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Zinc Dimes, Tungsten Gold & Lost Respect By Jim Willie CB
Nov 18 2009 4:00PM www.GoldenJackass.com Use the above link to subscribe to the paid research reports, which include coverage of several smallcap companies positioned to rise during the ongoing panicky attempt to sustain an unsustainable system burdened by numerous imbalances aggravated by global village forces. An historically unprecedented mess has been created by compromised central bankers and inept economic advisors, whose interference has irreversibly altered and damaged the world financial system, urgently pushed after the removed anchor of money to gold. Analysis features Gold, Crude Oil, USDollar, Treasury bonds, and inter-market dynamics with the US Economy and US Federal Reserve monetary policy. In 1964 the USGovt introduced the zinc dimes clad with silver. They at least admitted the debauchery publicly. Now pre-1964 silver coins are all considered different, and valued differently too, higher. Rome committed the same coinage fraud 1900 years ago. Their Empire went bust as the city burned almost concurrently. Ayn Rand is a guiding light for Alan Greenspan, the enabling destroyer of the US banking system, destroyer of the US household archipelago, and dispatcher of the US industrial base to Asia. He is the hero icon worshipped by Wall Street. The irony is thick, that his career was spent following Old Europe orders that delivered the slow motion coup de grace to the American Empire. Ayn Rand wrote "If you want to know when a society is set to vanish, watch the money. Whenever destroyers appear among men, they start by destroying money, for money is men’s protection and the base of moral existence. Destroyers seize gold and leave to its owner a counterfeit pile of papers." The Chinese are learning this lesson the hard way, challenged to convert their USTreasury Bonds and USAgency Mortgage Bonds into true wealth before the paper becomes untradable. Actually, the bonds will eventually be redeemed by the USFed with newly printed money, when an avalanche occurs of foreigners seeking redemption en masse. For almost ten years they have been exchanging their finished products to the US & West for paper with ink on it, in questionable stored wealth. The Chinese are cashing in on their paper, trading it for new global power. NEW TUNGSTEN MINE DISCOVERY The tungsten deposits come in very high grade ore, located in shallow rectangular deposits dispersed widely across the world, segregated in unusual vault heap leach mineralizations. In October, the Hong Kong bankers discovered some gold bars shipped from the United States were actually tungsten with gold plating . This is the exact same Modus Operandi as the silver clad zinc dimes from 45 years ago. History repeats itself. The parallels to mortgage bond fraud with either subprime borrowers or multiple property titles used in bond securitization is easy to spot. A consistent theme runs through the American management of finance and dissemination of fraudulent assets on a global basis. Tungsten gold bars is a feat difficult to surpass. Credit must be given for not leaving any potential for fraud untapped. Refer to insider flash trading, naked shorting of bank stocks, commodity trading on behalf of the USGovt, and much more. No disrespect is intended for the trillion$ counterfeits of superstar grade. Refer defense appropriations, USTreasury Bond sales beyond issuance, and missing Fannie Mae funds. These are legacy crimes. The initial discovery was something like four gold bars, which the Hong Kong bankers drilled invasively to test the contents. Reminds me of drilling the earth and measuring how many grams of gold per tonne. The HK bankers hoped to have 99% gold yield in their drill program for the resident bars. They found something like 1% instead and 99% tungsten. By the way, tungsten sells for less than $70 per ton, which makes its swaps for gold to be 60x more profitable than silver bar swaps. Another handy usage for the Gold/Silver ratio in calculations. The hunt was on. Now not a single assayer on the planet is available, as all are tied up. They have been commissioned to test the gold bars shipped from the United States of Fraudulent Banker America in their own bullion vaults. They use basic methods of four drill holes with direct assay of shavings, but also less invasive methods like electro-magnetic waves to examine the metal lattice structure. When highest level methods are needed, they turn to mass spectrometry. NOW ALMOST NO GOLD BARS WILL LEAVE THE LONDON OR NEW YORK METALS EXCHANGES WITHOUT SOME AUTHENTICATION, AS DISTRUST IS WIDESPREAD. The global bankers must deal with toxic bonds and phony gold bars. Talk circulates that the entire contents of Fort Knox might have swapped a decade ago. Evidence is being accumulated and compiled. The assayers have also been commissioned to assist in authentication of gold bar delivery the world over from the US exchanges. Current estimates among the gold trader community run well past a few hundred thousand 'salted' gold bars, maybe over a million . So the introduction to sophisticated Wall Street methods of currency management during the Decade of Prosperity had a side game running simultaneously. In an age where the lines between patriotism and treason are blurred, this tungsten episode brings new meaning to the word HEIST. BREAKDOWN AT GOLD EXCHANGES The bust cometh, and it will be spectacular. The stories told in the press will be peculiar, since not told objectively. The headlines might be a comedy, with phony reports of foreign subterfuge, when the perpetrators are home grown. The focal point for attacks is actually London at their metals exchange. The early October events included numerous offers by exchange officials to settle gold contract deliveries in cash with a 25% extra vig bonus. Much gold was drained from London on demanded delivery, thanks to a small army of lawyers, a small blizzard of contracts, and a few key judges at the courts. They were all Asians, the majority Chinese. Gold was taken, thus enforcing futures contracts, which happen to be binding contracts. The pressure at the end of November will be worse to make good on gold contract deliveries. Recall the stories back in April for a Deutsche Bank rescue by the Euro Central Bank with a very large (over one million oz gold position) provision made. DBank was in trouble. The pressures are mounting every couple months. Next March will be a climax of the breakdown, or else June. Breakdowns come from extreme pressures. Each delivery month event includes more gold removed from the London exchange, more gold demanded from it, and more movement toward a breakdown. So the next events have even more pressure, with less gold supply and continued relentless demand. Recall also that the exchange, along with the COMEX in the Untied States, exempt certain parties from maintaining 80% collateral when they short gold & silver with paper contracts. Thus the name suppression, or better yet corruption. They are being caught in their naked shorting game. The December 1st events surrounding settlement delivery demands will be more contentious and stressful than October 1st. In sequential manner, the March event will be even more pressure packed, with precious little physical gold in store and more targeted Chinese delivery demanded. The June event will be even more pressure packed still, a backup date for a potential breakdown if it does not occur in March. The common denominator for the parties demanding gold delivery in London is simple: they are all Asians, all, as in all, and the great majority are Chinese. One can safely conclude that the US and British banks will be broken with the nexus being their gold management, which underpins the USDollar. Other pressure is sure to mount. Not the kind of pressure you might imagine. Pressure is mounting for senior bank executives and politicians to start revealing the identities, deeds, locations, and dates of the gold tungsten swap, the mortgage bond firehose, and other pervasive frauds protected by the USGovt and British Govt. GOLD & SILVER BREAKOUTS The gold & silver prices are moving in lead fashion, and have done so among the currencies for at least the last three months. The major currencies fiddle and diddle, but gold & silver continue to rise. The Chinese, according to word from connected sources, intend to push the gold price and the silver price relentless upward without explosive parabolic moves and without painful huge selloff corrections. That way, the army of public investors will not lose heart, and will remain on the path, in full phalanx support of the Chinese Govt initiative. The Euro currency has hit the 150 level in mid-October and in mid-November, only to fall back a little. The Euro is not ready for a powerful move to 160 just yet. Such an advance would bring with it a painful effect to German exporters again, not desired. As a result, the gold price in Europe has made significant moves, and is in the process of challenging the 785 high from February. The key to a massive gold bull market is confirmation in terms of other currencies. The gold breakout is being led globally in US$ terms, since it is the weakest currency among the majors. GOLD IS TAKING ITS RIGHTFUL PLACE AS THE PREMIER GLOBAL CURRENCY, AFTER A BREAKDOWN IN THE MONETARY SYSTEM AND INSOLVENCY IN THE BANKING SYSTEM. My 1130 midterm target for gold has been hit, stated at least three times this summer and autumn in public articles. One must wonder if a sizeable selloff in gold is coming. My view is that given the lack of sudden sharp upward thrusts in the gold price, the prospect of a sharp correction is lessened. Charts tend to show symmetry oftentimes. Besides, the Beijing Put is becoming well-known in the financial circles. The Chinese are using some reverse technical analysis, buying heavily when the gold chart indicates imminent weakness. That way the clueless Western gold sellers will be denied their cheaper re-entry, and will be forced to buy at higher levels. The Chinese are employing an unusual pattern. They are accumulating gold. The Chinese will continue to buy gold with both hands until the supply is exhausted of turkeys who fail to comprehend the Paradigm Shift, fail to comprehend the USDollar revolt, fail to comprehend the broken Western banks, fail to comprehend the endless stimulus, and fail to dismiss the mindless gold bubble argument that seems to be floating around in recent propaganda ploys. Its author overlooks the USTreasury bubble of gigantic proportions. Whether or not a notable pullback correction comes for gold, who knows? who cares? This is not a time to go in & out, selling & buying back a gold position. It is a time to acknowledge a powerful global shift that will send the USDollar into the dungeon, and deliver gold to unheardof heights. The next target for gold is 1300. The targets for gold are dictated by the size of the jumps from the head and shoulder of the inverted Head & Shoulders pattern. The lost respect from the gold bullion bar fraud, the Weimar output of printed money, the monetization dependence from global isolation, and the lack of leadership all tend to pull the USDollar down. More accurately, these factors will push gold up into a dominant currency position fully recognized, as nations struggle to rebuild their banks after toxic US infection that does not end. G-20 CONFIRMS PARADIGM SHIFT The Scotland gathering of bankers had some key signals to report. Note the signal how they ignored the USDollar as a topic in the open chambers. Conclude they wish for benign neglect, where the US$ can find its true value much lower, and eventually depart as the global reserve currency. Note the signal how they urged continued global stimulus. Conclude they wish for the major governments to continue to debauch, undermine, and destroy the major currencies such as the USDollar, British Pound, European Union Euro, Swiss Franc, and Japanese Yen. Conclude they wish for the emerging market economies to be given massive assistance by the industrialized submerged market economies. The more the prominent older nations render harm to their banking systems, economies, and balance sheets, the easier it will be for Brazil, Russia, India, and China to conduct the business of walking the earth as new leaders. The new BRIC nations will build their dominant positions one brick at a time. The Paradigm Shift is away from the USDollar, with power shifting from West to East and in particular toward the BRIC nations. Their most recent visible victory is killing off the G-8 Meeting, which does not convene anymore. Not only does the G-20 serve as the global banker conference forum, but the Chinese have a lead voice, precisely as they demanded. Creditors win their way. The commodity currencies are in a different earth zone. My analysis has stated that the prominent older nations, the so-called industrialized nations, will not raise their official interest rates. They will only talk, since their banks are insolvent and their government debt securities are caught in asset bubbles. The Euro Central Bank is the most likely to raise interest rates, but only as part of a more diverse strategy to split the EU iteself. The German nation has been drained by $40 billion per year for each of the last ten years, and resentment is strong. The Australians and Norwegians hiked their official interest rates in recent weeks. They have commodities to fortify their national economies, and do not concentrate on the sale of inked paper in tainted export. The Paradigm Shift is toward a more legitimate group of currencies. It is toward currencies backed by hard assets. The currency basket from the Intl Monetary Fund seems like the temporary device. It is actually a Straw Man carrying a straw basket. Before the grand shift is complete to at least one hard asset currency, the doomed currencies will be bound together with IMF twine. The bankers believe the IMF straw basket will give them the power to control the decline of the USDollar, or protect themselves from that decline. The strategy might succeed. It will surely enable the gold price to climb versus all currencies. Gold will be like Moses in a basket as a baby, except moving upstream. The candidates for hard asset currencies are the New Russian Ruble, the Gulf Dinar, maybe even a New Nordic Euro. The process will take time, as some bumpy roads lie ahead, and military protection is required. EXIT STRATEGY & WEIMAR DOLLARS No exit strategy is available either to the Untied States or the British. The USFed conducted its helpless display to announce the USEconomy remains weak with slack capacity, and that an ultra-low official interest rate would be firmly fixed for a long time still. No surprise here! What they did not say is that, like with Japan, they have no possible exit plan. Now almost twenty years later, Japan is stuck with a near 0% rate. If the USFed raises interest rates, they pop the biggest financial bubble on the planet, USTreasury Bonds. The USFed is further hindered since Wall Street is playing the Dollar Carry Trade. They are borrowing 0% money in US$ and investing in commodities like crude oil and US stock indexes. Other players are using the free borrowed money to invest in gold. In fact, just today St Louis Fed President Bullard stated his expectation of no further USFed rate hike until year 2012. The Exit Strategy will lead to a road paved by Weimar Dollars. The world's major financial centers outside the central bank accomplices are ditching their dollars. They are diversifying out of US$-based bonds of all types. They are accumulating gold. Some are investing in facilities that are vertically integrated with commodity production, transport, and trade. Like China! The USGovt is investing, by contrast, in clunker cars, still more houses, dead car industry, spoiled AIG insurer, a mortgage cesspool Fannie Mae, pork projects (see unused airport in Johnstown Pennsylvania), and a dubious war on terrorism. Quite a contrast! With the news spreading globally about tungsten-laced gold bars, or actually gold-plated tungsten bars, the reputation of the Untied States will grow more tarnished. In time, the only friend of the USDept Treasury to finance its steady stream of Trillion$ in debt will be the Printing Pre$$. Without the printed money to pull off the auctions, they would be utter loud failures. Without the USDollar Swap Facility, foreign central banks would not have funds to use in Treasury auctions. Without the funds from foreign USAgency Mortgage Bonds sold to the USFed for freshly printed USDollars, the foreign central banks would not have funds to use in Treasury auctions. Without the Permanent Market Operations used to scoop up all the unsold bonds stuck with primary dealers, one week routinely after each auction, dealers would be unable to participate in the next Treasury auctions. They would suffer from bond constipation. The key event in the next few months, pushed by the foreign disgust at fraud more pervasive than ever conceived by ordinary man, is THE EXPOSURE OF MONETIZATION for support of the USTreasury Bond. The debt monetization remains a dirty secret, well concealed by the USGovt and the financial press. What comes is isolation, and to those isolated, their best friend will be a Printing Pre$$. Exposure comes, with detrimental impact to the USDollar. The resulting tarnish to the USGovt image and Wall Street reputation will be reflected on the USDollar. In time it will fully resemble a Third World currency. The process will take time, but hyper-inflation is coming to US shores. Where are the Deflation Knuckleheads who tended to dominate the web journals last spring and summer, in incredible dense vapid clueless fashion??? What a tremendously misguided group. They follow religiously the deteriorating economies, miss the twin storm, ignore the power of the unprecedented monetary inflation, and somehow overlook the entire global movement if not revolt against the USDollar in a grand Paradigm Shift. They represent the worst economists in the alternative media on web journals. Their tunnel vision on the falling asset price effect left them vulnerable to missing a tsunami on their own doorstep, incredibly. They still do not offer an explanation of why crude is at the $80 price level again. Supplies of oil are nowhere as great as the false USGovt statistics indicate, but the entire world is hedging at the same time against the US$ with oil assets. OBAMA VISITS THE LEAD US CREDITOR During the president visit to Beijing, Obama has been reminded of who the master creditor is. It is China. In public no discussions are made of the Chinese concentrated pressure in London at the metal exchange. Taboo topic. The US President has slipped on three key topics, with mention of the human rights issue, currency manipulation, and the future of communism. The US has no place to lecture any other nation. China is actually moving toward capitalism, while America has forgotten what capitalism is, and marches with right foot in fascist mud and left foot in communism mud. The Chinese serve as the spearhead to displace the USDollar from its perch as the global reserve currency. They realize fully that the battle that must be won is over the Gold-Dollar fiery rod. The Chinese might be orchestrating a gold price move to 1150 and a silver price move to 19 just to slap the US face a little during the state visit. Creo que si! THE HAT TRICK LETTER PROFITS IN THE CURRENT CRISIS. From subscribers and readers: At least 30 recently on correct forecasts regarding the bailout parade, numerous nationalization deals such as for Fannie Mae and the grand Mortgage Rescue. "Thanks for the quality of the information you put forth in your newsletter. I read a lot of newsletters, blogs, and financial sites. The accuracy of your information has been second to none over the past couple of years."
