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Larry Fedora hired Tim Beckman, who he worked with at Oklahoma State a decade ago. (Photo11: Rafael Suanes, USA TODAY Sports)
North Carolina coach Larry Fedora embarrassed himself Wednesday.
Unnecessary, egregious embarrassment for himself, not to mention a university and an athletic department that doesn’t need any more of it.
No matter how much time North Carolina spent Wednesday minimizing former Illinois coach Tim Beckman’s new role on its football staff — he’s a volunteer coach, he won’t be working with players, he’s only going to be analyzing film, blah, blah, blah — the fact remains that Fedora has chosen to associate with somebody who was fired last year for mistreating players after Illinois hired the Franczek Radelet law firm out of Chicago to investigate.
And even worse, Fedora attempted to justify it by using straw men and half-truths to absolve Beckman, a buddy he worked with at Oklahoma State a decade ago, from any wrongdoing at Illinois.
“I don’t believe everything I read, all right,” Fedora said, according to the Raleigh News & Observer. “I know Tim. I know his side of the story, also. So I was comfortable with it. If I wouldn’t have been, obviously I wouldn’t have brought him. I wouldn’t have allowed him to be in our program."
He continued: “I know (criticism is) going to happen, and then a couple of days from now it won’t be news. I mean, I promise you, I didn’t see anywhere where the NCAA said that he should be banished from the game of football. You know?
“I mean, the guy didn’t win enough games. That’s all it was.”
Uh, no, Larry. That wasn’t “all it was.”
He was fired because, after a series of players went public with troubling stories, a law firm hired by Illinois found evidence to support the following conclusions, as outlined in its report made public Nov. 6, 2015:
Coach Beckman attempted to instill a belief system in players to play through injuries and return too quickly from injuries to benefit the team by pressuring or influencing players not to report injuries or play through them;
Coach Beckman criticized players who sought medical treatment or were not playing because of injury with demeaning comments and other communication tactics;
coaches placed their medical judgment above that of physicians and led players to be misinformed regarding medical options and expected recovery time from injury;
coaches pressured athletic trainers to aggressively interpret physician diagnoses and player restrictions to return injured players to practice prematurely; and
coaches influenced medical decisions in ways that prioritized the team over the individual player’s welfare.
MORE: Full report from Illinois (PDF)
So no, Beckman’s 12-25 record at Illinois wasn’t the only reason he was fired. If it were, would he really have settled for a mere $250,000 rather than go after the entire $3.1 million remaining on his contract?
And Fedora’s contention that Beckman hasn’t been banished from the NCAA? That’s simply spin. For one thing, Beckman’s misdeeds at Illinois were never an NCAA issue to begin with but rather a breach of university standards and common decency. And even if something did rise to the level an NCAA violation, the NCAA doesn’t and can’t “banish” coaches but rather sanction their activities.
In Beckman’s case, it shouldn’t need to.
With all the attention given to safety and making sure football players’ bodies are being properly cared for, you’d think a school would be smart enough not to justify or endorse the kind of culture Beckman had built at Illinois.
But obviously, Fedora doesn't know or simply doesn’t care. Either way, it’s a bad look for him and even worse for North Carolina, which is unnecessarily letting it happen.
2016 HEISMAN CANDIDATES:
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http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/LetsPlay/GeekRemix
Geek Remix is a YouTube channel started in July of 2013 by two women, Mari and Stacy. Their 2 Girls 1 Let's Play series includes full playthroughs as well as the shows 2 Girls 1 Shitty Look, which examines poorly written, animated, or designed games, and 2 Girls 1 Quick Look which delves briefly into games, sometimes through their demos, alphas, or betas.
Mari also writes and edits other types of videos for the channel, including fan theories, Easter Eggs and easily missed details, scene compilations, and examination of tropes like the Uncanny Valley, Subliminal Seduction, and Freeze-Frame Bonus. They have also founded a new show called "Pixel Squirt" which looks at the inevitable porn adaptations of video games.
Advertisement:
2 Girls 1 Let's Play Games
Geek Remix's videos, along with its hosts, Mary and Stacy, have examples of the following tropes:
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Movio film market research, which studies North American moviegoer audience behavior, has released some stats on presales for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Per Movio’s sampling, 94.5% of those who bought advance tickets for the film did so for opening weekend.
Of that sample, 38.8% are going to see the J.J. Abrams film on Thursday, half of them for the first screening session at 7 PM. The preferred choice of opening-night moviegoers is 2D, at 54.2%.
Industry analysts already are predicting a $50M Thursday night for Force Awakens, outstripping the pre-opening record of $43.5M set by Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2 in 2011. Of the 4,100 screens playing The Force Awakens, 80% will be in 3D along with 392 Imax, 451 PLF screens and 146 D-box locations. Movio reports that the opening night audience is made up of 70.4% guys, which is 6.5% greater than Jurassic World‘s which is close to 64%. The current opening-weekend projection for Force Awakens is $180M-$220M.
Movio further notes that most of those heading out to see Star Wars on opening night are guys, with close to 53% between the ages of 22-49. That demo is 13% larger than those who watched Jurassic World on its first Thursday. In regard to the rest of the advance-ticket sales breakdown: 26.9% scooped up tickets for Friday, 14.9% on Saturday, 7.5% on Sunday and 2.4% on Christmas day.
Of utmost concern to Disney this weekend is that there is an assumption by mass moviegoers that there aren’t any tickets available, particularly with industry presales reaching an estimated $100M by Friday night. Per the studio, there’s plenty of Force Awakens tickets that will be made available for those who opt to walk up to the theater this weekend.
Said Disney distribution chief Dave Hollis last night: “There’s a lot to be excited about when you see the kind of advance sales we’ve seen on this film, in December no less. But with so many screenings available and the ability of exhibitors to expand based on demand, anyone who shows up at the box office to find a showtime for this weekend will be able to find one – more than once if they are so inclined.”
Elizabeth Frank, AMC Theatres chief content and programming officer also chimed in. “You can’t get any broader than this movie when it comes to audience appeal,” she said, “and this weekend and beyond, AMC will offer consumers the opportunity to enjoy Star Wars however they would like — evening, midnight or morning, Imax, Dolby Cinema, 2D or 3D, big cities and small towns, even corporate events and children’s birthday parties. And there are plenty of tickets available for them all.”
While film reviewers, select media and Hollywood notables saw The Force Awakens this week, theaters owners are seeing the film for the first time today at exhibition screenings.
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AUSTIN ― When Karla Pérez handed over a stack of paperwork including her home address, photographs and her fingerprints to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services five years ago to apply for DACA, she was still living at home with her parents. To gain the ability to work legally under the new program despite being undocumented, Pérez had to make the tough choice to give the Department of Homeland Security not just her own address, but the one for her mom and dad as well.
“That always weighs heavily on my mind,” Pérez said. “My biggest concern right now is my parents because DHS has my information… I’m not so much worried for myself as for my family.”
After the Trump administration announced the termination of DACA on Tuesday, several of the program’s recipients interviewed by HuffPost described feeling a sense of both injustice and betrayal. The program, whose full title is Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, shielded undocumented immigrants who came to the country as minors from deportation and allowed them to work legally in the United States.
To take advantage of the program, DACA recipients had to make a leap of faith that the federal government would not turn around after Barack Obama’s presidency ended and use their own information against them.
Many of them, like Pérez, were living with undocumented family members when they provided their address to USCIS on their first applications. As the Trump administration eviscerates the last major immigration reform of the Obama years, many DACA beneficiaries were not worried so much about themselves as their parents or other family members left out of the program and in limbo by stalled attempts to pass farther-reaching reforms through Congress.
“I’m freaked out,” Pérez said. “But at the same time, there’s this renewed commitment to fight for everyone in the immigrant community, including my parents.”
Juan Belman, 24, obtained DACA while studying at the University of Texas at Austin. He has graduated, but continues to organize with the University Leadership Initiative, a student group at the school. The address Belman submitted with his DACA application was his family home, where his undocumented parents live.
“That’s a concern,” Belman told HuffPost. “I’m not always home. That’s something I worry about. We’ve given them all our information.”
Another DACA recipient, who asked to be identified only as Luis in order to protect his family, remembered feeling ecstatic back in 2012 when the Obama administration rolled out DACA. Having fled years ago as an unaccompanied minor from gang violence and an abusive father in Central America, Luis had no way to apply to normalize his status before DACA.
Joe Amon via Getty Images A 10th grader with a 'stay strong' sticker marched with students, immigrants and impacted individuals to Tivoli Quad on Denver's Auraria Campus to defend the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program during a city-wide walkout and rally.
“Many of us ran from persecution, from violence, from absolute levels of poverty,” Luis said. “All of the sudden, a Dreamer is told that there is going to be a line. Of course you’re going to jump on line!”
“Of course I trusted it,” he continued. “Because I believe in this nation and I want to serve this nation, regardless of its politics and its different administrations.”
Now enrolled in graduate school, he worries about what the Trump administration’s decision to kill the program will mean for his ability to work here, or the impact it will have on more mundane but life-changing opportunities the program granted him, like the ability to obtain a driver’s license. (A spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Public Security wrote in an email that DACA recipients’ licenses would expire along with their participation in the program.)
But more than that, he’s concerned about the impact the decision will have on his mother.
“I wonder what my mom is thinking,” Luis said. “I talk to her and she’s crying… I am in college and so is my mom every single day I’m in class because I have her in my heart. My family trusted. And now the entire nation has been betrayed.”
Homeland Security officials insist that they will not use the information provided by DACA recipients against them to pursue deportation orders. Those who participated in the program gave their information to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency that processes applications to obtain legal residency or to obtain American citizenship. That agency is separate from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which carries out deportation policy.
But both agencies belong to DHS, leading to unease among the program’s recipients that their trust of federal authorities may backfire on them.
Ahead of Tuesday’s announcement that the Trump administration would end DACA, Homeland Security officials told reporters that USCIS will not share information with ICE, unless they had a compelling reason. “In instances of criminality or law enforcement, we will use all of our law enforcement databases,” one of the department’s senior officials said.
A statement posted on the DHS website noted that the information-sharing policy between the department’s agencies could change without warning.
“This policy, which may be modified, superseded, or rescinded at any time without notice, is not intended to, does not, and may not be relied upon to create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable by law by any party in any administrative, civil, or criminal matter,” the statement reads.
The vagueness of those assertions offers little assurance to the individuals concerned about what Tuesday’s changes mean for themselves or their families.
At the same time, concerns about information sharing through the soon-to-be-defunct DACA program is unlikely to keep many of the program’s beneficiaries quiet.
Even before the Obama administration implemented DACA, many undocumented youths had begun openly declaring their immigration status as a political act, adopting the slogan “undocumented and unafraid.” One of them, Cesar Vargas, became the first undocumented immigrant in the state of New York to obtain a license to practice law in 2015 ― a state court decision based partly on the fact that he had DACA.
These days, he practices immigration law in Staten Island. Despite concerns about information sharing between USCIS and ICE, Vargas emphasized that until it’s phased out, the program continues.
“I’m telling clients, ‘your information should be safe,’” he said. “But don’t get in trouble. That’s where we’re at right now.”
While his hard-fought ability to practice law was plunged into doubt with the Trump administration’s decision, Vargas urged other Dreamers to keep publicly pushing for reform, noting like most others interviewed for this story that it was their efforts that led to the creation of DACA in the first place.
“One of the things we try to tell people is that this is a moment not to regress back to the shadows,” Vargas said. “This is a moment where we’re undocumented and unafraid. Trump and [Attorney General] Jeff Sessions want us to regress back to the shadows. They tell stories that portray us as criminals and rapists. But we need to keep telling our own stories.”
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A male juvenile fell over a railing into the Strawberry Creek bank Sunday afternoon.
The fall occurred about 12:25 p.m. near Haas Pavilion and the Valley Life Sciences Building on the Berkeley campus. The juvenile was transported to a local children’s hospital to treat his injuries, according to UCPD Officer Daniel Labat, and was conscious when paramedics transported him with a stretcher.
Multiple bystanders said the fall appeared to be accidental after the juvenile leaned too far over the railing.
To onlooker Connor Carroll, a UC Berkeley freshman, the bridge over Strawberry Creek is a hazard to safety by its design. He noted that when people lean over the railing, their center of mass is not always lower than the fence, putting them at risk for a fall.
“It’s an old fence that has a lot of value,” Carroll said. “But as far as I’m concerned as a student and in terms of safety, that doesn’t matter to me — the sentimental value — when it comes to people falling off and getting hurt.”
Check back for updates.
Andrea Platten is the managing editor. Contact her at [email protected].
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Back on July 4, 1795, none other than midnight-rider Paul Revere and Samuel Adams, who was then Massachusetts' governor, laid a time capsule in the Massachusetts State House in Boston. The event was a big to-do. Fifteen white horses (one for each state of the union) pulled the capsule to the ceremony, where a 15-gun salute accompanied its entombment within a cornerstone by Revere, Adams and fellow revolutionary William Scollay.*
In December 2014, the capsule was re-discovered by workers attempting to fix a water leak. Historians debated whether or not it should be removed, but the fact that water was seeping into that part of the building ultimately cinched it. To ensure preservation of its contents, it was decided that the time capsule would be opened.
There was an initial fear that the capsule’s contents hadn’t survived the centuries, particularly because the whole thing had been opened once before—in 1855, while repairs were done to the State House. At the time, 19th century “preservationists” had reportedly washed most of the capsule’s items in acid. However, they also enclosed all of the materials in a brass box—a more reliable vessel for the collection than the two heavy sheets of lead originally used.
To the delight of historians, an x-ray performed last month suggested that the enclosed materials—thought to include paper and coins—were intact.
The 10-pound capsule was finally opened last night at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston in front of a crowd of press and history enthusiasts, after Pam Hatchfield, the museum's Head of Objects Conservation, spent about five hours delicately loosening the screws that held down the lid. Inside, conservators found a well-preserved collection of Revolutionary-era artifacts, as well as some dating to the first opening in 1855.
*This sentence was updated for accuracy—it originally stated the horses pulled a brass box, but the brass box came later.
There were over a dozen coins, including a one-shilling piece from 1652, as well as a half-cent, a 3-cent, a dime, a “quar. dol” and a half-dollar coin. A Saturday morning paper and the Boston Traveler newspaper (priced at 2 cents) were discovered in readable condition.
Also within: The title page of the first volume of the Massachusetts Colony Records, a paper impression of the Seal of the Commonwealth, a medal depicting George Washington and a silver plaque commemorating the erection of the State House. Conservationists will be hard at work over the coming months working to preserve the materials and record their details.
It has been a pretty good year for American time capsules: In September, a 113 year-old capsule was discovered inside the head of a golden lion statue perched at the top of the Massachusetts State House. But not all that is buried is particularly old: in October, the 200th birthday of Perryopilis, Penn., was commemorated by opening a capsule originally sealed in 1976.
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Instead, Iran’s fiery act of vengeance seemed to be a message aimed at both the Trump administration and Saudi Arabia. (The six ballistic missiles used by Tehran against ISIS, with a range of 700 kilometers, could reach major Saudi cities.) The kingdom has become emboldened regionally and escalated its anti-Iran rhetoric thanks, in part, to Trump’s message of seemingly unconditional support.
At the same time, Trump’s apparent willingness to use military force against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his chief supporters risks sparking a widening confrontation, while distracting from what he insists is his top priority: defeating ISIS in Iraq and Syria. This, from a president who campaigned, in part, on a pledge to avoid direct U.S. involvement in the Syrian conflict. Now, Trump has become a major player in an exploding regional proxy war that could determine the Middle East’s post-war dynamics.
Sunday’s events place the danger of escalation and the staggering complexities of the phalanx of alliances in Syria into stark relief. The confrontation began when U.S.-allied fighters with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a coalition of Kurdish, Sunni Arab, Christian, and Turkmen rebel groups anchored by the largely Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), came under attack from “pro-Syrian regime forces” in a town south of Tabqa, the site of a strategic dam that had been under ISIS control for several years until the SDF captured it in May. (Over the past year, the SDF and YPG had largely avoided confrontation with Syrian forces—a modus operandi that may be changing as Assad and his allies grow bolder in the race for control of southeastern Syria.) The Pentagon coordinates its activities in Syria with Russian forces, and U.S. officials said they contacted their counterparts on a “de-confliction” phone line asking them to intervene with Syrian forces to stop the attacks. But two hours later, the Pentagon said, a Syrian-regime jet dropped bombs near SDF fighters, and it was shot down by a U.S. Navy plane.
Afterwards, the Pentagon said it would protect the Syrian rebels it has been training and arming for more than year to launch the assault on ISIS in Raqqa. “The coalition’s mission is to defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria,” the U.S. statement said. “The coalition does not seek to fight [the] Syrian regime, Russian, or pro-regime forces partnered with them, but will not hesitate to defend coalition or partner forces from any threat.”
And foremost among those threats, in the eyes of the Trump administration, is Iran. While Trump has changed his mind on a number of foreign-policy questions since taking office, he has been consistent in his belief that Iran, the world’s main state sponsor of terrorism, poses the greatest threat to U.S. interests in the Middle East. He’s surrounded himself with advisers like Defense Secretary James Mattis and National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster, battle-hardened former military commanders who want to take an aggressive approach to contain Iran.
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As the uprising against Israel's occupation and colonisation of Palestinian land and holy sites continues, many commentators have spent ample time analysing the methods by which some Palestinians choose to resist, rather than discussing the origins of the conflict and potential solutions.
Media coverage surrounding the Palestinian struggle for self-determination in the face of Israeli occupation often frames the narrative by equating the ethics of violence on both sides - but what does international law have to say about the Palestinian right to resistance? Does it fall short of providing an occupied people the tools to resist? What options do Palestinians have? Al Jazeera asked several analysts to weigh in.
HUWAIDA ARRAF
Huwaida Arraf is a Palestinian-American lawyer and human rights activist. She is cofounder of the International Solidarity Movement and former chairperson of the Free Gaza Movement, which organised a dozen sea voyages to challenge Israel's naval blockade on Gaza.
It's easy to feel like a broken record (for those of us who remember those) talking about Israel's violations of international law. The list of these violations is seemingly endless and their condemnation by Palestinian, international and Israeli human rights organisations abound. Over the years, experts, independent commissions, NGOs, the UN, and even the US State Department have documented the numerous and massive violations of Palestinian human rights committed by Israel; yet the violations continue and, arguably, have become more egregious, with no accountability to the victims and no repercussions for Israel.
This dismaying reality is an inevitable result of perhaps the biggest shortcoming of international law - that adherence to it and its enforceability depend largely on voluntary state consent and compliance. In other words, absent the political will to make state behaviour comport with the law, violations are the norm rather than the exception. In this case, Israel is certainly not interested in sacrificing its colonial agenda to comply with international law, and with the unwavering political and economic support of the United States, thus far it has not had to.
What's more, even though the UN has repeatedly recognised the right of an occupied people to use legitimate armed force in the struggle for "liberation from colonial and foreign domination", and has specifically applied this to Palestine, Palestinians have had to endure decades of being labelled as "terrorists", while the terrorism perpetuated by their occupiers and oppressors has been labelled "self-defence".
All of this has contributed to a feeling among Palestinians that international law is meaningless when it comes to protecting them, and it is difficult to argue otherwise.
Expanding the legal paradigm will serve to address all of Israel's crimes against our people, past and present, and not only those committed in the OPT since 1967.
This is not to say that we should turn our backs on international law. Rather, we should understand its limitations and develop a Palestinian national plan to use it effectively. This must include, among other things, using documented Israeli human rights violations to make the case for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS).
It must also include expanding the legal paradigm in which Palestine is viewed, from one that goes beyond a focus on international humanitarian law (IHL), to one that addresses colonialism, apartheid and the right to self-determination. The latter was the topic of a conference held at Birzeit University in May 2013, but it has yet to be translated into a broad strategy.
As IHL is the law governing situations of armed conflict and occupations, it is applicable only to the internationally recognised occupied areas of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza (the occupied Palestinian territories, or OPT).
While useful in establishing that certain Israeli practises, such as settlement building, are illegal, an exclusive reliance on IHL is problematic in that it treats Israel's occupation regime as one that is lawful, focusing only on the legality of Israel's actions rather on the (il)legitimacy of the occupation itself.
It also grants the occupier a certain set of rights, which Israel has manipulated to justify grossly repressive measures against the occupied civilian population, such as the near hermetic closure of the Gaza Strip, land confiscation, and mass killing.
Perhaps more importantly, an exclusive IHL focus, compounded by the framework created by Oslo, has fragmented our national liberation struggle, excluding from it Palestinians outside of the OPT and ignoring the fundamental rights denied to them by Israel's colonial, apartheid regime.
Expanding the legal paradigm will serve to address all of Israel's crimes against our people, past and present - and not only those committed in the OPT since 1967.
While Palestinians demonstrating in the streets today in the West Bank, Gaza, Sakhnin, Nazareth, and in the diaspora are likely not thinking about their actions in the context of international law, they are undoubtedly rising above the fractioning of our struggle to affirm the unity of our fight for freedom, justice and dignity.
The challenge now is to develop a comprehensive legal strategy that utilises all aspects of international law to join BDS and the popular resistance to confront Israel on all fronts towards liberation.
RICHARD FALK
Richard Falk is professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University and served as a United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel.
As has been widely understood in recent decades, international law was an instrument of colonial rule, as well as serving for several centuries the purposes of a West-centric world order in conflict situations.
The linchpin of this system was upholding the prerogatives of the fully sovereign states as modified by the geopolitical power of the dominant political actors. Under these circumstances, it is hardly surprising that the rights of peoples to resist and national movements were not acknowledged in international law even if conditions of severe repression or tyranny prevailed.
This situation becomes even more clearly grasped if it is remembered that in the formative era of modern international law, most of the leading states were governed as absolute monarchies.
At the same time, it should be taken into account that in this Western tradition, leading political philosophers including Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau recognised a right of revolution in the face of tyrannical rule. This right is embodied in international morality, but until recently was not explicitly incorporated into international law.
As the anti-colonial movement evolved in the 1960s, extending notions of the fundamental right to self-determination, including the legitimacy of struggles against foreign rule, the UN began validating this development of international law as in General Assembly Resolution 2625 (1970) that authoritatively clarified the evolving law.
The right to self-determination was given added legal weight by being included as common Article 1 in the two human rights covenants adopted in 1966, which meant that this right was so fundamental that it infused all the other rights.
Israel has used the cover of diplomatic negotiations to expand its unlawful settlement archipelago, to engage in a process of gradual ethnic cleansing in East Jerusalem, and to solidify its apartheid regime of administration.
From this point of view, the Palestinian national movement can claim to be resisting as the only available reasonable means to realise its long-deferred right of resistance.
The scope and extent of this right is not specified in either international humanitarian law or the law of war, but its exercise seems consistent with an emergent international customary law consonant with acting reasonably given the circumstances confronting Palestine.
These circumstances suggest two salient features:
(1) Israel has been acting as an occupying power under the Fourth Geneva Convention since 1967, but has persistently and flagrantly violated its fundamental obligation not to alter the basic circumstances affecting an occupied people.
From its outset, Israel defied the international community and its obligations by enlarging the area of Jerusalem and annexing the entire city, by engaging in a major settlement project despite the clear prohibition of Article 49(6), by severe collective punishment forbidden by Article 33, by the imposition of an apartheid regime of administration in the West Bank that the Rome Statute specifies as a crime against humanity, and by the construction and maintenance of the separation wall on occupied Palestinian territory in defiance of the near unanimous 2004 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, as endorsed by vote of the General Assembly.
(2) The occupation of Palestine has lasted for more than 48 years and shows no sign of ending. International humanitarian law is defective by its failure to place term limits (of say five years) on a condition of belligerent occupation.
Israel has used the cover of diplomatic negotiations to expand its unlawful settlement archipelago, to engage in a process of gradual ethnic cleansing in East Jerusalem, and to solidify its apartheid regime of administration.
The combination of (1) and (2) establish clearly that the Palestinian people have a reasonable right to resist under contemporary international law as the only practicable means of realising their inalienable right to self-determination.
Again, the rule of reason and public conscience, which international law itself mandates in the absence of treaty guidelines, justifies recourse to resistance by the Palestinian national movement. Such recourse is itself subject to the limitations imposed by international humanitarian law on the use of force, making it unlawful to target civilians.
Whether reliance on retaliatory rocket attacks by Gaza and violence against armed settlers are lawful tactics is a matter that has not been authoritatively resolved.
In essence, international law grants to the Palestinian people a right to resist Israeli occupation that is reinforced by Israel's failure to withdraw from occupied Palestine as decreed back in 1967 by unanimous vote of the UN Security Council in Resolution 242 and by its own refusals to abide by the limitations imposed on an occupying power by the Geneva Conventions.
YOUSEF MUNAYYER
Yousef Munayyer, a political analyst and writer, is executive director of the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation.
One of the major shortcomings of the international legal system as it relates to the Palestinian struggle for liberation - or any peoples' struggle for liberation for that matter - is the very nature of the law and the legal system.
This is, after all, a system that was put together and crafted by states, and largely for states, to regulate inter-state affairs. The stateless were not at the table as these systems were being developed over the years, nor were their interests properly accounted for.
Statelessness creates certain barriers and obstacles to operating within the international legal system and its associated international institutions. There are some organisations, for example, where membership is only available to state parties and, without membership, it is difficult if not impossible to adequately operate within those organisations.
There are elements of international law, however, which do relate to stateless peoples and, in particular, the right of oppressed or colonised peoples to resist, including through the use of armed struggle, against their oppressor.
This is particularly relevant in the case of Palestinians who are living under a belligerent occupation, which has persisted for nearly half a century. Of course, what forms of armed struggle, or more precisely which targets during armed struggle, are legitimate is also governed by international law.
For Palestinians to use armed struggle against military targets of the occupying force is legitimate under the law. Civilian targets are, of course, forbidden.
In the case of Palestine, the problem is not that the laws do not exist to support the cause of Palestinian rights, but that they are not enforced by the powers that be.
Importantly, however, law is only useful if it is enforceable and enforced. In the case of Palestine, the problem is not that the laws do not exist to support the cause of Palestinian rights, but that they are not enforced by the powers that be.
Countless facets of the Israeli occupation are clearly violations of international law. Settlements violate provisions against the transfer of a civilian population into occupied territory. Likewise, resource theft from occupied territory is also forbidden. So too are many of the Israeli policies related to Palestinian prisoners. But who is enforcing these laws? Without enforcement, these laws are not even worth the paper they are written on.
History has shown us that states tend to seek the enforcement of international laws and norms when it suits their interests. At the moment, the US, the key player in this because of its veto in the Security Council and its continued support for Israel and its occupation, has not seen the enforcement of international law as part of its interest in the Middle East. Rather, the US has worked diligently to ensure that the arbitration of the Israeli/Palestinian issue only takes place through US-mediated talks and not in international legal forums.
For these reasons, many pathways for Palestinians are blocked off unless they can generate the leverage necessary to impose the enforcement of law.
This is why the strategy of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) has been one of the few avenues through which Palestinian resistance can thrive at relatively low costs, and with the potential for serious gains.
Grounded in international law, the three demands of the BDS movement, which are sought through non-violent means, should allow Palestinians to channel their energy effectively while not relenting any moral high ground.
Without generating pressure on the Israeli state, however, having all the law in the world on your side will not guarantee justice, unless there is enforcement.
GEORGE BISHARAT
George Bisharat is emeritus professor of law at UC Hastings College of the Law and writes frequently on law and politics in the Middle East.
A credible argument can be made that international law currently supports the right of Palestinians to resist Israeli military rule in those parts of Palestine that Israel occupied in 1967.
This claim, however, is not unassailable. Moreover, it is relatively certain that the means of Palestinian resistance must conform to standing principles of international humanitarian law (IHL) - that branch of international law that governs the use, but not the initiation, of force.
Arguably, IHL fails at this time to adequately account for power asymmetries between Israel - a nuclear-armed power with one of the most potent militaries in the region, if not the world - and the Palestinians, who are at best defended by lightly armed security forces and/or militias, and effectively disables the Palestinian right of resistance.
Why is it not possible to simply assert that Palestinians have an unequivocal right of resistance against foreign occupation under international law, no different, for example, than French resistance to Nazi occupation? The problem stems from the nature of international law itself, and its conservative bias in favour of state sovereignty.
The two main sources of international law are treaties (contractual law, binding only on parties to agreements) and custom (what states actually do that other states accept as lawful). In addition, the United Nations Security Council is empowered, under the UN Charter, to issue resolutions that, if not law, at least have the same binding obligatory effects as law.
The right of Palestinian resistance is most clearly supported via the series of UN General Assembly resolutions - beginning with UNGA 1154 of 1960 - that demand an end to colonialism generally, and recognise the right of all colonised peoples, including the Palestinians, to resist foreign domination by any means necessary, including armed struggle.
It may further enforce those resolutions by a variety of means, up to and including the use of force. In contrast, the UN General Assembly (UNGA) is principally an advisory body, and can neither legislate nor mandate actions by the Security Council.
The right of Palestinian resistance is most clearly supported via the series of UN General Assembly resolutions - beginning with UNGA 1154 of 1960 - that demand an end to colonialism generally, and recognise the right of all colonised peoples, including the Palestinians, to resist foreign domination by any means necessary, including armed struggle (such as UNGA 33/24 of 1978).
While the UNGA cannot create international law, it can recognise or articulate existing customary law, and its pronouncements can, over time, morph into customary law through states' treatment of them as legally binding.
The problem is that the responses of states to a possibly new customary principle of law are typically neither uniform, simultaneous, nor explicit. Until a norm is firmly accepted by a majority of states, its status as law is unclear.
The above-referenced UNGA resolutions were not passed unanimously, and following the global decolonisation process of the 1960s and 1970s, have not truly been tested legally. Their status as law, therefore, is less obvious than our moral instincts might anticipate.
The IHL principle of distinction requires that attacks only be launched against combatants - that is, soldiers or civilians actively engaged in hostilities. Thus, Palestinian attacks on Israeli soldiers or settlers using violence against Palestinians would be justified, while those against civilians not then engaged in combat would be unjustified.
An argument can be made that applying identical standards of distinction to both parties, without recognising Israel's vast intelligence and military advantages over the Palestinians, is, in fact, unfair and unequal.
Israel can abide by the principle of distinction with relative ease while requiring the same of Palestinians, whose weaponry is crude (and, in the case of rockets, indiscriminate by nature), in effect annuls their right to resist.
There is little question, however, that while such an argument bears weight, it does not enjoy wide international acceptance at this time.
DIANA BUTTU
Diana Buttu is a Canadian-Palestinian human rights lawyer, analyst and commentator based in Palestine. She is a policy adviser for Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network.
For nearly 50 years, Israel has occupied Palestine in defiance of the countless UN resolutions enshrining the Palestinian right to self-determination.
While Israel has long proclaimed that this occupation is "temporary" in nature and has articulated that it does not intend to indefinitely rule over Palestinians, the facts speak for themselves: Over the course of the past 48 years, Israel has undertaken measures to cement its military rule by stealing Palestinian land, demolishing Palestinian homes and erecting settlements that house more than 700,000 illegal Israeli settlers.
And it is not just land that Israel has devastated: Generations of Palestinians have now grown up under the wrath of Israeli military rule or a brutal siege. Nearly 20 percent of the Palestinian population has, at one point in time, been imprisoned by Israel and thousands of Palestinians continue to languish in Israeli prisons.
In the aftermath of Israel's brutal attack on the Gaza Strip last year, more than 100,000 Palestinian homes and structures, demolished by Israel, remain unconstructed. Israel has long attempted to obscure its military occupation, colonisation of Palestinian land and denial of freedom to Palestinians in order to try to change the rules of international law.
Rather than criticise Palestinians - a stateless, refugee, besieged population - for the mechanisms that they use to resist Israel's military onslaught, the attention of the international community is better spent holding Israel - a state with extensive diplomatic and military support - accountable under international law for its crimes and aggression against Palestinians.
Israel has attempted to present itself as the victim by trying to portray its military aggression as either a religious conflict or as one of two equal parties. In other words, it attempts to turn things on their head: The occupied, stateless population is supposed to protect its oppressor and occupier.
One key method of obscuring facts is to focus on mainstream media, in the hope that by influencing mainstream media, international legal norms can also be influenced. And while Israel's attempts to present itself as the victim may resonate in a mainstream media that fails to challenge the Israeli narrative and fails to give any context whatsoever to current events, no amount of Israeli hasbara or propaganda will change the rules of international law and specifically the right to resist colonial domination and defend against foreign invasions.
This right is recognised in numerous international instruments and affirmed by the International Court of Justice in cases that relate both to Palestine and to other countries.
Indeed, logic dictates that this is the case: Just as an individual has a right to protect himself or herself from a home invasion, so too a nation can protect itself and resist invasion by a foreign army.
The problem, however, is not whether Palestinians have a right to resist - they do - but whether the international community will support Palestinians in their quest for self-determination and protecting themselves from a foreign invading army.
To date, the international community remains obsessed with the means used to resist Israel, conveniently ignoring their own histories and revolutions.
But rather than criticise Palestinians - a stateless, refugee, besieged population - for the mechanisms that they use to resist Israel's military onslaught, the attention of the international community is better spent holding Israel - a state with extensive diplomatic and military support - accountable under international law for its crimes and aggression against Palestinians.
If it continues to fail to do so, we may soon see a further weakened international legal system and, obviously, no end to Israeli oppression or Palestinian resistance to that oppression.
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WP says the company has been circulating a seven-page white paper to NASA officials and Trump's transition team containing the project's details. Apparently, Blue Moon will be able to carry up to 10,000 pounds of cargo to space and can be launched on top of the Space Launch System, United Launch Alliance's Atlas V or Blue Origin's own New Glenn rocket.
The company could put its experience landing its New Shepard rockets vertically to good use by using the same technology to land the spacecraft on the lunar surface. In fact, the white paper WP saw showed a vehicle that looks like a modified New Shepard. Blue Origin chose the Shackleton crater on the moon's south pole as its landing site, since that region has continuous sunlight that its spacecraft's solar panels can harness. Shackleton is also rich in water ice that Blue Moon can transform into rocket fuel.
Bezos believes the project's first mission could happen as soon as July 2020, but he admits it can only be done in partnership with NASA. He told the Washington Post in an email:
"It is time for America to return to the Moon -- this time to stay. A permanently inhabited lunar settlement is a difficult and worthy objective. I sense a lot of people are excited about this... Our liquid hydrogen expertise and experience with precision vertical landing offer the fastest path to a lunar lander mission. I'm excited about this and am ready to invest my own money alongside NASA to make it happen."
NASA, of course, has its own plans: just recently, it announced its intention to turn the Space Launch System's first mission into a manned flight that would orbit the moon 10 times. That's similar to what SpaceX plans to do, except the space corporation will take two paying private citizens instead of astronauts to cislunar space. Bigelow Aerospace has plans to make a bigger version of the ISS' inflatable habitat that can orbit the celestial body while housing supplies and medical facilities. And then there's United Launch Alliance, which wants to create a transportation network to service the space around the moon.
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An Alexander City, Alabama, police officer was recorded speculating about murdering a black man named Vincent Bias, and kept his job after the incident, the Guardian reports.
“If he fucking hit me or threatened my life, I would fucking kill that motherfucker with whatever I had in that fucking house,” officer Troy Middlebrooks can be heard saying on the recording. “And before the police got here, I’d fucking put marks all over my shit and make it look like he was trying to fucking kill me...What would it look like? Self fucking defense.”
Middlebrooks was speaking to Bias’ brother-in-law in May 2013, who began recording after the officer allegedly referred to Bias as “that nigger.” (The brother-in-law is white.) Middlebrooks was apparently upset that Bias, whom he had reportedly arrested on drug charges, had been released on bail, and made the comment after insinuating that Bias had acted violently toward his family. The murder-and-coverup plot was offered as an example of what Middlebrooks would do if he were in the brother-in-law’s situation.
The city paid Bias $35,000 to settle a lawsuit stemming from the tape, according to the Guardian.
Alexander City police chief Willie Robinson told the Guardian that Middlebrooks was “disciplined” over the incident. He was not terminated from the force, however, and remains on patrol today. According to the Guardian, Middlebroks was the first Alexander City officer to the scene after Tommy Manness shot and killed Emerson Crayton, an unarmed black man, in March 2014. Manness claimed that Crayton was attempting to hit Manness with his car, and was found not at fault for the killing.
Robinson defended Middlebrooks to the Guardian, stating that the cop was “just talking” and didn’t mean what he said. He also stressed that Middlebrooks said he’d murder Bias if he were Bias’ brother-in-law, not that he’d do it himself. “He wasn’t saying that he was going to do that,” Robinson said. “He was talking about the man doing it himself.”
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In Early 2014, Microsoft acquired the rights to the Gears of War franchise from creator Epic Games and gave the property to a relatively untested studio now called The Coalition. Thankfully, The Coalition is being guided by the capable hands of veteran Gears developer Rod Fergusson, who was a driving force on the first three Gears of War games. Aside from a tease at last year’s E3, we know relatively little about this new Gears of War, so we traveled to The Coalition’s office in Vancouver, British Columbia to learn more about the history of the studio, to discover what happened to the world of Sera after Gears of War 3, and to go hands-on with a few new weapons and cover mechanics.
In our 14-page cover story, you’ll learn how the team is aiming to stay true to what makes Gears of War tick. We speak with studio head Rod Fergusson and the rest of the team and discover how The Coalition is taking the franchise 25 years into the future, to a time when the world is wracked by massive windstorms that radically change the field of battle. The Coalition is a big fan of the first Gears of War, so we talk with the team about how it aims to bring the series back to its darker, horror-themed roots. Afterwards we break down the three new playable characters and confirm two-player couch co-op. Then we get hands-on time with Gear of War 4’s new close-cover melee system.
Gears of War 4 will be an Xbox One later this fall. Check out the full cover image below for a glimpse of the adventure that awaits.
(Click image above to see full spread)
Watch the trailer above (or watch and share it on YouTube) showing off our month of exclusive content.
Beyond the revival of Gears of War, the April issue is packed with another month's-worth of great stories. First, we speak with Final Fantasy XV’s Hajime Tabata and Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn's Naoki Yoshida to learn about how Square is refocusing development on its most important RPG series. Then we speak with The Witness’ Jonathan Blow and ask him about the challenging puzzles in one of this year’s most beloved indie games. Matt Miller speaks with Joe Madureira and the team at Airship Syndicate about their video game revival of the beloved comic series Battle Chasers. Since this is the April issue, Darth Clark returns for our annual poke at the video game industry in Game Infarcer. Meanwhile, demos on Star Fox Zero, Abzû, and exclusive new details on an upcoming Heroes of the Storm character help round out our preview section. Finally, we look back at our last 20-years of catching Pokémon in our Classic GI section.
Print subscribers can watch for their issue to arrive in the next week or two, but you can read the full digital issue now on PC/Mac, iPad, Android, and Google Play. You can also get the latest issue through third-party apps on Nook, Kindle, and Zinio starting tomorrow. To switch your print subscription to digital, click here, or to create a new subscription to the digital edition, click here.
Our Gears of War 4 coverage doesn't end with this sizeable 14-page cover story. Return to our hub throughout the month for more information on the new weapons and enemies, the history of The Coalition, and a roundtable with the game’s voice actors. You can access the hub by clicking on the banner below.
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Covering the Mariners for a few years now, I’ve often thought how fortunate we are to so rarely find ourselves in the middle of true controversy. Outside of Milton Bradley and Julio Mateo, the team’s employees have, by and large, done an excellent job staying out of the Wrong Kind of News.
Today, that changed. It changed because injured backup catcher Steve Clevenger, who is by most accounts a bad baseball player, who was already arguably Jerry Dipoto’s worst trade prior to using Twitter to say breathtakingly insensitive things about complex, difficult subjects his no doubt extremely small, ignorant brain grasps about as well as a three-week old comprehends shapes, decided to tweet:
I'm not going to expound overly on the subject matter of Clevenger's thoughts here. Regardless of whatever my or your personal feelings are regarding the issues surrounding police treatment of minorities, and the way those who feel oppressed choose to demonstrate, the real story in this particular instance is simple:
Steve Clevenger is a moron.
Last Friday, at the Mariners' Social Media Night, team General Manager Jerry Dipoto told us that the team has a preseason workshop on what is expected for players who choose to use social media, and a reminder that they are a reflection of the Seattle Mariners organization. Given that context, and the beautiful diversity of the Mariners' big league and Double-A rosters (the two teams that Clevenger has played for this year) Clevenger's comments stand out, first and foremost, for their incredibly poor judgment.
There's not a whole lot else to say, at this point. We have reached out to the Mariners, and have been told the team is aware of the issue and is currently formulating a response. This post will be updated if/when we have that response.
For now, Steve Clevenger has proudly shown the world his ignorance in clear and indisputable fashion. What an idiot.
UPDATE: Statement from the team
Statement from Jerry Dipoto, Executive Vice President & General Manager of Baseball Operations on Tweets from catcher Steve Clevenger. pic.twitter.com/1xWk6dy5ap — Mariners (@Mariners) September 23, 2016
UPDATE #2: Steve Clevenger has apologized
(Comments for this post have been closed.)
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"So this is what you think of me: 'The Blessed One, sympathetic, seeking our well-being, teaches the Dhamma out of sympathy.' Then you should train yourselves — harmoniously, cordially, and without dispute — in the qualities I have pointed out, having known them directly: the four frames of reference, the four right exertions, the four bases of power, the five faculties, the five strengths, the seven factors for Awakening, the noble eightfold path."
I dedicate this book to all of my teachers, and in particular to Phra Ajaan Lee Dhammadharo, the teacher of my primary teacher, Phra Ajaan Fuang Jotiko. The example of Ajaan Lee's life has had a large influence on my own, in more ways than I can ever really repay. His teaching of the Buddhist path as a skill — as expressed in the Wings to Awakening and embodied in the practice of breath meditation — provided the original and on-going inspiration for writing this book. I offer it to his memory with the highest respect.
In addition to the participants at the above courses, Dorothea Bowen, John Bullitt, Jim Colfax, Charles Hallisey, Karen King, Mu Soeng, Andrew Olendzki, Gregory M. Smith, and Jane Yudelman have read and offered valuable comments on earlier incarnations of the manuscript. John Bullitt also helped with the Index. The finished book owes a great deal to all of these people. Any mistakes that remain, of course, are my own responsibility.
This book has been several years in the making. In the course of assembling it I have used some of the material it contains to lead study courses at the Barre Center of Buddhist Studies, Barre, Massachusetts; at Awareness Grove, Laguna Beach, California; with the Insight Meditation Society of Orange County, the San Diego Vipassana Community, and the Open Door Sangha of Santa Barbara. The feedback coming from the participants in these courses has helped force me to clarify the presentation and to make explicit the connections between the words of the teachings and their application in practice. It has been encouraging to see that people in America — contrary to their reputation in other parts of the world — are interested in learning authentic Buddhist teachings and integrating them into their lives. This encouragement is what has given me the impetus to turn this material into a book.
In the translated passages, parentheses ( ) enclose alternative renderings and words needed to make sense of the passage. Square brackets [ ] enclose explanatory information, cross-references, material summarized from longer passages in the text, and other material not found in the original text. Braces { } enclose material interpolated from other passages in the Canon; the source of this material is indicated in braces as part of the citation at the end of the passage.
I trust, however, that none of these difficulties will prove insurmountable, and that you will find, as I have, that the teachings of the Pali Canon more than reward the effort put into exploring them. The reality of the Wings to Awakening lies in the qualities of the mind. The words with which they are expressed in the Pali Canon are simply pointers. These pointers have to be tested in the light of serious practice, but my conviction is that, of all the meditation teachers the human race has ever seen, the Buddha is still the best. His words should be read repeatedly, reflectively, and put to test in the practice. My hope in gathering his teachings in this way is that they will give you useful insights for training the mind so that someday you won't have to read about Awakening, but will be able to know it for yourself.
Another potential difficulty for the uninitiated reader lies in the style of the passages. The Pali Canon was, for 500 years, an entirely oral tradition. As a result, it tends to be terse in some areas and repetitive in others. I've made an effort to cut out as many of the repetitions as possible, but I'll have to ask your patience for those that remain. Think of them as the refrains in a piece of music. Also, when the Buddha is referring to monks doing this and that, keep in mind that his audience was frequently composed entirely of monks. The state that the word "monk" includes anyone — male or female, lay or ordained — who is serious about the practice, and this meaning should always be kept in mind. I apologize for the gender bias in the translations. Although I have tried to figure out ways to minimize it, I find myself stymied because it is so thoroughly embedded in a literature originally addressed to monks.
To begin with, the teachings on the Wings to Awakening are interrelated in very complex ways. Because books must be arranged in linear sequence, taking one thing at a time in a row, this means that no book can do justice to all the side avenues and underground passageways that connect elements in one set of teachings to those in another. For this reason, I have organized the material in line with the order of the sets as given in the Canon, but — as mentioned above — have extensively cross-referenced it for the sake of readers who want to explore connections that fall outside the linear pattern. Cross-references are given in brackets [ ], and take three forms. An example that looks like this — [ §123 ] — is a reference to a passage from the Pali Canon translated in this book. One that looks like this — [ III/E ] — is a reference to an essay introducing a section, in this case Section E in Part III . One that looks like this — [ MN 107 ] — is a reference to a passage from the Pali Canon not translated here. The abbreviations used in these last references are explained on the Abbreviations page. Many passages falling in this last category are translated in my book, The Mind Like Fire Unbound , in which case the reference will include the abbreviation MFU followed by the number of the page on which the passage is located in that book. My hope is that these cross-references will open up useful lines of thought to whoever takes the time to explore them.
