observer, but the Observer is owned by Trump's son-in-law, and the Enquirer is, well, the Enquirer. Both are weeklies.
Trump's only high-profile endorsement by a daily paper during the primary season came from the New York Post, which gave him a lot of grace for being a "rookie candidate."
"Should he win the nomination, we expect Trump to pivot — not just on the issues, but in his manner," the New York Post editorial board wrote in April. "The post-pivot Trump needs to be more presidential: better informed on policy, more self-disciplined and less thin-skinned."
Trump has not pivoted. And so it will be interesting to see whether the New York Post backs Trump again this fall.
[Say it with me: There is no Donald Trump 2.0!]
At this point, the trend is clear: Papers that should theoretically be slam dunks for Trump are either turning to his chief rival or a third-party candidate who did not even qualify for the general election debates. The impact of each individual endorsement is probably small, but a wave is building. |
Registered voters in Chicago will be able to avail themselves of a year's worth of free fraud prevention and identity theft recovery services covered by the company that inadvertently put nearly 2 million voters' personal information online.
Election Systems & Software, a contractor that helps maintain Chicago's electronic poll books, announced Thursday it had hired risk management firm Kroll to provide the services to Chicagoans who may have been affected by the unsecured voter files being posted on Amazon Web Services.
While ES&S maintains "investigations have not uncovered any evidence that any voter's personal information stored on the AWS server was misused," the firm said in a news release Thursday that it was bringing in Kroll "out of an abundance of caution."
Kroll will provide free fraud consultation support, "including investigating suspicious activity that could be tied to an identity theft event," according to the release.
And in cases of identity theft, the company will provide investigators to help registered Chicago voters resolve issues.
The service is available to people who were registered voters in Chicago in 2016, as that was the list that got posted online, according to Jim Allen, spokesman for the Chicago elections board. Those who want to speak to someone about possible identity fraud can call the "Chicago voters hotline" at 833-202-7412.
In August, the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners said a file containing the names, addresses, dates of birth, the last four digits of many voters' Social Security numbers, driver's license and state ID numbers for Chicago's 1.8 million registered voters was published online and publicly accessible for an unknown period of time.
The announcement came days after a data security researcher alerted officials he had found the unsecured files while conducting a search of items uploaded to Amazon Web Services, a cloud system that allows users to rent storage space and share files with certain people or the general public. The files had been uploaded by ES&S.
Allen said then that it was unknown how long the unsecured files had been accessible on the server, but said there was no indication anyone but the researcher had discovered it.
[email protected]
Twitter @_johnbyrne |
Midline might be the most commonly used play in this offense. Even though inside veer is the core play, many defenses use fronts that conflict the inside veer, and midline is designed specifically to take advantage of those fronts. Midline is the “up the middle” play of the offense. It attacks the A-gaps (center-guard gap), but by design, it attacks straight over the center. Teams with this offense will also use midline as a power play in their offense as well.
In Paul Johnson’s system, the rule of thumb for calling midline is to run it at a 3-technique (B-gap defensive tackle), and then run inside veer at a 1-technique (A-gap defensive tackle). Defenses often use 3-techniques to force the playside tackle to block down on him on inside veer, therefore freeing up the middle linebacker.
In image 1, the paths for midline and inside veer as well as the dive reads are layed out. Against this front, midline is more viable to the left while inside veer is more viable to the right. On the left side, there is a 3-tech or B-gap defensive tackle. He is right in the path of inside veer, which can make the play not impossible, but more difficult. There is no lineman in the A-gap, so midline is a simple and more viable option. On the right side, there is a 1-tech/shade, or A-gap defensive tackles, right in the path of where midline would go. However, there is no B-gap defender, which is where inside veer attacks, making inside veer more viable to the right. Midline also isn’t viable to the right because the first defender to the right of the center is also the read, and he’s much too close for the QB to read.
These gaps that do not have defensive linemen in them are called “bubbles.” An easy rule of thumb when running the ball in any offense is to attack bubbles.
The basic version of midline is a double option between the QB and the B-back. The B-back dives right over the center, or to the center’s left or right butt cheek, and the QB attacks the B-gap to the playside. The play uses veer blocking just like inside veer, but it attacks one gap inside compared to inside veer. Therefore, the give/keep read defender is generally the first defensive lineman to the playside (as opposed to the first man on or outside the tackle on inside veer).
Rules and Assignments
The playside tackle will actually turn out the first man to his outside and drive him out (unless that defender is the first playside defender). The idea is to open up a hole in the B-gap for the QB to run, and the playside tackle secures the outside wall. The playside guard and center veer block just like they would on inside veer, but again, the first playside defender must remain unblocked. The backside guard and tackle scoop block just like they do on inside veer. The backside guard and center will often double team against an even front, while the playside guard and center often double team against odd fronts.
As mentioned earlier, the B-back dives over the center. The QB hops back and lands over the backside A-gap. This is so he can clear the “midline” path of the B-back. He rides the mesh with the B-back and reads the first playside defender off the snap. Using the same give/keep read rules for the dive phase on inside veer, the QB will either give or keep the ball. If he keeps the ball, he will immediately tuck the ball and charge upfield into the B-gap.
Read 1: The article on the inside veer talked about how the QB reads a defender. If the defender turns his shoulders in towards the QB, that indicated a keep read. As seen here, the guard dips his outside shoulder and rips to avoid the read defender. The read defender closed down so there wouldn’t be a hole once the guard moved onto a linebacker, and this puts that read defender on path to take the dive away. The QB sees the turned shoulders and pulls the ball.
Read 2: Here is midline with a give read. The guard avoids the first defender past the center just like the last read gif. Here however, the defender keeps his shoulders square to the line. The QB is taught that when the shoulders are square that indicates a give read.
Variations and using the A-backs
On the perimeter, the split ends stalk block the deep defenders just like they do on inside veer. There are a wide variety of ways to utilize the A-backs on midline. For Paul Johnson teams, their favorite way to use them is to send both A-backs through the B-gap to lead block for the QB. This is why midline is also referred to as a power running play at times. The backside A-back motions like he’s going to be a pitch back, but off the snap, he plants hard and leads through the B-gap. The playside A-back takes an inside step and loops inside of the playside tackle’s block for the playside linebacker.
Play 1: Midline double lead in action. The first man to the left of the center is the dive read, and he comes down for the B-back, giving the QB a keep read. Note the two lead blocks made by the A-backs. Another way to distinguish this play from others in this offense is the footwork of the QB. Watch how he almost hops or goes to the backside of the play before continuing playside. Also note the slightly longer motion taken by the A-back. This helps to set him up in a position to come downfield and lead block. Had the motion been cut shorter like it would have been on inside veer, the A-back would not be able to get out in front of the QB in time to lead block.
Another way to run midline is with a counter or “twirl” motion. The playside A-back motions as if it’s inside veer to the other side, then off the snap he leads for the playside linebacker. The backside A-back runs a pitch track. When these teams run the triple option version of midline, they’ll often use this look with the A-backs.
The twirl motion can help by getting linebackers or secondary players to start rotating away from the play and giving the offense a numbers advantage on the playside. At the same time, the pitch track by the A-back not in motion helps to keep playside secondary defenders honest, because the moment those defenders start chasing the twirl motion, they’ll run a play with the same motion, but get the ball to the A-back coming around on the pitch track.
A third way to block midline with the A-backs is to motion the backside A-back and lead him through the hole like the original version, but then have the playside A-back arc block on the run support defender. To the secondary, this looks like inside veer on the perimeter which can sometimes pull defenders into the alley, opening up holes in between the tackles.
Play 2: Here is midline with arc blocking, just like inside veer. Watch how the arc release by the A-back at the bottom of the screen pulls the safety to his side away from the middle, so when the B-back busts it past the linebackers, there is no safety help.
Midline Triple
Then there is “midline triple,” the triple option version of midline. The playside tackle now leaves the guy he normally blocks out alone, because that defender is now the pitch read. The tackle instead moves to the playside linebacker. He has to take the playside linebacker, because the playside A-back must now block on the perimeter, and the backside A-back has to be the pitch back.
Play 3: Here is midline triple in action. First note that the backside A-back gets into a good pitch relation despite not being in motion. That is because the QB’s footwork brings him to the backside more, which gives the A-back less distance to travel to get in a good pitch relation. Note too how the playside guard and tackle work together to take the playside linebacker and the safety. Again, since it’s a triple option, there is no kickout block on what would be the OLB. The tackle therefore can take the playside linebacker, freeing up the playside A-back in twirl motion to help block on the perimeter.
Normally, when midline triple is called, the defense is putting a DT on or inside the playside tackle, and he is closing too fast for the QB to make a good read on inside veer. By calling midline triple, the footwork puts the QB and B-back farther from that dive read after the snap, now buying the QB enough time to get a good read. Almost all midline triple options are pitched. Midline triple is another good play in that sense when a defense is bringing blitzes from the edge.
Washing defenders down
Sometimes when a defender is supposed to be kicked out, like the defensive end or OLB on midline, they pinch inside across the playside tackle’s face in a way that makes a kickout block impossible. No biggy. The easiest way to handle that is to take the defender where he wants to go. When this results in sealing that defender inside, this is called “washing down.”
Play 4: This play is midline with arc blocking, but on this play, the man who is to be kicked out by the tackle pinches inside. The tackle simply washes him down, and the QB (who gets a keep read) simply goes around the block for a huge gain.
Play 4 endzone: Here is the same play but from an endzone view.
This concludes the discussion on the midline option play. Again, this is the play for the offense that attacks the A-gap, and is probably the most commonly ran play in this offense. The next article will go over what is probably the most simply play in the offense, the zone dive. |
March 13 (Reuters) - U.S. investigators suspect that Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 stayed in the air for about four hours past the time it reached its last confirmed location, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing two people familiar with the details.
The report comes as authorities remain uncertain about which ocean to search for the jetliner that went missing on Saturday after taking off from Kuala Lumpur.
It raises the possibility that the plane, and the 239 people on board, could have flown on for hundreds of additional miles under conditions that remain murky, the newspaper reported. ()
The last definitive sighting of the aircraft on civilian radar screens came shortly before 1:30 a.m. on Saturday, less than an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur, as it flew northeast across the mouth of the Gulf of Thailand bound for Beijing.
Aviation investigators and national security officials believe the plane flew for a total of five hours based on data automatically downloaded and sent to the ground from the Boeing Co 777’s engines as part of a routine maintenance and monitoring program, the Journal said. |
Over the years, Gigabyte has given us some interesting products. More recently in the past 18 months, Rajinder gave their H55N-USB3 motherboard a well deserved recommendation, and more recently, I have scrutinized their Sandy Bridge range. For X79, Gigabyte is uncharacteristically launching only a few motherboards, of which we are looking at their cheapest model, the X79-UD3. We are also for the first time introduced to what Gigabyte believe should be a graphical BIOS compared to their competitors. Read on for the full review.
The full Gigabyte X79 range consists of a UD3, a UD5, an overclock oriented UD7-OC and a gamer G1 Assassin 2. Typically we see Gigabyte jump at the more esoteric features of a chipset, always willing to take advantage of newer features, but sometimes at the expense of the in-the-box package or memory compatibility.
Overview
It is hard to have a unique overview on the UD3, especially if we compare it to other boards on the market. The price ($270 MSRP) suggests it should sit square between the ASUS P9X79 Pro ($330) and the ASRock X79 Extreme4 ($235), both of which we have reviewed recently, so the expectation should be that it falls between the two:
ASUS P9X79 Pro Gigabyte
GA-X79-UD3 ASRock
X79 Extreme4 Price (MRSP) $330 $270 $235 Memory Slots 8 4 4 PCIe 2 x PCIe x16
2 x PCIe x8
2 x PCIe x1 2 x PCIe x16
2 x PCIe x8
2 x PCIe x1
1 x PCI 2 x PCIe x16
1 x PCIe x8
2 x PCIe x1
2 x PCI SATA 6 Gbps
SATA 3 Gbps 4
4 6
4 5
4 USB 3.0
USB 2.0 6
14 4
14 4
12 Power/Reset Buttons Yes No Yes Fan Headers 6 5 6 VRM 8+2 8+1 6+2 Clear CMOS Button Header Button LAN Intel 82579V Intel 82579V Broadcom BCM57781 Audio Realtek ALC898 Realtek ALC898 Realtek ALC898 In The Box IO Shield
Manual
Driver CD
6 x SATA cables
Long SLI Cable
3-way Bridge IO Shield
Manual
Driver CD
4 x SATA Cables
Long SLI Cable
Long CFX Cable
3-way SLI Bridge
4-way SLI Bridge IO Shield
Driver CD
4 x SATA Cables
Long SLI Cable
3-way SLI Bridge Warranty 3 Years 3 Years Depends on Region
Overall, we could consider this review in two ways. One, in terms of performance and features, which for a $270 fits reasonably well in the X79 schema, but comes up against stiff competition from ASRock offerings we have reviewed. Or two, in terms of my experience with the board, which wasn't the most positive experience. I initially had memory problems which required another memory kit, which worked fine the first time to get results, then not any other subsequent time, suggesting a BIOS update will be needed for memory compatibility. I also had an issue with the PCIe bandwidth, which didn't impact to any noticeable degree with results (it only affected certain dual GPU tests) which Gigabyte assure me was more a hardware anomaly rather than par-for-the course.
I see a lot of system bundles here in the UK that offer Gigabyte boards, and no doubt this is a board that should sell well for people looking to move to X79/Sandy Bridge-E on not a lot of money. It has a couple of unique features that other vendors have the option to use but do not (TPM being the prime example), as well as a substantial number of SATA 6 Gbps ports to use, as long as you're not in quad-GPU land.
Visual Inspection
This first image of the board is one I pulled directly from the Gigabyte website - a schematic of the X79-UD3 indicating various features. The CPU socket area is surrounded on either side by two DIMM slots, for quad-channel memory support. The UD3 has one DIMM per channel, which in the 'budget' land of X79 is standard. The 8+1 CPU VRM is below a grey spiky heatsink that doesn't seem to heat up significantly under CPU load, suggesting it is efficient at heat dissipation. Three of the motherboard fan headers are in this area - there are CPU and a SYS fan headers on the top left (both 4-pin), and another SYS fan header to the right of the memory, also 4-pin. The other two SYS headers are on the bottom of the board, and are both 3-pin.
The SATA ports are numerous but slightly abnormal. The pair of white ports don't fit in to the color scheme of the board, but are the two SATA 6 Gbps ports from the PCH. Underneath, are the four black ports, which are the four SATA 3 Gbps, also from the PCH. The two grey ports underneath are a pair of SATA 6 Gbps from a Marvell 88SE9172 controller - there are two more grey SATA 6 Gbps ports from another Marvell controller, but these are located on the south end of the board, with the other headers. Gigabyte have at least done a bit of thinking here - even though these two ports stick out of the board and are at the bottom, the only way to block them is when a user is in quad-GPU mode with four dual slot discrete GPUs. These two ports are ideal to fit in some more drives at the bottom of a case, for example when the SSD is bolted to the bottom rather than the mechanical HDDs which could be to the side.
The PCH/chipset cooler is low profile and multi-ridged so allow for maximum airflow. Normally on some of the higher end boards, we see this heatsink attached to another heatsink via a heatpipe. Gigabyte's large but low profile negates the need for this, however it does get a tad warm to touch during high throughput scenarios.
So far we have seen most X79 motherboards having power/reset/Clear CMOS buttons on board and a Debug LED - useful for reviewers when coming up against hardware limits but also for consumers if a certain error has arisen. Unfortunately we don't see these on the UD3, perhaps for different goals (compared to the ASRock X79 Extreme4, which does have them and is cheaper), which is unfortunate. Users will have to short two pins to get a Clear CMOS, which given the initial graphical BIOS implementation and overclock issues I had, is also a little frustrating.
The PCIe layout is as simple as can be, with (from the top) an x16, x1, x8, x1, x16, x1, x8 - when the bottom x8 is populated, the second x16 reduces to x8, as these slots are multiplexed. All the x16 are PCIe 3.0 to help with PCIe bandwidth limited scenarios, but again I have to credit Gigabyte for their thought in layout - I always envisage the scenario when I have two full length, double slot GPUs, and an x1 card. In the X79-UD3, I'd populate the two x16 slots with GPUs, and the x1 card in the available x1 slot (the second x1 on board). This gives both GPUs at least one slot width for airflow. Some motherboard manufacturers still can't get this right, so kudos to Gigabyte.
The back panel as awash with USB ports - eight USB 2.0 ports in red and two USB 3.0 ports in blue. There are also two blue eSATA 6 Gbps ports, a solitary PS/2 port, optical and coaxial SPDIF outputs, an Intel gigabit Ethernet connector, and audio jacks from a Realtek ALC898. Overall, this is a little simple - no Clear CMOS button, and no Firewire ports. |
CTV London
London police were called to a Scotia Bank branch at 1880 Dundas Street on Thursday morning after reports it was robbed.
Officers attended the location at Dundas and Paterson Avenue, near Clarke Road, around 10 a.m. after receiving a call about a robbery.
A man reportedly entered the bank, demanded cash and then fled with an undisclosed amount of money.
No weapon was seen and no one was hurt in the incident.
The suspect is described as a white male, about 5’5” to 5’6” tall, between 40 and 50 years of age and clean shaven.
He was wearing a black ball cap, red long-sleeve t-shirt with ‘West Coast Choppers’ on the front, dark-coloured pants with a light-coloured stripe down the sides and black and white running shoes.
Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 519-661-5670 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS. |
Show full PR text
"Subaru XV Concept" Makes World Debut at 2016 Geneva International Motor Show
Tokyo, March 1, 2016 － Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. (FHI), the manufacturer of Subaru automobiles, today unveiled the Subaru XV Concept at the 2016 Geneva International Motor Show.
The Subaru XV Concept is a design concept car that embodies Subaru's next-generation DYNAMIC X SOLID design philosophy in a compact crossover model. Its compact body features Subaru's DYNAMIC X SOLID design elements, the powerful form of a crossover, and a quality feel beyond its class – previewing the design direction of the next-generation Subaru XV*.
Main Features of Subaru XV Concept
The front, sides, and rear are seamlessly joined in the DYNAMIC X SOLID surface structure, creating a three-dimensional and solid body that is a feature of Subaru styling. The dynamism is enhanced by well-placed character lines on the compact body shape. The design expression of "Enjoyment and Peace of Mind", the value that Subaru provides to its customers, is fully pursued within the limits of the compact crossover model body size. In the area of functionality essential to a Subaru car, excellent aerodynamic performance is teamed with the ample road clearance and luggage space required of a crossover vehicle, achieving blend of function and style.
Quality feel is raised by the "Glacier Khaki Silica" exterior color, a blue-gray new color exclusive to this concept model that evokes the glacier ice. Matte-black cladding running from the front bumper over the wheel arches and side sills to the rear bumper, together with orange highlights on the front grille, front and rear bumpers, aluminum wheels, and roof rails, accent the exterior color to emphasize the diverse character of the Subaru XV crossover.
Front
The Subaru look is seen in the Wide & Low stance with its sporty impression, and in the unified three-dimensional structure extending from the hexagonal grille that symbolizes the Subaru identity to the hawk-eye headlights echoing a Boxer engine motif. The front face plays the role of starting point from which the front flows via the sides to the rear, with each part uniting into a solid form. A pleasing balance of classy silver, matte black, and active orange on the strong shapes of the hexagonal grille and the bumper expresses the diverse character of this crossover vehicle.
Sides
The rich inflection of the character line extending from the front fender to the door panels and rear shoulder, and the line rising energetically toward the rear from the lower door panel, give dynamism to the solid body surface. The powerfully extended fender flares express the reliability of Subaru All-Wheel Drive. The matte-black cladding running from the front bumper over the wheel arches and side sills to the rear bumper creates a dynamic form expressing all the enjoyment to be expected from a crossover vehicle.
Rear
The rear combination lights sharing the same motif as the headlights, as well as the powerful shoulders over the rear fenders thrusting all the way toward the rear combination lights, express a Wide & Low stance similar to the front. The tightened cabin silhouette enhances the sporty impression of the nimble crossover style. Like the front bumper, the rear bumper features a pleasing balance of classy silver, matte-black, and active orange to express the diverse character of this crossover vehicle.
Main Specifications
Body size (overall length × width × height): 4,520 × 1,920 × 1,570 mm
Wheelbase: 2,670 mm
Tire size: 245/50 R19
Seating capacity: 5 persons |
Tyler Austin is one of thousands of Canadians who can now speak, thanks to MyVoice, a new technology developed by two University of Toronto students.
Tyler, 18, is from Toronto and has cerebral palsy, which affects his muscle control and makes it difficult for him to speak. Until now, he had to depend on pointing to a few words on a board on his wheelchair to express himself. It was frustrating for everyone.
"He would throw things on the ground, he would get upset because he could not communicate what he wanted to say," his father, Eric Austin says.
But now a state-of-the-art application on his new iPad has opened up a whole new world, allowing him to independently express his own thoughts and feelings verbally and do things for himself.
Tyler taps the tablet, which highlights the words and sentences. Then he's talking through MyVoice.
"I will go to camp this summer," the synthetic voice says. "I will be able to use my iPad to communicate with my mom and I will mount my iPad on my chair so I will be able to use it comfortably."
More than 12,000 users world-wide
Alex Levy, MyVoice co-creator, says the app is not only allowing people to speak but helping them overcome the social isolation often associated with disabilities. ((Courtesy Andrew Rusk))
MyVoice is the brainchild of University of Toronto students, Alex Levy, 25, and Aakash Sahney, 22. They came up with the idea two years ago as part of their work in the University of Toronto’s Technologies for Aging Gracefully lab.
Now it’s being used by more than 12,000 people around the world on iPads, iPhones and android devices. Users include young people with disabilities such as cerebral palsy, autism and muscular dystrophy as well as elderly people affected by strokes, ALS, Parkinson’s disease, aphasia or other conditions.
Until now, technology to help those with disabilities communicate usually meant heavy, clunky machines which were expensive, often costing thousands of dollars. MyVoice costs $189, a one-time fee that offers customized set up, lifetime support and upgrades and one-on-one support to help users customize it for their individual needs.
"There are millions of people who have been silent for so long," explaines Levy, 25, who is now doing postgraduate work on the technology. He says MyVoice is not only allowing people to speak but helping them overcome the social isolation often associated with disabilities.
"Having an iPad and being a young kid with a speech disability, you go from being maybe the most ostracized kid in the class to being the coolest kid in that class," adds Sahney.
Vocabulary prompted by GPS tracking
Users can create endless categories and pre-program information, then just tap to play it. They can also write and communicate on the fly by downloading vocabulary from the internet. But what makes MyVoice unique is its ability to use GPS data to generate vocabulary based on its location.
MyVoice co-founder Aakash Sahney is finishing his engineering degree at the University of Toronto this year. (MyVoice)
"You can tag different places that are important in your life and you can associate any vocabulary you want with them. So if you were at a movie theatre you might want to talk about popcorn, seats and movies," says Sahney. "What My Voice can do is say, ‘hey, you’re probably at the movie theatre and here is some vocabulary that you can use.’ And that can help to hugely speed up communication because you don’t have to hunt around."
MyVoice has already garnered a lot of attention. The inventors received a $50,000 research grant from Google and a $2,500 prize from the Ontario Centres for Excellence.
"We have just been overwhelmed with how enthusiastic people are," says Levy, adding they were getting requests for the technology even when it was in the development stage.
Creates independence
Tyler Austin has been quick to put his new technology to good use. Recently he went into a Tim Horton’s and used MyVoice to independently place an order for himself and his mother, Pamela.
She says Tyler is now using it to search the internet and email friends. He’s also using the camera function to create his own photo gallery of contacts and to create files to communicate with others.
Pamela and Eric Austin say the MyVoice app offers their son Tyler opportunities to become more independent. (Maureen Brosnahan/CBC)
"He explores every single possibility there is that he can access with that device, he goes to spiritual programs, he watches different interviews, he goes to play games and use Yahoo," she says. "He can input and do it all himself."
She expects MyVoice will open a new world for of independence for Tyler.
"Things like money management and how to shop and pay for things and go to the bank," says Austin. "He can go to the teller and we can stand back and he can call for what he wants."
Immediate Impact
Back in their lab, Levy, who’s now a graduate student, and Sahney, who’s finishing his engineering degree this year, are constantly working on improving the app. That includes new male and female synthetic voices, new graphics, new layouts for those with visual impairments and better accessibility features for those with low-level motor controls.
"We’re blessed to be able to work on something like this. There are a lot of people who will work on so-called start-ups, say Facebook for Dogs or something like that," he says in an interview with CBC News. "They are doing things that are interesting but aren’t going to have an impact on other people’s lives.
"The stuff that we do everyday materially changes the lives of thousands of people and to know there could be just another person out there that’s having an awesome day, talking like we are talking, engaging in a way they haven’t before, there isn’t a greater satisfaction that I can imagine." |
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The BBC's Duncan Kennedy says some people are taking the day off work
Thousands of people are reported to be staying out of Rome for the next few days, over fears the city will be hit by a huge earthquake.
The panic was sparked by rumours that seismologist Raffaele Bendandi, who died in 1979, predicted the city would be devastated by a quake on 11 May.
Officials have insisted quakes cannot be predicted and special programmes have run on state TV calling for calm.
Experts also say there is no evidence Bendandi even made the prediction.
But many people said they were leaving the city to be on the safe side.
There are reports of an 18% increase in the number of city employees planning to stay away from work.
"I'm going to tell the boss I've got a medical appointment and take the day off," barman Fabio Mengarelli told Reuters.
The date is not there, nor is the place Paola Lagorio, President, La Bendandiana
"If I have to die, I want to die with my wife and kids, and masses of people will do the same as me."
Another Roman, Tania Cotorobai, told Reuters she planned to spend Wednesday in the countryside.
"I don't know if I really believe it but if you look at the internet you see everything and the opposite of everything, and it ends up making you nervous."
Other people were more sceptical, or said they would make the most of the capital being slightly quieter.
"It's all just stupid - but anyway if it does happen it would be a good thing, tidy things up a bit," said Augusto Costa.
While Franceso Verselli said that Rome would be spared because it was home to the Pope: "Wherever the Pope is, nothing will happen."
'Urban myth'
The rumours have been circulating on the streets and online for months that the Eternal City is facing imminent destruction.
Who was Raffaele Bendandi? Born in 1893 in central Italy
In November 1923, he predicted a quake would strike on January 2, 1924
Two days after this date, it did, in Italian province of Le Marche
Mussolini made him a Knight of the Order of the Crown of Italy
But he also banned Bendandi from making public predictions, on pain of exile Can earthquakes really be predicted?
They were based on work by Bendandi, who was knighted by Mussolini in 1927 for his prophetic meteorological skill.
He was said to have used his theory that the movement of the planets caused seismic activity to accurately predict a 1923 quake that killed 1,000 people.
According to the rumours, before he died he pinpointed 11 May 2011 as the day Rome would be totally destroyed - to be followed by two more catastrophic events in May 2012.
Italian concerns have been heightened after the deadly quake in L'Aquila in 2009, and reports that scientist Giampaolo Giuliani had been trying to warn officials in the days before.
But the president of the Osservatorio Geofisico Comunale, the foundation that honours Bendandi, said they had no record of the much-discussed prediction and have dismissed it as an urban myth.
"I can say with absolute certainty that in the papers of Raffaele Bendandi there is no provision for an earthquake in Rome on the 11 May 2011," Paola Lagorio told Abruzzo in March.
"The date is not there, nor is the place."
Tommaso Profeta, head of Rome's civil protection services, told La Repubblica he had received a lot of calls from concerned Rome residents but that there was no danger.
"That said, our plan is to be prepared for natural disaster." |
The Giants made another move to fortify their rotation by signing right-hander Tim Hudson to a two-year, $23MM contract. Hudson will earn $11MM in 2014 and $12MM in 2015, and the deal contains a no-trade clause. The agreement became official once Hudson passed a physical, which was not a foregone conclusion given the ugly ankle fracture that prematurely ended Hudson's 2013 season.
The 38-year-old suffered the freak ankle injury when Eric Young stepped on his foot on a play at first base on July 24. However, prior to the injury, Hudson had reversed a slow start to the season and caught fire over a span of 10 starts. From June 1 through July 24, Hudson turned in a 2.73 ERA with a 50-to-19 K/BB ratio — a stretch that left his season line at 3.97 ERA with 6.5 K/9, 2.5 BB/9 and a 55.8 percent ground-ball rate. That marks the seventh consecutive season of a sub-4.00 ERA for Hudson and the 13th such season in his strong 15-year career.
Hudson drew interest from as many as half the teams in the league, but news that he could approach $24MM over two years likely caused some interested parties to back off. Hudson had a surgical screw removed from his ankle 11 days ago and should be running by the end of the month. The Braves made an offer to retain him, but Atlanta's efforts topped out at one year and a lower salary than the $9MM he made in 2013. In addition to Atlanta, the Red Sox were said to be highly interested in Hudson. The Indians, Royals, Rangers and A's all expressed interest as well.
Hudson becomes the third member of MLBTR's Top 50 Free Agent list to sign, though his two-year contract and $11.5MM annual value is significantly better than the prediction I offered in my free agent profile for Hudson. Hudson is represented by agent Paul Cohen of TWC Sports.
Hudson will join a GIants rotation that will be fronted by Madison Bumgarner and Matt Cain and also features a returning Tim Lincecum. Sabean has been highly aggressive to this point, landing Hudson in the early stages of free agency and reaching extensions with Lincecum and Hunter Pence to prevent them from ever hitting the open market.
News that the two sides were nearing an agreement on a two-year, $23MM contract was first reported by Steve Berman. John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle (Twitter links) broke the news that Hudson and the Giants had agreed to terms and had the salary breakdown. CSN Bay Area's Andrew Baggarly confirmed Hudson's no-trade clause, which was first reported on by ESPN's Buster Olney (Twitter links).