(MikeP in Missouri) "Your October HTL was your best writing since I have been subscribing. It just amazes me how much you write each month, all top-notch stuff."
(DavidL in Michigan) "I used to read your public articles, and listen to you, but never realized until I joined what extra and detailed analysis you give to subscription clients. You always seem to be far ahead of everyone else. It is useful to 'see' what is happening, and you do this far better than the economists! I can think of many areas in life now where the best exponent is somebody not trained academically in that area."
(JamesA in England) "You seem to have it nailed. I used to think you were paranoid. Now I think you are psychic!"
(ShawnU in Ontario) Jim Willie CB
Editor of the "HAT TRICK LETTER"
Hat Trick Letter
November 05, 2009 **** Jim Willie CB is a statistical analyst in marketing research and retail forecasting. He holds a PhD in Statistics. His career has stretched over 24 years. He aspires to thrive in the financial editor world, unencumbered by the limitations of economic credentials. Visit his free website to find articles from topflight authors at www.GoldenJackass.com . For personal questions about subscriptions, contact him at [email protected]
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Farmville may be the title of a farming game on Facebook, but it also happens to be a small town in Virginia. Small towns tend to be some of the best places to hunt for barn finds, but it would seem this town is home to more than just a few classics. When Brian M. sent us an email about an upcoming sale of cars in Farmville, we assumed it would just be a couple old cars. We were more than a little surprised when we looked at the craigslist ad to discover that this auction includes a large number of cars. Be sure to take a look at the listing here to get a detailed list of what is being sold off on January 18th.
Besides having a barn full of cars, most of which appear to be Mopars, the seller also has a field full of rusty iron. We are going to guess that this was a salvage yard at one time, but given the overgrowth we would assume it’s not been open to the public for a number of years. The seller didn’t state whether everything is for sale or just the cars they have listed in their ad.
Besides having a massive number of cars, the seller also has lots of parts, especially for Mopars. This might be a great chance to score some parts for that barn find project you have parked in the garage. We aren’t sure how many of these cars are solid enough to restore, but we are sure there are more than a few worth saving, even if it’s just to rescue another car.
We aren’t sure if we would buy anything from this collection, but we would certainly love to spend an afternoon walking through it. Seeing so many pieces of American Iron lined up in perfect rows like this would bring back great childhood memories of going to the salvage yard on a Saturday morning with dad. Sadly we won’t be able to attend this event, but if anyone is in the area be sure to stop by and take a look. Be sure to let us know if there are any hidden gems in there!
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Wolves Living Close To Chicago... For Now...
By JoshMogerman in News on Apr 16, 2011 7:00PM
Gray wolves [National Park Service] controversial policy rider was slipped into the final bill that booted the critters off the Endangered Species list despite ongoing scientific debate over their recovery. But what gets lost in the noisy fight over wolves out West is that there are way more of them in our neck of the woods. Chicago might be devoid of predators (aside from coyotes and the sexual kind) but we are a car-ride away from howling packs in the counties northwest of Madison. Right now there are 4,000 wolves in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan but a proposed federal rule change might whack those numbers down quickly in the Great Lakes.
Perhaps it is the milder Midwestern manner that has allowed the wolves an easier time in the Great Lakes than out west where the public debate has been a 24-7 talk radio staple---but it seems patience is starting to wear thin up north too. As conflicts grow, wolves have become targets. The AP notes:
In Michigan's far north, where the latest count totaled 557, people are taking matters into their own hands, [Michigan Department of Natural Resources wildlife specialist, Brian] Roell said. Ten illegally killed wolves have been found in the Upper Peninsula this year.
The high population numbers and growing conflict are helping to fuel a renewed effort by the federal government to dump the Great Lakes wolves from the Endangered Species list too. The Fish and Wildlife Service announced Friday that the states would take control over wolf populations, opening the door to more aggressive government hunting---though no open hunting season or trapping would be allowed for the next five years
The announcement included an interesting new detail—apparently our wolves are a different species from the bruisers out West. Federal biologists claim that recent studies show the northern wolves to be a new and distinct species, canis lycaon. We've always known that things are a bit different for Cheeseheads and Northlanders—but a new species? Clearly the situation in this region is far different from the mess out West, but given the emotional and cultural baggage that accompanies wolves everywhere, there is probably another fight brewing. We will keep an eye on this as the debate heats up.
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Tom Price was confirmed as Health and Human Services Secretary today. He is a staunch opponent of the Affordable Care Act. - Win McNamee/Getty Images
Early this morning, Tom Price was confirmed as Secretary for Health and Human Services. His priority: the as yet undefined Republican replacement for the Affordable Care Act, which President Donald Trump has promised this year, or maybe next.
Part of the overhaul is likely to include changes to Medicaid, the program that serves low-income Americans, children and the disabled, which was greatly expanded under Obamacare. It could be in for massive restructuring.
This leaves 27-year-old Dane Pangonis in Philadelphia anxious.
“One of the main reasons I signed up for Medicaid,” he said, “is that I lost my job. I didn’t have the income to continue paying for insurance.”
Pangonis is one of about 12 million Americans who have gotten Medicaid coverage through the expansion of the program under Obamacare.
In Pangonis’ case, he’s struggled with a variety of health problems, including substance and alcohol abuse, depression and neurological complications after an accident several years ago. More than anything, he said he wanted Medicaid to protect himself.
“I’m gay,” he said. “So I’m at high-risk for contracting HIV, so I take this medication, Truvada, so it doesn’t happen, and it’s covered by Medicaid.”
Pangonis is one of about 12 million Americans who have gotten coverage under the medicaid expansion. Before, most states covered mainly people who were poor — well below the federal poverty level — and only if they had children. Someone like Pangonis would've been out of luck.
To date, 31 states plus the District of Columbia have expanded coverage to include childless adults like him and people slightly above the poverty level.
But that expanded coverage could disappear under this new Congress. Harvard economist and physician Ben Sommers said that would be short-sighted.
“Study after study that have been published both before and since the ACA show that when people get Medicaid from being uninsured, they are more likely to have primary care, they are more likely to be able to take their medications,” he said.
Other studies have shown depression rates drop, people feel more financially secure and say they're in better health.
But critics point out Medicaid has had little impact on chronic diseases like diabetes, and it's costly.
A recent study found federal spending jumped by 16 percent between 2014 and 2015, roughly $55 billion.
Economist John Goodman with the conservative Independent Institute believes taxpayers — and people on Medicaid — would get a better deal if government backed away from health care.
“I would like to get people who are on Medicaid to take those same dollars and buy private health insurance,” he said.
There’s definitely plenty of room to debate whether we’re getting our money’s worth. But back in Philadelphia, Pangonis isn’t thinking about that. He’s just wondering if he’ll be able to afford his medication.
“I would see if I can afford it online. Or I just wouldn’t take it," he said.
Pangonis said health insurance has given him peace of mind. If he had a problem, he’d call his doctor. He’s knows now things may change.
“I think the best compliment I can give is not to say how much your programs have taught me (a ton), but how much Marketplace has motivated me to go out and teach myself.” – Michael in Arlington, VA As a nonprofit news organization, what matters to us is the same thing that matters to you: being a source for trustworthy, independent news that makes people smarter about business and the economy. So if Marketplace has helped you understand the economy better, make more informed financial decisions or just encouraged you to think differently, we’re asking you to give a little something back. Become a Marketplace Investor today – in whatever amount is right for you – and keep public service journalism strong. We’re grateful for your support. BEFORE YOU GO
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Google-Chrysler hookup is real by David Zatz on
The Chrysler Pacifica will be able to drive itself.
Google’s Self-Driving Car Project and Fiat Chrysler announced that the 2017 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivans would be integrated into Google’s self-driving test program, the first time that Google has worked directly with an automaker. The number of Pacificas to be added to the Google fleet will be greater than the total size of the fleet today.
FCA will engineer around 100 vehicles for Google, which will integrate its sensors and computers. The project will be located in southeast Michigan.
John Krafcik, Chief Executive Officer of the Google Self-Driving Car Project, said, “FCA has a nimble and experienced engineering team and the Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivan is well-suited for Google’s self-driving technology.”
Around 33,000 deaths occur each year on U.S. roads, 94% of which are caused by human error.
Google’s self-driving cars are currently being tested in four U.S. cities. Self-driving Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivans will be tested at Google’s private test track in California before running on public roads.
Sergio Marchionne, CEO of FCA, had previously said that the company would seek partnerships for autonomous-car technology rather than creating it in-house.
The story was scooped by numerous publications before the announcement.
David Zatz founded Allpar in 1998 (based on a site he had begun in 1993-94), after years of writing reviews for retail trades. He has been quoted by the New York Times, Daily Telegraph, Detroit News, and USA Today; and he wrote the book on minivans, literally.
Before making Allpar a full-time career, he was a consultant in organizational psychology, leading to his research and change and Mac statistics software sites. You can reach him by using our contact form.
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Think a religious upbringing necessarily entails positive personality traits, such as generosity? These scientists may have just proved you wrong.
Jean Decety, a developmental neuroscientist at the University of Chicago, collaborated with researchers in Canada, China, Jordan, South Africa and Turkey, as well as with fellow Americans, to look at children aged between five and 12 and their families.
Each child was provided with 30 stickers and told that they could keep 10 of them.
They were then asked to play something called a 'dictator game'. Once a child had made his selection he was told that there was not time to play the game with all the children at the school, but that he was allowed give away some of his ten stickers to a random schoolmate who would not otherwise be able to take part.
He was given some time to think about this, and after his decision was made, scientists charted whether he gave away stickers, and if so, how many he gave away.