Although the essays should go far toward familiarizing the reader with the conceptual world and relevance of the textual passages, there are other aspects of the passages that might prove daunting to the uninitiated, and so I would like to deal with them here.
In providing doctrinal, historical, and practical context based on all the above-mentioned sources, the essays are meant to give an entry into the mental horizons and landscape of the texts they introduce. They are also meant to suggest how the texts may be used for their intended purpose: to help eliminate obstacles to the release of the mind. Although some of the essays address controversial questions, the textual passages are not meant to prove the points made in the essays. In assembling this anthology, I first gathered and translated the passages from the Canon. Only then, after contemplating what I had gathered, did I add the essays. For this reason, any reader who disagrees with the positions presented in the essays should still find the translations useful for his/her own purposes. I am painfully aware that some of the essays, especially those in Part I, tend to overpower the material they are designed to introduce, but this is because the themes in Part I play a pervasive role in the Buddha's teachings as a whole. Thus I had to deal with them in considerable detail to point out how they relate not only to the passages in Part I but also to themes raised in the rest of the book.
If you are unfamiliar with the terminology of phenomenology, chaos theory, and holograms, read section I/A , on skillfulness, to find the doctrinal context in which these terms can be related to an immediate experience: the process of developing a skill. The approach of phenomenology relates to the fact that, on the night of his Awakening, the Buddha focused his attention directly on the mental process of developing skillful states in the mind, without referring to who or what was developing the skill, or to whether there was any sort of substratum underlying the process. Chaos theory relates to the patterns of causality that the Buddha discerned while observing this process, whereby the effects of action can in turn become causal factors influencing new action. Holography relates to his discovery that skillfulness is developed by taking clusters of good qualities already present in the mind and using them to strengthen one another each step along the way. Once these familiar reference points are understood, the abstract terms describing them should become less foreign and more helpful.
Another example of an analogy drawn from modern science is the term "holographic," which I have used to describe some formulations of the Buddhist path. When a hologram is made of an object, an image of the entire object — albeit fairly fuzzy — can be made from even small fragments of the hologram. In the same way, some formulations of the path contain a rough version of the entire path complete in each individual step. In my search for an adjective to describe such formulations, "holographic" seemed the best choice.
In doing so, I realize that I run the risk of alienating non-scientists who feel intimidated by scientific terminology, as well as scientists who resent the application of terminology from their disciplines to "non-scientific" fields. To both groups I can say only that the terms in and of themselves are not "scientific." Much of our current everyday terminology for explaining causal relations is derived from the science of the eighteenth century; I expect that it will only be a matter of time before the terminology of more recent science will percolate into everyday usage. For the purpose of this book, it is important to point out that when the Buddha talked about causality , his notion of causal relations did not correspond to our ordinary, linear, picture of causal chains. If this point is not grasped, the common tendency is to judge the Buddha's descriptions of causality against our own and to find them either confusing or confused. Viewing them in the light of deterministic chaos theory, however, helps us to see that they are both coherent and of practical use.
I have made similar use of modern science — chaos theory in particular. There are many parallels between Buddhist theories of causation and modern deterministic chaos theory. Examples and terminology drawn from the latter — such as feedback , scale invariance , resonance, and fluid turbulence — are very useful in explaining the former. Again, in using these parallels I am not trying to equate Buddhist teachings with chaos theory or to engage in pseudo-science. Fashions in science change so rapidly that we do the Buddha's teachings no favor in trying to "prove" them in light of current scientific paradigms. Here I am simply pointing out similarities as a way of helping to make those teachings intelligible in modern terms. Deterministic chaos theory is the only modern body of knowledge that has worked out a vocabulary for the patterns of behavior described in Buddhist explanations of causality, and so it seems a natural source to draw on, both to describe those patterns and to point out some of their less obvious implications.
The first discipline is phenomenology , the branch of philosophy that deals with phenomena as they are directly experienced, in and of themselves. There are many schools of modern phenomenology, and it is not my purpose to try to equate the Buddha's teachings with any one of them. However, the Buddha does recommend a mode of perception that he calls "entry into emptiness (suññatā)" [see MN 121 ], in which one simply notes the presence or absence of phenomena, without making further assumptions about them. This approach resembles what in modern philosophy could be called "radical phenomenology," a mode of perception that looks at experiences and processes simply as events, with no reference to the question of whether there are any "things" lying behind those events, or of whether the events can be said really to exist [see passages §230 and §186 ]. Because of this resemblance, the word "phenomenology" is useful in helping to explain the source of the Buddha's descriptions of the workings of kamma and the process of dependent co-arising in particular. Once we know where he is coming from, it is easier to make sense of his statements and to use them in their proper context.
In providing a more modern context for the passages presented in this book, however, I have not tried to interpret the teachings in terms of modern psychology or sociology. The Buddha's message is timeless and direct. It does not need to be translated into the passing fashions of disciplines that are in many ways more removed than it is from the realities of direct experience, and more likely to grow out of date. However, there are two modern disciplines that I have drawn on to help explain some of the more formal aspects of the Buddha's mode of speech and his analysis of causal principles.
Because the Pali tradition is still a living one, the doctrinal and historical contexts do not account for the full range of meanings that practicing Buddhists continue to find in the texts. To provide this living dimension, I have drawn on the teachings of modern practice traditions where these seem to harmonize with the message of the Canon and add an illuminating perspective. Most of these teachings are drawn from the Thai Forest Tradition , but I have also drawn on other traditions as well. I have followed a traditional Buddhist practice in not identifying the sources for these teachings, and for two reasons: first, in many ways I owe every insight offered in this book to the training I have received from my teachers in the Forest Tradition, and it seems artificial to credit them for some points and not for others; second, there is the possibility that I have misunderstood some of their teachings or taken them out of context, so I don't want to risk crediting my misunderstandings to them.
To provide historical context, I have drawn on a variety of sources. Again, the foremost source here is the Pali Canon itself, both in what it has to say explicitly about the social and intellectual milieu of the Buddha's time, and in what it says implicitly about the way the intellectual disciplines of the Buddha's time — such as science, mathematics, and music theory — helped to shape the way the Buddha expressed his thought. I have also drawn on secondary sources where these do a useful job of fleshing out themes present in the Pali Canon. These secondary sources are cited in the Bibliography.
I have also drawn occasionally on the Pali Abhidhamma and , which postdate the discourses by several centuries. Here, however, I have had to be selective. These texts employ a systematic approach to interpreting the discourses that fits some teachings better than others. There are instances where a particular teaching has one meaning in terms of this system, and another when viewed in the context of the discourses themselves. Thus I have taken specific insights from these texts where they seem genuinely to illuminate the meaning of the discourses, but without adopting the overall structure they impose on the teachings.
In a few instances , I have cited alternative versions of the discourses — such as those contained in the Sarvāstivādin Canon preserved in Chinese translation — to throw light on passages in the Pali. Although the Sarvāstivādin Canon as a whole seems to be later than the Pali, there is no way of knowing whether particular Sarvāstivādin discourses are earlier or later than their Pali counterparts, so the comparisons drawn between the two are intended simply as food for thought.
This approach to understanding the discourses is instructive not only when discourse x explicitly defines a term mentioned in discourse y , but also when patterns of imagery and terminology permeate many passages. Two cases in point: in separate contexts, the discourses compare suffering to fire , and the practice of training the mind in meditation to the art of tuning and playing a musical instrument. In each case, technical terms — from physics in the first instance, from music theory in the second — are applied to the mind in a large number of contexts. Thus it is helpful to understand where the terms are coming from in order to grasp their connotations and to gain an intuitive sense — based on our own familiarity with fire and music — of what they mean.
The first and foremost sources for the doctrinal context are the discourses in the Canon itself. The Buddha and his noble disciples are by far the most reliable guides to the meaning of their own words. Often a teaching that seems vague or confusing when encountered on its own in a single discourse becomes clearer when viewed in the context of several discourses that treat it from a variety of angles, just as it is easier to get a sense of a building from a series of pictures taken from different perspectives than from a single snapshot.
The context provided by the essays is threefold: doctrinal, placing the passages within the structure of the Buddha's teachings taken as a whole; historical, relating them to what is known of the intellectual and social history of the Buddha's time; and practical, applying them to the actual practice of the Buddhist path in the present.
Parts One through Three of the book are each divided into sections consisting of passages translated from discourses in the Pali Canon, which is apparently the earliest extant record of the Buddha's teachings. Each section is introduced, where necessary, with an essay. These essays are printed in sans serif type to distinguish them clearly from the translated passages. They are attempts to provide context — and thus meaning — for the passages, to show how they relate to one another, to specific issues in the practice, and to the path of practice as a whole. They are not meant to anticipate or answer every possible question raised by the passages. Instead, they are aimed at giving an idea of the kinds of questions that can be most fruitfully brought to the passages, so that the lessons contained in the passages can properly be applied to the practice. As the Buddha has pointed out , the attitude of "appropriate attention" (yoniso manasikāra), the ability to focus on the right questions, is one of the most important skills to develop in the course of the practice. This skill is much more fruitful than an attitude that tries to come to the practice armed with all the right answers in advance.
Regardless of which approach you take to the material, you should discover fairly quickly that the relationships among the overall patterns and individual elements in the Wings are very complex. This complexity reflects the non-linear nature of the Buddha's teachings on causal relationships, and is reflected in the many cross-references among the various parts of the book. In this way, the structure of this book, instead of being a simple circle, is actually a pattern of many loops within loops. Thus a third way to read it — for those familiar enough with the material to want to explore unexpected connections — would be to follow the cross-references to see where they lead.
Thus the organization of the book is somewhat circular. As with any circle, there are several points where the book can be entered. I would recommend two to begin with. The first is to read straight through the book from beginning to end, gaining a systematic framework for the material from Parts One and Two , which explain why the seven sets are organized as they are, and then focusing more on individual elements in the sets in Part Three . This way of approaching the material has the advantage of giving an overall perspective on the topic before going into the details, making the role and meaning of the details clear from the start. However, this approach is the reverse of what actually happens in the practice. A practicing meditator must learn first to focus on individual phenomena in and of themselves, and then, through observation and experimentation, to discover their inter-relationships. For this reason, some readers — especially those who find the discussion of causal relationships in Parts One and Two too abstract to be helpful — may prefer to skip from the Introduction straight to sections A through E of Part Three , to familiarize themselves with teachings that may connect more directly with their own experience. They may then return later to Parts One and Two to gain a more overall perspective on how the practice is meant to deal with those experiences.
With this background established, the remainder of the book focuses in detail on the Wings to Awakening as an expanded analysis of the "how." Part One focuses on aspects of the principle of skillful kamma that shaped the way the Wings to Awakening are formulated. Part Two goes through the seven sets that make up the Wings to Awakening themselves: the four foundations of mindfulness (here called the four frames of reference), the four right exertions, the four bases for power, the five faculties, the five strengths, the seven factors for Awakening, and the noble eightfold path. Part Three reduces all the terms in the seven sets to the five faculties and then deals with those faculties in detail. With the fifth and final faculty, discernment, the book concludes by returning to the "what" of Awakening, showing how discernment focuses on the Wings themselves as topics to be observed in such a way that they will spark the insights leading to total release.
Many anthologies of the Buddha's teachings have appeared in English, but this is the first to be organized around the set of teachings that the Buddha himself said formed the heart of his message: the Wings to Awakening (bodhi-pakkhiya-dhamma). The material is arranged in three parts, preceded by a long Introduction. The Introduction tries to define the concept of Awakening so as to give a clear sense of where the Wings to Awakening are headed. It does this by discussing the Buddha's accounts of his own Awakening, with special focus on the way in which the principle of skillful kamma (in Sanskrit, karma) formed both the "how" and the "what" of that Awakening: the Buddha was able to reach Awakening only by developing skillful kamma — this is the "how"; his understanding of the process of developing skillful kamma is what sparked the insights that constituted Awakening — this is the "what."
The Wings to Awakening constitute the Buddha's own list of his most important teachings. Toward the end of his life he stated several times that as long as the teachings in this list were remembered and put into practice, his message would endure. Thus the Wings cover, in the Buddha's eyes, the words and skills most worth mastering and passing along to others.
The Buddha's Awakening
When discussing the Buddha's teachings, the best place to start is with his Awakening. That way, one will know where the teachings are coming from and where they are aimed. To appreciate the Awakening, though, we have to know what led Prince Siddhattha Gotama — the Buddha before his Awakening — to seek it in the first place. According to his own account, the search began many lifetimes ago, but in this lifetime it was sparked by the realization of the inevitability of aging, illness, and death. In his words:
I lived in refinement, utmost refinement, total refinement. My father even had lotus ponds made in our palace: one where red lotuses bloomed, one where white lotuses bloomed, one where blue lotuses bloomed, all for my sake. I used no sandalwood that was not from Vārāṇasī. My turban was from Vārāṇasī, as were my tunic, my lower garments, & my outer cloak. A white sunshade was held over me day & night to protect me from cold, heat, dust, dirt, & dew. I had three palaces: one for the cold season, one for the hot season, one for the rainy season. During the four months of the rainy season I was entertained in the rainy-season palace by minstrels without a single man among them, and I did not once come down from the palace. Whereas the servants, workers, & retainers in other people's homes are fed meals of lentil soup & broken rice, in my father's home the servants, workers, & retainers were fed wheat, rice, & meat. Even though I was endowed with such fortune, such total refinement, the thought occurred to me: 'When an untaught, run-of-the-mill person, himself subject to aging, not beyond aging, sees another who is aged, he is horrified, humiliated, & disgusted, oblivious to himself that he too is subject to aging, not beyond aging. If I — who am subject to aging, not beyond aging — were to be horrified, humiliated, & disgusted on seeing another person who is aged, that would not be fitting for me.' As I noticed this, the (typical) young person's intoxication with youth entirely dropped away. Even though I was endowed with such fortune, such total refinement, the thought occurred to me: 'When an untaught, run-of-the-mill person, himself subject to illness, not beyond illness, sees another who is ill, he is horrified, humiliated, & disgusted, oblivious to himself that he too is subject to illness, not beyond illness. And if I — who am subject to illness, not beyond illness — were to be horrified, humiliated, & disgusted on seeing another person who is ill, that would not be fitting for me.' As I noticed this, the healthy person's intoxication with health entirely dropped away. Even though I was endowed with such fortune, such total refinement, the thought occurred to me: 'When an untaught, run-of-the-mill person, himself subject to death, not beyond death, sees another who is dead, he is horrified, humiliated, & disgusted, oblivious to himself that he too is subject to death, not beyond death. And if I — who am subject to death, not beyond death — were to be horrified, humiliated, & disgusted on seeing another person who is dead, that would not be fitting for me.' As I noticed this, the living person's intoxication with life entirely dropped away. — AN 3.38
Before my self-awakening, when I was still just an unawakened Bodhisatta (Buddha-to-be), being subject myself to birth, aging, illness, death, sorrow, & defilement, I sought (happiness in) what was subject to birth, aging, illness, death, sorrow, & defilement. The thought occurred to me: 'Why am I, being subject myself to birth... defilement, seeking what is subject to birth... defilement? What if I... were to seek the unborn, unaging, unailing, undying, sorrowless, undefiled, unexcelled security from bondage: Unbinding.' So at a later time, when I was still young, black-haired, endowed with the blessings of youth in the first stage of life, I shaved off my hair & beard — though my parents wished otherwise and were grieving with tears on their faces — and I put on the ochre robe and went forth from the home life into homelessness. — MN 26
These passages are universal in their import, but a fuller appreciation of why the young prince left home for the life of a homeless wanderer requires some understanding of the beliefs and social developments of his time.
Prince Siddhattha lived in an aristocratic republic in northern India during the sixth century B.C.E., a time of great social upheaval. A new monetary economy was replacing the older agrarian economy. Absolute monarchies, in alliance with the newly forming merchant class, were swallowing up the older aristocracies. As often happens when an aristocratic elite is being disenfranchised, people on all levels of society were beginning to call into question the beliefs that had supported the older order, and were looking to science and other alternative modes of knowledge to provide them with a new view of life.
The foremost science in North India at that time was astronomy. New, precise observations of planetary movements, combined with newly developed means of calculation, had led astronomers to conclude that time was measured in aeons, incomprehensibly long cycles that repeat themselves endlessly. Taking up these conclusions, philosophers of the time tried to work out the implications of this vast temporal frame for the drama of human life and the quest for ultimate happiness.
These philosophers fell into two broad camps: those who conducted their speculations within the traditions of the Vedas, early Indian religious and ritual texts that provided the orthodox beliefs of the old order; and other, unorthodox groups, called the Samaṇas (contemplatives), who questioned the authority of the Vedas. Modern etymology derives the word Samaṇa from "striver," but the etymology of the time derived it from sama, which means to be "on pitch" or "in tune." The Samaṇa philosophers were trying to find a way of life and thought that was in tune, not with social conventions, but with the laws of nature as these could be directly contemplated through scientific observation, personal experience, reason, meditation, or shamanic practices, such as the pursuit of altered states of consciousness through fasting or other austerities. Many of these forms of contemplation required that one abandon the constraints and responsibilities of the home life and take up the life of a homeless wanderer. This was the rationale behind Prince Siddhattha's decision to leave the home life in order to see if there might be a true happiness beyond the sway of aging, illness, and death.
Already by his time, philosophers of the Vedic and Samaṇa schools had developed widely differing interpretations of what the laws of nature were and how they affected the pursuit of true happiness. Their main points of disagreement were two:
1) Survival beyond death. Most Vedic and Samaṇa philosophers assumed that a person's identity extended beyond this lifetime, aeons before birth back into the past and after death on into the future, although there was some disagreement as to whether one's identity from life to life would change or remain the same. The Vedas had viewed rebirth in a positive light, but by the time of Prince Siddhattha the influence of the newly discovered astronomical cycles had led those who believed in rebirth to regard the cycles as pointless and restrictive, and release as the only possibility for true happiness. There was, however, a Samaṇa school of hedonist materialists, called Lokāyatans, who denied the existence of any identity beyond death and insisted that happiness could be found only by indulging in sensual pleasures here and now.
2) Causality. Most philosophers accepted the idea that human action played a causative role in providing for one's future happiness both in this life and beyond. Views about how this causal principle worked, though, differed from school to school. For some Vedists, the only effective action was ritual. The Jains, a Samaṇa school, taught that all action fell under linear, deterministic causal laws and formed a bond to the recurring cycle. Present experience, they said, came from past actions; present actions would shape future experience. This linear causality was also materialistic: physical action created āsavas (effluents, fermentations) — sticky substances on the soul that kept it attached to the cycle. According to them, the only escape from the cycle lay in a life of non-violence and inaction, culminating in a slow suicide by starvation, which would burn the āsavas away, thus releasing the soul. Some Upanishads — post-Vedic speculative texts — expressed causality as a morally neutral, purely physical process of evolution. Others stated that moral laws were intrinsic to the nature of causality, rather than being mere social conventions, and that the morality of an action determined how it affected one's future course in the round of rebirth. Whether these last texts were composed before or after the Buddha taught this view, though, no one knows. At any rate, all pre-Buddhist thinkers who accepted the principle of causality, however they expressed it, saw it as a purely linear process.
On the other side of the issue, the Lokāyatans insisted that no causal principle acted between events, and that all events were spontaneous and self-caused. This meant that actions had no consequences, and one could safely ignore moral rules in one's pursuit of sensual pleasure. One branch of another Samaṇa school, the Ājīvakas, insisted that causality was illusory. The only truly existent things, they said, were the unchanging substances that formed the building blocks of the universe. Because causality implied change, it was therefore unreal. As a result, human action had no effect on anything of any substance — including happiness — and so was of no account. Another branch of the same school, which specialized in astrology, insisted that causality was real but totally deterministic. Human life was entirely determined by impersonal, amoral fate, written in the stars; human action played no role in providing for one's happiness or misery; morality was purely a social convention. Thus they insisted that release from the round of rebirth came only when the round worked itself out. Peace of mind could be found by accepting one's fate and patiently waiting for the cycle, like a ball of string unwinding, to come to its end.
These divergent viewpoints formed the intellectual backdrop for Prince Siddhattha's quest for ultimate happiness. In fact, his Awakening may be seen as his own resolution of these two issues.
The Pali Canon records several different versions of the Buddha's own descriptions of his Awakening. These descriptions are among the earliest extended autobiographical accounts in human history. The Buddha presents himself as an explorer and experimenter — and an exceedingly brave one at that, putting his life on the line in the search for an undying happiness. After trying several false paths, including formless mental absorptions and physical austerities, he happened on the path that eventually worked: bringing the mind into the present by focusing it on the breath and then making a calm, mindful analysis of the processes of the mind as they presented themselves directly to his immediate awareness. Seeing these processes as inconstant, stressful, and not-self, he abandoned his sense of identification with them. This caused them to disband, and what remained was Deathlessness (amata-dhamma), beyond the dimensions of time and space. This was the happiness for which he had been seeking.
In one passage of the Pali canon [§188], the Buddha noted that what he had come to realize in the course of his Awakening could be compared to the leaves of an entire forest; what he taught to others was like a mere handful of leaves. The latter part comprised the essential points for helping others to attain Awakening themselves. The part he had kept back would have been useless for that purpose. Thus, when we discuss the Buddha's Awakening, we must keep in mind that we know only a small sliver of the total event. However, the sliver we do know is designed to aid in our own Awakening. That is the part we will focus on here, keeping the Buddha's purpose for teaching it constantly in mind.
When the Buddha later analyzed the process of Awakening, he stated that it consisted of two kinds of knowledge:
First there is the knowledge of the regularity of the Dhamma, after which there is the knowledge of Unbinding. — SN 12.70
The regularity of the Dhamma, here, denotes the causal principle that underlies all "fabricated" (saṅkhata) experience, i.e., experience made up of causal conditions and influences. Knowing this principle means mastering it: one can not only trace the course of causal processes but also escape from them by skillfully letting them disband. The knowledge of Unbinding is the realization of total freedom that comes when one has disbanded the causal processes of the realm of fabrication, leaving the freedom from causal influences that is termed the "Unfabricated."
The Buddha's choice of the word Unbinding (nibbāna) — which literally means the extinguishing of a fire — derives from the way the physics of fire was viewed at his time. As fire burned, it was seen as clinging to its fuel in a state of entrapment and agitation. When it went out, it let go of its fuel, growing calm and free. Thus when the Indians of his time saw a fire going out, they did not feel that they were watching extinction. Rather, they were seeing a metaphorical lesson in how freedom could be attained by letting go.
The first knowledge, that of the regularity of the Dhamma, is the describable part of the process of Awakening; the second knowledge, that of Unbinding, though indescribable, is what guarantees the worth of the first. When one has been totally freed from all suffering and stress, one knows that one has properly mastered the realm of fabrication and can vouch for the usefulness of the insights that led to that freedom. Truth, here, is simply the way things work; true knowledge is gauged by how skillfully one can manipulate them.
There are many places in the Pali Canon where the Buddha describes his own act of Awakening to the first knowledge as consisting of three insights:
recollection of past lives, insight into the death and rebirth of beings throughout the cosmos, and insight into the ending of the mental effluents or fermentations ((āsava) within the mind [§1]. (As we will see below, the Buddha's Awakening gave a new meaning to this term borrowed from the Jains.)
The first two insights were not the exclusive property of the Buddhist tradition. Shamanic traditions throughout the world have reported seers who have had similar insights. The third insight, however, went beyond shamanism into a phenomenology of the mind, i.e., a systematic account of phenomena as they are directly experienced. This insight was exclusively Buddhist, although it was based on the previous two. Because it was multi-faceted, the Canon describes it from a variety of standpoints, stressing different aspects as they apply to specific contexts. In the course of this book, we too will explore specific facets of this insight from different angles. Here we will simply provide a general outline to show how the principle of skillful kamma underlay the main features of this insight.
The Bodhisatta's realization in his second insight that kamma determines how beings fare in the round of rebirth caused him to focus on the question of kamma in his third insight. And, because the second insight pointed to right and wrong views as the factors determining the quality of kamma, he looked into the possibility that kamma was primarily a mental process, rather than a physical one as the Vedists and Jains taught. As a result, he focused on the mental kamma that was taking place at that very moment in his mind, to understand the process more clearly. In particular, he wanted to see if there might be a type of right view that, instead of continuing the round of rebirth, would bring release from it. To do this, he realized that he would have to make his powers of discernment more skillful; this meant that the process of developing skillfulness would have to be the kamma that he would observe.
Now, in the process of developing a skill, two major assumptions are made: that there is a causal relationship between acts and their results, and that good results are better than bad. If these assumptions were not valid, there would be no point in developing a skill. The Bodhisatta noticed that this point of view provided two variables — causes and results, and favorable and unfavorable — that divided experience into four categories, which he later formulated as the four noble truths (ariya-sacca): stress, its origination, its cessation, and the path to its cessation [§189]. Each category, he further realized, entailed a duty. Stress had to be comprehended, its cause abandoned, its cessation realized, and the path to its cessation developed [§195].
In trying to comprehend stress and its relationship to kamma, the Bodhisatta discovered that, contrary to the teachings of the Jains, kamma was not something extrinsic to the cycle of rebirth that bound one to the cycle. Rather, (1) the common cycle of kamma, result, and reaction was the cycle of rebirth in and of itself, and (2) the binding agent in the cycle was not kamma itself, but rather an optional part of the reaction to the results of kamma.
The Bodhisatta analyzed the cycle of kamma, result, and reaction into the following terms: kamma is intention; its result, feeling; the reaction to that feeling, perception and attention — i.e., attention to perceptions about the feeling — which together form the views that color further intentions. If perception and attention are clouded by ignorance, craving, and clinging, they lead to stress and further ignorance, forming the basis for intentions that keep the cycle in motion. In his later teachings, the Buddha identified these clouding factors — forms of clinging, together with their resultant states of becoming and ignorance [§227] — as the āsavas or effluents that act as binding agents to the cycle. In this way, he took a Jain term and gave it a new meaning, mental rather than physical. At the same time, his full-scale analysis of the interaction between kamma and the effluents formed one of the central points of his teaching, termed dependent co-arising (paticca-samuppada) [§§211, 218, 231].
The fact that it is possible to develop a skill suggested to the Bodhisatta, while he was developing his third insight, that the craving and clinging that cloud one's perceptions and attention did not necessarily follow on the feeling that resulted from kamma. Otherwise, there would be no way to develop skillful intentions. Thus craving and clinging could be abandoned. This would require steady and refined acts of attention and intention, which came down to well-developed concentration and discernment, the central qualities in the path to the cessation of stress. Concentration gave discernment the focus and solidity it needed to see clearly, while discernment followed the two-fold pattern that attention must play in the development of any skill: sensitivity to the context of the act, formed by pre-existing factors coming from the past, together with sensitivity to the act itself, formed by present intentions. In other words, discernment had to see the results of an action as stemming from a combination of past and present causes.
As the more blatant forms of craving, clinging, and ignorance were eradicated with the continued refinement of concentration and discernment, there came a point where the only acts of attention and intention left to analyze were the acts of concentration and discernment in and of themselves. The feedback loop that this process entailed — with concentration and discernment shaping one another in the immediate present — brought the investigation into such close quarters that the terms of analysis were reduced to the most basic words for pointing to present experiences: "this" and "that." The double focus of discernment, in terms of past and present influences, was reduced to the most basic conditions that make up the experience of "the present" (and, by extension, "space") on the one hand, and "time" on the other. Attention to present participation in the causal process was reduced to the basic condition for the experience of the present, i.e., mutual presence ("When this is, that is; when this isn't, that isn't"), while attention to influences from the past was reduced to the basic condition for the experience of time, i.e., the dependence of one event on another ("From the arising of this comes the arising of that; from the cessation of this comes the cessation of that").
These expressions later formed the basic formula of the Buddha's teachings on causality, which he termed this/that conditionality (idappaccayatā) [§211] to emphasize that the formula described patterns of events viewed in a mode of perception empty of any assumptions outside of what could be immediately perceived.
After reaching this point, there was nothing further that concentration and discernment — themselves being conditioned by time and the present — could do. When all residual attachments even to these subtle realizations were let go, there thus followed a state called non-fashioning, in which the mind made absolutely no present input into experience. With no present input to maintain experience of time and the present, the cycle of fabricated experience disbanded. This formed an opening to the Unfabricated, the undying happiness that the Bodhisatta, now the Buddha, had sought. This was the knowledge of Unbinding, or total release.
The Buddha's Teachings
The texts say that the Buddha spent a total of 49 days after his Awakening, sensitive to the bliss of release, reviewing the implications of the insights that had brought about his Awakening. At the end of this period, he thought of teaching other living beings. At first the subtlety and complexity of his Awakening made him wonder if anyone would be able to understand and benefit from his teachings. However, after he ascertained through his new powers of mind that there were those who would understand, he made the decision to teach, determining that he would not enter total Unbinding until he had established his teachings — his doctrine and discipline (Dhamma-Vinaya) — on a solid basis for the long-term benefit of human and divine beings.
The two primary knowledges that constituted the Awakening — knowledge of the regularity of the Dhamma and knowledge of Unbinding — played a major role in shaping what the Buddha taught and how he taught it. Of the two, the knowledge of Unbinding was the more important. It not only guaranteed the truth of the other knowledge, but also constituted the Buddha's whole purpose in teaching: he wanted others to attain this happiness as well. However, because the first knowledge was what led to the second, it provided the guidelines that the Buddha used in determining what would be useful to communicate to others so that they too would arrive at the knowledge of Unbinding of their own accord.
These guidelines were nothing other than the three insights of which this knowledge was composed: recollection of past lives, insight into the death and rebirth of beings, and insight into the ending of the mental effluents. As became clear during the Buddha's teaching career, not all those who would reach the knowledge of Unbinding would need to gain direct insight into previous lifetimes or into the death and rebirth of other beings, but they would have to gain direct insight into the ending of the mental effluents. The mastery of causality that formed the heart of this insight thus formed the heart of his teaching, with the first two insights providing the background against which the teachings were to be put into practice.
As we noted above, the three insights taken together provided answers to the questions that had provoked Prince Siddhattha's quest for Awakening in the first place. His remembrance of previous lives showed on the one hand that death is not annihilation, but on the other hand that there is no core identity that remains unchanged or makes steady, upward progress through the process of rebirth. One life follows another as one dream may follow another, with similar wide swings in one's sense of who or where one is. Thus there is no inherent security in the process.
The second insight — into the death and rebirth of beings throughout the cosmos — provided part of the answer to the questions surrounding the issue of causality in the pursuit of happiness. The primary causal factor is the mind, and in particular the moral quality of the intentions comprising its thoughts, words, and deeds, and the rightness of the views underlying them. Thus moral principles are inherent in the functioning of the cosmos, rather than being mere social conventions. For this reason, any quest for happiness must focus on mastering the quality of the mind's views and intentions.
The third insight — into the ending of the mental effluents — showed that escape from the cycle of rebirth could be found, not through ritual action or total inaction, but through the skillful development of a type of right view that abandoned the effluents that kept the cycle of kamma, stress, and ignorance in motion. As we have seen, this type of right view went through three stages of refinement as the third insight progressed: the four noble truths, dependent co-arising, and this/that conditionality. We will discuss the first two stages in detail elsewhere in this book [III/H/i and III/H/iii]. Here we will focus on this/that conditionality, the most radical aspect of the Buddha's third insight. In terms of its content, it explained how past and present intentions underlay all experience of time and the present. The truth of this content was shown by its role in disbanding all experience of time and the present simply by bringing present intentions to a standstill. Small wonder, then, that this principle provided the most fundamental influence in shaping the Buddha's teaching.
The Buddha expressed this/that conditionality in a simple-looking formula:
(1) When this is, that is.
(2) From the arising of this comes the arising of that.
(3) When this isn't, that isn't.
(4) From the stopping of this comes the stopping of that. — AN 10.92
There are many possible ways of interpreting this formula, but only one does justice both to the way the formula is worded and to the complex, fluid manner in which specific examples of causal relationships are described in the Canon. That way is to view the formula as the interplay of two causal principles, one linear and the other synchronic, that combine to form a non-linear pattern. The linear principle — taking (2) and (4) as a pair — connects events, rather than objects, over time; the synchronic principle — (1) and (3) — connects objects and events in the present moment. The two principles intersect, so that any given event is influenced by two sets of conditions: input acting from the past and input acting from the present. Although each principle seems simple, the fact that they interact makes their consequences very complex [§10].
To begin with, every act has repercussions in the present moment together with reverberations extending into the future. Depending on the intensity of the act, these reverberations can last for a very short or a very long time. Thus every event takes place in a context determined by the combined effects of past events coming from a wide range in time, together with the effects of present acts. These effects can intensify one another, can coexist with little interaction, or can cancel one another out. Thus, even though it is possible to predict that a certain type of act will tend to give a certain type of result — for example, acting on anger will lead to pain — there is no way to predict when or where that result will make itself felt [§11].
The complexity of the system is further enhanced by the fact that both causal principles meet at the mind. Through its views and intentions, the mind takes a causal role in keeping both principles in action. Through its sensory powers, it is affected by the results of the causes it has set in motion. This creates the possibility for the causal principles to feed back into themselves, as the mind reacts to the results of its own actions. These reactions can take the form of positive feedback loops, intensifying the original input and its results, much like the howl in a speaker placed next to the microphone feeding into it. They can also create negative feedback loops, counteracting the original input, much like the action of a thermostat that turns off a heater when the temperature in a room is too high and turns it on again when it gets too low.
Because the results of actions can be immediate, and the mind can then react to them immediately, these feedback loops can at times quickly spin out of control; at other times, they may act as skillful checks on one's behavior. For example, a man may act out of anger, which gives him an immediate sense of dis-ease to which he may react with further anger, thus creating a snowballing effect. On the other hand, he may come to understand that the anger is causing his dis-ease, and so immediately does what he can to stop it. However, there can also be times when the results of his past actions may obscure the dis-ease he is causing himself in the present, so that he does not immediately react to it one way or another.
In this way, the combination of two causal principles — influences from the past interacting with those in the immediate present — accounts for the complexity of causal relationships as they function on the level of immediate experience. However, the combination of the two principles also opens the possibility for finding a systematic way to break the causal web. If causes and effects were entirely linear, the cosmos would be totally deterministic, and nothing could be done to escape from the machinations of the causal process. If they were entirely synchronic, there would be no relationship from one moment to the next, and all events would be arbitrary. The web could break down totally or reform spontaneously for no reason at all. However, with the two modes working together, one can learn from causal patterns observed from the past and apply one's insights to disentangling the same causal patterns acting in the present. If one's insights are true, one can then gain freedom from those patterns.
For this reason, the principle of this/that conditionality provides an ideal foundation, both theoretical and practical, for a doctrine of release. And, as a teacher, the Buddha took full advantage of its implications, using it in such a way that it accounts not only for the presentation and content of his teachings, but also for their organization, their function, and their utility. It even accounts for the need for the teachings and for the fact that the Buddha was able to teach them in the first place. We will take up these points in reverse order.
The fact of the teaching: As noted above, this/that conditionality is a combination of two causal modes: linear activity, connecting events over time; and synchronic causality, connecting objects in the present. The fact that the causal principle was not totally linear accounts for the fact that the Buddha was able to break the causal circle as soon as he had totally comprehended it, and did not have to wait for all of his previous kamma to work itself out first. The fact that the principle was not totally synchronic, however, accounts for the fact that he survived his Awakening and lived to tell about it. Although his actions created no new kammic results after his Awakening, he continued to live and teach under the influence of the kamma he had created before his Awakening, finally passing away only when those kammic influences totally worked themselves out. Thus the combination of the two patterns allowed for an experience of the Unfabricated that could be survived, opening the opportunity for the Buddha to teach others about it before his total Unbinding.
The need for the teachings: This/that conditionality, even though it can be expressed in a simple formula, is very complex in its working-out. As a result, the conditions of time and the present are bewildering to most people. This is particularly true in the process leading up to suffering and stress. As §189 states, beings react to suffering in two ways: bewilderment and a search for a way out. If the conditions for suffering were not so complex, it would be the result of a simple, regular process that would not be so confusing. People would be able to understand it without any need for outside teachings. The fact of its actual complexity, however, explains why people find it bewildering and, as a result of their bewilderment, have devised a wide variety of unskillful means to escape from it: recourse to such external means as magic, ritual, revenge, and force; and to such internal means as denial, repression, self-hatred, and prayer.
Thus the complexity of this/that conditionality accounts for the lack of skill that people bring to their lives — creating more suffering and stress in their attempts to escape suffering and stress — and shows that this lack of skill is a result of ignorance. This explains the need for a teaching that points out the true nature of the causal system operating in the world, so that proper understanding of the system can lead people to deal with it skillfully and actually gain the release they seek.
The utility of the teachings: The fact that this/that conditionality allows for causal input from the present moment means that the causal process is not totally deterministic. Although linear causality places restrictions on what can be done and known in any particular moment, synchronic causality allows some room for free will. Human effort can thus make a difference in the immediate present. At the same time, the fact that the principle of this/that conditionality is expressed in impersonal terms means that the Buddha's insights did not depend on any power peculiar to him personally. As he noted in recounting his experience, the realizations he attained were such that anyone who developed the mind to the same pitch of heedfulness, ardency, and resolution and then directed it to the proper task would be able to attain them as well [§1]. For these reasons, the act of teaching would not be futile, because the mental qualities needed for the task of Awakening were available to other people who would have the freedom to develop them if they wanted to.
The function of the teachings: As chaos theory has shown in graphic terms, any causal system that contains three or more feedback loops can develop into incredible complexity, with small but well-placed changes in input tipping the balance from complex order to seeming chaos, or from chaos to order in the twinkling of an eye. A similar observation applies to this/that conditionality. Given the inherent complexity and instability of such a system, a simple description of it would be futile: the complexity would boggle the mind, and the instability would ensure that any such description would not be helpful for long. At the same time, the instability of the system makes it imperative for anyone immersed in such a system to find a way out, for instability threatens any true chance for lasting peace or happiness. The complexity of the system requires that one find a reliable analysis of the sensitive points in the system and how they can be skillfully manipulated in a way that brings the system down from within.
All of these considerations play a role in determining the function for which the Buddha designed his teachings. They are meant to act as a guide to skillful ways of understanding the principles underlying the causal system, and to skillful ways of manipulating the causal factors so as to gain freedom from them. The concept of skillful and unskillful thoughts, words, and deeds thus plays a central role in the teaching.
In fact, the teachings themselves are meant to function as skillful thoughts toward the goal of Awakening. The Buddha was very clear on the point that he did not mean for his teachings to become a metaphysical system or for them to be adhered to simply for the sake of their truth value. He discussed metaphysical topics only when they could play a role in skillful behavior. Many metaphysical questions — such as whether or not there is a soul or self, whether or not the world is eternal, whether or not it is infinite, etc. — he refused to answer, on the grounds that they were either counterproductive or irrelevant to the task at hand: that of gaining escape from the stress and suffering inherent in time and the present.
Although the Buddha insisted that all of his teachings were true — none of his skillful means were useful fictions — they were to be put aside when one had fully benefited from putting them into practice. In his teachings, true but conditioned knowledge is put into service to an unconditioned goal: a release so total that no conditioned truths can encompass it. Because a meditator has to use causal factors in order to disband the causal system, he/she has to make use of factors that eventually have to be transcended. This pattern of developing qualities in the practice that one must eventually let go as one attains the Unfabricated is common throughout the Buddha's teachings. Eventually even skillfulness itself has to be transcended.
The organization of the teachings: The fact that the causal system contains many feedback loops means that a particular causal connection — either one that continues the system or one designed to disband it — can follow one of several paths. Thus there is a need for a variety of explanations for people who find themselves involved in these different paths. This need explains the topical organization of the Buddha's teachings in his discourses. In talking to different people, or to the same people at different times, he gave different accounts of the causal links leading up to stress and suffering, and to the knowledge that can bring that stress and suffering to an end.
Those who have tried to form a single, consistent account of Buddhist causal analyses have found themselves stymied by this fact, and have often discounted the wide variety of analyses by insisting that only one of them is the "true" Buddhist analysis; or that only the general principle of mutual causality is important, the individual links of the analyses being immaterial; or that the Buddha did not really understand causality at all. None of these positions do justice to the Buddha's skill as a teacher of this person and that, each caught at different junctures in the feedback loops of this/that conditionality.
As we will see when we consider the Wings to Awakening in detail, the Buddha listed different ways of envisioning the causal factors at work in developing the knowledge needed to gain release from the realm of fabrication. Although the lists follow different lines of this/that conditionality, he insisted that they were equivalent. Thus any fair account of his teachings must make room for the variety of paths he outlined, and for the fact that each is helpfully specific and precise.
The content of the teachings: Perhaps one of the most radical aspects of the Buddha's teachings is the assertion that the factors at work in the cosmos at large are the same as those at work in the way each individual mind processes experience. These processes, rather than the sensory data that they process, are primary in one's experience of the cosmos. If one can disband the act of processing, one is freed from the cosmic causal net.
What this means in the case of the individual mind — engaged in and suffering from the processes of time and the present — is that the way out is to be found by focusing directly on the processing of present experience, for that is where the crucial issues play themselves out most clearly. Here and now is where everything important is happening, not there and then. At the same time, the skills needed to deal with these issues are skills of the mind: proper ways of analyzing what one experiences and proper qualities of mind to bring to the analysis to make it as clear and effective as possible. This boils down to the proper frame of reference, the proper quality of awareness, and the proper mode of analysis. These are precisely the topics covered in the Wings to Awakening, although as one's skill develops, they coalesce: the quality of awareness itself becomes the frame of reference and the object to which the analysis is applied.
The presentation of the teaching: Because the Buddha's listeners were already caught in the midst of the web of this/that conditionality, he had to present his message in a way that spoke to their condition. This meant that he had to be sensitive both to the linear effects of past kamma that might either prevent or support the listener's ability to benefit from the teaching, and to the listener's current attitudes and concerns. A person whose adverse past kamma prevented Awakening in this lifetime might benefit from a more elementary teaching that would put him/her in a better position to gain Awakening in a future lifetime. Another person's past kamma might open the possibility for Awakening in this lifetime, but his/her present attitude might have to be changed before he/she was willing to accept the teaching.
A second complication entailed by the principle of this/that conditionality is that it has to be known and mastered at the level of direct experience in and of itself. This mastery is thus a task that each person must do for him or herself. No one can master direct experience for anyone else. The Buddha therefore had to find a way to induce his listeners to accept his diagnosis of their sufferings and his prescription for their cure. He also had to convince them to believe in their own ability to follow the instructions and obtain the desired results. To use a traditional Buddhist analogy, the Buddha was like a doctor who had to convince his patients to administer a cure to themselves, much as a doctor has to convince his patients to follow his directions in taking medicine, getting exercise, changing their diet and lifestyle, and so forth. The Buddha had an additional difficulty, however, in that his definition of health — Unbinding — was something that none of his listeners had yet experienced for themselves. Hence the most important point of his teaching was something that his listeners would have to take on faith. Only when they had seen the results of putting the teachings into practice for themselves would faith no longer be necessary.
Thus, for every listener, faith in the Buddha's Awakening was a prerequisite for advanced growth in the teaching. Without faith in the fact of the Buddha's knowledge of Unbinding, one could not fully accept his prescription. Without faith in the regularity of the Dhamma — including conviction in the principle of kamma and the impersonality of the causal law, making the path open in principle to everyone — one could not fully have faith in one's own ability to follow the path. Of course, this faith would then be confirmed, step by step, as one followed the teaching and began gaining results, but full confirmation would come only with an experience of Awakening. Prior to that point, one's trust, bolstered only by partial results, would have to be a matter of faith [MN 27].
Acquiring this faith is called "going for refuge" in the Buddha. The "refuge" here derives from the fact that one has placed trust in the truth of the Buddha's Awakening and expects that by following his teachings — in particular, the principle of skillful kamma — one protects oneself from creating further suffering for oneself or others, eventually reaching true, unconditioned happiness. This act of going for refuge is what qualifies one as a Buddhist — as opposed to someone simply interested in the Buddha's teachings — and puts one in a position to benefit fully from what the Buddha taught.
The Buddha employed various means of instilling faith in his listeners, but the primary means fall into three classes: his character, his psychic powers, and his powers of reason. When he gave his first sermon — to the Five Brethren, his former compatriots — he had to preface his remarks by reminding them of his honest and responsible character before they would willingly listen to him. When he taught the Kassapa brothers, he first had to subdue their pride with a dazzling array of psychic feats. In most cases, however, he needed only to reason with his listeners and interlocutors, although here again he had to be sensitive to the level of their minds so that he could lead them step by step, taking them from what they saw as immediately apparent and directing them to ever higher and more subtle points. The typical pattern was for the Buddha to begin with the immediate joys of generosity and virtue, followed by the longer-term sensual rewards of these qualities, in line with the principle of kamma; then the ultimate drawbacks of those sensual rewards; and finally the benefits of renunciation. If his listeners could follow his reasoning this far, they would be ready for the more advanced teachings.