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images |
A delegation of U.S. elected officials is headed to Washington D.C. to urge the federal government to give Puerto Rico the same level of assistance and urgency that it gave to help Texas and Florida in the wake of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.
"This is going to be a long hard road for Puerto Rico and this is a situation that will require billions of dollars in assistance," New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said at a press conference on Sunday at New York's Javits Center, "and that will have to be done by the federal government."
The Democratic governor, who served as Housing and Urban Development Secretary under former President Bill Clinton, also used the occasion to take aim at the political protests that have divided the nation at the start of the NFL's season.
"Instead of arguing with football players," Cuomo said, whose name has been mentioned as a possible 2020 presidential contender. "Put the politics aside and focus on the Americans that are in desperate need. And those are the people in Puerto Rico."
He added: "We will speak with one voice…and the message is simple, Puerto Rico needs help, it needs federal help, and it needs it now."
The congressional delegation will include New York Congressional Democrats, Reps. Nydia Velazquez and José Serrano, who were both present at Sunday's conference.
"This is a massive disaster that requires a massive respose, especially from the Federal government," Velazquez said.
Velazquez, who on Friday traveled with Cuomo to Puerto Rico on a relief flight to deliver essential supplies, also gave an account of just how severe the damage is on the ground.
"We are exasperatied, we are frustrated because still we haven't been able to connect," she said. The congresswoman said she was still unable to reach her brothers and sisters on the island, due to the severe damages of the island's communications system.
Overall, 95.6 percent of cell sites are out of service on the island after Hurricane Maria hit, with 18 out of the 78 total counties having 100 percent of their cellular services out, according to the most recent Federal Communications Status Report. |
HARLOW, England, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- A 92-year-old British woman said she was "taken aback" when a store clerk refused to sell her alcohol because she didn't have her ID card.
Diane Taylor, a Harlow, England, great-grandmother, said she stopped at the local One Stop Shop to buy a bottle of whiskey for her son and was asked to produce her photo ID, The Mirror reported Monday.
"It seemed so stupid I thought the cashier was complimenting me," Taylor said. "But then I realized that she was being serious so I pulled out my bus pass, my blood donor's card but it was no good. She said she wanted proof of age. I was so taken aback I didn't know what to do."
"I am 101 percent with them for checking young people but carrying it to that length is just ridiculous," she said. "No one can convince me I look under 25 -- I'd only take 78 at a push."
A spokesman for the store apologized for the inconvenience but said store policy requires proof of age to purchase alcohol. |
Have you ever heard of inspiring stories where people rise to impossible challenges and triumph? I’ve always wondered what gave them the resilience few others possess.
Lindsay Fox, Australia’s 10th richest person in Australia, grew up with an abusive father. So did Christina Aguilera (celebrity), Tina Turner (celebrity), Gloria Steinem (writer), Billy Hudson (entrepreneur & Professor), Maya Angelou (author and poet) and of course, the most famous example, Oprah Winfrey.
Yet we hear very little of what psychologists call “posttraumatic growth”. For example, a casual survey by Martin Seligman from the University of Pennsylvania, found that only 10% of his respondents are aware of the term. What is more widely known (97%) is its evil twin: post-traumatic disorder.
And that, he said, is the first problem: if you are aware only of the bad consequences of adversity, you’ll assume that’s where you are headed. This is why most people live life to avoid traumas.
When an awful event does happen – some of which, of course, are inevitable – they’ll actually talk themselves into depression. It is, after all, the only reaction you know of.
What more people need to be aware of is that growth, or at least resilience, is actually the normal reaction. If you experience anger, bitterness, grief and/or bursts into tears when something awful happens, that doesn’t mean you’re “going under”.
It just means you’re human.
7 More Factors of Posttraumatic Growth
Recognizing the growth potential of adversity is but one factor of posttraumatic growth. A number of research studies have since been conducted and here are 6 more factors that may explain why some grow while others break:
1. Spirituality
A study published in 2008 by psychologists O’Rourke, Tallman and Altmaier found that spirituality is highly correlated with posttraumatic growth. There are a few “common sense” explanations, but your guess is as good as mine.
So they did a follow up study and found that forgiveness predicted posttraumatic growth. Want to grow out of a trauma? Let go revenge and hatred.
2. Social Support
Those who suffer alone are more likely to break, researchers have found. But unfortunately, males tend to grief alone in an effort to hide vulnerability – making them lesslikelytogrowafteratrauma.
Those who surround themselves with supportive people, on the other hand, are more likely to come out stronger when an adversity hits. And if you think only friends and families can do that for you, think again.
Support from those who have had your experience can be just as helpful – even if those people are strangers. Back in the day, this takes the form of bereavement groups. Today, it can be a Facebook group or an online community.
3. Opportunity For Emotional Disclosure
A peculiar thing pops out when you read stories about those who thrive after an abuse. Almost always, there’s someone in their life they can talk to. For Oprah, it was her mother (who was also being abused by her husband). For others, it was a sibling, a neighbour or a best friend.
As it turns out, the opportunity for emotional disclosure is a huge factor in post-traumatic growth. Being able to “let it out”, matters big time.
But here’s the surprising finding that comes out of the studies: you don’t even need another person for emotional disclosure. You can write in a diary or talk into a recorder. And all you need is 30 minutes a day.
4. Narrative Changes
Whether you grow or you break after an adversity depends largely on how you view it. For example, if you think being fired is a rite of passage to your destiny, you’ll naturally feel better about it.
The people around you are the most common source of such narrative changes. When people are facing an adversity, they are usually too busy to see another point of view – it takes a third party to point it out.
Other common sources of narrative changes: books. For example, if you read about how Colonel Sanders failed to sell his chicken recipe for years, it can make you feel better about losing your job. Who needs those greedy jerks, right?
5. Take Decisive Actions
People who take decisive actions are more likely to grow out of trauma. Decisive action means they do something about their situation.
For example, disaster survivors who become actively involved in rebuilding the community are more likely to grow out of the experience than those who wallow on their losses. This is also true for cancer survivors who begin to live a healthier lifestyle and the unemployed who starts his/her own business.
So what’s the decisive action to take when you lose someone close? Grieve! There’s this unspoken expectation in the society about grief: people should recover after a certain period of time, men shouldn’t cry, you should keep it private, etc.
These expectations often prevent decisive actions and thus lower the likelihood of posttraumatic growth.
6. Avoid Substance Abuse
Last but not least, avoid substance abuse at all cost post trauma. Substance abuse is not restricted to illegal drugs, alcohol or otherwise obviously harmful substances. It can be something as simple as sugar.
Contrary to popular belief, eating ice cream after a break up doesn’t lift you out of depression. If anything, it keeps you in.
There are a couple of reasons why: not only does sugar uses up mood enhancing B vitamins, it also drains your body of chromium, which is crucial in keep your blood sugar level stable. A crash in your blood sugar level would make you feel… well, depressed.
And if you can’t FEEL good, you simply can’t grow.
Andrianes Pinantoan is part of the team behind Open Colleges. When not working, he can be found on Cerebral Hacks, where he blogs about psychology and neuroscience.
Photo credit: ‘Flower in Asphalt’ by Big Stock |
Anyone who wants to know why network television news hasn't mattered since the seventies just needs to check out this appearance by Logan. Here's CBS's chief foreign correspondent saying out loud on TV that when the man running a war that's killing thousands of young men and women every year steps on his own dick in front of a journalist, that journalist is supposed to eat the story so as not to embarrass the flag. And the part that really gets me is Logan bitching about how Hastings was dishonest to use human warmth and charm to build up enough of a rapport with his sources that they felt comfortable running their mouths off in front of him....
If I'm hearing Logan correctly, what Hastings is supposed to have done in that situation is interrupt these drunken assholes and say, "Excuse me, fellas, I know we're all having fun and all, but you're saying things that may not be in your best interest! As a reporter, it is my duty to inform you that you may end up looking like insubordinate douche bags in front of two million Rolling Stone readers if you don't shut your mouths this very instant!" I mean, where did Logan go to journalism school - the Burson-Marsteller agency? |
It's official: the country's top regulator of the internet wants to end net neutrality. Specifically, Federal Communications Commission chair Ajit Pai plans to repeal changes that gave the agency the authority to enforce net neutrality protections—that is, rules requiring internet service providers to treat all internet traffic equally. But he won't likely be able to do so without a big legal fight.
During a speech today in Washington, Pai announced his intention to undo one of the Obama-era FCC's signature achievements. Although he was light on specifics (he plans to release the full text of his proposal tomorrow), Pai made clear that he would seek to reverse an FCC decision to classify broadband internet access providers as "Title II" common carriers, putting them in the same category as traditional telephone companies. The re-classification gave the FCC authority to impose net neutrality requirements on both wireless and home broadband providers, preventing them from, for example, charging specific sites or companies fees for sending traffic over their networks or slowing down competitors' streaming video offerings.
"Going forward, we cannot stick with regulations from the Great Depression meant to micromanage Ma Bell," Pai said.
The FCC will vote on—and given its Republican majority, likely pass—the proposal during an open meeting May 18. But that will only start what promises to be a lengthy battle for the future of net neutrality. To truly torpedo the requirements, Pai will have to make the case that he's doing so for good reason.
A 1946 law called the Administrative Procedure Act bans federal agencies making "capricious" decisions. The law is meant, in part, to keep regulations from yo-yoing back and forth every time a new party gained control of the White House. The FCC successfully argued in favor of Title II reclassification in federal court just last summer. That effort means Pai might have to make the case that things had changed enough since then to justify a complete reversal in policy.
"That's a pretty dramatic reversal," says Marc Martin, chair of communications law at Perkins Coie. "Presuming there's an appeal, a court may find that arbitrary."
Staying Neutral
Based both on his speech today and previous remarks, it appears that Pai will make the case that Title II reclassification led to a substantial decline in broadband infrastructure investment. Pai says that internet providers large and small are spending less money upgrading their networks and expanding into new markets because of the supposed regulatory burden. "Just this week, 22 small ISPs, each of which has about 1,000 broadband customers or fewer, told the FCC that the Title II order had affected their ability to obtain financing," Pai said. "They said it had slowed, if not halted, the development and deployment of innovative new offerings which would benefit our customers."
Indeed, the industry group US Telecom estimates that broadband investment dipped from about $77 billion in 2014 to $76 billion in 2015. But those numbers are in dispute. During a hearing earlier this year, senator Edward Markey (D-Massachusetts) pointed to US Census Bureau estimates that broadband investment increased slightly from $86.6 in 2014 to $87.2 billion in 2015. (Neither organization has published investment data on 2016 yet.)
'We cannot stick with regulations from the Great Depression meant to micromanage Ma Bell.' FCC Chair Ajit Pai
In either case, the difference doesn't amount to a significant change, presenting Pai with what would seem to be a challenge in arguing Title II reclassification was the real reason for a purported drop. Other business considerations could also play into changes in telecom spending on network infrastructure, such as a desire to wait and let previous investments pay for themselves before making new ones. The CEO of Verizon, for example, told shareholders that Title II didn't affect the company's investment plans. And Martin points out that a recent auction in which companies spent $19.8 billion to buy rights to use more of the wireless spectrum doesn't exactly look like an industry shy of investing.
If the infrastructure argument doesn't fly, Pai could also argue that the rules are unnecessary because proverbial fast and slow lanes for the internet never existed. The problem is that's not true. The Bush-era FCC ordered Comcast to stop throttling BitTorrent traffic in 2008, for one. But that's not all. Under a secret agreement with AT&T, Apple blocked iPhone users from making Skype calls over the carrier's network until the FCC pressured the companies into reversing the policy in 2009. And in 2012, AT&T blocked some users from using Apple's Face Time on its network. Had Comcast, and later Verizon, not argued in court that the FCC had no authority to stop them from blocking and throttling content, then the agency might never have needed to pass Title II reclassification in the first place.
Even if Pai's attempts to undo Title II classification fail, Congress could undo the agency's authority to enforce net neutrality regulations. Senate Democrats can't do much about Pai's proposal, but they are already vowing a "tsunami of resistance" if their colleagues across the aisle try to act. It's not clear whether that promised tidal wave includes a filibuster. Either way, whether in the courts or the legislature, the fight to save net neutrality is far from over. |
The electric car is yet to come but this yet to be invented machine has already stirred in a string of questions. There are various queries and doubts about the yet to be invented electric car that remain unanswered.
However, it is the looks of this electric car that continue to be the most common topics of discussion and speculation. With so many car designers already rocking the market, it is obvious that the electric car will have various versions. Every designer has it’s own idea as regards the looks of the electric car.
While the Toyota Prius has set the bar quite high with some absolutely unusual and breathtaking looks, the Chevrolet Volt sticks to the conventional design. Electric sports sedan and roadster are some other options in the electric car category that are being highly anticipated because of their looks.
Whilst driving electricity into automobiles may seem as a hurdle or a matter of inconvenience for use, designers say that this providers them with numerous designing opportunities. Since electric cars don’t require much ventilation like their traditional counterparts, the designers have numerous options to shape the face of the car.
The hood, yet another prominent aspect of the looks of a car will also have to undergo its stages of transformation. The reason for the same is that electric motors require less space as compared to the conventional ones.
There is a constant struggle to achieve the right balance between traditional design and unusual looks. So while the automobile must be in sync with the mainstream, it needs to have the X, Y and the Z factor put together to score a full mark in looks. With top designers already glued in to create the best looking electric car, the consumer is sure to be spoilt for choice.
Source: AutoWeek |
The protests in Charlotte, North Carolina are devolving into exactly what you might expect – total chaos and pandemonium.
From looting to hate-filled violent attacks, the situation continues to deteriorate.
In the following video we see a crowd gathered around a fire presumably started by the protesters. According to WCCB’s Twitter report, what we see next is just how far race relations have come under America’s first black President.
Full video (without sound):
The Daily Caller notes:
The photographer in question was white, raising the possibility he may have been targeted by for racial reasons by mostly-black rioters.
You think?
The photographer in this case was lucky that law enforcement officers were only a few yards away, otherwise it could have gone a whole lot worse, as it did for this white male who was begging for mercy as a mob of hoodlums beat him:
We’re not trying to foment racial division here, but had the situation been reversed and it were a white mob beating a black man senseless, would there be more outrage from the mainstream liberal media? |
Get the biggest What's On stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
Matt Berry is 23, a talented drummer, singer and aspiring DJ who has just landed his first residency at a new club night.
He also happens to have a learning disability - but at this particular club night, any differences are left at the door.
Organised by Life You Choose - a not-for-profit organisation - the quarterly event provides a safe and inclusive environment for people with learning or physical disabilities. Many of those it has welcomed had never experienced a nightclub before.
“Going into Manchester to a nightclub can be intimidating for anybody,” says co-founder Ken Smith.
“If you have a physical disability you may be a bit more intimidated, but for someone with a learning disability it may not even occur to them to do it for a start.
“Some people turn up in wheelchairs, some with walking sticks, some people are partially sighted, others are partly deaf.
“Here we treat people like anyone else.”
(Image: Kelsey Ann Davies)
The night is held at Club HQ in Glossop, where owner James Booth gives the group exclusive use of the venue for free. It has attracted people from Tameside and Stockport as well as across Derbyshire at its last two events.
Having the club to themselves means organisers can tone down the lighting - which can be a seizure trigger for some people with epilepsy, a condition affecting around one in three people with a learning disability - and the music can be kept at a lower level.
Besides that, it’s just like any other nightclub, including a licensed bar where members can enjoy a drink if they wish.
“People can be quite critical [of allowing alcohol] but they are adults and they want to do what any other adult does,” says Life You Choose co-director Nicola Worswick.
“It was hyper, everyone was having a laugh and people were just enjoying themselves.
“We’re hoping friendship groups will evolve from it and people may meet partners. A lot of people have been to groups all their life but they don’t have anywhere to meet new people.”
The Glossop-based organisation works with adults with learning disabilities, encouraging them to develop creative skills such as music, cinematography, drama, art and design. The club night came about as a result of Matt’s interest in music.
“Matt is very musically orientated and he wanted to do a bit of DJing,” says Ken.
“If you come to us with an aspiration we won’t just meet it, we will surpass it. We like to raise the bar.
“A lot of the day centres are quite old-fashioned, it’s built on a structure from the 60s and 70s. We wanted to step outside that and work on projects that would challenge people.”
Ken trained Matt in both the hardware and software used by DJs in clubs, as well as mixing, effects and working the crowd, while Nicola organised the venue, promotion and ticketing.
“Ken showed me the ropes,” says Matt.
“When I first joined the club they told me about the technology and things like that so I knew bits and bobs. Once we looked at the stuff it was quite straightforward.”
He added: “It was a good atmosphere. I think a lot of people enjoyed it.”
(Image: Kelsey Ann Davies)
Around 50 people attended the first club night, and numbers nearly doubled at the second event in August.
“We knew we didn’t want to do a disco in a Labour club or something,” says Ken. “We wanted it to be in a real nightclub, we wanted to give them an authentic experience.”
Ken and Nicola now hope more clubs and promoters will look to provide accessible nights for people with physical or learning disabilities.
One club night in Manchester already is. DJ and promoter collective Meat Free took over Northern Quarter club Texture for its second ‘disability rave’ this week.
(Image: Fiona Finchett)
Alice Woods, Steffi Allatt, Tasha Carter and Lucy Ironmonger have been putting on techno, house and disco parties across Manchester for the past five years with a mission to make their dance floors as inclusive as possible.
Their Under One Roof night builds on that, providing a safe and welcoming clubbing space for people with any kind of additional need, from wheelchair users to people with Down’s Syndrome and autism.
“What we’ve always wanted to do is totally democratise dance floors - this is just an extension of that,” says Alice.
“One of our guiding principles is inclusivity. That’s been our thing from day one and why we wanted to start the party.
“We thought we’d love to be able to extend that out to new audiences who might not be able to come to our nights.”
(Image: Fiona Finchett)
Meat Free have worked with Manchester People First (MPF), a self advocacy group run by and for adults with a learning disability, to tailor their nights accordingly.
Like the Life You Choose nights, Under One Roof uses less intense lighting and a lower volume of music than Meat Free’s regular nights, and the crowd is also kept below the club’s official capacity so clubbers feel comfortable.
Besides these tweaks, Meat Free strives to create an real clubbing environment at Texture, which is fully accessible for wheelchair users and whose like-minded owners have thrown their support behind the event.
“Under One Roof is a real night out, just tailored to its audience,” says Alice.
“It is incredibly social and and authentic to Meat Free, we play house and disco throughout, and just lay off the techno so it doesn’t get too intense for a mixed crowd.”
(Image: Fiona Finchett)
Some clubbers come along in groups from organisations they are part of, while others have brought family members or carers with them.
While many people with a disability will enjoy clubbing regularly, most Under One Roof attendees have never set foot in a nightclub before - and as always the dance floor has proved a great leveller.
“Once everyone gets on the dancefloor everyone is the same,” says Alice.
“Everyone is dancing the same, they have all got the same energy.
“What really struck me last time was there was a lady who was there with her younger sister and she said to me: ‘All I’ve ever wanted is to share these experiences with my sister. Now there’s a place where we can both go.’”
(Image: Fiona Finchett)
Alice hopes the experience might encourage people to give their regular club nights a try too.
“I know it won’t be possible for everyone because people have different levels of requirements but it would be lovely to see,” she says.
Under One Roof is planning regular raves at Texture for 2018 as well as a Christmas party which takes place on Wednesday December 20. Tickets are on sale now priced at £3.
The next Life You Choose club night takes place at Club HQ on Monday December 11, from 7-10pm, with free entry to all. Visit lifeyouchoose.org for more information. |
Opposition Leader Khursheed Shah says Hashmi will take time to make his place in party again
ISLAMABAD: Former Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) president Javed Hashmi is likely to re-join Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) — the same party, the veteran politician ditched in order to make inroads to PTI.
Javed Hashmi resigns as PTI president
According to Express News, the senior leadership of the ruling party including Nawaz Sharif met Hashmi at the Punjab House in Islamabad on Monday while a formal announcement of his re-joining is also expected.
Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal, Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique, Senator Pervaiz Rasheed, State Minister of State for Interior Affairs Talal Chaudhry were also present in the meeting.
Hashmi had left the PML-N in December 2011 to join Imran Khan’s PTI. However, he later parted ways with the PTI too and left the opposition party in October 2014 after developing differences with the party chairman during the party’s Islamabad sit-in.
The disgruntled leader, who had a fallout with Imran Khan over his decision to march towards the Prime Minister House in the Red Zone area of Islamabad, had repeatedly alleged that the chief was being “used” by his party members.
Hashmi had also hinted that a “third” force was behind the PTI’s sit-in to overthrow the then incumbent Nawaz government.
Hashmi will take time to make his place in PML-N again: Shah
Reacting on Javed Hashmi’s possible re-induction in the ruling PML-N, Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah said that he had told him not to leave the party since Hashmi was the most senior leader in PML-N after the Sharif brothers.
JIT making Nawaz a political martyr: Hashmi
“Hashmi will now take time to make his place in the party again,” claimed said the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) senior leader.
“A PML-N personality was involved in making Hashmi run from the party. Although, the same person has been sidelined in the party now,” he said.
Read full story |
Sarah Silverman recently signed to star in HBO‘s comedy pilot People In New Jersey, and now she’s taking the stage for the premium channel. Sarah Silverman: We Are Miracles, her first stand-up special for HBO, will premiere at 10 PM on November 23. Taped in front of about three dozen folks at Largo in LA, the special skewers such subjects as porn, religion, politics, and “the miracle of existence.” Silverman has appeared on a number of HBO shows, dating to the ’90s series The Larry Sanders Show and Mr. Show With Bob And David. We Are Miracles is produced by Funny Or Die and Black Gold Films and executive produced by Heidi Herzon, Mike Farah, Anna Wenger, Betsy Koch, Amy Zvi and Sarah Silverman. Liam Lynch directs.
Related: Sarah Silverman’s NBC Also-Ran Joins Greg Garcia’s Online |
Is a Drake and Trippie Redd collaboration on the way? It's hard to say for sure, but it certainly looks like like it. In recent days, the ascendant Trippie has seemingly hinted that something's in the works with the Toronto superstar.
For one of his Instagram stories, the rapper uploaded a shot of Drizzy as a child in what looks like a pic that could belong to his mom. In an actual Instagram post, Trippie uploaded an image of Drizzy's platinum plaque for Take Care . Captioning the post, the teenage artist wrote, "Larry Office." Drake also commented on the picture and has been liking other Trippie posts on IG.
The last hint we get comes in the form of a tweet, this one from DJ Flippp, who's produced on Trippie songs like "Rack City/Love Scars 2" and Blade of Woe." "Just wait till y’all hear that Trippie Redd x Drake collab.. sheeesh.... I couldn’t believe it 🔥," Flippp tweeted over a week ago. Drake himself has offered up no such hint of any collabs with Trippie just yet.
In other Drizzy news, the rapper recently celebrated his 31st birthday in epic fashion, hosting a party with an incredibly star-studded guest list. Attending the birthday bash were the likes of Jamie Foxx, G-Eazy and many more pop culture luminaries. Looks like it was a fun time.
Check out screenshots of Trippie Redd's possibly revealing social media posts for yourself below. When you're done with that, listen to his A Love Letter To You 2 mixtape.
trippieredd via Instagram
trippieredd via Instagram |
0 APD credits social media, community involvement for East Atlanta crime reduction
ATLANTA - Atlanta police are crediting social media for helping them drastically reduce crime in the East Atlanta area.
The neighborhood, part of the Zone 6 precinct, had a crime wave about a year ago. It includes the Kirkwood, Grant Park, and Edgewood neighborhoods.
Residents were upset at the time, but say they got together to fight back.
“We definitely fought back. We got together and strategized,” said Luana Slaughter, a neighbor, and president of the East Lake Security Patrols
Neighbors have also increased private security patrols in the area, which has helped, according to police
Atlanta police say they are using Facebook, Twitter, and new apps like Next Door to alert neighbors about crime.
“In a matter of seconds, thousands and thousands of neighbors could be looking for this one vehicle,” said Slaughter.
And the numbers speak for themselves.
Robbery is down 44 percent, burglary is down 18 percent, murder is down 100 percent, larceny from a car is down 12 percent, and auto theft is down 48 percent over last year, according to statistics provided to Channel 2 Action News by the Atlanta Police Department.
“They are better informed, and it helps us in the front end because they can share that information with their neighbors,” said Major Timothy Peek. “We are collectively sharing information, across the entire zone so we all know who we are looking, why we are looking for them, thus getting those eyes and ears out on the street.” |
The chief judge for the US District Court of Guam [official website] on Friday struck down the territory’s same-sex marriage ban. The ruling came in a lawsuit [complaint, PDF] filed in April by same-sex couple Kathleen Aguero and Loretta Pangelinan after they were denied a marriage license. Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood ruled from the bench [AP report] after a hearing Friday morning, finding the ban violates the couple’s right to equal protection under the law. The ruling is set to take effect Tuesday morning. A written decision is expected to follow.
In April Guam’s attorney general directed officials to begin processing same-sex marriage applications [JURIST report], but the Department of Public Health and Social Services refused the request until a legal opinion was released. The US Supreme Court is expected to rule on the issue of same-sex marriage by the end of June. The court heard oral arguments [JURIST report] in Obergefell v. Hodges [SCOTUSblog materials] in April. |
Kyodo News / AP A woman wearing a mask walk through a street covered by dense smog in Harbin, northern China, Oct. 21, 2013.
Related China smog shuts city of 11 million people Reuters
Winter is coming, that’s for sure. The northeastern city of Harbin today ushered in the season with smog so thick that visibility was reportedly limited to 10 meters in places. Classes were canceled, roads closed, and planes grounded.
State media said the PM 2.5 reading (which measures the level of harmful particulate matter in the air) “exceeded” 500. A Reuters report put the figure at 1000, or 40 times higher than what the World Health Organization deems safe. Photographs from the city show air so murky it would be easy to mistake Monday morning for deep, dark night.
The shutdown in Harbin is sure to worry residents of northern China as the region heads into what promises to be another long, dirty winter. China’s northeast is plagued year-round by air pollution, the result of factory emissions and massive growth in the number of vehicles on the road. Things get worse, however, when the heaters crank up, increasing the amount of coal that gets burned. Harbin’s current smog comes the day after the city turned on its heaters.
MORE: The 10 Most Polluted Cities in the World
It’s not the first time bad air has brought a Chinese city to a halt. Last year, Beijing was gripped by a weeks-long airpocalypse that sent families scrambling for cover and bolstered sales of face masks and air-purifiers. By choking the nation’s capital in its embrace, that haze helped put pollution on the national agenda, with officials finally recognizing, and promising to address, the problem.
But there’s no easy fix. In September, Beijing unveiled a new blueprint for improving the air by 2017. China will need to spend nearly 5 trillion yuan, or $817 billion to fight pollution, said a spokesman for the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Environmental Protection, with $163 billion of that spent in the capital alone. Last week, as the air turned cold and the pollution spiked, officials announced a set of color-coded emergency measures for bad pollution days. A red alert for toxic air? Sure, that could work. If you can see it through the smog.
MORE: Spring Sandstorms Add to China’s Bad Air Misery
Eerie Smog Descends On Northern China Imaginechina / AP 1 of 10
Wearing face masks to combat air pollution has become so common in Chinese cities, one designer is working to make the utilitarian accessory into a fashion statement: |
If you google around about how to build an osx kext you will find very few results, a few email messages saying not to bother or that it it impossible.
So what’s all the voodoo about. A few defines, some linker options, some compiler options. Also a special info.c file and Info.plist.
Note: if you want to sign your kernel module you will need to apply to apple for a special kernel module code signing certificate.
Setup basic cmake project. We need 3.8 or newer to use BUNDLE_EXTENSION for the .kext bundle type.
cmake_minimum_required (VERSION 3.8) project (example) 1 2 3 cmake_minimum_required ( VERSION 3.8 ) project ( example )
Setup some variables for later. These are both optional if you use the default system sdk or you don’t want to code sign.
set(CODE_SIGN_ID "Developer ID Application: Your Name. (XYZZYYZYZY)") set(CMAKE_OSX_SYSROOT /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.10.sdk/) 1 2 set ( CODE_SIGN _ ID "Developer ID Application: Your Name. (XYZZYYZYZY)" ) set ( CMAKE_OSX_SYSROOT / Applications / Xcode . app / Contents / Developer / Platforms / MacOSX . platform / Developer / SDKs / MacOSX10 . 10.sdk / )
Add a debug preprocessor def. This is optional.
if(CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE MATCHES Debug) add_definitions(-DDEBUG) endif() 1 2 3 if ( CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE MATCHES Debug ) add_definitions ( - DDEBUG ) endif ( )
Add the special preprocessor defines to access internal kernel structures.
add_definitions( -DKERNEL -DKERNEL_PRIVATE -DDRIVER_PRIVATE -DAPPLE -DNeXT ) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 add_definitions ( - DKERNEL - DKERNEL_PRIVATE - DDRIVER_PRIVATE - DAPPLE - DNeXT )
Add include directories for osx kernel headers and private headers.
include_directories( ${CMAKE_OSX_SYSROOT}/System/Library/Frameworks/Kernel.framework/PrivateHeaders ${CMAKE_OSX_SYSROOT}/System/Library/Frameworks/Kernel.framework/Headers ) 1 2 3 4 include_directories ( $ { CMAKE_OSX_SYSROOT } / System / Library / Frameworks / Kernel . framework / PrivateHeaders $ { CMAKE_OSX_SYSROOT } / System / Library / Frameworks / Kernel . framework / Headers )
Add an executable bundle target.
add_executable( ${PROJECT_NAME} MACOSX_BUNDLE example.c example_info.c Info.plist ) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 add_executable ( $ { PROJECT_NAME } MACOSX_BUNDLE example . c example_info . c Info . plist )
Set the target bundle extension to “kext” and the plist file.
set_target_properties(${PROJECT_NAME} PROPERTIES BUNDLE_EXTENSION kext MACOSX_BUNDLE_INFO_PLIST ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/Info.plist) 1 set_target_properties ( $ { PROJECT_NAME } PROPERTIES BUNDLE_EXTENSION kext MACOSX_BUNDLE_INFO_PLIST $ { PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR } / Info . plist )
Set a million compile options. These were taken from a minimal xcode project.