They found that children of non-believers were more generous than children of believers.
They gave away an average of 4.1 stickers. Children from a religious background gave away 3.3.
This effect remained regardless of a family’s wealth and status, a child’s age or the nationality of the participant.
However, they also found that children from religious families were more sensitive to injustice than children from non-religious families.
When asked, religious parents reported their children to be more sensitive than non-believing parents did.
The children came from 1,170 families, and the researchers focussed on one child per family.
510 identified themselves as Muslim, 280 as Christian, 29 as Jewish, 18 as Buddhist and 5 as Hindu. A further 323 said they were non-religious, 3 were agnostic and 2 ticked the box marked “other”.
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Image copyright PA Image caption Brown rats opportunistic behaviour helped the species to spread quickly
Brown rats are among the most invasive mammals in Europe, according to a wide-ranging assessment.
Swiss researchers found that the creatures, along with sika deer and muskrats, were having the greatest ecological and economic impact.
The team considered a range of measurements, including the threats to native species and how widely the alien species had become established.
The findings have been published in the journal Conservation Biology.
The scientists said they had developed a scoring system that compared the impact of non-native species across the taxonomic group of mammals.
"This scoring can be used to identify the most harmful alien species, so that conservation measures to ameliorate their negative effects can be prioritised," they wrote.
"Alien invasive species are a large threat to biodiversity and the economic damage that they cause exceeds 5% of the global gross product."
Scoring impacts
To develop the "scorecard", the researchers looked at impact reports for all of the known invasive mammals found in Europe, before classifying the recorded impacts as either environmental or economic.
A better understanding of the relationship between impact scores and species traits may provide a novel method with which to predict the potential impact of a new alien mammal species Research team writing in Conservation Biology
Within the two classifications, there were a number of sub-divisions of impacts, including predation, hybridisation, transmission of diseases, and the species' impact on agriculture.
For each criterion, the researchers awarded "impact scores", which ranged from zero (no known impact) to five (maximum possible impact) to reach a "potential impact" score.
This was then multiplied by the percentage of area within Europe that was occupied by the invasive species to give the researchers an "actual impact" score.
The team applied the scoring system to 34 "true alien" mammal species, all of which had a native range outside of Europe. Brown rats, sika deer and muskrats had the highest overall scores.
The brown rat (Rattus norvegicus) is found across Europe in all habitats except high mountain ranges. It was believed to have been introduced in the 18th Century as maritime traffic increased.
Once introduced into an area, there is a recorded fall in other small rodent species, as well as marine and land bird species. The main economic impact is the result of damaged crops and food stores, and damage to people's homes.
According to the EU 's database of alien species, sika deer are described "a serious forest pest, causing significant damage to broadleaved and conifer plantations".
The deer "ring" trees, in which they strip bark around the base of trees, causing them to die. There have also been recorded cases of the animals carrying bovine and avian TB.
Muskrats are stocky aquatic rodents, weighing up to 1.8kg. Once imported for fur farming, they are found throughout continental Europe and cause extensive damage to aquatic vegetation habitats, crops, irrigation systems and dams.
The researchers said they decided to develop the scorecard because it had been proving difficult to get an overall view of what species were causing the most harm to native habitats.
"It is obviously challenging to compare the damage caused by different species, such as the carnivorous American mink and the herbivorous sika deer," they observed.
"To overcome these obstacles, a general system of impact categories was needed, which allowed scoring and comparison of all potentially relevant types of environmental and economic impacts caused by alien species.
"A better understanding of the relationship between impact scores and species traits may provide a novel method with which to predict the potential impact of a new alien mammal species."
The team added that the system could be applied to other taxonomic classes of species, such as birds or fish, and allow resources to be targeted towards the species that cause the most damage.
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LineageOS is now available for the Nvidia Shield Android TV officially. You can download it from the company’s official website. We will provide the link below.
It must have cleared the alpha stage alongside the experimental stage as it is currently available for downloads in the form of a nightly build.
The Nvidia Shield Android TV, by default, comes with the Android TV 7.0 Nougat pre-installed. However, in case you are a sucker for more customization options, know that the LineageOS is now available for downloads.
Read: Xiaomi Mi4c and Mi Mix official Lineage OS ROM now available for download
You will, of course, have to unlock the bootloader of your Nvidia Shield Android TV, flash TWRP custom recovery, and then flash ROM to install the LineageOS.
To download the LineageOS nightly build for the Shield Android TV, click on the link below.
→ Download LineageOS for Nvidia Shield Android TV
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P1 SPEED27 CAMERA07
According to the New York Post, John Petrozza raked in millions as an owner of American Traffic Solutions, the company that holds a $121 million contract to operate red-light cameras in New York City and another multimillion-dollar deal to do the same in Long Island. (Advance File Photo)
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A Staten Island man, whose company holds a $121 million contract to operate red-light cameras in New York City, has committed more than a dozen traffic violations in recent years, according to a report by the New York Post.
John Petrozza, 51, of Richmond, co-owner of Tiki Island bar in Tottenville, has committed 15 moving violations -- including DWI arrests and license suspensions and revocations -- in three states since 2012, according to the Post.
According to the report, Petrozza also ranks No. 61 (now 58) on the list of the 250 worst tax offenders in New York with a $1.6 million lien for unpaid 2012 state income tax.
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Exercise 15: Reading Files
You know how to get input from a user with gets.chomp or ARGV . Now you will learn about reading from a file. You may have to play with this exercise the most to understand what's going on, so do the exercise carefully and remember your checks. Working with files is an easy way to erase your work if you are not careful.
This exercise involves writing two files. One is the usual ex15.rb file that you will run, but the other is named ex15_sample.txt . This second file isn't a script but a plain text file we'll be reading in our script. Here are the contents of that file:
This is stuff I typed into a file. It is really cool stuff. Lots and lots of fun to have in here.
What we want to do is "open" that file in our script and print it out. However, we do not want to just "hard code" the name ex15_sample.txt into our script. "Hard coding" means putting some bit of information that should come from the user as a string directly in our source code. That's bad because we want it to load other files later. The solution is to use ARGV or gets.chomp to ask the user what file to open instead of "hard coding" the file's name.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 filename = ARGV . first txt = open ( filename ) puts "Here's your file #{ filename } :" print txt . read print "Type the filename again: " file_again = $stdin . gets . chomp txt_again = open ( file_again ) print txt_again . read
A few fancy things are going on in this file, so let's break it down real quickly:
Lines 1-2 uses ARGV to get a filename. Next we have line 3, where we use a new command open . Right now, run ri "File#open" and read the instructions. Notice how, like your own scripts and gets.chomp , it takes a parameter and returns a value you can set to your own variable. You just opened a file. Line 5 prints a little message, but on line 6 we have something very new and exciting. We call a function on txt named read . What you get back from open is a File , and it also has commands you can give it. You give a file a command by using the . (dot or period), the name of the command, and parameters, just like with open and gets.chomp . The difference is that txt.read says, "Hey txt ! Do your read command with no parameters!"
The remainder of the file is more of the same, but we'll leave the analysis to you in the Study Drills.
What You Should See Warning Pay attention! I said pay attention! You have been running scripts with just the name of the script, but now that you are using ARGV you have to add arguments. Look at the very first line of the example below and you will see I do ruby ex15.rb ex15_sample.txt to run it. See the extra argument ex15_sample.txt after the ex15.rb script name. If you do not type that you will get an error so pay attention! I made a file called ex15_sample.txt and ran my script. $ ruby ex15.rb ex15_sample.txt Here's your file ex15_sample.txt: This is stuff I typed into a file. It is really cool stuff. Lots and lots of fun to have in here. Type the filename again: ex15_sample.txt This is stuff I typed into a file. It is really cool stuff. Lots and lots of fun to have in here.
Study Drills This is a big jump, so be sure you do this Study Drill as best you can before moving on. Above each line, write out in English what that line does. If you are not sure, ask someone for help or search online. Many times searching for "ruby THING" will find answers to what that THING does in Ruby. Try searching for "ruby open." I used the word "commands" here, but commands are also called "functions" and "methods." You will learn about functions and methods later in the book. Get rid of the lines 8-13 where you use gets.chomp and run the script again. Use only gets.chomp and try the script that way. Why is one way of getting the filename better than another? Start irb to start the irb shell, and use open from the prompt just like in this program. Notice how you can open files and run read on them from within irb ? Have your script also call close() on the txt and txt_again variables. It's important to close files when you are done with them.
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"unlicensed" redirects here. For unlicensed radio spectrum, and its uses (which do not require a license), see unlicensed band
Practicing without a license is the act of working without the licensure offered for that occupation, in a particular jurisdiction.[1] Most activities that require licensure also have penalties for practicing without a valid, current license.[2] In some jurisdictions, a license is offered but not required for some professions.[3]
Types [ edit ]
Fields where practicing without a license may carry civil or criminal penalties include lawyer, physician, physician assistant, optometrist, podiatrist, surgeon, coroner, medical examiner, paramedic, funeral director, osteopath, chiropractor, dentist, pharmacist, engineer, pilot, broadcasting, nurse, veterinarian, midwife, teacher, psychologist, surveyor, detective, social worker, architect, barber, hairdresser, electrologist, tattooist, cosmetologist, real estate agent, plumber, florist, accountant, and masseuse. If a person offering their services is licensed in one of these professions, any member of the public has a right to know if that person is validly licensed or not by the licensing authority. Anyone who claims to have a license and refuses to identify themselves properly by first and last name can possibly lose any one or all of their licenses. In many jurisdictions, it is illegal for service providers to hide their identities for purposes of making it difficult to verify licensure and past disciplinary actions or license violations.
License requirements vary widely with jurisdiction, sometimes even within a single country. Practicing a professional discipline without a license may be legal in some jurisdictions. For example, nine U.S. states have passed health freedom laws that protect alternative practitioners such as herbalists from prosecution for "practicing medicine without a license."[4] In the area of mental health, Oregon offers broad licensing exemptions for professional counselors and marriage and family therapists, allowing people to practice these professions either with or without a license.[3] Colorado requires registration but not licensing for psychotherapists.[5] Other states also have exemptions or registration requirements instead of, or in addition to licensing for some professions.
Other unlicensed activity [ edit ]
Other occupations, such as operating a business or working as a professional driver or mariner, may require specialized licensure, as well. Operating a business without proper licenses can result in financial and sometimes criminal penalties. These licenses can include a general business license, a liquor license, a specialized drivers license, and other types regulated by local, regional, state, or federal requirements. Certain occupations may require obtaining appropriate intellectual property licenses, such as music licensing, brand licensing, patent licensing, software licensing, and other permissions for use.
Nonprofessional activities may also require licenses for participation. These include driver's license, amateur radio license, dog license, firearms license, hunting license, marriage license, and pilot license. Using certain products or services may also require obtaining a license, such as a software license. Operating without these licenses can lead to civil and criminal penalties.
Penalties vary depending on the severity of the infraction, but practicing without a valid, current license may be punishable by one or more methods, including community service, fine, restitution, probation, and temporary or permanent loss of the license. Criminal charges can lead to incarceration, as they can range from a misdemeanor to a felony, depending on the severity of the infraction.[6]
Noted incidents [ edit ]
On July 6, 1885, Louis Pasteur, a chemist who was a pioneer in microbiology, treated Joseph Meister after the boy was mauled by a dog infected with rabies with a vaccination treatment that had thus far only been tested on animals. This was technically illegal, considering Pasteur was not a licensed physician, but his colleagues agreed that since Pasteur's treatment seemed the only viable option to save the boy from almost certain death, it had been a necessary bending of the law, and since the treatment was a complete success, Pasteur was feted as a hero, and charges were never filed.[7]
Another more modern example is the case of Frank Abagnale, who was accused of impersonating an airline pilot, lawyer, and teaching assistant.