We often view reason as something distinct from faith, but for the Buddha it was simply one way of instilling faith or conviction in his listeners. At several points in the Pali Canon [e.g., DN 1; MN 95] he points out the fallacies that can result when one draws reasoned conclusions from a limited range of experience, from false analogies, or from inappropriate modes of analysis. Because his teachings could not be proven prior to an experience of Awakening, he recognized that the proper use of reason was not in trying to prove his teachings, but simply in showing that they made sense. People can make sense of things when they see them as similar to something they already know and understand.
Thus the main function of reason in presenting the teachings is in finding proper analogies for understanding them: hence the many metaphors and similes used throughout the texts. Faith based on reason and understanding, the Buddha taught, was more solid than unreasoned faith, but neither could substitute for the direct knowledge of the regularity of the Dhamma and of Unbinding, for only the experience of Unbinding was a guarantee of true knowledge. Nevertheless, faith was a prerequisite for attaining that direct knowledge. Only when the initial presentation of the teaching had aroused faith in the listener, would he/she be in a position to benefit from a less-adorned presentation of the content and put it into practice.
The need for various ways of presenting his points on a wide range of levels meant that the body of the Buddha's teachings grew ever more varied and immense with time. As his career drew to a close, he found it necessary to highlight the essential core of the teaching, the unadorned content, so that the more timeless aspects of his message would remain clear in his followers' minds. Societies and cultures inevitably change, so that what counts as effective persuasion in one time and place may be ineffective in another. The basic structure of this/that conditionality does not change, however; the qualities of the mind needed for mastering causality and realizing the Unfabricated will always remain the same. The Buddha thus presented the Wings to Awakening as the unadorned content: the timeless, essential core.
Even here, however, the principle of this/that conditionality affected his presentation. He needed to find principles that would be relatively immune to changes in society and culture. He needed a mode of presentation that was simple enough to memorize, but not so simplistic as to distort or limit the teaching. He also needed words that would point, not to abstractions, but to the immediate realities of awareness in the listener's own mind. And, finally, he needed a useful framework for the teaching as a whole, so that those who wanted to track down specific points would not lose sight of how those points fit into the larger picture of the practice.
His solution was to give lists of mental qualities, as we noted above, rather than any of the more abstruse, philosophical doctrines that are often cited as distinctively Buddhist. These mental qualities are immediately present, to at least some extent, in every human mind. Thus they retain a constant meaning no matter what changes occur in one's mental landscape or cultural horizons. The Buddha presents them in seven alternative, interconnected lists (see Table I). Each list — when all of its implications are worked out — is equivalent to all of the others in its effects, but each takes a distinctive approach to the practice.
Thus the lists provide enough variety to meet the needs of people caught in different parts of the causal network. As one searches the texts for explanations of the meaning of specific terms and factors in the lists, one finds that the lists connect — directly or indirectly — with everything there. At the same time, the categories of the lists, because they point to qualities in the mind, encourage the listener to regard the teachings not as a system in and of themselves, but as tools for looking directly into his/her own mind, where the sources and solutions to the problem of suffering lie.
As a result, although the lists are short and simple, they are an effective introduction to the teaching and a guide to its practice. From his experience with this/that conditionality on the path, the Buddha had seen that if one develops the mental qualities listed in any one of these seven sets, focuses them on the present, keeping in mind the four frames of reference and analyzing what appears to one's immediate awareness in terms of the categories of the four noble truths, one will inevitably come to the same realizations that he did: the regularity of the Dhamma and the reality of Unbinding. This was the happiness he himself sought and found, and that he wanted others to attain.
In addition to the seven lists, the Buddha left behind a monastic order designed not only so that the teachings would be memorized from generation to generation, but also so that future generations would have living examples of the teaching to learn from, and a conducive social environment in which to put them into practice. This environment was intended as a gift not only for those who would ordain but also for those lay people who associated with the order, taking the opportunity to develop their own generosity, morality, and mindfulness in the process. Associating with others who are following a sensitive disciplinary code forces one to become more sensitive and disciplined oneself.
Although our concern in this book is with the Dhamma, or the teaching of the Wings to Awakening, we should not forget that the Buddha named his teaching Dhamma-Vinaya. The Vinaya was the set of rules and regulations he established for the smooth running of the order. Dhamma is the primary member of the compound, but the Vinaya forms the context that helps keep it alive. They meet in a common focus on the factor of intention. The Vinaya uses its rules not only to foster communal order, but also to sensitize individual practitioners to the element of intention in all their actions. The Dhamma then makes use of this sensitivity as a means of fostering the insights that lead to Awakening.
After he had placed the Dhamma-Vinaya on a sure footing, the Buddha passed away into total Unbinding. This event has provoked a great deal of controversy within and without the Buddhist tradition, some people saying that if the Buddha was truly compassionate, he should have taken repeated rebirth so that the rest of humanity could continue to benefit from the excellent qualities that he had built into his mind. His total Unbinding, however, can be seen as one of his greatest kindnesses to his followers. He showed by example that although the path to true happiness entails generosity and kindness to others, the goal of the path needs no justification in terms of anything else. The limitless freedom of Unbinding is a worthy end for its own sake. Society's usual demand that people must justify their actions by appeal to the continued smooth functioning of society or the happiness of others, has no sway over the innate worth of this level. The Buddha made use of the kammic residue remaining after his Awakening to make a free gift of the Dhamma-Vinaya to all who care about genuine happiness and health, but when those residues were exhausted he took the noble way of true health as an example and challenge to us all.
Thus the Dhamma-Vinaya can be seen as the Buddha's generous gift to posterity. The rules of the Vinaya offer an environment for practice, while the Wings to Awakening are an invitation and guide to that practice, leading to true happiness. Anyone, anywhere, who is seriously interested in true happiness is welcome to focus on the qualities listed here, to see if this/that conditionality is indeed the causal principle governing the dimensions of time and the present, and to test if it can be mastered in a way that leads to the promised result: freedom transcending those dimensions, totally beyond measure and unbound.
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Gov. Bill Haslam is facing a tremendous amount of heat from Republican and tea party activists across the state. No fewer than five resolutions are currently circulating urging the Tennessee Republican Executive Committee to take meaningful action against the Haslam administration. A political organization plans to purchase ads condemning the governor. Some grass-roots activists are even calling for his resignation.
His crime? Hiring the most qualified person for a position.
The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development's new international director is from Waverly, a small town just west of Nashville. Most recently, she served as a White House fellow, one of our nation's most competitive and prestigious honors for a young professional.
She also worked as an associate attorney at Hogan Lovells, one of the most respected international law firms in the world. Before that, she clerked for a senior judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit. She is a tae kwon do champion and a volunteer for the YMCA, AIDS efforts and an organization focused on addressing diabetes. Her bachelor's and law degrees are both from Vanderbilt.
She also happens to be Muslim.
This fact prompted the Center for Security Policy, a D.C.-based organization that likes to stick its nose in local issues any time a Muslim is involved, along with Republican groups in Stewart and Carroll Counties and the 8th District Tea Party Coalition, an umbrella organization of West Tennessee tea party groups, to pass resolutions urging Haslam to relieve the ECD's new international director of her duties.
The resolutions, which also condemn Haslam for allowing "open homosexuals to make policy decisions in the Department of Children's Services," declare that the governor's actions have caused a loss of "confidence in our Governor during an election year."
The Stewart and Carroll County resolutions call for the state's Republican leaders to take "appropriate action against the administration of Governor Bill Haslam."
Williamson County's Republican Party passed a more focused resolution criticizing the hiring of a Muslim in a position related to foreign trade.
Additionally, members of the 9.12 Project Tennessee, a Nashville-area group committed to "restoring constitutional values" claim they have raised money to purchase a half page ad in Friday's Tennessean condemning Haslam for hiring a Muslim, according to an email sent by the organization. I guess they forgot about one constitutional value: freedom of religion.
Samar (pronounced "Summer") Ali is, quite simply, one of the most talented, accomplished people Tennessee has produced in decades. After several years working internationally, and completing the White House Fellows program, she wanted to return home to Tennessee. With ECD wanting to expand its focus on increasing exports of Tennessee products, the 30-year-old got that opportunity.
When Ali was named international director for ECD, it prompted a handful of local loons to go berserk. The resolutions came shortly thereafter.
Some of this silliness is the fault of Republican lawmakers in the state legislature who, rather than using their hard-won majority to advance ideas of liberty in the Tennessee General Assembly, have focused far too much effort on silencing religious minorities and limiting the rights of gay Tennesseans. As a result, a small number of local activists feel empowered to criticize the governor for hiring religious minorities and not firing hard-working gay state employees.
It simply isn't necessary for Republicans to pander to racists, homophobes and bigots to garner votes and win elections in the Volunteer State. The majority of Tennesseans are attracted to the GOP's platform of fiscal conservatism, free market economic principles, low taxes, transparency and limited, responsible government.
Reasonable conservatives have dozens of reasons to be disappointed in Gov. Haslam's short tenure. From failing to cut wasteful spending to proposing to expand several failing programs, Haslam has fallen short of what many conservatives expected from a Republican governor.
Yet, it's not those issues that have many Republican and tea party groups in Tennessee up in arms. Instead, it's Haslam's choice to place qualified people in important positions in state government -- irrespective of their religion or what they do with other consenting adults in the privacy of their own bedrooms -- that drew the ire of some fringe activists.
Hiring the best person for a job -- regardless of that individual's race, religion or sexual orientation -- does not make Gov. Haslam a villain. It makes him wise.
Criticizing Haslam for hiring the best person for a job -- because of the individual's race, religion or sexual orientation -- does not make you a patriot. It makes you a bigot.
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SANTA CLARA — Kyle Williams provided a positive update Tuesday on his recovery from a torn anterior cruciate ligament.
“Ran today first time since surgery and felt great #speed,” the 49ers’ wideout posted on his Twitter account, @KyleWilliams_10.
It’s been four months since Williams injured his left knee during a 31-21 win at the Superdome. That injury occurred on the same play in which running back Kendall Hunter tore an Achilles tendon.
Two months ago, both Williams and Hunter returned to the Superdome with the 49ers in preparation for Super Bowl XLVII, and both said they expected to be fully recovered for the start of training camp in late July.
Teammates selected Williams as their winner of the Ed Block Courage Award, which he received with the league’s other honorees earlier this month in Baltimore.
Williams basically split time with Randy Moss as the 49ers’ No. 3 wide receiver before sustaining the season-ending knee injury. Williams averaged an impressive 15.1 yards per catch (14 receptions, 212 yards, one touchdown).
The three-year veteran will compete for a similar role in 2013, minus Moss, who is a free agent that isn’t expected to return. While Michael Crabtree and Anquan Boldin are projected as the 49ers’ starting wideouts, Mario Manningham is recovering from his own ACL tear, which occurred Dec. 23 against the Seattle Seahawks.
Williams also could become a primary return specialist in the wake of Ted Ginn Jr.’s departure for the Carolina Panthers. Williams averaged 27.2 yards on 13 kickoff returns last season, including a 94-yard effort at Minnesota in Week 3.
Despite his dubious history on punt returns in the 2011 team’s NFC Championship game loss, Williams might be the 49ers’ No. 1 option there this season, if fully healthy. He averaged 13 yards on four returns in the first few games last season before Ginn reclaimed that job; Ginn’s lost fumble Nov. 25 at New Orleans pressed Williams into action for two ensuing returns that resulted in fair catches.
A year ago at this time, Williams was putting in a lot of time with then-backup quarterback Colin Kaepernick. Their on-field bond shined before Williams’ knee injury occurred in Kaepernick’s second career start
For more on the 49ers, see Cam Inman’s Hot Read blog at blogs.mercurynews.com/49ers. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/CamInman.
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Members of the Democratic National Committee received approval to create a fake Craigslist ad in an attempt to mock political rival Donald Trump, leaked emails show.
#DNCLeaks: plot to smear @realDonaldTrump by planting fake ads for hot women in Craigslist https://t.co/pePOdxjWDE — WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) July 22, 2016
The emails, just several of nearly 20,000 released by Wikileaks Friday, shows Deputy Communications Director Christina Freundlich seeking approval for the fictitious ad.
Dated for May of 2016, the email thread begins with Freundlich stating how “digital created a fake craigslist jobs post for women who want to apply to jobs one of Trump’s organizations.”
“Since we will be pitching this, need your approval please,” Freundlich inquires.
Included in the email is the proposed craigslist ad itself, which seeks “staff members for multiple positions in a large, New York-based corporation known for its real estate investments, fake universities, steaks, and wine.”
“The boss has very strict standards for female employees, ranging from the women who take lunch orders (must be hot) to the women who oversee multi-million dollar construction projects (must maintain hotness demonstrated at time of hiring),” the ad continues.
Prospective female hirees, whose title is listed as “Honey Bunch,” are required not to gain weight during their employment and must show a “willingness to evaluate other women’s hotness for the boss’ satisfaction.”
“Should be proficient in lying about age if the boss thinks you’re too old,” another requirement states.
“We’re proud to maintain a ‘fun’ and “friendly work environment, where the boss is always available to meet with his employees,” the ad states in closing.” Like it or not, he may greet you with a kiss on the lips or grope you under the meeting table.”
Those interested in the position are asked to send a “resume, cover letter, and headshot” to the “[email protected]” email address.
After receiving the proposal, Communications Director Luis Miranda approved the ad so long as “all the offensive shit is verbatim.”
While the emails may raise questions on the DNC’s tactics, the overt language of the ad itself suggests staffers did not intend to make the listing appear legitimate in any way. Whether the ad indicates an attempt to openly mock Trump or simply reveals the boredom of Democratic Party employees remains to be seen.
The more than 19,000 emails are believed to have been provided to Wikileaks by “Guccifer 2.0,” an alleged idealistic hacker – Although cybersecurity experts believe the hacker is actually a smoke screen to divert attention away from the Russian government’s role in the breach.
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1-Megawatt Solar Hybrid Plant Installed In Just 7 days (Time-Lapse Video)
March 28th, 2015 by Cynthia Shahan
Laing O’Rourke developed the innovative modular technology. RenewEconomy reports that it was delivered, set up, unpacked, and fully operational within seven days.
Presently in full operation, RenewEconomy reports that the solar power plant was unveiled just last week in Combabula, regional Queensland. It is the first of its kind in the world. The pilot-scale plant is the product of an ARENA-backed project. ARENA intends to make it more affordable and more easily accomplished to provide remote Australian communities and industrial sites with off-grid renewable energy generation.
Diminishing insecurity of risks associated with projects in remote and regional Australia, ARENA (the Australian Renewable Energy Agency) considers the off-site construction and rapid packing and unpacking capability of the technology will potentially reduce costs.
RenewEconomy reports:
ARENA CEO Ivor Frischknecht said the Combabula plant provided a clear demonstration of a versatile alternative to costly and heavy polluting diesel-powered generators.
Each redeployable hybrid plant is expected to power multiple successive off-grid users, allowing them to benefit from the advantages of solar without committing to a permanent installation.
Hybrids offer interesting complements to the clean power, renewable equation. Of course, there are also fully clean hybrid plants. See “Study Finds Wind-Solar Hybrid Power Plants Are Twice As Efficient,” which explains, “One of the strong benefits is the construction of these types of power plants do not require grid expansion since the plants generate wind and solar power at different intervals and during complementary seasons. This helps ensure that the level of energy being fed into the grid is more steady than that of wind or photovoltaic power plants alone.”
An analysis Joshua S Hill covered for CleanTechnica in “Hybrid Energy Systems Key To Future Of Renewable Energy,” reports, “much of the weather-reliant issues could be done away with by introducing enhanced energy storage technology and by developing what are called ‘hybrid’ energy systems — energy systems which, in tandem with a smart grid, combine two forms of energy generation so one is able to cover the other.” We’ll see where this option out of Australia leads.
Related Story: ARENA Looks To Accelerate Renewable Hybrid Power Plants
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Gardening can be a relaxing and rewarding hobby. But sometimes, depending on your choice of crops, you need to keep that hobby under wraps. And that’s where The Server Farm comes in. It looks like a vanilla desktop PC, but instead of electronics, inside you’ll find grow lights, reflection panels, and a compact watering system.
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The Server Box actually comes with everything you’ll need to grow a small garden indoors, even in a dark corner of your basement, including a two-year supply of nutrients and a system for eliminating suspicious odors. The only thing it doesn’t come with is seeds, you’ll need to find those yourself.
At $695 it isn’t a cheap solution, you can actually build a real PC for that much money. But it does come with one very important feature that totally makes the price tag worth it: insurance that no one will stumble across your crop.
[Think Leek via DudeIWantThat]
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In 2003, 32-year-old Bobby Jindal launched an ambitious campaign for Governor of Louisiana.
How ambitious?
It is the biggest and more powerful position in the state, and this was the first campaign in Jindal’s entire life. Jindal spent most of his twenties working in a series of high-profile appointed jobs. He was Louisiana’s youngest-ever Cabinet-level appointment, Secretary of Health and Hospitals; shortly after that, Jindal became the President of the University of Louisiana system, and less than two years later, Jindal was appointed as the executive assistant for Tommy Thompson, the United States Secretary of Health and Hospitals.
Despite his stellar resume, there were concerns that his ethnicity may have cost voters, particularly in Central and Northern Louisiana, the state’s evangelical core, including hundreds of thousands who had only a decade or so before supported a man named David Ernest Duke as he began measuring the drapes at the Governor’s Mansion.
When his opponent, Lt. Governor Kathleen Blanco, sent a mailer featuring a photograph of Jindal, the Jindal campaign accused her of darkening his skin. Quoting Asian Week:
To their credit, the Democrats did not overtly exploit these sentiments. Yet, a last-minute Blanco television ad, with its strident “Wake Up Louisiana! Before it’s too Late!” and its disturbing photograph of a very young, dark-skinned Jindal with his hair sticking up, emphasized his alienness: his status as being outside the category of those who needed to be “awakened” — Louisianans.
There was only one problem: The picture they used of Jindal had been taken directly off of the candidate’s website. The late, great J, Ray Teddlie, who was Blanco’s communications director, simply sent reporters the URL of the photograph, and the controversy ended before it even got legs. This wasn’t an opponent purposely darkening a candidate to make him look different; If anything, it reflects an ugly cynicism about racial politics and identity.
Bobby Jindal is a brown man, conceived in India, born of two Indian parents. It is more than a little bizarre and depressing that this elementary observation is considered “race-baiting.” Even stranger, Jindal’s official-looking portrait of him as a white man has been hanging in the State Capitol for several years. “The Governor always liked the portrait,” a former staffer told me. “We called it, ‘The Michael Jackson.'”
The artist, who never even met Jindal, is apparently in denial, arguing that we altered the photo. For the record, the photo was not altered in any way, and the lighting is natural and available. In other words, this is what it looks like.
Why did it make a splash? Because it is provocative, jarring, and challenging, because it symbolizes something about Bobby Jindal.
I will let others unpack the implications, but I will say this: This isn’t the only time an artist was obliged to lighten his skin in a portrait.
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Steve Ballmer may no longer be CEO at Microsoft, but his love for the company he led for 14 years lives on. Indeed, after being in the news just last week for revealing he owns 4 percent of Twitter, Ballmer is now making headlines for his comments regarding Amazon and Apple.
Amazon has been under fire this year for its work culture — this month it even hit back with an angry rebuttal. In an interview with Bloomberg, Ballmer was asked about his thoughts on Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ comment that Microsoft was like “a country club.”
Ballmer didn’t hold back.
“Microsoft’s culture is very strong. Hard-driving, people are really focused on changing the world, people work very hard. I believe the same is true at Amazon. But you have to remember there is intense competition between Microsoft and Amazon, both AWS and Microsoft’s Azure just in the city of Seattle over talent. I think they are a place that people don’t want to work. Anybody who ever left Microsoft, we could count on them coming back within a year or two. It’s just not a great place to do innovative stuff as an engineer.”
Ballmer clarified that this didn’t apply to everybody, but that many, many people took “a round trip.” He added some context, pointing out that Seattle isn’t Silicon Valley, where tech employees are constantly switching between the thousands of startups and hundreds of bigger firms. In Seattle, there are fewer startups, and just two major tech firms: Amazon and Microsoft.
The interview then turned to Apple. First, Ballmer praised the company.
“They’ve done a great a job. I think if you go back to ’97 when Steve came back, when they were almost bankrupt, we made an investment in Apple as part of settling a lawsuit. We, Microsoft, made an investment. In a way you could say that might have been one of the craziest things we ever did. But they’ve taken the foundation of great innovation, some cash, and they’ve turned it into the most valuable company in the world.”
Notice that Ballmer still speaks as if he works at Microsoft. Also notable is that he didn’t have anything negative to say about Apple, which is still relatively new for him.
“Microsoft will give them a good run for their money. Nobody else is really trying to compete with them anymore, really seriously in hardware. Who is really going after the Mac, who is really going after the iPad. You could basically say Microsoft and Samsung. And Microsoft really is the only one that’s got a software and hardware capability. So if there’s going to be any competition at all for Apple, it’ll come from Microsoft. And I believe in that.”
Ballmer has long talked about Microsoft’s hardware and software strengths, especially after the Nokia acquisition he helped orchestrate. And with the growing Surface lineup, he’s unsurprisingly more bullish.
“A Surface Book is not either an iMac or an iPad, but it’s a new category. It’s an innovative category. And the truth of the matter is, who is going to get to those categories first? Microsoft or Apple.”
Ballmer also said he didn’t know if Apple would get into cars, saluted Tesla, and said he loves Uber.
Tying the story back to his recent investment, in a separate Bloomberg interview, Ballmer said he believes Twitter “has all kinds of opportunity.”
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Facebook has a new plan to get more of Africa online: Fiber optic cables.
The social giant on Monday announced plans to lay nearly 500 miles of fiber cable in Uganda by the end of the year, infrastructure that Facebook believes will provide internet access for more than three million people.
Facebook is not, however, providing its own wireless network. The company is partnering with Airtel and BCS to provide the actual internet service, and says the fiber will offer more support for “mobile operators’ base stations.” The company also says that it’s “open” to working with other network providers down the line.
All three organizations are making some kind of financial commitment to the project, according to a person familiar with the deal, though it’s unclear who is paying for what.
The move to dig up ground and lay physical fiber cables is the latest in a string of efforts Facebook has made over the past two years to get more people online. Facebook’s mission is to connect everyone in the world with its social network, but that’s hard to do if significant portions of the world don’t have internet access.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been trying to fix that, both with infrastructure and with efforts to lower the cost of wireless data.
In India, for example, Facebook tried to make some internet services free for some users, including its own social network. Indian regulators pushed back because of net neutrality concerns, and the free service was ultimately blocked.
In 2015, Facebook started building solar-powered drones to fly high overhead and beam internet to rural places down below. The first test flight for one of these drones was completed in June, though it crashed upon landing. (Even so, the drone approach is, as far as we know, still very much part of the company’s longterm plans.)
But now Facebook is at it again, this time with fiber cables. It’s a new approach for the social giant, but not new to Silicon Valley. Alphabet has also been laying fiber in the United States, though those efforts have hit road blocks, including layoffs, in part because digging up the dirt and laying fiber cable is expensive.
Facebook declined to share details on the cost of the fiber project in Uganda.
Africa is home to over 1.2 billion people, but only 226 million smartphones were connected to the internet by the end of 2015, according to The Guardian. That number is expected to triple by 2020.
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He has heard all about the intimidating cauldron of noise which can render opposition teams helpless.
And Jordi Cruyff reckons Goodison Park can be a key asset for Everton FC as they bid to make their mark on Europe next season.
The former Barcelona and Manchester United midfielder has received glowing reviews about the Old Lady from his best friend Roberto Martinez.
And Cruyff, who guided Maccabi Tel Aviv through an impressive Europa League campaign last season, is convinced home comfort will help the Blues flourish in what will be a hectic coming campaign.
“Everton are a very highly respected club across Europe,” says the 40-year-old. “A lot of teams will come to Goodison with extra motivation.
“The Premier League is the place to be and many players will come there and give 200per cent because you never know what happens in the future if you stand out.
“But on the other hand when you play at Goodison you can get sucked into the atmosphere, the enthusiasm of the fans and some teams will come with a lot of respect which can work in Everton’s advantage. It depends on the draw.
“Goodison can be a real plus. If you face big club who also have passionate fans then their players are used to it, but if they are not they may find it daunting.”
Last summer Cruyff told the ECHO that the Blues had just made a wise appointment when they lured the former Wigan manager to Merseyside.
And he is thrilled that the man who is godfather to his son has been such a hit during his debut season in the Toffees hot-seat.
“In football the only thing you can do is give 100per cent,” he says. “Circumstances can make things work negatively or positively and this year they have worked very nicely.
“As Roberto’s friend I am very pleased and as a football fan I’m even more pleased to see his style of play be so successful.
“I’ve known him for a long time and he has always had this clear vision for how football should be played.
“All his life he has tried to impose that philosophy and now he is the big boss he can implement that direction.
“It’s nice to see.
“I’ve watched a lot of Everton games and the players have coped well with the transition. It’s fun to watch and also to see them getting positive results is even better.
“The chemistry was certainly there between the players. You can see they have taken the philosophy onboard and they firmly believe in what they are doing which is clearly important.
“Now they have added games with the Europa League and the calendar gets a bit more squeezed. Roberto will know he has to regroup.”
Martinez will, of course, face the oncoming challenge with his usual reserves of boundless optimism – an approach which comes as no surprise to Cruyff.
“He has always taken the positives from any situation – that’s just how he is,” he says. “He’s that kind of guy, someone who believes in his players, in himself and in his strategy.”
One thing which does surprise Cruyff is the attention Martinez has received for his snappy dressing among the royal blue faithful.
The Catalan’s sharply-tailored coats and brown leather brogues have only further endeared him to fashion-conscious scousers, but a slightly bemused Cruyff says: “He has his way.
“He has a good sense of humour and while I’ve never discussed his fashion with him I’m not surprised he is making a good impression on every front.”
Either way, the Dutchman says his pal will have more pressing matters than his wardrobe on his mind this summer.
“Managers never have a calm time,” says the man who has just helped his own club to its second Israeli premier league championship in a row.
“When everyone thinks the season has finished and you can put your feet up and relax, the manager keeps going. He is always thinking how to improve the team.
“I’m sure every moment he is spending on his laptop reading scouting reports or talking on his phone.
“The Europa League will mean even more work for everyone.
“Everyone tries to find the right way to handle the extra games. It’s more tiring and there is a lot of travelling.
“The challenge is to keep working in the Premier League while also showing good things in Europe.
“It’s not easy. Some big clubs have suffered trying to do it. But I’m sure Roberto has his strategy and will be working on it as we speak. It’s tough but enjoyable.”
And Cruyff has a final message for another Everton employee destined for a busy summer.
Like everyone else in world football he has been impressed by Ross Barkley’s rise.
He hopes the 20-year-old thrives for England in Brazil, but equally insists he is in the right place to flourish for the long-term at Goodison.
“He is an exciting talent and there are a lot of them at Everton,” he says. “Let’s see how he goes.
“When you are that young the best thing is to not think about the future and where you will be in a few years time, but to focus on your daily work. It’s better to be a doer than a thinker.
“Ross must keep trying to improve himself and he is under the right manager to do that.”
For all the latest Everton FC news, click here
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Observations on the Removal in Kaladesh
Kaladesh KLD removal
My last article looked at the instant-speed tricks in Kaladesh, including instant-speed removal. This week, I'll look more broadly at the removal spells in Kaladesh. This insight can help our Limited game in a number of ways:
It helps us understand how fast/slow the format is, since cheap, efficient removal tends to lead to slower Limited formats, while expensive or very conditional removal tends to favor faster formats.
It helps us understand how difficult it is to kill a particular creature is, which can affect how highly we pick them, especially if they are more expensive to cast.
It helps us to understand how likely our opponent is to be able to kill a particular creature, which can affect when we play our creatures.
It can help us play around removal that kill multiple creatures at once.
Toughness-Based Removal
One-toughness creatures seem particularly vulnerable in Kaladesh Limited, since Red and Black both have spells that kill multiple one-toughness creatures. Red has Chandra's Pyrohelix and Fireforger's Puzzleknot at Common, and Aethertorch Renegade at Uncommon, while Black has Make Obsolete at Uncommon. Black also has Subtle Strike, which only kills one creature, but can also result in a two-for-one if used mid-combat or in response to a removal spell. Many of these effects are instant speed, so if your deck has a lot of one-toughness creatures, you should avoid drafting multiple pump spells, and try to play around these removal spells when possible.
In addition to these Red and Black spells, there's also Ballista Charger, an Uncommon artifact that can kill a one-toughness creature each time it attacks, and Take Down, which can kill all one-toughness flyers.
There are six spells that do two damage or give a creature -X/-2: two Commons and an Uncommon in Red (Chandra's Pyrohelix and Fireforger's Puzzleknot can do both points of damage to the same creature, and Furious Reprisal), a Common and a Mythic in Black (Die Young, which can kill larger creatures if you have energy counters from other sources, and Demon of Dark Schemes), and a multicolor Uncommon (Hazardous Conditions). This works out to an average of 9.2 spells in an eight-person draft. Two of these 9.2 spells (two Uncommons and a Mythic) kill multiple two-toughness creatures.
There are seven spells that do three damage: a Colorless Rare and Mythic (Dynavolt Tower and Skysovereign, Consul Flagship), a White Common that can only be used during combat (Impeccable Timing), a Black Uncommon (Essence Extraction), and a Common and two Uncommons in Red (Welding Sparks, Harnessed Lightning, and Incendiary Sabotage). An eight-person draft has an average of 8.1 of these removal spells, about half of which are Red. (The Red removal spells can sometimes deal more than three damage too.) Each color usually has about three drafters at an eight-person table, so even a Red/White drafter will only have about two such spells.
There are very few spells that do more than three damage:
Die Young (Common) provides two energy counters and then gives the target -N/-N, where N is the number of energy counters you spend.
Harnessed Lightning (Uncommon) provides three energy counters and then deals damage to the target equal to the number of energy counter you spend.
Chandra, Torch of Defiance (Mythic) does four or five points of damage, depending on which of her abilities you use.
Take Down (Common) does four damage to a flyer.
Hunt the Weak (Common) and Nature's Way (Uncommon), which do damage equal to the power of a creature you control. (Hunt the Weak puts a +1/+1 counter on the creature first, but is also a fight effect.)
Toughness-Independent Removal
Kaladesh also has a number of removal spells that don't care about the size of the creature. This list doesn't include mass removal that kills all creatures that meet a certain condition, since we will consider those spells separately.
There are an average of about 12 removal spells in an eight-person draft that don't care about the size of the target, and White, Blue, and Black have roughly 3.7 each. Each color usually has about three drafters at an eight-person table, so a drafter in one of these colors will end up with about 1.2 such removal spells on average, while a White/Blue, White/Black, or Blue/Black draft will end up with 2.4 on average.
Of these spells, there are two that let you steal an opponent's creature, both in Blue: Shrewd Negotiation at Uncommon lets you "buy" an artifact or creature in exchange for an artifact you control, and Confiscation Coup lets you steal an artifact or creature whose converted mana cost is equal to the number of energy counters you spend. (Red also has Hijack, a Common that allows you to borrow a creature for a turn, which will be covered later with the other temporary removal.)
In addition to the spells listed above, White has the Uncommon Skywhaler's Shot that cares about the creature's power instead of its toughness, and Blue has two Common bounce spells, Select for Inspection and Aether Tradewinds. (There's also the eight-energy bounce ability on the Rare Aethersquall Ancient, but that is covered later with the other mass removal effects.)
Reusable Creature Removal
Kaladesh has five spells that can kill creatures repeatedly. There's Ballista Charger and Aethertorch Renegade at Uncommon, Dynavolt Tower at Rare, and Skysovereign, Consul Flagship and Chandra, Torch of Defiance at Mythic. Alternately, Chandra, Torch of Defiance's ultimate ability allows you to do five damage for each spell you cast. Both of the Vehicles have to attack in order to do the repeated damage, although Skysovereign, Consul Flagship also does the damage when it enters play, and Aethertorch Renegade and Dynavolt Tower both require energy counters for each activation.
There are eight spells that allow you to temporarily remove creatures repeatedly: three tappers, two that prevent creatures from blocking, a mass bounce ability, one that causes your opponents' creatures to enter the battlefield tapped, and Dovin Baan, who can give an opponent's creature -3/-0 and prevent its activated abilities from being activated for a turn. Once again, there are two Uncommons, Janjeet Sentry and Maulfist Doorbuster, both of which require energy counters for each activation. There are five Rares: Deadlock Trap, Aetherstorm Roc, Aethersquall Ancient, Authority of the Consuls, and Pia Nalaar. The remaining spell is the Mythic Dovin Baan, whose abilities don't require energy.
Temporary Creature Removal
More than half of the temporary creature removal in Kaladesh is reusable, and is listed above. The five non-reusable ones are all Commons:
Two bounce spells in Blue: Aether Tradewinds and Select for Inspection.
Pressure Point in White, which taps creatures.
Renegade Tactics in Red, which prevents a creature from blocking for a turn.
Hijack in Red, which borrows a creature for a turn.
Non-Creature Removal
There are several creature removal spells that also affect artifacts. The only nonblue spell among them is Hijack.
Besides these, Deadlock Trap (Rare) and Skysovereign, Consul Flagship (Mythic) can target planeswalkers, Cataclysmic Gearhulk (Mythic) can punish an opponent who has multiple artifacts, multiple enchantments, or multiple planeswalkers, and Aether Tradewinds (Common) can bounce any permanent, including lands.
In addition to these spells, there are a few others that only target artifacts, enchantments, and/or lands. All of these are Common except for Creeping Mold, which is an Uncommon.
White: Fragmentize destroys an artifact or enchantment whose converted mana cost is four or less. The only enchantment with converted mana cost greater than four is a Mythic. There are 14 artifacts with converted mana cost greater than four: 4 Commons, 2 Uncommons, 2 Rares, and 6 Mythics. Of the Commons and Uncommons, three are Vehicles with high Crew costs and three are unexciting artifact creatures, so you're not likely to face them often. Fragmentize will usually get the job done.
Red: Demolish destroys an artifact or land for 3R. Ruinous Gremlin costs R to play and you can pay 2R and sacrifice it to destroy an artifact.
Green: Appetite for the Unnatural destroys an artifact or enchantment at instant speed for 2G. Creeping Mold destroys an artifact, enchantment, or land for 2GG.
Of these, Ruinous Gremlin and Appetite for the Unnatural are the only ways to destroy an artifact at instant speed, although Aether Meltdown can neutralize some Vehicles, and Aether Tradewinds can bounce artifacts at instant speed.
Off-Battlefield Removal
The analysis in my last article also applies here, since counterspells are necessarily instants:
"Blue has five counterspells, two Commons, two Uncommons, and a Rare. There's one each at one, two, and three mana, and two at four mana. The one mana Uncommon counters colorless spells, the two mana Common is a bad Mana Leak, and the three and four mana counterspells all require two Blue mana and are hard counters that can counter any spell."
There are three discard spells in Kaladesh: Mind Rot at Common causes them to discard two cards, Harsh Scrutiny at Uncommon allows you to make your opponent discard a creature card that you choose, and Lost Legacy at Rare requires your opponent to know (or guess) which card you have in your hand.
Conclusion
Kaladesh has a number of spells that kill multiple one-toughness creatures, so you should be careful about drafting a lot of one-toughness creatures and of casting your second one if you have alternatives. Many of these effects are instant speed, so if your deck has a lot of one-toughness creatures, you should avoid drafting multiple pump spells, and try to play around these removal spells when possible.
An eight person draft also has about nine spells that do two damage or give -X/-2, about ten spells that do three damage or give -X/-3, and about 12 removal spells that don't care about the creature's toughness, which may affect how you sequence playing your creatures.
The mass removal spells in the set include three Uncommons that kill creatures with one, two, and three-toughness. Black has a Mythic that gives all other creatures -2/-2, while White has a Day of Judgment effect at Rare, and Cataclysm on a creature at Mythic. In addition to these, Blue has mass temporary removal in the form of Aethersquall Ancient, a Rare with an eight-energy ability that bounces all other creatures. There are also a handful of spells that kill multiple creatures without killing all creatures, mostly in Red: Fireforger's Puzzleknot and Chandra's Pyrohelix at Common, Furious Reprisal at Uncommon, and Eliminate the Competition at Rare.
The reusable removal in Kaladesh (both temporary and permanent) is all Uncommon, Rare, or Mythic, and many of those abilities require energy counters.
There are several creature removal spells that also affect artifacts, of which Malfunction and Confiscation Coup are the most playable. There's also Aether Meltdown, but that can only enchant creatures and Vehicles. Of the spells that can only target non-artifacts, Fragmentize and Appetite for the Unnatural are the best options.
Relative to other sets, Kaladesh has particularly strong creatures, so I think counterspells are even weaker than they usually are in draft, but Ceremonious Rejection is worth drafting for your sideboard. On the other hand, Harsh Scrutiny might be better in this format since it costs a single mana, gets rid of the most threatening of their unplayed creatures, and lets you scry 1.
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McDonald’s has lived up to its promise to Rick and Morty creator Justin Roiland, sending him a jug of the fast food giant’s discontinued Szechuan dipping sauce that has featured prominently throughout the show.
Roiland told reporters at San Diego Comic Con earlier this month that McDonald’s had agreed to send him the condiment, which hasn’t been available in stores since a promotional run in 1998 for the Disney movie Mulan.
Late Sunday morning, Roiland tweeted photos of a 64 ounce bottle of the Szechuan sauce, which came with a special message.
“We wish we could have brought more sauce through, but we couldn’t risk keeping a portal like that open,” a McDonald’s chef by the name of “Mike” said in the note. “Think about it, if you knew in 1998 that McDonald’s would have All Day Breakfast in 2017, would you want to stay in 1998? Of course not. If we left the portal open, we’d have puka shells, bucket hats, and boy bands as far as the eye could see. It’s too risky, even for a sauce as delicious as this.”
Chef Mike added that “a few lucky fans will get to experience the glory,” suggesting that McDonald’s could be planning on offering the sauce once again.
The sauce’s frequent appearance in the Adult Swim series inspired a petition to get McDonald’s to bring back the condiment. More than 38,000 people have signed it so far.
Rick and Morty returns for its third season on Sunday, July 30.
Contact us at [email protected].
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Seeing static planes in a museum is all well and good, but the great thing about the Oshkosh EAA Air Show is that everything here FLIES, and there are constant flightline demonstrations all afternoon. Some photos.
For one week a year, Oshkosh airport is the busiest in the world
B-17 Flying Fortress
A-4 Skyhawk
Aerobatic team in Canadian Harvard trainers
Ford Trimotor, taking paying passengers for a spin
Aerobatics show
Seaplane
US Forest Service tanker plane for fighting forest fires
Aerobatics
A large flight of military trainers
B-29 “Fifi”, the only remaining airworthy Superfortress
C-5 Galaxy
Soviet L-39 jet trainer
A flight of jet trainers
“Japanese Zero”, actually an AT-6 painted in Japanese livery
Autogyro
A trio of Russian and American jets
Yak-52’s
A-10 Warthog
P-51 Mustang
A-1 Skyraider
Yak-9
B-25 Mitchell
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The Oculus Prime Server Application and ROS package have been updated with improved autonomous navigation capabilities, including a slick remote map interface built into the web browser client. Check it out in action in the demo video below:
Oculus Prime was manually driven around our local Zen Maker Lab 1500 sq ft area for 10 minutes, to build the map in the video – which is being used without any alterations.
The web browser map interface duplicates the basic navigation functions of ROS Rviz, eliminating the need for a separate workstation running Linux + ROS + Rviz, on the same LAN as the robot, to set initial position and navigation goals. Now all you need is a web browser and an internet connection, to send Oculus Prime crawling around the map.
With more going on within in the remote web interface, we’ve added the ability to position and re-size the sub windows. You can save their positions by going to:
menu > settings/calibration > save window positions
Update Summary:
Web browser map tool
Web browser save window positions
Sub menu 'navigation' added to the web interface
added to the web interface Improved odometry accuracy
Better map making performance
More accurate global path following method
Camera tilt default speed reduced
General bug fixes
The Java server application can be updated from within the web interface by going to:
menu > server > check for software update
The ROS package can be updated by connecting to Oculus Prime via ssh and entering:
$ roscd oculusprime $ git pull
Further information on map-making and other navigation/ROS details can be found here.
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It's the million-dollar question in Pittsburgh: Who will center Phil Kessel?
It's expected to be Sidney Crosby, the best hockey player on the planet, but Evgeni Malkin - not too shabby a center himself - wants to play with No. 81 too.
"Of course I want to play with Phil," Malkin said at Tuesday's NHL-NHLPA media tour in Toronto. If it's Kessel and Crosby, Malkin may "take my time" on line changes, in order to play with the sniper.
Crosby isn't concerned about who centers Kessel - he knows goals are in the Penguins' future.
I'm sure we'll both end up playing with him at some point during training camp. Everybody is excited to have him as a teammate, to know with one chance in the slot he can change a game pretty quickly. Those guys aren't easy to find. I think that regardless who plays with him, he's going to create a lot of offence.
The Toronto Maple Leafs traded Kessel to the Penguins for prospect Kasperi Kapanen, Nick Spaling, Scott Harrington, and first- and third-round picks in 2016. The Leafs are picking up $1.2 million of Kessel's salary through 2021-22. Kessel's cap hit comes in at $6.8 million.
Chicago Blackhawks center Jonathan Toews, who was also in attendance Tuesday in Toronto, hopes the Penguins can't come to a decision one way or another:
Hopefully they can't figure it out either. If they do, then we're all in trouble. That's an overdose of skill, if Kessel ends up playing with one or the other. It's pretty amazing what a pure sniper, pure goal-scorer could do with two guys that can move the puck and control the puck like Crosby and Malkin.
With Malkin or Crosby, Kessel should be a lock to score 40 goals - if not more - this season. The winger's former teammate James van Riemsdyk agrees:
... For him to go to a team like that, it seems like a good position for him. Not to put any more pressure on him, but I can see him having the highest goal total of his career. He landed in a good spot. It will be good for him.
Remember: It's possible Crosby, Kessel, and Malkin all play together on the Penguins' power play, which should be fun to watch.
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In a development one observer calls a "win for what is right," a federal court ruled Tuesday that Arizona's ban on ethnic studies classes was enacted with discriminatory intent and is unconstitutional—violating students' First and Fourteenth Amendment rights.
"Both enactment and enforcement were motivated by racial animus," wrote federal appeals court Judge A. Wallace Tashima of the district court in Arizona.
"We won on all points," said Richard Martinez, one of six lawyers defending the student plaintiffs. "It speaks to the importance of the judiciary and protecting everyone against racial discrimination."
Many educators celebrated the news on social media:
Victory 4 ed justice. Fed court finds AZ ethnic studies ban violates 1st & 14th Amendments. Decision: https://t.co/qsJdnTVlzw h/t @debreese pic.twitter.com/L6oNWFiaYc — Zinn Ed Project (@ZinnEdProject) August 23, 2017
This is a huge victory for #EthnicStudies & teachers in the time of #Trump. I couldn't be more excited to teach ethnic studies this year! https://t.co/bg9JxROxA4 — Jesse Hagopian (@JessedHagopian) August 23, 2017
Outstanding news out of AZ! Share widely! Can't wait to see the news stories! This is a win for what is right, for children. https://t.co/qj6D4MidhG — Debbie Reese (@debreese) August 23, 2017
This was the biggest #EthnicStudies case in the history of the country-I am pleasantly stunned it came down on the side of justice #MASTrial — Dr. Nolan L. Cabrera (@chicanostocracy) August 23, 2017
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Battling white supremacy requires many strategies: let's take a moment to celebrate this legal victory. We are owed knowledge of ourselves. https://t.co/aqCY8yCyJa — Leigh Patel (@lipatel) August 23, 2017
The case stems from the state's 2010 law that prohibited classes that promote "the overthrow of the United States government," "resentment toward a race or class of people,” "are designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group," or "advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals." At its heart, it was an "attempt to silence stories that unsettle today's unequal power arrangements," as Bill Bigelow, curriculum editor of Rethinking Schools and co-director of the Zinn Education Project, put it.
The law forced the suspension of Tucson Unified School District's Mexican-American Studies (MAS) program—which has been linked to academic success. Tashima noted the cognitive dissonance of supposed education advocates axing such a successful program, writing:
given that the MAS program was an academically successful program, the decision by each of these two Superintendents of Public Instruction [Tom Horne and his successor John Huppenthal] to eliminate it was a departure from the substantive outcome that one would expect. One would expect that officials responsible for public education in Arizona would continue, not terminate, an academically successful program. Horne himself admitted that he did not enforce the statute against the Asian-American studies program in Tucson because he "was told that it was academically an excellent program." Although Horne and Huppenthal were told that the MAS program was academically excellent, they refused to believe it.