Note: The -mmacosx-version-min=10.10 can be removed or changed to support older versions of OSX.
add_compile_options(${PROJECT_NAME} -x c -arch x86_64 -fmessage-length=0 -fdiagnostics-show-note-include-stack -fmacro-backtrace-limit=0 -nostdinc -std=gnu99 -fmodules -gmodules -Wnon-modular-include-in-framework-module -Werror=non-modular-include-in-framework-module -fno-builtin -Wno-trigraphs -msoft-float -O0 -fno-common -mkernel -Wno-missing-field-initializers -Wno-missing-prototypes -Werror=return-type -Wdocumentation -Wunreachable-code -Werror=deprecated-objc-isa-usage -Werror=objc-root-class -Wno-missing-braces -Wparentheses -Wswitch -Wunused-function -Wno-unused-label -Wno-unused-parameter -Wunused-variable -Wunused-value -Wempty-body -Wconditional-uninitialized -Wno-unknown-pragmas -Wno-shadow -Wno-four-char-constants -Wno-conversion -Wconstant-conversion -Wint-conversion -Wbool-conversion -Wenum-conversion -Wshorten-64-to-32 -Wpointer-sign -Wno-newline-eof -fasm-blocks -fstrict-aliasing -Wdeprecated-declarations -mmacosx-version-min=10.10 -Wno-sign-conversion -Winfinite-recursion -iquote ) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 add_compile_options ( $ { PROJECT_NAME } - x c - arch x86_64 - fmessage - length = 0 - fdiagnostics - show - note - include - stack - fmacro - backtrace - limit = 0 - nostdinc - std = gnu99 - fmodules - gmodules - Wnon - modular - include - in - framework - module - Werror = non - modular - include - in - framework - module - fno - builtin - Wno - trigraphs - msoft - float - O0 - fno - common - mkernel - Wno - missing - field - initializers - Wno - missing - prototypes - Werror = return - type - Wdocumentation - Wunreachable - code - Werror = deprecated - objc - isa - usage - Werror = objc - root - class - Wno - missing - braces - Wparentheses - Wswitch - Wunused - function - Wno - unused - label - Wno - unused - parameter - Wunused - variable - Wunused - value - Wempty - body - Wconditional - uninitialized - Wno - unknown - pragmas - Wno - shadow - Wno - four - char - constants - Wno - conversion - Wconstant - conversion - Wint - conversion - Wbool - conversion - Wenum - conversion - Wshorten - 64 - to - 32 - Wpointer - sign - Wno - newline - eof - fasm - blocks - fstrict - aliasing - Wdeprecated - declarations - mmacosx - version - min = 10.10 - Wno - sign - conversion - Winfinite - recursion - iquote )
Add the libraries required for the kernel module and linker options.
Note: The -mmacosx-version-min=10.10 can be removed or changed to support older versions of OSX.
target_link_libraries(${PROJECT_NAME} "-lkmodc++" "-lkmod" "-lcc_kext" "-arch x86_64" "-mmacosx-version-min=10.10" "-nostdlib" "-Xlinker -object_path_lto" "-Xlinker -export_dynamic" "-Xlinker -kext" ) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 target_link_libraries ( $ { PROJECT_NAME } "-lkmodc++" "-lkmod" "-lcc_kext" "-arch x86_64" "-mmacosx-version-min=10.10" "-nostdlib" "-Xlinker -object_path_lto" "-Xlinker -export_dynamic" "-Xlinker -kext" )
Add a custom target to sign the kernel module. This can be skipped if code signing isn’t needed.
add_custom_command (TARGET ${PROJECT_NAME} POST_BUILD COMMENT "Code Signing Kext With: ${CODE_SIGN_ID}" VERBATIM COMMAND /usr/bin/codesign -s "${CODE_SIGN_ID}" "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/${PROJECT_NAME}.kext" ) 1 2 3 4 5 6 add_custom_command ( TARGET $ { PROJECT_NAME } POST_BUILD COMMENT "Code Signing Kext With: ${CODE_SIGN_ID}" VERBATIM COMMAND / usr / bin / codesign - s "${CODE_SIGN_ID}" "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/${PROJECT_NAME}.kext" )
The example.c file:
#include <sys/kernel_types.h> #include <sys/systm.h> kern_return_t example_start(kmod_info_t * ki, void *d) { printf("Loaded example
"); return KERN_SUCCESS; } kern_return_t example_stop(kmod_info_t *ki, void *d) { printf("example unloading.
"); return KERN_SUCCESS; } 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 #include <sys/kernel_types.h> #include <sys/systm.h> kern_return_t example_start ( kmod_info_t * ki , void * d ) { printf ( "Loaded example
" ) ; return KERN_SUCCESS ; } kern_return_t example_stop ( kmod_info_t * ki , void * d ) { printf ( "example unloading.
" ) ; return KERN_SUCCESS ; }
The example_info.c File. This is usually generated by xcode during the build process.
It just sets the main entry points to example_start and example_stop
#include <mach/mach_types.h> extern kern_return_t _start(kmod_info_t *ki, void *data); extern kern_return_t _stop(kmod_info_t *ki, void *data); __private_extern__ kern_return_t example_start(kmod_info_t *ki, void *data); __private_extern__ kern_return_t example_stop(kmod_info_t *ki, void *data); __attribute__((visibility("default"))) KMOD_EXPLICIT_DECL(com.example, "1.0.0d1", _start, _stop) __private_extern__ kmod_start_func_t *_realmain = example_start; __private_extern__ kmod_stop_func_t *_antimain = example_stop; __private_extern__ int _kext_apple_cc = __APPLE_CC__ ; 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 #include <mach/mach_types.h> extern kern_return_t _start ( kmod_info_t * ki , void * data ) ; extern kern_return_t _stop ( kmod_info_t * ki , void * data ) ; __private_extern__ kern_return_t example_start ( kmod_info_t * ki , void * data ) ; __private_extern__ kern_return_t example_stop ( kmod_info_t * ki , void * data ) ; __attribute__ ( ( visibility ( "default" ) ) ) KMOD_EXPLICIT_DECL ( com . example , "1.0.0d1" , _start , _stop ) __private_extern__ kmod_start_func_t * _realmain = example_start ; __private_extern__ kmod_stop_func_t * _antimain = example_stop ; __private_extern__ int _kext_apple_cc = __APPLE_CC_ _ ;
The complete cmake file.
cmake_minimum_required (VERSION 3.8) project (example) set(CODE_SIGN_ID "Developer ID Application: Your Name. (XYZZYYZYZY)") set(CMAKE_OSX_SYSROOT /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.11.sdk/) if(CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE MATCHES Debug) add_definitions(-DDEBUG) endif() add_definitions( -DKERNEL -DKERNEL_PRIVATE -DDRIVER_PRIVATE -DAPPLE -DNeXT ) include_directories( ${CMAKE_OSX_SYSROOT}/System/Library/Frameworks/Kernel.framework/PrivateHeaders ${CMAKE_OSX_SYSROOT}/System/Library/Frameworks/Kernel.framework/Headers ) add_executable( ${PROJECT_NAME} MACOSX_BUNDLE example.c example_info.c Info.plist ) set_target_properties(${PROJECT_NAME} PROPERTIES BUNDLE_EXTENSION kext MACOSX_BUNDLE_INFO_PLIST ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/Info.plist) add_compile_options(${PROJECT_NAME} -x c -arch x86_64 -fmessage-length=0 -fdiagnostics-show-note-include-stack -fmacro-backtrace-limit=0 -nostdinc -std=gnu99 -fmodules -gmodules -Wnon-modular-include-in-framework-module -Werror=non-modular-include-in-framework-module -fno-builtin -Wno-trigraphs -msoft-float -O0 -fno-common -mkernel -Wno-missing-field-initializers -Wno-missing-prototypes -Werror=return-type -Wdocumentation -Wunreachable-code -Werror=deprecated-objc-isa-usage -Werror=objc-root-class -Wno-missing-braces -Wparentheses -Wswitch -Wunused-function -Wno-unused-label -Wno-unused-parameter -Wunused-variable -Wunused-value -Wempty-body -Wconditional-uninitialized -Wno-unknown-pragmas -Wno-shadow -Wno-four-char-constants -Wno-conversion -Wconstant-conversion -Wint-conversion -Wbool-conversion -Wenum-conversion -Wshorten-64-to-32 -Wpointer-sign -Wno-newline-eof -fasm-blocks -fstrict-aliasing -Wdeprecated-declarations -mmacosx-version-min=10.11 -Wno-sign-conversion -Winfinite-recursion -iquote ) # delete this to not code sign target_link_libraries(${PROJECT_NAME} "-lkmodc++" "-lkmod" "-lcc_kext" "-arch x86_64" "-mmacosx-version-min=10.11" "-nostdlib" "-Xlinker -object_path_lto" "-Xlinker -export_dynamic" "-Xlinker -kext" ) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 cmake_minimum_required ( VERSION 3.8 ) project ( example ) set ( CODE_SIGN _ ID "Developer ID Application: Your Name. (XYZZYYZYZY)" ) set ( CMAKE_OSX_SYSROOT / Applications / Xcode . app / Contents / Developer / Platforms / MacOSX . platform / Developer / SDKs / MacOSX10 . 11.sdk / ) if ( CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE MATCHES Debug ) add_definitions ( - DDEBUG ) endif ( ) add_definitions ( - DKERNEL - DKERNEL_PRIVATE - DDRIVER_PRIVATE - DAPPLE - DNeXT ) include_directories ( $ { CMAKE_OSX_SYSROOT } / System / Library / Frameworks / Kernel . framework / PrivateHeaders $ { CMAKE_OSX_SYSROOT } / System / Library / Frameworks / Kernel . framework / Headers ) add_executable ( $ { PROJECT_NAME } MACOSX_BUNDLE example . c example_info . c Info . plist ) set_target_properties ( $ { PROJECT_NAME } PROPERTIES BUNDLE_EXTENSION kext MACOSX_BUNDLE_INFO_PLIST $ { PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR } / Info . plist ) add_compile_options ( $ { PROJECT_NAME } - x c - arch x86_64 - fmessage - length = 0 - fdiagnostics - show - note - include - stack - fmacro - backtrace - limit = 0 - nostdinc - std = gnu99 - fmodules - gmodules - Wnon - modular - include - in - framework - module - Werror = non - modular - include - in - framework - module - fno - builtin - Wno - trigraphs - msoft - float - O0 - fno - common - mkernel - Wno - missing - field - initializers - Wno - missing - prototypes - Werror = return - type - Wdocumentation - Wunreachable - code - Werror = deprecated - objc - isa - usage - Werror = objc - root - class - Wno - missing - braces - Wparentheses - Wswitch - Wunused - function - Wno - unused - label - Wno - unused - parameter - Wunused - variable - Wunused - value - Wempty - body - Wconditional - uninitialized - Wno - unknown - pragmas - Wno - shadow - Wno - four - char - constants - Wno - conversion - Wconstant - conversion - Wint - conversion - Wbool - conversion - Wenum - conversion - Wshorten - 64 - to - 32 - Wpointer - sign - Wno - newline - eof - fasm - blocks - fstrict - aliasing - Wdeprecated - declarations - mmacosx - version - min = 10.11 - Wno - sign - conversion - Winfinite - recursion - iquote ) # delete this to not code sign target_link_libraries ( $ { PROJECT_NAME } "-lkmodc++" "-lkmod" "-lcc_kext" "-arch x86_64" "-mmacosx-version-min=10.11" "-nostdlib" "-Xlinker -object_path_lto" "-Xlinker -export_dynamic" "-Xlinker -kext" )
The magic Info.plist file. All references to “example” will need to match the binary and com.example items.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd"> <plist version="1.0"> <dict> <key>BuildMachineOSBuild</key> <string>15G31</string> <key>CFBundleDevelopmentRegion</key> <string>en</string> <key>CFBundleExecutable</key> <string>example</string> <key>CFBundleIdentifier</key> <string>com.example</string> <key>CFBundleInfoDictionaryVersion</key> <string>6.0</string> <key>CFBundleName</key> <string>example</string> <key>CFBundlePackageType</key> <string>KEXT</string> <key>CFBundleShortVersionString</key> <string>1.0</string> <key>CFBundleSupportedPlatforms</key> <array> <string>MacOSX</string> </array> <key>CFBundleVersion</key> <string>1</string> <key>DTCompiler</key> <string>com.apple.compilers.llvm.clang.1_0</string> <key>DTPlatformBuild</key> <string>8A218a</string> <key>DTPlatformVersion</key> <string>GM</string> <key>DTSDKBuild</key> <string>16A300</string> <key>DTSDKName</key> <string>macosx10.12</string> <key>DTXcode</key> <string>0800</string> <key>DTXcodeBuild</key> <string>8A218a</string> <key>NSHumanReadableCopyright</key> <string>Copyright © 2017 Someone. All rights reserved.</string> <key>OSBundleLibraries</key> <dict> <key>com.apple.kpi.bsd</key> <string>8.0.0</string> <key>com.apple.kpi.libkern</key> <string>8.0.0</string> <key>com.apple.kpi.mach</key> <string>8.0.0</string> </dict> </dict> </plist> 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 <? xml version = "1.0" encoding = "UTF-8" ?> < ! DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd" > < plist version = "1.0" > < dict > < key > BuildMachineOSBuild < / key > < string > 15G31 < / string > < key > CFBundleDevelopmentRegion < / key > < string > en < / string > < key > CFBundleExecutable < / key > < string > example < / string > < key > CFBundleIdentifier < / key > < string > com . example < / string > < key > CFBundleInfoDictionaryVersion < / key > < string > 6.0 < / string > < key > CFBundleName < / key > < string > example < / string > < key > CFBundlePackageType < / key > < string > KEXT < / string > < key > CFBundleShortVersionString < / key > < string > 1.0 < / string > < key > CFBundleSupportedPlatforms < / key > < array > < string > MacOSX < / string > < / array > < key > CFBundleVersion < / key > < string > 1 < / string > < key > DTCompiler < / key > < string > com . apple . compilers . llvm . clang . 1_0 < / string > < key > DTPlatformBuild < / key > < string > 8A218a < / string > < key > DTPlatformVersion < / key > < string > GM < / string > < key > DTSDKBuild < / key > < string > 16A300 < / string > < key > DTSDKName < / key > < string > macosx10 . 12 < / string > < key > DTXcode < / key > < string > 0800 < / string > < key > DTXcodeBuild < / key > < string > 8A218a < / string > < key > NSHumanReadableCopyright < / key > < string > Copyright © 2017 Someone . All rights reserved . < / string > < key > OSBundleLibraries < / key > < dict > < key > com . apple . kpi . bsd < / key > < string > 8.0.0 < / string > < key > com . apple . kpi . libkern < / key > < string > 8.0.0 < / string > < key > com . apple . kpi . mach < / key > < string > 8.0.0 < / string > < / dict > < / dict > < / plist >
GitHub Repository with the example. |
BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Two men accused of robbing a UPS driver at gunpoint are still on the run. Baltimore City Police say the armed robbery happened in the 5900-block of Roland Park Avenue.
Christie Ileto explains people living in the area say this type of crime is unusual.
Held up at gunpoint while delivering Christmas packages on Roland Park Avenue. Baltimore City Police say the UPS driver is OK, but two men behind the brazen armed robbery remain on the run.
“When that kind of violence and thievery happens it does sort of take your breath away,” said Susan Gauvey.
“I think that’s too bad. It’s really not in the holiday spirit,” Anne Perkins said.
The stickup happened Friday evening. Detectives say one of the two suspects pulled a handgun on the driver. The pair then got into the UPS truck and made off with an undisclosed number of packages.
“There have been a few kind of minor burglaries or thefts in the neighborhood just recently. So maybe this is related,” said David Kearn.
Police have been contacting other delivery drivers in the area to make sure they are aware of this latest act of violence and to also make sure they are aware of their surroundings when they’re making holiday deliveries.
“I think we all need to be careful at Christmas time,” Perkins said.
As for what exactly was taken and who it belongs to, that remains a mystery. But detectives are working to catch the thieves before they steal Christmas from someone else.
The suspects were last seen driving off in a burgundy colored Buick sedan.
Anyone with information should contact Baltimore City Police.
Other Local News: |
When I was working on my operating systems project in university, I stayed up all night for weeks feverishly rebooting my test machine, hoping that THIS time my interrupt handler changes worked. I survived on a diet of raisin bagels, baby carrots, and Dr Pepper, and only left the computer lab to shower and sleep for a few hours before stumbling back in and opening up EMACS again. I loved it.
Julia Evans‘ blog posts about writing an operating system in Rust at Hacker School are making me miss the days when I thought everything about operating systems was magical. Julia is (a) hilarious, (b) totally honest, (c) incredibly enthusiastic about learning systems programming. (See “What does the Linux kernel even do?“, “After 5 days, my OS doesn’t crash when I press a key“, and “After 6 days, I have problems I don’t understand at all.”) I’m sure somewhere on Hacker News there is a thread getting upvoted about how Julia is (a) faking it, (b) a bad programmer, (c) really a man, but here in the real world she’s making me and a lot of other folks nostalgic for our systems programming days.
Yesterday’s post about something mysteriously zeroing out everything about 12K in her binary reminded me of one of my favorite OS debugging stories. Since I’m stuck at home recovering from surgery, I can’t tell anyone it unless I write a blog post about it.
In 2001, I got a job maintaining the Linux kernel for the (now defunct) Gemini subarchitecture of the PowerPC. The Gemini was an “embedded” SMP board in a giant grey metal VME cage with a custom BIOS. Getting the board in and out of the chassis required brute strength, profanity, and a certain amount of blood loss. The thing was a beast – loud and power hungry, intended for military planes and tanks where no one noticed a few extra dozen decibels.
The Gemini subarchitecture had not had a maintainer or even been booted in about 6 months of kernel releases. This did not stop a particularly enthusiastic PowerPC developer from tinkering extensively with the Gemini-specific bootloader code, which was totally untestable without the Gemini hardware. With sinking heart, I compiled the latest kernel, tftp’d it to the VME board, and told the BIOS to boot it.
It booted! Wow! What are the chances? Flushed with success, I made some minor cosmetic change and rebooted with the new kernel. Nothing, no happy printk’s scrolling down the serial console. Okay, somehow my trivial patch broke something. I booted the old binary. Still nothing. I thought for a while, made some random change, and booted again. It worked! Okay, this time I will reboot right away to make sure it is not a fluke. Reboot. Nothing. I guess it was a fluke. A few dozen reboots later, I went to lunch, came back, and tried again. Success! Reboot. Failure. Great, a non-deterministic bug – my favorite.
Eventually I noticed that the longer the machine had been powered down before I tried to boot, the more likely it was to boot correctly. (I turned the VME cage off whenever possible because of the noise from the fans and the hard disks, which were those old SCSI drives that made a high-pitched whining noise that bored straight through your brain.) I used the BIOS to dump the DRAM (memory) on the machine and noticed that each time I dumped the memory, more and more bits were zeroes instead of ones. Of course I knew intellectually that DRAM loses data when you turned the power off (duh) but I never followed it through to the realization that the memory would gradually turn to zeroes as the electrons trickled out of their tiny holding pens.
So I used the BIOS to zero out the section of memory where I loaded the kernel, and it booted – every time! After that, it didn’t take long to figure out that the part of the bootloader code that was supposed to zero out the kernel’s BSS section had been broken by our enthusiastic PowerPC developer. The BSS is the part of the binary that contains variables that are initialized to zero at the beginning of the program. To save space, the BSS is not usually stored as a string of zeroes in the binary image, but initialized to zero after the program is loaded but before it starts running. Obviously, it causes problems when variables that are supposed to be zero are something other than zero. I fixed the BSS zeroing code and went on to the next problem.
This bug is an example of what I love about operating systems work. There’s no step-by-step algorithm to figure out what’s wrong; you can’t just turn on the debugger and step through till you see the bug. You have to understand the computer software and hardware from top to bottom to figure out what’s going wrong and fix it (and sometimes you need to understand quite a bit of electrical engineering and mathematical logic, too).
If you have a favorite operating system debugging story to share, please leave a comment!
Updated to add: Hacker News had a strangely on-topic discussion about this post with lots more great debugging stories. Check it out! |
Having spent time in Iran and Malaysia, there is something surprisingly mainstream about the news that former Derry City, Drogheda United and Shamrock Rovers striker Eamon Zayed is following the likes of Richie Ryan, Derek Foran and Tommy Stewart to the United States where he is about to join up with Indiana club Indy Eleven.
Zayed, now 32, says that he enjoyed his previous, more exotic excursions but “America has been on my mind. I’ve travelled there on holidays and loved it. It was something that I thought if the offer came along at the right time, I take it and I’ve just turned 32. If I turn it down now, I’m not going to get it next year or the year after. I felt that I had to take it now whereas back with San Antonio Scorpions (who made several attempts to sign him a few years back), I thought I might get it another year or two down the line.”
Second tier
“He was persistent,” he says. “He really wanted me and when you have a manager like that it’s great.”
In Iran, Zayed played and scored in front of huge crowds and, while the standard of football in Malaysia was nowhere near as high, he says the facilities were good and attendances were generally between 15,000 and 20,000, something he relished.
He feels he did relatively well there, particularly while former Liverpool star El Hadji Diouf, was in the side and doing well: “His body’s not what it was but he’s still got a pass in him,” says the Libyan international, “but he got suspended late in the season and we ended up having a terrible finish to the campaign.
“Overall, I got 11 goals in 21 games but the last eight games (which included a run of seven losses and one draw) killed me. There were 22 league games and I got suspended for one so 21. I was looking at 15 plus for the season and I thought if I get that then I’m almost guaranteed another contract. I was well on course for that if we’d just kept going.”
A large part of the appeal of staying on was the fact that the club continued to attract large attendances. “I absolutely love playing in front of crowds, the bigger the better and you definitely feel that you play better,” he says. “Going out in Ireland playing in front of maybe a thousand people, it’s just not the same feeling.
“So I’m going over with the view that the stadiums, facilities and professionalism will be great. Indy have the highest average attendance in the NASL (North American Soccer League, the level below MLS), just over 10,000, so playing in front of 10,000 will be something to look forward to.
“This is not a financial decision at all, not at all. This is just somewhere I felt I wanted to try if I got the chance before I finished football. I love travelling. I think it makes a person and I don’t see why people in Ireland don’t try to take every opportunity that comes up. And travelling and getting paid for it? To me, that just makes sense.”
Having been working with Dublin Gaelic footballer Philly McMahon on his fitness through the winter, he flies out with the intention to get settled and acclimatised before the squad officially starts work together in 10 days’ time. |
TPG Telecom has promised to bring back its controversial superfast broadband product, which competes against NBN Co, despite tough new rules introduced by Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
Fibre to the basement (FTTB) connects fibre-optic cabling to apartment buildings before using the existing copper connections to deliver broadband speeds of up to 100 megabits per second.
NBN Co has claimed TPG’s plan could damage the NBN’s business case and add substantial costs to the federal government’s budget. Credit:Rob Homer
As first reported by Fairfax Media, TPG pulled the product from sale in the new year because it could not meet a two-week deadline set by Mr Turnbull on December 14 to start offering rival telcos wholesale access to its new network.
"On 14 December, 2014, we were advised of a regulation that precludes us from selling our FTTB products after 1 January 2015 unless we have taken certain steps," TPG said in a statement on its website. "There has been insufficient time to complete those steps before 1 January so until we complete the required changes we are required to remove our FTTB products from sale." |
DENVER (CBS4)– Gov. John Hickenlooper signed an executive order that states Colorado will join the Paris Climate Agreement.
Hickenlooper signed the order with Red Rocks as a backdrop. It creates a position to help the state and local governments reduce greenhouse emissions.
Hickenlooper says the state will cut those gases 26 percent by 2025 compared to those levels set in 2005.
This comes after President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement. The multinational accord aims to substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions beginning in 2020 in an effort to soften forecast changes in the earth’s climate that could be harmful or even catastrophic for humans.
Hickenlooper also says Colorado will work with Nevada and Utah to make it easier to drive electric cars from the West all the way to the Pacific Coast.
“We will realize our commitment with colleagues in the West to build electric vehicle stations along major highway corridors throughout our state, along with Utah and Nevada, we will utilize the Volkswagen Mitigation Trust to reduce range anxiety within the electric vehicle market. You’ll be able to drive an electric car from Colorado to the Pacific and Denver to Moffat County without fear,” said Hickenlooper.
He said market forces and new technology make it possible to reach new goals. |
In a world covered by ice, Dougal is a pragmatic traveling alchemist who likes to keep a low profile. But, when he and his bat-like Familiar, Isaac, wind up stuck in an isolated town, he realizes that the key to incredible power might be hidden there. The only problem: he has to earn it. Now, he must compete against several other unusual alchemists to complete a dangerous challenge and slay a fearsome monster. But, with a clockwork tiger giving the orders, and Agent Lamia of the Imperial intelligence service poking her nose into their business, could the master alchemist Megistus really be telling them the truth... or leading them into a trap?
Icebound is a visual novel for PC, Mac and Linux platforms, as well as iOS and Android. Set in a dark-fantasy, steampunk world, it is an interactive story and puzzle game that puts a new twist on the notion of an ice age by combining it with a society in the midst of an alchemical and industrial revolution.
While the game is well on its way, I want to make it even better by adding full voice acting and putting it on mobile platforms. This is where you come in - by funding the game, I will be able to release it in the best possible state.
Demo Download Mirror #2
What's a visual novel?
A visual novel is an interactive story adventure with graphics, sound and music. It allows the reader to make decisions to influence the story as they explore the world. Visual novels heavily influenced RPGs in Japan, and have now come to the West as people realize the potential of this genre with modern software that allows the creation of visual novels with more efficient production methods.
Unlike playing an RPG, the player doesn't have to first deal with time-consuming battles to read the tantalizing story. And unlike reading a book, a visual novel not only stimulates the visual and auditory senses, but allows the reader to play the character's role for themselves.
We hope that Icebound will appeal to new players as well as those who are already fans of traditional visual novels.
Why is Icebound unique?
Visual novels are often life simulations or romance stories with a real world setting like high school. However, I believed that the genre had space for more fantastical settings. So, I decided to write a story with more mature characters, more detailed art and a unique and fleshed-out fantasy world that was lighthearted, yet contained themes of dark fantasy. While originally a small project, it soon evolved into a novel-length commercial game.
Icebound contains anime influences that tend to go hand-in-hand with these types of games, but was also inspired by western literature and other media. This gives the game a unique perspective that is uncommon in most visual novels.
Icebound also contains optional, alchemy inspired puzzle minigames that supplement the plot. Choose to complete them and become a true alchemist, or bumble your way through!
What is Icebound about?
The world of Permia has been locked in the depths of an ice age since the ancient past. Two races have forged a way of life revolving around the power of alchemy – not merely a science, but an ability that allows one to manipulate the forces of nature through the use of a Familiar - a tamed animal companion that shares the alchemist's life-force.
In the north resides the Holy Empire, whose machinery and society both run like clockwork, and which is populated by humans much like ourselves. In the south sits the Council, a powerful alliance of tribes who have mastered the spiritual arts, and which consists mainly of the hair-covered, horned feran race, with lesser numbers but a greater affinity towards alchemy. Both superpowers harbor tension towards each other, but so far it has not escalated into war.
A wandering alchemist named Dougal winds up in the isolated town of Isenbarr with his Familiar, Isaac, hoping to find a job and earn some spending money. What he doesn't expect to encounter is a web of intrigue involving a clockwork beast, a seductive secret agent, a priestess with mysterious powers, a mad genius, and a group of eccentric alchemists competing to vanquish a deadly monster. Nothing is certain... except that chaos will ensue.
Who are the voice actors?
Icebound will be voiced by a talented cast of voice actors. Dougal, the main character, will be exuberantly voiced by LittleKuriboh, creator of one of the most popular abridged series online and a well-known figure within anime fandom. A list of voice actors, excluding characters who would count as spoilers, is below:
Barzul - River Kanoff
Dirk - Matt Shipman
Dougal - Martin Billany
Edward - Daniel Gold
Guard - Greg Nugent
Isaac - Jeremy Baker
Jeffrey - Johan Bagenholm
Kai - Edward Bosco
Roy - Patrick M. Seymour
Torrun - Chris Guerrero
Voski - Edwyn Tiong
Zoltan - Zach Holzman
Bartender - Karen Kahler
Cerise - Karen Hayman
Heather - Felicia Angelle
Kimka - Caitlin Chang
Lamia - Amberlee Connors
Maia - Michelle Rojas
Nira - Jill Harris
??? - Marianne Miller
What are the backer rewards?
All backers giving $25 or greater will receive their names in the credits.
There will be two types of physical rewards depending on what tier you back.
The first reward will be an official Icebound T-Shirt printed on American Apparel, a high-quality brand. A short-sleeved, unisex shirt with a tasteful color choice, it will feature a stylized, custom-designed image of one of the game's characters made specially for the Kickstarter.
The next reward will be a limited edition poster with a piece of art featuring an exciting scene with the game's main characters, digitally drawn specially for the Kickstarter in a high-quality anime style. It will be sized 18x24 inches, and is suitable for framing or hanging. Higher backers will receive a signed version of the poster.