The "yogurt defense" was made famous by the trial of Carol Downer, one of the developers of menstrual extraction. She was arrested at her self-help group and charged with practicing medicine without a license, as she inserted yogurt into the vagina of another woman to treat a yeast condition. Downer was acquitted; the jury did not equate inserting yogurt with practicing medicine.[8]
A contemporary example is a San Francisco Bay Area resident, Kim Thien Le, who had a valid pharmacy technician license that had expired, and who had practiced as a pharmacist—supervising pharmacist and pharmacy technician interns, giving vaccinations, and filling prescriptions and counseling patients on medication—at at least three Walgreens pharmacies (in Fremont, Milpitas, and San Jose) between 2006 and October 2017, when she was caught. An investigation by the California Attorney General and the California State Board Of Pharmacy is ongoing.[needs update] If Le avoids criminal prosecution or civil lawsuits, the stores could still face penalties such as formal reprimands, fines, or loss of their pharmacy business license, and she would likely not be able to practice again as a pharmacy technician. She filled at least 745,000 prescriptions, some for dangerous or complex legal drugs or for people with serious conditions, over this period. She used licenses of two separate individuals, at least one of whom had a similar name to hers, to avoid detection by the company or the board.[9][10][11]
In fiction [ edit ]
Black Jack is a Japanese comic book series created by Tezuka Osamu that is about the world's greatest surgeon, who chooses to remain unlicensed. This allows Black Jack to charge extortionate amounts of money instead of the standard fees agreed upon by the Japanese Medical Association. It also lets him perform extremely dangerous, often medically implausible or impossible operations, that are not legally allowed. Black Jack is often viewed as the Japanese equivalent to Batman, in his willingness to routinely break laws to save lives for which he is frequently imprisoned by the police. Notably, Black Jack actually completed his college medical education and carries a driver's license, though he encourages other unlicensed doctors who have no such formal training. Like many of Osamu's works, Black Jack is extraordinarily critical of the medical establishment, and is notable for raising Japanese public awareness of medical corruption.[12]
The majority of superheroes in comic books investigate crimes without detectives' licenses. In Detective Comics, The Question, Dick Grayson, Detective Chimp John Constantine and John Jones/Martian Manhunter are all licensed detectives or police officers, while Wally West, the third Flash, is a professional crime-scene investigator. Jonah Hex is a bounty hunter operating under the loose legal framework of the wild west. The Green Lantern Corps patrols the D.C. universe and enforces the ancient intergalactic laws of the guardians of Oa. In Marvel Comics, Frank Castle used to be a policeman, but after his wife and child were shot to death, he left the force forever and became the mass-murdering vigilante The Punisher.
Batman is one of only three members of the Justice League with any medical training, but is the only one who lacks an official doctorate and license to practice medicine. Nevertheless, he occasionally performs surgery on his teammates. He is also the son of the doctor Thomas Wayne. In Marvel Comics, the former neurosurgeon Stephen Strange, in desperate search of a cure for his crippled hands, wasted all of his money on alternative medicine, which did not heal him. Homeless, Doctor Strange performed back-alley surgeries for cash, barely able to hold the instruments.
Victor Frankenstein, though often incorrectly referred to as a doctor, is only a medical student, and as such, operated on his monster without a license. Prior to the monster's vivification, Frankenstein and his assistant Igor were also acting as unlicensed morticians.
The movie Patch Adams, among other historical inaccuracies, showed the title character practicing medicine without a license, and getting his equipment by stealing from a hospital.
The USA Network drama Suits' protagonist, Michael "Mike" Ross, gets a high-flying job at the fictitious Pearson Hardman law firm without having the necessary license to practice law.
See also [ edit ]
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These laws, like most laws in America, will be used to criminalize blackness itself. White police officers will disproportionately enforce this new felony hate crime statute against people of color. Conservatives will then say more people of color are being charged with this ridiculous felony because people of color resist arrest more. It's all so damn predictable. What I know is that when a young white kid who had too much to drink gets a little rowdy with the police, this law simply won't be applied to him. That'd simply be too much. Instead, Louisiana's already crowded jails and prisons will continue to be overstuffed with black and brown bodies who did not endure arrest in robotic silence — no matter how tight the cuffs or bogus the charge.
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Completely Adorable ELS Office Wear Collection featuring Skill Cut-ins
By GM Amelia
Hi-ya, Elpeeps! Don’t forget to keep playing for week 2 of ongoing Lanox events in Elsword. Also, new stuff will go up for sale at the Item Mall later after midnight – ELS Office Wear Costume Packages as well as Skill Cut-ins to match. Read up!
·Legendary Adventurers of Lanox – The boosts to earn the Dancing Flame Weapon and Oath of Ruin titles sooner are still on for this week!
·Collect Pesop’s Emotions – Pesop’s Paper Bag—Sad and Love editions—also arrive later after midnight. Be sure to grab all Ancient Alchemy Materials you can get from the daily quest and timer events so you can trade for them through Ariel. If you already have a permanent Happy/Angry paper bag, then you’re still in the running to win 300 K-Ching!
·Luriel’s Special Gift Box – Look out for Luriel’s Red Box after midnight tonight!
Item Mall Goodies
If you’re looking for some crisp blazers and clean lines, be sure to check out the new ELS Office Wear Collection. Pardon me, but I’m skipping right ahead to these absolutely adorable skill cut-ins. IMHO, it’s the cutest the Elgang has ever looked in skill portraits. These are a steal at only 350 K-Ching apiece, and each version matches one of the outfit’s four variations per character. You can find these in the Customize tab.
Lastly, don’t miss out on the ELS Office Wear costume packages. The premium costume package includes the matching blazer piece for your character. Try them all tomorrow!
See y’all in game!
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HUNTSVILLE, AL -- A THAAD missile successfully tracked and intercepted a short-range ballistic missile target inside the atmosphere Monday night in what was perhaps the most real-world test of the system so far, according to the Missile Defense Agency and Lockheed Martin, prime contractor for the program.
There were a number of "firsts" on this test of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, said Tom McGrath, Lockheed Martin's vice president for the THAAD program.
The intercept occurred inside the atmosphere - it was "endo-atmospheric" - at the lowest altitude yet.
"The very low endo was key," he said in a telephone interview Tuesday. "It's difficult, of course, for any system, but this system is unique in that it can intercept both inside and outside the atmosphere."
At about 9:32 p.m. Hawaii time Monday, a "foreign military asset" ballistic missile target was launched in the Pacific west of the islands. About five minutes later, as the THAAD system's radars and team acquired and tracked the target, an interceptor missile was launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility off the island of Kauai.
The soldiers of the 6th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, from Fort Bliss, Texas, who were operating the THAAD system knew a test would occur, but were not aware of the target's precise launch time, McGrath said. They also used the same tactics, training, eight-missile transportable launcher and other tools that are to go with them into the field.
"We were using the software and hardware that is planned to deploy with the soldiers," he said.
They also coordinated the test engagement with the soldiers of a PATRIOT missile defense battery located at Kauai, communicating and operating just as they would when they are eventually deployed together, McGrath said.
"We work very hard to keep the flights as realistic as possible," he said.
After the actual test engagement, a Simulation-Over-Live-Driver software program was used to test different scenarios in the THAAD radar system, he said. It first simulated the test intercept, then created a "mass raid" scenario with multiple targets.
All the testing was successful, McGrath said, praising the teams involved and pointing out there was much data to examine.
"It's a lot easier to analyze successes," he said.
This test makes a record of seven intercepts in seven attempts for an operational version of the THAAD system, which is managed by MDA in Washington, D.C., and executed by the THAAD Project Office in Huntsville.
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Study on ECG Biometrics
Thank you for your interest in the study. Before signing up, please take a moment to read the participant information sheet and the consent form, which will have to be signed before we can continue. If anything remains unclear, please don't hesitate to contact me at [email protected].
Please note that if you have taken part in the ECG study before, you will not be eligigle to do so again for the time being.
Compensation
On average, it will take roughly 30 minutes to complete all measurements. You will be paid £10 in cash for your participation.
Directions
The study will take part at the Department of Computer Science, Oxford OX1 3PR. Detailed instructions will be e-mailed to you when you sign up.
Signup
If you are happy with the information sheet and consent form, please click here to sign up for the study.
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Image copyright EPA
US ratings agency Moody's has cut its outlook for China from "stable" to "negative".
While reaffirming its current debt rating, the agency warned that reforms were needed to avoid a downgrade.
Moody's said the change in outlook was based on expectations that Beijing's fiscal strength would continue to decline.
The negative outlook comes on the heels of fresh data suggesting China's economy is continuing to lose steam.
Moody's said it was concerned over China's incomplete implementation of much needed reforms.
High debt burden
"Without credible and efficient reforms, China's GDP growth would slow more markedly as a high debt burden dampens business investment and demographics turn increasingly unfavourable," Moody's said in a note.
"Government debt would increase more sharply than we currently expect."
But the ratings agency did confirm China's current Aa3 rating, saying that there was still time to address the current economic imbalances and implement reforms.
Just one week ago, China sought to assure the global economic community over the strength of its economy.
At the G20 meeting in Shanghai, the country's finance minister Lou Jiwei insisted Beijing could tackle the pressures it is currently facing.
China's economy, the second-biggest in the world, is growing at the slowest rate in 25 years as it attempts to move from an export-led nation to one led by consumption and services.
The slowdown in China's economy has created considerable uncertainty in financial markets and has led to sharp falls in commodity prices.
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Ryan Fischer
Update:
The Kent County Medical Examiner's office confirmed that Ryan Fischer died of an enlarged heart. GRANDVILLE, MI - Hours before he was supposed to
Grandville High School's hockey team co-captain Ryan Fischer passed away, according to school and MHSAA sources. Ryan, 17, was found unresponsive in his home early this morning, school officials said. "From my understanding, (Ryan) went to sleep last night. There were no symptoms, no warning signs. He was unresponsive when his father went to wake him up this morning," said Grandville Superintendent Ron Caniff. "Our love, support and prayer go out to the family. They are incredible people and an incredible family," Caniff said. "He was loved." The Fischer family and Grandville High School have made the decision that tonight's tournament game should be played as scheduled, according to the Michigan High School Athletic Association's Facebook page. “Our staff enjoyed knowing Ryan as an engaging member of the MHSAA student advisory council for two years, and we grieve his loss with the entire Grandville community,” MHSAA Executive Director Jack Roberts
The Grandville boys hockey team celebrates after a 3-2 overtime win over Grand Rapids West Catholic in the Division 1 quarterfinals on March 5, 2014 at Ewigleben Ice Arena at Ferris State University. (Josh VanDyke | MLive.com)
Spectrum Health officials say an autopsy is planned for later Friday, March 7. There is no information on the cause of Ryan’s death. High school students were notified this morning, Caniff said. The district's grief counselors and volunteers from area churches were assisting the school staff and students today. A top student as well as an athlete, Ryan had been accepted by the U.S. Naval Academy and West Point, and was expected to begin at West Point with the Class of 2018 on July 2. He wanted to study aerospace engineering. Ryan assisted in a game-winning goal in overtime Wednesday as Grandville defeated Grand Rapids West Catholic 3-2 at Ferris State University. Grandville will now face Detroit Catholic Central at 7:30 p.m. Friday in the Division 1 state semifinals in Plymouth. Ryan, a senior, was one of eight student athletes from Class A schools across the state to receive a MHSAA a student-athlete award this year. He was a three-year varsity hockey player who also lettered in football and baseball. He served as captain of the school’s hockey team and was named to the squad’s leadership council and the OK-Red conference team. Earning academic all-conference honors in baseball, Ryan served four years on the student government executive board and was a member of the MHSAA Student Advisory Council. He maintained a 4.0 grade-point average and was in his second year of the National Honor Society. Ryan also served on the Grandville High School Leadership Team and on his church’s youth leadership council, mission trip, and youth group retreat planning teams. This is the second student death the high school community has endured this week. Freshman
died on Sunday, March 2, from complications associated with Ewing's sarcoma. East Elementary School in Grandville, where Alyssa's father is a physical education teacher, had organized fundraising events throughout the week in honor of her and a pancake breakfast on Saturday.
Kyle Moroney covers suburban schools and general assignments for MLive/Grand Rapids Press. Email her at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter or Facebook
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Dear Reader, As you can imagine, more people are reading The Jerusalem Post than ever before. Nevertheless, traditional business models are no longer sustainable and high-quality publications, like ours, are being forced to look for new ways to keep going. Unlike many other news organizations, we have not put up a paywall. We want to keep our journalism open and accessible and be able to keep providing you with news and analysis from the frontlines of Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World.
Newly elected Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi David Lau intends to use his post to unite not only Jews in Israel but also the Jewish people all around the world, Lau said in a message to world Jewry delivered exclusively through The Jerusalem Post on Thursday night.
Lau defeated Rabbi David Stav for the Ashkenazi chief rabbi post and Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef beat Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu for Sephardi chief rabbi in Wednesday’s election. Religious Services Minister Naftali Bennett intends to pass legislation to ensure that after their 10-year terms, there will be only one chief rabbi.