Horne and Huppenthal "were pursuing these discriminatory ends in order to make political gains," Tashima wrote, and also pointed to blog comments by Huppenthal that "provide the most important and direct evidence that racial animus infected the decision to enact" the law. The comments included: "The Mexican-American Studies classes use the exact same technique that Hitler used in his rise to power"; "The books aren't the problem. The infected teachers are the problem;" and "MAS = KKK in a different color."
Grassroots group UNIDOS, created in response to the MAS program closure, said following the ruling: "Today was a major victory in our struggle, and we hope that it leads to many more." "As a community we celebrate this victory with all those who have supported and pursued the dismantling of this racist act against the Mexican-American community. With this accomplishment we must remember that the fight is not over. UNIDOS and the community of Tucson will continue to resist any injustice that plagues our community. We would like to thank all our allies and those who never lost hope in the fight," the group said on its Facebook page.
The Associated Press adds that "Tashima said he doesn't know a remedy for the violation and has not issued a final judgment."
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The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports today no jobs were created in August. Zero. Nada.
Well, not quite. The strike at Verizon reduced the labor force by 45,000. Minnesota government employees returned to work, adding 22,000. So in reality, America lost 23,000 jobs. Almost zero.
In reality, worse than zero. We need 125,000 a month merely to keep up with population growth. So the hole continues to deepen.
Since this Depression began at the end of 2007, America’s potential labor force – working-age people who want jobs – has grown by over 7 million. But since then the number of Americans with jobs has shrunk by more than 300,000.
If this doesn’t prompt President Obama to unveil a bold jobs plan next Thursday, I don’t know what will.
The problem is on the demand side. Consumers (whose spending is 70 percent of the economy) can’t boost the economy on their own. They’re still too burdened by debt, especially on homes that are worth less than their mortgages. Their jobs are disappearinig, their pay is dropping, their medical bills are soaring.
And businesses won’t hire without more sales.
So we’re in a vicious cycle.
Republicans continue to claim businesses aren’t hiring because they’re uncertain about regulatory costs. Or they can’t find the skilled workers they need.
Baloney. If these were the reasons businesses weren’t hiring – and demand were growing – you’d expect companies to make more use of their current employees. The length of the average workweek would be increasing.
But the length of the average workweek has been dropping. In August it declined for the third month in a row, to 34.2 hours. That’s back to where it was at the start of the year – barely longer than what it was at its shortest point two years ago (33.7 hours in June 2009).
It’s demand, stupid.
So what does a sane nation do when the consumers and businesses can’t boost the economy on their own?
Government becomes the purchaser of last resort. It hires directly (a new WPA and Civilian Conservation Corps, for example). It helps states and locales, so they don’t have to continue to slash payrolls and public services. (The help could be structured as a loan, to be repaid when unemployment drops to, say, 6 percent.)
And it hires indirectly — contracting with companies to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, including school buildings, to take another example.
Not only does this create jobs but also puts money in the hands of all the people who get the jobs, so they can turn around and buy the goods and services they need – generating more jobs.
Get it? Not exactly rocket science.
So why don’t Republicans get it? Either they’re knaves – they want the economy to stay awful through next Election Day so Obama gets the boot. Or they’re fools – they’ve bought the lie that reducing the deficit now creates more jobs.
Every time you hear anyone say we’re “broke” or “can’t afford to spend more,” tell them we’ll be in worse shape if we don’t. If the economy remains dead in the water, the ratio of public debt to GDP balloons.
And remind them that the federal government can now borrow at fire-sale rates. Interest on the ten-year Treasury bill is 2 percent.
Do you hear me, Mr. President? Please — be bold next week. And if, as expected, Republicans refuse to go along, take it to the people. Mobilize the public. Use the bully pulpit. That’s what you have it for.
One more thing, Mr. President. You also have to tackle inequality. When so much income and wealth continues to flow to the very top, America’s vast middle class still won’t have enough purchasing power to boost the economy. Priming the pump is necessary but won’t be sufficient without enough water in the well.
Robert Reich
Robert Reich’s Blog
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Oh, my goodness. That's an interesting story. I haven't seen any of it, but it's gonna be funny. The kids in the thing. Yeah, the humor. Huge. Huge. I mean I was in shock, because, you know this is a really intense franchise, and it still is. Don't get me wrong. You're gonna be inside of it. But the characters are... what he did -- Shane is an incredibly gifted writer, and he's a great director, and so he ended up getting an incredible ensemble, and when I reached it they had already been filming for three months so they were a unit. So I jump in as the General and there were some moments where I just had to laugh in the scene and I couldn't be laughing in the scene. 'I'm sorry guys. Really, I'm sorry.'
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Bush Defends Drug Purchase Set Up to Aid His Speech
But White House officials argued that the maneuver was justified, noting that it allowed Bush to dramatize his claim that illegal drugs are available throughout the nation and not just in inner-city ghettos.
"I agree that the place (of the purchase) doesn't make that much difference, but the idea it was contrived all the way down the line of authority adds up to involving the political process in objective law enforcement," the official said. "We shouldn't be doing that."
"It was a stupid thing to do," said an official in a federal agency involved in the drug war.
Despite the White House enthusiasm, some federal law enforcement officials said they were bothered by the prearranged purchase.
"I think it was great," the President said, responding to questions about the sting operation. "It sent a message to the United States that, even across from the White House, they can sell drugs. It sends a powerful message to the American people."
KENNEBUNKPORT, Me. — President Bush acknowledged Friday that the government set up a drug purchase in a park across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House to get a prop for his televised speech on the Administration's anti-drug strategy.
As a nationwide television audience watched the Sept. 5 address, Bush reached into his desk in the Oval Office and pulled out a plastic bag that contained rocks of crack, a powerfully addictive derivative of cocaine.
The drug, the President told the nation, was "seized a few days ago in a park across the street from the White House . . . . It could easily have been heroin or PCP."
It was a brief, but dramatic, moment in a speech that otherwise provided little theater, as Bush outlined the scope of the nation's drug problem and his proposed remedies.
On Friday, he was asked if he specifically had requested a crack purchase in front of the White House.
"I said I'd like to have something from that vicinity to show it can happen anywhere, and that's what they gave me. It was a legitimate drug bust," the President said.
"The man went there and sold drugs in front of the White House," Bush said. "That's the bottom line. That's what the man did. I can't feel sorry for him."
Asked if he thought it was proper for a federal agent to lure a suspect to Lafayette Park to enhance the President's speech, Bush responded: "Every time that some guy gets caught selling drugs, he pleads that somebody is luring him someplace . . . . This is probably what he'll argue to get off."
Besides, Bush argued: "That's what you do whenever you make a bust--you bring somebody someplace."
The President appeared puzzled and angered by the questioning from reporters who accompanied him on a tour of a tree farm in Wells, Me., a few miles south of his vacation home in Kennebunkport.
"I don't understand," Bush said at one point. "I mean, has somebody got some advocates here for this drug guy?"
According to White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater, the drug purchase was arranged by the Drug Enforcement Administration at the request of the Administration.
"We're glad that they did it," Fitzwater said. "The venue doesn't matter. You can buy drugs at 14th and U (an inner-city intersection in Washington) or at the Washington Monument."
Details of the purchase were disclosed Friday by the Washington Post. In order to make the buy in Lafayette Park, a square block of fountains, paths, shade trees and benches not known as a drug market, the DEA had to entice a suspected drug dealer to move a meeting point several blocks to carry out a sale, the Post reported.
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The Formula One World Constructors' Championship (WCC) is awarded by the FIA to the most successful Formula One constructor over a season, as determined by a points system based on Grand Prix results. The Constructors' Championship was first awarded, as the International Cup for F1 Manufacturers, in 1958 to Vanwall.
Constructors' Championship points are calculated by adding points scored in each race by any driver for that constructor. Up until 1979, most seasons saw only the highest-scoring driver in each race for each constructor contributing points towards the Championship. On only ten occasions has the World Constructors' Champion team not contained the World Drivers' Champion for that season.
In the 61 seasons the Championship has been awarded, only 15 different constructors have won it, with Scuderia Ferrari the most successful, with 16 titles including 6 consecutive from 1999 to 2004. Only five countries have produced winning constructors: United Kingdom (33 championships with 10 different constructors), Italy (16 with Ferrari), Germany (5 with Mercedes), Austria (4 with Red Bull) and France (3 with two constructors). However, all German, Austrian and French titles have seen the winning cars designed and built (except Matra in 1969) and run by teams based in the United Kingdom. Among drivers that have contributed with at least a single point to the constructors' title, Michael Schumacher has the unofficial record, having been involved with seven such titles, six of those consecutively with Ferrari.[1] Schumacher won the world drivers' title on six of those seven occasions.
By season [ edit ]
The constructors' trophy
Notes [ edit ]
* – indicates that the driver also won the Drivers' Championship.
By constructor [ edit ]
Note: Constructors in bold have competed in the 2018 World Championship.
By nationality [ edit ]
By engine [ edit ]
Engine manufacturers and constructors in bold have competed in the 2018 World Championship.
^ * Built by Cosworth
^ ** In 1998 built by Ilmor
^ *** Built by Porsche
By driver [ edit ]
Notes:
* – Posthumously. World Drivers' Champions, since 1958, who never contributed to a Constructors' Championship, were Ferrari's Mike Hawthorn (1958), McLaren's James Hunt (1976), and Williams's Keke Rosberg (1982). Drivers and constructors in bold have competed in the 2018 World Championship.
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
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It's no secret that there's money in wind power, but $3 million worth?
That's the current budget of Arfons, a small rural town in southern France, and Mayor Alain Couzinié says he believes the amount is too much for the town to conceivably spend, France's The Local reports.
According to Couzinié, the town's budget has increased more than fivefold in the past three years -- from 400,000 euros (about $523,000) to 2.3 million euros (more than $3 million) -- as a result of the 11 wind turbines that were installed in 2009. For a town with a population of less than 200 people, the available funds are much more than Arfons needs to thrive.
"It's as if a rain of gold fell on the village," Couzinié told TV station France 3.
Couzinié asked residents to suggest ideas for how to spend the money, and propositions ranged from planting trees to modernizing telephone booths. He told French TV station TF1 he doubts Arfons will face any budgetary issues in the coming years with the wind farm's steady stream of revenue.
Countries in Europe have sought to increase their wind power in recent years. In September 2012, the European Union's wind capacity reached 100 gigawatts -- a mark the region has since surpassed, according to statistics released by the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) in February.
Though the industry faces economic challenges as funding for renewable energy has diminished with the introduction of austerity measures, Francesco Starace, the CEO of Enel Green Power, said "the wind industry remains resilient."
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A pro-GOP-establishment Alabama real-estate developer and millionaire is behind the anti-Donald Trump sky-writing at the New Year’s Day Rose Bowl parade in Pasadena, California, Breitbart News can reveal.
The skywriting printed out huge anti-Trump messages in the clear Southern California sky.
“America is great. Trump is disgusting.”
Skywriting over Rose Bowl right now: AMERICA IS GREAT. TRUMP IS DISGUSTING. ANYBODY BUT TRUMP. #gostanford pic.twitter.com/GYtTOfS5kN — Molly Knight (@molly_knight) January 1, 2016
“Anybody but Trump.”
Skywriting cont: "Anybody but Trump. Trump loves to hate. Anybodybuttrump.us Iowans dump Trump." pic.twitter.com/b0cm5ypdrQ — Ariel Edwards-Levy (@aedwardslevy) January 1, 2016
“Iowans dump Trump.”
The messages sent viewers to a crudely constructed website – http://anybodybuttrump.us/ – which features several YouTube clips of the billionaire presidential candidate.
https://twitter.com/Thumper_V/status/682992043468062720
The copyright on the website is directed to the “We the People Foundation,” with a post office box in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Five planes reportedly sketched out the lengthy message in the sky during the parade, suggesting an expensive investment.
The WeThePeople Foundation was founded on December 29, 2015, according to an FEC filing first uncovered here by Breitbart News. The listing names Luther Stan Pate, IV as the custodian. Pate, a 52-year-old millionaire in Alabama has spent millions on political campaigns.
“I’ve tried to tilt at a few windmills,” Pate said to a local paper in 2010. “I’m no Don Quixote, but I could have been one at the right time.”
A call to the phone number listed on the website registration was not answered and an email to the website owner [email protected] was not returned.
On Twitter, aerial advertising company Air Sign took credit for creating the message – sharing the hashtag “#AnybodyButTrump.”
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http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113243/ Iranian computers are being targeted by a new malicious virus that clears large portions of hard drives, according to Iran's Computer Emergency Readiness Team (CERT).
Cybersecurity researchers don't know where the virus came from. All they know is that it's very simple and very effective.
Dan Goodin of ArsTechnia reports that the malware, dubbed "Batchwiper," systematically wipes certain drive partitions (i.e. sections of a hard drive) as well as any files stored on the Windows desktop of the user who is logged in when it's executed.
"Despite its simplicity in design, the malware is efficient and can wipe disk partitions and user profile directories without being recognized by antivirus," CERT stated. "However, it is not considered to be widely distributed."
Earlier this year cybersecurity experts at the Russian-based Kaspersky Lab discovered the Flame virus — a massive program that leaves a backdoor (i.e. Trojan) on computers through which it sucks information from networks — after a different wiper virus successfully erased information on hard disks at the Iran Oil Ministry's headquarters.
Kaspersky subsequently concluded that Flame was written by the same state-sponsored campaign that created Duqu — "a surveillance tool used to copy blueprints of Iran's nuclear program" — and the Stuxnet virus, which destroyed roughly a fifth of Iran's nuclear centrifuges by causing them to spin out of control.
In June the Obama administration admitted that it collaborated with Israel to develop cyberweapons, including Duqu and Stuxnet, to use against Iran.
But Kaspersky agrees with CERT that unlike Stuxnet or Flame, Batchwiper is "an extremely simplistic attack" with "no connection to any of the previous wiper-like attacks we've seen" on government systems or in the wild.
SEE ALSO: Cybersecurity Experts Expect A Major Hack Of US Banks Early Next Year
Obama Administration Admits Cyberattacks Against Iran Are Part Of Joint US-Israeli Offensive
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Works chosen will be performed at the 22nd West Cork Chamber Music Festival 3 – 7 July 2017.
West Cork Music invites Irish composers under 35 years of age on 1st January 2017 to submit works for string quartet (violin, violin, viola, cello) of between 5-8 minutes duration for performance at the 22nd West Cork Chamber Music Festival.
Four works will be selected. The composer of each selected work will receive a prize of €500 and two nights B&B at the Festival.
They will be asked to attend the Young Composers Forum at the Festival on Saturday 1 July, which will be directed by an international Composer, where the winning pieces will be played through by a quartet on the Festival’s masterclass programme. The premieres will take place during the Festival in the Town Concert series on 4, 5, 6 and 7 July.
Deadline for submission is 20 March 2017
Submit Entries Here
Tags: West Cork Chamber Music Festival
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Last year saw a record number of investments in AI with $5 billion in funding, and the number continues to grow. Investors’ activity indicates the significance of this kind of technology for society -- self-driving cars of the future, DNA genome analysis, climate change, cancer predictions and many other fields. Besides the important role AI plays in these fields, AI as a technology is simply more efficient than traditional technology. In our company, we needed two weeks of training and almost no human involvement to introduce new AI filters for images. Before, it would have required the work of two to three engineers and at least two months of development. If we look at another example, relatively young AI-driven cybersecurity companies like Cylance or Lookout compete heavily with veterans like McAfee because AI is an integral part of their products. Even tech giants, in some cases, concede to startups in the field of AI. As a recent example, Russian startup NTechLab beat Google in the“MegaFace” facial recognition competition.
Such productivity in the practical implementation of AI will continue to fuel the high demand for data scientists, machine learning engineers, ML researchers and all other professions related to the field, which will effectively replace computer science altogether. Moreover, companies that are operating in different verticals -- such as image recognition, voice recognition, medicine or cybersecurity -- are already faced with the challenge of acquiring a workforce with the right set of skills and knowledge.
A traditional computer science engineer is not able to solve those tasks, so the demand for a new skill set is growing, especially in regard to data scientists, for whom the demand is projected to exceed supply by more than 50% by 2018. This is probably a good indication as to why Harvard Business Review declared data scientist to be the “sexiest” job of the 21st century back in 2012. A data scientist’s biggest skill is the ability to formulate a question from data and understand the context the data is gathered from. Computer science work is a logical process, but most data science work is an exploratory process, which is why, because of the boost in AI technology, this scope of work is in demand. But universities and other educational organizations are simply not able to keep up with such rapid changes.
To stay competitive, companies need these specialists now and cannot wait five years for universities to produce graduates from new courses. The fastest route is to retrain graduates in math and physics, the specialties that are strong in statistics. My company is already running such a training program and building a new sort of data science/ML school in Armenia -- a country that is already strong in the sciences. The program was launched at the end of 2015 and has so far graduated 400 students, and we were able to hire 50 of them.
Such programs have opened the door to a global market that urgently needs professionals especially since, one in three data scientists in the U.S. are foreigners. This approach has proved to be helpful since students are taught real problems using real data. They are prepared for a wide scope of tasks and challenges.
Another good example of an enterprise response to the skill set shortage is the educational program conducted by Udacity. Featuring a hiring partnership with leaders in the car manufacturing, ride sharing and tech industries, its Self-Driving Car Engineer Nanodegree program provides students with an opportunity to be directly connected to potential employers and gain an education specifically based on market needs.
And last year, Google released three months’ worth of online courses on deep learning, which also serves as an example of how tech giants are embracing the skills shortage challenge while at the same time educating the industry to work on its products.
In my opinion, in order to satisfy the global demand for highly skilled professionals in the field, basecamps, universities and other educational organizations need to collaborate with big companies in order to teach a new generation of data scientists. They are the ones who will define our future and replace engineers, who, ironically, may be working hard to design robots that will one day take over their jobs.
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On the whole this pre-season has been positive for Arsenal’s youngsters, with several such players featuring prominently during the first-team’s build-up to the new campaign, whilst three new signings have been brought in at youth level in Dan Crowley, Jamaal Raage and Julio Pleguezuelo.
The latter, however, was involved in a morale-sapping 7-0 defeat away to Luton Town in a friendly last Saturday which raised serious questions about the club’s youth development system, and, in particular, the capability of coach Steve Gatting, who has been filling in for the U21s since Terry Burton was named as Liam Brady’s temporary replacement as the club’s head of youth development.
Gatting’s team selection for the Luton fixture was certainly out of the ordinary, with Tafari Moore, a right-back, starting at left-back, Alex Iwobi, a winger or attacking midfielder, operating as the lone striker, and, rather bizarrely, Isaac Hayden, one of the club’s best prospects at centre-back or in central-midfield, being deployed in the playmaker role. Added to the inclusion of Pleguezuelo, who was making his second-string debut, and trialist Ramy Bensebiani as an unorthodox and highly unfamiliar central-defensive pairing, it was recipe for disaster.
Arsenal should still have performed better with the options they had at their disposal, however. The Gunners were able to call upon Nico Yennaris and Thomas Eisfeld, who have both represented the first-team competitively, whilst Wellington, Kristoffer Olsson and Hector Bellerin, the latter having just returned from the U19 European Championships, were also involved.
The result and, more importantly, the performance, was all the more disappointing given that it came just a few days after the youngsters had demonstrated terrific resilience to come from behind to draw 4-4 away to Leyton Orient, with defender Daniel Boateng scoring the dramatic late equaliser. According to reports this week, however, Boateng has had his contract with the club terminated for as yet unexplained reasons.
Another player to have departed the club, albeit on a temporary basis, is Chuks Aneke, who has returned to Crewe Alexandra on loan, where he spent the vast majority of last season. Aneke, a powerful midfielder who is a graduate of the club’s Hale End Academy, has found first-team opportunities difficult to come by at Arsenal and spent much of the recent Asia Tour operating in the unfamiliar position of centre-back. He has returned to Crewe with a flourish, however, and scored as they progressed to the second round of the Capital One Cup last night. All of the indications suggest that, with his contract due to expire at the end of the season, this loan move could be the precursor to a permanent departure to the Alexandra Stadium for the 20 year old.
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For hundreds of years, scientists were just one fixture in the firmament of the intellectual class, as colourful and strident in their own way as the philosophers and poets. But come the 20th Century and the public began to regard scientists with fear and awe, thanks to the advent of immense technologies such as the atomic bomb. In response, the profession consciously rebranded as anonymous public servants in white coats: dutiful, considered and above all, safe. But new research published in PLOS One by researchers at the Universities of Amsterdam and British Columbia suggests that we see scientists as uneasily different, morally separate, and a little bit dangerous.
Bastiaan Rutjens and Steven Heine conducted a series of experiments with nearly 1,900 American participants they recruited from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk survey website (38 per cent women, average age 30). The participants had to complete the conjunction task that involves identifying which of two options they think is more likely to be true, where one option involves detail A (for example, “there are more red pens”), and the other both detail A and detail B (“there are more red, sharp pens”) – the latter is the conjunction response. Logically speaking, there can never be more “red sharp pens” than there are simply “red pens” (the former is a subset of the latter), and the correct answer is always to avoid choosing the conjunction response. But we often break that rule – and reveal our unintentional assumptions – when that extra detail feels too relevant to the situation to ignore.
In the new studies, participants broke the rule when the extra detail was “scientist” and the situation was necrobestiality. That’s right. Participants read one of a range of scenarios involving moral transgressions such as consensual adult incest or having sex with a dead dog, and had to decide whether the perpetrator was a sports fan, or a sports fan and an X. Participants were more likely to opt for the second (conjunction) response when that X was a scientist rather than a control category such as Christian, gay, or Hispanic.
But, scientists were no more likely to be suspected for other moral transgressions such as cheating at cards or treating others abusively, which are examples of harming others for pleasure or personal gain. It seems that the scientists are not being seen as selfishly immoral, but as willing to bend the rules of society, and engage in impure activities – suggesting, in the authors’ words, the “scrupulous ‘Faustian experimentalist’ unburdened by morality but not deliberately evil”. The one borderline result was for serial murder, which was more associated with a scientist perpetrator: this crime undoubtedly involves harm, but also invokes impurity and boundary breaking, without clear self-interested motives, and it seems plausible that it is these aspects driving the association. One way to test this in the future would be with a different murder scenario, such as a crime of passion or for profit.
The data showed that scientists weren’t being swept into a broader atheist category when making judgments: atheists were seen as more likely to be selfishly harmful, whereas scientists were not, and participants’ responses to the question “Do you think that a scientist can believe in God?” had no bearing on their eventual judgments of scientists’ morality. Further data clarified that people were slightly more likely to attribute moral transgressions to scientists if they also saw them as “lacking emotions” or “like a robot.” Scientists were generally seen as valuing curiosity over doing the right thing, and as more dangerous than normal people – and the stronger these perceptions, the more participants saw them as having amoral tendencies.
Yet scientists weren’t seen overall as negative. In fact, they were the most liked group, when compared to atheists, religious and even the average Joe. It’s just that we have this funny feeling that, when society says ‘“no”, the scientist might answer “…why?” and cross boundaries that others leave well alone. As to the truth of this characterisation, this study offers no advice. The true scientists among you might want to find out for yourselves.
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Rutjens, B., & Heine, S. (2016). The Immoral Landscape? Scientists Are Associated with Violations of Morality PLOS ONE, 11 (4) DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0152798
—further reading—
Distrust of atheists is “deeply and culturally ingrained” even among atheists
Post written by Alex Fradera (@alexfradera) for the BPS Research Digest.
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Lunacy of FEMA Hurricane Insurance Subsidy One of the most ludicrous fantasies of the self-indulgent is that a property owner has an entitlement of subsidized government flood insurance. The inherent risk of building along the ocean shoreline is self-evident. The benefits that enhance the pleasure of proximity to the seaside seem unending. However, when the forces of nature thrust her fury and a wall of water inundates pristine dwellings, the first question asked after the storm usually involves rebuilding. The cost of repairs and renovated construction, once paid by private insurance, now normally requires a federal guaranty. James Bovard made some salient points just after Katrina in Uncle Sam’s Flood Machine . "The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) is the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s crown jewel. Unfortunately, the heavily subsidized insurance bribes people to scorn common sense, damages the environment, and creates staggering liabilities for taxpayers. Federal flood insurance illustrates how selling at a loss can be politically profitable. The primary effect of federal flood insurance is that far more property is now damaged by floods than would have occurred if the insurance had not made it possible to build in flood-prone areas. The Long Island Regional Planning Board in 1989 complained that federal flood insurance "in effect encourages a cycle of repeated flood losses and policy claims." And, especially in places like Long Island, the program underwrites the vacation homes of the wealthy." Now that Sandy made her presence known, many of those aforementioned Long Island properties were washed into the sea. Would anyone believe that federal guarantees have any premium correlation to the actual costs of such disasters? The current disconnect between subsidized costs for NFIP flood insurance and the enormous expense for reconstruction is beyond imagination. The libertarian and media celeb, John Stossel relates his personal experience in Taxpayers Get Soaked by Government's Flood Insurance . One factor in building his beachfront property on Long Island was that government insurance provided the guarantee necessary to qualify for a mortgage. "Should a big storm wipe out half the coast, you'll cover our losses — up to a quarter-million dollars. Thanks — we appreciate it — but what a dumb policy. The insurance premiums were a bargain. The most I ever paid was a few hundred dollars. Federal actuaries say if the insurance were realistically priced, it would cost thousands of dollars. Why should the government guarantee water's-edge insurance? Why should the government be in this business at all?" Mr. Stossel has the knack for boiling down the complex into the common dominator. If private underwriting is not willing to cover the obligation of the risk, at a NFIP discount premium, maybe the insurance is too cheap. The Century Housing organization in Should Taxpayers Subsidize Property Owners in Flood Areas? , states: "Private insurance companies provide almost no flood insurance, because the insurance industry recognizes the huge risks." Their conclusion is, "The bottom line is that the taxpayers subsidize the development of property located in known floodplains. And that raises the question of whether that subsidy is good public policy, or whether the whole approach to flood emergencies should be changed. Would we all be better off if we ended the NFIP and instead provided short-term subsidies to floodplain property owners to move out of the danger zone, avoiding the inevitable loss of property and lives that occur so predictably along the nation’s waterways? At the very least, it seems that FEMA should end subsidizing the NFIP premiums for any insured property owners. And it may be a good idea for the states (which control land use) to prohibit construction within floodplains, or require any owner of property located in a floodplain to carry insurance to reimburse public agencies for emergency services when floods do occur." The political attraction to continue cheap government waterfront insurance has property owners flocking to buy up and build their dream house. This is probably the costliest boondoggle that benefits the upper middle class and the affluent. Human nature, being what it is, even the purest, as John Stossel, knows a good deal when it is dangled in his face by a seductive government. So what is the alternative, only high-rise condominiums with expensive maintenance fees owned by offshore tax dodgers? Let us hope that the cherished tradition of individual property ownership is the standard that is protected by all government jurisdictions. However, perpetuating the incentive to willingly build in harm’s way, where personal financial risk is substituted by government guarantees that reward imprudent decisions, needs to change. The rush to federalize disaster aid and transfer funds back into state coffers is symbolic of the obscene distortion within national taxation. As long as individual states must balance their yearly budgets and the federal government persists with unfunded deficits, individual states will gladly take the bribes and handouts. Disasters are part of life. There is no warranted absolution from calamites. Insurance that is fairly priced, and rigidly administrated is a system that has provided relief from great suffering and pain. Nevertheless, the business of insurance should be a private contract among willing participants. If the cost to insure is too high, just maybe the economics of ownership is too steep to continue to support the lifestyle. The collectivist proponents of big government continue to spread their confusion and prevarications. The Hill reports in Democratic leaders say FEMA has enough cash for Sandy recovery . "FEMA’s coffers are nearly full because the storm struck at the beginning of the fiscal year, which started Oct. 1. On top of more than $1 billion left over in the Disaster Relief Fund from last year, Congress has appropriated $7.1 billion for fiscal 2013. President Obama’s decision to make disaster declarations in New York and New Jersey — in addition to emergency declarations in eight other states and the District of Columbia — allows local officials to access those funds immediately." Disaster relief can be compassionate and supportive. Even so, the practice of subsidized federal flood insurance only encourages the extent and degree of future disasters. Lacking common sense is a national condition. Building on high ground is the prudent course for action. James Hall – November 7, 2012 Discuss or comment about this essay on the BATR Forum
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There are very few (if any) shows out there quite like Supernatural. Over its decade plus-long run, it’s covered everything from vampire hunting to the idea that God is indeed dead, or at the very least on a permanent vacation. Its skillful mix of humor of gravitas has it walking a careful balance that never has it leaning too far in one direction. Supernatural has even been around since The CW was known as “The WB.” When it first aired, 7th Heaven still had a year to go before it found itself cancelled.
Over the years, the show’s found itself known for its longevity as much as its unique stories. No show sticks around for a decade without a lot of factors working in its favor. While series have come and gone on The CW, there’s been one constant at the network, and that’s been Supernatural. For the uninitiated, the show follows Sam and Dean Winchester, two brothers who’ve spent their lives hunting all manner of evil. They’ve exorcised ghosts, impaled ancient gods, and even tangled with Satan himself. If you can imagine a mythical creature, odds are the Winchesters have come across it at some point in their 10 years on the road. But what specifically has kept Supernatural around through a constantly changing television landscape?
1. Being almost painfully self-aware
The meta-commentary within the Supernatural universe is absolutely bonkers. In one episode, Sam and Dean are transported into an alternate reality, where they’re two actors on a fictional TV show… called Supernatural. Basically it’s the reality we already live in, sans any magic or mythical monsters. The brothers spend a better part of the episode trying to get back to their own world, while the rest of the world knows them by their actual, real-life names (Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles).
Things only get weirder in later seasons: The Winchesters stumble upon a prophet of the Lord who’s written a whole series of books, also called Supernatural. The series in turn spawned a devoted following of fans within the show’s universe, not unlike the real-world fans that actually exist in ours. They even end up at a convention for the books where people cosplay as the brothers. In this latest season, they stumble upon an adapted musical of their own lives based on the Supernatural novels. This insane level of self-awareness, while crazy at times, has also served to keep the show both balanced and entertaining.
2. Staying focused on our main characters
Sam and Dean have had sidekicks and secondary players drift in and out of their lives, but in the end, the show always boils down to their relationship as brothers. The pilot kicks off with the brothers as estranged, having not spoken for years. They hit the road to find their missing father, and from there the show dives into their complicated dynamic. It fluctuates in and out of serialized “monster of the week” adventures and bigger, over-arching plots, but it all comes full circle to how the Winchesters are both the best and worst thing for each other. They’ve spent the better part of 10 seasons going behind each other’s backs, lying to protect to one another, and then periodically reconciling before their next big conflict. But with a host of issues related to their less-than-typical upbringing hunting monsters with their father, the main story always seems just focused enough to stay relevant.
3. Constantly evolving with each successive season
Looking back on the way the show has progressed, it’s hard to believe it’s come this far. The first season is simple enough: The Winchesters set out on the road with the mission to hunt down their mother’s killer. From there, things only get crazier, as they go toe-to-toe with the forces of both heaven and hell, stop the apocalypse multiple times, and still make time for self-contained mini-adventures. Each season ups the stakes a little more than the previous one, carrying with it a special theme denoted by the title sequence that the creators change up on a yearly basis. These themes move along the individual plots beautifully, keeping things honed in on singular aspects of mythology and conflicts. The drama always seems to escalate naturally, making it so we as viewers never get too tired or fed up with one plot device or villain.
4. The rabid fanbase
Supernatural may not be the most-watched show on TV, but the fans it does have are about as devoted as you can possibly imagine. They’ve held a series of conventions across the country, Tumblr is practically dripping with relevant memes and gifs, and in its 10, years it’s become something of an Internet darling. These are the fans that have kept it buzzing, even in the show’s down years. Any TV exec who even hints at taking Supernatural off the air has an army of fans on the Internet to answer to. The meta-commentary featuring the show having fans of itself within the actual episodes has been a perfect way of paying service to the devoted following, and are absolutely no exaggeration in terms of how committed they are.
5. The expansive mythology
Most shows rooted in classic monsters tend to focus on a small handful of them. The Vampire Diaries is mainly about its titular creature, but also expands outward to werewolves and ghosts. The Walking Dead focuses just on the zombies. Supernatural, though, covers everything. And we mean everything. Vampires, ghosts, demons, angels, golems, shapeshifters, and so many more make appearances over the 10 seasons of the show, tapping into the monsters of every culture imaginable. At times they’ve really reached in trying to find a big bad of the week, but what it accomplishes is the most expansive and ambitious collection of creatures of any show on television. The trunk of the Winchester’s Impala contains virtually every weapon and method of killing off anything they could come across, making them the most seasoned hunters out there.
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The French government is considering several measures aimed at combating sexism in video games, according to a report published this week by Le Figaro. Axelle Lemaire, the French Minister of Digital Affairs, met with representatives from the French video game industry last month to discuss the set of measures, Le Figaro reports, which include financial incentives and labels for games that give a "positive image of women."
A spokesman for Lemaire's office later confirmed the Le Figaro report to The Verge, adding that discussions are still in an early phase. A finalized proposal is expected by the end of this year, the spokesman said.
A direct response to "violent polemics"
Catherine Coutelle, a socialist deputy of the National Assembly, proposed legislation last year that would have excluded games that portray a "degrading image of women" from receiving government tax credits. The amendment was met with opposition from some industry groups, and was withdrawn in January. But in a response to Coutelle's proposition published on Tuesday, Lemaire signaled that her ministry still aims to "encourage the production of video games that promote equality between men and women," and to address "topics related to sexism and violence against women."
Among the proposals currently under consideration are bonuses or other financial incentives for video games that promote a positive image of women, as well as a label that would distinguish such games to consumers. Sweden considered a similar labeling system, based on the Bechdel test, in 2014.
Another proposal would categorize games that "incite sexism" as discriminatory, forcing them to be labeled with the highest age rating (18 and over) and barring them from prime time TV advertising. Under the Pan European Game Information (PEGI) rating system, the "discrimination" category currently applies to games that incite hatred against an ethnic or religious group. Lemaire is also considering measures to encourage more involvement among women and minorities in the video game industry, Le Figaro reports.
In the response published Tuesday, Lemaire said the push for greater gender equality in video games and the industry itself is a reaction to "violent polemics" on social media — an implicit reference to the "Gamergate" online campaign that targeted women and activists with threats and harassment. She also credited Feminist Frequency, the video series created by Anita Sarkeesian, with spearheading a broader conversation about how women are portrayed in games. Lemaire added that French developers are "at the forefront" of the movement, pointing to games such as Ubisoft's Beyond Good and Evil and Arkane's Dishonored 2 as examples in which "main female characters carry a positive image of women."
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“Multicultural” establishment candidate Emmanuel Macron endangers France, and “sorcerers of globalism” have put the West in a state of decay warns engineer, writer, and integration expert Malika Sorel-Sutter.
Noting that Germany received more than a million migrants in 2015 alone, the Algerian engineer and writer highlighted how former investment banker Macron “travelled to Berlin to pay tribute to Angela Merkel’s welcome policy” and warns Macron’s approach to migration is “dangerous”.
Drawing attention to the globalist would-be president’s declaration that “there is no French culture”, in her interview with Le Figaro Sorel-Sutter said he also has a “blind spot” with regards to integration policies.
The engineer, who was a member of France’s High Council of Integration, went on to contend there is “hardly any” common ground between Macron and his centre-right rival, Francois Fillon.
“For one, French culture does not exist, when the other is part of a desire to continue France from a cultural point of view,” the author of Decaying France told the broadsheet newspaper.
“[Macron has] repeatedly made clear the fact his line on these issues is globalist and multicultural, and so his positioning on migratory flows and French culture is coherent.
“[He sees France] as a country with open doors and windows, under the reign of a ‘buffet culture’, under which everyone places his and her dishes on the table and people only take what suits them.”
Sorel-Sutter also drew attention to remarks in which Macron described France’s colonisation of Algeria as a “crime against humanity”, writing that the would-be president’s objective was to “seduce” voters of North African descent.
But, noting the accusation “is likely to pit different groups against each other”, she warns: “[The comments were] extremely serious at a time when France is at war, targeted by terrorists who justify their acts with what [the nation] is and what it has been.”
Sorel-Sutter said Macron represents a continuation of the ‘Terra Nova’ strategy on the left, referencing the “progressive” think tank whose name has become synonymous with a strategy in which minorities are encouraged to band together to fight against “an electorate that defends against change”.
Last year, Wikileaks revealed Macron, a former Rothschild banker, was working on an alliance with Hillary Clinton before her shock defeat in the U.S. presidential election.
The globalist candidate had requested the Democratic presidential candidate’s presence at a private roundtable dinner in October with several European politicians, according to an email published by Wikileaks.
Breitbart London reported Macron announced the world has entered an age of mass migration which will be inescapable for Europe.
“We have entered a world of great migrations and we will have more and more of it [migration]”, he declared during a debate on climate change.
And earlier this month, maintaining that the mass migration of people from the third world to Europe will only accelerate, the establishment favourite to win the election said immigrants are good for France and bring “fresh bursts of creativity and innovation” to society.
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Image copyright PA Image caption The government has to get a raft of Brexit legislation through the Commons
Jeremy Corbyn has accused ministers of an "unprecedented attempt to rig Parliament".
The Labour leader said Theresa May was trying to "grab power" with "no majority and no mandate" by stacking key committees with Tory MPs.
The political composition of committees which scrutinise legislation usually reflects that of the Commons.
But the government's plans would give it a majority on them - despite losing its majority in the general election.
Downing Street has defended the move, first revealed by the Huffington Post, saying: "These proposals create the fairest balance between the opposition and government, and will ensure technical, procedural rules do not cause unwarranted delays to the business of Parliament.
"The adjustments provide for maximum scrutiny with minimum disruption and delay, both to parliamentary proceedings and to the governance of the country."
But Mr Corbyn said the government appeared to be ignoring the fact the general election resulted in a hung parliament, adding: "The leader of the House, Andrea Leadsom, seems to have turned this into the idea that the government has a majority and therefore should have a majority on every committee. No. The committee system should reflect the parties' sizes in the House."
Labour MPs joined their leader in condemning the proposals. Ben Bradshaw tweeted: "May thinks she's a dictator. Outrageous." Valerie Vaz told the Huffington Post the government was trying to "sideline opposition in Parliament by rigging the committee system so that they are guaranteed a majority they didn't secure at the ballot box".
'Rubber stamp'
And Liberal Democrat chief whip Alistair Carmichael accused the government of trying to "ram through a destructive hard Brexit" by ignoring the election result. He said: "We will fight tooth and nail to ensure parliamentary committees reflect the will of the electorate and do not simply rubber stamp government decisions."
The proposal, put forward by Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom, for public bill committees would mean that where there was an odd number of MPs on the committee, "the government shall have a majority".
The DUP say they will back the government's proposal. A DUP source told the BBC: "The alternative would be spontaneous trench warfare on the most mundane of issues, and to whose benefit? Jeremy Corbyn's benefit. And we're not in the business of doing that".
The committees scrutinise legislation in detail and are an important part of the passage of bills through Parliament. The number of seats allocated to each party usually reflects the proportion of seats it has overall in the Commons.
Ordinarily this would mean the government has a majority and can get its legislation through the committees - but the Conservatives lost their majority in the June general election.
Without a majority on the committees, it would lose control of an important part of the legislative process.
With a packed programme of Brexit legislation ahead, the government has already been criticised for attempting to give ministers, rather than parliament as a whole, the power to amend a raft of EU laws.
Mr Corbyn said on Friday: "This Bill is Henry VIII writ large, Henry VIII didn't like parliament, didn't like accountability, and this government appears to be in the same vein."
Analysis
By BBC Parliamentary Correspondent Mark D'Arcy
It's one of the hidden cogs in the parliamentary machine, and in normal times it unobtrusively performs the routine chore of nominating MPs to serve on the committees which look in detail at legislation.
In parliaments where the government has a majority in the Commons the Committee of Selection is little more than a clearing house for lists brought in by the party whips, of MPs who've been chosen to serve on public bill committees, which examine legislation which has passed "second reading" in the Commons, and delegated legislation committees, which examine secondary legislation - orders made under existing law.
But in this Parliament, the government does not have a majority. It is sustained by a deal with 10 MPs from Northern Ireland - and that would normally mean it would not have a guaranteed majority on those committees - and there are so many, the DUP would not be able to put an MP on all of them to top up Tory numbers.
Image caption Walter Harrison helped a minority Labour government get legislation through in the 1970s
The problem with that is that its minority status leaves the government exposed to the danger of having its legislation re-written in committee, or vital secondary legislation thrown out.
To be sure, it is possible for the government plus the DUP to undo unwelcome changes to bills, when the legislation returns to the Commons for "report stage" consideration. But having to do that regularly could produce gridlock, at a time when ministers will need the process of lawmaking to be smooth and rapid.
There are sort-of precedents for a minority governments guaranteeing themselves majorities from the hung parliaments of the 1970s, when the legendary Labour whip Walter Harrison engineered a rule change.
The current motion to give the government a safety margin on these committees is bound to produce a furious row and accusations of ignoring the election result.
But ministers will have the support of the DUP, so they should have a majority all the same.
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It seems more and more likely that missing Florida-based comics writer, and Thundercats TV show scripter, Stephen Perry has died as a result of foul play. According to Tampa Bay’s St. Petersburg Times, deputies recently found a severed body part close to where Perry’s van was abandoned at a Quality Inn in Tampa. The police are also holding Perry’s two roommates as “persons of interest.” The pair, James and Roxanne Davis, are a married couple with criminal histories.
According to Tampa Bay’s Fox 13, detectives were first alerted to the possibility of a problem after relatives apparently called expressing concern that they had difficulty contacting one or more of the trio living at Perry’s house in Zephyrhills, Florida. It seems that Perry, 56, had vanished after leaving a hospital where he was being treated for cancer.
On Sunday, May 17, police received a 911 call about a foul-smelling van which had been parked for days at the Quality Inn. When they arrived at the scene they found the severed body part (Fox 13 is claiming that investigators have stated the part to be a man’s severed arm). The police then accompanied Perry’s ex-girlfriend, and the mother of his five-year-old son, to his house in Zephyrhills which had been ransacked.
Last Friday, Perry’s roommates were arrested on unrelated charges. The St. Petersburg Times has reported that Captain Robert McKinney of the Zephyrhills Police Department said the Davises are “people of interest” in Perry’s disappearance and possible murder. (McKinney refused to say whether the severed body part belonged to Perry.) The Times further updated the story today by publishing a jail interview with James Davis in which he insists he last saw Perry at a flea market. In addition, Davis stated that both he and Perry were addicted to Oxycontin.
Perry is best known for his writing work on the ‘80s TV shows Thundercats and Silverhawks. But he has also penned many comics, often in collaboration with his longtime friend, and legendary Swamp Thing artist, Steve Bissette. In recent times, Perry hit hard times, due to his cancer diagnosis and financial problems. He received assistance from both Bissette, who issued an appeal for help on his behalf, and the Hero Initiative, a non–profit that provides aid to comic creators. In a video interview posted by the Hero Initiative just over a week ago, Perry recalled how he was, at one point, “basically homeless, living in my vehicle with my five-year-old son. We had no place to live, no money, no food, no nothing. [The Hero Initiative] interceded and enabled me to get a home, get the electric turned on, get the water turned on, and go from there. They really saved my life.”
Those who would like to learn more about Perry should check out a couple of articles that Steve Bissette posted over the weekend which look back at his friend’s career. Significantly, Bissette noted that the a recent “grueling surgery” had “awakened Steve to a new sense of self-worth and appetite for life that he hadn’t expressed in over two decades.” However, the artist also ruminated on how Perry’s “lifestyle during his last 20 years constantly put him in the proximity of sketchy characters, and I fear that blindspot… has taken terrible toll. Perhaps, I fear, the ultimate toll.”
Obviously, there will be more information to come on this seemingly tragic tale. As soon as we hear anything new, then so will you.
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If you were a Hungarian, only consuming news that comes your way, you might think that George Soros is the biggest threat to Hungary as millions of migrants await his cue to invade Europe, aided by NGOs with funds from Soros, and the politically correct and bureaucracy-laden EU is helping him. All of this, despite multiple terror attacks across Europe.
And you might also think that UV radiation is not so bad for you, and that you should sunbathe between 11am and 3pm, as was reported in a pro-government tabloid in May.
Hungarian born Soros' foundation once gave a scholrship to Orban to Oxford (Photo: European Commission)
It is a problem when reality is overshadowed by delusions or fake news in a country, especially when it is promoted by a government.
In its fourth billboard campaign against Brussels and migrants this year, Hungary’s government last week rolled out posters across the country, targeting Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros.
The posters show the 86-year-old Hungarian-born Jewish financier laughing, with the text: “Let's not allow Soros to have the last laugh.”
It refers to the Hungarian government's claims that Soros wants to transport a million migrants into Europe, including Hungary.
The billboards prompted Gabor Torok, a political analyst, to draw parallels with George Orwell’s 1984, in which Goldstein, the enemy of the state according to Big Brother's Party, is the subject of the “two minutes hate”, a daily program in the book's dystopian world.
The billboards drew criticism, as many saw them as resembling the anti-Semitic campaigns from the 1920s and 30s. Hungarian government officials insist that the government of prime minister Viktor Orban has “zero-tolerance” for anti-Semitism.