POSTER SKETCH:
Samples of the art will be available in future updates to the Kickstarter as they are designed.
The non-physical rewards for the highest backers include:
Personalized voicemail message - A voice actor of your choice will record a custom message for you as a character from this game or another of their works.
Background NPC - We will add you or your character into the background of one of the game's final cutscenes. We will endeavor to make their appearance accurate, but reserve the right to redesign them as is appropriate for the scene.
Where is the money going?
This Kickstarter, if funded, will cover the entire creative budget of the game, as seen in the chart of estimated expenses below.
Art, Music, Code, Website - The development cost of the game.
Voice Acting - The initial voice budget, split amongst the voice actors according to their role.
Rewards and Misc. Costs - The cost of creating the rewards as well as a buffer zone for backers who are not able to pledge.
Kickstarter and Amazon Fee - The required fees for processing the money and hosting the Kickstarter.
If more stretch goals are reached, the game will receive a port to mobile platforms and further improvements.
However, it doesn't end there. The chart does not include the living expenses of writing, designing and producing the game. The amount to make it a commercial success goes well over this Kickstarter's goal.
Stretch Goals
If the Kickstarter exceeds its goal, extras will be added to the game, and the voice actors will receive greater compensation for their hard work.
$10,000 - Icebound will be released separately for iOS and Android platforms. Play Icebound on your touch screen!
$20,000 - Icebound will receive additional cutscenes to better illustrate more key story moments. The voice budget is doubled from the original amount.
$30,000 - Icebound will receive an animated opening video and theme song (OP) and ending (ED) featuring original scenes from the game.
More Information
You can find out more about Icebound at the official website or on our studio page.
Be sure to like Icebound on Facebook for further updates! |
President Donald J. Trump met with Chinese President Xi Jinping earlier this week to discuss trade relations, and a deal has been made that has U.S. cattle producers rejoicing.
After a 13-year ban on U.S. beef following a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), China has agreed to lift the trade barrier and reopen the market.
This is significant news as Global AgriTrends calculates the greater China region, which includes China, Hong Kong and Vietnam, as a $7 billion market. However, there are still some regulatory hurdles before this becomes reality.
According to Rita Jane Gabbett for meatingplace.com, “In a note to investors, Stephens Inc. analyst Farha Aslam cautioned, however, that China has twice before agreed to grant market access to U.S. beef but regulatory hurdles have prevented any real trade to materialize.
“U.S. beef industry stakeholders applauded a similar announcement last September that China would end the 13-year ban on U.S. beef, originating upon the first discovery of BSE. Last September, the U.S. Meat Export Federation had also cautioned that while it was a good first step, that USDA and its Chinese counterparts still had to negotiate conditions for U.S. beef to enter that market.
“Since then, beef industry groups have been calling on the Trump Administration to take action on the issue. Details were not immediately available on how this new agreement will move the issue forward from the September agreement.”
In a letter sent prior to President Trump’s meeting with Jinping, U.S. Senators Steve Daines (R-MT) and Jon Tester (R-MT), along with 37 other senators, wrote to Trump, “Opening this market to U.S. producers would create substantial opportunities for farmers and ranchers across the country as China has an import market in excess of $2.5 billion and is the second largest importer of beef in the world. The current environment of low commodity prices further emphasizes the significance of trade to U.S. farmers and ranchers and the beef industry overall. We are confident that given a level-playing field, U.S. farmers and ranchers can compete successfully and increase exports in any foreign market.”
Here’s hoping that Trump’s campaign promise to change trade relations with China will soon come to fruition. A green light to serve China’s 1.3 billion consumers would be a massive opportunity to expand our global beef export market. According to Kent Bacus, National Cattlemen's Beef Association director of international trade, China has one-fifth of the world's population and is the second largest importer of beef.
In a recent podcast, Bacus said, "We're thankful for President Trump for highlighting beef access to China as part of his first meeting with the Chinese president. Considering there are a lot of other issues that need to be addressed from security to trade, we're just happy that beef was a priority issue. Even though there has been a nominal lifting of the ban from China, we are still unable to send beef into the Chinese market because we still face some technical barriers of trade. Over the next 100 days, the Chinese and U.S. leaders are going to identify a path forward where they are going to address some of these technical barriers like trace-ability, so we still have a little bit of time before we see beef enter the Chinese market."
If you want to learn more about our U.S. beef export market, check out this report from the U.S. Meat Export Federation, which lists the year-to-date metric tons and dollars of beef sold to foreign countries. Click here to view the report.
The opinions of Amanda Radke are not necessarily those of beefmagazine.com or Penton Agriculture. |
Three staffers working for embattled Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) were asked by security officers to leave an event in downtown Washington on Thursday after they tried to display large campaign signs just as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was about to speak.
The aides were holding lawn signs that defended Waters from the ethics charges she is facing in the House.
ADVERTISEMENT
“Let’s fight for Maxine Waters,” read a headline on the signs above a large picture of the congresswoman. Smaller headings read: “No improper action. No benefit. No failure to disclose. No one influenced. No case!”Pelosi was appearing outside the Historical Society of Washington, D.C., where she addressed an X Prize awards ceremony honoring the winners of a contest to build a safe car that gets at least 100 miles per gallon. The staffers entered the outdoor area where Pelosi was scheduled to speak and departed without incident when asked to leave minutes later.Waters told The Hill afterward that the staffers had been displaying the signs at the annual legislative conference for the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) Foundation, which was held at the Washington Convention Center a few blocks away. “It ain’t about Nancy. It’s about black people,” Waters said.The charges against Waters were first handled by the Office of Congressional Ethics, which was established by Pelosi in 2008.Waters said she was deploying campaign signs at events throughout the country to defend herself against charges that she improperly intervened to help a failing bank secure a meeting with Treasury officials even though her husband had owned stock in the company and previously served on its board. “These signs will show up wherever large numbers of African-Americans gather,” Waters said.A campaign aide to the congresswoman said the young men at the Pelosi event were staffers paid for the day. The aide said 40 to 50 yard signs were printed, in addition to 10,000 handouts. The aide said a similar presence would be made at other events between now and when Waters’s trial takes place, but that no formal plans had been made.“It's important to communicate our message,” the aide said.The staffers who attended the Pelosi event declined to speak to The Hill, but before leaving, one of the aides identified Waters as his aunt and said they were at the X Prize ceremony to see the cars on display. The Waters campaign aide said no family members were among the staffers sent to the CBC conference. Told that one of the staffers had identified her as his aunt, Waters shrugged and replied: “I’m everybody’s aunt.”
Pelosi's office said Friday morning that it did not ask for anyone to be told to leave the event on Thursday.
This story was updated at 10:30 a.m. on Sept. 17. |
On Tuesday, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the US Department of Justice (DOJ), as well as four US states, won a $280 million civil penalty in a case involving Dish Network. The federal government alleged that the satellite TV provider had engaged in telemarketing improprieties that occurred starting in 2003. A US District judge in Illinois also ordered Dish to demonstrate that it has reformed its practices and to hire a third-party compliance expert to make sure that the company doesn’t call residents on Do Not Call lists in the future.
The FTC said in a press release that the civil penalty would be split up so that $168 million goes to the federal government and the rest would be divided among the four states—California, Illinois, North Carolina, and Ohio. Although the $168 million award is the largest civil penalty levied on a company for violating the FTC Act, the DOJ originally asked for over $900 million. Including the state’s claims, the potential fine had a ceiling of $24 billion.
In a statement to Ars, Dish Network said it would appeal yesterday’s ruling because it had not directly made the telemarketing calls in question:
Dish respectfully disagrees with the decision by the Court and will appeal the ruling. The amounts awarded in this case radically and unjustly exceed, by orders of magnitude, those found in the settlements in similar actions, notably against DirecTV, Comcast, and Caribbean Cruise Lines. Dish is being held responsible for telemarketing activities conducted by independent third parties, including in circumstances where such third parties intentionally hid their telemarketing efforts from Dish. Dish has long taken its compliance with telemarketing laws seriously, has and will continue to maintain rigorous telemarketing compliance policies and procedures, and has topped multiple independent customer-service surveys along the way.
The FTC contends that Dish “initiated, or caused a telemarketer to initiate, outbound telephone calls to phone numbers on the Do Not Call Registry” and violated telemarketing rules forbidding abandoned calls. The commission added that Dish “assisted and facilitated telemarketers when it knew, or consciously avoided knowing, that the telemarketer was engaged in violations of the law.”
Dish settled a similar matter with 46 other states in 2009, paying $5.99 million total for violations of the Do Not Call Registry. |
The Toronto Maple Leafs have not had a number one centre since the departure of Mats Sundin. Every year when weaknesses that need to be addressed are discussed, a skilled centre to play with Kessel is always the need most focused on. However, at the 33 game mark, it is clear that a shutdown defenceman, not a centre is the most pressing need for this team if they hope to make the playoffs for a second straight season.
At the beginning of the year, the Leafs’ struggles in their own zone were apparent. They were being vastly outshot and dominated in the possession game. Although it was concerning, they kept finding a way to win, relying on a strong goaltending, and timely scoring from their great offensive depth. Sometimes teams have slow starts, especially when there are several new additions trying to find chemistry with their new teammates and get used to a new coach and system. However, when a third of the season has passed, the problems have not been fixed and the team is not winning, you have a problem.
So what is the problem? Well for one, the Leafs are last in the league in Shots Against/60 minutes with 34.9, a whole 1.1 more than the next nearest team, the rival Ottawa Senators. They also have two players in the top 10 in giveaways and four in the top 25, more than any other team. Furthermore, their Corsi Against (a measurement of shots against, missed shots against, and blocked shots against added together) was dead last in the league at 1646, 125 higher than the next nearest team, the Montreal Canadiens (All numbers via stats.hockeyanalysis.com). The common denominator of these stats is Toronto is spending too much of the game without the puck. They do not have the opportunity to use their deep offense and establish a strong forecheck and pressure the opposition since they are spending too much time in their zone trying to gain possession. The high Corsi number is indicative of the other team generating a lot of shots towards the Leafs net. To make things worse, when the Leafs do get the puck, they have one of the highest giveaway totals in the league.
The odds are Toronto’s possession game would be much better if they had a reliable top four shutdown defenceman. Currently, their top eight defencemen are: Dion Phaneuf, Carl Gunnarsson, Jake Gardiner, Cody Franson, Morgan Rielly, Paul Ranger, Mark Fraser and John-Michael Liles. Only two (Carl Gunnarsson and Mark Fraser) could be considered a shutdown type. Phaneuf is usually dominant in the possession game and is consistently among the lead leaders for time on ice (his 24:06 average this year leads the team, according to sportingcharts.com). The team relies on him in all situations, however to increase his effectiveness and reduce the risk of their best defenceman getting worn out or injured, additional defensive help is needed.
So who to target? Lately, it has been rumoured that Carolina has shown interest in Toronto Marlies defenceman John-Michael Liles (via Nick Kypreos on Sportsnet). Liles, who was banished to the Marlies at the beginning of the season for salary cap reasons and a crowded blueline, has performed well in the minors, accumulating 3 goals and 13 points in 16 games. This intriguing since the man rumoured to come back in this potential deal is Tim Gleason, a rugged shutdown defenceman. Gleason would definitely help in alleviating the pressure on Phaneuf and provide the type of presence in the defensive zone the team has lacked throughout the season. Another option could be Nick Schultz of the Edmonton Oilers. Schultz is another veteran defensive presence who could probably be had for relatively cheap closer to the trade deadline. Or if the Leafs decided to wait, they could take a run at Dan Girardi this offseason if The New York Rangers do not manage to re-sign him. Although it is a longshot, he is one of the best young shutdown defenceman in the league and would immediately increase the team’s chance at success going forward.
Although Gardiner and Rielly have elite potential and are the future of the Leafs, their strengths lie in quarterbacking the power play and rushing the puck, not taking on the toughest defensive assignments, or being a rugged, physical defensive presence. If Toronto wants to make serious on their promises of competing for a Stanley Cup in the near future reality, then improving their possession game and adding a shutdown defenceman are a must.
Thanks for reading. Please give our Hockey Department a follow on Twitter – @lastwordBKerr, @lastwordrick, @TheHockeyMitch, @LastWordBigMick, @crimsonskorpion, @CMS_74_, @TwoTurtleDuffs, @d_rocchi, @dasimonetta, @LWOSDanRussell, @ddmatthews, @CanuckPuckHead, @NKonarowski2, @LarryScotti, @PurpleRocktober, @jaynichols11, @meaghannn_, @LastWordOnNHL, and @darrinharmy and follow the site @lastwordonsport and like our Facebook Page.
Interested in writing for LastWordOnSports? If so, check out our “Join Our Team” page to find out how.
Main photo credit: clydeorama via photopin cc |
Like 'Disaster Artist,' Guillermo del Toro's 'The Shape of Water' also fared well in its debut at the specialty box office as awards season heats up.
There may not have been any new nationwide releases on the proverbial marquee, but an animated film about the popular Mexican holiday Dia de los Muertos and major action at the specialty box office resulted in anything but a disastrous weekend at North American multiplexes.
Disney and Pixar's Coco continued to make magic in its second weekend, grossing a strong $26.1 million for a 10-day domestic total of $108.7 million. It also topped the foreign chart with $69 million for an early foreign tally of $171.3 million and $280 million globally, including a stellar $75.6 million in China. The Disney empire scored a second major victory as Thor: Ragnorak hammered past the $800 million worldwide mark, finishing Sunday with $816.4 million in ticket sales.
Justice League followed in second place domestically with $16.6 million for a total of $197.3 million to date. The superhero mashup, with a current global cume of $567.4 million, doesn't appear to have much chance of catching up with Thor.
Wonder, which placed third in North America, continued to wow with $12.5 million for a $88 million gross thus far. Thor followed with $9.7 million, while Daddy's Home 2 rounded out the top five with $7.5 million for a domestic total of $82.8 million and $116.8 million globally.
Overall, revenue was up at least 9 percent over the same weekend a year ago. Helping to fuel the uptick were a number of specialty titles either opening to strong numbers, or doing impressive holdover business.
Lady Bird (A24) and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (Fox Searchlight), both of which expanded into more than 1,000 theaters, tied for seventh place with $4.5 million each. The order will be determined Monday morning. Lady Bird has now earned $17.1 million domestically, while Three Billboards' tally is $13.7 million.
James Franco's The Disaster Artist made headlines in its debut in 19 theaters in 12 markets, grossing $1.2 million for a screen average of $64,254, becoming one of only six films opening in 10 theaters or more to post a screen average of $60,000 or greater.
The critically acclaimed pic, from A24, recounts the making of Tommy Wiseau's 2003 film The Room, considered one of the worst movies ever made. In addition to directing, Franco stars as Wiseau. David Franco, Seth Rogen, Alison Brie, Ari Graynor, Josh Hutcherson and Jacki Weaver co-star. Opening in two theaters in June 2003, The Room earned roughly $1,200, but subsequently became a cult favorite for being so awful.
The Disaster Artist began its life at New Line Cinema, but A24 took over the film domestically. Warner Bros./New Line still has a piece of the movie, however, and is handling it overseas.
Guillermo del Toro and Searchlight's critical darling Shape of Water opened to $166,800 in two theaters in New York for a promising location average of $83,400, the top average of the frame. Set during the Cold War, the adult fairy tale stars Sally Hawkins as a mute cleaner at a U.S. government aerospace facility who bonds with an amphibious creature. The cast also features Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins, Doug Jones, Michael Stuhlbarg and Octavia Spencer.
Woody Allen's Wonder Wheel, the first Amazon Studios movie distributed directly into theaters by the streamer, wasn't so lucky. Starring Kate Winslet and Justin Timberlake, the period piece debuted to $140,555 in five theaters for a muted screen average of $28,111. By way of comparison, Allen's last film, 2016's Cafe Society, earned $359,289 from five theaters for an average of $71,858.
Among specialty holdovers, Sony Classics' Call Me by Your Name continued to shine, grossing $281,288 in its sophomore outing from four theaters in New York and Los Angeles for a screen average of $70,320 and cume of $908,175. Focus Features' Winston Churchill pic The Darkest Hour earned $109,000 in its second weekend from four locations for a per-theater average of $27,150 and cume of $412,000. |
In the highly anticipated sequel Star Wars: The Force Awakens, my brother Oscar Isaac plays the new Han Solo, a Resistance ace pilot named Poe Dameron, who is both skillful and reckless.
That’s on the mark. When he was a kid attending Westminster Christian Middle School in 1991, he spray-painted the fire extinguishers in the school gym. Authorities expelled him.
After Hurricane Andrew destroyed our childhood home in Country Walk, we moved to Delray Beach, where Oscar really began acting and playing music at Santaluces Community High School. His ska band, the Worms, would rehearse in our basement. I was 8 years old and would sneak in to hear their sessions. Occasionally, I would bang on the drum set, but it was often just to replicate what my brother had done.
Continue Reading
EXPAND A young Oscar and Mike horse playing in their Country Walk home. Courtesy of Mike Hernandez
To say we grew up in a conservative Christian household would be an understatement. Both my brother and older sister Nicole were enrolled in Westminster Christian School in the mid-'80s, second grade and sixth grade, respectively. I had just been born, so my indoctrination had not begun, but Oscar and Nicole were groomed to be model Sunday-school students.
Oscar, my cousin Ed, and I were avid Nintendo gamers, combing through every Mario, Mega Man, and Ninja Turtles game there was. Once Super Nintendo came out, we dove into Street Fighter, starting a rivalry that continues to this day. These were the first bonding moments I remember sharing, and certainly not the last.
Hurricane Andrew destroyed our Country Walk home in 1992. We all survived, waking up to a neighborhood that looked like an atomic bomb had gone off. We moved to Delray Beach, where Oscar began to become more involved in music, as well as acting, at his high school.
During those years, I looked up to my older brother — he was someone I recognized to be the definition of “cool.” He would use our father’s camera to make home movies, with either siblings involved or his friends from school, each movie different from the last.
Oscar says he always felt like a fish out of water living in Miami. “It has always felt kind of conservative, culturally and politically; it was a bit rigid for me growing up. It wasn’t a flourishing place for the arts.”
Oscar flunked his senior year of high school — in PE, no less. The reason, according to our father, was that it was an early class (at 7:30 a.m.) and Oscar didn’t show up on time. This is a chronic family disorder, as I too have no love for early activity. Nevertheless, he had decided he would enlist in the Marines when he was done with high school and was already set on enlisting when our parents talked him out of it at the proverbial last minute.
EXPAND Oscar Isaac talks Star Wars with his younger brother. Adam Hendel
I remember him wearing a camouflage shirt and thinking, Please don’t go. Even though it was 1997 and we weren’t in war, I wouldn’t understand until years later the severity of war, but I knew when I saw him dressed as a soldier, that could have possibly been the last time I would see my brother.
Our parents eventually talked him out of enlisting, and instead, he studied performance arts at Miami Dade College and acted in various plays on stages at the Biltmore Hotel, the Coconut Grove Playhouse, and the Area Stage back when it was on Lincoln Road. He even had time to start a popular local band called the Blinking Underdogs.
While Oscar was growing into the man he wanted to become, I was going through a bit of an identity crisis in high school, but his influence really shaped me into the man I later became. He never knew the impact of the little things he did for me. One time, he made me a mix CD filled with punk and ska songs from the Descendants, Pixies, and the Specials. I even got to join him and his band onstage — I still remember singing the Blinking Underdogs’ “I Can’t Go On, I Go On.” Music was always our special language.
Mike (left) and Oscar (right) hang out circa 2010. Courtesy of Mike Hernandez
Oscar eventually moved to New York City in 2001 and graduated from Juilliard four years later. Since then, his career has taken off.
Of his latest role, Oscar best describes The Force Awakens as a symphony — “It had its movements, and like great music, it plays with your expectations” — and his character, Poe, as an instrument — “I was like the oboe that comes in and soars above everything... I was a very specific thing that was needed.”
He does go on to say that Miami has changed in certain ways, that there is more freedom than before and that we are not caught up by the politics of our parents. He’s proud to recognize that and to relive his beginnings, but he makes it clear that he does not represent Miami: “I don’t represent anything except myself. I’m always suspicious of anybody who says they speak for where they’re from or what ethnic group they’re from... because that’s making a lot of generalities about the way people think, and... people don’t think alike.”
We ended our conversation with some ridiculous images that people create online of Oscar — thank you, internet, for doing most of my brotherly job for me — and had time for a few rounds of Street Fighter before he had to jump on another plane. In that last moment, the pressure of the Star Wars premiere melted away, and it felt like old times — just us two Miami kids playing videogames like we used to. It’s hard not to crack a smile at that.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Opens in theaters nationwide Friday, December 18. |
RET “success” means $18 billion dollars wasted
The Clean Energy Council is an industry group promoting renewables. Not surprisingly it defines “success” as being the amount of money it has diverted from other causes into the coffers of its members. Good for them. They are free to lobby. But the RET or “renewable energy target” was set up by the government. They dictated rules to generate a false market in a product that few sane investors would invest in (remember how the same government keeps talking about how we need a “free market”?).
You and I might define success in terms of more peaceful, healthier and longer lives. Or lives where we get to spend more time with our kids and less time in a rat race. Ultimately, this is $18 billion in investments that could have been used to build houses, hospitals, medical research centres and schools. A visionary government could have made it easier for markets in Australia to develop safer, more effective vaccines, or better and earlier cancer detection, or crops with better yields, and higher essential vitamins and minerals. Total NHMRC (National Health and Medical Research Funding in Australia) is in the order of $800 million per year. $18 billion could have doubled our research budget for a decade. We missed the chance to lead the world in medical research, instead we might reduce world temperature by 0.00C.
Somewhere during the next decade good people will languish in hospitals who could have been treated. They might wait for an organ donation that may or may not come in time, while an expert researcher waits for funding to follow up an idea for regenerating that same tissue from stem cells. Who knows. The patients might not be in Australia. That’s the thing about medical discoveries. When you can reduce pain and suffering, there’s a market all over the world for your exports.
Renewable energy target succeeding: report AUSTRALIA’S renewable energy target (RET) has driven $18.5 billion of investment in clean power and eroded wholesale energy prices since it was introduced a decade ago, a new report suggests. In the black-is-white, up-is-down world of spin where being forced to use more expensive sources makes it cheaper to buy electricity. The Clean Energy Council analysis released on Thursday finds wholesale prices are as much as $10 per megawatt hour lower as a result of the RET being in place since 2001. The Clean Energy Council explains how spending more can be called a “reduction in prices”. Note the details. They “found” the RET reduced prices, but in the reasoning, the word is not “did” but “could”, the calculations come from models, and they are not sure why it would have reduced prices, but they can scratch together a few possible reasons. Of course, there is no mention I can see of total money paid by householders for electricity including taxes needed to pump the RET. It’s a 112 page report. The only tax it discusses is the tax benefits for investors in the government subsidized scheme. Impact on electricity markets
Analysis shows that to date the RET scheme has had an impact on wholesale prices in most
regions. Without the RET, most regions would have experienced higher wholesale energy prices
than have been experienced with the RET. This is most evident in South Australia where a greater
proportion of renewable energy has been deployed. Modelling indicates that an average reduction in
wholesale prices of $4/MWh, with a maximum price reduction exceeding $10/MWh, could have
occurred on the wholesale market in South Australia as a result of the RET scheme. Retail prices have decreased slightly as a result of the RET with the average change since inception estimated to be -$0.63/MWh to -$4.41/MWh. The costs of purchasing certificates have averaged around $0.06/MWh in 2001 to $3.13/MWh in 2012. These costs partly outweigh the decreases in
wholesale price, but overall a slight reduction in prices has occurred. It is difficult to isolate a single driver for the reduction in wholesale prices with it likely to be attributable to a combination of factors. These could include: Reducing electricity demand – The uptake of solar water heaters and small scale roof top PV systems contributes to the reduction in electricity demand by displacing the need for grid based electricity.
Reduced gas demand – to the extent that large scale renewable energy generation has reduced gas-fired generation (typically the last plant dispatched in the system). Uptake of solar water heaters may have also reduced the demand for gas for residential use.
Spreading the location of generation to a greater range of regions, in some cases improving the efficiency of use of transmission systems and reducing system losses. If Australia wants to be the clever country and not a quarry, we need the cost benefit study before the policy.
VN:F [1.9.22_1171]
please wait... Rating: 8.1/10 (61 votes cast) |
Story highlights The former House speaker said that his hopes for tax reform had dimmed
John Boehner also downplayed concerns over the Russia scandal
(CNN) Former House Speaker John Boehner gave President Donald Trump's young presidency low marks at an event Wednesday, saying that other than getting the House to pass a health care bill, "everything else he's done has been a complete disaster."
"He's still learning how to be president," Boehner said during an appearance as the keynote speaker for the KPMG Global Energy Conference, according to a recap from RigZone.com
Boehner also said that his hopes for tax reform had dimmed, calling the preliminary discussions that are going on "just a bunch of happy talk."
"I was a little more optimistic about it early in the year; now my odds are 60/40 ... The border adjustment tax is deader than a doornail," he said, referencing a controversial plank of the tax plan currently being sketched by House GOP leaders.
As for the House successfully passing a bill to repeal and replace Obamacare, Boehner sounded unimpressed. He acknowledged Trump "did what he could," but the former House speaker said he would have looked to "repair" to law instead.
Read More |
Riots aren’t what they used to be.
Once upon a time, you had to firebomb a police car or throw a newspaper box through a bank window to earn the “riot” designation. Now, merely gathering hundreds of people together after dusk, collectively humming “Seven Nation Army,” and ignoring drinking-in-public statutes grants an event R-word status. The word “riot” once found such ominous sounding locations as “Watts” or “Attica” prefacing it. Dayton Riot? That’s a little like “pillow fight.”
Students at the University of Dayton celebrated in the streets after their basketball team’s victory over Stanford last night. Why shouldn’t they have? The Flyers entered the tournament an #11 seed expected to lose in the first round. But after three consecutive upsets, they find themselves in the Elite Eight. Not bad for a mid-major. Did you expect the students to clap quietly in their dorm rooms?
Deadspin referred to it as “the riot in Dayton last night.” Similarly, a SportsGrid headline called attention to “Dayton rioting.” But no one died. No Dayton Mayor Daley issued a “shoot to kill arsonists”/”shoot to maim looters” order. A few people got arrested; quite a few more had fun.
Hundreds, perhaps thousands of University of Dayton students and locals poured into the streets last night. They chanted “USA!” and “Let’s go Flyers!” They drank–Natural Light, Keystone, Busch, and other beverages priced-right for the work-study student. They jumped up and down. All the while, they took pictures of themselves. The pictures show that, more so than downing beers, the preferred activity of Dayton undergraduates is taking cell-phone pictures because so many people in the pictures appear to be taking pictures of the people taking pictures.
They did all this until, and even after, the police showed up–in riot gear. If you come dressed for a riot, the would-be rioters might start playing their part, too. Luckily for everyone, the students remained in the role of drunken revelers rather than devious rioters. And the police appeared, as is their charge, prepared for anything instead of itching to do something. Not every authority figure in Dayton frowns on the fun. Saturday night, after Dayton upset Syracuse, university president Daniel Curran, can in hand, crowd surfed as mobs shouted in the streets and lit impromptu bonfires. He’s not a bad role model. He’s a good one, for his students, but more so, for his fellow university presidents.
You can’t schedule celebration. It’s spontaneous, like last night’s block party. Administrators can try to confine student dissent to “free-speech zones” and their applause to school-authorized pep rallies. But you can’t lock down genuine excitement. It finds a way to express itself somehow.
The Dayton “riot” serves as a reminder that people are still alive. We aren’t all as sickly as that pale glow from our laptops or as sedentary as the man-child tethered to his Xbox. “Social” isn’t done through computer intermediaries. It’s done with other people, lots of them. Last night in Dayton recalled Comiskey Park’s Disco Demolition Night, fans storming the parquet as the Celtics won the 1984 NBA championship in the old Boston Garden, Yankee Stadium faithful grabbing Mr. October during his favorite time of year as he rounded third base, and other vignettes from an era when sports fans did not do as they were told but did as the moment commanded them. As the Dayton students demonstrated through their, well, demonstration, “social” calls for a gathering, a positive spirit, and the outdoors. We should celebrate their celebration. |
(Reuters) - Facebook Inc’s first major investor Peter Thiel has sold three-quarters of his remaining stake in the social network as part of a previously established trading plan, a regulatory filing showed.
FILE PHOTO - PayPal co-founder and Facebook board member Peter Thiel delivers his speech on the U.S. presidential election at the National Press Club in Washington, U.S., October 31, 2016. REUTERS/Gary Cameron
Thiel, who is a member of Facebook’s board had already sold more than $1 billion worth of its stock before the filing made on Tuesday.
It said he had sold another 160,805 shares for about $29 million, leaving his holdings at 59,913 Class A shares in the company. bit.ly/2zd34za
The only major name in Silicon Valley to back President Donald Trump, some have called for Thiel’s removal from Facebook’s board. Chief Executive and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg has said he should stay, citing the importance of diversity of opinion at the company.
A Facebook representative called Thiel’s sales routine and said there was nothing new to say about the billionaire’ s seat on the company’s board.
Representatives for the venture capitalist could not immediately be reached for comment.
Thiel co-founded payment service PayPal and is known for funding the Hulk Hogan lawsuit that led to the shutdown of online news site Gawker. He became a Facebook investor in 2004 with an initial investment of $500,000 at a $5 million valuation.
When Zuckerberg took the company public in 2012, Thiel sold 16.8 million shares at the IPO for about $640 million. Later the same year, he sold roughly 20 million of his remaining 26 million shares for $400 million after the expiry of a lockup.