While Lau and his loyalists spent the day reaching out to Israelis and reassuring them that he would represent all sectors of society, he said it was also important to him to reach out to Diaspora Jewry.“Judaism belongs to all Jews in every sector all around the world, whether they live in Manhattan, Manchester or Modi’in,” said Lau, who most recently served as chief rabbi of Modi’in. “I want more Jews to learn about their Judaism and feel a part of the Jewish people.We need to focus more on what we have in common and create unity in the Jewish world.”Lau, 47, vowed to build connections between Diaspora Jewry and the Jewish state. To that end, he intends to create a forum of international Jewish leaders who can learn from one another about how to better connect Jews to their religion.A source close to Lau said one way would be to use technology.As chief rabbi of Modi’in, Lau pioneered an “Ask the Rabbi” online service 13 years ago. He also moved most of the cumbersome bureaucratic process of registering to get married to the Internet.“Keeping Jewish law is very important and there are ways to integrate it with modernity to ease the challenges of bureaucracy and make people more comfortable with how religious services are provided in this country,” Lau said.Lau and his father, former Ashkenazi chief rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, joined Yosef at the Jerusalem home of Yosef’s father, Shas mentor Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, in an emotional meeting on Thursday. David Lau thanked Ovadia Yosef for helping him win the election and both fathers said they felt proud to see their sons follow in their footsteps.The new chief rabbis, accompanied by the elder Rabbi Lau, then held a festive meeting with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu at his Tel Aviv office.“You are the rabbis of all the people of Israel,” Netanyahu told them at the start of their meeting. “In line with the famous Jewish commandment, ‘One should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself,’ I congratulate you with all my heart. You are the rabbis whose help, spirit, patience and tolerance the nonreligious public needs.”Shas leader Arye Deri downplayed his role in Yosef’s election but also said that had the rabbi not won, he would have quit his post as head of the party. He revealed that he even wrote a resignation letter that he would have submitted had Yosef been defeated.Meanwhile, the blame game continued in Bayit Yehudi, which did not succeed in the party’s goal of electing religious- Zionist chief rabbis.Deputy Religious Services Minister Eli Ben-Dahan blamed the losses on disunity in the party and what he called an active effort by Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein to ensure Eliyahu’s defeat.Stav told Army Radio that “hacks who have no connection to society or the state” acted to secure Yosef’s election and defeat him, “to ensure the continuation of the Yosef family’s kashrut certification business.”Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid wrote on Facebook that the Chief Rabbinate was an irrelevant institution, which due to Wednesday’s election would remain irrelevant for another decade. He said alternatives needed to be created for non- Orthodox Jews to bypass the rabbinate. •
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Awk does a lot more than select a column from a file or an input stream. It can select columns from selected rows. It can calculate totals, extract substrings, reverse the order of fields and provide a whole lot of other very handy manipulations. Whether you squeeze your awk permutations onto the command line or prefer to build them into scripts, the language is clever and versatile and well worth using even as it joins the ranks of middle-aged computer utilities.
If you want to use awk to add up a bunch of numbers formulated as a column in a text file, you can use a one-liner like this:
$ awk '{ SUM+=$1 } END { print SUM }' < nums
That SUM+= operation adds the contents of column one to a running total for each line of input. The sum is only printed at the very end when input is exhausted. You can change $1 to the column of your choice or $NF if you want to add up the rightmost column.
If you prefer scripts to the command line, you could use a script like the addcol script below to sum whatever column you choose. You would just pass the column you want to add on the command line as the COL parameter:
$ awk -f addcol COL=3 < numbers
The -f tells awk to run the designated script (addcol) and COL=3 passes "3" as the column number you want to sum.
# addcol BEGIN { SUM=0 } { print $COL SUM += $COL } END { print "Sum: " SUM }
Awk has some grep-like features as well. If you want to operate only on lines that contain some particular text, you can specify that text on the command line like this:
$ awk '/choose me/' textfile
You can also combine search options using && (and), || (or), and even negation operators. The command below selects lines that contain both the word "this" and the word "that". Using '/this/ && !/that/' would select only lines that contain "this" without containing "that".
$ awk '/this/ && /that/' notes # find the process that started this one # make sure that this user provided an answer
You can also select content based on its position within your input. In the command below, we only want to see lines eleven and above.
$ awk 'NR > 10' counts 11 63 12 99 13 63 14 77 15 41
And, of course, there are a lot of other nice little tricks available.
Awk provides some quick and effective filtering and incorporates an easy syntax. Probably the only thing that takes some getting used to is referring to parameters without putting dolar signs in front of them.
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THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!
There comes a time in every child’s life where they must go through a rite of passage of some sort. For those born before the turn of the century, after 1977 and with access to their local Blockbuster, this process consisted of one thing: watching Star Wars and falling in love with what made sci-fi great. I can already see the furious readers commenting “Why didn’t you say this in the review for the first film?” There is a reason why I saved this line for this review. You see, as good as A New Hope was (and it was pretty good), Empire Strikes Back is the film that departs from the soapy nature of the first film and enters a drearier universe. In doing so, it complements the tonal change with a drastically superior film compared to its predecessor, earning itself the moniker of “Best Star Wars film of all time.” (NOTE: The Force Awakens has not released yet so this opinion may change).
From the get go, it’s noticeable just how much the success of the original film served to elevate this sequel; it’s clear that the practical and CG effects are considerably improved and leaves the viewer breath taken by just how visually succulent the universe shown within the film is. Seriously, take a gander at those Imperial Walkers or just how well animated Yoda was; the improvements after just three years on A New Hope are that drastic and noticeable.
Enough praise about the film’s visuals, I’ll get back to those further down. Let’s start with the plot. As all fans of the series know, Empire picks up after the conclusion of A New Hope which witnessed the Death Star being destroyed but –duh- Vader escaping and regrouping by leading the forces of the Empire. After an Empire attack on Hoth (it says something about the series pop culture prowess that I fondly recall the names and locations from all of the films despite admittedly not classifying myself as a fan of the series), everyone splits up and we get pretty snazzy scenes with almost everyone. Yoda’s mentorship of Luke, the adventures of Leia, Han, Chewbacca and C-3PO that results in the introduction of Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams was a STAR with how fun he made the character) are all stories we see, before the climactic sequence. I’m going to go out on a limb here and state that the following is not a spoiler for two reasons: 1) The film came out 35 years ago and 2) No one that reads this review site lives under a rock. Based on my criteria, I’m sure you are all certain as to what I refer to and you would be correct: that shocking (SHOCKING, I tell ya!) revelation that Darth Vader is *gasp*, the father of our loveable Luke. There is more that happens after that, where Luke kinda-sorta dies but then does not die but seeing as this is the review for the second movie and there have been 6 thus far, it should be fairly obvious what his ultimate fate in the film ended up being.
Anyway, as cluttered as I made the plot sound above, it was anything but. It was a pure joy to see all of the fan favourites on screen, see new characters show up and witness that iconic twist without any of the ham-fisted and atrocious dialogue that came to plague the Prequels. Seriously, George Lucas, how does one go from the near-masterpiece that was this to Phant-… I digress. I’ll leave that rant for another day, but rest assured, there will be a rant.
As for the direction, once again, I thank the film Gods that Lucas was not at the helm as he ended up being for the Prequels. Irvin Kershner does a fine job bringing to life all the aforementioned plot threads, and his decision to present the world in a nature that was as seamless as possible. The easiest way to summarize that description would be that the world has such intricate attention to detail, from shrapnel falling in the snow to Yoda’s constant change of expression when he realizes what a dangerous journey he has just sent Luke on about a quarter of the way through the film. It just goes to show how integral a creative partner can be for certain people as Kershner undoubtedly saved us from questionable Lucas-isms had the creator of the franchise opted to helm the flick himself. The visuals, again, were breathtaking. Space battles look just as good –if not a little better- than the original film, although lacking that extra “wow” factor due to the lack of originality. They are complemented by the outrageously beautiful presentation of Cloud City, which was in THE SKY. For a film in 1980 to present it as well as Empire did, it shows just how special the film was.
The soundtrack. The soundtrack. The soundtrack. There is a reason why John Williams is so beloved to this day and Empire exemplifies why: when the opening title crawl is accompanied by his powerfully majestic score, the viewer just knows that they are in for an epic and special treat. Throughout the film, whenever it kicks in, it is something special to behold. Suffice it to say, Vader’s entrances and scenes throughout the series would lack that sense of grandeur had Williams not complemented them with an appropriately monumental score. Even if the Star Wars story or characters do not appeal to you (how could they not, Jar Jar Binks excluded?), watching at least, the original trilogy for Williams soundtrack will make it worth the investment.
If I can find a flaw with the film outside of occasionally stilted dialogue, it would have to concern the ending and its blatant attempt to set up a sequel rather than leave the film worthy of standing on its own. The fact that the ending comes after a pretty boring final battle between Mark Hammill’s Luke and Vader serves to slightly lessen the impact of the preceding 115-ish minutes but not enough to alter the statement about the film being the best of the 6 released thus far.
Would I recommend the film to someone that has not seen the first and has no intention of seeing at least the sequel? No, there is just too much that would be lost from not seeing the destruction of the Death Star to the buildup to THAT iconic reveal in this film. For anyone that considers themselves a sci-fi fan that has not seen the film, I strongly urge them to watch the original trilogy. From the Williams soundtrack to Lucas/Kershner making a great story and visual decisions to a cast that is just too loveable to find any fault with, Empire has enough going for it to earn a glowing review from us here at The Film Lawyers.
After careful consideration, the team here at The Film Lawyers has decided to grace Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back with a glowing score of A-.
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Threshold have announced that they’ve parted ways with frontman Damian Wilson.
They say in a statement that they wanted to “start a new chapter” without Wilson – and have brought back vocalist Glynn Morgan.
The band say in a statement: “Threshold have parted ways with vocalist Damian Wilson. The band have chosen to start a new chapter without him and he has told them he respects their decision.
“Wilson enjoyed three stints with Threshold, performing on the band’s most recent records For The Journey and March Of Progress as well as their early releases Wounded Land and Extinct Instinct in the 1990s.
“Damian Wilson has been a great frontman for Threshold and the band would like to sincerely thank him and wish him every success in his future endeavours.”
Morgan was originally with Threshold between 1994-1996 and appeared on the Psychedelicatessen album. He also worked with the band in 2008 to record tracks for their singles box set Paradox.
Morgan says: “I was over the moon when I got the phone call. To work with Karl Groom and Richard West and be a part of the mighty Threshold story once more is a great honour. I can’t wait to start recording, the new material has me hooked already.”
Threshold are currently in the studio working on new album Legends Of The Shires which is scheduled for an autumn release via Nuclear Blast.
Last week, they announced a run of winter European tour dates.
Nov 28: Bosuil Weert, Netherlands
Nov 29: Hamburg Markthalle, Germany
Nov 30: Berlin Lido, Germany
Dec 01: Aschaffenburg Colos Saal, Germany
Dec 02: Munich Feierwerk, Germany
Dec 03: Pratteln Z7, Switzerland
Dec 05: Stuttgart Club Cann, Germany
Dec 06: Hannover Musikzentrum, Germany
Dec 07: Kortrijk De Kreun, Belgium
Dec 08: Essen Turock, Germany
Dec 09: Zoetermeer Boerderij, Netherlands
Dec 10: London O2 Islington Academy, UK
Threshold: European Journey
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She's Out of My League
She was the Perfect '10' inearlier this year. Now she gets to play a woman who just thinks she's perfect. Alice Eve is in final talks to star as the White Queen, Emma Frost in Matthew Vaughn's X-Men: First Class. The role had been said to be Rosamund Pike's , but it's possible she'll be taking on Charles Xavier's love interst, Moira MacTaggert She'll be joining the recently confirmed Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Benjamin Walker, and possibly Amber Heard. Heard's signing is still up in the air.I'm a huge fan of Alice Eve's. Have been since Starter for 10(which also starred James McAvoy) a few years ago. She had been up for the role of Peggy Carter in Captain America: The First Avenger also.
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Remember when researchers told us in October 2010 to expect 1Tbps Ethernet by 2015 and 100Tbps by 2020? Well, they weren't just messing around. At the Optical Fiber Communications Conference in Los Angeles last month, two separate research groups have set a world record by sending information at rate of more than 100 terabits of per second (Tbps) through a single optical fiber.
That's equivalent to streaming three solid months of HD video, or the contents of 250 double-sided Blu-ray discs, in one second. It's thus not much of a surprise that Ting Wang at NEC Laboratories in Princeton, New Jersey, called the achievement "a critical milestone in fiber capacity," according to New Scientist.
NEC Laboratories America reached 101.7 Tbps over standard single-mode fiber using pilot-based phase noise mitigation. The team sent 370 wavelengths each with data rates of 294 Gbps over 165km of standard single-mode fiber, and claimed it achieved spectral efficiency of 11 bits/s/Hz, the highest reported to date for wavelength-division multiplexing transmission. A separate team from Sumitomo Electric Industries in Japan, demonstrated 109Tbps using spatial division multiplexed signals over a seven-core fiber. The Sumitomo group sent 97 colors through each of the cores at data rates of 172Gbps (two 86Gbps QPSK signals) over 16.8 km of fiber.
One of the many problems the technology still needs to overcome is cost. Multi-core fibres are complex to make, as is amplifying signals for long-distance transmission in either technique. That being said, a few technology companies will likely shell out the necessary dough needed to get 100Tbps speeds.
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At the Milken Institute Global Conference in May, moderator Rick Smith controversially asked five successful female entrepreneurs how they convinced male VCs to invest in female-oriented businesses. The ladies were candid. Alexandra Wilkis Wilson, co-founder of Gilt and GLAMSQUAD, admitted it is harder; the panelists — including Jessica Alba of Honest Company and Susan Feldman of One Kings Lane — agreed.