Hungarian Jews said last Thursday that the campaign risked fuelling anti-Semitic sentiments and urged Orban to end it. "These poisonous messages harm the whole of Hungary," Andras Heisler, leader of the Federation of Hungarian Jewish Communities, wrote in a letter to the prime minister.
Orban in a letter on Friday refused to halt the campaign, saying illegal migration is a national security issue, which needs to be dealt with "without regard to [anyone’s] origin, religious background, or wealth." He argued that the Jewish community should help him, as illegal migration brings anti-Semitism into Europe.
Creating an enemy to keep Orban's Fidesz party in power is not new. The most recent billboards are only the latest examples of the echo chamber created by the government, successfully stifling any meaningful public discourse.
Despite the concerns expressed by the EU over free press, Orban and his closest inner circle managed to take control of the media in Hungary without much hindrance.
No market forces
Today, Hungary’s media is no longer able to systematically maintain a check on those in power.
“The media market and the vast majority of market players are in the hands of the businessmen tied to the ruling Fidesz party,” Gabor Polyak, an analyst at the watchdog group Mertek Media Monitor, told EUobserver.
“The functioning of the media market is determined not by market forces, but by Fidesz,” he added.
Ever since Orban lost after his first tenure in office in 2002, he has put significant emphasis on balancing the media landscape, which was perceived, just like in other parts of the world, as being too liberal.
All governments in Hungary attempted to influence the media, but Orban’s approach elevated it to a different level.
Lajos Simicska, a longtime business associate of Orban, built a media empire – armed with a major television station, a popular newspaper, a major radio – to support Fidesz.
After Orban came back to power in 2010, the empire was propped up with government advertising money and expanded, while Fidesz pressured the public media to stick to the government’s line.
But in 2014, shortly after he was reelected, Orban broke with Simicska. To make up for the lost media empire that remained with Simicska, Orban’s closest aides acquired a massive media presence, with the help of state funds.
Three of Orban's allies were leading efforts to build a government-friendly media: former Hollywood producer Andrew G. Vajna, who is now the government's film commissioner; Orban's long-time adviser and spin doctor Aprad Habony; Antal Rogan, Orban's head of communications, who has been dubbed minister of propaganda.
New television stations, almost all the regional papers, a new tabloid, a weekly magazine, radio stations, online news sites – under the ownership of these three men – have come under political control, as any critical media was silenced.
Meanwhile, public media has been turned into a propaganda outlet, detached from reality.
Last week, EUobserver reviewed newscast on the public television channel . All stories, ranging from EU migration policy to NGOs doing training for judges on how to handle marginalised social groups, mentioned Soros and organisations he might have helped fund an said they were as a threat to Hungary, Europe and to the independence of judiciary.
Some of the stories use personal attacks and lies to discredit politicians or journalists.
In several cases where the targets sued, courts handed out fines and demanded corrections from the outlets, but some of the corrections were never published, and it is a weak tool to counter the mass propaganda campaign.
Polyak, from Mertek Media Monitor, said these organisations work as a “unified force,” with some of the articles produced by the political owners.
“The system can support as many media outlets as it likes, as they are living off of entirely state funds, or funds related to the state. The air is running out around independent media,” Polyak said.
Pockets of independent journalism remain against the odds, but their reach is not enough to withstand the propaganda machine.
Banned from reporting
Orban likes to point to criticism of him to prove there is free media in Hungary. But this is part of the army of half-truths that Orban’s government likes to use.
“Any opinion can be published, but not anywhere,” said Miklos Hargitai, editor and journalist with Nepszava and chairman of the National Alliance of Hungarian Journalists.
He told EUobserver that voters who use common channels of news are very restricted in acquiring the widest possible range of information to form a grounded political opinion.
“This [restriction] is against the constitution that Orban himself has pushed through,” Hargitai, who once worked for the now defunct Nepszabadsag daily, said.
The new constitution, adopted in 2011, says that "Hungary shall recognise and protect the freedom and diversity of the press, and shall ensure the conditions for free dissemination of information necessary for the formation of democratic public opinion."
He added that the media cannot fulfil its role of controlling political power, and points out that 60 journalists are barred from entering the parliament to prevent them from reporting. “Much more depends on the personal bravery of journalists now,” Hargitai said.
Polyak adds that Hungarian voters’ apathy also contributes to the situation, in which few issues stir widespread protest.
Orban’s media empire is expanding beyond Hungary’s borders. Recently Reporters Without Borders raised concerns over Orban’s aide, Habony, buying a 45 percent stake in a Slovenian TV broadcaster, circumventing Slovenian law.
On the RSF’s world press freedom index, Hungary is 71st – with only Bulgarian, Croatia and Greece as lower-ranking EU members.
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This article by Edward Snowden was published today in Der Spiegel. Since I could not find a translation online, I decided to publish one (suggestions for improvements are welcome). I previously published the full text in German.
In a very short time, the world has learned much about unaccountable secret agencies and about sometimes illegal surveillance programs. Sometimes the agencies even deliberately try to hide their surveillance from high officials and the public. While the NSA and GCHQ seem to be the worst offenders - this is what the currently available documents suggest - we must not forget that mass surveillance is a global problem in need of global solutions.
Such programs are not only a threat to privacy, they also threaten freedom of speech and open societies. The existence of spy technology should not determine policy. We have a moral duty to ensure that our laws and values limit monitoring programs and protect human rights.
Society can only understand and control these problems through an open, unbiased and informed debate. At first, some governments feeling embarrassed by the revelations of mass surveillance initiated an unprecedented campaign of persecution to supress this debate. They intimidated journalists and criminalized publishing the truth. At this point, the public was not yet able to evaluate the benefits of the revelations. They relied on their governments to decide correctly.
Today we know that this was a mistake and that such action does not serve the public interest. The debate which they wanted to prevent will now take place in countries around the world. And instead of doing harm, the societal benefits of this new public knowledge is now clear, since reforms are now proposed in the form of increased oversight and new legislation.
Citizens have to fight suppression of information on matters of vital public importance. To tell the truth is not a crime.
This text was written by Edward Snowden on November 1, 2013 in Moscow. It was sent to SPIEGEL staff over an encrypted channel.
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Manor Racing’s Esteban Ocon has been heavily linked with a seat at Renault for the 2017 Formula 1 season and lots of JAonF1 readers have been asking why the 20-year-old Frenchman is generating such interest given that his career in the sport is just three races old.
Ocon, who is also a Mercedes junior driver, replaced Rio Haryanto at Manor after the summer F1 break, as the Indonesian driver did not have the funds to complete the second half of the season.
Since then, Ocon has finished 16th on his debut at Spa, and 18th in the two most recent races at Monza and Singapore. His teammate, another Mercedes junior driver, Pascal Wehrlein, retired in Belgium after colliding with Jenson Button on the first lap, stopped with an oil pressure issue in Monza, and finished 16th in Singapore.
While Ocon’s results have not made many headlines since his F1 debut last month, there have been mitigating circumstances that caused Manor’s racing director Dave Ryan to say that the British team has “let down” the Frenchman, particularly last time out in Singapore.
In Monza, Ocon suffered an electronics issue in FP2, which reoccurred at the start of qualifying, just as Wehrlein was about to fly into Q2. In Singapore, although he picked up a five-second penalty for passing Felipe Nasr’s Sauber under the early race safety car, Ocon also lost roughly 90-seconds through operational delays during two of his three pit stops.
"Esteban is due a good turn,” Ryan told Autosport. “We didn't have a good race in Monza with him, and then we let him down again in Singapore with our pitstops, which was just disappointing because his last stint, with his pace on the tyres, was really good.
"Quite clearly we're not - I'm not - doing a good enough job in terms of making sure all our procedures and things are in place. So we need to look at that, we've all got to accept responsibility and just work on it.”
Mercedes-backed Renault reserve
Ocon boasts a stellar record in junior single seaters: he won the 2014 FIA European Formula 3 title – ahead of Max Verstappen, who finished third – and then followed that up with the GP3 title last year.
At the beginning of the season, Ocon was unveiled as Renault’s reserve driver having been loaned to the Enstone-based squad – where he was a junior driver during its days as Lotus – by Mercedes. The deal is an unusual collaboration that was designed to encourage more F1 teams to work together to reduce costs, according to Renault’s managing director Cyril Abiteboul.
During the first half of the season Ocon made four Friday practice appearances for Renault and he completed the mid-season F1 test at Silverstone for Mercedes.
His ties to Renault are further strengthened by the presence of Fred Vasseur as the squad’s team principal. Vassuer was boss the ART team that ran Ocon in GP3 last year before taking up his post as head of F1 operations for the French company at the start of this season.
Abiteboul also announced that Renault would be evaluating Ocon’s progress at Manor for the rest of the season when it was revealed that he would be joining the team shortly before the Belgian Grand Prix.
Ocon had also spent the first half of the 2016 season racing an ART run Mercedes in the DTM championship. He only scored two points in ten races in that series, one that drivers of the calibre of Mika Hakkinen, David Coulthard and Ralf Schumacher struggled in after their F1 careers ended.
“He had a few incidents, which raised some eyebrows because he gave it fairly tough on the track and fought fairly hard in that series,” explained JAonF1’s technical advisor Dominic Harlow. “ But it’s very difficult to get into those cars and get the best out of them straight away because they do require a bit of adapting.”
Mid-year debuts in F1 history
A driver making their F1 debut halfway through the season in recent years has produced mixed results.
Drivers such as Sebastian Vettel and Robert Kubica, who both finished in the points in their first races (Kubica’s was later disqualified because his car was underweight), made waves early on, and Daniel Ricciardo justified Red Bull’s decision to pay for his half-season with HRT in 2011 by winning for the team once he had been promoted from Toro Rosso.
But for another Red Bull junior driver who made his F1 debut halfway through a season, Jaime Alguersuari, things did not go so well. After making his first F1 start at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix, the then 19-year-old did not score points until the following season’s Malaysian Grand Prix.
Alguersuari lost out to his teammate Sebastien Buemi in 2010, and although he went on to beat the Swiss driver in the 2011 standings, Red Bull dropped both of them at the end of that year.
But the high profile, often uncompromising nature of the Red Bull junior programme is a different situation to the one Ocon faces at Manor. Like Ricciardo, and Fernando Alonso at Minardi back in 2001, the Frenchman can build up his experience away from the spotlight.
Harlow described how Manor would be working to get Ocon up to speed without the benefit of winter testing by studying the data regarding the MRT05’s optimum set and working to get the 20-year-old suited to it.
He said: “Presumably they’ll do some simulator work and a lot of work with the engineers just going through data, looking at Pascal’s data, the point that they are at in the season and what they understand about their car and the tyres to that stage.
“They’ll be trying to find the off-sets between where they would typically run their car and where his best set-up is so that they know roughly the differences that he likes and where the optimum has been up until now. So you try to understand those sort of trends.”
Comparisons with Wehrlein’s performances are to be expected, but definitive conclusions on Ocon's F1 potential are too early at this stage.
Manor is not the perennial backmarker it once was and its performance relative to other teams towards the back of the grid this year means Ocon has the opportunity to demonstrate his skills to Renault and Mercedes before the year is out.
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Aam Aadmi Party on Wednesday staged a protest in front of the residence of Madhya Pradesh minister Gopal Bhargava for organising a folk dance festival in Bundelkhand region notwithstanding the drought and water crisis.
“Is it proper to organise ‘Rai Dance’ of 101 Bedni (SC) women in the drought-affected Bundelkhand region in the name of tradition when people are migrating from there in search of jobs and farmers committing suicide allegedly due to mounting crop debts,” AAP state unit secretary Akshay Hunka said.
The festival -- Rahas Lokotsav -- is organised in the Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Cooperatives Minister’s Garha Kota constituency in Sagar district.
The festival is held on various occasions during summer season.
The AAP leader asked chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to immediately cancel the event in view of the prevailing drought situation in the region.
“On one hand, the state government has launched a scheme ‘Jaavli Yojna’ for the rehabilitation of Bedni women, who used to perform Rai dance, while on the other it is organising a such event in the name of tradition.
“What message the government is trying to give to the society by organising such an event,” Hunka asked.
However, Bhargava countered the charge, saying AAP is “ignorant” about the traditions of Bundelkhand.
“AAP is not aware of the prevailing traditions of Bundelkhand region. It (the festival) has been organised in the area since last 212 years. Who am I to stop this traditional dance which is being organised in the entire region on various occasions,” he said.
Bhargava said the AAP is raising the issue as they don’t have any “political plank to pursue”.
First Published: Mar 31, 2016 10:12 IST
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California’s Lt. Gov Gavin Newsom decided to commemorate the tragic Sandy Hook shooting in 2012 by telling the NRA that if they hurt anybody else, they’re coming for their guns.
Not would be criminals…but the NRA.
“It’s been 5 years since 20 first graders were shot dead at Sandy Hook,” wrote Newsom on a Facebook post.
Newsome then listed off the mass shootings that have occurred since that time.
Since then:
– 14 killed in San Bernardino
– 49 killed in Orlando
– 58 killed in Vegas
– 26 killed in a Texas church
Enough.
“We have a message for the NRA – National Rifle Association of America: If you hurt people, we ARE coming for your guns,” wrote Newsome.
The message was accompanied by a video featuring Newsome speaking on how the only thing more certain than another mass shooting is the “moral cowardice” of Republicans who ignore it.
Newsome then mocked the idea of thoughts and prayers, saying Republicans hide behind them while “plugging their ears with NRA hush money.” Turning to a solution, Newsome bragged that California has passed “proposition 63” and will force “convicted violent felons” to give up their firearms.
The video ends with Newsome saying voters need to tell Trump and Ryan to stop “praying for NRA dollars” and fix the gun laws. This is accompanied by a group of people picking up both politicians and manhandling them back into the capitol to presumably pass gun control laws.
I’m not going to mince words here. This video and the accompanying message is flat out stupid. It paints innocents as criminals, and conveniently doesn’t go into just what kind of law was passed with Prop 63.
For one, the NRA didn’t cause any of these mass shootings. None of the shooters that were involved were members of the NRA. Newsome’s warning that he would take away the NRA’s guns if they hurt anybody ever again is one of the most over-the-top and blatant lies ever leveled at the National Rifle Association.
He also managed to leave out the fact that the Texas shooting was stopped by a former NRA instructor.
Furthermore, Prop 63’s purpose was to add to the already asinine restrictions on gun owners by making arms dealers obtain a permit to simply sell ammunition, and run a background check on people buying it. It also requires Californian’s give up any magazine that can contain over 10 rounds. How that prevents criminals from hurting anyone is beyond me, seeing as how California has made obtaining a gun a difficult task, and yet criminals are still managing to get their hands on them.
Once again, gun control politicians and advocates are punishing the law abiding for something the law defying did.
Oh, and speaking of laws, CONVICTED VIOLENT CRIMINALS ARE ALREADY NOT ALLOWED TO OWN GUNS. This has been a federal law for decades, and yet the left seems to believe that criminals are walking into gun stores, and walking out with enough firepower to conquer a small nation. This ban for felons also already includes ammunition, making Prop 63 a useless gesture that trips up law abiding gun owners, and exposing it as Newsome’s try-hard attempt to get some cred with the gun control crowd for when he runs for a higher office than his own.
Newsome says in the video that the “coming for your guns” bit was a warning to “criminals,” but with the guy blaming the NRA and gun owners as the culprits in mass shootings, I’d like to know what his definition of “criminal” is.
In one Facebook post, Newsome…
-Exposed either his ignorance about our nation’s gun laws or his willingness to lie about them.
-Pegged an innocent gun rights organization and its members (millions on millions of people) for mass shootings they had nothing to do with
-Mocked how people give condolences for tragic events that happen to them, specifically those of the religious variety
-Accused Republicans of profiting off of the death of Americans with silence money given to them by the NRA
-Stood on the graves of the slain to do it.
Newsome’s video is one of the more weasely things I’ve seen in a while, and I write on Planned Parenthood’s PR attempts a lot.
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Uncapped Barbados fast bowler Miguel Cummins has been included in West Indies' squad for the first Test against India in Antigua from July 21. He was a replacement for Jerome Taylor, who retired from Test cricket earlier this week.
Cummins, 25, had been left out of the original 12-man squad for the first Test, after having made the trip to Australia for the last two Tests in 2015-16 as a replacement for Shannon Gabriel. He did not play, though.
Cummins has played 41 first-class matches and taken 116 wickets at an average of 22.56. His only international for West Indies was an ODI against Ireland in Jamaica in February 2014 - he took 1 for 42 in six overs.
West Indies squad for first Test Jason Holder (capt), Kraigg Brathwaite (vc), Devendra Bishoo, Jermaine Blackwood, Carlos Brathwaite, Darren Bravo, Rajendra Chandrika, Roston Chase, Miguel Cummins, Shane Dowrich, Shannon Gabriel, Leon Johnson, Marlon Samuels
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Traditional images of Jesus Christ depict him as light of skin, yet this does not match the appearance of Galilean Semites. Toby Hudson via Wikimedia Commons
Undoubtedly one of the most divisive and influential names in the history of modern civilization is that of Jesus Christ. However, while the debate surrounding his existence, actions, and relevance has raged for millennia, few have thought to question what he may have looked like.
The traditional image that most of us have of Jesus is derived from a number of famous artworks, including the likes of Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper and Diego Velazquez’s Cristo Crucificado. As a consequence, he is often pictured as tall and fair-skinned with long, flowing, fair hair. Yet the reality is that men from the region of Galilea – now in northern Israel – during the time that Jesus is reported to have lived did not adhere to this image at all.
To help clear up the mystery of what he might have looked like, back in 2002 a forensic facial reconstruction expert and former medical artist from the University of Manchester named Richard Neave recreated the face of a typical resident of Jesus’s home region in the first century C.E.
Working with Israeli archaeologists, Neave obtained three Galilean Semite skulls that had been found in the area around Jerusalem. He then used computerized tomography to create 3D cross-sectional images of these skulls in order to reveal their full structure. This enabled a computer program to generate a mock-up of what the fully-fleshed faces may have looked like.
Armed with this information, Neave was able to build a 3D cast of a typical skull of a man from Jesus’s region and time period. Layers of clay were then added to this, in accordance with the precise information provided by a computer program designed to determine the thickness of soft tissue at certain points on human faces.
Tweet shows an image of what Jesus Christ may have looked like. Credit: Twitter/NAIJ
While this enabled Neave to produce a model of what Jesus’s face may have looked like, he and his team had to rely on ancient drawings found at archaeological sites throughout the region in order to estimate the appearance of his hair, eyes, and skin tone. The final product can be seen in the Tweet above.
Naturally, this should not be taken as a definitive historical model of what Jesus looked like, but simply represents an accurate depiction of how he may have appeared. Furthermore, perhaps the results would be slightly different using more advanced techniques, since the study is more than a decade old. Regardless of the accuracy of Neave’s mock-up, it’s sure to be more faithful to reality than this attempt by an elderly Spanish woman at restoring a prized fresco.
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In December 2015 I was sitting at Crooked Tree Coffeehouse in Dallas, TX with the Pilot earpiece prototypes and the Android phone running our first translation software both tucked away in bubble wrap in my laptop bag. Jeremiah and I had agreed to have coffee for our first meeting, and I was going to pitch this young creative the idea of directing a crowdfunding campaign based on the technology that our small team at Waverly Labs had been working on for over two years. He was going to be one of the first people outside of our company to see what we had stealthily developed, and I was going to have to convince him to take the job on a tight budget.
I had become good at pitching and had convinced talented engineers to join this small team with no pay, a few family and friends to loan us money to bootstrap our startup alongside the personal funds we had sunk into the project, and pitched the team at Indiegogo to support our endeavor. A few days after we met, Jeremiah sent me an email saying that he shared our vision and wanted to direct the project. We met at the same coffee shop the next week to start planning.
Even in the beginning we all believed we were working on something amazing, and as such we continually stacked the team with experts trying to solve this insanely difficult problem. But despite the difficulty the engineers were faced with, I had my own challenge: how would we make Pilot’s public debut?
I had seen the success of other tech startups using crowdfunding as a launch strategy to debut their products and I was convinced that this would be our best opportunity. So I spent months, and I mean months, consuming every piece of information available online, attending meetups on the subject matter, and networking with professionals in the field, to devise a strategy for launch Pilot: Smart Earpiece Language Translator. Little did I know we would smash records and become the third most funded Technology campaign ever on Indiegogo.
Here’s how we did it.
Let me preface this by saying two main things:
First, we decided crowdfunding was best for our launch strategy based on a few factors. Backers of crowdfunding projects tend to skew high towards the “innovator” and “early adopter” segments of the product adoption curve, and technology campaigns on these platforms represent nearly ¼ of all the money pledged via crowdfunding. Based on the innovative nature of Pilot, it seemed like a good fit.
Second, we debated on which of the two most popular platforms to commit to: Kickstarter or Indiegogo. Both have their pros and cons, but in short, we chose Indiegogo for one very specific reason: of all the crowdfunding and startup events I attended, I never once met anyone from Kickstarter, whereas Indiegogo’s community team was always around and encouraging. As the days came closer towards launching the campaign, I knew I would want to lean on them for guidance, and these relationships really became indispensable for our success.
In the initial stages of planning, I decided to break up our launch strategy into three major sections: pre-launch, launch and post-launch. I knew that 80% of the success of the campaign would be based on the pre-launch strategy, and if we didn’t execute it well there would be no successful campaign.
Pre-Launch
The first thing we decided on was the financial goal of our campaign. Crowdfunding can be used for a lot of reasons, including product development testing, price sensitivity analysis, press and awareness, or attracting partnership opportunities, but most often it’s used for funding. We looked at some simple metrics internally to decide on a campaign goal near $100,000, and depending on the success of the campaign, we planned contingencies for our post-campaign strategy.
Once we decided on our funding goal, Indiegogo shared their formula for creating a successful campaign. That is to say, Indiegogo has 15 million monthly visitors, but no matter how great your campaign is to you, NONE of them will contribute to your project unless it’s already a success from the start. This is probably the biggest myth of crowdfunding: if you launch it, they will NOT come.
Here’s the equation I created based on the data Indiegogo directly provided:
Funding Goal x 30% / Average perk denomination / 3–5% = Number of backers ready to fund your campaign on Day 1.
Breakdown
Indiegogo estimates that 30% of your funding goal needs to be met within the first 48 hours of launch in order to attract enough attention from their internal community for the campaign to be a success (assuming a 30 days lifespan of your campaign). For us, that means we had to ensure $30,000 was committed to our campaign within the first 2 days of launch. If you factor our average perk size of $199, that equates to roughly 150 people backing the project. Lastly, with an average conversion rate of 3–5% (a common sales conversion metric) of people who say they will support your project versus those who will actually support it, that means we needed 3,000–5,000 people ready to go on Day 1.
Unfortunately for us, we remained in stealth-mode over the years and had a very small community. To build a following of at least 5,000 people ready and committed to our crowdfunding launch in a short period of time, I devised a growth strategy that would build excitement just weeks before we officially launched on May 25, 2016.
These tactics centered around a teaser video, press outreach, ad spend, and a rewards campaign, all with the purpose of driving traffic and increasing email signups to our website.
Growth Strategy
Teaser Video
I’ll only focus on the teaser video here but go into detail about the aspects of our full video development in the Launch section of this article.
The idea for a teaser video was mapped around creating awe and excitement through a very short clip, and I took some inspiration from this Lexus teaser for a hoverboard they were prototyping (see: Lexus Hoverboard). Since our full campaign video ended up being 2:41, we chopped it up into 3 different teaser lengths of 17, 24 and 51 seconds for different use cases (Youtube, Facebook, website, etc). The teaser would create curiosity without giving away too much information and would encourage people to go to our website to learn more.
teaser clip from the full campaign video
Email Capture
Once the viewer navigated to our website from the teaser video, our site was optimized around getting them to signup to our email list. There were 6 email signup forms throughout the website, each carefully placed to amplify lead capture. To encourage the user to sign-up, I turned to a growth strategy that Tim Ferriss discussed on his blog regarding how a men’s grooming brand increased their email sign-ups. You can read about it here, but essentially the idea is around offering a rewards campaign to encourage people to sign-up and share the campaign with their friends via email and social media. We used Gleam.io which offered a lot of options to facilitate high engagement.
Press Outreach
As part of our communications plan, we made a conscious effort to build relationships with press that primarily covered wearable tech or new gadgets. It’s important to build these relationships far in advance of launching a campaign, and especially helpful if you find that one key writer who falls in love with your work and is ready to excite the world by publishing a story of your campaign the day it goes live. This is usually through an Exclusive, but another option includes an Embargo, where multiple press outlets have an article written in advance and all are released to publish it at the same time. Although this reach is more extensive, it is usually done by a press agency and therefore has high associated costs. It was beyond our shoestring budget so the best I could arrange was a couple of press contacts that I had persuaded to write about us. As a final hail-mary, I had compiled a deep press list to pitch quickly via email.
Advertising
As I said, press can be a powerful tactic if you have a pr agency hustling for you, but even still it’s very difficult to have enough outreach to leverage momentum on its own. Therefore, we allocated a few thousand dollars to ad spend on multiple platforms, including Youtube, Reddit and Facebook. Broad demographic profiles were created and we ran the various teaser videos across these platforms during a test phase until we could gauge the profile of users who were most interested. In the end, we found that Facebook was by far the best platform in terms of creating outreach, engagement, social sharing and narrowing down to specific users.
In all, these four tactics combined were the crux of our pre-launch strategy. Jeremiah and I had sliced the original video into a powerful teaser that we felt created excitement for the product launch, our rewards program was in place to amplify email signups, the advertising campaign was running our video on several platforms, and I had convinced a couple of writers to publish an article of our work the day before we went live. It was a bootstrapped company with a shoestring budget of a marketing plan, but three weeks before the launch of the campaign we pushed the GO button on the pre-launch campaign, then sat back and waited.
… and we waited, and waited, and waited. After, six days of the ad campaign running, the needle was barely moving. Our teaser was getting very little traction and we were only seeing a few signups. I was thinking how I would break the news to the team, until something very interesting happened around the seventh day.
The ad with our teaser video was being shared across Facebook very slowly, but gradually you could see the numbers compounding. Eventually, a writer in the UK picked up the story and wrote about it over the weekend. That moved the needle a bit and we saw the number of shares jump from a few thousand to 20,000. I got on a call with the team to share the excitement but by Monday morning the video took on a life of its own.
Press all over the world were emailing, calling and sharing the story. The number of social shares began to climb RAPIDLY: 100k. 500k. 1m. 5m. All of a sudden we had achieve viral status and the teaser video, along with the referral campaign, was performing phenomenally. By the end of the two weeks, we had captured 175,000 email signups and had our video shared over 40,000,000 times on social media and by the press. A week later, we launched the campaign and hit our funding goal in 15 minutes. By the second hour, we had secured $1 million, and eventually $2.4 million over the 30 day campaign.
I credit the success of our pre-launch strategy to a few things. First, we had a really interesting product. The stuff of science fiction. It’s an exciting piece of technology, and although I recognize this helped our traction, I absolutely believe this isn’t enough to achieve the virality we had. I say this because before Pilot there have been other teams working on similar technology with very little public traction, however you never heard about them because they didn’t understand the power of storytelling.
This is the second thing we did very well — tell a beautiful and simple story in our teaser. One that resonates with people and is incredibly easy to follow. Often times, product launch videos describe all the use cases of how a product works and use the video to promote its features. For our campaign we brainstormed on a lot of ideas but eventually settled on keeping the story and message as simple as possible to highlight its effect: boy meets girl.
Lastly, the referral campaign worked tremendously well and encouraged people to share and like our content online. The referral campaign offered a chance to win a free Pilot earpiece, and people could increase their entries into the drawing through social sharing and getting other people to signup as well. You can’t have virality without sharing.
Launch
Once the campaign was officially live on May 25, everyone would be able to see our work in detail, and since all information about the company was kept purposely hidden (our website was an exaggerated landing page), people would only learn the details of Pilot from the campaign page and video.
Campaign Video
The video is the first thing people are going to want to see once they are on your campaign and we invested a lot of our resources to make it perfect. I wanted the video to feel like an indie project to convey the small bootstrapped nature and grit of our work as a small team. Jeremiah had a good eye for this perspective and we spent a few months distilling the idea of Pilot to a simple message that would resonate well in video.
It took a few attempts to get the story perfect and after we had a reading of the first script we realized the story came across too much like a sales pitch. Jeremiah and I knew we would need to make major changes, so that evening I stayed awake writing a new script from scratch. The years of working on the project culminated in that writing session, and relying on a real experience from my past about meeting a foreign girl, I sent Jeremiah a new script at 2am in an email that simply read “I think I’ve written my opus.” Jeremiah’s response was “This is fantastic! I love it. I’ll read over it a few more times today, but I don’t really have any notes right now. It’s solid.” 5 days later we began shooting the video and completed production in 48 hours.
Because we bootstrapped production, I had to quickly learn how to manage a shoot, including writing film treatments and planning a production schedule. Jeremiah (who I had hired to do the job) brought with him the technical background of filmmaking, and you can read his case study on how he tackled the project here: Waverly Labs Indiegogo Video
In the video, we wanted to cover three main points:
What is Pilot? How did we do it / Who is the team? Why are we on Indiegogo?
The focus of the video was always product, team, and traction. Anything else would only convolute the story, which was suppose to be simple and beautiful. We intentionally did not include any technical details about Pilot in the video because we would outline this and everything else in detail within the campaign page. Again, the simplicity and flow of the storyline was always paramount.
Campaign Page
When planning how to construct the campaign page, I studied multiple successful and unsuccessful campaigns to understand the similarities of popular and well funded projects. I also relied on this great online resource, http://artofthekickstart.com/, which was extremely helpful at developing a campaign strategy. Based on my research, I compiled a 12-point outline for designing a winning campaign:
Have an exciting thumbnail and enticing headline Emphasize social media shares Showcase media/press for social proof Show how it works w/ detailed product pics and walkthroughs (copy, photos, video) Simplify the idea for the average person to understand Testimonials of real people, especially social influencers List the features and specs of what it does Reveal technological magic of how it works as proof Call to Action — lay out company history and difficulties/hard work put in, and ask for help to make the dream a reality Compelling Rewards — infographic with clear/concise reward tiers (a) small $1 tier for an easy pledge, (b) pricing tiers of high, medium and low rewards — price anchoring, (c) humor and intrigue into right panel pricing tiers to show personality, (d) scarcity & FOMO of limited rewards without running out of rewards, (e) photos and samples of what each reward tier includes, (f) infographic and “map” of reward tiers, (g) quality of reward tiers vs quantity of reward tiers — don’t make it too, (g1) simple menu including featured rewards, favorite of creators/backers and easiest choice, (h) consistency of reward tiers with overall product History and Roadmap/Timeline Showcase Team
Once we had an outline for what to detail on our campaign page, we hired a designer to help us layout the page. We only focused on the points which were most crucial and relied on feedback from Indiegogo’s team (their community was really helpful) for guidance. It took us several days and very late nights, but we worked on it all the way up until 6am, 1 hour before it launched. This was a time consuming project and Edgar, the young designer I had worked with on a past project, was extremely helpful: https://www.behance.net/edgarrios.
Lastly, customer service was an incredibly important component during the launch phase. Unfortunately we were inundated with emails and messages and struggled to keep in constant communication with our backers, press and others who were reaching out to us, which leads me to my last point.
Post Campaign
Based on the overwhelming success of the campaign I knew we needed to meet two main objectives during our post-campaign phase:
Maintain momentum Stay in communication with our community
The first thing I did was move our campaign into InDemand, which is Indiegogo’s platform for campaign’s after the initial 30 day funding period. This allowed us to keep the campaign running to raise additional money and continue building our community. Again, another great reason we chose Indiegogo.
Secondly, we hired a Director of Marketing and Communications. Up until that time I was trying to manage it all myself, but overseeing product development and other projects was extremely time consuming. If we wanted to keep press engaged and maintain our momentum, we would need someone on board full-time to oversee our global press and marketing strategy, which was vital as we began scaling our company.
Finally, combined with another support team member, we actively stay in communication with our supporters. The feedback we receive from them helps us shape our product development goals and as our first backers they’ve become some of our strongest evangelists. Whether through social media, blogging, updates on the Indiegogo page, or an email newsletter, we’re constantly keeping our community engaged and responding to their questions.
With all of these post-campaign tactics combined we’ve been able to secure an additional $2 million since the campaign first moved to Indiegogo’s InDemand platform, and it would have been practically impossible without having the right team on board during this stage of the company’s growth.
Conclusion
When we started this project a few years ago we were really inspired by wearable technology and wanted to solve a global challenge, and although I was confident that our campaign would be a success, no one is ever prepared for that kind of virality. Looking back I would have done a few things differently, such as building stronger press relationships well in advance and preparing the team to dedicate 100% of their time during the campaign to customer support. But all in all we managed to break records and become one of the most popular technology crowdfunding campaigns to date.
Hopefully our success is helpful for other companies preparing a crowdfunding campaign and inspiring for anyone thinking about launching their own startup.
The past few months have been some of the most exciting for our team, and as we celebrate our 1 year anniversary and reach a milestone of $5m in pre-orders this month, we can’t wait to see a world without language barriers when we begin shipping Pilot later this fall.
We now closed the campaign (https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/meet-the-pilot-smart-earpiece-language-translator) but you can visit us on our website to find out more about us!
www.waverlylabs.com
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Sony’s Shuhei Yoshida Talks About a “Productive Year” for Japan Studio; Comments on Nintendo Switch
Giuseppe Nelva October 4, 2017 3:05:10 PM EST
Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios President Shuhei Yoshida Calls 2017 a productive year for Japan Studio and has nice words for the Switch.
The latest issue of Weekly Famitsu included an interview to Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios Shuhei Yoshida, who talked about PlayStation’s own Japan Studio, the Nintendo Switch and more.
Asked to comment on Sony’s pre-Tokyo Game Show press conference, Yoshida-san mentioned that also thanks to the PS4 gaining popularity in Japan, many titles for a wide range of users were showcased There weren’t just sequels, but also completely new IP, games for PlayStation VR, and even PlayLink. There was a great variety of games.
Yoshida-san also talked about the fact that SCE Japan Studio released The Last Guardian, Gravity Rush 2, Everybody’s Golf and Knack 2 in a row, and now they’re about to launch Gran Turismo Sport. According to him, it has been a very productive year for Japan Studio.
Asked to comment on the release of the Nintendo Switch, Yoshida-san explained that it’s good to have various companies providing fun games with different approaches, because it leads to further revitalizing the industry as a whole.
He then added that actually, as the Nintendo Switch continues to sell, it appears that sales of home consoles as a whole are also growing. Thanks to that, publishers have more options to offer content, and users can enjoy a variety of games that suit their lifestyle.
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Tennessee freshman forward John Fulkerson is likely done for the season after a wrist injury was discovered the day after he dislocated his elbow.
"We thought it was a dislocated elbow, which it was, but they didn't know until the next day that he had cracked his wrist too, so they put pins in (his wrist)," Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said while speaking to the Big Orange Tipoff Club on Wednesday at Calhoun's on the River.
"It will be really hard for him to come back, to miss as many games as he's going to miss here. He's working really hard. He's doing everything you can do."
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Fulkerson has been out since falling hard on his right elbow during Tennessee's win over Lipscomb on Dec. 15. Following the gruesome injury, he underwent surgery on his elbow on Dec. 21, but Tennessee said the surgery did not affect the original timetable for his return, set at six weeks on Jan. 17.
Fulkerson, a 6-foot-7 Kingsport native, was averaging 4.7 points, 4.6 rebounds and 16.0 minutes per game, starting six times in 10 games, before going down with the injury.
Barnes was asked about the possibility of Fulkerson being granted a medical hardship redshirt from the NCAA, which by rule requires an athlete playing in less than 30 percent of his team's games. The Vols are guaranteed 32 games this season — 31 regular-season games and at least one game in the SEC tournament — and Fulkerson has played in 10.
"I don't know," Bares said of the possible redshirt. "He's going to be on the cut line. He's in a position that, right now, if we wanted to redshirt John, he's dead on in terms of that number (of games) that he can play."
Barnes equated Fulkerson's injury situation to that of former Texas big man LaMarcus Aldridge, who was supposed to be a one-and-done player for the Longhorns before going down with an eight-week injury in the first conference game of the 2004-05 season.
"We totally reconstructed his shot, worked on a high release," Barnes said of Aldridge. "John is doing a lot of that now."
That's not to say, Barnes clarified, that it's been decided for sure that Fulkerson is done for the season.
"I don't mean he won't play the rest of the year," he said, "we haven't decided that."
Fulkerson taking a redshirt would help Barnes balance his recruiting classes. The Vols signed six freshmen in their 2016 class, but 6-foot-6 wing Jalen Johnson is redshirting this season. Fulkerson using a redshirt would give Tennessee four players in both its 2016 and 2017 classes.
"We have Jalen Johnson sitting out, so when you're talking about the class next year, we have two guys in our program that will be in next year's class," Barnes said. "It will help John in the long run."
And Fulkerson's 10-game run this season helped his teammates, too.
"What he did was really teach some of the older guys how to play," Barnes said. "He brought the energy that we needed, an intensity. He's a guy that's going to play defense and try to rebound. But he brought that kind of energy. And we miss it. "
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Sup Doc A Documentary Film Podcast with comedians Paco Romane and George Chen
ROCKTOBER all month long we cover music documentaries here at Sup Doc
George and Paco visit with actress/improviser/musician Tawny Newsome to discuss her experience cosplaying STOP MAKING SENSE-era Talking Heads for Documentary Now and in a Talking Heads cover band. We talk about Second City, her projects with Jon Langford (Mekons, Skull Orchard), the WOOZ of Vacaville, and recording with the legendary Muscle Shoals Swampers!
Stop Making Sense (1984) is the concert film of the last Talking Heads tour, shot in Los Angeles and directed by Jonathan Demme. Considered one of the best live concert films of all time!
Tawny Newsome is a series regular on Bajillion Dollar Propertie$, frequent guest on Comedy Bang Bang and Spontaneanation, and a singer who collaborates with Jon Langford, most recently on Four Lost Souls on Bloodshot Records. Tawny can be seen in “The Comedy Get Down” and plays “Nina” the tour manager to real life comedy titans and Comedy Get Down comedians DL Hughley, Eddie Griffin, Cedric the Entertainer, the late great Charlie Murphy and George Lopez. She is also the co-host of the Yo, Is This Racist? podcast on the Earwolf network.
TAWNY NEWSOME – REEL from Tawny Newsome on Vimeo.
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Don't let its intense name fool you: AK-47 will leave you relaxed and mellow. This sativa-dominant hybrid delivers a steady and long-lasting cerebral buzz that keeps you mentally alert and engaged in creative or social activities. AK-47 mixes Colombian, Mexican, Thai, and Afghani varieties, bringing together a complex blend of flavors and effects. While AK-47’s scent is sour and earthy, its sweet floral notes can only be fully realized in the taste.
Created in 1992 by Serious Seeds, AK-47 has won numerous Cannabis Cup awards around the world for its soaring THC content. For those hoping to fill their gardens with this resinous, skunky hybrid, growers recommend an indoor environment with either soil or hydroponic setups. AK-47 is easy to grow and has a short indoor flowering time of just 53 to 63 days, while outdoor plants typically finish toward the end of October.
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Police in and around the nation's capital don't have an easy job, but there is one area that they could improve upon: their driving.
Local police officers have been involved in hundreds of "preventable accidents" every year -- aka, "vehicular collisions that could have been avoided had the drivers adhered to traffic laws and basic roadway etiquette," according to a report in the Washington Examiner.
D.C. police officers managed to wreck it up 237 times last fiscal year, and 600+ more times the year before, while Montgomery County police tallied 385 collisions in fiscal 2009, and 57 preventable accidents so far this fiscal year.
Oops. (Or should we say, crunch?)
Weird News Photos: Holiday Edition
"These guys are sometimes the worst drivers out there," John Townsend, AAA Mid-Atlantic spokesman, told the newspaper. "It's almost like they're teenagers -- overconfident in their ability to drive. They take defensive driving courses, but they probably should take more of them."
In fiscal 2009, according to D.C. statistics, District police employees sideswiped vehicles in parking lots, reversed into numerous "fixed objects," and opened their doors into traffic. They passed and backed up without caution, failed to control speed to avoid colliding, made unsafe U-turns, followed too close, drove on sidewalks, changed lanes without caution, and ran red lights. At least three failed to place their cars in park. One failed to "pay full time attention" as he operated his Segway.
Despite their dismal record, D.C. police managed not to kill anyone during those types of accidents this year. Unlike in September 2007, when George Thomas Riggs was struck by a police cruiser while crossing Wisconsin Avenue NW and died three weeks later.
The officer in the case allegedly "did not have enough reaction time to stop before colliding with the pedestrian," but the family's still suing the District over it, with a pre-trial hearing slated for April 1.
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Quote# 104345Oriental culture and biology is in most ways the most alien to white culture. Much more so than the Latinos, Blacks, and Arabs they despise. These are incompatible genes and cultures. It is called the FAR East for a reason, in that the Far East is furthest away from Western Civilization both in geography, and biological values. As Kipling wrote East is East, West is West and never the twain shall meet.The largescale creation of a Eurasian-American population has taken place only since the 1970s. Thus you have 100,000 years of virtually 0 WMAF sons, and now 40 years of tens of thousands of 0 WMAF sons. This is the largest biological experiment on human genetics ever conducted. And the results have been a fiasco. Despite the huge numbers of WMAF sons, and their relatively privileged economic backgrounds, they have been complete social failures.That is a sad testament.In this short length of time, we have already uncovered supremely troubling facts about this new Eurasian race. The extreme degree of psychological instability, rage, and sexual frustration of the Eurasian male. Anger directed at their parents, society, and themselves. The victims of a relationship not based on love, but on racial and gender hatred. Essentially a way for white beta males who would have failed to reproduce in their own societies to ‘cheat’ sexual selection and reproduce anyway. They have not solved their problem, but given it to their sons. Asian genes seem to have a self-destruct mechanism that is activated in the WMAF pairing. The mother-offspring genetic conflict is highest in WMAF offspring, which is a likely cause of the huge number of pregnancy complications. Their own genes don’t want this birth to happen it seems.Already WMAFs online are talking about giving up on the male half of their offspring and using abortions and white egg donors. WMAF expects to be treated by polite society, like a normal coupling, but they sure don’t behave like one.It is a crime of 21st century society, that the plight of Hapa males born to this unnatural hateful pairing is totally ignored.Anonymous, Hapasons 6 Comments [10/27/2014 3:36:40 AM]Fundie Index: 3Submitted By:
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Temperatures are warming up in the world of astronomy after a team of researchers discovered ice crystals on a comet, suggesting it could be as old as the solar system.
An international research team discovered the ice in crystalline form on the surface of comet 67P Churyumov-Gerasimenko, Churi for short, indicating that it was formed 4.6 billion years ago — the results of the experiment have been published in the Astrophysical Journal.
The comet, which is part of the planet Jupiter family, has found to have ice crystals on its surface that could have originated in space before the solar system or the sun was formed in conditions described by scientists as protosolar nebula.
Hi @ESA_Rosetta! Comet #67P on 05 Mar 16 from a distance of 20km (more at https://t.co/lNzznIHGkw) pic.twitter.com/tyzkA2AS3a — Rosetta OSIRIS (@Rosetta_OSIRIS) 10 March 2016
By analyzing chemicals trapped in the ice on the comet's surface, researchers were able to determine the age of the ice crystals using a mass spectrometer — which is an instrument that can measure the masses and relative concentrations of atoms and molecules. A statement from the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) said:
"If comets are made of crystalline ice, this means that they must have formed at the same time as the solar system, that than earlier in the interstellar medium."
Before Life Began
The discovery of ice crystals on Churi could have implications on future research surrounding how the earth and solar system began life.
"In October 2014 [the mass spectrometer] first measured amounts of molecular nitrogen (N2), carbon monoxide (CO) and argon (Ar) in Churi's ice," a statement from the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) said.
© Flickr / Stuart Rankin Comet Chaser Discovers Oxygen on 67P/ Churyumov-Gerasimenko
"The data was compared with that from laboratory experiments on amorphous ice, as well as from models describing the composition of gas hydrates, a type of crystalline ice in which water molecules can trap molecules of gas."
The levels of nitrogen and argon gas in the ice led the researchers to conclude that is had a crystalline structure, suggesting the ice on the surface of the comet could have been formed before the solar system, or even at the same time.
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The ferries would be similar to King County’s Water Taxi running between Seattle and West Seattle, but bigger. (Photo: KOMO News)
RENTON, Wash. - The developers of a Renton business park want to bring back an old idea to shuttle high-tech workers.
Seco Development has begun work on funding a water taxi to ferry passengers from its Southport office park on the south shore of Lake Washington, near the Boeing Renton plant to Seattle’s high-tech hub at South Lake Union.
“We believe a water taxi connection from Southport provides that connectivity to move people across our region in a very predictable and eco-friendly way, and we believe it's a better commute,” said Rocale Timmons, Seco Development’s Director of Planning and Development.
For a half century, the Mosquito Fleet of steam ships shuttled patrons across Puget Sound and Lake Washington until the mid-1900’s.