He hit the market once again in 2016 to sell a little less than 1 million shares for about $100 million.
Facebook shares were down 0.7 percent at $180.59 on Wednesday. |
NEW YORK (JTA) — American Jews are likely to vote for Hillary Clinton in November, but American Jewry’s fastest-growing community is likely to go the other way.
A solid majority of haredi Orthodox Jews will vote for Donald Trump, say experts and Republican operatives in the haredi enclave of Borough Park, Brooklyn. While poll data isn’t available on the fervently Orthodox vote, observers say the haredim are attracted by Trump’s hawkish foreign policy, pugnacious personality and image as a successful businessman.
It doesn’t hurt that he’s a man.
“When you’re fighting a war, you want someone who’s tough, who’s going to be on your side,” said Heshy Friedman, a business consultant in Borough Park who founded the group Jewish Democrats for Trump. “I don’t think he means things literally. You need somebody who borderlines on going crazy.”
The haredi community in New York City and in the state has supported Democrats in the past. Both Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo have courted the haredi vote by ensuring social services for the poor and promising not to intrude in communal affairs. Borough Park’s state assemblyman, Dov Hikind, is a conservative Democrat.
But unlike American Jews in general, who have overwhelmingly voted Democrat in national elections for a century, the haredi community has shifted Republican in the past couple of decades as its numbers have grown, according to Samuel Heilman, who has studied the community for decades as a sociologist at Queens College of the City University of New York. The haredi move rightward parallels a similar move among all American Orthodox Jews, who include the less insular modern Orthodox community.
A recent poll of Florida Jews found that Orthodox voters there back Trump by a 3-to-1 margin.
“The haredi community clearly leans toward the Republican Party,” said Hikind, who is undecided in the presidential election. “Mostly it’s been Republican because of the sense that Republicans are much closer to Israel, much friendlier to Israel.”
Haredim vote Republican, Heilman said, both to distinguish themselves from less observant Jews and because they identify with the party’s social conservatism. He said this election could push haredim to Trump in especially large numbers because Clinton is a woman. Voting a woman into the most powerful position in the world, Heilman said, would be hard for a community whose gender roles are so clearly defined that its newspapers don’t even print photographs of women, including public figures like Clinton.
“They don’t want to be like the rest of the Jews,” Heilman said. “The idea that a woman can have the ultimate position doesn’t sit right with them. When the president of the United States makes news, they can’t put a picture of her in Yated Neeman,” a leading haredi paper.
But Clinton’s gender is not necessarily a deal-breaker for haredi voters. In the New York Democratic primary election in April, Clinton garnered far more votes than challenger Bernie Sanders in the neighborhood’s haredi areas, winning approximately 70 percent of the vote in some precincts.
Yated Neeman’s editor, Pinchos Lipschutz, has written several columns praising Trump for being authentic while bashing Clinton’s perceived dishonesty. In a February column, he wrote that the voters are supporting Trump almost like the Children of Israel supported Moses.
“He gives voice to the attitude that empowers the people,” Lipschutz wrote in that column. “He talks about the real fear in American homes, the desire to triumph, the hope of being winners again. He continues to fill large arenas, peddling that message, and by doing so, he makes the professional politicians look silly.”
Friedman, who also campaigned for Republican presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, has been making the policy case for Trump in Borough Park. A flier he posted in synagogues around the neighborhood lists four reasons to support Trump: opposition to Iran obtaining a nuclear bomb; support for Israeli West Bank settlement; his pledge to nominate a conservative Supreme Court justice; and his opposition to Syrian refugees entering the country.
Friedman changed his license plate to “TRUMP 17” in honor of the candidate’s would-be inauguration year, and believes there is a “silent majority” of haredi Jews who are too bashful to voice their support for Trump. He says support for Trump is especially strong among young haredim, who use the internet and have access to right-wing websites.
“You have a whole new generation of yeshiva kids who are right wing,” he said. “[Democrats] are trying to destroy the religious community. These people have an agenda, and when they start the fight, there’s always a reaction.”
Trump’s controversial statements and brusque demeanor have left some Borough Park Jews ambivalent. Like Orthodox Jews in Florida, several told JTA that they were dissatisfied with both candidates and are still weighing their options.
Hikind, a Democrat who has supported Republicans in the past, made a video two weeks ago coming out against Clinton due to her support for the agreement last year curbing Iran’s nuclear program that critics deem weak. He stressed that he cannot yet endorse Trump because of the candidate’s divisive statements, though Hikind expected most of his haredi constituents to back the developer and TV reality star.
“There’s nothing to cheer about with regard to Trump because of so many things he’s said, so many things he’s done,” Hikind said. “Donald Trump is the kind of guy, I don’t know what he’s going to say tomorrow, I don’t know what he’s going to say next week, I don’t know what he’s going to say two weeks from now that may disqualify him.”
The largest haredi communities in the United States are in New York and New Jersey, traditionally Democratic states that will almost certainly go for Clinton even if the haredim turn out massively for Trump. But Friedman says highlighting the haredi vote is important both because more liberal Jews look to haredim to validate their Jewish choices, and because a high haredi birth rate means that it is the future of the Jewish community.
“If you go to a restaurant and you see somebody with a black hat, long beard sitting there eating with his family, you know it’s definitely kosher,” he said. “The secular Jewish people, there’s many who look up to the Orthodox community and say if they’re voting so strongly for this particular candidate, then obviously he must be somebody who’s good for the Jewish community.” |
Update: 12/19, 9:46PM EST
Late last night we were directed by our client the DNC to restore the Sanders campaign's full access to VoteBuilder. NGP VAN staff worked through the night to ensure Sanders campaign staff were up and running by early this morning.
For clarification, NGP VAN played no part in the October data issue that has been mentioned.
We look forward to working closely with the DNC and our partners on the important next steps that will ensure Democratic success around the country in November.
Update: 12/18, 3:53 PM EST
Updating with additional information and clarification:
First, a one page-style report containing summary data on a list was saved out of VoteBuilder by one Sanders user. This is what some people have referred to as the “export” from VoteBuilder. As noted below, users were unable to export lists of people.
Second, there has been independent confirmation that NGP VAN has not received previous notice of a data breach regarding NGP VAN. Josh Uretsky, the former National Data Director for the Sanders campaign confirmed on MSNBC (at 5:47), and also on CNN, regarding the previous incident: “it wasn’t actually within the VAN VoteBuilder system, it was another system.”
###
The security and privacy of our customers’ data is a top priority. Over the company’s 19 year history, we’ve not had a problem with that; but on Wednesday, we did have a brief isolated issue for users of one of our products.
First, no NGP data was impacted by this situation, nor any Action ID or FastAction data. No client websites or web site data were impacted, either. For VAN clients, no myMembers, myWorkers, or myCampaigns data was impacted. The one area that was impacted was voter file data. We are confident at this point that no campaigns have access to or have retained any voter file data of any other clients; with one possible exception, one of the presidential campaigns. NGP VAN is providing a thorough report to the DNC on what happened and conducting a review to ensure the integrity of the system.
Here’s what happened.
On Wednesday morning, there was a release of VAN code. Unfortunately, it contained a bug. For a brief window, the voter data that is always searchable across campaigns in VoteBuilder included client scores it should not have, on a specific part of the VAN system. So for voters that a user already had access to, that user was able to search by and view (but not export or save or act on) some attributes that came from another campaign.
As soon as we realized that there was an issue, we immediately mobilized our engineers to investigate the source of the issue. While we investigated the issue, we restricted access to affected areas of the VAN product for all users and limited access to data exports. Engineers quickly discovered the problem, and developed a fix.
We immediately began an audit to determine if any users had intentionally or unintentionally gained access to data they normally would not have access to within the limited timeframe when the bug was live. Our team removed access to the affected data, and determined that only one campaign took actions that could possibly have led to it retaining data to which it should not have had access.
We are honored to work with the DNC, the Clinton campaign, and the Sanders campaign. At the request of the DNC on Thursday, Sanders campaign access was suspended pending the campaign reporting on its access of the data; NGP VAN played no role in making that decision, and contractually could not. Again, this bug was a brief isolated issue, and we are not aware of any previous reports of such data being inappropriately available. We look forward to supporting all our Democratic clients, and in particular apologize to the DNC, Clinton and Sanders campaigns for our bug Wednesday. We will continue to work with and report to the DNC regarding this issue to ensure that this isolated incident does not recur. We have and will do better.
Moving forward, we are adding to our safeguards around these issues. We have thousands of automated tests and extensive code review and release procedures in place to prevent these types of issues, and will add more. If any clients have any questions, feel free to contact me. Again, we are confident that your data is secure, and the security and privacy of your data is a top priority for us. |
Another quick AU doodle, this time of the main pairing of the Bodyguard!verse AU, RARITWI!!! 8D I actually had this finished right after I sketched the one with Shy and AJ, but I didn’t post it up so I wouldn’t just bombard you guys with messy sketches. So here it is now. C:
So as far as these two’s relationship goes, the beginning of it wasn’t all that smooth. They did not argue or anything like that, however Rarity had a little bit of a challenge to get Twilight out of her shell. She almost never broke her formal behavior around Rarity, and even with the queen’s request, it was very rare that Twilight addressed her by anything other than “My Queen, Majesty, or your Highness”. It took a couple of years to finally break Twilight out of that habit, and even then, for the most part she still calls Rarity by her official title. Rarity flirted often with the guard which, to her everlasting amusement, would never fail to fluster the larger unicorn. This was mostly just for play, though, even though Rarity found Twi attractive. Over time, the two of them grew close, and before long they’ve become good friends with one another.
When the actual spark of something more than just a mere attraction happened, neither of them knows, but it happened regardless. The two of them are completely smitten with one another, although how far along their romance is depends entirely on ya’ll.
ANYWAY! This particular piece actually occurs a little after THIS sketch I did.
Both Twilight and Rarity are still suffering from their injuries after the attempted assassination, but they are at least healing. However, the attempt at the Queen’s life has left the kingdom tense and in fear of another attempt soon. So Twilight, despite her stitched wounds still in the beginning stages of healing (she got the worst of the previous attack), dons her armor in preparation to continue carrying out her duty as the primary protector of Rarity. Obviously, the Queen is not pleased with her beloved bodyguard pushing herself like she is for her sake, and the two of them get into an argument of sorts. Also, if anyone is wondering, Rarity’s donning the cape to better hide the brace her injured leg is currently in.
Soooo yeah. Another possible prompt or somethin’ for you guys to play with if you’d like. O: |
About
DROPPI is perfect for YOU if: You have to leave home for work or errands AND your pet is home alone.
Bet you are loving our amazingly talented beagle actor. These days he only gets out of bed for at least 40,000 dollars which incidentally is how much we need to raise to get this project funded!
He believes in the Droppi so much that he says he'd do it pro-BONE-O.
Now you can Automagically Pamper your pets as if you had a butler at home!
The Droppi allows you to record a personalised message that calls out to your pet and set when you dispense entertainment.
This effectively breaks up your pet's day into smaller chunks of rest. Use existing toys you already have and set up the following activities for your pet!
Many loving pet owners like ourselves give treats when they leave the home. This is quickly consumed and the only stimulation they receive is when you return home.
With the Droppi, you can now choose to dispense the entertainment through the day!
There are already many products out in the market place however, they ONLY dispense kibbles! How boring...
Now you can set up chewing treats, dental hygiene appointments along with providing a quick snack.
Play dates can be set up with rope toys if you have 2 pets. This encourages play and provides mental stimulation compared to the past where the toys are left on the ground and ignored.
Snack time! All kinds!
Dental Hygiene (after meals of course!)
Chewing treats such as raw hide bones
Play date if you have more than one pet
Play time!
RECORD YOUR OWN MESSAGE
We have a pre-recorded chime as default. You may also record your very own message (up to 10 seconds) for your pet.
Some examples of what we've used are:
1.) Master Bruce, lunch is served
2.) Play time kiddos! Where's the rope!
3.) Get off the couch buster! I know you're on it.
The sound of your voice recording along with the entertainment can help relieve long hours being alone.
MAGNETIC WALL MOUNT
We've designed the Droppi to be mounted on the wall at a height of your choosing - out of reach of over enthusiastic furry friends.
WHY WE NEED YOUR HELP
We've spent the last 10 months working on multiple design variations, prototype refinements, incorporating feedback from pet owners like yourself to get to this stage.
Right now, we've managed to negotiate manufacturing slots, contracted tooling contractors for the molds as well and lined up all the electrical components required for production.
Now it is up to your support to help us get the Droppi into your hands!
If you believe this product can being convenience and joy to your loved one, please back out project and lets make this happen!
PROJECT TIMELINE
With your support to get this project funded, here is our proposed timeline.
STRETCH GOALS! Lets make this happen!
1st stretch goal! Sound activated night light!
Stretch goal 1 - Night light function
We've put the coolest stretch goal up front and makes your Droppi to be useful even at night.
Just close the tray and the unit activates its night light function. Once it detects sound, it automagically turns the energy efficient LED light on, lighting up your path to where you're going.
Stretch goal 2 - Extra magnetic backing
The additional magnetic backing will allow you to position your Droppi at different parts of your home.
Doing this will help stimulate your pet's mind as the location is not always in the same spot.
This can also help you relocate the Droppi to a different location where the night light is needed.
Stretch goal 3 - Backlit display
Unlocking this stretch goal will allow us to include a backlit LCD display for you! This will improve the visual aesthetics for your display piece which you proudly display on your wall. Makes for a great conversation piece!
SUPPORT US NOW BY PLEDGING - Let's make this happen! |
About 10 years ago, Tim Wu, the Columbia Law professor who coined the term network neutrality, made this prescient comment: “To love Google, you have to be a little bit of a monarchist, you have to have faith in the way people traditionally felt about the king.”
Wu was right. And now, Google has established a pattern of lobbying and threatening to acquire power. It has reached a dangerous point common to many monarchs: The moment where it no longer wants to allow dissent.
When Google was founded in 1998, it famously committed itself to the motto: “Don’t be evil.” It appears that Google may have lost sight of what being evil means, in the way that most monarchs do: Once you reach a pinnacle of power, you start to believe that any threats to your authority are themselves villainous and that you are entitled to shut down dissent. As Lord Acton famously said, “Despotic power is always accompanied by corruption of morality.” Those with too much power cannot help but be evil. Google, the company dedicated to free expression, has chosen to silence opposition, apparently without any sense of irony.
In recent years, Google has become greedy about owning not just search capacities, video and maps, but also the shape of public discourse. As the Wall Street Journal recently reported, Google has recruited and cultivated law professors who support its views. And as the New York Times recently reported, it has become invested in building curriculum for our public schools, and has created political strategy to get schools to adopt its products.
It is time to call out Google for what it is: a monopolist in search, video, maps and browser, and a thin-skinned tyrant when it comes to ideas.
Google is forming into a government of itself, and it seems incapable of even seeing its own overreach. We, as citizens, must respond in two ways. First, support the brave researchers and journalists who stand up to overreaching power; and second, support traditional antimonopoly laws that will allow us to have great, innovative companies — but not allow them to govern us.
– From Zephyr Teachout’s powerful arcticle: Google Is Coming After Critics in Academia and Journalism. It’s Time to Stop Them.
The mask has finally come off Google’s face, and what lurks underneath looks pretty evil.
2017 has represented a coming out party of sorts for Google and the control-freaks who run it. The company’s response to the James Damore controversy made it crystal clear that executives at Google are far more interested in shoving their particular worldview down the throats of the public, versus encouraging vibrant and lively debate. This is not a good look for the dominant search engine.
The creeping evilness of Google has been obvious for quite some time, but this troubling reality has only recently started getting the attention it deserves. The worst authoritarian impulses exhibited at the company appear to emanate from Alphabet Chairman Eric Schmidt, whose actions consistently seem to come from a very dark and unconscious place.
Today’s piece focuses on the breaking news that an important initiative known as Open Markets, housed within the think tank New America Foundation, has been booted from the think tank after major donor Google complained about its anti-monopoly stance. Open Markets was led by a man named Barry Lynn, who all of you should become familiar with.
The Huffington Post profiled him last year. Here’s some of what we learned:
There’s a solid economic rationale behind Washington’s new big thing. Monopolies and oligopolies are distorting the markets for everything from pet food to cable service. There’s a reason why cable companies have such persistently lousy customer-service ratings. They know you have few (if any) alternatives. Today, two-thirds of the 900 industries tracked by The Economist feature heavier concentration at the top than they did in 1997. The global economy is in the middle of a merger wave big enough to make 2015 the biggest year in history for corporate consolidation. Most political junkies have never heard of the man chiefly responsible for the current Beltway antitrust revival: Barry C. Lynn. A former business journalist, Lynn has spent more than a decade carving out his own fiefdom at a calm, centrist Washington think tank called the New America Foundation. In the process, he has changed the way D.C. elites think about corporate power. “Barry is the hub,” says Zephyr Teachout, a fiery progressive who recently clinched the Democratic nomination for a competitive House seat in New York. “He is at the center of a growing new ― I hesitate to call it a movement ― but a group of people who recognize that we have a problem with monopolies not only in our economy, but in our democracy.” Many Southerners who relocate to the nation’s capital try to temper their accents for the elite crowd that dominates the District’s social scene. Lynn, a South Florida native, never shed his drawl. He pronounces “sonofabitch” as a single word, which he uses to describe both corrupt politicians and big corporations. He is a blunt man in a town that rewards caginess and flexibility. But like King, Lynn’s critique of monopolies does not reflect a disdain for business itself. Lynn left Global Business for The New America Foundation in 2001 and began work on his first book, End of the Line: The Rise and Coming Fall of the Global Corporation, which argues that globalization and merger mania had injected a new fragility into international politics. Disruptive events ― earthquakes, coups, famines, or at worst, war ― could now wreak havoc on U.S. products that had once been safely manufactured domestically. Production of anything from light bulbs to computers all could shut down without warning. It was a frightening vision with implications for economic policy and national security alike. It was also ideologically inconvenient for the techno-utopian zeitgeist of its day. Lynn’s book landed on shelves about the same time as Thomas Friedman’s better-known tome, The World Is Flat, which declared globalization a triumph of innovation and hard work for anyone willing to do the hard work of innovating. Today, Lynn’s predictions of market disruption and political unrest appear to have been ahead of their time. Early globalization champions, including Martin Wolf and Lawrence Summers, are rethinking their judgments of a decade ago. But Lynn turned several influential heads when his book was published. Thomas Frank, bestselling author of What’s The Matter With Kansas?, became a Lynn enthusiast. So did food writer Michael Pollan. “He was writing about an issue that nobody was paying attention to, and he was doing it with a very strong sense of history,” Pollan says. “Barry understood antitrust going back to the trust-busters a century ago, and how our understanding of the issue shrank during the Reagan administration … The food movement is not very sophisticated on those issues.” Lynn’s history nerd-dom is eccentric in a town that hyperventilates over every hour of the cable news cycle. Ask about Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, and Lynn will oblige you a polite sentence or two. Ask him about former Supreme Court Justices Louis Brandeis or William Howard Taft, and you’ll need to reschedule your dinner plans. “He once asked me to read about Roman law for a piece on common carriage,” says Lina Khan, referencing a plank of net neutrality policy not typically associated with the Code of Justinian. After he published his second book in 2010, Lynn began bringing on his own staff within New America. Khan was one of his first hires. Teachout, a Fordham University Law School professor, was another. Teachout eventually ran for office and published a book of her own on the history of corruption in America. Another of Lynn’s associates, Christopher Leonard, published a book on meat industry monopolies around the same time. These works shared a common theme: Monopolistic businesses create social problems beyond consumer price-gouging, from buying off politicians to degrading the quality of our food. Analyzing the political power of companies with overwhelming market positions used to be a normal part of antitrust thinking. But over the decades, a narrower conception focused on consumer prices has taken hold in Washington. Even if anti-competitive behavior can be proved, according to this thinking, it’s not a problem unless it raises prices for consumers. Under this view, it’s not necessarily an antitrust problem, if, say, Amazon used its market position to force publishers into charging lower prices for books. If the result is lower prices, everything is fine. It would only become a problem if Amazon used its market power to raise prices. That’s not how Lynn sees it. When the Authors Guild, the American Booksellers Association, the Association of Authors’ Representatives and Authors United went after Amazon in 2015 for requiring publishers to accept lower e-book prices, Lynn penned a 24-page position paper to the Department of Justice on their behalf. It wasn’t just a question of immediate consumer impact. Amazon’s market position was so dominant, he argued, that the company could restrict or cut off access to books from publishers it wanted to punish for rejecting its pricing requirements. It could “exercise control over the marketplace of ideas in ways that threaten not merely open markets but free speech.” Monopolies, according to Lynn, are fundamentally political enterprises — not just players in a market. As the Amazon conflict demonstrates, some of Lynn’s chief targets are tech giants. That makes him an odd fit for New America, which was founded in 1999 as Silicon Valley’s think tank in search of a “radical center,” as The New York Times put it. Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt is still on New America’s board of directors, yet Lynn consistently puts the company under the microscope. When Warren blasted tech monopolies this summer, she was speaking at a conference that Lynn had organized. When Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) asked about “platform” monopolies at a Senate hearing in March, he was echoing Lynn’s objections to digital kingpins, including Amazon, Apple and Google. But Lynn’s apostasy gets results. The Obama administration conferred with him on an anti-monopoly executive order this spring, and he helped work antitrust language into the 2016 Democratic Party platform. He can’t claim the same kind of direct credit for the Republican Party’s partial conversion to the antitrust cause. But his work is changing the way Washington thinks about corporate power, and that shift is having bipartisan repercussions.
Barry Lynn and his Open Markets initiative have been a thorn in the side of tech-monopoly plutocrats for a while, and Google apparently decided that it finally had enough.
As the The New York Times noted in a blockbuster article published earlier today:
WASHINGTON — In the hours after European antitrust regulators levied a record $2.7 billion fine against Google in late June, an influential Washington think tank learned what can happen when a tech giant that shapes public policy debates with its enormous wealth is criticized. The New America Foundation has received more than $21 million from Google; its parent company’s executive chairman, Eric Schmidt; and his family’s foundation since the think tank’s founding in 1999. That money helped to establish New America as an elite voice in policy debates on the American left. But not long after one of New America’s scholars posted a statement on the think tank’s website praising the European Union’s penalty against Google, Mr. Schmidt, who had been chairman of New America until 2016, communicated his displeasure with the statement to the group’s president, Anne-Marie Slaughter, according to the scholar. The statement disappeared from New America’s website, only to be reposted without explanation a few hours later. But word of Mr. Schmidt’s displeasure rippled through New America, which employs more than 200 people, including dozens of researchers, writers and scholars, most of whom work in sleek Washington offices where the main conference room is called the “Eric Schmidt Ideas Lab.” The episode left some people concerned that Google intended to discontinue funding, while others worried whether the think tank could truly be independent if it had to worry about offending its donors. Those worries seemed to be substantiated a couple of days later, when Ms. Slaughter summoned the scholar who wrote the critical statement, Barry Lynn, to her office. He ran a New America initiative called Open Markets that has led a growing chorus of liberal criticism of the market dominance of telecom and tech giants, including Google, which is now part of a larger corporate entity known as Alphabet, for which Mr. Schmidt serves as executive chairman. Ms. Slaughter told Mr. Lynn that “the time has come for Open Markets and New America to part ways,” according to an email from Ms. Slaughter to Mr. Lynn. The email suggested that the entire Open Markets team — nearly 10 full-time employees and unpaid fellows — would be exiled from New America. While she asserted in the email, which was reviewed by The New York Times, that the decision was “in no way based on the content of your work,” Ms. Slaughter accused Mr. Lynn of “imperiling the institution as a whole.” Mr. Lynn, in an interview, charged that Ms. Slaughter caved to pressure from Mr. Schmidt and Google, and, in so doing, set the desires of a donor over the think tank’s intellectual integrity. “Google is very aggressive in throwing its money around Washington and Brussels, and then pulling the strings,” Mr. Lynn said. “People are so afraid of Google now.” It is difficult to overstate Mr. Lynn’s influence in raising concerns about the market dominance of Google, as well as of other tech companies such as Amazon and Facebook. His Open Markets initiative organized a 2016 conference at which a range of influential figures — including Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts — warned of damaging effects from market consolidation in tech. In the run-up to that conference, Ms. Slaughter and New America’s lead fund-raiser in emails to Mr. Lynn indicated that Google was concerned that its positions were not going to be represented, and that it was not given advanced notice of the event. “We are in the process of trying to expand our relationship with Google on some absolutely key points,” Ms. Slaughter wrote in an email to Mr. Lynn, urging him to “just THINK about how you are imperiling funding for others.” After initially eschewing Washington public policy debates, which were seen in Silicon Valley as pay-to-play politics, Google has developed an influence operation that is arguably more muscular and sophisticated than that of any other American company. It spent $9.5 million on lobbying through the first half of this year — more than almost any other company. It helped organize conferences at which key regulators overseeing investigations into the company were presented with pro-Google arguments, sometimes without disclosure of Google’s role. Among the most effective — if little examined — tools in Google’s public policy toolbox has been its funding of nonprofit groups from across the political spectrum. This year, it has donated to 170 such groups, according to Google’s voluntary disclosures on Google’s website. While Google does not indicate how much cash was donated, the number of beneficiaries has grown exponentially since it started disclosing its donations in 2010, when it gave to 45 groups. Some tech lobbyists, think tank officials and scholars argue that the efforts help explain why Google has mostly avoided damaging regulatory and enforcement decisions in the United States of the sort levied by the European Union in late June. Google’s willingness to spread cash around the think tanks and advocacy groups focused on internet and telecommunications policy has effectively muted, if not silenced, criticism of the company over the past several years, said Marc Rotenberg, the president of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. His group, which does not accept any corporate funding, has played a leading role in calling out Google and other tech companies for alleged privacy violations. But Mr. Rotenberg said it is become increasingly difficult to find partners in that effort as more groups have accepted Google funding. “There are simply fewer groups that are available to speak up about Google’s activities that threaten online privacy,” Mr. Rotenberg said. “The groups that should be speaking up aren’t.”
As a result of its actions in recent years, I believe Google represents a clear threat to democracy and freedom of expression in America. The good news is that Barry Lynn and his team at Open Markets will continue their work independently at a new group called Citizens Against Monopoly.
You can sign a letter of support for this new initiative and contribute to it financially (I have done both), by clicking the image below.
Let’s make sure this story results in the the ultimate Streisand effect, thus bringing the crucial issue of anti-trust to the forefront of the American political conversation where it belongs.
Monopoly capitalism is not a “left” or “right” issue, it’s an issue nearly everyone can stand united on irrespective of where you lie on the political spectrum. Concentration is too high in too many industries, and this reality is starting to have negative repercussions on our basic freedoms. It’s long past time that we tackle this issue with the seriousness it deserves and start to push back aggressively as a people.
If you liked this article and enjoy my work, consider becoming a monthly Patron, or visit our Support Page to show your appreciation for independent content creators.
In Liberty,
Michael Krieger
Donate bitcoins: Like this post?Donate bitcoins: 3J7D9dqSMo9HnxVeyHou7HJQGihamjYQMN
Follow me on Twitter. |
It is fashionable these days to decry the quality of American leaders, and why not?
Not long ago, we celebrated our CEOs as the new masters of the universe; some paid themselves as if they thought so, too, and their faces graced the covers of magazines everywhere. But last year, that universe imploded, and taxpayers were forced to come to the rescue. As Bill George of the Harvard Business School argues, we have come to realize that the economic crisis was less a matter of subprime mortgages than subprime leadership.
Washington has fared only a little better than Wall Street. A new Congress pledged to working together swiftly returned to old patterns of bickering and rank partisanship. With the public continuing to give members failing marks, political strategists warn of another "wave election" in 2010 that could sweep away many incumbents.
Perhaps the biggest puzzle involves America's new president. Barack Obama fired the imagination of the country in the campaign a year ago, and his Inauguration Day was magical. Millions of citizens revere him still, thankful that he—not his predecessor—is in the White House and convinced that he remains our greatest hope.
Yet the glow of Inauguration Day has clearly faded. Less than a year into office, the country is as sharply divided as under George W. Bush. Obama's critics argue that he is rushing too fast with too much government and too much debt; his supporters vigorously defend him in public, but in private some worry that he has not yet made the transformation from campaigner to chief executive. Controversy rages on many fronts.
Crisis of confidence. This is not the first season that Americans have felt disgruntled with their leaders. Months before the economy cracked and Obama rose to prominence, some three quarters of Americans said we faced a leadership crisis. Indeed, confidence in government plummeted back in the '60s and '70s and has never really recovered. It was nearly four decades ago that John Gardner first observed that at the founding, with a population of 3 million, the republic spawned a dozen world-class leaders—Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Adams, Madison, and Hamilton among them—but today, with a population nearly 100 times that, we struggle to produce even one or two.
That the leadership deficit now seems so chronic suggests that the problem goes deeper than the quality of the individuals who come to power. There is something in the culture that makes leadership even tougher and more perilous than it should be. Why, asked Thomas Jefferson, did the American Revolution create a budding democracy while the French Revolution—coming at virtually the same time and with similar values—ended in tyranny? The answer, he thought, could be traced as much to the quality of the followers as to that of the leaders: American citizens were more accustomed than the French to responsible self-government.
Our leaders today are discovering, with a vengeance, how much followers matter. When the economic bubble burst last year, a powerful, angry uprising swept the country and moved into Washington. Obama privately told bank CEOs, "My administration is the only thing that stands between you and the pitchforks." Obama himself was the target of a second populist uprising that came in tea parties, town halls, and public marches. Hatred hung in the air, and some worried about violence.