It’s no secret that the tech industry is very much a man’s world. Recent U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission figures show 80 percent of executives in high-tech are male, and just 20 percent are female. In the Bay Area in 2015, just 8 percent of Series A startup funding went to female-led businesses, down from 30 percent in 2014.
While the biggest names in tech strive to close the gender gap and build more inclusive working environments, the pool of talent on offer is predominantly male. The truth is, while retention is an issue, there are simply fewer women opting for a career in tech.
But new initiatives and an uptick of Gen Z girls opting for sciences in top-tier universities paints a very different future. What are these young women doing that previous generations have not? And what does this all mean for Silicon Valley’s boys’ club?
What’s holding back females in tech
According to Ariane Hegewisch, a study director for the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, females make the decision to steer clear of sciences at a young age. CNET reported at Indiana University, 97 percent of new female students opt for subjects outside of science and computing. “It doesn’t occur to them as a career path,” said Maureen Bliggers, assistant dean for diversity and education at Indiana’s School of Informatics.
The proportion of female students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) university courses has traditionally been very low, and, according to the National Student Clearinghouse, it is getting worse. 2014 figures show just 18 percent of computer science bachelor degrees and 19 percent of engineering degrees held by women. In subjects such as biology and social sciences, we start to see the tables turn, with a larger proportion of females.
While the number of women in sciences is growing, they are still vastly outnumbered by males. Statistics suggest that this dwindling ratio of women in tech may be a case of nurture over nature. In May, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) revealed better performance from girls over boys in a test of technology and engineering literacy administered to 21,500 students. In the eighth grade age range, 45 percent of females were scored as proficient, compared to 42 percent of boys, showing the capacity of young girls to succeed in the sciences. Capability is not the issue; rather, it seems that external factors play a bigger role in dissuading women from opting for science-related careers.
Young females are skilled and capable, yet still a disparity exists.
In 2013, the American Association of University Women (AAUW) pointed to social and environmental factors that prevent a larger proportion of females from entering STEM courses. The study claims negative stereotypes regarding young females’ abilities can lower aspirations and recommends a “growth mindset” to encourage more girls to participate and achieve in these subjects.
Forbes contributor Gene Marks claims the “real reason most women don’t go into tech” is that from early on they simply “aren’t as interested in technology-related work as men.” Marks proposes that the tech industry shift its focus from changing the current working culture to creating better educational opportunities for the young.
Bridging the STEM graduate gender gap
The National Association of Colleges and Employers reported that, in 2016, STEM graduates will be the most highly sought after, earning the largest starting salaries. For a generation that grew up in the shadow of the Great Recession, this is an attractive prospect. And while STEM courses continue to be male dominated, as a new age group of girls enters colleges nationwide, in the top schools this is finally showing signs of change.
Between 2009 and 2013, UC Berkeley almost doubled its percentage of female computer science majors in the College of Letters and Science, up to 21 percent. In 2014, for the first time on record, UC Berkeley reported a greater number of females than males in its introductory computer science course. Redesigning its “Symbolic Programming” course as “Beauty and the Joy of Computing,” Berkeley emphasized the impact computing has in the world, and worked to tone down elements that may put females off. Stanford University was also able to boost female computer science enrollment from 12.5 percent in 2008 to 21 percent in 2013, through efforts to make the program more widely inclusive.
There are a great number of organizations that aim to get young girls into computer science and engineering.
Harvey Mudd College has become a pioneer for women in STEM studies. In 2013, for the first time ever, more than half the engineering majors and 47 percent of its computer science majors were female. University president Maria Klawe has played a large role in transforming the college, hiring a greater number of female faculty, employing a more personalized recruitment process and offering compulsory introductory computer science classes, pitching the advantages of this study in various fields.
Little by little, these efforts are beginning to spread. Just last year, Georgia Tech — which in 1952 had no undergraduate women — celebrated the highest proportion of female students, making up 41 percent of the new student body. The university attributed its new increasingly diverse freshman enrollment to “a more personal and tailored outreach.”
These initiatives help to break the barriers to STEM study for many young adults. As the number of women studying these subjects grows, this creates a strengthened workforce and a new generation of role models.
In 2014, Fortune’s list of Most Powerful Women featured a great number of successful women from the tech industry, including IBM’s Ginni Rometty, who studied computer science and electrical engineering; GM’s Mary Barra, who also studied electrical engineering; DuPont’s Ellen Kullman, who studied mechanical engineering, and many more. Fortune recognized that three of the top five women were engineers, but acknowledged that still only one in seven engineers are female. College enrollment efforts go some way to growing this proportion; however, better opportunities from a younger age are also key to this.
Tech-driven initiatives for the young
The National Girls Collaborative Project (NGCP) has reported that younger girls in the K-12 education stages are taking many high-level mathematics and science courses at similar rates to male students. There also is a greater percentage of young girls taking subjects such as advanced biology, pre-calculus/analysis and algebra II. A gap in physics and engineering, however, still persists, and this is typically worse in low-income and minority groups.
Many initiatives aim to solve this, helping girls develop an interest in activities such as coding from a young age. They are experiencing positive traction. In 2013, Code.org’s Hour of Code campaign, designed to help young girls interested in computer science, successfully attracted 15 million students in a week; more than half were girls.
Other programs, such as the international nonprofit organization Girls In Tech, run hackathons and coding bootcamps, and help connect women with tech jobs across the globe. There are a great number of organizations that aim to get young girls into computer science and engineering; for example, Girls Who Code, Engineering Girl and Black Girls Code, the recipient of TechCrunch’s first Include Grant of $50,000.
Initiatives to spur this movement are not limited to educators or nonprofits — the tech world is also getting involved. Most recently, Oracle invested a further $3 million to the U.S. government initiative Let Girls Learn, after pledging to provide $200 million in support of the sciences this April. The initiative aims to help teenage girls across the globe get more out of their early education, and the investment will go to helping develop STEM performance in young girls.
Google has also invested $50 million into its program Made With Code, which aims to teach girls how to code. The tech giant acknowledged that most girls decide very early on whether they will choose a tech career, and is working to provide resources to let young females explore this opportunity.
Others in the tech industry are actively seeking females, offering training opportunities to learn new skills. Peer-to-peer e-commerce platform Etsy was able to grow its number of female engineers by 500 percent by investing in training junior members; 80 percent of its customers are female, and Etsy aims to create a new generation of qualified females to better match its clientele.
We have seen that young females are skilled and capable, yet still a disparity exists. However, by targeting the younger generation, educators and tech companies are creating a new workforce of successful tech executives that will help change the perception of the industry. These new role models will quash stereotypes and encourage others to consider tech career opportunities from a younger age. This means a shake-up for the Valley, where successful women, no longer a minority, will play a much larger role in advancing the industry.
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From RationalWiki
The starlight problem states that if the universe was only 6,000 years old — as Biblical literalism and Young Earth Creationism (YEC) state — then there would not be sufficient time for distant starlight to reach Earth. We can see light from stars more (way more) than 6,000 light years away, therefore the universe cannot be a mere 6,000 years old.
The furthest objects visible, quasars, have been detected 13 billion light years away.[1] After allowing for the metric expansion of space,[2] this puts the lower limit of the age of the universe at near 13 billion years.[3] The methods of measuring distances to the billions of light years are rather complicated, but there are direct measurements well beyond the limits of YEC, using only parallax.[dubious] There are the measurements of the supernova SN1987A at about 168,000 light years, and the Gaia space mission should obtain many distances of objects up to about 30,000 light years.[4]
Numerous attempts to solve this problem - including some hand-waving about whether such a problem even exists - have been attempted by creationists. Some are bizarre, some outright absurd, and none are taken seriously by the scientific community. However, they are all united by a desperate need to shoehorn an absurdly young age for the universe into a reality that says otherwise.
c-decay [ edit ]
See the main article on this topic: c-decay
To solve the starlight problem, some creationists have proposed a change in the speed of light; this proposition became known as c-decay. The idea was first systematically advanced by creationist Barry Setterfield in his 1981 book The Velocity of Light and the Age of the Universe. Setterfield claimed that, at the date of creation, light traveled millions of times faster than it does today and has been decaying precipitously ever since (until it stopped at its present value coincidentally with the ability to detect small changes). This idea is fundamentally absurd and since its inception has been universally derided by scientists. The idea was supported into the late eighties by creationists whose claims became more and more bizarre in attempts to prop up their failing model, until it finally collapsed under the weight of the evidence against it. In 1988, the idea was given up by the major creationist organization Institute for Creation Research, which, in an attempt to distance themselves from the scientific debacle that c-decay had become, became vocal critics of it.[5]
Galaxies over 12 billion light years away.
Typically for an ad-hoc explanation, c-decay conflicts with things we know about how the universe works. A change in the speed of light would quite literally end the world as we know it. The speed of light is not an arbitrary speed with no effect on outside systems, but is in fact a component in one of the most fundamental equations in the universe[6], the equation for matter: E = mc2 where E is energy, m is mass, and c is the speed of light in a vacuum.[7] This means that any increase of the speed of light would in turn increase the amount of energy released by the reactions of matter. Because the Sun, or indeed any star, relies on the reactions of matter, most notably nuclear fusion, a change in the speed of light would alter its energy output; if light were traveling as fast as some creationists demand, then the energy output of the Sun could be expected to increase over 800,000,000 times.[8][9]
White hole cosmology [ edit ]
See the main article on this topic: White hole cosmology
White hole cosmology is a creationist cosmology invented by creationist Russell Humphreys and put forward in his 1994 book Starlight and Time.[10] The main idea of white hole cosmology is that the world was created inside a black hole and that earth was subjected to intense time dilation so billions of years could have passed outside the field while only a few days would pass inside it.
Omphalos hypothesis [ edit ]
See the main article on this topic: Omphalos hypothesis
The Omphalos hypothesis or argument provides an unscientific and unfalsifiable explanation for the starlight problem. The argument relies on the logically weak argument goddidit by claiming that the starlight we see is not natural but was in fact created in transit by God.
Many creationists have rejected this explanation on theological grounds because it implies a deliberately deceitful God, much like the "dinosaur fossils are a test of my faith" arguments.
But if you accept the hypothesis, it opens a big can of worms. One could proceed to reject the 9,900 years of time given by dendrochronology by saying extra tree rings, over and above 4,004 BCE, were not natural but were in fact created in situ by God.
The most logical only possible explanation is as follows: Since God is a supernatural being, he could perfectly well have created photons with positions and velocities which are consistent with having been traveling from distant stars for many billions of years. This non-testable explanation could be used to escape any of the evidence against Young Earth Creationism, as there is no way to tell if the universe was brought into existence 6,000 years ago in a state consistent with a much older age or if the universe is in fact as old as the evidence shows it to be.
However, if this were the case, then scientists would still have to treat the universe as though it were ancient and so the actual date of creation is irrelevant. For some creationists, the possibility of God being deliberately deceptive is uncomfortable. (For example, did human-observed supernovae ever actually occur?) This solution also raises the problem of deciding when God created the apparently old universe — was it 6,000 years ago, or last Thursday? Moreover, many young-earth creationists also believe in the imminent destruction of the universe, which raises the question of whether stars farther away than 10,000 or so light-years ever actually existed to begin with.
Anisotropic synchrony convention [ edit ]
See the main article on this topic: Anisotropic synchrony convention
Jason Lisle's 2010 paper published in the Answers Research Journal (meaning, despite his apparent confidence in its explanatory power and his doctoral education in astrophysics, that he was unwilling to submit to peer review - any ideas as to why?) aims to solve the starlight problem by taking advantage of a quirk of physics--it isn't certain, after 70 years of discussion, whether a "one way" speed of light can be measured or is a convention. Lisle thus proposes that light traveling towards the Earth does so at an infinite speed while light traveling the other way goes at half the measured speed; which is not original to him. Thus it becomes possible for light to arrive from distant stars in line with the 6000-year chronology of young Earth creationism (and equally well, or perhaps even better, with Bertrand Russell's deliberately ridiculous five minutes ago hypothesis) even though we still measure the speed of light as a fairly lumbering 299,792,458 m/s.
The problem with Lisle's proposal is that it results in a geocentric universe and would create observational differences which have not been seen, in addition to violating the endlessly validated physical principle of isotropy; that is, that the laws of physics behave the same way in all directions.
Anthropic principle [ edit ]
The anthropic principle is based on the observation that any small change in any of the basic constants of physics, which include the speed of light, would make human life impossible.
conclusion [ edit ]
===
All of the arguments presented above are examples of bad arguments presented by creationists. That said, the starlight problem doesn't disprove creationism, it only disproves an old earth. There are many old-earth creationists who are not in opposition to the starlight problem, and even believe that an old earth fits with the biblical account.
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
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Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Barack Obama: "If Russia's provocation continues, the G7 nations are ready to impose additional costs"
Leaders of the G7 industrial nations meeting in Brussels say they are prepared to impose further sanctions on Russia over its actions in Ukraine.