It’s an old idea that has new purpose and usefulness in this age of clogged roadways and multi-hour commutes.
The initial run would be between Southport, a 730,000 square office park now under construction, to one of the docks on the southern edge of South Lake Union.
Southport and the surrounding areas could accommodate 20,000 workers and 2,500 living units.
Timmons envisions other routes to other cities on Lake Washington such as Kenmore and Kirkland.
“For real estate developers like Seco, we believe it's our responsibility just as much as it is with public officials and other public entities to find solutions to accommodate this growth,” said Timmons.
Seco is shooting for a start date in 2020. There is no projected project cost or an estimate of what a one-way fare would be for the 15-mile trip.
“That’s a pretty aggressive start date given all the permitting that needs to be done,” said Kip Spencer, Director of Leasing and Marketing for Seco Development.
The company is looking for a public-private partnership with King County and other governments that would benefit from the water taxi.
“We are prepared to do this boat, the water taxi ourselves if needed,” said Spencer. “But, having those municipalities and county leaders be a part of this, makes it all that much more meaningful.”
The ferries would be similar to King County’s Water Taxi running between Seattle and West Seattle, but bigger. The cost of building just one ferry is estimated to be in the millions of dollars.
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Microsoft today confirmed with Wired that all Xbox One game discs must be installed to the HDD to play and that while installs to other hard drives are allowed, users will need to pay an unspecified fee to do so.
This fee was not specified.
In the just-published Xbox One FAQ, Microsoft addresses the preowned market with the following statement:
"We are designing Xbox One to enable customers to trade in and resell games. We'll have more details to share later," the statement reads.
The Xbox One will not require a constant Internet connection to function, though Microsoft said those who are constantly synced up will see various benefits.
"No, it does not have to be always connected, but Xbox One does require a connection to the Internet," Microsoft said. "We're designing Xbox One to be your all-in-one entertainment system that is connected to the cloud and always ready. We are also designing it so you can play games and watch Blu-ray movies and live TV if you lose your connection."
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A couple's argument over the last piece of KFC chicken has ended up in court.
The Whanganui District court has heard about an argument between a man and his girlfriend which started over a phone call - but progressed to an argument over his selfishness for finishing off the meal.
Cameron Wilson's partner accused him of being selfish when he ate the last helping of KFC - prompting her to pick up a pottle of potato and gravy and throwing it at his head.
Sergeant Drew Morrison told Whanganui District Court on Wednesday how things quickly escalated resulting in Wilson punching his partner in the back of the head.
He pleaded guilty to a charge of assaulting his partner.
Wilson also pleaded guilty to an unrelated charge of driving with excess breath alcohol and driving while suspended, NZME reported.
Judge Philip Crayton sentenced him to 100 hours community work, 12 months supervision and disqualified him from driving for six months.
Newshub.
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Curb Your Enthusiasm? Or Always Sunny in Renton?
Arrested Development? Or Growing Pains? Welcome Back Cutter? Or Fresh Prince of VMAC? Scrubs? Or a Jem? Is Chris Matthews the Real McCoy?
The Big Body Theory.
Right now everybody loves Chris. The would-be Super Bowl MVP notched four catches, 109 yards and a touchdown, and provided a big target and big play presence the Seattle Seahawks have been seeking to develop since Pete Carroll walked in the door. Matthews is 6'5", a lucratively built specimen that could add a nice dimension to a passing game even if his ability to contribute never develops beyond modest. Tall, athletic developmental receiver prospects aren't uncommon. Even small contributions can be counted as success stories. But the ceiling on these guys often runs high, and it's hard not to daydream a little on what kind of game-raising levels a size mismatch receiver could provide for any team...
Winnipeg Blue is the New Action Green.
...especially when a team is as talented, and yet as in need of receiving talent as Seattle. Fresh off of three tremendous seasons, the Seahawks are among the strongest teams in the league at all aspects of the game save the passing game, which even still remains above average if not prolific. Seattle's receivers have inspired heated debate, at least, and belief in some, regarding their abilities & contributions. The group is the first thing Draftniks and casual fans alike think about when speculating on how the Seahawks could be improved in the offseason.
Matthews is under contract for the 2015 season at $510,000. We know he'll attend training camp. Paul Richardson's injury will make room for additional reps. The piece that remains to be seen is how realistic are our hopes for Matthews being a contributor next year?
Let's set aside How I Met Your Iowa Barnstormer, Schneider's Heroes, and all the other TV comedy puns for another time, and take a little trip to Arrington's Island to take a closer look at Matthews' 16 offensive snaps in the Super Bowl, to see if we can inform ourselves a bit more on Chris Matthews, the 2015 prospect.
Chris In Charge.
Q1 0:16 1st & 10 (Shotgun) R. Wilson sacked at SEA 23 for -2 yards (D. Revis).
Personnel: 01. Luke Willson is in with Doug Baldwin, Jermaine Kearse, Ricardo Lockette & Matthews. Lockette & Matthews are split wide. Matthews is off the LOS to keep Willson eligible. Kearse & Baldwin align together in the slot to run a crossing route combo. Baldwin physically drives Darrelle Revis back through the 5-yard chuck zone before breaking in and eventually separating.
Matthews does not need to beat press. He runs a fade. He achieves a step of separation 25 yards deep; though covered, he was arguably a targetable receiver the entire time. As the 5th receiver dressed for the day, the 4-WR playcall is the primary reason he's on the field, here, along with the play concept's tactic of clearing out deep defenders for the Baldwin & Kearse crossing routes underneath suiting Matthews split wide over Bryan Walters.
Russell Wilson plays this one poorly. He's given an abundance of time in the pocket. Kearse & Baldwin are very open on this play. Kearse is open the whole 2nd half of his drag route; Baldwin breaks open shortly thereafter. Wilson checks down from the fades to Baldwin, winds up to throw but hesitates, then scrambles left, to be picked up by Revis for a loss. Baldwin breaks off his route as Wilson begins his windup, thus making him covered again, so the hesitation was not unwise, but the missed window was unfortunate; if Wilson was not going to target the fades after the first 12 yards, nothing else would change that after he was given extended protection. Baldwin crossed near the 1st down marker, and Seattle would punt after not making another first down on this drive.
Matthews did not substantially factor. He did his job. He did not beat his man until 25 yard depth, but was arguably targetable. As the 5th receiver, I understand the lack of confidence in tossing one up for him to go up & get, no matter his size. The late separation could be encouraging. The fact that the play call plumbed the depths of the WR corps that had been thinned by injuries and was the impetus to him getting on the field engenders a more stoic takeaway.
Q2 9:06 2nd & 13 (Shotgun) M. Lynch up the middle to SEA 22 for 5 yards (J. Collins, R. Ninkovich).
Personnel: 11. Blocking matters in Seattle. We want to evaluate Matthews on runs, as well.
Seahawks align trips left, Lockette & Kearse, Matthews in the Middle (last TV comedy pun I swear). Read-option look but designed run: Willson is tight right, to try to compel New England to either align Rob Ninkovich wide or chuck Willson's release. Wilson tries to feign the QB keeper but Ninkovich plays Lynch first, Wilson second. Seattle anticipated New England's Wilson containment game plan, and tried to use it against them here. A permutation of Seattle's 3 & 1 formation, the Seahawks tried to trick the Patriots into containing & pursuing Wilson, subsequently opening up a backside off-tackle hole for Lynch. Ninkovich & Jamie Collins quickly close on Lynch, but it left enough of an opening for Lynch to pick up 5 yards.
On the other side of the formation, Lockette dropped back to feign a screen. Matthews, off the LOS, demonstrated a willingness to engage and block Brandon Browner. He drives Browner back a step before Browner easily sheds the block with experienced hand-fighting. The block doesn't factor in the play, but shows the willingness on an assignment that's not the easiest he'll face, but not a successfully sustained block.
Q2 5:51 3rd & 1 PENALTY on L. Willson False Start, 5 yards, enforced at SEA 39 - No Play.
Personnel: 11. Would have been a play-action pass. Willson, Baldwin & Kearse align in an inverted triangle, Kearse at the top, on the LOS. Matthews is the X, the isolation receiver, on the left side, on the LOS, facing press from Kyle Arrington. Baldwin motions to Matthews' side, who makes an average getoff on a slant pattern. He initially gets past Arrington's press well, but Arrington's tenacity enables him to stay with Matthews' cut, after Matthews' shoulders get past Arrington's reach, by Arrington following up with a modest shove to Matthews' shoulder. Matthews displays a good cut and movement to get open on the slant for a guy his size, before the action ends, although not the short-area quickness to break away from Arrington -- which shouldn't surprise, as Arrington's slighter size enables quicker recovery.
Q2 4:57 1st & 10 (Shotgun) M. Lynch left tackle to SEA 45 for 5 yards (D. Hightower).
Personnel: 11. After Willson's false start, Matthews was pulled on the next play, a 3rd down pass, then returns on this one. It appears Matthews had not yet earned the trust and reps for more critical situations. Fresh set of downs established, they sent out Matthews again on another run.
Much more tenacious block. Again the X, aligned in the slot, Baldwin is initially set off the line, to Matthews' left. Baldwin motions into the pocket, Revis following. Matthews' assignment is to block Arrington in space and isolation, and he goes until the whistle. Arrington tries to pull away from the block to the right and then left, and tries to turn Matthews out. Matthews keeps his hands inside and prevents Arrington from getting away.
Q2 4:19 (Shotgun) R. Wilson pass deep right to C. Matthews to NE 11 for 44 yards (K. Arrington).
Personnel: 11. Defense: 3 CBs in man, 1 free safety. The reward for a block well done. On the next play, Willson motions right to make a 3 & 1 alignment with Baldwin & Matthews, Kearse in iso on the left. Matthews is wide right. He runs a fade, with some encouraging things, and of course a tremendous result. Not executed without a bit of awkwardness, however.
Matthews gets a good release, here. His length allow his first step inside to both get around Arrington as well as overextend Arrington into a disadvantage in covering the fade. Wilson rolls to the right and takes the shot. A fade's openness is generally read according to the release and the first 5 yards. Matthews aligns outside the numbers but releases to inside the numbers, ensuring he won't crowd the sideline. This is important as space to the sideline by the receiver contributes a large amount to the accuracy of a QB's throw on the fade.
He gets his hands up as perfectly late as possible, which makes Arrington's job that much harder. Not bringing the hands up too early to make the catch is easy to learn but hard to instinctively commit to, so this is a very encouraging sign. He still telegraphs to Arrington that the ball is arriving, but that's nothing to be worried about.
Matthews has the makeup to pose a deep threat. He doesn't have vertical speed to gain separation. That fact manifests in his effort to get past Arrington with his turning his shoulders to the sideline, to get over & around Arrington and in position for the ball. Conceivably the length of the route gave him enough time to adjust and turn his shoulders in, rather than out toward the sideline, but he turns his head to look the ball in, shoulders to the sideline. Should be a very correctable thing, a mental note, but absolutely the wrong technique. Matthews is able to recover as he positions himself to go up for the ball, flips his shoulders around correctly, and brings it in.
Devin McCourty plays this one poorly. He cheats toward Kearse's side, with Browner the only one of the CBs to retreat from press at the snap. Kearse is a true deep threat despite his lack of speed, and the coverage here reflects recognition of that fact, particularly relative to the other receivers. One reason why is the quality of placement of his first step. He wastes no movement or space, but puts his defender in a spot for himself to establish position for where the ball will be thrown. He doesn't achieve separation, yet poses some trouble for deep coverage. Similarly, Matthews' 44 yarder here was established by his first step. His longer gait could enable him to pose a more formidable deep threat than Kearse, if the rest of his game develops.
Seattle follows this play up with a no huddle run by Lynch for another 5 yards. Matthews executes a typical receiver block on Arrington, nothing noteworthy that we haven't analyzed before.
Q2 :06 1st & 10 (Shotgun) R. Wilson pass short left to C. Matthews for 11 yards, TOUCHDOWN.
There's so much chess-match intrigue that went on to produce this result I wish we had time to explore it all. Let's just take a brief peek. What's different between these two frames?
Kearse moves from a step off the LOS to on it, for one. New England's defense has changed quite dramatically, as well. From corner press to off coverage, back near the safeties. Ninkovich drops from a 2-point stance to 3-point, while Hightower moves from the read-option scrape assignment to form a 2-man LB corps, which widens out the safeties. Chris Jones shifts from 1-technique strong side, to weak.
Oh, and Bryan Walters turned into Ricardo Lockette. You see, the first frame was the formation before New England called a timeout, while the second frame was the formation called afterwards.
Seattle called a timeout first. They used 31 seconds and 2 timeouts to drive 80 yards and score a TD. After their 2nd timeout, they lined up, and Belichick pulled the old ruse. See what they're doing, then call a timeout and plot. Seattle had shown their formation, which broadcasts at least a few things to shrewd football minds. Both squads kept the same personnel, save for the metamorphosis of Bryan Lockette. Kearse & the adult stage Lockette swapped who was on the LOS. But New England changed every single thing about their approach to defending this play. Except for one assignment.
New England put Logan Ryan on Matthews for both these formations. He was aligned for off coverage both times. It was a true run & catch for Matthews, as Ryan's assignment put him in position to play this poorly. With acres of space for cuts to the inside or outside, and all the end zone behind, Matthew's size compelled Ryan to simply back off and stay in position to make a play on whatever reception attempt may come. It was over instantly. Matthews jogs forward and twirls upward to bring the ball in.
Athletic grace like this can make plays look easy. This one was easy. But the athletic display, the body control, the high pointing and quickly bringing the ball into his chest to shield are encouraging displays.
I can't help but wonder if full grasp of the playbook is as much or more of an impediment to Matthews getting on the field than anything else. It's not that we see any signs of him failing to grasp any concepts, but just that his professional career has been meager and he'd only been called up onto the 53-man roster in mid-December. Although now targeted twice and having delivered more than could be reasonably expected on both targets, Seattle's use of Matthews has so far been simplistic & isolated. Something Wilson was open to taking shots on, but not something that's integral to the concept & focus of a play. Let's take it to the second half and see if this impression holds up.
Q3 13:48 1st & 10 R. Wilson pass deep left to C. Matthews push ob at NE 17 for 45 yards (D. McCourty).
The feeling most people get when Chris Matthews catches; I felt this thrill going up my leg.
Somebody stop me, I'm falling in love.
Coming off a 15-yard run by Lynch that required safety McCourty to clean up, Seattle runs play action with 20 personnel (Tukuafu & Lynch). New England shows cover 2 but blitzes Revis from the slot, bringing Chung up to play Robber over Baldwin. It's disguised well; listening to the presnap protection assignments and watching what Wilson looks at before the snap, I believe Revis' squared stance gave it away: corners playing outside typically have their outside foot forward. Primarily assigned to Baldwin, Revis covered the slot a dozen times this game; on only two other snaps was Revis aligned square. The other 10 times he kept his outside foot forward. The first two times he was square, he didn't blitz. It's a technique that serves a couple purposes. One is to be ready to drive forward & out, to defend a screen. Both those snaps had Baldwin or Lockette fake a screen attempt on a Lynch run. But Seattle's personnel & formation here, with tukuafu in the backfield, and the large split between Baldwin & Kearse, isn't set up to run a screen out of.
Wilson was ready for the blitz, and anticipated that would pull the safety coverage toward Baldwin & Kearse, isolating Matthews more.
McCourty turns his shoulders inward as he drops back to take his single high assignment; it's the inward-facing shoulders and Wilson's expert, briefest of looking him off that keep Matthews open here. By the time Wilson turns his similarly-brief read to Matthews, it's already over.
If the quarterback play is shrewd and graceful, the catch is poetry in motion.
The ball's perfectly placed. Matthews doesn't alter his gait through the entire route. He never separates from Arrington; in fact Arrington is able to stay a half-step ahead of him as they run downfield, which subsequently cedes prime position to Matthews. I can't say for certain just based on this game that he determined to & succeeded in driving back his coverage to give himself position & space, but that was the result here, and it's the subtle element of receiver play that separates the athletes from the accomplished. There's more. While Matthews expertly waited until the last moment to get his hands up on the last fade, with Arrington trailing him by a foot, here with outside leverage on a back shoulder throw, the opposite is warranted: so long as your jump is timed well, as a receiver you want to get your hands up first to prevent the cornerback from taking a shot at defending the ball. Matthews gets his hands behind Arrington's back before twisting up and hauling it in.
Matthews would follow this up with an unsuccessful but irrelevant block on Browner. He would run another vertical against Browner, a little physical at the end for both of them, not really open but targetable; Wilson appeared to be ready to take a shot, but was sacked. Matthews was Wilson's 3rd read, here, crossing from far right to far left, and was cocking back to throw when Ninkovich broke through.
He ran a skinny post that was a bit clumsy, but open, on an incomplete to Lockette. He ran another fade versus Browner and what was his most disrupted & least successful route run so far. He ran an unremarkable curl on the final drive, on the incomplete to Kearse, but was open on account of the zone coverage. Then a fade from the slot that was heavily attacked physically by Browner, and Wilson took the shot on him. He'd read it earlier & went away from it, but Wilson had time, came back to it late, and took the shot, probably based in part on trying to coerce a pass interference call. Matthews was tenacious. Browner got the best of him, down field, but Matthews was able to gain a yard or more on a stiff pushoff of Browner, before the throw. Both recovered & positioned well on the sailing throw that went from underthrow to overthrow as both guys jockeyed for position. Browner defended it well at the point.
What a different endgame that might have set up. 1:50, 1st & goal, instead of 1:06. Sometimes in football the window for the thing that works doesn't last long. Matthews showed on this last target how he could continue to be a factor and an option even against the more suitable defender Browner. The would-be MVP results versus Arrington and Ryan would probably not have occurred in full in a full game against Browner. But a couple of these catches would still be likely to happen, and with a larger slate of reps & targets in a game, it could very well add a dimension Seattle's been looking for, no matter who's covering him.
And only New England has Brandon Browner.
This was another micro study that genuinely changed my initial impression. I expected to find evidence to separate result from outlook, to find a raw, developmental receiver with some lucrative talent. The breadth of his route-running abilities still seems constrained; although he was open enough on the curl & skinny post, they were not well-run, just on account of his gait & high center gravity. That can be cleaned up.
Monster receivers like Matthews aren't usually tremendously versatile, and they don't need to be. Matthews poses a formidable matchup challenge, and in a limited set he demonstrated some mastery of the logistics for a red line-dominating deep threat. He may be more of an orange zone threat than a red zone, for the time being. But from the first step to gait, positioning, handfighting, body control, coordination and contested catching technique, I am surprised to find myself so impressed.
This is a guy to watch. Punk'd? I'm leaning towards Glee.
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The announcement comes following a Government Automating Manufacturing Programme survey involving 367 UK manufacturers last year.
Barrier to further investment
Grant Collier, head of marketing, PPMA Group told FoodProductionDaily it discovered many food manufacturers are reluctant to go public with the fact they want to automate.
“The research looked at 367 companies who were interested in automating their businesses," he said.
"Of those firms, 37% came from the food manufacturing industry, which is interestingly one of the slowest industries to pick up on automation because they’re all too aware that some of the multiple retailers they’re supplying will squeeze them even further once they know they’re automating production.
“They complain the biggest multiple retailers use the fact that they have automated to squeeze their margins further.
“This has the potential to create a blockage in the supply chain and a barrier to further investment in automation.”
The PPMA Show 2014, a processing and packaging machinery exhibition, has invited Christine Tacon, the Government's first appointed supermarket ombudsman, as a guest speaker at the event at Birmingham’s NEC from September 30-October 2.
GSCOP
As Groceries Code Adjudicator’ Tacon has to make sure supermarkets treat their suppliers fairly and lawfully. With her responsibilities backed up by law, she can launch investigations into suspected breaches of the Groceries Supply Code of Practice (GSCOP), name and shame and fine guilty parties for misconduct.
Her seminar, on the first day of the show, will focus on Tacon’s work with the UK’s largest supermarkets and to encourage feedback from suppliers, whether it’s personal, anonymous or through a trade association.
Collier added with Tacon onboard, he hopes it can resolve issues surrounding investment in robotics and automation equipment and make it more attractive to the UK’s manufacturing industries.
“If the adjudicator is successful in naming, shaming and fining offenders it will help change the supply chain culture,” he said.
Raise awareness
“Outlawing bad, unethical supply chain practices should free up investment in automation. There is also the issue of many suppliers working without contracts in place, which is something the adjudicator is looking to change.
“Any companies affected by the squeezing of supplier margins can anonymously report these issues to the adjudicator via trade associations that are aware of the problem.”
The PPMA Show is free to attend attracts hundreds of machinery manufacturers and component suppliers across a range of industries including food, drink, pharmaceutical, cosmetics, dairy, snacks, construction and electronics.
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Cash-strapped enthusiasts may not have had much to get all sticky over from Camp Toyota in recent years, but the automaker's new GT 86 Scion FR-S coupe promises to mine a rich paystreak of driving enjoyment. And while we're big (okay, huge) fans of the car's low-speed dynamic thrills, not every enthusiast is so forgiving of its rather middling power and acceleration figures. We knew it wouldn't take long for the aftermarket to remedy this perceived power deficit with things like forced induction and ECU reflashes, but we foolishly expected a full engine swap to take a bit longer than it apparently has.What you're looking at here is Manabu "Max" Orido's Toyota GT 86 prepped for drifting in D1 Grand Prix events. In this case, that means the two-door has been gutted and stuffed with the 5.0-liter V8 from the Lexus IS F , one of Toyota's more emotive offerings thanks to its honkin' great eight.Orido's GT 86 is shown here undergoing shakedown testing, and from the looks of things, the transplant appears to be going rather swimmingly. At first glance, we even dig the more aggressive widebody look, lack of paint and all. Check it out for yourself below , and be sure to have your speakers on.
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On behalf of the community, I am pleased to announce that the Service Release 1 (SR1) of the Spring Cloud Dalston Release Train is available today. The release can be found in Maven Central. It is mostly a bugfix and documentation update. You can check out the Dalston release notes for more information.
The following modules were updated as part of Dalston.SR1:
Module Version Spring Cloud Aws 1.2.1.RELEASE Spring Cloud Bus 1.3.1.RELEASE Spring Cloud Commons 1.2.2.RELEASE Spring Cloud Config 1.3.1.RELEASE Spring Cloud Consul 1.2.1.RELEASE Spring Cloud Contract 1.1.1.RELEASE Spring Cloud Netflix 1.3.1.RELEASE Spring Cloud Security 1.2.1.RELEASE Spring Cloud Sleuth 1.2.1.RELEASE Spring Cloud Stream Chelsea.SR2 Spring Cloud Vault 1.0.1.RELEASE Spring Cloud Zookeeper 1.1.1.RELEASE
And, as always, we welcome feedback: either on GitHub, on Gitter, on Stack Overflow, or on Twitter.
To get started with Maven with a BOM (dependency management only)
<dependencyManagement> <dependencies> <dependency> <groupId>org.springframework.cloud</groupId> <artifactId>spring-cloud-dependencies</artifactId> <version>Dalston.SR1</version> <type>pom</type> <scope>import</scope> </dependency> </dependencies> </dependencyManagement> <dependencies> <dependency> <groupId>org.springframework.cloud</groupId> <artifactId>spring-cloud-starter-config</artifactId> </dependency> <dependency> <groupId>org.springframework.cloud</groupId> <artifactId>spring-cloud-starter-eureka</artifactId> </dependency> ... </dependencies>
or with Gradle:
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Softbank Corp.’s companion robot Pepper uses voice recognition software to decipher what you say. (Photo: Shizuo Kambayashi/AP)
Pepper, a new companion robot from Tokyo-based technology company Softbank Corp., delivers cuteness like you’ve never seen.
What’s striking is the absolutely ardent attention it gives you — frankly a lot better than some real-life people.
“You look a bit thin,” it coos in a soft childlike voice, free of any rigid mechanical accent. “You should watch what you eat.”
The 4-foot-tall robot is disarmingly charming and definitely intriguing. It will be delivered to its first customers this month.
It’s another matter entirely whether the machine is worth the $1,600 price — plus the maintenance and insurance costs that ownership entails, adding up to about $10,000 for an estimated three-year lifespan.
Only available in Japan so far, overseas sales are undecided. The programming it has now caters to Japanese tastes. A U.S. version will obviously have to be quite different.
Pepper has cameras, lasers and infrared in its hairless head so it can detect human faces. Whatever direction you move, its cocked head will also move, intently looking into your face with its big eyes, like a puppy. Except this pet can talk.
As long as you don’t walk too far from it, removing yourself from its attention, Pepper will prattle on and on, switching from one small talk topic to another, gesticulating at times with its hands for effect.
“Do you want to play a quiz game? What animal goes like this: bow wow,” it might say. It will tell you “cat” is the wrong answer.
And then it will ask, “What did you have for dinner?” If you say, “Tempura,” it has enough voice recognition to decipher that and will reply: “Oh, Japanese.”
Yes, the conversations do sometimes repeat themselves, but so does human dialogue.
The robot is equipped with enough of a repertoire to avoid easy boredom. That repertoire is constantly being updated through a WiFi connection.
Each Pepper is hand-made by Foxconn in China, limiting supplies to 1,000 a month. The first batch for July sold out in a minute.
It’s attracting regular technology fans but also a kindergarten, a cafe and people who’re buying it for their elderly parents.
The kind of patient interaction Pepper excels at is recommended for people with dementia. So Pepper might come to the rescue of stressed out families.
Equipped with artificial intelligence by Aldebaran of France, Pepper has what Softbank calls an emotional engine, meaning it reacts to what it interprets as anger or sorrow in humans around it by deciphering voice tones, facial expressions and language.
It also has programming that sets off the equivalent of its own human emotions, such as getting nervous if a room suddenly goes dark, or elation when you pet its head and shower it with praise, such as: “You are the best-looking robot I have ever seen. I love you. You’re the best.”
“I am going to cry for joy,” it says, throwing its arms up in the air.
On the flat-panel display attached to its chest, it offers boxes to tap for various tasks, such as reading storybooks, giving a tarot-card reading, playing the radio, working as a drum machine and relaying the weather forecast.
It has some cool dance moves as well. One is shaking its body in a rubbery way. Another is doing elegant hand gestures as it plays Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker.”
Owners may be tempted to give the thing a wig or dress it up. That’s not recommended as it can overheat. It keeps going for 10 to 12 hours on a single charge. It charges from a regular household outlet.
Softbank offers a basic software application kit so even a child can create applications for Pepper.
This is not some slapped together toy of a robot. It’s the first convincing semblance of a step toward artificial intelligence fantasized in science fiction movies that’s affordable for the regular home.
It isn’t for everyone. You have to have an open mind.
The way it’s designed, Pepper is basically about human relationships. It could be the life of a party. It could be a dream-come-true robot friend for a child.
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Read or Share this story: http://dailyre.co/1MstrRP
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New Lawyers in New York Must Give First 50 Hours Free
Fascinating article in today’s Times, by Anne Barnard:
Starting next year, New York will become the first state to require lawyers to perform unpaid work before being licensed to practice, the state’s chief judge announced on Tuesday, describing the rule as a way to help the growing number of people who cannot afford legal services. The approximately 10,000 lawyers who apply to the New York State Bar each year will have to demonstrate that they have performed 50 hours of pro bono work to be admitted, Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman said. He said the move was intended to provide about a half-million hours of badly needed legal services to those with urgent problems, like foreclosure and domestic violence.
I have no idea how this will play out, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the new measure produces a few unintended consequences. Will it, e.g., discourage some lawyers from applying to the New York Bar? Will the flood of pro bono work from inexperienced lawyers actually produce the desired result? Will there arise a market in swapping/buying/fraudulently claiming pro bono hours? I am sure some people will frame this measure as a tax on lawyers, New York-style. And it will be interesting to see whether/when other states follow.
Also: what would happen if newly minted doctors were similarly seconded into pro-bono work?
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Not for just any old sneakers! The $19,000 shoelaces made from gold (they even come with someone to tie them for you)
From the Olsen Twins' $39,000 backpack to Neiman Marcus's $75,000 yurt, there is seemingly no end to lavish versions of everyday items on offer .
But a new company selling shoelaces made from 24 carat gold may just be the most extreme yet.
The luxury ties, which are made using 'ancient, artisan jewellery techniques' cost a bank-breaking $19,000.
Fancy footwear: A new company is selling 24 carat gold shoelaces for $19,000
While they may not come with equally fancy footwear, each set comes with security-guarded delivery, as well as someone to lace them into your shoes for you.
For those who can't stretch to a five-figure price tag, silver versions are available for 'just' $3,000 (albeit without the delivery service).
The man behind the laces is Colin Hart, who named his company after 'Mr Kennedy', inventor of the modern-day shoelace.
'Cheaper' option: For those who can't stretch to a five-figure price tag, silver laces are available for $3,000 - albeit without the delivery service
He told MailOnline how he came up with his unusual idea while working in Quinchia, Colombia.
'I walked into a building with a family who were making the most beautiful hand woven bracelets,' he said. 'The thin threads of gold and silver they had manufactured looked like hair.'
'I wondered how long they could weave them, like a shoelace... I got a set made and they look awesome - and to my delight, they worked as well.'
Each set takes 120 hours to make and, given Quinchia's location in the Cauca Gold Belt, the gold is mined less than 10 miles from where they are made.
Exclusive: Only ten pairs of the woven gold shoelaces will ever be made
Adding to their exclusivity, only ten pairs of the shoelaces will ever be made.
Mr Hart, who has already sold one set, believes they are worth every penny.
'The standard of craftsmanship is astounding,' he said.
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Foreign experts have made preliminary conclusions on the mass saiga pestilence in the Kazakh steppes that occurred in May, Tengrinews reports citing Khabar TV Channel.
The death toll of the saiga exceeded 134,000 - over a half of the entire saiga population of Kazakhstan and one third of the global population. In 2014, there were about 256,000 saigas living in Kazakhstan. Considering that the largest proportion of the entire population lives in Kazakhstan, the latest pestilence was a severe blow to the rare species, which is already at risk of extinction.
Only females and lambs were affected. Their corpses had swollen bellies, and there was blood in their noses and mouths. However, the infection spared the stags, who separate from the females for the calving period.
Some experts believed the deaths were caused by exhaustion and lack of fodder, since 2014 was dry, so there was no sufficient amount of grass in the region.
Pasteurellosis was named as the cause of the previous case of mass death of saiga in the region recorded in May 2012. This acute infectious zoonotic disease was determined as the cause of death of 926 saigas. that year. Therefore, some were led to conclude that this year's case was a much more severe form of the same problem. However, the group of foreign specialists led by Steffen Zuther now say otherwise.
Together with his colleagues, Zuther went on an expedition along the migration routes of the species from south to north crossing five Oblasts of Kazakhstan, collecting samples of water, soil and grass. Some of those were sent to laboratories in the UK and Germany, others were studied in domestic laboratories.
He said that according to preliminary results, the cause of death of saiga is hemorrhagic septicemia. It is an infection that involves bacteria producing many different toxins. The researchers suspect that the pathogens were spread by ticks that populate the steppes in great numbers in late April-early May.
"We are studying the case and analyzing the data. We will have most of the test results ready in the end of August or beginning of September. After that experts are going to develop a clear plan to prevent mass deaths of saiga in the coming years," said the head of the Wildlife and Hunting Department of the Ministry of Agriculture of Kazakhstan Bakytbek Duisekeyev.
By Dinara Urazova, editing by Tatyana Kuzmina
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Re: the previous note: support for the x509v3 extensions was added in PHP 5.2. Also in PHP5 prior to 5.2.4 the values of the x509v3 extensions were not decoded and were returned in the DER binary representation. Therefore in order to read the contents of the v3 extensions you have to parse the relevant ASN.1 structures yourself.
For example if one needs to read an IA5STRING value in a private extension with the OID 1.3.6.1.4.1.7782.3.3 one can do :
<?php
function asn1der_ia5string ( $str )
{
$len = strlen ( $str )- 2 ;
if ( $len < 0 && $len > 127 ) {
return false ;
}
if ( 22 != ( ord ( $str [ $pos ++]) & 0x1f ) &&
ord ( $str [ $pos ++]) != $len ) {
return false ;
}
return substr ( $str , 2 , $len );
}
$cert = openssl_x509_parse ( $pemcert );
print ( asn1der_ia5string ( $cert [ 'extensions' ][ '1.3.6.1.4.1.7782.3.3' ])); ?>
In newer versions (>5.2.3) the extensions are returned in a 'readable format'. For example:
<?php print_r ( openssl_x509_parse (...)); ?>
will result in
<?
Array
(
[name] => /C=GR/O=SOMETHING/CN=ME/
...
[extensions] => Array
(
[basicConstraints] => CA:FALSE
[keyUsage] => Digital Signature, Non Repudiation, Key Encipherment
[extendedKeyUsage] => E-mail Protection, TLS Web Client Authentication
[nsCertType] => SSL Client, S/MIME
....
?>
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SACRAMENTO, Calif. – MMAjunkie was on scene and reporting live from today’s early and official UFC on FOX 22 fighter weigh-ins, where all 26 competitors successfully made weight.
The early weigh-ins, which preceded the day’s ceremonial affair, took place at the UFC host hotel in Sacramento, Calif. The UFC on FOX 22 ceremonial weigh-ins take place at 7 p.m. ET at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, the same venue that hosts Saturday’s event, which airs on FOX following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass.
UFC officials recently adopted the early weigh-ins to allow fighters more time to rehydrate before the event.
Among those weighing in were headliners Paige VanZant (7-2 MMA, 4-1 UFC) and Michelle Waterson (13-4 MMA, 1-0 UFC), who fight in a women’s strawweight bout. VanZant weighed 116 pounds, and Waterson was 115.
Rising welterweight stars Mickey Gall (3-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) and Sage Northcutt (8-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC), who respectively weighed 171 ands 170, and Sacramento legend Urijah Faber (33-10 MMA, 9-6 UFC) and opponent Brad Pickett (25-12 MMA, 5-7 UFC), who each weighed 136, also hit the scale.
The full UFC on FOX 22 weigh-in results included:
MAIN CARD (FOX, 8 p.m. ET)
Paige VanZant (116) vs. Michelle Waterson (115)
Mickey Gall (171) vs. Sage Northcutt (170)
Urijah Faber (136) vs. Brad Pickett (136)
Alan Jouban (170.5) vs. Mike Perry (171)
PRELIMINARY CARD (FS1, 5 p.m. ET)
Paul Craig (204) vs. Luis Henrique da Silva (206)
Mizuto Hirota (146) vs. Cole Miller (146)
Bryan Barberena (171) vs. Colby Covington (170.5)
James Moontasri (171) vs. Alex Morono (170.5)
Josh Emmett (156) vs. Scott Holtzman (156)
Irene Aldana (136) vs. Leslie Smith (135.5)
PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC Fight Pass, 3:30 p.m. ET)
Takeya Mizugaki (136) vs. Eddie Wineland (135)
Hector Sandoval (125.5) vs. Fredy Serrano (126)
Sultan Aliev (171) vs. Bojan Velickovic (170)
For more on UFC on FOX 22, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.
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Friday’s opening Pirelli World Challenge practice for Sunday’s 50-minute sprint on the Long Beach street circuit is in the books and Michael Cooper topped the GT class in the No. 8 Cadillac ATS V.R. GT3.
Cooper turned a quick lap time of 1:19.671 and was 0.374 seconds ahead of Alvaro Parente who was second fastest in the No. 9 K-PAX Racing McLaren 650S GT3 at 1:20.045.
Jon Fogarty posted the third fastest lap of the session with a time of 1:20.086 in the No. 99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing McLaren 650S GT3 only to make hard contact with the wall at the beginning of the Seaside Way straight on the following lap. Fogarty was uninjured but the No. 99 “Red Dragon” sustained heavy damage.
Martin Fuentes turned the fastest GTA lap time of 1:20.288 in the No. 07 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 458 Italia GT3, which was good enough for fourth overall in the combined GT/GTA field.
Frankie Montecalvo was second fastest in GTA in the No. 66 DIME Racing Mercedes AMG SLS GT3.
Reigning IMSA GTD Champion Bill Sweedler showed well in his Pirelli World Challenge on-track debut and helped Scuderia Corsa take two of the top-three GTA spots with the third fastest lap in the No. 11 Ferrari F458 Italia GT3.
Next up for Pirelli World Challenge is a 15-minute practice session Saturday morning at 8:15 a.m. PDT which rolls straight into a pair of 15-minute group qualifying sessions that start at 8:40 a.m. PDT.
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BY TRACY CLARK-FLORY
On Monday, Rep. Ann Wagner introduced a bill to fight child sexual exploitation and sex trafficking. In an accompanying press release, the congresswoman spoke of “modern slavery,” “the retailers of America’s children,” and called for the need to “provide a voice for the most vulnerable in our society.” Wagner is a Republican from Missouri who voted for Donald Trump and considers George W. Bush’s memoir to be her favorite book. But not too surprisingly, the legislation already has bipartisan support — what Democrat could object to such an attempt to protect children?
Hidden behind the moving rhetoric about child sexual exploitation, though, is the fact that Wagner’s bill could fundamentally change the internet as we know it. Legal experts say it would dramatically chill free speech on the web and expose websites to business-ending legal battles. The world’s most popular social media platforms — from Facebook to Instagram to Snapchat — might not look anything like they do today.
This is because Wagner’s legislation — which comes with the hard-to-disagree-with title of “Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017” — amends Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. This small block of text is what the Electronic Frontier Foundation has called “one of the most valuable tools for protecting freedom of expression and innovation on the Internet.” It protects websites from legal responsibility for user-generated content – meaning, it holds that Facebook isn’t liable for status updates, Twitter isn’t answerable for tweets, Snapchat isn’t on the hook for snaps, and so on. It also protects news sites with commenting sections, like NYTimes.com, from being prosecuted for things their readers say. “It is the infrastructure that enables all of the websites we love the most to exist,” said Eric Goldman, a law professor at Santa Clara University.
Similarly, Emma Llansó, the director of Center for Democracy & Technology’s Free Expression Project, explains, “One of the primary reasons that we enjoy the broad variety of sites that are able to host user-generated content online today and why U.S. companies are really leaders in the field around the world is because those sites can depend on the strong protections of Section 230. Starting to whittle those away or create exceptions really does undermine the whole foundation of that system.”
Wagner’s bill removes the protections that websites currently enjoy when it comes to one area in particular: child sex trafficking. It amends the federal definition of child sex trafficking and allows for prosecution of websites related to the facilitation of that crime, with potential fines or imprisonment for up to 20 years. The legislation also allows for state prosecutions of websites for child sexual exploitation and sex trafficking. And, finally, Wagner’s text would pave the way for victims of sex trafficking to seek civil remedies from such websites.
Presumably, the bill is meant to target online classified sites like Backpage — whose CEO and co-founders were cleared of pimping charges relating to alleged user-generated sex trafficking ads, thanks to protection from Section 230 — but it would apply to any site that hosts third-party content. That means websites like Twitter or Facebook could be held criminally or civilly responsible for content posted by users.
If the bill became law, websites would have to weigh the risks of ending up in court. Many site operators would take a heavy hand with moderating user-generated content, warn several legal experts. Others might simply take the risk of continuing as usual, but potentially face ruinous legal fees and fines, or jail time.
That is especially true when it comes to the way Wagner’s bill allows for state prosecutions of websites. As Llanso points out, there will be some states that define things like “child sexual exploitation” very narrowly, but others will not. A website could investigate the state-by-state nuances of such laws and moderate user content accordingly, but Llanso says, “Honestly, the easier thing would be to take down any speech that has even a whiff of child sexual exploitation. And what does that mean for somebody’s art work interpreting Nabokov’s ‘Lolita’?”
Llanso argues that even introducing the seemingly smallest liabilities for websites, “when multiplied at the scale that they’re working, will turn into an incredibly strong incentive to take down speech.” She adds, “Under a bill like this which is framed as targeting the exploitation of children and sex trafficking, you could easily imagine the effect of that expanding to cover sexually oriented material in general,” she said. It’s possible that websites, anxious about potential prosecutions, would apply that to “totally normal pornography or completely lawful businesses, like exotic dancing or massage.”
Goldman agrees. “Pay attention here,” he warned. “This is not just about helping the kids, this is about all the ways in which the plaintiffs, the law enforcement, the state attorneys general could interpret regulations about the sexual exploitation of children or the sex trafficking of children to apply to things you wouldn’t think would have anything to do with them.” He added, “Forget what the laws say today. Assume that you’re going to have parochial state legislators fueled by their state attorneys general saying, ‘How can I crack down on the internet?’ And this opens up the door for them to tell the sites we love the most ways they might need to run differently.”
There is also significant ambiguity in the bill’s amendment of federal child sex trafficking law to include websites that exercise “reckless disregard” in hosting criminal content. “What’s the risk that we might be sweeping in a lot of people who thought they were innocent?” he asked. “If there’s ads on Craigslist — or Backpage, or pick your favorite online classified ad service — that advertise services that would violate this crime, when does that become reckless disregard?” He adds, “I have no idea what that could mean.”
Of course, many websites don’t have the infrastructure for, or won’t be able to afford the cost of, such a wide scale venture in moderation. As David Greene, a senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, points out, “Platforms, intermediaries that have tons of money generally can deal with these situations, but smaller ones, publications that don’t have the resources to do extensive vetting of all the user generated content that gets posted to them, will not,” he said. They either put themselves at legal risk, or they put an end to user-generated content.
There are implications here not just for how online businesses are run, but whether they ever launch in the first place. “It discourages entrepreneurship, because investors are not only risking their money but also their lives,” said Goldman, pointing to the potential for up to 20 years behind bars.
Goldman believes the bill has a real chance in today’s political climate. In a more than 2,000-word blog post on the bill — which he opened with the Drudge siren, just to communicate the gravity of the situation — he pointed out all of the things it has going for it, from the Republican control of Congress to its positioning as a “child protection measure, putting opponents in a potentially awkward position.” It’s possible that major Silicon Valley players will come out to oppose the legislation, but he sees it as equally possible that they will stay on the sidelines, much as they have during the legal attacks on Backpage. Either way, he says we can expect “a major battle for Section 230’s soul.”
This story originally appeared on Vocativ and has been republished with permission.
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Finding No. 6292 – This multi-mode Morgan Poll on Federal voting intention was conducted via face-to-face and SMS interviewing over the last two weekends June 6/7 & 13/14, 2015 with an Australia-wide cross-section of 3,297 Australian electors aged 18+, of all electors surveyed 2.5% (up 1%) did not name a party.
Primary support for the L-NP fell to 37.5% (down 3.5%) level with the ALP 37.5% (up 0.5%). Support for the other parties shows the Greens at 13.5% (up 0.5%), Palmer United Party (PUP) 1.5% (up 0.5%), Katter’s Australian Party 1% (down 0.5%), while Independents/ Others were 9% (up 2.5%).
Roy Morgan Government Confidence Rating
The Roy Morgan Government Confidence Rating is now at 98.5pts (down 1.5pts) this week with 41.5% (unchanged) of Australians saying Australia is ‘heading in the wrong direction’ and 40% (down 1.5%) saying Australia is ‘heading in the right direction’.
Analysis by Gender
Analysis by Gender shows a majority of women and men supporting the ALP. Women: ALP 57% (up 2.5%) cf. L-NP 43% (down 2.5%) and Men: ALP 51.5% (unchanged) cf. L-NP 48.5% (unchanged).
Analysis by Age group
Analysis by Age group shows the ALP still with its strongest advantage among younger Australians. 18-24yr olds heavily favour the ALP 67% cf. L-NP 33%; 25-34yr olds also heavily favour the ALP 59.5% cf. L-NP 40.5%; 35-49yr olds also heavily favour the ALP 59% cf. L-NP 41%; 50-64yr olds very narrowly favour the ALP 51% cf. L-NP 49% and those aged 65+ heavily favour the L-NP 56.5% cf. ALP 43.5%.
Analysis by States
The ALP now has a two-party preferred lead in five Australian States. Victoria: ALP 62% cf. L-NP 38%, Tasmania: ALP 57.5% cf. L-NP 42.5%, South Australia: ALP 55.5% cf. L-NP 44.5%, Queensland: ALP 51.5% cf. L-NP 48.5% and New South Wales: ALP 51% cf. L-NP 49%. However Western Australia clearly favours the L-NP 53% cf. ALP 47%.
The Morgan Poll surveys a larger sample (including people who only use a mobile phone) than any other public opinion poll. The Morgan Poll asks Minor Party supporters which way they will vote their preferences. *News Corp’s poll does not measure or reference the PUP vote!
The Morgan Poll allocated preferences based on how people say they will vote – allocating preferences by how electors voted at the last Federal Election, as used by News Corp’s poll* shows the ALP (54.5%) cf. L-NP (45.5%) – for trends see the Morgan Poll historic data table.