The president and his supporters have tended to blame the blogosphere and 24-hour news channels that feature extreme voices and manufacture artificial controversies. They have a point. There was a time in the lives of many today when the culture and the media environment were more civil and the country was more united. The 1940s, '50s, and early '60s had ugly moments—remember McCarthy? And Dallas?—but the overall tone was more positive. Was it any accident that those years also spawned Truman, Marshall, Eisenhower, and Kennedy?
The occasion of America's Best Leaders gives us a chance to pause and reflect on where and why we have slipped off track. Fortunately, it also provides a welcome opportunity to salute those who are actually succeeding in this environment—men and women who are persevering against the odds and are lighting candles for others. These leaders are a remarkable lot and each an inspiring story. And they are living proof that if we can retain the spirit of the early republic, giants may walk among us again.
David Gergen is director of the Center for Public Leadership at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and editor at large for U.S.News & World Report.
See who made the list of America's Best Leaders.
See a gallery of political cartoons.
Become a political insider: Subscribe to U.S. News Weekly, our digital magazine. |
Who Was The REAL Ian Fleming?
Credit: MorgueFile Image
James Bond is one of the most well-known fictional characters in popular culture today. His shoes have been filled by memorable actors like Sean Connery, Roger Moore, and most recently by Daniel Craig, creating an always new and culturally immortal character. However, while Bond's exploits are known practically around the world, not everyone knows the unique story of his creator. There was more to Ian Fleming than meets the eye, however. For instance, fans of his famous character might not know that:
For Starters, He Wrote What He Knew
Credit: Wikimedia Commons Image
While it's hard to tell exactly what Fleming was involved in, since he was sworn to secrecy, it is public knowledge that he was recruited by British Naval Intelligence during World War II. In between covert missions around the world (we can only assume developing a taste for vodka martinis and carrying out her Majesty's will) Fleming was eventually promoted to the position of assistant to Admiral John Godfrey. When someone told Fleming to write what he knew, it seems that what he knew was the gritty underbelly of the secret service, spying on the enemies of the empire, and when necessary making sure that loose ends got tied off good and tight.
No word on whether or not the Walther was his weapon of choice when in the field, though.
He Was Related to a Future Bond Villain
Not a lot of people know it, but Ian Fleming was related to another infamous British badass; the actor Christopher Lee (whose own list of amazing facts may be found right here).
Lee was not in Naval Intelligence with Fleming; the six and a half foot tall future actor instead served in the Special Air Service (British special forces) during the second World War. Distant cousins, the two men played golf together and were by all accounts good friends. It was only after the James Bond books achieved success as films that Lee was invited to play one of the villains of the series. While there were some difficulties getting him away from Hammer films, Lee eventually played the man with the golden gun, Francisco Scaramanga. While there are those who wondered what his performance as Bond would have been like, no one has ever doubted that Lee's skills in portraying villains are some of the finest any thespian could ask for.
Fleming Put More of Himself Into Bond Than You Know
With all of the big similarities between the author and his creation, it might be easy to call shenanigans on Ian Fleming. After all he was in British Naval Intelligence just like Bond. He was sent on covert missions all around the world just like Bond. Both men just happen to be English. However, there are some smaller, more subtle hints of the man behind the curtain if readers know where to look.
As a for instance the villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld was born on May 28, 1908, which just happens to be the same day the author came kicking and screaming into the world. Bond's golf handicap is 9, which is the same as Fleming's. Even Fleming's house in Jamaica made its way into the mythos. It was called Goldeneye, after a military operation.
He Wrote Some Other Books Too...
Credit: Wikimedia Commons Image
While Fleming wrote 12 actual James Bond novels, along with 2 collections of short stories featuring the famous spy, he wasn't a one trick pony. In fact huge audiences are familiar with one of Fleming's less well-known works; Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. The story about a magical flying car is worlds away from the gritty realities of 007, but Fleming wrote it for his son when he needed a story to read. The book just happened to make its way onto the shelves right alongside Fleming's less child-friendly works.
Blatantly Stole Bond's Name
While there are those that theorize the character of "M" was based off of Fleming's boss (which must have made his time in the trenches even more terrifying than it needed to be), the author fully admitted that he just up and stole the name of his main character. The name came from the cover of Field Guide to Birds of the West Indies, which just happened to be sitting around when Fleming was putting his book together. The author of the field guide, James Bond, had such a normal and completely forgettable name that it was a perfect fit for a man who was supposed to be able to vanish into a crowd. After more than half a century though the name James Bond has become synonymous with all things cool, suave, dashing and dangerous.
Shows the sort of impact that a few, well-loved books can have.
He Had Fans Significantly More Famous Than He Was
Also, He Grew to Hate Writing Bond Novels
As with other famous fictional characters 007 and his creator had quite a fan base all over the world. Even knowing how famous Bond books were though there were quite a number of fans whose names came as a surprise to the writer. President John F. Kennedy was a big fan of Bond for instance, as was Prince Philip of England. Due to the sheer amount of popularity the character achieved Fleming continued telling his exploits on long past the point where he wanted to kill the secret agent and put a cap onto the whole Bond business. |
BY: Follow @BillGertz
OMAHA—China last month conducted another test of a satellite-killing missile that reflects Chinese efforts to weaponize space, the commander of the U.S. Strategic Command said Wednesday.
"It’s very problematic to see China working to weaponize space in tests like this one they just had, and so [it’s] very concerning to me as the U.S. Strategic Command commander, and to our nation at large, given our dependency on that capability," said Adm. Cecil D. Haney, Strategic Command chief.
Haney, speaking to reporters after remarks to a Stratcom-sponsored conference on nuclear deterrence, also voiced worries about the recent increase in Russian strategic nuclear bomber incursions into U.S. air defense identification zones near Alaska and close to U.S. territory.
"I will say that the business of them coming close to the United States of America, we take very seriously," said the four-star admiral who is in charge of U.S. nuclear warfighting forces.
The blunt comments about Chinese weaponization of space are unusual and followed the July 23 test of what U.S. officials said was China’s low-earth orbit DN-1 anti-satellite interceptor. It was the latest ASAT test by China that both Pentagon and State Department spokesmen described as a "non-destructive" prototype.
China, for its part, did not identify the July 23 test as an ASAT weapon. Instead, China said it involved a missile defense system. The Chinese Defense Ministry dubbed the test "a land-based anti-missile technology experiment."
Frank Rose, deputy assistant secretary of state for verification and compliance, said during the conference that the recent Chinese ASAT missile was "designed to destroy satellites in low-earth orbit."
"Despite China’s claims that this was not an ASAT test, let me assure you the United States has high confidence in its assessment that the event was indeed an ASAT test," he said.
Rose said the development and testing of destructive anti-satellite weapons "are both destabilizing and threaten the long term security and sustainability of the space environment."
The latest ASAT test followed the highly destructive January 2007 test missile attack against a Chinese weather satellite, and a May 2013 test of a more capable high-earth orbit satellite killing interceptor, known as the DN-2.
"As a country we depend on space, and the nations around the world, not just the United States, also have a significant dependency on that capability," Haney said. "Militarily, and how we fight, clearly we depend on that capability as well. But we would want, quite frankly, to maintain space as a peaceful environment."
Haney said China’s 2007 ASAT test that destroyed a weather satellite "created an ungodly amount of debris" that still threatens both manned and unmanned spacecraft.
Stratcom currently operates a space center that "spends a lot of time working to try to follow all of the things that are up in space, including space debris, so that we can make aware, not just the military, [but] commercial entities, other nations, of any potential for that stuff running into each other, and having collisions, creating more debris as well as taking out capability," he said.
China’s development of space warfare systems also includes ground-based lasers and small maneuvering satellites. Both also have been tested in recent years.
The ASAT weapons are part of Beijing’s large-scale military buildup that includes numerous weapons systems that provide asymmetric strategic advantages designed to give China’s military the capability to defeat stronger U.S. forces in conflict. Other niche weapons include anti-ship ballistic missiles and cyber warfare capabilities.
Army Lt. Col. Valerie Henderson, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said in an email that "the United States has concluded that the People's Republic of China conducted a non-destructive test of a missile designed to destroy satellites on 23 July." She declined to elaborate.
State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said July 25 that the January 2007 ASAT test "created thousands of pieces of debris, which continue to present an on-going danger to the space systems of all nations, including China."
"We call on China to refrain from destabilizing actions—such as the continued development and testing of destructive anti-satellite systems—that threaten the long term security and sustainability of the outer space environment, on which all nations depend," Harf said. "The United States continuously looks to ensure its space systems are safe and resilient against emerging space threats."
China’s ASAT weapons remain shrouded in secrecy. A Chinese defense research paper published in 2012 states that "kinetic energy antisatellite refers to the mode of attack in which a non-explosive high-speed warhead directly hits a satellite with great energy, to damage the functions of the satellite or incapacitate it."
A kinetic kill vehicle must "arrive at a certain location at a certain time to accomplish a precise rendezvous with the target satellite in space," the paper stated. "In order to accomplish the precision rendezvous and destroy the target satellite, there must be a precise attack chain centered on discovery, lock-on, tracking, aiming, attack, and damage assessment."
Rick Fisher, a China military affairs expert, said China's weaponization of space should be a top concern for U.S. defense planners.
"China has two ground-based ASAT systems, the DN-1 and DN-2, advanced ground based laser ASAT systems and is developing dual-use co-orbital satellites that can monitor or attack U.S. satellites," said Fisher, an analyst with the International Assessment and Strategy Center.
"Washington cannot wait for China to agree to any future verifiable space weapon control agreement and the likelihood is very high that any diplomatic exercise will be used to buy time for China's space weapon development," Fisher said. "As China develops space weapons we can also be assured that Russia will soon enter this competition."
Fisher said in response the United States should actively develop military space capabilities to deter Chinese attacks in space.
"In the near-term, the U.S. requires jet fighter launched ASATs as they provide great tactical flexibility," he said. "In addition, the X-37B experimental small space plane should be developed into a combat/military surveillance capable platform."
The Washington Free Beacon first disclosed in October 2012 that China was developing a DN-2 ASAT interceptor for use against satellites in geosynchronous orbit, around 22,000 miles high.
Fisher also said: "By the early 2020s China will have high-orbit ASATs targeting U.S. early warning satellites and a significantly larger nuclear missile force defended by active missile defenses. If the U.S. continues to reduce its nuclear warhead numbers, as is being sought by the Obama administration, Americans could be facing a period of great strategic nuclear vulnerability."
Mark Stokes, a former Pentagon specialist on the Chinese military, said the most recent ASAT test was designed to "demonstrate potential intent to deny freedom of space flight" over Chinese territory.
A key question is whether the July 23 test was conducted by China’s state-run aerospace industry or its Second Artillery Corps, the People’s Liberation Army unit in charge of strategic missile and nuclear forces.
"If it was the aerospace industry, it means the system is still in R&D," said Stokes, an expert at the Project 2049 Institute. "If it was Air Force or Second Artillery conducting a live fire test, it means the system is already operationally available."
Stokes said China’s ASAT missiles are similar to missile defense interceptors.
The designation "DN" for the ASAT weapons may refer to "dongneng," the Chinese term for kinetic.
"There have been authoritative references to a dongneng (kinetic) ASAT program, which began in 2006," he said.
Additionally, the DN-1 and DN-2 may be fired from two interceptors, the HQ-19 and the HQ-26.
"The HQ-19 could use a single stage and the HQ-26, if this is the true designation, could use two stages that would give it a higher reach," Stokes said.
"There have been authoritative references to a new solid motor under development since early last year that could be relevant."
A kinetic kill vehicle for disabling satellites may employ infrared imaging and other advanced guidance technologies, he said.
On the Russian strategic nuclear bomber incursions, Haney said he was also troubled by Russian strategic nuclear forces conducting large-scale exercises during the recent crisis over Ukraine.
The Free Beacon first disclosed earlier this month that Russian bombers conducted at least 16 aerial incursions near Alaska in what officials said appeared to indicate testing of U.S. strategic air defenses.
Asked if the bombers were testing defenses, Haney said: "Well, I would say over our history, this isn’t the first time Russia has done this sort of thing."
"But I will not try to say what’s in the leadership of Russia, Putin’s mind, in terms of why he picked the time and place that he did to do the number of excursions that he did here a week ago," he said. |
Image copyright Reuters Image caption Demonstrations continued late into the night
At least 30 protesters were arrested in the US city of St Louis after a white former policeman was found not guilty of murdering a black suspect while serving in 2011.
Several officers were injured in Friday night's disturbances.
Police say they fired tear gas at protesters who were throwing stones outside the home of the St Louis mayor.
The defendant, Jason Stockley, was cleared of murdering Anthony Lamar Smith, 24, after a car chase.
Mr Stockley, 36, was recorded during the pursuit saying: "Gonna kill this [expletive], don't you know it."
Scuffles began in the afternoon as protesters took to the streets after the verdict.
The home of St Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson suffered considerable damage, police say, as protesters ignored orders to disperse.
Hundreds of people took part in the protest, local TV station KDNL reported. By late evening police declared the gathering an "unlawful assembly".
As a result of the protests, a concert by the Irish rock band U2 due to take place in St Louis on Saturday night has been cancelled.
The tour organisers say they took decision after police informed them that they were "not in a position to provide the standard protection for our audience".
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Hundreds of people took part in the protest
Mr Smith was a new father and engaged to be married when he was killed on 20 December 2011.
Mr Stockley and his partner said they believed they had observed Mr Smith engaged in a drug deal outside a restaurant.
Police dashcam video and surveillance footage showed Mr Smith reversing his car into the police vehicle twice during his attempt to drive off.
After a three-minute high-speed chase, Mr Stockley told his partner, who was in the driver's seat, to ram Mr Smith's car.
Mr Stockley then ran to Mr Smith's window and fired five shots, hitting him each time.
Image copyright Reuters Image caption Former officer Jason Stockley moved to Houston after resigning from St Louis police in 2013
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption At least 10 officers were injured in Friday night's disturbances
'Disappointed'
The former police officer chose to be tried by a judge rather than a jury.
In Friday's ruling, St Louis Circuit Judge Timothy Wilson said the state had failed to prove that the defendant did not act in self-defence.
Prosecutors had accused Mr Stockley of planting a revolver in Mr Smith's car after shooting him. It was recovered afterwards with his DNA on it rather than that of Mr Smith.
Image copyright Reuters Image caption Protesters took to the streets soon after the verdict
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Protesters were prevented by police from blocking off key highway intersections
Defence lawyers said Mr Stockley had acted in self-defence by killing a drug suspect he believed was reaching for a hidden handgun.
He quit the force in 2013 and now lives in Houston, Texas.
The Board of Police Commissioners settled a wrongful death civil lawsuit in 2013 with Mr Smith's family for $900,000 (£663,000).
Mr Smith's fiancée has urged the community to avoid violence.
Rioting erupted in 2014 in nearby Ferguson, Missouri after the fatal police shooting of an unarmed black teenager, Michael Brown. |
(Reuters) - A U.S. labor board on Thursday overturned an Obama-era ruling that had made it easier for unions and workers to hold companies accountable for practices of contractors and franchisees, a decision welcomed by business groups that could affect a major case against McDonald’s Corp (MCD.N).
The 3-2 decision by the National Labor Relations Board reversed the standard it had set in a 2015 case involving Browning-Ferris Industries Inc. It reinstated a previous test that says companies are “joint employers” only when they exercise direct control over workers.
President Donald Trump appointed two Republicans to the five-member NLRB earlier this year, giving his party a 3-2 majority for the first time in a decade. Trump’s appointees, who joined the board in August and September, are widely expected to revisit a series of recent NLRB decisions that business groups say unfairly favored unions. Thursday’s decision marked the third time this week the board overruled an Obama era decision.
Use of franchising or contract labor allows many companies to avoid the costs and responsibilities of directly employing workers. But a company found to be a joint employer can be required to bargain with unions and may be held liable for labor law violations by contractors, staffing agencies or franchisees.
Prior to the 2015 ruling in Browning-Ferris, companies were found to be joint employers of workers hired by another business if they had “direct and immediate” control over working conditions.
In the Browning-Ferris decision, the NLRB said joint employment could also exist when companies have only “indirect or unexercised control” over workers.
On Thursday, the board said the Democratic majority in Browning-Ferris overstepped its authority by altering the legal definitions of employment.
The two Democrats on the board dissented, saying the Browning-Ferris decision was legally sound and the majority failed to provide any “real-world examples or even remotely plausible hypotheticals” that show how the standard harmed businesses.
In a separate case, the NLRB has filed complaints against McDonald’s claiming it was the joint employer of franchise workers across the country. A trial began over 2-1/2 years ago, but Thursday’s decision could derail the bulk of the case.
The McDonald’s case had been seen as an important test of how Browning-Ferris, which did not mention franchisors, would apply to those companies.
“At the very least, this significantly narrows the issues and it should be very comforting to McDonald’s and the franchise community,” said Michael Lotito, a partner at labor law firm Littler Mendelson who represents employers.
A lawyer representing McDonald’s in the case did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but two restaurant trade groups hailed the ruling. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Retail Federation and other trade groups also applauded the decision, which came in a case involving two construction companies based in Iowa and Illinois.
The board said the companies were joint employers of several workers who were unlawfully fired for going on strike.
The International Franchise Association and National Restaurant Association, which represent McDonald’s and other fast-food restaurant operators, have been especially vocal critics of the Browning-Ferris standard, arguing it could doom the franchising industry.
The restaurant association said in a statement that Thursday’s decision “restores years of established law and brings back clarity for restaurants and small businesses across the country.” |
Ryan Repko Eager for ARCA Debut at Madison with Mason Mitchell Motorsports
Ryan Repko Eager for ARCA Debut at Madison with Mason Mitchell Motorsports
Statesville, North Carolina – 17-Year-old short track standout Ryan Repko will make his ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards debut in the Montgomery Ward 200 at the Madison International Speedway on June 23rd. Repko will be behind the wheel of the No. 78 Champion Power Equipment/Cometic Gaskets Chevrolet for Mason Mitchell Motorsports.
“This is going to be a huge step up,” an excited Repko stated.” If you compare it to stick and ball sports, I'm basically making the transition from college to pro. It'll be a great experience for me and I have confidence in my MMM crew going into it.
“I originally started racing in Late Models at Motor Mile and Motor Mile resembles Madison quite a bit so we're hoping my experience there will transition over to Madison. There will be a few challenges going into this. The two most obvious will be the horsepower and the size of the car, but I think the biggest thing will be running on a radial tire. I've never driven on a radial tire in my career. I know that my MMM crew led by Kevin Reed will get me up to speed quickly. These guys produce quality cars.”
Repko just captured his first CARS Late Model Tour Stock Car pole at the Anderson Motor Speedway last weekend and earned a sixth-place finish.
“I’ve had my eye on Repko for quite some time now,” Owner Mason Mitchell stated. “He knows how to take care of his equipment and manage his stuff until the end of a race. We’ve always raced well at Madison so I am confident we will have a great weekend.”
2015 was Repko’s first season racing in late models at Motor Mile, South Boston and Hickory. He picked up one win during his rookie season and was awarded Motor Mile Speedway’s rookie of the year in limited late models. 2016 was Repko’s first appearance at the Martinsville ValleyStar 300 where he qualified third overall and finished ninth in the feature race. He is currently a high school Junior at North Lincoln High School and enrolled in the academic honors program.
MMM has two prior starts at Madison. Last season the team earned a runner-up finish with Kyle Weatherman behind the wheel. In two starts the teams led 163 out of 400 laps.
The Montgomery Ward 200 will be live on MAVTV Friday, June 23rd at 9:00 pm ET. Arcaracing.com will have live timing and scoring for all on-track activities throughout the day.
Follow MMM on Social Media: To keep up-to-date with the latest, news, information and race updates, follow MMM racing’s twitter page @MMM_Race and “Like” their Facebook page at Mason Mitchell Motorsports.
About Mason Mitchell Motorsports:
Mason Mitchell Motorsports (masonmitchellmotorsports.com) is a championship driver development team fielding multiple entries in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards. The team is headquartered in Statesville, North Carolina and owned by 2014 ARCA champion Mason Mitchell. |
PORTLAND, Oregon (Reuters) - Wildlife activists sued on Monday to stop the killing of sea lions that have been eating endangered Columbia River salmon, seeking a reprieve for the animals a day before three Pacific Northwest states are authorized to begin executing them.
A keeper tosses a fish to a South American sea lion during feeding time at 'Tiergarten Schoenbrunn' Zoo in Vienna, January 10, 2012. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., follows last week’s decision by the National Marine Fisheries Service to sanction the limited killing of California sea lions.
The Humane Society of the United States, Wild Fish Conservancy and two individual plaintiffs are seeking an injunction barring the authorization from taking effect on Tuesday.
The hungry sea lions swim 140 miles upstream and cluster at the Bonneville Dam, on the border between Oregon and Washington state, to eat salmon and steelhead trout as the fish head up the Columbia River to spawn. That is seen by the states as a threat to the recovery of the fish.
But animal rights activists argue that the sea lions are unfairly blamed for low fish stocks and charge that fishing, hatchery practices, hydroelectric dam barriers, and environmental degradation pose a far greater risk.
“Federal law allows the killing of sea lions only in very limited circumstances, when the agency proves they are having a significant negative impact on salmon,” Jonathan Lovvorn, Humane Society senior vice president, said in a written statement.
“The National Marine Fisheries Service’s decision to kill hundreds of native marine mammals to reduce salmon losses by a couple of percentage points at best, while simultaneously authorizing much larger man-made sources of endangered salmon mortality, is both outrageous and patently illegal.”
Brian Gorman, spokesman in the Seattle office of the National Marine Fisheries Service, called the legal challenge “not unexpected.”
“Now, it is up to the court to respond,” Gorman said.
Wildlife activists have battled the fisheries service in court for several years over the controversial practice of killing sea lions to protect stocks of Columbia River basin Chinook salmon.
The sea lions are guarded under the Marine Mammals Protection Act and the suit charges the fisheries service’s order violates those laws.
Under Thursday’s order, the states can kill only sea lions known to have eaten salmon and are limited to 92 animals per year.
The sea lions can be killed only if zoos or aquariums don’t want them. Since 2008, the states have killed 28 sea lions and 10 have been sent to zoos or aquariums.
The Federal permission was set to run from March 20 to May of 2016.
The Bonneville Dam is the first hydroelectric dam on the Columbia River, which divides Washington and Oregon. |
The Sun Exchange, a South Africa-based crowd lending solar energy startup, has started accepting digital currency bitcoin for solar energy investment.
This is perhaps the first such initiative wherein bitcoin is used to fund a solar energy project. VentureBurn reports that the startup is currently running a campaign to power a school in Stellenbosch, South Africa.
“Investments in our projects are open to everyone. We accept local (fiat) currency and Bitcoin. Transferring fiat currency between countries is often expensive and time consuming. We accept bitcoin so that you can invest in a solar project wherever you are in the world quickly, easily and securely”, the website reads.
The project has received investments from individuals in Canada, Australia, UK, and Switzerland. Those who invest in solar projects are receiving a 10% internal rate of return.
Speaking to VentureBurn, Abe Cambridge, founder of The Sun Exchange, emphasizes that the platform is unique as investors are able to finance solar energy using Bitcoin and the electricity generated by the solar installation can be repaid to the investor using Bitcoin.
“The digital currency has removed the friction and costs normally associated with international remittance. The efficiencies of Bitcoin means that we can make micro-payments in near real time as the electricity generated by the solar panel installation. This means that as long as the sun is shining, the investor can see their money working”, he added.
The peer-to-peer lending platform connects people that want to invest in solar power with those that want to access it. It is developing solar projects in diverse locations so that its lenders can choose a portfolio of investments. Currently, its active projects are only in South Africa. |
Former CAG Vinod Rai on Thursday said the big-ticket corruption scandals are a thing of the past and the recent auction of coal blocks and spectrum stand a "test of transparency".
"The big-ticket corruption scandals are a thing of the past and we may not have cases of such occurrences now," the former Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) said while delivering the annual Kilachand Memorial Lecture at the Indian Merchants Chamber in Mumbai.
The former CAG had an issue with the 2G spectrum allocation in 2008, where it pegged the notional loss at Rs 1.76 trillion, because it was given under the 'first-come- first-serve' policy. "I don't think anybody faulted the auction process of 3G (by the previous UPA regime) and I think the same has happened with these two auctions (coal and spectrum). There are some aberrations with regard to court cases, but by and large, 90 per cent, I believe the process does stand the test of transparency," he said.
Welcoming the rise in activism, Rai said it debunks "the myth of a silent majority" and ensures public interest is not compromised in governance. "The good thing that is happening in the country is that we have a group of people who are now de-bunking the myth of what I would call 'silent majority'," he said.
Citing specific instances of how such activism has helped, Rai said this majority does not want to be silent any more, wants to participate in the decision making and in the process, hold the government responsible."Dismissal of the then Haryana top cop SPS Rathore for molesting a girl or the rampant jail paroles of the murderer of model Jessica Lal are instances, where such voices have helped," he said.
Rai, who is a member of a UN body on external auditors and also advises the Railway Ministry, called for a change in political funding to make it more transparent. He exuded confidence in the current regime, saying it is a decisive mandate and the government should hopefully be able to deliver. |
There is one domestic problem that all 1980 presidential contenders, including the incumbent, preach against: the disturbing decline in U.S. productivity. Not surprisingly, Japan, with its annual productivity growth rate of 11 percent, is held up as a shining example of “re-industrialization”—already a bipartisan buzzword for Campaign ’80. The world has come to rely so heavily on the value and durability of goods “Made in Japan” that it’s easy to forget that only 30 years ago the phrase was a joke, a synonym for shoddiness. W. Edwards Deming, an Iowa-born statistician with a Ph.D. from Yale, may deserve as much credit as anyone for the new image and performance of Japanese industry.
In 1950 Deming, then a professor at New York University, made the first of 18 trips to Japan to teach businessmen his gospel of quality control and high productivity through statistical analysis. One indicator of his success is that today Japan’s coveted annual award for industrial productivity is the Deming Prize, a silver plaque bearing the professor’s tortoise-like profile. Deming, 79, has also advised companies in Taiwan, South Korea, Denmark, Hungary and West Germany, but until recently he was little known at home. Now, with the U.S.’s stagnant productivity (roughly defined as output per man-hour) contributing to both high costs and high prices, American companies are beginning to seek him out. William E. Conway, head of New Hampshire’s $600 million-a-year Nashua Corporation, hired Deming when Nashua decided to enter the copier business last year. “Basically,” says Conway, “he told us to make it right the first time.” Assisted by his mathematician wife, Lola, 74, Deming runs a consulting business from the basement of his Washington, D.C. home, where he was interviewed by Clare Crawford-Mason of PEOPLE.
Japanese products were regarded as inferior when you first went there in 1950. How were they able to revolutionize their industry?
They had a magnificent work force, unsurpassed management and the best statistical ability in the world. What’s more, everybody was dedicated to the company, and everybody was dedicated to Japan. I put those forces together, and inside four years manufacturers all over the world were screaming for protection from Japanese imports.
Why hasn’t American industry adopted your methods?
People here think a statistician comes Monday morning, and by Friday night they’re producing like the Japanese. They are not willing to commit to a long training program for all workers, as the Japanese did. And, to my horror, I have discovered that most American companies think they already have statistical control of quality. What they have is a lot of printouts full of irrelevant and out-of-date information.
To boost productivity, isn’t a great deal of capital investment necessary?
No. If you don’t understand how to run an efficient operation, new machinery will just give you new problems of operation and maintenance. The sure way to increase productivity is to better administrate man and machine.
What is the relationship between declining productivity in the U.S. and inflation?
Declining productivity and quality means your unit production costs stay high but you don’t have as much to sell. Your workers don’t want to be paid less, so to maintain profits, you increase your prices. That’s inflation.
How much of our productivity problem is the fault of workers?
When I’ve asked managers this, the answer always is, “All of it.” That is absolutely wrong. Research has shown that about 85 percent of the trouble is right in their own management—that is, in the production system itself, for which they alone are responsible.
What would be an example of a management-based problem?
If the material is uniformly bad, that’s the fault of management. A shoe manufacturer, for instance, asked me to help him because his operators were spending most of their time threading the sewing machines. In about 24 hours I had located the trouble. Management was buying cheap thread. To save 15¢ per spool they were losing $150 per hour because the stuff required so much rethreading. They bought better thread, and the problem disappeared overnight.
Are managers out of touch?
Yes. The prevailing—and foolish—attitude is that a good manager can be a good manager anywhere, with no special knowledge of the production process he’s managing. A man with a financial background may know nothing about manufacturing shoes or cars, but he’s put in charge anyway.
What can be done about ineffective management?
For one thing, our business schools have to change. Their graduates get good economics, law, finance—overall a good education. But they don’t teach statistical method in research and production. For instance, they don’t teach the connection between what people need, the cost of materials and what can be produced economically.
Does job security affect productivity?
In Japan a company worker’s position is secure. He is retrained for another job if his present job is eliminated by productivity improvement. If a worker has an idea, he can present it to the president, and the door is always open. The worker doesn’t have to worry about whether he’ll have a job tomorrow; he doesn’t have to try to please somebody or conceal problems just to keep his job. There’s such a difference between working in a secure position and working in an insecure position.
Is job security the key factor, then?
I don’t know if it is, or if participation is. I’ve seen how deeply plant workers appreciate it when somebody recognizes and respects the storehouse of knowledge they accumulate day to day on the job. Giving people the opportunity to participate in improving the product pays off, because workers realize security isn’t worth a hoot if the product is shoddy.
Does that mean that Japanese workers work harder than American workers?
Japanese workers work less hard. They work smarter, not harder. They produce more with less and less effort as the quality goes up.
How exactly do you hope to achieve improved U.S. productivity along with improved quality of our manufactured goods?
By using statistical methods to improve quality. Statistical analysis helps you stabilize the system so the product is the same today, tomorrow and thereafter. It helps you eliminate waste. By describing statistically exactly what is being done, the method locates problems, forces innovation and lets you measure your progress.