A joint statement condemned Moscow for its "continuing violation" of Ukraine's sovereignty.
The G7 summit is the first since Russia was expelled from the group following its annexation of Crimea in March.
On Thursday, leaders are discussing the global economic outlook, climate change and development issues.
Although Russian President Vladimir Putin is not at the Brussels summit, he will hold face-to-face talks with some G7 leaders - not including US President Barack Obama - in Paris afterwards.
However, both Mr Putin and Mr Obama will attend a ceremony commemorating the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings in France on Friday.
While in Poland on Wednesday, President Obama warned Moscow against what he called its "dark tactics" in Ukraine.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Barroso: "This democratic club... does not accept the Russia of Vladimir Putin"
Diplomacy has intensified to try to resolve the biggest crisis in years between Russia and the West, says the BBC's Chris Morris in Brussels.
'Cynicism without limit'
In response to the G7 statement on Ukraine, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has accused the world leaders of "cynicism without limit" for calling the Ukrainian government's military campaign against separatists in the east "measured action".
G7 leaders gathered in Brussels on Wednesday evening for the opening dinner of the summit, which was originally due to be held in the Russian city of Sochi.
"We are united in condemning the Russian Federation's continuing violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine," they said in a joint statement.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters: "We can't afford a further destabilisation of Ukraine."
"We have made clear that we want to continue with our three-step approach - support Ukraine in economic issues, talks with Russia, and should there no progress on all those issues... the possibility of sanctions, tougher sanctions, remains on the table," she said.
During a speech in Warsaw to mark 25 years since the fall of communism in Poland, President Obama condemned what he called Russian "aggression" in eastern Ukraine.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption US President Barack Obama: "We stand together now and forever, for your freedom is ours"
"How can we allow the dark tactics of the 20th Century to define the 21st?" he said.
Mr Obama also met Ukraine's President-elect Petro Poroshenko in Warsaw, and pledged $5m (£3m) of military assistance to Kiev including body armour and night-vision goggles.
Mr Poroshenko, a billionaire sweet manufacturer, was elected in May.
He will be at the D-Day commemorations ahead of his inauguration on Saturday and said he did not rule out meeting Mr Putin.
Image copyright Reuters Image caption Mr Obama met Mr Poroshenko, and called him a "wise selection" for leader of Ukraine
Mr Putin told French TV he was "not going to avoid any of them" but said Mr Poroshenko needed to be serious about a dialogue with factions in eastern Ukraine.
"I think Mr Poroshenko has a unique opportunity. He still doesn't have blood on his hands. He still can stop this reprisal operation and start a direct dialogue with citizens of the south and the east of his country," he said.
Meanwhile, on the ground in Ukraine, separatist rebels have taken two military bases in the eastern region of Luhansk.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The chairman of the Donetsk People's Republic told the BBC's Steve Rosenberg there was a full-scale civil war going on in Ukraine
Separatists seized a border guard base after days of combat, and a National Guard base after an attack which began on Tuesday.
Fighting continues near the towns of Krasny Liman and Sloviansk in neighbouring Donetsk region.
Ukrainian sources say rebels are trying to break out of encirclements by government forces.
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Apple is trying to prove that the FBI's request to hack the iPhone is "unduly burdensome," so today it laid out in more detail what it would take to comply. The company had said it would have to create a custom OS in order to help the FBI break into the iPhone 5C previously belonging to suspected San Bernarndino shooter Syed Farook. Apple is now calling that custom operating system "GovtOS," and says it could tie up resources for as long a month.
Apple suggests creating GovtOS would distract several employees from their primary responsibilities for up to four weeks. "Although it is difficult to estimate, because it has never been done before, the design, creation, validation, and deployment of the software likely would necessitate six to ten Apple engineers and employees dedicating a very substantial portion of their time for a minimum of two weeks, and likely as many as four weeks," Erik Neuenschwander, manager of user privacy at Apple, writes in the motion.
it has never been done before
These employees would include engineers from Apple's core operating system, a quality assurance engineer, a project manager, and either a document or tool writer. Other people would also be needed to support that team. The group would first have to design and create the OS because it doesn't yet exist, the motion states. They would then implement it by creating an installable image for the suspect's iPhone, which, crucially, would have to be signed with Apple's proprietary cryptographic key.
Once the OS is ready to go, Apple says it would have to put it through its rigorous quality assurance and security testing process. If it finds any issues, which the company says nearly always happens, it would then need to develop and re-code the OS. The cycle of testing would start again after that point. The motion doesn't cite an explicit timeline for this part of the process.
Apple would not agree to sign the OS voluntarily
After everything's in working order, Apple says it would have to deploy the OS in its own "secure, isolated, physical facility where the FBI's passcode testing can be conducted without interfering with the investigation or disrupting Apple's operations." This process would take at least a day to set up, not including the FBI's testing time.
It could take even more time to destroy the code after it's complete, and Apple isn't entirely sure the code could ever be completely destroyed. "Even if the underlying computer code is completely eradicated from Apple's servers so as to be irretrievable, the person who created the destroyed code would have spent the time and effort to solve the software design, coding, and implementation challenges," the motion says. "This process could be replicated. Thus, GovtOS would not be truly destroyed."
GovtOS would not be truly destroyed
But the real danger to Apple's resources lie beyond one iPhone. Apple has insisted losing this case would only be the start of routine requests from law enforcement, which would multiply the time and effort required for compliance. If Apple received three orders a week similar to this current one, for example, it would then have to replicate the above process three times a week, every week. "Each such commissioned operating system will need to be tailored to the specific combination of hardware and operating system running on the relevant device," the motion says. There are at least 13 other Apple devices currently subject to court order by the FBI.
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During this presidential election cycle, there was a lot of talk about hope.
Hope for change.
Hope that the nation would turn from an abomination to an example of progress and enlightenment.
An Obama-nation.
That’s all well and good, but Barack Obama is not the change.
Caution – Rant to follow:
At the root of much of our nation’s troubles is this attitude of disconnect. We still want to live our lives however we want, and somebody else will fix it, like the President, or Congress, or the FDA, or the Supreme Court.
It’s not gonna happen. When has bureaucracy and legislation ever really solved anything?
There’s a saying, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over, yet expecting different results each time.”
As long as we Americans continue to support behemoth corporations, as long as we continue to eat the crap food sold to us by big agri-business, as long as we continue to drive our inefficient vehicles everywhere, as long as we continue to support the war machine, we’re going to get what we’ve always gotten.
Which is an abomination.
Change starts within. When each of us is living in accordance with our own morals and principles, supporting the businesses and programs and ideas that resonate with our highest ideals, then we’ll see change. Not before.
We are the change.
We are the ones.
All of us.
I see lots of bumper stickers proclaiming “Free Tibet” (can’t argue with that), but I feel like that’s the easy thing to do – put a sticker on your car. What’s hard is to make a difference in our own community, our own village. Heck, if we stopped buying so much crap made in China, maybe Tibet would have a chance. Who knows?
Let’s start in our own neighborhoods and communities, and lend a hand to those in need. Let’s start by choosing to support those businesses that support the triple bottom line, that truly serve the needs of the comunity, not some invisible shareholder.
Let’s not wait for President Obama. Let’s start at home.
Let’s be the change that we want to see in the world.
Image: bobster1985 at Flickr under Creative Commons
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Natalie Cole Dead at 65
Natalie Cole -- Dead at 65
EXCLUSIVE
Natalie Cole -- one of the great voices in decades -- has died ... TMZ has learned.
Cole, whose hits include "This Will Be" and "Unforgettable" which she performed as a virtual duet with dad Nat King Cole -- died from congestive heart failure, although we're told the underlying medical issues were complications from a kidney transplant and Hepatitis C.
Natalie had been very sick recently, cancelling several tour dates in late December including a New Year's Eve concert at Disney Hall in L.A. She also cancelled an upcoming February concert due to illness.
Natalie struggled with substance abuse and was plagued with health problems, suffering from liver disease in 2008. She also underwent chemo for Hepatitis C.
Natalie, who was married 3 times and has a son, was 65.
She died in a Los Angeles hospital.
RIP
Natalie's rep tells TMZ, “It is with heavy hearts that we bring to you all the news of our Mother and sister's passing. Natalie fought a fierce, courageous battle, dying how she lived..with dignity, strength and honor. Our beloved Mother and sister will be greatly missed and remain UNFORGETTABLE in our hearts forever.”
The Recording Academy tells TMZ, "We've lost a wonderful, highly cherished artist and our heartfelt condolences go out to Natalie's family, friends, her many collaborators, as well as to all who have been entertained by her exceptional talent."
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A new report from leading utilities analysts at investment bank UBS suggests that energy utilities in Europe, north America and Australia are facing a “perfect storm” from the falling costs of renewables, energy efficiency and falling demand, and may not be able to sustain their business models.
The report – entitled “Can utilities survive in their current form?” – is the latest in a series of assessments, reviews and analysis that point to the severe disruption to the centralized generation model, and the demand and supply dynamics that have governed the industry for the past few decades. To briefly summarise the UBS response to its own question, the answer is No.
UBS says the biggest impact on the current utility model will occur in developed markets, where renewables in general and distributed solar in particular will take more of an already depleted “demand pie.”
This, says UBS, will cause profits to fall and could force utilities, particularly generators, to look at greater exposure to renewables and distributed generation, and to other downstream services. It comes to a similar conclusion on this as the CSIRO Future Grid forum, and echoes some of the strategic decisions currently being mooted German energy giants RWE and E.ON.
“We expect the renewables onslaught to continue and that the going will only get tougher for conventional generators,” the UBS analysts write. “We believe the will need to examine and change their traditional business models to survive the renewables era.”
These new business models could include a greater focus on rooftop solar, energy efficiency, and consumer offerings that combined solar, storage, and electric vehicle infrastructure, as well as energy-efficient appliances.
UBS says the economic for solar panels looks set to work best in Australia, the southwest US, Germany, Italy and, with a time lag, in Spain.
It notes that the combination of decreasing costs of solar and rising electricity bills means that “end-user” grid parity has been achieved in several key European markets, and in Australia and the south-west of US.
This means that consumers can reduce the cost of their bills by more than the cost of the solar system – and rooftop solar systems are having the added impact of pushing thermal generation down the merit order, as Stanwell Corp has testified in Queensland.
“As unsubsidised solar replaces conventional generation … in Europe, the US and Australia by shaving off the peak demand, it has started to reduce pool electricity prices,” UBS notes. And utilisation rates will also fall. This would lead to a 50 per cent fall in profits from conventional utilities in Europe by 2020, based on current deployment forecasts.
UBS says the prices will fall so low that capacity will have to be removed to allow prices to recover. However, that capacity may be superseded anyway by the emergence of storage, potentially another blow to conventional generation.
Interestingly, UBS conducted a survey of 65 utility companies in Europe, Asia, America, Australia and Brazil – and the biggest number of utilities who viewed renewables as a threat where conventional generators in developed markets.
More than 50% of generators thought this way, compared to less than 5% in emerging markets. The percentages were virtually reversed when asked about the opportunity for renewables.
Must be something about sunk investments. Indeed, most developed market generators said renewables would lower their profits, while in emerging markets they thought renewables would increase their profits. UBS noted that the problems for conventional generators in developed markets would likely increase, given that penetration rates are still relatively low.
In Germany, however, households are expected to generate 29 per cent of their needs from rooftop solar by 2020, and commercial businesses up to 18 per cent. In Italy and Spain, commercial businesses are expected to generate more than one quarter of their own electricity requirements.
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I've been a developer for the past seven years. Currently I'm in the aerospace industry and work with a variety of programming languages and operating systems.
Jake eagerly stepped into his new job, grateful for more experience and new challenges, craving to learn new software stacks and see what his new company had to teach him about the world of software.
They told him he’d be working on some websites, dealing with JavaScript, Node.js, JSON, and the like. It sounded pretty reasonable for web development, except for the non-technical interviewer’s comment that it was all “built on top of Subversion” which he assumed was a simple misunderstanding.
Then he was thrust into a project using the company’s custom “JSON-based Domain Specific Language”, or JDSL. His boss told him to check out a copy of the project he’d be assigned to, and spend a week or two getting familiar with it. “Just ask anyone for help if you have questions, but you shouldn’t have any trouble judging from your experience.”
So Jake began an SVN checkout…and long story short it took two days to complete. When he asked about it, his coworker Scott told him, “Oh that’s normal. Just play Solitaire or something until it finishes.”
Two days later he started poking around. He started with a seemingly-innocuous file called “customers.json” and stared in confusion at its contents:
{ "File" : "Customers.json", "Class" : "Customers", "Author" : "[email protected]", "Purpose" : "", "Functions" : [ 568, 899, 900, 901, 902, 1877, 2880 ] }
The project was full of such files, along with some apparently-incomplete code files such as this one called “customers.js”:
Customers.prototype.UpdateBillingInfo = function(info) { this.cc = info.cc; this.type = info.type; this.name = info.name; this.expM = info.expM; this.expY = info.expY; this.ccv = info.ccv; /* snip a bunch of similar lines */ this.saveToDatabase(); };
After a couple days of spelunking through the codebase, and not finding even a single code comment, Jake could make no sense of what he was seeing, and finally asked for help. A coworker named Scott was available and sat with him to walk through some things.