Gary Morgan says:
“The short-term boost to Government support following the Federal Budget has well and truly dissipated with the ALP 54.5% (up 1.5%) cf. L-NP 45.5% (down 1.5%) now holding their largest two-party preferred lead since March. In addition, Roy Morgan Government Confidence has dropped to 98.5 (down 1.5pts) – the lowest it’s been since Treasurer Joe Hockey delivered the Abbott Government’s second Federal Budget on May 12. “Hockey was in the news last week for all the wrong reasons – stating that first home buyers should ‘get a good job that pays good money’ if they want to buy a house in Australia’s booming residential property markets – particularly his home city of Sydney. Hockey’s comments attracted a lot of negative media attention for the Government with many media pundits branding Hockey as ‘out of touch’ for the comments. “The recent deterioration in support for the Government comes only two weeks before Parliament rises for the Winter break at the end of next week – to return in mid-August. The Winter break will come as a welcome respite for Prime Minister Tony Abbott – assuming he avoids the mid-Winter fate of Australia’s two most recent Prime Ministers, Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard. Both were deposed from the top job in June – as we are being reminded at present with the ABC TV show ‘The Killing Season’. “The ‘political sleeper’ is whether the Coalition can ‘nail’ Opposition Leader Bill Shorten around potentially ‘dodgy’ deals done between the Australian Workers Union (AWU) and the Spotless Catering group subsidiary Cleanevent to deprive cleaners of their overtime rates mandated by the Fair Work legislation in 2009 – before Shorten in 2011 became the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations. The resignation of Victorian Government Upper House whip, Cesar Melhem MP, in relation to alleged corruption, has brought more attention on Shorten, who was National Secretary of the AWU between 2001-2007.”
Electors were asked: “If an election for the House of Representatives were held today – which party will receive your first preference?”
Visit the Roy Morgan Online Store to browse our range of Voter Profiles by electorate, detailed Voting Intention Demographics Reports and Most important Political Issue Reports (all 150 electorates ranked by an issue).
Finding No. 6292 – This multi-mode Morgan Poll on Federal voting intention was conducted via face-to-face and SMS interviewing over the last two weekends June 6/7 & 13/14, 2015 with an Australia-wide cross-section of 3,297 Australian electors aged 18+, of all electors surveyed 2.5% (up 1%) did not name a party.
For further information:
Contact Office Mobile Gary Morgan: +61 3 9224 5213 +61 411 129 094 Michele Levine: +61 3 9224 5215 +61 411 129 093
Data Tables
Margin of Error
The margin of error to be allowed for in any estimate depends mainly on the number of interviews on which it is based. The following table gives indications of the likely range within which estimates would be 95% likely to fall, expressed as the number of percentage points above or below the actual estimate. The figures are approximate and for general guidance only, and assume a simple random sample. Allowance for design effects (such as stratification and weighting) should be made as appropriate.
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Home affordability continues to be one of the biggest struggles for Vancouver residents as the city marks the first anniversary of the imposition of a 15 per cent tax on foreign home buyers on Wednesday.
One year after the tax’s implementation, Metro Vancouver home sales have decelerated but volumes were already on the decline before August, which has called into question the effectiveness or necessity of the policy.
Despite the double digit year-over-year increases that dominated headlines, data from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver shows home sales were actually falling on a monthly basis as early as March last year – well before the tax was implemented.
It leaves many wondering whether it was the tax or an exhausted market taking hold.
Wayne Ryan, managing broker at RE/MAX Crest Realty, told BNN in a phone interview he thinks the bulk of the housing correction we’ve seen would have happened without the foreign tax.
“Not a huge amount can be attributed to foreign buyer tax,” he said. “Market forces were more at work.”
The tax has also not done much in the way of home prices growth, where detached home prices have rebound to recent records and townhomes and condos have touched new highs.
The affordability crisis plaguing Vancouver has prompted the city’s government to roll out a number of other new initiatives in the past year including rezoning for social housing and quadrupling purpose-built rental targets.
While the municipal government looks for more ways to deal with high home prices, the new provincial NDP minority government is reviewing the policies put in place by their Liberal predecessors.
In an interview with the Canadian Press, B.C. Housing Minister Selina Robinson says she’ll be assessing the efficacy of the foreign buyers’ tax and a loan program designed specifically for first-time home buyers and whether the policies warrant an alteration or if they should be nixed altogether.
Robinson told Canadian Press she plans to pour over real estate data with new provincial finance minister Carole James to make those determinations.
No matter what policymakers decide, Ryan told BNN they have a difficult task in front of them.
He says it’d likely take a “heavy hand” to cool the market, with there being “no easy answer.”
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Jesus and his company have a new edict for all their employees.
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KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, ETERNITY — At a Heavenly Press Conference held over the weekend, Jesus “Hubert” Christ, Vice President of Holy Trinity, Inc., announced something his company hasn’t done in a couple thousand years — they issued a new, 11th Commandment.
Those familiar with his company’s work know about the original 10 Commandments such as “Thou shalt not kill” and “Thou shalt not bear false witness,” but Christ told reporters on Saturday that “recent Earthly commotion over the most inane and pointless political battle of the last few years” has forced he and has father, Larry “God” Schumway, to issue a new edict for their company’s employees to follow.
“We were hoping that it wouldn’t come to this,” Christ said, “but watching our people get so heated and angry over transgender people’s bathroom choice just made us too apoplectic to do nothing this time. So we’re unveiling, for the first time in a long, long, long time, a new commandment. Number 11. Thou sahlt just poop and get out, weirdos.”
Jesus said that he can’t understand why humans are so concerned about transgender people using whichever bathroom they see fit because “they already prosecute and punish sexual offenders” so “conservatives are just being extra dicky to them.”
“And being extra dicky to people just because you’re judgmental of them is kinda exactly what I died on that fucking cross for, people,” Christ said, “so that you’d all stop that and focus on way more important things.”
James' newest satirical compilation is out now and available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and soon at WalMart.com.
Christ said when he sees news reports of Christians marching through Target stores with Bibles upraised, and causing a commotion over their decision to let transgender people choose the bathroom they want to use, it makes him “want to plotz.” He says that there are so many more things that go against his policies and guidelines that the United States is involved in that he is “truly agog” at the “minor and insignificant shit” conservatives find to fixate on.
“Um, you know you’re still at motherfucking war in Iraq and Afghanistan, right,” Jesus rhetorically asked American conservatives during his press conference, “because things like drone strikes and war for profit? They’re not really Christian. Unless you think Christian means ‘to act in the exact opposite of that Jesus guy’ of course.”
With confusion dripping from his words, Christ asked, “How much time do these people have when they’re shitting, anyway? I mean, call me crazy, but there are still people, like, homeless and hungry in your country right? How about you put all that Christian thought into doing something Jesus Christ — you know, me — would do, and take care of them first. Then, once you have all the people clothed, fed, and sheltered, then you can let your paranoid delusions of increased sexual assaults enter your thoughts while you’re supposed to just be making doody and getting on with life.”
“Granted, it’s been a millennia since I took a mortal dump,” Christ said, “but I don’t remember ever worrying about whether someone else near me, also pooping, was born with the same genitals I was. We literally just sat down on the benches, took our shits and left. So, I’m not exactly sure what has changed in 2016 years or so, but it’s just absolutely horrifying to see so many people caught up in an irrelevant, fear-based argument for being able to discriminate against people in a new setting.”
Christ concluded the press conference and said the new commandment would be distributed via the Heavenly Fax System to all Christian churches in the U.S. by the end of the summer.
“The bottom line,” Christ said, “is that I love all the little children of the world. The lyrics don’t go, ‘all the children of the world, unless they identify as a different gender than the sex organs they were born with.’ So shut up, and go work at a soup kitchen, ya knuckleheads, and stop worrying about things that don’t matter while you’re pissing or shitting.”
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Samplers and lovers of incredibly vibed out mega-groovy tunes rejoice! Here is your dream. I first heard this song walking through Camden market in 2004. I stopped and asked the guy playing it what it was and how I could get my grubby little paws on it. “Simple” he replied, “You can buy this CD of super rare sitar beats from me for 25 quid.” As a poor college student, I passed. But the song stuck with me. I returned to the market months later, and heard it again. I had to have it. I tried to bargain with him to no avail, “There’s no way I can let these songs go for less than 25 pounds.” So, I gave him the money, which was roughly 30% my net worth at the time. And let me tell you, it was one of the finest investments I ever made. Music is always worth it. Always.
Above: A woman lounging on a xylophone on the cover of another Dave Pike album. Chicks love xylophones.
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CLOSE Titans cornerback Jason McCourty says the secondary will need to work on its chemistry after Perrish Cox was released. Jason Wolf / The Tennessean
Buy Photo Titans running back DeMarco Murray (29) powers for 5 yards against the Colts. (Photo: George Walker IV / File / The Tennessean)Buy Photo
Don’t expect Derrick Henry to receive any more work than he’s already been getting, even though the rookie Heisman Trophy winner has impressed in limited action.
The Titans will continue to ride DeMarco Murray as their workhorse running back despite a toe injury that’s hampered him since a victory against the Jaguars on Oct. 27, coach Mike Mularkey said Monday, the team’s first day back after a late bye week. Murray was a full practice participant.
“I think the bye has helped,” Mularkey said. “I think he’s gotten better every week.”
Murray remains second in the NFL with 1,043 rushing yards and eight touchdowns on 229 carries (behind only Cowboys rookie Ezekiel Elliott, who has 1,285 rushing yards). He also has 45 catches for 309 yards and three touchdowns.
But Murray had just 43 yards on 17 carries in the Titans' last game, a 27-21 victory against the Bears on Nov. 27. It was his second-least productive rushing performance of the season, and his 2.5 average yards per carry was by far his worst.
Henry, who did not touch the ball during a loss to the Colts a week earlier, was involved early against the Bears. The bruising running back finished with 60 rushing yards on eight carries — an average of 7.5 yards per touch — and scored his second career touchdown.
Henry has 312 rushing yards and two scores on 70 carries this season, plus nine catches for 107 yards.
Couldn’t Henry provide fresh legs down the stretch?
“Yeah, and I think we’ve tried to do that more in the last few games,” Mularkey said. “But again, I never played running back, but I know you get into a rhythm, you get into a flow of the game, and some of these guys, they get better as the game goes. The more you give it to them, the better they get. I’ve seen that with DeMarco.
“Maybe that’s with Derrick as well, but he’s got to be careful of sitting here thinking, forcing, this is what people want. We’ve got a pretty good back. And he’s one of the leaders in the NFL in rushing. I’m not going to change something good to appease anybody.”
Injury updates: Defensive lineman Jurrell Casey did not practice Monday as he continues to recover from a sprained right foot suffered during the victory against the Bears. Casey has not been ruled out for Sunday’s game against the Broncos at Nissan Stadium.
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Cornerback Jason McCourty was a full participant at practice after leaving the Bears game with a bruised right knee.
Valentino Blake and fifth-round rookie LeShaun Sims are the front-runners to start on the outside opposite McCourty after the Titans cut Perrish Cox last week, Mularkey said.
Custom cleats: Four Titans plan to wear custom cleats to promote charities during the game Sunday, after the NFL allowed players to do so during a league-wide “My Cause, My Cleats” promotion last week.
The Titans and Browns missed out because they were on a bye. Players were unsure about whether they’d be fined by the league Monday afternoon, but they are allowed to participate, according to the NFL.
"We have spoken to both clubs who were on byes," NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy wrote in an email to The Tennessean. "Players from the two teams on a bye last week may participate in My Cause/My Cleats in Week 14. They can wear the cleats in game."
The players who plan to wear special cleats, and their charities:
Titans linebacker Avery Williamson wore custom patriotic cleats during the season opener against the Vikings on Sept. 11 despite being told that he risked a fine from the league. Several New York-area police unions implored him to wear the cleats anyway and offered to pay his fine, as did Mularkey. The NFL did not fine him.
Reach Jason Wolf on Twitter @JasonWolf and on Instagram and Snapchat at TitansBeat.
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Daniel Rice Daniel Rice has been making apps using Ruby on Rails since 2008 (version 1.2) and has been a professional Ruby on Rails consultant since 2010. Today, Daniel is CTO at Medicare Pathfinder and a co-founder and software developer at Ruby on Rails development and consulting agency LD Studios.
1 Introduction
In the mid-to-late 1990ss and early 2000s, choosing a hosting provider was a relatively straightforward process. You would find a service that could host your PHP application, your MySQL database, and provide shell access.
Fast forward to 2014 and the landscape has changed dramatically. There are dozens of framework choices, multiple database options (schemas optional), and a dizzying array of cloud providers that all do Something-as-a-Service.
At least when we're working with Ruby on Rails, there are some hosting providers available to us that have been at this for a while and can make the process of getting code online a breeze. While it's still possible to host your app the old fashioned way, there are many more ways to host a Ruby on Rails application and they each come with their own advantages, tradeoffs, and price points.
In this article, we’re going to explore some of the Ruby on Rails hosting providers I have deployed applications on and discuss the steps required to get your application up and running. If you’re a Ruby on Rails developer already, then you'll gain valuable insight into which hosting provider could work best for your project. If you're not on a Rails stack, read anyway...you might just discover something new!
1.1 A few things first
Before I start, I do want to clarify a few things first. The time I took to setup and provision an account (login, password, billing, confirming my email, etc.) is not included in any of the metrics below. In fact, I already had an account at all of them.
2 Amazon AWS
Amazon AWS provides a group of cloud computing services, all provided over the internet and run together within the Amazon cloud. In my experience, the most commonly used Amazon AWS offerings for hosting a Ruby on Rails app are EC2, S3, and SES. Respectively, these provide the virtual server, permanent cloud storage of assets such as uploaded images, and email delivery services. Spinning up an Amazon EC2 instance is very straightforward and done through the Amazon AWS Console directly.
Here you can see that setting up an image with Ruby 2.1 and PostgreSQL 9.3 is as simple as pushing the blue “Select” button. You have to work through a couple of subsequent menus, but if you stick with the defaults you can have the image up and running in less than 5 minutes. Its really fast and convenient.
Additionally, you can start off with a free tier image (“t2.micro”) and just use that to bootstrap your application without running up a large tab. A benefit of using the Amazon cloud with your Ruby on Rails application is that the Amazon platform is very stable and scalable. Additionally, there is great Ruby community support. To add SES or S3 support to your Ruby on Rails application, the gems are usually named with the convention “aws- ”, e.g. “aws-ses” and “aws-s3”. There are other Ruby gems such as CarrierWave and Fog that can also provide support for Amazon S3 as well, but most of the time the gem you need can be found using the convention above.
Getting the application up and running from this point is outside of the scope of the article since there are several ways to accomplish this, and frankly I don’t want to start a flame war over the various ways this can be done. If you need additional help getting your application up and running on Amazon EC2, please refer to the EC2 documentation.
3 Digital Ocean
Digital Ocean is a provider of Virtual Private Servers (VPS) that all run over the internet. Their claim to fame is the speed of their images (they were one of the first, if not the first, providers to offer SSD images) and their assertion that it only takes 55 seconds to setup an SSD cloud server. Once you get through the initial account setup process (username and password, billing setup) this isn’t too far off from reality. Creating a “Droplet” is an easy as following the wizard, selecting the options you need, and pushing a giant, green “Create Droplet” button.
Step 1: Select an image size.
Step 2: Select Region and Settings.
Step 3: Select the Applications tab, and select the pre-fabricated Ruby on Rails image. If you prefer to use a different web server, you can always start an image from scratch (Linux Distributions tab) and customize your image just the way you want.
Step 4: Press the Green Button!
Once the server provisioning process finishes, you get an email with your root password and IP address. The total time to work through this process can easily take less than 1 minute, unless you are new to the Droplet provisioning process and wanted to read and learn about all the options. Either way, the process to create and provision a server is all done through Digital Ocean’s minimalistic and intuitive web interface.
In summary, Digital Ocean is a great choice if you need to retain a high level of control over your Virtual Servers. Digital Ocean offers very affordable prices, but it does not have a free starter account. In order to use Digital Ocean, your team should have a DevOps engineer who understands Environment Management, Unix Systems, and is very comfortable on the command line. The platform does impose monthly bandwidth limits however, so its possible you will have to upgrade your system to a high tier just to deal with sporadic traffic spikes.
4 Heroku
Heroku is a “full service” Platform-as-a-Service offering that automates all of the requirements and infrastructure required to run and host a web application. In many ways, this platform is built for teams who do not wish or need to manage their own infrastructure. That said, because Heroku is a fully-automated PaaS, it does impose a particular workflow but for the most part the Heroku conventions are not terribly intrusive and are easy to follow.
Deploying a Rails application to Heroku is facilitated via pushing from a Git repository, at which point the Heroku platform will receive the code being sent to it, wrap it up into a deployable package, or “Slug”, and run the code inside of any number of web threads that you specify. The deploy process itself can vary in length, but by and large they all complete in under 5 minutes. In most cases, it only takes about 30 seconds to deploy a Rails application on Heroku. This shouldn’t be a terribly surprising number because Heroku was purpose-built for deploying Rails apps. As the company grew it offered support for more and more technologies, but Heroku has always been optimized for Ruby on Rails development from the get-go.
So how does Heroku compare to other hosting providers?
Heroku stands out because of how easy it is to get your application up and running. The platform provides an intuitive and easy to use web interface, but it also provides a developer friendly command line interface. Heroku charges on a per-thread basis, meaning that you pay only for the amount of server resources that you use, billed in chunks. There are no bandwidth limitations with Heroku, so even if your application gets mentioned on Hacker News or another major news source, you can quickly scale and know that the platform will not shut you down or charge overage fees. Heroku, simply stated, takes the hassle out of development.
Next I want to show you how little hassle there is. Creating a new server on Heroku takes seconds, and is all done via a command line tool, the Heroku Toolkit.
Just run heroku create and you will get a randomly named server instance created for you.
$ heroku create Creating fierce-sierra-3668... done, stack is cedar http://fierce-sierra-3668.herokuapp.com/ | [email protected]:fierce-sierra-3668.git Git remote heroku added
All in all - about 5 seconds. Voilà.
The next step is to deploy your Rails app, which is done merely by pushing your code to the Git remote that was automatically configured for you. Just run git push –u heroku master and deploy your app. Done.
The first time takes significantly longer than subsequent deploys, but this is because Heroku is installing all of your dependencies, including Rails, for the first time. This process has gotten much faster over time, but just be patient and it will finish. At this stage, you probably need to provision a database and add some additional Add-ons to get your application fully running. To finish configuring your application, please refer to the Heroku Documentation
5 Engine Yard
Up until now, we have been taking a look at the pros and cons of several Ruby on Rails hosting providers, some of which are what I would consider to be nearly polar opposites of each other.
On one hand, you have Amazon and Digital Ocean. Both of whom require hands on knowledge of Unix but allow you to have complete control over your platform. Heroku on the other hand, is a fully automated PaaS but you give up the ability to customize the environment as you see fit.
Engine Yard, however, fits right in the middle between the two poles of the Ruby on Rails hosting spectrum. Engine Yard started off as a Rails hosting site, in many ways just like Heroku did, but Engine Yard brought something unique to the table: Engine Yard monitors your app for you. That’s right: Engine Yard doesn’t just automate a could platform for you, they offer world class support as well. I’m not talking platform support...all hosting providers keep their platform running. Engine Yard goes one step farther and will literally help you out with your application and your application’s code. They’re the ones up at 3am monitoring your application.
In many ways, they allow you to have the best of both worlds: A fully automated PaaS (facilitated with their engine_yard gem and the ey command line tool), with the sysadmin and DevOps support you need to confidently grow and scale over time. All of this does come at a price however, starting at around $80 a month. This is the most expensive monthly plan we’ve encountered so far, but if your app needs to be reliable and up 24x7, the $80/mth investment is worth the peace of mind. Also, it’s a lot cheaper than hiring your own sysadmin and DevOps engineers.
6 TL;DR Comparison
6.1 Amazon
Benefits: Scalable, starts off free, easy to provision new servers.
Tradeoffs: Need to know basic Unix administration to be able to work with the platform successfully. For a startup, this usually entails hiring a Ruby on Rails developer with Amazon AWS DevOps experience as well. This can make your talent search more nuanced, and therefore more difficult.
Pricing: Hard to argue with the free tier, but it does ramp up as resource requirements grow. Each service has its own pricing structure, so sometimes it can be hard to figure out how much Amazon EC2 and a bunch of other services will really cost each month until the invoices start to arrive.
Ease of Use: Medium to Advanced.
6.2 Digital Ocean
Benefits: Easy to deploy a prebuilt image for various development stacks. Not necessarily a Rails-specific company. Offers a lot more flexibility and freedom to tweak the environment to your needs. Great for migrating on-premise systems into the cloud. All SSDs means the images run very quickly.
Tradeoffs: Requires sysadmin and DevOps experience. Bandwidth limits.
Pricing: Very affordable, but no free tier. Starts at $5/month and goes up from there.
Ease of Use: Advanced
6.3 Heroku
Benefits: A new server instance can be created in as little as 10 seconds using the Heroku command line interface. Deploys are automated using Git Push. Add-ons make it easy to provision additional resources and infrastructure, such as Redis, Solr, or log analysis. Free when using a single web thread. No bandwidth limits!
Tradeoffs: Must deploy with Git. Scaling is not automated.
Pricing: Starts off free, but can grow quickly with the number of threads and Add-ons required to run the application.
Ease of Use: Beginner
6.4 Engine Yard
Benefits: Easy to create a Ruby on Rails application server that runs in the cloud. Started as a Rails-only hosting company, so brings a lot of experience to the table. Can provide application-specific support and 24x7 monitoring. Provide developer friendly tools, such as the “engineyard” RubyGem.
Tradeoffs: Requires sysadmin and DevOps experience. Bandwidth limits.
Pricing: Starts at around $80/month and goes up from there depending on server resources and support requirements.
Ease of Use: Medium
7 Conclusion
While we only mentioned four hosting providers, the truth is that there are many more to choose from. I apologize in advance if I didn't mention your hosting provider, but if there are any that I failed to mention by all means please let me know your preference in the comments below. As far as my approach for selecting which hosting provider goes, it boils down to two things really: what is the most cost effective choice and which choice complements the existing engineering team the best. By approaching a hosting provider and keeping those two things in mind, it's hard to go wrong.
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A possible export control and curb on Chinese investment in the US semiconductor sector won't be a disaster for China, instead it will likely boost China's semiconductor industry and hasten the country's ascent up the global value chain in high-end manufacturing and electronics.
Growing scrutiny on Chinese investment in the semiconductor industry from developed economies over the past few years has made China realize that excessive reliance on foreign countries will lead nowhere and that there is no short-cut in the industry. China will have to rely on itself and spend more on research and development to build its semiconductor industry.
According to a recent report by the Wall Street Journal, the Obama administration is finalizing a study that could lead to stricter export control on semiconductors and restrictions on Chinese investment in the industry. Washington's stance will likely only get tougher after President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
The US' move citing national security concerns is not just a trade and investment issue. It is clear that the US wants to repress China's development of strategic industries. In developing semiconductor technology China needs major breakthroughs as it works to upgrade from labor-intensive manufacturing to high-end manufacturing which generates higher added value.
The US wants to remain at the height of the industry and China's ramped up efforts have made the US wary of China's catch-up. However, Washington needs to realize that protectionist instincts could backfire and harm US interests.
As top US leaders pledge to bring jobs back home, the government risks doing the opposite and single-handedly killing jobs in its semiconductor industry if it reinforces export control and restrictions on Chinese investment. As one of the world's largest consumers of semiconductors, China has been one of the largest markets for the US and has generated a significant amount of revenue for US firms.
According to a Goldman Sachs report in 2015, a whopping 83 percent of US chipmaker Skyworks Solutions' revenues came from China while 61 percent of Qualcomm's sales were from China. Possible restrictions on China mean that these sales and investment would decline, which will eat into US jobs and have a ripple effect on the economy.
Above all, locking China out of the US market won't stop China from moving forward but instead will prompt the country to step up efforts to develop its own semiconductor industry. Although the US has long dominated the industry, China is on track to change that. The Chinese government has committed to investing $150 billion to boost homemade integrated circuits to 70 percent by 2025. The development of the semiconductor industry requires a long-term and consistent commitment from both the government and private sector. As long as they follow through, China catching up won't be a distant prospect.
The author is a reporter with the Global Times. [email protected]
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Nirvana played their last show was on March 1, 1994 at Terminal 1 in Munich, Germany.
The venue, Terminal 1 was the international airport of Munich, Germany until it was closed down on May 16, 1992, the day before the new airport opened. Since then it has been used for concerts and raves.
Here’s a ticket to Nirvana’s final concert.
Nirvana’s last concert only lasted 80 minutes (one of the shortest shows from the tour). Kurt Cobain had a sore throat and eventually lost his voice during the show due to bronchitis. After this show the rest of the tour was cancelled. Here is the final setlist for Nirvana’s last show…
The 23 song set began with an off-the-cuff version of The Cars “My Best Friend’s Girl”, Krist Novoselic then sang a few lines from another Cars song “Moving In Stereo” before Nirvana tore into the standard opener for this tour, “Radio Friendly Unit Shifter”.
Check it out…
They did not play “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and Novoselic jokingly alluded to the band’s demise:
“We’re not playing the Munich Enormodome tonight. ‘Cos our careers are on the wane. We’re on the way out. Grunge is dead. Nirvana’s over…our next record’s going to be a hip-hop record!”
Twelve songs later, after Cobain’s throat wrenching version of “Heart-Shaped Box”, Nirvana (Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic, Dave Grohl & Pat Smear) left the stage forever.
Here’s the audio of their final song played live.
audio only
Two days later on March 3, 1994, Kurt Cobain overdosed in a hotel in Rome. Read that story here….
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If you don’t follow the Padres, this might be the first time you’ve heard of Phil Maton. For that reason, we’ll start with the pronunciation of his name — it’s “May-tawn” — and the fact that he’s a 24-year-old right-hander whom San Diego drafted 597th overall in 2015 out of Louisiana Tech. Since being called up from Triple-A last month, he’s made 12 relief appearances, 11 of which have been scoreless.
And then there’s his calling card. Over 10.1 big-league innings, Maton’s four-seam spin rate has been 2,446 rpm, which is well above the MLB average of 2,222 rpm. For him, it’s actually lower than usual. According to Padres beat writer Dennis Lin, Maton’s spin rate was 2,572 in the minors last year, which would have ranked second to Matt Bush among big-league pitchers who threw at least 500 four-seam fastballs.
I saw the pitch in action, in Cleveland, on July 5. Facing the Indians, Maton threw 22 fastballs and three sliders while retiring five of the six batters he faced. He fanned three, with all of the strikeouts coming on his four-seam. Per usual, the pitch sat around 93 mph.
I talked to Maton prior to the game. Later, I spoke both with his pitching coach, Darren Balsley, and San Diego’s primary catcher, Austin Hedges. Those conversations centered around Maton’s explosive fastball and his work-in-progress slider. I also touched base with three of the Cleveland batters he faced — Jason Kipnis, Francisco Lindor, and Bradley Zimmer — to get their first impressions of the up-and-coming right-hander.
———
Phil Maton: “I didn’t find out about [the spin rate] until I got drafted. When I was in short-season ball, the video guys told me that my spin rate was one of the highest they’d ever seen. At the time, I didn’t really think much of it. I was like, ‘Alright, cool, but I don’t really know how that helps me out.’ As I’ve progressed, I’ve realized that is what allows me to pitch up in the zone. My four-seam carries a little better, carries longer, than the average person’s four-seam.
“In college, I liked to work up in the zone with two strikes — it was my punch-out pitch — and I also threw some two-seams. As a starter, you kind of have to mix it up a little more than throwing just two pitches. But once I transitioned to pro ball, I threw the two-seam out the window and have stuck with the four-seam and my slider. Now I pitch up in the zone to every hitter, with the exception of a few.”
Austin Hedges: “He’s got a special fastball. Spin rate, extension metric, all that stuff. I’m assuming it’s very real, because he’s got a fastball that’s got a lot of swing-and-miss in it. He can throw it in situations where you know it’s coming, and if he executes it where he wants it, it’s still a tough pitch to hit.”
Darren Balsley: “He’s got the high spin rate on his fastball. That’s real. Ever since he got into the organization, he’s been good at pitching up in the zone. He knows where his outs are. He throws strikes and attacks. He’s developed a breaking ball that’s usable in the major leagues, but his bread and butter, by far, is a good high heater.”
Francisco Lindor: “I watched video on him, so I knew that he had a good fastball. I knew he had a slider. Besides that… he had good stuff. He looked like a good pitcher. His fastball was located, and his slider was effective last night. I think he might have tried to elevate against me, but I didn’t chase the high fastball. He mostly worked me away.”
Darren Balsley: “He has the capability of throwing his fastball low, as well. Spin rate is usually talked about as throwing high fastballs by guys, but spin rate also plays low. You throw pitches that appear as though they’re going to go below the zone, and they stay in the zone. The ones that look like they’re going to be waist high end up letter high. Again, he knows where his outs are. He knows how to play that game as far as his spin rate goes.”
Jason Kipnis: “I saw four pitches from him, and he threw fastballs. He got ahead with a strike — I was taking one — and then I fouled one off. The next two pitches were fastballs up. One was an easy take. The other was at the top of the zone, and I decided too late to swing, and took a bad path at it. He had good life to his fastball.”
Bradley Zimmer: “I didn’t know a lot about him, to be honest. I saw him warm up, and that was about it. He has a pretty good arm, although nothing special. I don’t know that he was necessarily working me up, but it does seem like he’s one of those guys who likes to [elevate]. Pretty good fastball, and a slider.”
Phil Maton: “For the most part, I like to kind of tunnel my slider out of that high fastball. I like to have it look like it’s coming out of the same spot, but then dip down at the last second, hopefully for a swing and miss.
“Tunneling is really just a vocab word for what people have been doing forever — trying to disguise pitches — but you’re obviously going to have more success if you can make your pitches look similar. If I go up in the zone with the four-seam, I want to make sure I throw my slider out of the same spot.”
Austin Hedges: “Last year, his slider was more of a get-me-over pitch. This year, it’s a lot tighter and a pitch he can put guys away with. It’s more like a slurve, kind of 10 to 4. That’s if you’re looking at it from behind the plate, or if you’re the batter.”
Phil Maton: “Lately it’s been a little slower, around 80 mph, and also more of a lateral pitch than, say, your traditional slider with depth. I’d like to get it back to where it was last year, with more [depth]. It kind of changes for me, depending on how I feel — how fresh I am — plus the ball is different here than in Triple-A. The big-league ball is wound a little tighter, and it’s a little harder to make it break.
“When I first got drafted, my slider was a lot different than the one I have now. It’s gotten a little tighter, and a little sharper. But the idea is the same. I want to throw it as hard as I can and mask it — make it look as much like a fastball as possible.”
Darren Balsley: “It’s not a power slider. He throws a 93-mph fastball, so it doesn’t match up as far as velocity goes. Most power sliders are maybe 6 to 7 mph off the fastball, and his breaking ball is 80-82 — somewhere in there — so it’s kind of a slurve-type, heavy-spin-type slider. I don’t know what the spin rate is on his breaking ball, but I don’t really care. The hitters will tell you how good your breaking ball is.
“It’s better than it was this spring. He was basically just a fastball pitcher in spring training, which is fine — there are a lot of guys who are almost one-pitch pitchers out of the pen. His (slider) is a hybrid. It’s between a curveball and a slider. Hitters don’t seem to get a good look at it, maybe because they’re just sitting on a fastball, because he’s so fastball dominant.”
Phil Maton: “From our scouting reports, I know who I can elevate to, in and out — I know where it needs to be to have the most success. I like to show at least one pitch up in the zone to every hitter, to see how they react to it. That tells me a lot.
“It is (my best pitch), but it’s also something where you just kind of roll the dice. You can’t really work on spin rate. To be honest, it’s something I got lucky with.”
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Former Bucs commander Greg Schiano believed in a bellcow running back system. Ride that cow into the ground!
That always fascinated Joe, considering his offensive coordinator came from the Giants, where they won Super Bowl rings featuring two and three running backs of different abilities.
New Bucs offensive coordinator Jeff Tedford took to the podium today at One Buc Palace and quickly showed he’s no Schiano.
Tedford coached Michael Pittman, Marshawn Lynch, Shane Vereen, Jahvid Best and other stud backs in college and believes you need to share the load in the NFL.
“So we’ve really always had a real good 1-2 punch in the backfield, and I think that’s what you need,” Tedford said. “I think for one guy to carry the load the whole time, especially as physical as this level is. So I think to have two or three backs that are quality backs that can provide different things as far as third-down backs are concerned, catching the ball out of the backfield, pass protection, all the things to be able to create some matchups I think are really key.”
Tedford went on to talk about the development of Vereen with the Patriots and “important” it is to find guys that are versatile and explosive.
Joe will have more later on how Tedford absolutely believes you can teach quarterback mechanics at the NFL level, something Schiano scoffed at openly.
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The opening night of the Winter Olympics happens to coincide with a numismatic tradition: the annual spotting of the Mongolian Endangered Wildlife Series release! With the low mintage of 2500, the 500 Togrog series has many ardent supporters who find themselves looking to purchase the coins for their collection without huge secondary mark-ups. So far, no sellers have been seen sporting these silver pieces, but keep your eyes peeled: these round pupil’d cats will undoubtedly play hard to get.
Collectors will likely have to look to international distributors to snare the fifth installment of this unique series. With Swarovski Element gemstones again marking the animal eyes (this time in green), the Manul (Pallas’s cat) has the trademark ‘full face’ design.
As the original series with designs of the frosted super-close up have become so popular (the key date wolverine still goes for $1500+) there have been imitators who have done okay in their own right- notably the red squirrel coin that was minted for Palau with the same type of design (and the exact same COA printing)- which fetches about half of the Mongolian coins. There are plenty of frosted crystal eyed animal coins these days- but the Mongolian is the undisputed gold medal winner.
Imitation is the best form of flattery, and for the lucky few who both have and enjoy (and there are some who are turned off by the designs) these Mongolian coins, they are likely cornerstones of the collection. There’s just nothing like them.
The Pallas’s Cat is indigenous to Central Asia, and like the others in the series, poachers present a terrible threat to their future. Other fun facts about the Pallas’ Cat: about the size of a house-cat, hunted for fur and medicine potions, 47 worldwide in zoos in 2010 and the highest mortality rate of kittens. Incredibly, they are they only cat that has round pupils, which seems to match the green crystals perfectly, and is likely news to most (all other cats have slits as pupils).
Finally. just for fun. the Manul’s interesting photo was used as a type of performance art- with posters going up made to look like lost-cat fliers but actually just showing off the Pallas’s Cat’s unique appearance. Until they are released, collector’s will be asking themselves:
Have you seen this cat?
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Image copyright AFP Image caption Former Florida Republican Governor Jeb Bush has announced plans to create a political action committee
Jeb Bush, brother of former US President George W Bush, has announced he is looking into running for president in 2016.
The former Florida governor will "actively explore the possibility of running for President", he wrote on Facebook on Tuesday.
He will also create a political action committee to "facilitate conversations with citizens across America".
Mr Bush has pro-immigration views, an issue likely to top the 2016 campaign.
But his views on this subject and on education have enraged some conservative Republicans.
Bush is not the only familiar name circling the upcoming election.
Former First Lady and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is currently the frontrunner for the 2016 Democratic ticket.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Bush's wife Columba is a Mexican-born philanthropist
The announcement marks the first major Republican candidate to make a formal move toward announcing candidacy for the 2016 presidential nomination.
"In the coming months, I hope to visit with many of you and have a conversation about restoring the promise of America," Mr Bush wrote on Facebook.
His committee, named Leadership PAC, will help "support leaders, ideas and policies that will expand opportunity and prosperity for all Americans".
Bush the younger
moderate conservative, pro-immigration and education reform
has a Mexican-born wife, Columba, and three children
speaks excellent Spanish
spent eight years as Florida governor, until 2007
overhauled state's education system and pushed for substantial tax cuts
Profile: Jeb Bush
He is not expected to to announce his decision until next year "after gauging support", Kristy Campbell, a spokeswoman for Mr Bush, told the Associated Press news agency.
"This is a natural next step and represents a new phase of his consideration process," she added.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption A bid would mean following in the footsteps of older brother George
Mr Bush's Facebook statement is the strongest yet to indicate he plans to attempt to become the third member of his family - after his father, George HW Bush, and brother - to become leader of the US.
During two terms as governor of Florida, he overhauled the state's education system and pushed for substantial tax cuts.
In a recent televised interview, Mr Bush claimed he "would be a good president" and promised to release a cache of emails from his time as governor.
Other names in the frame for the Republican nomination include Senators Rand Paul, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, and Governor Chris Christie.
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National League A (Switzerland)
HC Davos 6, EV Zug 1 (Davos wins series 4-0): Dino Wieser and Matthias Joggi each had a goal and an assist to help Davos complete the semifinal sweep. This really wasn't much of a series: Davos outscored Zug 20-5 total and 12-2 in the last two games. They'll rest up and await the end of the Kloten/Bern series in the final.
SC Bern, Kloten Flyers 1 (Kloten leads series 3-1): Ivo Rüthemann scored the winner with 7:04 to play and added an assist on a first period Martin Plüss goal in front of a crowd of 16,578 to lead Bern to the win. Marco Bührer made 28 saves as Bern avoids a sweep and forces a Game 5 back in Zürich on Thursday.
Rapperswil Lakers 3, Ambri-Piotta 2 (Playout Series tied at 2): Samuel Friedli scored the game winning goal as Rapperswil evened up the playout series with a road win. Martin Kariya scored twice for Ambri in the losing cause.
Elitserien (Sweden)
Luleå 4, Skellefteå 3 (OT) (Luleå leads series 1-0): Anders Bürstrom was the OT hero, while Par Aribrandt scored twice in regulation to give Luleå a road win to start their semifinal series. Anders Nilsson made 37 saves in the win.
Färjestad 2, AIK Stockholm 1 (Färjestad leads series 1-0): Färjestad got a goal and an assist from Magnus Nygren and carried the play enough to get two goals past the red hot Viktor Fasth. Having Alexander Salak as your goalie helps a lot in lower scoring games, as he made eleven saves in the third period to conserve the win.
Wednesday's Kvalserien Games (Round 4): Södertalje @ Örebrö; Mora @ Rögle; Växjö @ MODO (All Games 7:00 PM CET/2:00 PM EST).
Tipsport Extraliga (Czech Rep.)
HC Slavia Praha 3, HC Ocelari Trinec 2 (SO) (Series Tied at 1): Tomas Posispil had a goal in regulation and the winner in the shootout to lead the underdog Prague team to a split on the road to open the series. Miroslav Kopriva was brilliant in goal making 39 saves. The series resumes in Prague on Friday.
Wednesday's Game: HC Viktovice Steel @ HC Pardubice (Series Tied 1-1, 6:10 PM CET/1:10 PM EST)
Slovnaft Extraliga (Slovakia)
HK Poprad 4, HC 05 Banská Bystrica 3 (OT) (Poprad leads series 3-2): Patrik Svitana scored both the tying and overtime winning goals as Poprad won after a crazy first period which saw 5 goals and saw Banská Bystrica take 38 minutes of penalties (including a misconduct and game misconduct). The series resumes in Banská Bystrica on Thursday.
Liigakarsinta (Finland - qualifying series)
Lahti Pelicans 4, Vaasan Sport 3 (OT) (Pelicans lead series 2-0): Jarkko Immonen scored the OT winner while Antti Tyrväinen scored twice as Lahti gets the first road win in the series. Lahti is looking to stay in the SM-Liiga this year, but they needed a heck of a comeback in this one. They fell behind 3-0 5:33 into the third period, but scored ten seconds later and then twice more before the end of regulation to steal the win.
Wednesday's Games: JYP @ Ilves (JYP leads series 3-0); Blues @ Ässät (Blues lead series 3-0); HIFK @ Jokerit (Jokerit leads series 2-1); Lukko @ KalPa (KalPa leads series 2-1). All games at 6:30 PM CET/1:30 PM EST.
IIHF World U18 Championships Division 2A (Romania)
Tuesday's Scores: Austria 10, Estonia 0; Croatia 7, Serbia 0; Romania 7, New Zealand 0.
Wednesday's Games: Estonia vs. Croatia; New Zealand vs. Austria; Serbia vs. Romania.
Deutsche Eishockey Liga (Germany)
Wednesday's Games: ERC Ingolstadt @ Eisbären Berlin; Kölner Haie @ Girzzly Adams Wolfsburg; Hannover Scorpions @ Krefeld Pinguine; Adler Mannheim @ DEG Metro Stars. All games at 7:30 PM CET/2:30 PM EST.
These are all the first games of the DEL quarterfinals, as the German championship is really just beginning today.
Kontinental Hockey League (Russia)
Wednesday's Game: Atlant Moscow Oblast @ Lokomotiv Yaroslavl (5:00 PM CET/12:00 PM EST). This is Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final.
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EMBED >More News Videos Watch unedited video showing the suspect arrested in connection with a toddler sex assault, as well as two stabbings on Long Island.
Police have arrested a Long Island man who has been previously deported multiple times in connection with the sexual assault of a toddler and the stabbings of a woman outside a bar and the child's mother on the same night.Nassau County police say 31-year-old Tommy Vladim Alvarado-Ventura, of Hempstead, was home with the 2-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son of an acquaintance, as well as another tenant who was watching the children while their mother was at work.Authorities say the 2-year-old was heard crying as Alvarado-Ventura left the residence at 12:30 a.m. Tuesday, before he apparently headed to El Mariachi Loco bar on Fulton Avenue. There, he allegedly got into a fight around 2:20 a.m. that police say was unprovoked and with a female he did not know.The 24-year-old woman with whom he was fighting reportedly tried to leave the bar, but police said he began punching and kicking her in the parking lot before stabbing her multiple times and slicing the inside of her mouth. Alvarado-Ventura allegedly fled, while the victim was rushed to the hospital with a collapsed lung.After Alvarado-Ventura returned to the home, at 4:15 a.m., he and the acquaintance argued after police said the woman noticed severe injuries on her 2-year-old.Police say Alvarado-Ventura punched the victim, then stabbed her. Despite her injuries, she was able to take her children to another area of the apartment and call police from a neighbor's once Alvarado-Ventura fell asleep.When officers arrived a short time later, Alvarado-Ventura was taken into custody. He has reportedly a self-admitted gang member who has been deported four times and has an extensive criminal history, including possession of drugs, assault, resisting arrest, DWI and disorderly conduct.The victim and the 2-year-old were admitted to an area hospital, where it was determined the child was sexually assaulted and beaten around the head and face. Her injuries were so severe that she required surgery.Nassau County Police Commissioner Thomas Krumpter called the incident one of the most horrifying he has witnessed."This is, in 28 years, probably the most heinous criminal act I've ever seen, and it really is nauseating," he said. "It doesn't usually affect us like that in law enforcement, but in this particular case, it's unprecedented."Alvarado-Ventura is charged with predatory sexual assault of a child, attempted murder, assault and criminal possession of a weapon. He is being held without bail.
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Sen. Marco Rubio Marco Antonio RubioHillicon Valley: Senators urge Trump to bar Huawei products from electric grid | Ex-security officials condemn Trump emergency declaration | New malicious cyber tool found | Facebook faces questions on treatment of moderators Key senators say administration should ban Huawei tech in US electric grid Trump unleashing digital juggernaut ahead of 2020 MORE (R-Fla.) early Sunday criticized the notion that President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin could work together to form an "impenetrable Cyber Security unit."
In a series of tweets, the Florida senator said Putin can never be a "trusted ally."
"While reality & pragmatism requires that we engage Vladimir Putin, he will never be a trusted ally or a reliable constructive partner," Rubio tweeted.
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"Partnering with Putin on a 'Cyber Security Unit' is akin to partnering with Assad on a 'Chemical Weapons Unit.' We have no quarrel with Russia or the Russian people. Problem is with Putin & his oppression, war crimes & interference in our elections."
While reality & pragmatism requires that we engage Vladimir Putin, he will never be a trusted ally or a reliable constructive partner. 1/3 — Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) July 9, 2017
Partnering with Putin on a "Cyber Security Unit" is akin to partnering with Assad on a "Chemical Weapons Unit". 2/3 — Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) July 9, 2017
We have no quarrel with Russia or the Russian people. Problem is with Putin & his oppression, war crimes & interference in our elections 1/3 — Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) July 9, 2017
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Trump tweeted earlier that he and Putin discussed during their meeting possibly forming an "impenetrable Cyber Security unit so that election hacking, & many other negative things, will be guarded...and safe."
During the meeting, Trump said he also pressed Putin about the Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
He said Putin "vehemently denied" it.
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The Un-carrier Adds More than 8 Million Total Net Customers for the Third Year in a Row
Preliminary Full-Year 2016 Customer Highlights:
8.2 million total net customer additions
4.1 million branded postpaid net customer additions
3.3 million branded postpaid phone net customer additions
2.5 million branded prepaid net customer additions
Preliminary Fourth Quarter 2016 Customer Highlights:
2.1 million total net customer additions
1.2 million branded postpaid net customer additions
933,000 branded postpaid phone net customer additions
541,000 branded prepaid net customer additions
Branded postpaid phone churn of 1.28%, down 18 basis points year-over-year
BELLEVUE, Wash. — January 5, 2017 - T-Mobile US, Inc. (NASDAQ: TMUS) today provided a preliminary view of key customer results for the fourth quarter of 2016, once again demonstrating that customers are choosing T-Mobile over the competition.
"Four years ago we launched the Un-carrier and promised to change the wireless industry for good. Consumers are responding," said John Legere, President and CEO of T-Mobile. "In 2016, for the third year in a row - we added more than 8 million total customers with more than 2 million customers in Q4. Combine that with the best ever fourth quarter branded postpaid phone and branded prepaid churn and it's clear that this revolution is in full swing."