In simple terms, how does it work?
I set up a control chart for each major section of the production line. The worker takes readings of the performance of the machine or of his own handwork and makes a very simple calculation—maybe a subtraction, maybe taking an average—to plot an upper-control limit and a lower-control limit, two parallel lines on a graph.
Does this define the machine’s normal range of reliability?
Yes. As the machine keeps running, management only has to investigate and correct points that fall outside these parallel lines. Eventually, as the work is corrected at this signal, points will all fall between the lines, and statistical control is achieved. It’s worth it, because unnecessary adjustments, which waste time and raise costs, are eliminated. The goal is predictable variation, which is very comforting to management.
Isn’t it expensive to troubleshoot the points that fall outside the limits?
No, it’s a matter of fine-tuning the system. Most of the time you can use the same machinery, the same raw materials, the same people. For instance, a Japanese pharmaceutical company I advised tripled its production of an acid in six months without any new capital investment.
Can quality be assured through added inspections, as Chrysler is trying to do with its new K-cars?
No, inspection does not build quality. You can’t get ahead by making some defective products, and you cannot afford to separate the good from the bad. It’s wasteful, and so raises the price the consumer pays. Moreover, inspection is unreliable. It doesn’t weed out all the bad. The point is that if you make it right in the first place—using statistical methods of control—you don’t have to test it.
Which presidential candidate’s platform do you think might best improve U.S. productivity?
I’d rather not comment. I’m only a statistician. I don’t want to be a jackass.
Do we have the capacity to regain our momentum?
It’s nonsense to say we can’t. We invented the laser and the transistor and developed the best communication system in the world. A nation that can accomplish these feats can do almost anything it sets its mind to. |
Early in the morning of March 11, 2012, Army staff sergeant Robert Bales left his remote outpost in an impoverished region of Kandahar Province, Afghanistan and killed 16 people in two nearby villages. His victims, mostly women and children, were sleeping at the time. Bales shot or stabbed them to death before dragging some of their bodies into a pile and lighting them on fire.
His crime is as baffling as it is gruesome. In June, he pleaded guilty to the murders in a military court, telling the presiding judge: “There’s not a good reason in this world for why I did the horrible things I did.”
>'I like to say this drug is like a horror show in a pill.'
In the weeks since his guilty plea, there's been growing speculation that a drug meant to prevent malaria may have played a role in the murders. In certain circles, including the military, the Peace Corps, and other organizations that send people into malarial zones for long periods of time, the drug – known as mefloquine – has long had a bad reputation for setting nerves on edge and causing nightmares.
In some cases, mefloquine can mess with the mind in more serious ways, causing confusion, hallucinations, and paranoia. On July 29, the FDA added a black box – its strongest warning – to the label of the drug, citing neurological and psychiatric side effects that can last months or years after someone stops taking it.
“I like to say this drug is like a horror show in a pill,” said Remington Nevin, a former Army physician who’s now an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University. In a recent paper, Nevin argues that the drug's effects on the brain and behavior make it likely to become increasingly important in forensic psychiatry.
Although mefloquine has been eyed as a possible contributing factor in previous killings, so far apparently no one has argued successfully in court that the drug made someone less culpable for a crime.
Bales's defense team did not raise the issue during his trial, but they still could do so at his sentencing hearing on August 19. "If it's seen as mitigating in the Bales case, I could certainly see this coming up in a lot of cases where people might say 'mefloquine made me do it,'" said Elspeth Cameron Ritchie, a former Army psychiatrist and a coauthor with Nevin on the recent paper.
A Troubled Past —————
Mefloquine is a puzzling drug with an unusual history.
It was discovered by the U.S. Army during the Vietnam war. The military realized that in many parts of the world, the malaria parasite was evolving resistance to a drug called chloroquine, which was the standard antimalaria drug of the time.
American soldiers in Hue, Vietnam in 1967. Photo: National Archives and Records Administration
Mefloquine was identified from a pool of more than 250,000 compounds screened for their ability to stop these chloroquine-resistant malaria strains, according to a 2007 paper by British physician Ashley Croft. The drug had the added advantage of requiring just one dose a week instead of one a day. The Army handed off the compound to F. Hofmann-La Roche, which gained FDA approval for the drug in 1989 and marketed it under the trade name Lariam. “The underpinning safety and pharmacokinetic studies which should have been performed prior to the licensing of Lariam ... were never carried out,” Croft wrote.
When the first careful clinical trials to assess how well the drug is tolerated by healthy people were finally reported 12 years later, they turned up evidence of common neuropsychiatric side effects, including strange or vivid dreams, insomnia, dizziness, and anxiety. Croft speculates that the FDA would not have approved the drug if the results of those trials had been available before 1989.
In the intervening years, anecdotal evidence that the drug can have devastating consequences has piled up.
A smattering of case reports have linked the drug to suicide. In one particularly horrible example, a 27-year-old man with no prior history of mental illness committed suicide by stabbing himself in the head and torso with a knife. A recent investigative report by the Irish broadcaster RTÉ implicated mefloquine in a cluster of suicides among Irish Defense Forces deployed on peacekeeping missions.
Perhaps most famously, the drug was investigated as a contributing factor in the murder-suicides at Fort Bragg in 2002, when four soldiers, three of whom had recently returned from Afghanistan, killed their wives, and two of them killed themselves. (A military panel concluded that mefloquine was an unlikely factor in the killings, instead placing the blame on marital problems and the stress of deployment.)
Nevin and Ritchie both say they saw the drug's effects during their time in the military. Ritchie served in Somalia. "I think it was my first day there, a young man was evacuated out of there screaming and yelling, and it was found that he'd taken five mefloquine tablets," she said. "He was supposed to be taking them once a week and he took them once a day."
In Afghanistan, Nevin says the drug took a toll on his unit in more subtle ways. "Even though everyone may not become clinically ill, the bell curve for anxiety, irritability, and restless sleep is going to shift, and that can have dramatic effects on a unit," Nevin said. “We were being affected by the drug.”
Perhaps more disturbingly, mefloquine was sometimes given out indiscriminately.
Nevin says that before he deployed to Afghanistan in early 2007, he saw medics at Fort Bragg distributing the drug from plastic trash bags. "We were told to reach into a garbage bag and find our prescription, but if we couldn't find it, to just take someone else's," he said. That would have violated the military's policy at the time, which required screening for psychiatric problems and previous traumatic brain injuries – and excluding soldiers who tested positive from getting mefloquine.
A study Nevin published in 2008 found that nearly 10 percent of 11,725 active-duty personnel in Afghanistan had either a pre-existing condition or were on other medication that should have barred them from taking mefloquine. A follow-up study found that 14 percent of those who should not have taken mefloquine received a prescription for it.
In recent years, the U.S. military has significantly called back its use of the drug. A recent set of recommendations, issued in April, advise the use of mefloquine only in patients who are unable to tolerate two other antimalarial drugs and have no recent history of TBI or psychiatric problems.
Mysterious Biology ——————
Kim Pierro /Flickr
What mefloquine does to the brain is poorly understood.
The drug's chemistry predisposes it to build up in fatty tissues like the brain at much higher concentrations than it does in the bloodstream, where the malaria parasite hangs out. “Mefloquine is a psychotropic drug with incidental anti-malarial properties,” Nevin said.
One thing mefloquine does in the brain is block tiny molecular pores called gap junctions. Gap junctions help neurons synchronize their electrical activity by allowing ions to flow freely between them. One hypothesis, Nevin says, is that mefloquine desynchronizes neurons that normally put a brake on the limbic system, an evolutionarily ancient network of brain regions important for memory and emotion.
Cutting the brakes on the limbic system, he says, could be how the drug produces symptoms like anxiety, paranoia, and hallucinations.
It’s a plausible scenario, says neuroscientist Michael Fanselow of UCLA. “Gap junctions regulate activity in two very key limbic structures, the hippocampus and amygdala,” Fanselow said. The hippocampus is involved in memory and navigation, and disrupting these functions could result in disorientation and hallucinations. Disrupting the amygdala, meanwhile, could produce anxiety or alter emotional reactions, Fanselow says.
Nevin thinks it’s also possible that mefloquine, or perhaps some byproduct produced as the drug gets broken down in the brain, is directly toxic to neurons. Doses comparable to those given to people disrupted the sleep and balance of rats and killed neurons in the animals’ brain stems, according to a 2006 study.
Problems with sleep and balance are among the most common long-term neurological side effects reported for mefloquine. However, the kind of damage seen in the rats could only be seen in humans by doing an autopsy and looking at brain tissue under a microscope. That’s never been done, Nevin says.
"If this sort of damage were apparent on MRI [scans] we would have figured this out a long time ago," he said.
Defensive Maneuvers ——————-
Could mefloquine really cause someone to commit an atrocious act like the murders Bales committed?
Probably not on its own. After all, thousands of travelers have taken mefloquine and experienced little more than bad dreams and a touch of jumpiness. But the drug's effects might be amplified in soldiers living with the daily stress of combat, or who've experienced traumatic brain injuries from explosive blasts – the signature health hazards of the recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
>'I think mefloquine is more like the straw that breaks the camel’s back when there’s other things going on.'
"I think mefloquine is more like the straw that breaks the camel's back when there's other things going on," Ritchie said.
Robert Bales definitely had other things going on. He admitted to the court that he'd been taking anabolic steroids, and fellow soldiers testified during his trial that they'd been drinking alcohol against regulations on the night of the murders.
Whether he was also taking mefloquine at the time is not clear.
In July, Bales's defense attorney, John Henry Browne, told the Seattle Times that Bales took mefloquine in Iraq, where he did three previous tours of duty (and also where he also reportedly suffered a TBI, which should have disqualified him from receiving any more of the drug).
A document Nevin obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request hints at the possibility Bales took the drug during his fateful final tour in Afghanistan as well. The document, an "adverse event record" sent to Roche, does not name Bales but involves a soldier who took mefloquine and killed 17 Afghan civilians, the same erroneous number listed in Bales's original charging documents.
However, Nevin has not been able to determine who filed the adverse event report. It's possible that whoever filed it had no direct knowledge of Bales's case. Browne, the defense attorney, told the Seattle Times that he does not know whether Bales took mefloquine in Afghanistan because his medical records are incomplete.
The new black box warning. Image: FDA
The drug is detectable in the blood for up to a month, but the Army has not said whether Bales was tested.
If evidence comes to light that Bales was on mefloquine at the time of the murders, that could be viewed as mitigating evidence at his sentencing hearing, says Christopher Slobogin, a professor of criminal law and psychiatry at Vanderbilt University. The relevant legal principle is called involuntary intoxication. That doesn’t mean someone had a good buzz going, Slobogin explains, it means that they took a drug – either unknowingly or unaware of the possible side effects – that caused a serious cognitive impairment.
“The classic example is someone slipping LSD in your coffee,” Slobogin said. “It implies an inability to appreciate what one is doing or to appreciate the wrongness of what one is doing.”
The recent FDA announcement, which cites psychiatric side effects lasting months or years, could aid the defense as well, especially if it only has evidence that he took mefloquine during his previous tours in Iraq and can't prove he was taking it at the time of the crime. “That’s obviously helpful to the defense,” Slobogin said.
"The accused is given considerable leeway during the sentencing phase to present evidence of extenuation and mitigation," said William Woodruff, a law professor at Campbell University in Raleigh, N.C., and former colonel in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General's Corps. It seems likely that the court would admit evidence about mefloquine at the sentencing hearing, Woodruff says, but how much weight they would give it is difficult to predict.
On August 19, a military jury will convene to decide Bales's fate. His guilty plea takes the death penalty off the table. The question is whether his life sentence will include any possibility of parole.
No matter what the jury decides, we will probably never know exactly what role, if any, mefloquine played in this horrific crime. And as long as the drug is in use, it's unlikely to be the last time we're left to wonder. |
Why did you do the book?
I’d had the idea for a long time and was reading a lot of thrillers. I was developing it as a TV pitch but then started thinking of how the character could be better served in a book. The first series of Jessica Jones was a tough act to follow — it’s such a great part and so rich, and doing the book was a way to almost build a role for myself rather than wait for a film or TV offer to come in. It’s a way of making my own path in my career and I really enjoyed it.
How did you find the writing process?
There’d be nights where I was pacing around the apartment at 4am but you get over the hurdle and keep going. It started as a couple of paragraphs, then an 11-page treatment, then I plotted everything out with index cards. I worked in chunks, which made it less overwhelming. It took two years to finish the first draft.
There are environmental issues in the book. Did you do a lot of research?
I did but that was inspired by something that happened in my hometown. I’m from a small town and a few years ago the frackers arrived and told people they’d give them $2,000 if they let them drill on their land and their gas bills would be cheaper. They didn’t tell them there was a risk of it contaminating their water, which might affect their livestock. If people don’t know better, they can be taken advantage of.
A lot of the book is about high school. What were you like?
In between. I wasn’t in the super-cool crowd but I wasn’t in the other crowd, either. But I understand the feelings of being that age and being the target of gossip. It can feel like the end of the world.
You started working as a model when you were at school. Did that cause any problems?
I was scouted when I was a teenager and if you’re different at school, sometimes that’s not a good thing. As an adult you know being different is good and it makes you who you are — but people would talk about me behind my back, stuff like, ‘She’s not even pretty, how’s she a model?’ I felt alienated by that, for sure.
What jobs were you getting?
Catalogues and things in magazines like Seventeen, which some of the girls at school read. Some people thought it was so cool, others definitely didn’t. Then I got to work in Japan one summer followed by New York the next.
Was it a lot to deal with at the time?
It was hard to go back home. I was exposed to the big, bad world and it was fun. I met weirdos, I met people who I related to, and it highlighted how different I was in my small town. It didn’t feel overwhelming — I was along for the ride, it was exciting and fun.
Has the work you get offered changed since Jessica Jones?
I have more opportunities, which is great, but Jessica Jones is a really great part so I want to do things that challenge me as much but in different ways. It’s now more difficult to say yes to things I would have done five years ago. I might get more calls now but there’s not a lot of great stuff happening in the marketplace for women.
What do you mean?
Playing a stripper in a big movie. ‘But she’s a stripper who calls all the shots and is the voice of reason’ — I don’t care, I still don’t want to play a stripper or wife to an actor who is my dad’s age.
Are you still in a band? What was your worst gig?
I play my guitar still but don’t record at the moment — it’s more therapeutic. As for the worst gig, I just don’t remember the worst thing about anything. I always look for positives. So when someone asks ‘What’s the worst?’ I’d have to think about it for hours because it doesn’t come readily to me.
Have you always been like that?
Yes, I’ve honed it like a ninja. I’d rather be happy and focus on the positives than be a grump and think about all the things that are terrible. I don’t want to live like that.
Will you work with David Tennant, your co-star in Jessica Jones again?
I hope so. I’m trying to raise the money to do a film adaptation of a stage play with him. I love him. He’s a good egg and so talented. He’s a dream to work with. He’ll do a scene differently every take because he’s so well prepared — I learned a lot.
Bonfire (Hutchinson) is out now |
This week, our leaders are expected to commit Britain to a civic overhaul that no other nation has had the courage – or recklessness, depending on your viewpoint – to contemplate. On Tuesday, the cabinet is set to approve measures that will lead to a revolution in power generation, transport, house construction, planning, manufacturing and farming in Britain over the next 20 years. The aim is to mitigate the worst ravages of global warming.
The proposals form the basis of the fourth budget of the Committee on Climate Change and will be presented for cabinet consideration this week so they can be made law by the end of June. Initial hostility from business secretary Vince Cable and from Treasury officials, who fear funds needed for economic recovery are being wasted on projects of no immediate benefit, has been swept aside. Soon, we will be committed to the basic, radical goal of cutting carbon dioxide emissions to around 390m tonnes a year by 2027.
To put those figures in perspective, current emissions stand at 550m tonnes while subsequent measures could produce even greater reductions – to around 200m – by the middle of the century. Thus the cabinet will trigger moves that will bring about the virtual decarbonisation of our society. The fossil fuels – coal, gas and oil – which powered Britain to industrial and imperial might will be outlawed. In their place, wind farms, nuclear power stations, electric cars and underground dumps of carbon dioxide will provide the bedrock for future economic growth in this country. Britain's basic infrastructure is facing a radical rebuilding.
Other nations have made emission commitments, but most have planned no further than the end of this decade. The Committee on Climate Change's budget takes Britain 10 years further down the line. As its chief executive, David Kennedy, says: "We have moved into uncharted territory and we are going to be watched, carefully, by other countries. No one else has a target like this."
The budget is therefore not just one of domestic importance, it is of international significance. Hence the support of foreign secretary William Hague, who has made plain his backing for the budget. "If our domestic resolve is seen to be weakening, we will lose traction elsewhere," he said last month. But what kind of nation will Britain be once we start investing those billions, raised from taxes and increased electricity costs, in new hardware? How will we move around the country and how will we power our homes and businesses? Very differently, it is clear. According to the committee, by 2027, we should be generating 40% of our electricity from renewable sources (currently only a few per cent) and 40% from nuclear plants (roughly double its present level). The remainder will come from coal, gas and oil plants, with the crucial caveat that most will be connected to carbon capture and storage (CCS) systems that will trap their carbon dioxide emissions and pump them underground for safe storage.
With that kind of kit, Britain can free itself from its dependence on fossil fuels and seriously cut back on harmful heating carbon emissions, says the committee. The obvious point is that most of this hardware does not exist yet. Carbon capture and storage is still only a gleam in the eyes of the odd, enthusiastic geologist, for example. Only one or two pilot plants are in operation at present. This is unproven technology.
Similarly, it is clear that the goal of generating 40% of our electricity from renewables cannot be met through our current obsession with building onshore wind farms. There is not enough land on the British Isles to provide homes for them. We will need other sources of renewable power. Tidal power plants and wave energy generators are two particularly promising candidates, though again the technologies involved are unproved.
And that might seem remiss. Relying on power sources that have still to be developed looks naive, an apparent oversight that will certainly be pounced on by those who deny that fossil fuels are dangerous and that we need to wean ourselves off their use. We are taxing ourselves to sustain an unrealistic ecological dream, they argue.
The argument is disingenuous, however. The very fact that many of these technologies are still in development offers us a key advantage. Over the past four decades, Britain has amassed a great deal of marine engineering experience following the exploitation of North Sea oil, for example. That expertise is precisely the kind needed to build up a strong offshore wind turbine industry in the UK.
The same is true for both tidal and wave power plants. The seas around Britain have some of the strongest tides in the world and are ripe for exploitation. Generating devices are still at a relatively primitive development stage, though plans have been announced for trials of tidal devices in Islay and Orkney. These are reckoned to have considerable promise. They will need careful and costly nurture, however.
The same goes for carbon capture and storage. We not only have North Sea oil experience, we have the depleted gas and oil fields that will make ideal stores for the carbon dioxide we extract from fossil plants. In total, it's quite a package.
The crucial point is that by acting in a timely manner in facing up to climate change, Britain has given itself a chance to take pole position in the development of a range of renewable technologies which could then be sold round the world. For that, the government deserves congratulations. Passing the carbon budget is just the start, however, for it is equally clear that if we want to exploit these opportunities we will need to adopt a far more realistic attitude to the generation of power than we have in the past.
In the 20th century, Britain was given crucial leads that we should have used to build up other types of energy generation. We squandered them instead. Calder Hall, in Cumbria, was the first atom plant to supply power to a national grid, for example. However, development of the next generation of UK nuclear stations – the advanced gas-cooled reactor – was botched. As a result, Britain's tranche of atom plants will be either French or American.
Similarly, we should have taken a lead in wind turbine development, given the gusty meteorological conditions of these islands but again we fluffed the chance. As a result, the wind farms that dot the countryside consist of turbines that are made in Denmark or Germany.
The new carbon budget gives Britain a chance to cut its emissions bill, establish energy security for the nation for the next century – and develop a range of new industries. The last on this list is arguably the most important – and the most vulnerable. |
When Canadian rock band The Tea Party formed in 1990, they had no idea they would soon share their moniker with one of the most controversial right-wing groups in America. Now, reported Bloomberg Businessweek, they’re considering selling their website – teaparty.com – for $1 million dollars. And the question to ask is – who’s buying?
The band holds the rights to the website as of now, and the page has been the source of endless confusion for right-wingers who may be seeking out Michelle Bachmann, and instead finding what the media describes as “Canadian Moroccan roll.” The band however, established on their website the fact that they’re not interested in the right-wing implications of their name, through their message, “No politics. Just rock ‘n roll.”
However, said bassist Stuart Chatwood, “So much damage has been done to our name [by the Tea Party movement] that we’re considering selling.”
Though they just might cash in on U.S. political interest, The Tea Party ultimately expressed a desire to sell their website to someone progressive, if at all possible.
Bassist Stuart Chatwood said, “We’ve considered lending the name to Stephen Colbert or Jon Stewart to have them dispel some of the stuff the Tea Party says.” However, he added, “We’ve got families.” Essentially, this is to say that $1 million could help them, even if that means taking a step over a moral line and selling to the highest bidder. The issue, the band seemed to expressed, is a complex one.
With so many groups and politicians observing the domain name with envious eyes, the report continued, it’s just a matter of time before someone capitalizes on the potential of the Tea Party brand. This could also tie in with a recent series of moves by the GOP to get a tight grip on the Internet and social networking.
Odd, it might be, that the future of the ultra-Right – at least on the web – is resting on the decision of a Middle Eastern-influenced rock band. And it seems likely they’ll sell, sources believe.
Meanwhile, the outcome, based on who actually buys the domain name, could have a powerful political effect, as teaparty.com already appears high on Google search, said the report, despite the site’s actual content.
As noted in a report by Alternet, the Right Wing has always built up a powerful media advantage for itself, with the FOX News Network being the most obvious example. And, backed by conservatives, many fear that a collective movement is being established to dominate the Internet next.
Jerry Markon, a writer for the Washington Post, commented, “The ability of a single email to shape a message illustrates the power of a conservative network,” and he seemed to predict that the GOP and Tea Party movement were, through “loosely affiliated blogs, radio hosts, ‘tea party organizers,’ and D.C. institutions, binding together to fuel opposition to President Obama.”
Despite whatever hands their domain name may fall into, the Tea Party band maintained that the inception of their moniker was never intended to have any type of political implication.
Said Chatwood, the term “Tea Party” was “a euphemism that the Beat poets used to use for getting high, writing poetry, and vibing with each other.”
Whatever the outcome, Rolling Stone reported, The Tea Party, which broke up for a while in 2005, but reunited for a Canadian tour, will remain an active band for the time being.
Photo: Official photo, taken from The Tea Party’s official Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/theteapartyofficial |
Washington (CNN) Sen. Rand Paul declared the war against ISIS "illegal" in a new opinion piece Monday, urging conservatives to speak out against President Barack Obama's decision not to seek congressional authorization for military action against the terrorist group.
"This war is now illegal. It must be declared and made valid, or it must be ended," the Kentucky Republican wrote in an op-ed published Monday by The Daily Beast.
Paul cites the War Powers Resolution of 1973 in stressing his long-held position that all military action must be approved by Congress. The exception is when a situation is considered urgent. In that case, a president has 60 days to get authorization after military action. If there's no approval from Congress, the president has 30 days to end the mission.
While Paul said he doesn't think the War Powers Resolution specifically applies to the ISIS situation -- because the U.S. had not been attacked -- he notes that even if it did, the president's time would be up.
"Taking military action against ISIS is justified. The president acting without Congress is not," he wrote, reiterating a stance he's held since September. This fall Paul has described the airstrikes against Syria as appropriate action but said Obama's method for doing so was "unconstitutional."
JUST WATCHED Were the first shots of 2016 just fired? Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Were the first shots of 2016 just fired? 02:44
The op-ed comes as Paul, who's seen as a likely presidential candidate in 2016, has been trying to shed his isolationist image yet maintain his libertarian-leaning roots.
In the new op-ed, he specifically reached out to conservatives, saying they "they should end their conspicuous silence about the president's usurpation of Congress' sole authority to declare war."
He suggested conservatives are being hypocritical in their criticism of Obama by lambasting him for acting alone through executive actions but staying quiet when he authorizes military action without approval.
"Conservatives who blast the president for ignoring the separation of powers on immigration display a fatal inconsistency by embracing unlimited war-making powers," he wrote.
JUST WATCHED Paul: Midterms 'a repudiation of Clinton' Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Paul: Midterms 'a repudiation of Clinton' 02:20
His piece comes as a report from Politico lists new details about his all-but-certain presidential campaign. The report says he would likely headquarter his campaign in Louisville, Kentucky, and would move forward with a 2016 re-election bid for the Senate on top of a presidential run.
Paul, who's attempting to sharpen his foreign policy brand, also raises questions about Hillary Clinton's physical stamina as well as her record as secretary of state and her involvement in Libya. |
(Reuters) - Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice J. Michael Eakin resigned on Tuesday, the second jurist to step down after being accused of using state computers to exchange sexually and racially offensive emails with his peers.
Eakin, 67, a Republican first elected in 2001, tendered his resignation from the state’s highest court after admitting to sending approximately 18 “inappropriate” emails to friends, according to a statement form his lawyer, William Costopoulos.
Eakin is the second Supreme Court justice caught up in the email scandal, dubbed “Porngate” by local media.
Justice Seamus McCaffery, a Democrat who traded offensive emails, was suspended by his fellow justices in October 2014 and later resigned. Several other state officials linked to the scandal have also stepped down.
The trove of offensive emails allegedly exchanged by Eakin, McCaffery and others was discovered unexpectedly during an investigation by Attorney General Kathleen Kane into how one of her predecessors, Tom Corbett, had carried out the investigation of Penn State sexual predator Jerry Sandusky.
Sandusky, 72, a convicted serial child molester, is serving 30 years to 60 years in prison.
As a result of the emails, Eakin was slated to go on trial later this month to determine whether he violated judicial ethics. Instead, he will file a stipulation of facts that will be reviewed by the state Court of Judicial Discipline in order to impose a penalty, Costopoulos said.
The most severe punishment would be the loss of Eakin’s pension, Costopoulos said.
“He has accepted responsibility for the sending of these emails,” Costopoulos said. “He has apologized to his Court, to the public at large, to his family and friends, and most recently to the Court of Judicial Discipline. There is nothing to try.”
Some of the offensive emails allegedly exchanged by Eakin contained female nudity or ridiculed African-Americans, while others were misogynistic or homophobic, according to a 48-page ethics complaint. Eakin also created a fictitious email account in an attempt to disguise his connection to them, the complaint said.
Kane has held out the email scandal as an example of the “old-boy culture” she says permeates the state legal system.
The first Democrat and first woman to be elected attorney general in Pennsylvania, Kane has since seen her law license suspended over perjury charges stemming from a grand jury leak and has contended that her troubles were caused by enemies worried she would reveal the e-mails. |
Just a week ago, The Better India shared the story of Vitthal Hari Mandole (Vithoba) of Khadki Budruk village, who tilled his land with a cot because he could not afford a plough and a pair of bulls. Thanks to the extremely generous response from our readers, Vithoba collected enough money to purchase a pair of bulls within five days of TBI running his story.
On July 1, 2016, The Better India team came to know about a drought-hit farmer in Maharashtra who tilled his 3 acre land with a cot because he could not afford a plough and a pair of bulls.
His children had to be taken out of school, his wife was ill and he had a huge debt to take care of.
We wanted to bring the story of this brave man, who was using all possible means to fight the hard situation he was in, to our readers. We felt you all may want to help him out so we provided his contact number and bank details and left the rest in your hands.
As always, our readers did not disappoint. Vithoba received more than 50 calls in 5 days, not only from Maharashtra but also from other states like Chennai and Andhra Pradesh.
The article also caught the attention of the NGO HOPE, now known as Shivprabha Charitable Trust, Pune. The NGO decided to gift a pair of bulls to Vithoba.
The story was also circulated in the Whatsapp group of farmers – Baliraja. Balaji Hendre Patil, a Baliraja member, took the responsibility of finding a good and reasonably priced pair of bulls for Vithoba.
Balaji Hendre Patil is from Delub village in Nanded district. He searched for the bulls in three different markets of Nanded and finalized the best pair at a cost of Rs. 54,500 (which included transportation from Nanded to Khadki Budruk Village). He took this decision because the cost of a pair of bulls in Vithoba’s village is around Rs.70,000.
Balaji also did a “test run” with the bulls and other farming equipment on his own farm before setting off to see Vithoba.
On July 7, he left Nanded at 4 am and reached Vithoba’s place at 3 pm.
“I was welcomed just like a film star by the villagers. The entire village was there. Not only the Mandole family but each one of the villagers was so excited and happy,” Balaji told us.
More donations continue to flow into Vithoba’s account. In just 5 days, Rs. 77,000 was donated by our readers, a princely sum for a poor farmer.
Vithoba is going to repay his debts with this amount. His younger son Rahul has also taken admission in I.T.I. The local MLA, Mr. Umesh Patil has taken the responsibility for his education.
“I am so thankful to The Better India and Shivprabha Charitable Trust. Everyone heard our story and was moved but you were the ones who actually helped. This was like a miracle for us, like God answering all our prayers,” said an ecstatic Vithoba.
We, at The Better India, want to thank you, our readers, from the bottom of our hearts for your large-heartedness, kindness and donations for this brave farmer and his family. You rescued a farmer from the brink of desperation.
Like this story? Have something to share? Email: [email protected], or join us on Facebook and Twitter (@thebetterindia). To get positive news on WhatsApp, just send ‘Start’ to 090 2900 3600 via WhatsApp. |
Spread the love
Port Wentworth, GA– Rincon Fire Chief Corey Rahn was on his way to an actual emergency on April 10 when he was aggressively pursued by police. Naturally, he believed they were en route to the same incident. A series of videos have been released documenting the absurd actions of the officer.