Preliminary Fourth Quarter and Full-Year 2016 Customer Results
In the fourth quarter of 2016, T-Mobile added 2.1 million net customers, bringing its total customer count to 71.5 million at year-end 2016. This marks the fifteenth consecutive quarter that T-Mobile has generated more than 1 million net customer additions. Full-year 2016 also marked the third consecutive year that T-Mobile added more than 8 million net customers, which is expected to once again lead the wireless industry.
T-Mobile also saw ongoing strength in branded postpaid customers, reporting branded postpaid net customer additions of 1.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2016. Branded postpaid phone net customer additions were 933,000 in the fourth quarter of 2016, bringing the total branded postpaid phone net customer additions to approximately 13 million since the end of the first quarter of 2013, when T-Mobile launched the first Un-carrier initiative. This will be the twelfth consecutive quarter in which T-Mobile is likely to lead the industry in branded postpaid phone net customer additions. For full-year 2016, the Company added 4.1 million branded postpaid net customers, exceeding the revised guidance for branded postpaid net customer additions of 3.7 to 3.9 million provided in connection with the third quarter of 2016 earnings.
Branded prepaid net customer additions in the fourth quarter of 2016 were 541,000. For full-year 2016, the Company added 2.5 million branded prepaid net customers, primarily driven by the success of our MetroPCS brand promotional activities and continued growth in new markets. Migrations to branded postpaid plans reduced branded prepaid net customer additions by approximately 210,000 in the fourth quarter of 2016 and 870,000 for full-year 2016.
Wholesale net customer additions were 363,000 in the fourth quarter of 2016 and 1.6 million for full-year 2016.
Branded postpaid phone churn was 1.28% in the fourth quarter of 2016, down 18 basis points year-over-year and 4 basis points sequentially. This was the best ever fourth quarter branded postpaid phone churn. Branded postpaid phone churn in the fourth quarter of 2016 reflects a full quarter impact of the sale of T-Mobile's marketing and distribution rights to certain existing T-Mobile's co-branded customers to a current Mobile Virtual Network Operator partner, which closed on September 1, 2016.
Branded prepaid churn was 3.94% in the fourth quarter of 2016, down 26 basis points year-over-year and up 12 basis points sequentially. This was the best ever fourth quarter branded prepaid churn.
America’s Un-carrier plans to share more details and its full financial results for the fourth quarter and full-year 2016 in early February 2017.
Preliminary Customer Results
The Company's customer results for the fourth quarter and full-year 2016 are preliminary and subject to completion of the Company's year-end closing review procedures. Full fourth quarter results are expected to be released in February 2017.
T-Mobile Social Media
Investors and others should note that the Company announces material financial and operational information to its investors using its investor relations website, press releases, SEC filings and public conference calls and webcasts. The Company also intends to use the @TMobileIR Twitter account ( https://twitter.com/TMobileIR ) and the @JohnLegere Twitter ( https://twitter.com/JohnLegere ), Facebook and Periscope accounts, which Mr. Legere also uses as a means for personal communications and observations, as means of disclosing information about the Company and its services and for complying with its disclosure obligations under Regulation FD. The information we post through these social media channels may be deemed material. Accordingly, investors should monitor these social media channels in addition to following the Company’s press releases, SEC filings and public conference calls and webcasts. The social media channels that the Company intends to use as a means of disclosing the information described above may be updated from time to time as listed on the Company’s investor relations website.
About T-Mobile US, Inc.:
As America's Un-carrier, T-Mobile US, Inc. (NASDAQ: TMUS) is redefining the way consumers and businesses buy wireless services through leading product and service innovation. The Company's advanced nationwide 4G LTE network delivers outstanding wireless experiences to 71.5 million customers who are unwilling to compromise on quality and value. Based in Bellevue, Washington, T-Mobile US provides services through its subsidiaries and operates its flagship brands, T-Mobile and MetroPCS. For more information, please visit http://www.T-Mobile.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the U.S. federal securities laws. Any statements made herein that are not statements of historical fact, including statements about T-Mobile US, Inc.'s plans, outlook, beliefs, opinion, projections, guidance, strategy, expected network modernization and other advancements, are forward-looking statements. Generally, forward-looking statements may be identified by words such as "anticipate," "expect," "suggests," "plan," “project,” "believe," "intend," "estimates," "targets," "views," "may," "will," "forecast," and other similar expressions. The forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made, are based on current assumptions and expectations, and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Important factors that could affect future results and cause those results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements include, among others, the following: our ability to compete in the highly competitive U.S. wireless telecommunications industry; adverse conditions in the U.S. and international economies and markets; significant capital commitments and the capital expenditures required to effect our business plan; our ability to adapt to future changes in technology, enhance existing offerings, and introduce new offerings to address customers' changing demands; changes in legal and regulatory requirements, including any change or increase in restrictions on our ability to operate our network; our ability to successfully maintain and improve our network, and the possibility of incurring additional costs in doing so; major equipment failures; severe weather conditions or other force majeure events; and other risks described in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including those described in our most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. We do not undertake to update forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.
Press Contact:
Media Relations
T-Mobile US, Inc.
[email protected]
http://newsroom.t-mobile.com
Investor Relations Contact:
Nils Paellmann
T-Mobile US, Inc.
877-281-TMUS or 212-358-3210
[email protected]
http://investor.t-mobile.com
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Moriscos, Marranos, Columbus, and Islamophobes
by Sheila Musaji
Pamela Geller was horrified by comments reportedly made at the recent Jumah at the DNC event. She comments on an article in the Washington Times that quoted one of the organizers, Jibril Hough, as saying :
“Muslims visited America prior to Columbus. It was a Muslim who guided Columbus on his voyage to the new world.”
Geller find this a “desecration of American history”, and “Islamic supremacist historical revisionism”.
Interestingly, on the same day that I read Geller’s comments, I received an anti-Muslim email titled “Muslim Heritage in America?” which opened with Have you ever been to a Muslim hospital, heard a Muslim orchestra, seen a Muslim band march in a parade, witnessed a Muslim charity, shaken hands with a Muslim Girl Scout, seen a Muslim Candy Striper, or seen a Muslim do anything that contributes positively to the American way of life ???? The answer is no, you did not. Just ask yourself WHY ???. It then claims that Muslims never contributed anything to America, never fought in any of our wars, never participated in the civil rights movement, etc. It then went on to pretty much repeat the Can a good Muslim be a good American email that goes around every year or so. Except for the Muslim band marching in a parade, I have seen all of these things.
Geller’s comments (picked up and spread by the Islamophobia echo chamber on the web), and this email are part of the Islamophobes ongoing campaign to paint American Muslims as “the other”, and not part of American history, or for that matter part of American society at all. Some time ago, I wrote an article Muslims are a part of our American heritage discussing the long history of Muslims in America. That article clearly shows that they are wrong on all counts.
Whether or not Jibril Hough’s comments are accurate historically is certainly a matter of debate for historians. There are many theories about Norse, Irish (St. Brendan) **, Chinese, Phoenician, African, Arab, Japanese, etc. groups having reached North or South America prior to Columbus. ** None of these claims can be proven absolutely, and some have more evidence than others to be considered as possibilities. There is certainly no supremacism involved in believing that any of these might be true.
1492, the year of Columbus’ voyage was the same year that Ferdinand and Isabella completed the Reconquista and captured Granada. At that time Muslims and Jews were given a choice to either convert, go into exile, or face the Inquisition. Among both communities some became Moriscos (Muslims) or Marranos (Jews) who chose “conversion” to Christianity. In some cases they were actually converts, but more often only pretended to convert in order to save themselves.
There have been many claims by both the Jewish and Muslim communities that there were Moriscos and/or Marranos who were on Columbus voyages. In fact, some have even claimed that Columbus himself was a Marrano **.
Some of those who have been identified as Morisco/Marrano are: Luis Torres, a translator Columbus brought along to speak to people in the Far East (where he thought he was going) and who spoke Hebrew and Arabic **, Rodrigo de Triana, Maestre Bernal, Pedro Alonzo Nino, etc. **
It would certainly not be outside the realm of possibility that Moriscos and/or Marranos were among those who sailed with Columbus. Although both categories of people were forbidden to emigrate to the “New World” by Spanish law, Paul Lunde wrote a lengthy article explaining how this was probably overcome in the article Muslims And Muslim Technology In The New World.
Another academic article Turks, Moors, & Moriscos in Early America: Sir Francis Drake’s Liberated Galley Slaves & the Lost Colony of Roanoke by Umar Faruq Abd-Allah, Ph.D. discusses
One very unusual and little-known event took place at the dawn of American colonial history in 1586. That year, Sir Francis Drake (1540-1596), the famous English seaman, discoverer, and privateer, brought at least two hundred Muslims (identified as Turks and Moors, which likely included Moriscos) to the newly established English colony of Roanoke on the coast of present-day North Carolina. The Roanoke settlement was England’s first American colony and constitutes the first chapter of English colonial history in the New World and what ultimately became the history of the United States. Only a short time before reaching Roanoke, Drake’s fleet of some thirty ships had liberated these Muslims from Spanish colonial forces in the Carribbean. They had been condemned to hard labor as galley slaves.
Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf wrote in an article Five myths about Muslims in America
Historians estimate that up to 30 percent of enslaved blacks were Muslims. West African prince Abdul Rahman, freed by President John Quincy Adams in 1828 after 40 years in captivity, was only one of many African Muslims kidnapped and sold into servitude in the New World. In early America, Muslim names could be found in reports of runaway slaves as well as among rosters of soldiers in the Revolutionary War. Muslims fought to preserve American independence in the War of 1812 and for the Union in the Civil War.
Karoline P. Cook, Ph.D. did a thesis at Princeton University titled Forbidden crossings: Morisco emigration to Spanish America, 1492—1650. Here is the abstract:
During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, emigration to Spanish America was restricted legally to old Christians, individuals who could prove they had been Catholic for at least three generations. Due to Spanish authorities’ preoccupations with spreading religious orthodoxy, Moriscos or Iberian Muslims, many of whom had been forcibly baptized at the beginning of the sixteenth century, were prohibited from settling in Spanish America. But these laws, like so many others during the period, were not fully enforced. Frequent royal decrees prohibiting Morisco emigration have led many historians to assume that no or very few Moriscos settled in Spanish America. However, the existence of a rich parallel historiography concerning Spanish and Portuguese conversos in the New World, who were subject to the same legislation as Moriscos, suggests that individuals evaded the restrictions by a variety of means and settled in the forbidden territories.
Through a careful analysis of colonial legislation, inquisitorial records and court cases I analyze how Morisco emigrants negotiated their status, religious practices and relationships in a transatlantic context. I examine the influence of the purity of blood statutes that permeated local conflicts over status and honor, the role of the Inquisition in enforcing religious orthodoxy and the jurisdictional difficulties inquisitors and local officials faced. Following the lines drawn by colonial authorities, many historians of Spanish America have assumed that the idealized legal and social entities, the Republic of Spaniards and the Republic of Indians, remained separate. Recent studies show that Spaniards and indigenous peoples interacted on a daily level more than was previously acknowledged. They have also challenged the unified legal category “Indian,” by recognizing the diverse peoples who were designated by this label. My research questions the category of Spaniard in similarly rigorous ways, troubling its implication of an “old Christian” who possessed purity of blood and formed part of a unified Catholic society. I demonstrate that the presence of Moriscos and Muslims in the Spanish Americas, as well as the circulation of knowledge about them, complicates notions of what it meant to be a Spaniard and part of an early modern Spanish world.
The first Jew to be identified as such entering America was Joachim Gans in 1584. Some people would argue that the first Jew was Luis de Carabajal y Cueva, a Spanish conquistador and converso, who first set foot in what is now Texas in 1554. **
Estevan of Azamor (or Estevanico) may have been the first Muslim to enter the historical record in North America. Estevanico was a Berber originally from North Africa who explored the future states of Arizona and New Mexico for the Spanish Empire in the 1530’s. **
There were certainly many Muslim slaves in America, some relatively well-known like Omar ibn Said, Ibrahim Abd ar-Rahman, and Bilali Muhammed. From 1530 to 1865 during the slave trade, estimates are that between 10 and 30% of the slaves brought to America were Muslims.
The Georgia Historical Society has a section on the Gullah/Geechee people of Georgia
The distinctive religious practices of the Gullah-Geechee communities contain influences from several cultures, much like the other aspects of their culture. The three main influences on the development of Gullah-Geechee religion were: Christianity, Islam, and traditional West African practices. This section will examine how these three influences coexisted in the Lowcountry and eventually fused to create the unique belief system of the Gullah-Geechee peoples. ... Islam is also a legacy that continues in the Gullah community. It began in early colonial North America where the Lowcountry hosted the largest community of African Muslims. These Muslims were primarily in the Sea Islands of Sapelo, Saint Simon’s and Saint Helena. Today the presence of Muslim slaves is often discovered through names and descriptions given in runaway slave ads. Charleston’s Royal Gazette, South-Carolina Gazette and Country Journal, Charleston Courier and Savannah’s Georgia Gazette give accounts of identification for runaway slaves. Names appeared like Samba or Sambo meaning “second son” in the language of Fulbe and Hausa. Often times they were described as being a “yellow fellow” or “yellowish,” in keeping with the complexion of those from the Fullah country. A plantation at Frogmore at St. Helena Island, South Carolina lists a register of slaves, some possibly having Muslim identity. The register lists slaves like “Sambo, eighty-five-years old and African-born; Dido, a fifty-six-year old (Moroccan)” and two children of separate families named Fatima and Hammett (Hamid or Ahmad). According to information given in the register, Sambo and Dido were probably Muslim and at least one parent or both parents of Fatima and Hammett were probably Muslim. Despite the presence of Christianity and other African religions in the Lowcountry, Sapelo and Saint Simon’s Islands contained a large population of devout Muslims, and these areas are considered the most significant pockets of Islam in antebellum North America. In the history of those areas, two figures emerge as the best examples of a devout African Muslims, Salih Bilali and Bilali. Salih Bilali was born around 1765 in Maasina, a place along the upper Niger valley. Captured and sold into slavery around 1790, Salih Bilali was sold to several different owners until his finally reached Cannon’s Point Plantation on Saint Simon’s Island. By 1816, he was fifty-one years old and the head driver on the plantation. He fulfilled that position due to his remarkable managerial skills. In fact, he was such a dependable driver that his owner often left the plantation for several months, leaving Silah Bilali in charge without any other supervision. He died in the late 1850s. Bilali (pronounced Blali in Sapelo community) had other names such as Ben Ali or the Old Man. His great-granddaughter, Katie Brown, refered to him as Belali Mahomet. Bilali was born somewhere in Guinea and worked on the large plantation of Thomas Spalding (1774-1851) on Sapelo Island. Like Silah Bilali, he too was promoted to head driver and managed four or five hundred slaves. His is most notable for his collection of an Islamic Maliki text known as “Risala of Ibn Abi Zayd.” Katie Brown, who was considered “one of the oldest inhabitants” on Sapelo Island at the time of her interview by the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s, recalls the large family of Bilali. There were seven daughters: “Margret, Bentoo, Chaalut, Medina, Yaruba, Fatima, and Hestuah.” Katie was the granddaughter of Margret. She explains the detailed lives of Bilali and his wife Phoebe through the oral history of her mother and grandmother Margret. Bilali and Phoebe would “pray on duh bead” and “wuz bery puhticuluh bout duh time dey pray and dey bery regluh bout duh hour…Belali he pull bead an he say, “Belambi, Hakabara, Mahamadu” and Phoebe she say, “Ameen, Ameen.” This practices are all indicative of the strict prayer practices of Muslims. In the late eighteenth and nineteenth century, Islam became less dominant as the non-Muslim population exceeded Muslims. Muslims were forced to marry those outside their religion. Also, under the horrible conditions of slavery, families were often torn apart as they were sold off to different slave owners. To effectively maintain the teachings of Islam, it had to be passed down through generations. As Africanized Christianity slowly became a force, Islam suffered. If Muslim children were sold away from their families they were often adopted into non-Muslim communities and soon ceased to practice that religion.
Muslims have been and are still part of the American experience. Some Muslim and non-Muslim historians hold the opinion expressed by Jibril Hough, and some would disagree. To believe that even the possibility that Muslims may have arrived in America as other than slaves, and earlier than many believe would be a “desecration of American history”, and “Islamic supremacist historical revisionism” is simply bigotry.
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Democrat fundraiser Matthew Lieberman was charged with multiple felonies after allegedly pointing a gun at someone and yelling “racial slurs.”
The incident allegedly occurred in St. Louis at Skinker Boulevard and Interstate 64.
According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the individual at whom Lieberman allegedly pointed a gun was standing at an Amoco station. He is then alleged to have fired several rounds at the gas station. Investigators who studied the station’s surveillance film said Lieberman can be seen on it and “bullet casings at the scene matched the make and model of bullet casings found in Lieberman’s car.”
After allegedly shooting at the Amoco, “Lieberman was at the Jack in the Box on Hampton Avenue, shouting racial epithets at maintenance workers.” He then allegedly fired several shots from inside his Mercedes.
He was arrested Wednesday and charged with “unlawful use of a weapon and armed criminal action.” One of the charges also carries a hate crime enhancement, as police officers indicated Lieberman’s “conduct and use of epithets indicate his actions to be motivated by race.”
Lieberman “has been a longtime fundraiser for Democrats in Missouri, including former St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay.” He lives in St. Louis.
His bail is set at $200,000.
AWR Hawkins is an award winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets, and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for the Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at [email protected]. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.
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Three Houston attorneys who attempted to enter The Gaslamp at 2400 Brazos on Friday night say the club is charging minority males a $20 entry fee while letting in whites at no charge.
Brandon Ball says he and two friends, Dan Scarbrough and Ken Piggee, tried to enter The Gaslamp between 11 and 11:30 p.m. They were each asked for a $20 cover charge and declined to pay. They went to neighboring bar The Dogwood, where they stayed for about 30 minutes. When they came out, Ball claims, he and his friends observed white males entering The Gaslamp without having to pay cover, while African Americans, Hispanics and Asians were either asked for the $20 or told they were inappropriately dressed.
Ball detailed the entire experience in a Facebook post that, as of Sunday night, had been shared more than 8,850 times.
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Scarbrough says The Gaslamp was only one of several clubs the trio visited that night. They started out at Howl At The Moon for another friend's gathering. From there, they went to Celtic Gardens, Pub Fiction and 3rd Floor. “We were just going all over the place because I’d never been to that part of Midtown," he said. "We were just kind of exploring.” Scarbrough says his group wasn’t treated differently from other patrons at any of the other clubs they visited that night.
This photo, taken Friday evening, shows Dan Scarbrough (left) and Brandon Ball (right) in the attire they wore when trying to gain entry to Gaslamp. Photos by Brandon Ball and Dan Scarbrough
Tim Sutherland, attorney for The Gaslamp, says the men were charged cover not because of their race but because there were no females with them. “Our club doesn’t allow multiple males with no females, so our policy is to charge a cover for that group.” Sutherland says there is no specific defined ratio of females to males that would be needed to gain free entry, but “you’d want at least one for a group of three and a one-to-one ratio is better.” He also says females are asked for a cover charge from time to time. When asked under what circumstances this would happen, he said, “That’s a discretionary thing for the bouncers. I honestly don’t know that.”
Sutherland says “regulars” get into The Gaslamp for free, as well as people the bouncers know personally and people who hold VIP memberships. He claims that Ball and his party were trying to access the third-floor rooftop terrace area and says that to get in, “You have to pay a cover. Everybody does.” Ball denies the claim and says they were simply trying to gain entry at street level. In fact, Ball says he wasn't even aware there was a terrace. "None of us had been in there before so we wouldn't have known to ask for any specifics," he explained.
Much is left to the discretion of the bouncers working the door, including whether the clothing would-be patrons wear is in compliance with the club’s dress code. Ball, Scarbrough and Piggee all says they were nicely dressed in business casual clothing appropriate for lawyers to go to work in on a Friday.
Bouncer Mike Ross, who was working the door on Friday night along with Jacob Johnson, apparently didn’t think much of the trio, who described them in a Facebook post as “3 old, out of shape, with no girls dorks lol.” (The post has since been deleted, but Ball has a screen capture of it.)
This photo shot by would-be Gaslamp patron Brandon Ball shows the bouncers working that night. Jacob Johnson is on the left and Mike Ross on the right. Photo by Brandon Ball
Sutherland says that the definition of “nicely dressed,” as defined by Gaslamp, isn’t what others might think. “There are different standards for what looks ‘nice’ in a nightclub. Trendy, hip and well-tailored is what you’re looking for in the patrons’ dress. The girls are in dresses oftentimes and skirts. If you’re wearing something that doesn’t fit you properly and you have on work boots, Wrangler jeans and an oversided sport coat, that’s not technically what we’re looking for as far as how our patrons are dressed.” He agrees that Ross’s comment on Facebook about the men was not tactful. “There’s better ways to do it than insulting people and I told him that,” says Sutherland.
Interestingly, Ross posted on Facebook that he actually has a mixed-race family — his stepfather is black.
I've seen the post please quit sharing it and tagging me in it. My step dad (who's black if you didn't already know) and... Posted by Mike Ross on Saturday, September 12, 2015
One point everyone agrees on is that there is no signage in place telling patrons what, exactly, the cover fee amount or entry policy is. “I think we have a sign saying there is a cover fee but I don’t know that it says the exact amount,” said Sutherland.
According to Ball, a Harris County Sheriff's Department deputy named Jojo Flores was providing door security at Gaslamp on Friday evening. The officer seemed to have no qualms about the club's admission policies. In his Facebook post, Ball wrote:
I finally went and spoke to the cop [...] who was working the door (who is a minority himself) and asked him if he was aware and comfortable with how the door guys were conducting business. His reply was basically..."I just work and do my job and those guys over there do their job." I told him he was complicit but he blew me off.
Flores deleted his personal Facebook page soon after Ball's post began receiving widespread attention on social media.
It’s not only black men who are claiming that Gaslamp has discriminatory policies. Kyle Nielsen, a white male, says he first observed people of color being charged a cover fee and white guys entering free of charge over a year ago.
“In May of 2014, I stood outside the bar for several hours watching the way things operated. It was definitely a racist door policy,” he told us. “They were letting all white guys in for free and charging minority men a cover fee.” He never saw whites being charged a cover fee, even when dressed in shorts and jeans. “It never had anything to do with dress code,” he continued. “They were letting black men in, but they had to pay to get in.” He also says that he’s seen single white men entering the club with no women companions. “If a minority male showed up with a bunch of women, sometime they’d let them in.”
Nielsen posted on Twitter that when he was caught observing the club by their employees, “an employee kicked me into street and mystery person threw ice on me from roof patio.”
Since Ball’s Facebook post, more people have claimed to have been discriminated against by Gaslamp. So many complaints have been flying around on social media over the weekend that they even caught mayor Annise Parker’s attention, indicated that the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance, which is coming up for public vote in November, is key to investigating claims of discrimination by private businesses.
Shows why it's important to vote for HERO, then there'll be a local law against this and a way to investigate it.-A https://t.co/uypnBIA6Hr — Annise Parker (@AnniseParker) September 14, 2015
There has not yet been any communication — and therefore, no resolution — between the accusers and Gaslamp’s owners. Ball says he and his friends are still discussing whether or not they intend to take legal action against the club.
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SALT LAKE CITY — "Today is the ending of a very long chapter and the beginning of a very beautiful chapter for me," proclaimed a smiling Elizabeth Smart outside the Frank E. Moss federal courthouse Wednesday.
Brian David Mitchell, the man convicted of kidnapping Smart at knifepoint from her bedroom nearly nine years ago, holding her hostage for nine months and subjecting her to horrific abuse, was sentenced to life in federal prison. Under the federal system, there is no parole.
"I am so thrilled with the results that came out today, the life sentence. I couldn't be happier," Smart said.
The hearing
I want you to know that I have a wonderful life now. No matter what you do, you will never affect me again. –Elizabeth Smart, speaking to Brian David Mitchell
Mitchell, as he has at every court hearing for the past several years, showed no emotion as the sentence was handed down by U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball. Instead, he sat next to his attorneys, with his eyes closed, his shackled hands in a prayer formation, and sang hymns.
Before the sentence was handed down, both Smart and her father took turns standing in the center of the courtroom with a microphone, looked at Mitchell and directly addressed him.
"I don’t have very much say to you. I know exactly what you did, and I know that you know what you did was wrong and you did it with a full knowledge of that," Elizabeth Smart told her kidnapper in a calm, collected, confident and emphatic voice.
"I want you to know that I have a wonderful life now. No matter what you do, you will never affect me again. You took away nine months of my life that can never be returned. But I know that in this life or the next, you will be held responsible for what you have done and I hope you're ready for that when it comes."
Mitchell kept his eyes closed and continued to sing the entire time Smart spoke. But his volume was not as loud as it had been in past court appearances and Smart's words could easily be heard with the microphone she was given.
Before Mitchell was brought into the courtroom, Smart took a deep breath and her mother, Lois Smart, who was sitting next to her, put her hand on her knee and appeared to ask her if she was OK, to which Smart nodded her head as if to say "yes."
RELATED:
Smart: ‘Today is the beginning of a beautiful chapter' Nearly 10 years after Elizabeth Smart was kidnapped from her home and kept captive for nine months, her kidnapper and abuser was finally brought to justice as a federal judge sentenced Brian David Mitchell to life in prison.
But rather than being nervous, Elizabeth Smart said after the hearing that she was actually "excited to have this day finally here," both because of the sentencing and because it was National Missing Children's Day and her case could be used to raise awareness for others.
"There wasn't a feeling of nervousness or fear that could have prevented me from saying what I needed to say," she said.
Mitchell entered the courtroom singing "O Come O Come Emanuel," the first song he sang during his state court proceedings six years ago, marking the beginning of his long trend of singing and being removed from court.
As Mitchell was led out of the courtroom for the final time, Elizabeth Smart said she didn't even remember watching him leave. All she could think was, "Well, Hallelujah. That's one less threat off the streets."
Mitchell had the option of also speaking in his defense, but as he continued to sing, attorney Robert Steele said his client did not intend to address the court.
"I think I can firmly say I heard enough from him during those nine months and I never have to hear anything else from him again," Smart said outside the courtroom when asked about Mitchell's refusal to talk.
Her father, Ed Smart, also addressed Mitchell before sentencing with a similar short, but direct statement.
"Your perversion and exploitation of religion is not a defense. It is disgusting and it is an abuse that anyone should despise," he said while looking directly at Mitchell. "You put Elizabeth through nine months of psychological hell."
Prosecution, defense team react to sentence
Brian David Mitchell arriving at court.
Prosecutors were pleased with the sentence. U.S. Attorney for Utah Carlie Christensen called it, "appropriate, just and long overdue for our community, for the Smart family, and of course for Elizabeth."
She said, "It is a measure of justice for Elizabeth. It will certainly ensure that Brian David Mitchell never inflicts such intolerable and unspeakable cruelty on anyone else again."
Ed and Elizabeth Smart thanked all of the prosecutors, former U.S. Attorney Brett Tolman, the two couples that spotted Elizabeth in Sandy in 2003 and called 911 to end her kidnapping, and John Walsh and "America's Most Wanted." The Smarts also expressed disappointment about the recent announcement that the TV show — which was crucial in first identifying Mitchell as a suspect in Elizabeth's disappearance — has been cancelled.
Prosecutors, likewise, thanked Elizabeth Smart and said the case wouldn't have been possible without her.
Assistant U.S. attorney Felice Viti said that in his years as a prosecutor, he has "never met a more poised, dignified or special person than Elizabeth Smart. ... I just thought, 'Good for her. She finally had the opportunity to talk to Brian David Mitchell in a setting that she was empowered.'"
Prosecutor Diana Hagen also praised Smart and her family for their commitment to seeing justice done. Every time the prosecution struggled with how much they should reveal in court publicly about the abuses Smart suffered and how much detail to go into, Elizabeth Smart and her family showed extreme courage to do whatever was needed for a conviction, she said.
Alica Cook is the lone prosecutor to be with both the state and federal cases since day one. She was assigned as part of a four-person prosecution team in Mitchell's state case in March of 2003.
"It's an enormous relief," she said of the federal case coming to an end. "It's one of the most difficult cases I'm sure I will ever work on."
It's an enormous relief. It's one of the most difficult cases I'm sure I will ever work on. –Alicia Cook, prosecutor
The former U.S. Attorney for Utah, Brett Tolman, said the most complex part of Mitchell's prosecution was figuring out how to prove Mitchell was deceptive. Ultimately, differences in how federal prosecutors approached things like Mitchell's mental competency paid dividends.
"We put on lay witnesses and those that worked with him, as well as tried to analyze the experiences of friends and family around him," Tolman said.
Mitchell's state case, where he was found not competent to stand trial and not eligible for involuntary medication, is still pending. Cook said based on Wednesday's federal life sentence, the state will now evaluate its next step.
One of Mitchell's defense attorneys, Parker Douglas, said the life sentence was not unexpected. Mitchell now has 10 days to appeal his sentence. Douglas said he wasn't sure if Mitchell would appeal or not.
"We haven't spoken much about it and not in any meaningful way," he said.
Kimball's courtroom was packed with onlookers during the sentencing, many of whom had been part of his month-long trial in 2010 and some who were seeing Smart for the first time.
Eight members of the jury that convicted Mitchell were present in the courtroom for Mitchell's sentencing, even though they were not required to be there.
"I just felt like I had to be there for Elizabeth," said Beta, who was juror No. 1 during the trial but didn't want her last name used. "I just wanted to make sure Elizabeth was OK."
What the future holds
Members of the Smart family, including Ed, Lois, Elizabeth's sister Mary Katherine, one of her brothers, her grandmother, an uncle and a former mission companion all sat in the front row of the courtroom.
RELATED:
After nearly a decade, Utahns find closure in Smart case Elizabeth Smart's kidnapping and recovery, and subsequent trial of Brian David Mitchell, captured national, even worldwide attention. It is a story KSL News has covered intensely for nearly a decade.
Members of Mitchell's family were also present.
"I’m happy there's closure for Elizabeth and that all this can be over with," said Mitchell's stepdaughter, Rebecca Woodridge, who visited him in jail Tuesday. She asked him if he wanted to write any statement. He told her he didn't want to. "He said, 'The world isn't ready for what I have to say.'"
She said Mitchell believes he'll never serve a life sentence because the world will either end or he'll get out of prison early. He believes "the Lord will save him and that he will be set free at the hands of the Lord," Woodridge said.
Before sentencing, attorneys argued over several sentencing enhancers. Ultimately, Kimball ruled all enhancements — obstruction of justice, preying on a vulnerable victim, that the abuse was extreme, and that Mitchell was the leader in Smart's kidnapping — all applied in this case.
"This is an unusually heinous and degrading set of facts and circumstances that lasted for nine months," Kimball said. "This is a horrible crime."
It will now be up to the Bureau of Prisons to decide which federal prison will house Mitchell.
Also Wednesday, Ed and Elizabeth Smart noted to reporters it was National Missing Children's Day and briefly brought attention to the cases of Bianca Parker, Holly Lynn Bobo and Jennifer Kesse.
-----
Written by Pat Reavy with contributions from Dennis Romboy and Emiley Morgan.
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Photo: Daniel Studio
Who: Philadelphia Union vs. San Jose Earthquakes
What: 2016 regular season game
Where: Talen Energy Stadium
When: Saturday, April 30 at 4 pm
Watch: 6abc, MLS Live, Direct Kick
Whistle: Ricardo Salazar; Adam Wienckowski and Eric Weisbrod; Jorge Gonzalez
Philadelphia Union just took three points off of a New York City side with no real idea how to attack on the road. This week they face a team that has notched four goals in three road matches but cannot keep the ball out of the net when they travel.
San Jose Earthquakes are a strong, well-organized side… except when they aren’t. Figuring out where Dom Kinnear’s team breaks down is key to sending them to a third road defeat and continuing Philly’s good early season form.
The strategy in San Jose is simple, yet it is extremely difficult to combat. The Quakes line up in a 4-4-2 that fluidly shifts into a 4-5-1 defensively when necessary. That caveat is essential because Kinnear’s greatest trick as manager has been to build his defense around his offense, meaning Chris Wondolowski is the conductor and guide that creates the rest of the team’s structure when they shape up to defend.
San Jose defense
Against teams that play with three in midfield, the Quakes will push Quincy Amarikwa onto a central defender and let Wondolowski cut off the passing lane to the opponent’s deepest midfielder. As the Union build play out of the back, San Jose will seek to create separation between the center backs and force the ball to stay on one side of the pitch. This tactic was extremely effective in last Sunday’s 1-0 home win against Kansas City because Lawrence Olum did not drop between the central defenders, but stayed five yards ahead, allowing the Quakes to cut him out and essentially force the ball down the left over and over. Watch it all play out in the video below.
If a team moves the ball out wide then recycles it and does not return to its offensive shape quickly enough, Wondolowski will press the center backs hard, often catching them off-guard. With Amarikwa on the other central defender, this leads to bad decisions and turnovers. It is a strong system built around Wondo’s ability to read play quickly and cut off the free midfielder. The other two midfielders are man-marked by Fatai Alashe and, usually, Anibal Godoy. Additionally, San Jose’s wide players do yeoman’s work tightly marking wide players out of the game.
When it all comes together, it becomes a weirdly suffocating version of a man-pressure system. The press is not so much on the ball — which is where the Union press begins — but on the surrounding players. This is why it is extremely important for the Quakes to force the weaker central defender to start attacks.
The whole thing is well-organized but goes against the modern grain by placing an emphasis on covering runs in a man-oriented fashion instead of the more popular pure zonal structures. Against Kansas City, Wondolowski would often push Matt Besler to the left, making it difficult for him to connect with Olum while simultaneously limiting the center back’s impressive passing range.
Even though he was rarely under direct pressure, Besler could not pick out the long crossfield balls he loves because Simon Dawkins would track the far side runner. KC’s best moves often developed when they could recycle the ball into very deep positions then advance it through Nuno Coelho at right center back. He would pick out longer ground passes to Dom Dwyer, who is very, very, very good at turning defenders and spreading play to the wings.
When Coelho had the ball, Wondolowski would drop into midfield to track Olum and leave Besler alone. But if play moved back to the left, Wondo was quick to step to Besler — while shadowing Olum — and prevent the long pass.
Where does it break down?
One of the interesting features of San Jose’s defensive system is that it often forces the opposition fullbacks to become ad hoc playmakers. The fullbacks will be pressured by wingers when they receive the ball, but if they can quickly find a midfielder or get past their man, it opens the game up and San Jose becomes vulnerable.
Undoubtedly, Dom Kinnear and his staff are looking at Fabinho’s absence as a signal that they should be forcing play down the Union’s left all match. Philly needs Ray Gaddis to come through in a big way offensively, both with his movement to open himself up and with his passing, which has always been haphazard under pressure.
San Jose’s defense also struggles when it doesn’t have time to shape up. This happens to most teams, but it’s exacerbated for the Quakes because their back four are very poor retreating at speed. If the Union can move the ball through midfield and get Tranquillo Barnetta, Vincent Nogueira, or Ilsinho running at the defense, Philly can spread the ball wide and punish the box. The Quakes resort almost immediately to scramble defense, and as good as the midfield is at tracking runs, the defense is bad. They coalesce around the middle and the midfield drops deep into the box, meaning there is acres of space available around the box if the Union can calmly pick out runners.
They are always dangerous
The Quakes have only collected one point from three road matches because playing the type of man-oriented defense they employ is difficult and tiring, and, again, they’re doing it with a back four you wouldn’t bring home to mom.
But it is notable that while teams can score on San Jose, nobody has managed to shut them out.
The typical thinking is that a team needs somebody like Cristian Maidana, or a version of him, who can unlock defenses with needle-threading passes. Technically, the Quakes have such a player in Mattias Perez Garcia. But Dom Kinnear’s experiments with a central playmaker have not been ubersuccessful, so he has returned to a system that flows playmaking through off-the-ball runs.
Essentially, San Jose seeks to turn less technical players into creators with great off-the-ball movement. A collection of speedy, alert wingers surround Wondolowski and Amarikwa, and the goal for everybody is to pull the defense until it breaks. Wondolowski has made a living by anticipating where spaces will develop in a defensive structure, and Amarikwa loves to run off the shoulder of defenders. Both players will constantly weave across the back line, trying to separate a defender from the herd like giant cats hunting on Planet Earth.
In the video below, Wondolowski successfully separates Amadou Dia from the back, creating a huge space for Alberto Quintero to attack. With this type of movement and separation, the Quakes don’t need a magician to find holes in a defense, they just need their own players to have ears up and recognize when the gaps are developing and where.
In the video below, Wondolowski again stretches the back line and a big space develops in the right channel. Amarikwa is slow to see it, and the incoming pass is imperfect. But the play itself shows just how good Wondo and the Quakes are at engineering those holes.
The other feature of the San Jose offense that is a direct carryover from Dom Kinnear’s days in Houston is the quick cross. Jim Curtin is emphasizing the notion of three men in the box to attack crosses, and Kinnear’s teams might as well have their photo next to that bullet point in every MLS tactics book.
Whenever a Quakes player collects the ball within ten yards of the opposition box on the wing, they will check for runners and look to cross. Wondolowski and Amarikwa are always in there, and the far side winger will charge in as well. The center midfielders, who are not offensive-minded in general, crash the top of the box to collect scraps and keep the ball in the final third. San Jose will create chaos once the ball is delivered into the box, and if Philly scuffs their clearances they will see crooked numbers on the scoreboard in a hurry.
Union goals
Philly needs to focus on how to move the ball out of the back successfully. The major tenets are to drop a midfielder between the central defenders and to create passing lanes to Sapong out of the back. In the video below, KC is able to play directly to Dom Dwyer, who wriggles out of trouble to start a good attack. The Union midfield must be extremely mobile, dragging Quakes around the park during build-up play. If Philly can get their playmaking midfielders goal side of Quakes defenders, they have every chance of doing what every other home team has done against San Jose this season: Score multiple goals.
The other point of emphasis should be transition offense. The Quakes are very open after turnovers in midfield, and the Union have become quite adept at creating them. Philly’s transitions off turnovers, however, still leave something to be desired. When they do it right, it looks great. But the Union have not found the same rhythm in the counterattack that they have developed in the counterpress.
With starting center back Andres Imperiale suspended, Philly needs to put immediate pressure on Victor Bernardez and, likely, Marvell Wynne when recovering the ball in midfield. Pushing them to turn and retreat removes the foundation of the San Jose defense. If those players can sit deeper and keep the ball in front of them, they are rarely troubled.
Prediction: Union 3-1 Earthquakes
Philly should win this game. But at the same time, if they can be undone by simple runs like the one that created Jordan Morris’ first professional goal, it will be a long day at Jurassic Park.
Although Jim Curtin said in this week’s press conference that Ken Tribbett looks good in practice, he also said the player admitted he was less than one hundred percent. This suggests Joshua Yaro will continue in back and face possibly his toughest matchup yet. David Villa is extremely difficult to mark, but his days of running in behind are over. Wondolowski is simply a positional wunderkind, and he will pounce on any positional mistakes Yaro makes.
The other big lineup question is whether to stick with Sebastien Le Toux out wide or introduce Ilsinho to run at the Quakes back line. Ilsinho looked rusty last weekend, and Le Toux has a goal and an assist in his last two appearances. The Frenchman has developed a knack for arriving at the second ball off Sapong’s knockdowns, and it seems likely that Curtin will stick with what has been working on the wing.
Keys to the match include Ray Gaddis’ positioning and Philly’s transition offense. If Gaddis chases and leaves the back four, Richie Marquez will be forced to chase out wide, and while he can hang with almost anyone out there, the waterfall effect of these actions is very bad for Philly. Despite looking like the Big Boy mascot all grown up, Wondolowski remains a brilliant mover and a deadly force in the box. Removing a central defender from that danger area is a death knell for the Union.
Philly also needs to find fluidity in their counterattacks. They have done an excellent job of capitalizing on mistakes this season, and San Jose’s back four, with Wynne central and the inconsistent Kofi Sarkodie out wide, will make a boo-boo or two.
But, again, it is always easy to see the vulnerabilities in Dom Kinnear’s system. But he has proven so adept at implementing it — no matter the quality at his disposal — that exploiting those vulnerabilities is a far more difficult task.
With extremely difficult matchups against LA (home) and Montreal (road) next, the Union need to show they can exert their will on a Western Conference opponent Saturday.
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From the US Chamber of Commerce to the halls of academia, the warnings have been abundant: A shortage of skilled workers with college degrees will create a workforce crisis by the year 2018.
The projected shortage is rooted in demographics — retiring baby boomers and slowing population growth — and will leave employers short-staffed and the United States at a competitive disadvantage.
But a recent paper by Andrew Sum, director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University, and Paul Harrington, who recently left Northeastern for Drexel University in Philadelphia, calls those predictions overblown.
The researchers said studies forecasting labor shortages ignore a large and growing number of college graduates who work in low-skill, low-paying occupations. These are the legions of overeducated waiters and waitresses, retail clerks, and receptionists who hold college degrees, a problem known as “malemployment.’’
If this hidden college-educated workforce is considered, then looming shortages in occupations requiring college degrees appear less dire, Sum and Harrington argue.
Sum said about 25 percent of all employed, college-educated adults in the nation work in jobs that don’t require a college degree. That number increases to nearly 40 percent for recent college graduates, many of whom are struggling to repay loans.
“We have to be honest about this problem, otherwise we’re setting people up for failure,’’ Sum said. “We would like colleges and universities and employers to work together to find a way to reduce the problem.’’
Harrington and Sum’s analysis of Labor Department data found nearly 16 percent of young college graduates (age 25 and under) were working in retail jobs from January to October of last year. Nearly 10 percent worked as waiters, waitresses, and bartenders, and 6 percent took jobs as secretaries or office assistants.
Harrington and Sum’s paper, published by the New England Board of Higher Education, criticized a widely publicized study last year by the Center on Education and the Workforce at Georgetown University. That study predicted the nation will need 22 million college graduates to meet employer demand by 2018, but at current graduation rates, colleges and universities will produce only 19 million.
The study’s author, professor Anthony P. Carnevale, said evidence of the demand for college graduates is apparent from the steady rise in wages for degree holders. The $3 million study, paid for by Georgetown and charitable foundations, found overall wages for college graduates were 74 percent higher than those of high school graduates in 2008. The wage advantage was just 30 percent in 1979.
This wage analysis, Carnevale said, captures college grads working in occupations that don’t require degrees and supports his forecast of a looming shortage.
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Dana White Mayweather vs McGregor Still Not Close
Dana White Says Mayweather vs McGregor Is Still Not Close
EXCLUSIVE
Mayweather vs. McGregor ain't even close to happening ... so says Dana White.
With the UFC honcho recently vowing to try to make it happen, we asked Dana if there's been any movement -- but the answer ain't what we were hoping for.
Then again, we probably shouldn't expect much until after Conor's baby is born -- Dana has previously said they have plans to meet up after McGregor's girlfriend gives birth.
We also talked to White about Ronda Rousey -- and he reminds us that she hasn't officially retired yet.
Still, he doubts she ever fights in the Octagon again ... telling us she's made a ton of money in her career and is finally enjoying it.
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Video Apple on Thursday released a security patch for macOS High Sierra 10.13 to address vulnerabilities in Apple File System (APFS) volumes and its Keychain software.
Matheus Mariano, a developer with Brazil-based Leet Tech, documented the APFS flaw in a blog post a week ago, and it has since been reproduced by another programmer, Felix Schwartz.
The bug (CVE-2017-7149) undoes the protection afforded to encrypted volumes under the new Apple File System (APFS).
The problem becomes apparent when you create an encrypted APFS volume on a Mac with an SSD using Apple's Disk Utility app. After setting up a password hint, invoking the password hint mechanism during an attempt to remount the volume will display the actual password in plaintext rather than the hint.
Here's a video demonstrating the programming cockup:
Youtube Video
Apple acknowledged the flaw in its patch release notes: "If a hint was set in Disk Utility when creating an APFS encrypted volume, the password was stored as the hint. This was addressed by clearing hint storage if the hint was the password, and by improving the logic for storing hints."
The Keychain flaw (CVE-2017-7150) was identified last week by Patrick Wardle, from infosec biz Synack. It allowed unsigned apps to access sensitive data stored in Keychain.
"It becomes clearer every day that Apple shipped #APFS way too early," wrote Schwartz in a tweet on Thursday.
Other coders have said as much. Shortly after Apple released the High Sierra upgrade, aka macOS 10.13, in late September, Brian Lopez, an engineering manager at GitHub, mused via Twitter, "Legitimately wondering of Apple accidentally shipped a pre-release version of High Sierra. So much of it is unfinished and unpolished."
Marco Arment, another developer, suggested Apple's focus on iOS has hurt its quality control elsewhere. "The biggest problem with Apple putting less effort into macOS isn't that it stagnates — it's that they make buggier, sloppier updates," he wrote via Twitter on Thursday.
Asked to comment, an Apple spokesperson directed The Register to its published security update notification and an accompanying knowledge base article. ®
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