The chief was out running errands when he was alerted that a garbage truck had rear-ended a gas truck that was carrying 9,000 gallons of gas, 15 miles away from where he was. Understanding the severity of the situation, Rahn jumped in his personal vehicle and put a mini row of red emergency lights up so that he could rush to the scene and help.
As the fire chief was rushing to the scene, he became an unknowing suspect in a car chase. Despite his emergency lights, an officer began recklessly attempting to pull him over. However, as there was an extraordinarily dangerous situation, with a person trapped, Rahn assumed the officer was just on his way to the scene as well.
According to SavannahNow, the Central Dispatch was reportedly “too busy” to check if it was someone who was responding to an incident. So, the chase continued until eventually the officer used his PA system to demand that the fire chief stop. Rahn heroically ignored the orders and continued to where he was needed, only then learning that he was being chased.
In the video below, the officer’s dangerous pursuit is shown on his dashcam.
Upon arriving at the crash, a second officer who had been involved in the pursuit is heard yelling, “He’s going to jail.” Clearly having no concern for the wreck that had a person who was in critical condition trapped inside- only his ego and revenue generation.
“I thought you were a Rincon officer behind me and we were going to the same place until I got between McCall and Chimney Road,” Rahn is heard explaining.
Once the Chief explained to the officers who he was and why he was there, the officers proceeded to “let him” do his actually heroic job.
“What we do know is that a major accident involving a tanker carrying approximately 9,000 gallons of gas was rear-ended by a trash truck at approximately 45 mph,” Rincon City Manager Wesley Corbitt told SavannahNow. “The trucks were fused together and an individual was trapped in the trash truck in critical condition. There was tremendous potential for escalation of damage to person and property. I have no doubt of the importance of his presence at the scene and that his leadership was vital to safely diffuse a potentially explosive and life threatening accident.”
In typical police fashion however, instead of admitting that they were wrong and apologizing, the officers issued Rahn three citations. He was given tickets for reckless driving, failure to exercise due care and failure to yield to an emergency vehicle.
Here is the video of this reckless officer explaining to the less than enthused fire chief, why he is issuing a ticket. |
MYSLOWICE, Poland — The children Karolina Zolna knows huff and puff after a few minutes of exercise. Two years ago, her infant daughter spent four months in the hospital with pneumonia. The doctors did not identify a cause, but to Ms. Zolna, the reason for the baby’s illness was obvious.
She blames the pollution that hangs heavy in the air of her gray hometown in Poland’s coal heartland, Silesia. In the still-chilly early days of spring, thick smoke wafted from most of the chimneys in Myslowice, wreathing the town in a haze that is a constant reminder of residents’ reliance on coal for heat.
A few kilometers away, visible from the town’s main street, stands the tall red and white smokestack of Elektrownia Jaworzno III, a coal-fired power plant. Clouds of white steam billow from its concrete cooling towers.
“It’s definitely too close to people’s houses,” Ms. Zolna, 30, a school secretary, said of the plant. “If you read about this, you know that pollution is not good for health. And if you have children, you know that it affects your children. And there are more and more kids” with breathing troubles, she said. “Both my children have had problems with their lungs.” |
FA Cup: AFC Wimbledon's Adebayo Akinfenwa looking forward to 'biggest game' of his career against Liverpool
Adebayo Akinfenwa: Supported Liverpool as a youngster
Adebayo Akinfenwa, 'the strongest man in football', is looking forward to facing the club he supported as a boy when AFC Wimbledon entertain Liverpool in Monday’s FA Cup third round tie in Kingston.
Akinfenwa has already set his sights on swapping shirts with idol Steven Gerrard after the match, joking his team-mates "are going to have a problem" if they try to sneak in before him.
The striker, nicknamed 'The Beast', has something of a cult following. There are more than 16,000 players in the latest addition edition of the FIFA computer gaming series – and Akinfenwa is rated strongest of the lot.
League Two Wimbledon have made giant strides since reforming in 2002 and lifelong Liverpool fan Akinfenwa is counting down the hours to one of the biggest days of his life.
I was doing a dance in my living room when I saw the draw. Adebayo Akinfenwa
Akinfenwa, who has played for Leyton Orient, Rushden & Diamonds, Doncaster Rovers, Torquay United, Swansea City, Millwall, Northampton Town and Gillingham during his career, said: "It's the biggest game, there is no bigger. There is nothing coming close.
"I am a Liverpool supporter so even if I played in the Champions League final, this would be the biggest game because I am a Liverpool supporter.
"I am looking forward to it – I was doing a dance in my living room when I saw the draw.
"As a Liverpool supporter, the three best feelings are: to play for the team, to play against the team and score against them.
Jamie Redknapp joins Ed Draper to preview the FA Cup clash between AFC Wimbledon and Liverpool Jamie Redknapp joins Ed Draper to preview the FA Cup clash between AFC Wimbledon and Liverpool
“And I have the opportunity to do two out of three and I hope I achieve them."
Akinfenwa, who weighs-in at 16 stone and can bench press 180kg, hopes that Liverpool will field their strongest team, saying: "I want to play against the best so I want to go toe-to-toe with Martin Skrtel, Mamadou Sakho, Dejan Lovren and Kolo Toure.
"They are Premier League players and you want to be able to look back and say: 'I pitted myself against the best and handled myself well'.
"If there's a 50-50, hopefully I will come out on top. I would back myself 100 per-cent." |
So, here I am. Sitting in my bed and writing about love. Next to me is my English bulldog, Pumba — the big love in my life. When I was asked to write something about love, I said yes right away, but now I’m thinking… what the f*** do I know about love?!
I guess I wanted to do it because ever since I can remember, I have believed in it. I believe in love and nothing but love. The big kind of love, the overwhelming, the completely out of control and over the top, the “I’d do anything for you” kind of love.
Why do I believe in it? I don’t know, I have no idea. All I know is that I do.
From the time I was a little boy sitting in my room in my parents’ house in a tiny little village with 800 souls called Loitsche in East Germany, where I grew up, I was consumed thinking about big cities, singing, being on stage and finding my big love. My twin bother, Tom, never understood that part. He didn’t give a shit about that.
My friends sometimes make fun of me and almost everyone I know thinks I have a fairy tale idea about love and they always tell me it’s not like how it is in the movies — that I’m way too romantic and that all of this is just my fantasy. They say, “In real life, love works way different!”
People think I’m so naive because I’ve never been hurt and all I think is that they probably got hurt too much. That’s why they say stuff like that. That someone broke their heart or maybe they never really loved someone enough and that’s why they can’t relate to what I’m talking about.
The funny thing is that I’m probably the one who got hurt the most out of all these people put together. Heartbroken, completely destroyed, the worst kind of heartbreak you can imagine. Worse than I ever thought could happen to me. Betrayed, cheated on, taken advantage of. I’m saying this without telling the whole story, of course, but I want people to know that things like this happen to me, too — to the ones who seem to be “covered in gold.”
Although I’m still trying to heal, I feel like I still believe — which is a good thing. I still believe in the magic, in the big once-in-a-lifetime love. Is it gonna happen to me? I don’t know. I thought I had already found it once, so maybe not… but I’m hoping, because hope is what keeps all of us going and I truly believe that love is all we are here for! No other reason. Only love!
People like to categorize and label everything. That’s less dangerous; it feels safer. Especially in the industry that I’m in. I feel like it drives people nuts not to know if there is a woman or a man in my bed. That’s why I’ve been getting the ”gay question” ever since I turned 13, when I started giving interviews. I always wondered… why does that even matter? I thought I was here to sing and perform for people?
I never felt like I owed any answers to anyone about it and it amuses me that they made such a big deal out of it. In my world, it’s not that black and white and I think that the real question should be: Why are we asking this? Why does it matter? Why do we need labels? Can we not just live?
No one knows what’s gonna happen in the next minute, the next second. Who knows who I may run into? Maybe I’m just about to meet someone who changes my life forever and, if that happens, does it really matter what gender they are? What I do know is that love is the one beautiful thing we can’t control. We have no power over it. We don’t know where it comes from and we never know when it’s gonna hit us and that’s the beauty of it.
So, I guess I’ll wait and see… I hope I find the magic, the type that heals what’s been broken and gives me wings.
My only advice is: Love who you want to love and love who loves you back. Life is way too short.
But, then again, what the f*** do I know?
You can check out Tokio Hotel’s new album, Kings of Suburbia, on iTunes, and be sure to watch their music video for “Love Who Loves You Back”:
www.youtube.com/embed/8HEvF8QLoYY |
UPDATE : I’ve just tested the exploit on Windows 2008 R2 SP1 x64, exploit works like a charm without any modification.
Hi again,
This time I worked on Kernel-Land a little. Microsoft Windows Kernel Intel x64 SYSRET Vulnerability (MS12-042) was only exploited by VUPEN, apparently!, But no PoC or exploit publicly available. So I decided to work on this challenge just for fun.At first glance, it was difficult to get Code-Execution but after several times struggling with Windbg I finally succeeded on triggering the bug and get code-execution.
By the way, Windbg had stupid bug on executing SWAPGS by single-stepping! I don’t really know why, but the guest VM always reboots!
I managed to get it to work with IDA Pro + GDB remote Debugging plugin after all!
So, anyway, here is the demonstration:
The shellcode disables Code Signing and will grant NT SYSTEM privilege to specified Application or already running process (PID), After successfully running exploit, I demonstrated installing an unsigned Driver (which Dbgprints “Microsoft eats it own dog food – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eating_your_own_dog_food) and granting NT SYSTEM privilege to cmd.exe .
*** WARNING: This is only a proof-of-concept, Although its programmed to be very reliable, But I won’t take any responsibility of any damage or abuse. Sorry kids!
Here are source codes.
Advertisements |
Demand For Rescue Dogs in Some States Now Outstrips Supply
Like us on Facebook:
The current article you are reading does not reflect the views of the current editors and contributors of the new Ecorazzi
Here’s some good news. Thanks to the growth of pet rescue groups, there is more demand for rescue dogs than there are dogs available for adoption in some U.S. states.
According to NPR, in several parts of the country, shelters, like the Northeast Animal Shelter in the Boston area, are importing rescue dogs from other areas, including other states and even other countries to meet the demand.
Laurie McCannon, Northeast Animal Shelter’s director, says the shelter in its early days used to adopt 300 dogs a year; recently they adopted out over 4,000 dogs in 2013, with three-quarters of the animals coming from out-of-state.
There are fewer unwanted dogs and cats in shelters across the Northeastern part of the U.S., thanks to spay-and-neuter programs as well as the awesome participation of various pet rescue groups. Celebrity endorsements probably don’t hurt, either.
Though the southern states have a way to go when it comes to their spay-and-neutering laws, many experts point to Hurricane Katrina as a turning point for the newfound interest in adopting rescue dogs. Efforts to find homes across the country for the unwanted and stranded animals in New Orleans helped pave the way for shelters and rescue groups to transport thousands of animals from various states and countries.
Of course with all of this good news, there is some backlash. There are some veterinarians who worry about “dog trafficking.” The number of dogs being transported across state lines is unknown because the U.S. Department of Agriculture doesn’t track those numbers. There are health issues as well, including mange and heartworm. And dogs who come from other countries run the risk of contracting and spreading rabies.
However, if certain laws can be put in place, including restricting the adoption of dogs where rabies are endemic (and perhaps supplying those regions with the proper medical care), we think the boom in adopting rescue dogs is the best news we’ve heard so far in 2015.
Via NPR
Photo: Shutterstock |
One of the most chillingly effective music reviews I ever read described Crowded House as a band for people who don’t like music.
This can be taken one of two ways. The first is the really patronising reading. The Kiwi band is so beige, according to the reviewer, that it appeals only to people indifferent to music’s life-altering charms. You know the sorts, the ones who engage with music on a purely functional level, treating it as sonic wallpaper.
The second reading is a bit more hopeful. Neil Finn et al are so skilful that their way with a melody evangelises the cloth-eared musical masses. Whenever Weather With You plays, Damascene scenes automatically follow. Scales fall from ears.
I’m sure the reviewer meant the former interpretation, music critics are an unusually cruel lot, but since its Christmas let’s hold onto that optimistic interpretation for a minute. And also being Christmas, lets talk about presents. Furthermore, this being a blog about reading, lets transpose this whole chat into books. (I’m sure you’ll agree, this is a segue so smooth you could strike a match on it.)
What are the books for people who don’t like reading? I ask this out of purely selfish interest. My family are not great readers. In fact, some members are openly hostile to books. So as an act of either mercy or spite, I haven’t decided which yet, I’d like to buy them books for Christmas. I need your help.
Let me warn you, we have some hard cases to deal with. My brother, for example, openly boasts of only having willingly read two books in his life: The Sheep Pig by Dick King Smith (he’s a farmer) and the Ikea catalogue. My father, while not utterly dismissive of books, breaks out into a narcoleptic fit when he sniffs one. My little sister distrusts anything not written by Cecelia Ahern, and she is rapidly approaching the bottom of that shallow barrel. I have one brother-in-law who only reads books that feature the Glasgow Rangers Football Club, while another brother-in-law limits his subject matter to World War Two.
Only my big sister and my mother read beyond literary ghettos or without falling asleep. All of which rather limits the chat around the turkey. (“So, what are you reading at the moment?” “Have you seen the latest Billy the Bookcase?” “Sigh.”)
So, what books will bypass their hardwired distrust of the written word? What works can peel back the curtains to unveil an inexhaustible vista of opportunity? What novel suggests that things actually happened beyond 1945?
I wonder if there is the bookish equivalent of Crowded House out there. All suggestions welcome. Avoiding a chorus of tuts and line of rolling eyes on Christmas morning depends on it. |
"Clever kids in Ravenclaw, evil kids in Slytherin, wannabe heroes in Gryffindor, and everyone who does the actual work in Hufflepuff.”
- Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, Chapter 9
“It is a common misconception that the best rationalists are Sorted into Ravenclaw, leaving none for other Houses. This is not so; being Sorted into Ravenclaw indicates that your strongest virtue is curiosity, wondering and desiring to know the true answer. And this is not the only virtue a rationalist needs. Sometimes you have to work hard on a problem, and stick to it for a while. Sometimes you need a clever plan for finding out. And sometimes what you need more than anything else to see an answer, is the courage to face it…
- Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, Chapter 45
I’m a Ravenclaw and Slytherin by nature. I like being clever. I like pursuing ambitious goals. But over the past few years, I’ve been cultivating the skills and attitudes of Hufflepuff, by choice.
I think those skills are woefully under-appreciated in the Rationality Community. The problem cuts across many dimensions:
Many people in rationality communities feel lonely (even the geographically tight Berkeley cluster). People want more (and deeper) connections than they currently have.
There are lots of small pain points in the community (in person and online) that could be addressed fairly easily, but which people don’t dedicate the time to fix.
People are rewarded for starting individual projects more than helping to make existing ones succeed, which results in projects typically depending on a small number of people working unsustainably. (i.e. a single person running a meetup who feels like if they left, the meetup would crumble apart)
Some newcomers often find the culture impenetrable and unwelcoming.
Not enough “real-time operational competence” - the ability to notice problems in the physical world a and solve them.
Even at events like EA Global where enormous effort is put into operations and logistics, we scramble to pull things together at the last minute in a way that is very draining.
Many people communicate in a way that feels disdainful and dismissive (to many people), which makes both social cohesion as well as intellectual understanding harder.
We have a strong culture of “make sure your own needs are met”, that specifically pushes back against broader societal norms that pressure people to conform. This is a good, but I think we’ve pushed too far in the opposite direction. People often make choices that are valuable to them in the immediate term, but which have negative externalities on the people around them.
In a nutshell, the emotional vibe of the community is preventing people from feeling happy and and connected, and a swath of skillsets that are essential for group intelligence and ambition to flourish are undersupplied.
If any one of these things were a problem, we might troubleshoot it in isolated way. But collectively they seem to add up to a cultural problem, that I can’t think of any way to express other than “Hufflepuff skills are insufficiently understood and respected.”
There are two things I mean by “insufficiently respected”:
Ravenclaw and Slytherin skills come more naturally to many people in the community, and it doesn’t even occur to people that emotional and operational skills are something they should cultivate. It feels like a separate magisteria that specialists should do. They’re also quick to look at social niceties and traditions that seem silly, make a cursory attempt to understand them, and then do away with them without fully understanding their purpose.
People who might join the community who value emotional and operational skills more highly, feel that the community is not for them, or that they have to work harder to be appreciated.
And while this is difficult to explain, it feels to me that there is a central way of being, that encompasses emotional/operational intelligence and deeply integrates it with rationality, that we are missing as a community.
This is the first in a series of posts, attempting to plant a flag down and say “Let’s work together to try and resolve these problems, and if possible, find that central way-of-being.”
I’m decidedly not saying “this is the New Way that rationality Should Be”. The flag is not planted at the summit of a mountain we’re definitively heading towards. It’s planted on a beach where we’re building ships, preparing to embark on some social experiments. We may not all be traveling on the same boat, or in the exact same direction. But the flag is gesturing in a direction that can only be reached by multiple people working together.
A First Step: The Hufflepuff Unconference, and Parallel Projects
I’ll be visiting Berkeley during April, and while I’m there, I’d like to kickstart things with a Hufflepuff Unconference. We’ll be sharing ideas, talking about potential concerns, and brainstorming next actions. (I’d like to avoid settling on a long term trajectory for the project - I think that’d be premature. But I’d also like to start building some momentum towards some kind of action)
My hope is to have both attendees who are positively inclined towards the concept of “A Hufflepuff Way”, and people for whom it feels a bit alien. For this to succeed as a long-term cultural project, it needs to have buy-in from many corners of the rationality community. If people have nagging concerns that feel hard to articulate, I’d like to try to tease them out, and address them directly rather than ignoring them.
At the same time, I don’t want to get bogged down in endless debates, or focus so much on criticism that we can’t actually move forward. I don’t expect total-consensus, so my goal for the unconference is to get multiple projects and social experiments running in parallel.
Some of those projects might be high-barrier-to-entry, for people who want to hold themselves to a particular standard. Others might be explicitly open to all, with radical inclusiveness part of their approach. Others might be weird experiments nobody had imagined yet.
In a few months, there’ll be a followup event to check in on how those projects are going, evaluate, and see what more things we can try or further refine.
[Edit: The Unconference has been completed. Notes from the conference are here]
Thanks to Duncan Sabien, Lauren Horne, Ben Hoffman and Davis Kingsley for comments |
In this podcast, we take a look at the awesome comic book film The Dark Knight Theories and the Dark Knight theory: ‘What is Alfred’s Sinister Plot?’. That Dark Knight theory is one of many that Joe and Anthony propose in this episode of Abstract Nonsense the Fan Theories Podcast.
What is this show? - As Explained By Joe
The Dark Knight Rises
What is the Dark Knight Rises? Well it's about Batman, who has stopped being Batman, its been 8 years and Batman is old and he doesn’t feel like being Batman anymore. Bane is a bad guy who wants to come and invade Gotham with his army of slaves because he was born in the darkness. Bane plans to destroy Gotham city in order to fulfil the goal of the League of Shadows, and only Batman, who was kind of retired, can stop him. The Dark Knight Rises was not as good as the Dark Knight, but still a fun movie to watch and worth checking out if you are bored and need to kill 2.5 hours.
Dark Knight Rises Theories
1st Dark Knight Rises Theory [4:34] Gotham police are on Banes payroll
There appears to be no crime
Cops should be incredibly vigilant due to lack of criminals
The ability for Bane to sneak his army into the sewer shows either laziness or corruption in the police
The Gotham Police are used to being bribed by criminals, so perhaps Bane used Taggarts money to bribe many Gotham’s police
2nd Dark Knight Rises Theory [13:13] The Dark Knight Rises draws heavy inspiration from the French Revolution
The freeing of the prisoners of Blackgate prison mirrors the storming of the Bastille
The comparison between the struggling rich and poor mirrors that of the social classes prior to the French Revolution
Bane the leader of the people is a fantastic orator, just like Maximilien Robespierre
The kangaroo courts for the wealthy in the Dark Knight Rises is exactly like the courts that sentenced rich people to the Guillotine during the French Revolution
3rd Dark Knight Rises Theory [20:20] Alfred doesn’t mean batman at the end of the movie, it's wish fulfilment
It’s unlikely batman would have survived the bomb
Alfred never told anyone where he went for lunch during his holiday
It would require Batman visiting this cafe at least 7 times in order to ensure he doesn’t miss Alfred one day when he is on holidays
4th Dark Knight Rises Theory [25:12] What if Alfred has a sinister plot to kill the Waynes, to inherit their fortune From a Fan: Howie - Sent to [email protected]
Alfred arranges for Bruce’s parents to be murdered
Alfred grooms Bruce
Alfred then tries to get Bruce killed, so that he can inherit his fortune
5th Dark Knight Rises Theory [27:55] Bane’s plan makes no sense, he doesn’t understand how markets work
Bane could have committed fraud
Bane could have hacked Bruce Wayne’s account in the stock exchange
Bane could have bought future options that expired at Midnight, leaving Batman broke
However, Bane could have done none of this if Future options expire at 4pm (as they almost always do) and the trade is complete after the market closed
He also couldn’t have made trades after the Market has closed
6th Dark Knight Rises Theory [34:50] Why does Bane wear the mask?
Why Bane wears a mask
Why Batman wears a mask
Subscribe to us on iTune and get new shows instantly & check out our website https://www.fantheoriespodcast.com for all of our other fan theories and episodes.
=== Contribute Your Fan Theories ===
Join Fans of Abstract Nonsense on Facebook to share your Fan Theories, or email any Fan Theories you have to our email [email protected] and we’ll read them out on the show.
If you don’t have a fan theory but want to say hello or ask us a question, we encourage you to email us at [email protected] .
=== Follow Abstract Nonsense on Social Media ===
FB: http://bit.ly/abstractnonsenseftp
IG: @abstractnonsenseftp
TW: @AbstractPodcast
YT: Abstract Nonsense |
Facebook Twitter Google+ LinkedIn
Karl Smith finds this peculiar comment in a Raghu Ragan FT article:
However, the past build-up of debt in now depressed areas may suggest that demand was too high relative to incomes. If so, demand, without the dangerous stimulant of borrowing, will stay weak. Policy should instead help workers move where there are suitable jobs – for instance, by helping them offload their homes and the associated debt without the stigma of default.
Smith can’t figure out what this means either. Here’s Karl’s interpretation:
So first, when we use demand in the macroeconomic sense, income is simply the equilibrium value of demand at a given price level. It makes no sense to say that demand is too high relative to income. We might mean that the local area was running a persistent current account deficit. So for example on total the people of Las Vegas were importing more than they were exporting. Las Vegas experienced perhaps the most severe crash of any major US metropolitan area. To undue this balance they need to run a current account surplus. That is they need to export more than they import.
Perhaps, but then his solution (people should work less in the region that has the CA deficit) would make no sense at all. I really don’t know what Rajan means here, if I had to guess I think he’d claim the people of the problem regions like Vegas and Spain were not producing too much in total, but rather were producing too much of one good (like houses) and too little of other goods. Then he might argue that in the short run it’s easier for the surplus labor to exit Vegas and Spain and work in a more prosperous area. That would be a defensible argument, but of course it would have nothing to do with “demand” having been too high relative to income. And even if output was too high in aggregate (say too many people had moved to Vegas), that would suggest both output and income were too high, not that demand was too high relative to income.
And as Karl points out, Rajan’s also confused about the re-allocation argument. Here’s Rajan:
This is probably the more pertinent case in several industrial countries, such as the US and Spain. Increasing employment in a sustainable way today could more than pay for itself if people who would otherwise drop out of the workforce earn incomes. The key question then is whether more government spending can make a real difference to the most severe employment problems. Here the case for a general stimulus becomes less compelling. In the US, demand is weakest in communities where a boom and bust in house prices has left an overhang of household debt. Lower local demand has hit employment in industries such as retail and restaurants. A general increase in government spending may be too blunt – greater demand in New York is not going to help families eat out in Las Vegas (and hence create more restaurant jobs there). Targeted household debt write-offs in Las Vegas could be a better use of stimulus dollars.
Notice the non-sequitur, from a lack of jobs to the claim that the “key question” is whether we need more government spending. If there’s not enough jobs (due to a demand shortfall) we need more monetary stimulus. That oversight is forgivable for Spain, as they lack their own currency. But the US? Why would we employ fiscal stimulus, when monetary stimulus doesn’t run up any debts? And the Vegas/New York comparison makes no sense. Both regions have high unemployment. But even if they didn’t, regional differences should play no role in aggregate demand policies. The Fed and the ECB can and should tailor their policy for the entire region. Obviously both the US and the eurozone have a demand shortfall. Recently the problem’s been getting slightly better in the US, and slightly worse in the eurozone. But both could use more monetary stimulus.
Indeed the US needs more monetary stimulus even if AD is currently right on target. How can that be? Because we are still doing fiscal stimulus, e.g. the payroll tax cut. So at a minimum you’d want to do more monetary stimulus until we reached a demand level where Congress felt it could remove fiscal stimulus. People used to sort of blanch when I talked about the Fed “sabotaging” fiscal stimulus, but Bernanke all but admitted that this is exactly what the Fed is currently doing:
1. Bernanke says the Fed can do more.
2. Bernanke says the Fed chooses not to do more, as they think the expected future path of AD is adequate.
3. Congress continues to hold down payroll taxes because they think the expected future path of AD (without fiscal stimulus) is not adequate.
That’s sabotage folks; there is no other word for it.
I apologize for the snarky post title. But think about how hard we work to get our undergrads to distinguish between shifts in demand and changes in quantity demanded. So it’s quite dismaying when a famous economist talks about too much “demand” in a context where he pretty clearly meant something entirely different. It’s hard to have an intelligent debate if each participant comes to the discussion with their own private language.
PS. It’s also possible Rajan meant “consumption” when he said “demand.” That would be a strange use of the term ‘demand,’ and of course the main problem in Vegas and Spain was too much investment, not too much consumption.
PPS. If anyone (including Rajan) can provide a sensible definition of what he meant by ‘demand’ then I’ll provide an abject apology.
Facebook Twitter Google+ LinkedIn
Tags:
This entry was posted on May 25th, 2012 and is filed under Misc., Monetary Policy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or Trackback from your own site. |
Rep. Samuel E Rohrer
The Tenth Amendment Center
March 10, 2009
The danger of being number 10 is that no one really knows who you are. George Washington was our first president; but how many can name number 10 off the top of their head? And Sir Edmund Hillary was the first person to climb Everest, but does anyone know who the tenth person was to reach the summit?
And then consider our amendments to the United States Constitution: most of us know the 1st Amendment verbatim, but do you know what the Tenth Amendment says?
“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
Sometimes thought of as an afterthought, to “sweep up” anything the Founders may have forgotten, the 10th Amendment today is taking on monumental importance as increasing federal intrusion into state affairs threatens to completely destroy the balance between state and federal power.
In the Federalist Papers, authors Jay, Madison, and Hamilton labored to convince a monarch-shy colonial population that they needed a strong government to preserve a free, cohesive nation. The authors took pains to outline how the Constitutional structure of the government would prohibit the federal government from becoming big enough to overwhelm the powers of both the states and the democratic process.
The 10th Amendment was foundational to this system of checks and balances, constitutionally restricting the federal government to covering issues related to commerce, national defense, the postal system, and the like.
“Power begets power,” though, as the saying goes, and the federal government slowly began expanding its powers. One of the most effective and insidious ways that the federal government has taken over control of state affairs is by first passing a mandate and then offering federal money to states with significant strings attached.
[efoods]Whether the issue is welfare, Real ID, No Child Left Behind, or health insurance programs, tantalizing packages have been dangled in front of state governors and legislators, promising to stop the budget gap or expand a politically successful program. States have taken the money and over time, the requirements and restrictions on those state funds have slowly but surely changed the direction of state policy.
Instead of developing programs to fit the needs of state citizens and altering them to best use the state resources, programs are instead clumsily built around the federal funding requirements, so the state does not lose a single available dollar. This significant paradigm shift should be a wake-up call to every citizen not only in Pennsylvania, but also across the nation.
Therefore, because the Supreme Court allowed the federal government to offer funds on conditions, states have subjected themselves to Washington. This submission completely distorts the checks and balances inherent in our Constitution, and enshrined in the 10th Amendment.
In order to raise awareness of this improper delegation of power, I have joined with representatives, senators, Democrats, and Republicans from over 30 states and introduced a resolution into the Pennsylvania General Assembly that reaffirms Pennsylvania’s constitutional powers under the 10th Amendment.
This 10th Amendment Resolution (House Resolution 95) is little more than a restatement of the last amendment to the Bill of Rights, reminding state legislatures that the federal government must no longer be allowed to commandeer our rightful authority.
As difficult as it is to believe someone could oppose a resolution as plain as reaffirming a basic tenet of our Constitution, sadly, opposition is too often the case in our state legislatures. This issue, however, is gaining traction among American citizens who are unwilling to sit back while Washington blatantly ignores their voices.
Supporting the 10th Amendment Resolution is a grassroots effort if ever there was one. I encourage you to spread the word and contact your family, friends and relatives, in and out of Pennsylvania, and encourage them to speak up. This issue will not go away—and it gives a voice to those who have grown frustrated and disillusioned with our federal government.
The 10th Amendment Resolution simply yet powerfully affirms our belief in the constitutional structure of our government. Join me today in that affirmation.
Rep. Rohrer will be holding the “10th Amendment Rally for the State of Independence” on Monday, March 16 at noon in the Rotunda of the State Capitol. Please make plans to join him there. Visit www.samrohrer.com for more information.
Samuel E. Rohrer is a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives (R-Berks). To contact him, visit his website at www.samrohrer.com. |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.