“Oh, you just don’t get it yet,” he began. “JDSL was written by Tom. He’s a super-genius and wrote JDSL himself. So basically that customers.json is just metadata used to put together the Customers class.” He waited for Jake to “get it”.
He didn’t. “So…how do I run it?” he asked.
Scott laughed. “You wouldn’t want to ‘just’ run it. It takes a couple days for a new deployment to finish starting up. JDSL can be a little slow, but it’s really powerful. Really powerful. Like I said, Tom is a genius.”
Jake still wasn’t “getting it.” “So walk me through this metadata file. What does it do?”
Scott laughed again. “This is the genius part. See here where it says ‘Class’?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Well that’s the class name. Now, see down here where it says ‘functions’?”
“Yeah.”
“Well those are subversions link to all the functions that make up the class!”
“…I still don’t understand…” Jake responded. Inwardly he thought he started to understand, but prayed he was wrong.
“So you have ‘customers.json’ and ‘customers.js’. The JSON file is the metadata and the JS file has all the code. So the list of functions in the JSON file tells JDSL to look up those revisions of the JS file to find what functions are available. In this case the actual code is in revisions 568, 899, 900, 901, and so on.”
Jake blinked slowly, hoping he was just being hazed. “Um…”
“Each revision of ”customers.js“ has one function, so to add functions all you have to do is check in your new code and update the JSON metadata file with the new revisions!”
Jake’s confusion turned into incredulity.
“Whenever something makes a function call on a Customer object, JDSL uses the list of function revisions to check out all the actual functions until it finds a match! Understand?”
“…I think so…”
“Like I said, Tom is a genius! This lets you track every function that has ever existed. You can add new functions by overwriting the JS file and adding a new revision to the JSON, and you can remove a function just by removing its revision number from the function list. And it’s still there in history, inactive but never lost!” Scott stood. “Let me know if you have any more questions,” he said as he left Jake’s desk.
Armed with Scott’s insight into JDSL, Jake slowly began to understand the system, checking out multiple revisions of each file so he could piece them together and see what was going on at runtime. He soon realized it was merely a web portal to allow customers to update their personal information, but thanks to the complexity of JDSL it took days to do coding work that should only take minutes.
As he went through the code, still familiarizing himself with it, he started checking in code comments to help him and his coworkers map together the convoluted mess, and even fixed a few obvious bugs he found just by reading the code. He did this one class at a time, and at the end of the week he updated and checked in all the JSON ‘metadata’ files to use the new function revisions.
Monday morning, he showed up to a virtual firestorm. Everyone was in a panic. “Something broke with JSDL and our customer database got scrambled!” Scott quickly explained as he passed Jake in the hallway.
“You!” a voice boomed.
Jake stopped and turned to face a tall, lanky, pale blond man who was obviously angry. “Are you Jake? The new guy?”
“Yes,” he answered carefully.
“I’m Tom. You broke JDSL!”
“Uh, what?” Jake had only been looking at the customer portal. How could he have caused any problems?
“You broke JDSL!” he screamed. “I’m reporting you to the bosses and having you fired!” And Tom turned and stormed off, leaving Jake standing confused.
Shortly afterwards, Jake was summoned to a small conference room. Tom, an employee from HR, and a couple Vice Presidents waited for him. Tom looked like he was stewing and could boil over any minute.
“Tell us what you did to JDSL,” one of the VP’s asked.
“I don’t think I did anything,” Jake answered. “I’ve only been here two weeks, trying to learn JDSL and how the customer portal works. I don’t even know how to deploy it!”
“You made a few commits to Subversion!” Tom shouted.
“Well, yes. I added a few code comments, trying to–”
“You can’t use comments in JDSL!” Tom shouted. “THAT’S WHAT BROKE IT!!”
Jake stayed silent, trying to process how code comments could wipe out a customer database. Tom continued after a pause. “I haven’t added comment support to JDSL, so the runtime executes comments like normal code! You must have had database updates in some comments?!”
“Well, yeah, I put a couple short syntax examples in a comment to clarify–”
Tom burst to his feet. “I knew it! You BROKE IT!” He turned to face the VPs. “I can’t deal with coders who don’t understand the system! You will either fire Jake…or I quit!” And he stormed out of the room.
The VPs turned to the HR representative and talked as if Jake wasn’t even in the room. “I think our course of action is pretty clear. Tom’s a programming virtuouso and our best resource, and Jake did delete the database. We have to fire Jake.”
And so Jake moved on to greener pastures. Much greener pastures. Ones where production systems didn’t do dozens of SVN file checkouts for each function call at runtime. Ones where production systems didn’t automatically use the latest trunk. And ones that didn’t come to a complete standstill because a newbie checked in a code comment.
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After struggling through the opening days of Tirreno-Adriatico before finally pulling the pin on Stage 3, Nick Nuyens’ season appears to be in further trouble after reports he may also be suffering with a virus. Nuyens has struggled to return to form after fracturing his hip at last year’s Paris-Nice with the latest report another set-back for one of Garmin Sharp’s newest recruits. Related Articles Nuyens signs with Garmin-Sharp through 2015
Nuyens looking to peak for Tour of Flanders
Nuyens pessimistic about Classics form
Garmin Sharp to Dwars door Vlaanderen without clear leader
Nuyens cancels spring campaign
Nuyens most recently voiced his concerns about the upcoming classics season after experiencing an up and down start to the year. Failing to complete the Italian stage race after just three days now appears to be another blow for the winner of the 2011 Tour of Flanders.
“My condition is good, but I cannot transfer it to my legs. I can't bring the power. Below my waist everything is blocked. That's big misery," he said.
"I am now getting everything checked thoroughly," Nuyens told sporza.be "I just have to wait to find out what's wrong."
Nuyens signed for the Garmin Sharp squad through until 2015 with the intention of bolstering the cobbled classics squad after the likes of Sep Vanmarcke left for Blanco at the end of last season. The Belgian however, has done little to suggest he will play a major role in his ‘home’ races such as Tour of Flanders this season and is currently awaiting further information on his current condition.
"My team Garmin thinks I have a virus, because I also have a rash on my body," he said. "But I myself think the problem still lies in my hip. Maybe I forced myself in the winter too much.
"It's difficult mentally because I have few opportunities every year and I’m beginning to doubt whether it is still okay. I just have to wait to find out what is exactly wrong," he added.
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It was a simple twist of fate. Had it not been for Chris Andersen’s sprained ankle, Chris Bosh’s strained calf and Josh McRoberts’ torn meniscus, he might not even be here. And yet, 7-foot rookie center Hassan Whiteside, the Miami Heat’s mid-season acquisition, is quickly becoming the team’s most vital player.
Whiteside has become the focal point of a fan base desperately seeking out hope for the future during a painful post-LeBron-James transition. He’s rewarding us all with boundless energy, youthful exuberance, and quick ascent. In his limited experience, Whiteside has been rampaging through the NBA with reckless abandon, utilizing his massive 7-foot-7-inch wingspan to throw down monstrous alley-oop dunks, snatch rebounds out of the sky from high above the rim, swat basketballs as Godzilla would planes, and generally wreak havoc on both ends of the floor.
Whiteside is averaging a staggering 16.6 points, 14.4 rebounds and 4.4 blocks per 36 minutes played. He is shooting 69.2 percent from the field, while players he is defending are shooting just 43.3 percent.
He was never supposed to be this good this quickly. For a city so long starved for anything approaching decent play at the center position, the extraordinary exploits of the budding 25-year-old have been a joy to watch.
But Whiteside is quick to clarify one thing: He is not a rookie, at least in terms of NBA designation. And that distinction, however technical, is more significant than you may realize.
There was a whole other NBA career for the 2010 second-round pick out of Marshall – 19 games over two seasons with the Sacramento Kings that were as nondescript as the team for which he played. He partially tore the patellar tendon in his left knee before his pro career ever began, had surgery to correct later into the season, and never amounted to much of anything in 111 uninspiring big-league minutes.
Then there were D-League stops in South Dakota, to play for the Heat’s affiliate Sioux Falls Skyforce, and Hidalgo, Texas, to play for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers.
Then came banishment to China and Lebanon.
This past September, Whiteside signed with the Memphis Grizzlies, but was released before the season started. He then went back to Rio Grande, but was quickly traded to the D-League’s Iowa Energy, where he got off to an incredibly hot two-game start to the season – averaging 21.0 points on 82.6 percent shooting, 15.5 rebounds, and 6.0 blocks.
Whiteside says he then called every team in the league to ask for a workout, and all but the Heat turned him down. The Heat brought him in for a workout on Nov. 17. But while the organization was thinking it over, they lost him. The Grizzlies signed him to a second contract on Nov. 19. But he was cut a day later when Memphis needed to open a roster spot, and retuned to the Energy.
After a third consecutive cornea-etching performance for the Energy – 24 points on 11 for 12 shooting, 16 rebounds and 4 blocks – this time against Miami’s own D-League affiliate on Nov. 22, the Heat simply couldn’t refuse.
Out went Shannon Brown. In he came.
But here’s where things get interesting.
The Heat had no basis upon which to project such dramatic early success, but had no reason not to prepare for it in doling out a contract. The Heat had three options – offer him a one-year deal (which would make him a free agent next summer), a two-year deal (which would make him a free agent in the summer of 2016) or a one-year deal with a team option for a second (which would allow the Heat to control in which season he was to become a free agent), all at the minimum salary.
There are two types of free agency in the NBA: unrestricted and restricted. An unrestricted free agent is free to sign with any other team, and there’s nothing the player’s original team can do to prevent it. Restricted free agency gives the player’s original team the right to keep the player by matching a contract he signs with another team.
Restricted free agency exists only on a limited basis. It is allowed only for players coming off rookie-scale contracts, and for players who have been in the league three or fewer seasons.
Whiteside is technically a two-year veteran. This is his third year. Had they doled out a one-year deal, the Heat could have made Whiteside a restricted free agent this summer.
But here’s the thing: Restricted free agency only gives a player’s incumbent team the right to match a contract the player signs with another team. It still needs to have the means (either the necessary cap space or a large enough exception) to match it.
Back in 2003, the Washington Wizards were able to take advantage of a loophole in the NBA’s salary cap system when they outbid the Golden State Warriors for Gilbert Arenas, a restricted free agent after being a second round pick in 2001. The Warriors were over the cap and thus could only use an exception to re-sign Arenas.
Gilbert was at the time an “Early Bird” free agent, a designation classified for players who have played with their incumbent teams for two years. A team could use the Early Bird exception to re-sign its own free agent for up to 175-percent of his salary in the previous season or 108 percent of the average player salary in the previous season (104.5 percent in today’s CBA), whichever is greater. Golden State could therefore only match an offer sheet for up to the amount of the Early Bird exception, which was about $4.9 million at the time. Washington signed Arenas to an offer sheet with a starting salary of about $8.5 million, which Golden State was powerless to match.
This loophole was addressed in the 2005 CBA with the “Gilbert Arenas” provision, where it was ruled that an offer sheet made to a restricted free agent in his first or second year in the NBA could not contain a first-year salary greater than the (full) mid-level exception. To put this in context of 2003, the Wizards would only have been able to offer the mid-level exception, which at the time was $4.9 million. Golden State would therefore have had the option to use its Early Bird rights to match the offer sheet for Arenas, if they chose to do so.
The rule change does two primary things: It limits the size of a potential first year salary that a player with one or two years of experience can get on the open market(1), and it guarantees that the player’s prior team can utilize the Non-Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception (for one or two year veterans; assuming, of course, it has access to it) or his Early Bird rights (for two-year veterans who have been with their previous teams for both years) to match it.
While the provision only applies to players with one or two years of experience, players with three years of experience can still be made restricted free agents, and since full Bird rights are accrued after three years, their prior teams are generally in a position to leverage those Bird rights to match any outside offers up to and including a maximum salary.
These rules combine to make it nearly impossible to wrestle away any players with three years of experience or fewer. The case of Whiteside, however, is somewhat unique.
By virtue of the two years of experience that Whiteside has already accrued, the Heat will not have the protections of the Gilbert Arenas provision.
But it gets worse. While Whiteside has accrued two years in the league, those years were not in Miami. Therefore, the Heat also has not accrued those two years toward his Bird clock.
Retaining him therefore becomes problematic.
Had they signed Whiteside to a one-year contract, the Heat, which projects to be capped out this summer, ran the risk of not being able to match a high enough outside offer and losing him outright after the season, despite his potential restricted free agent status.
Whiteside would have become only a “Non Bird” free agent this summer, a designation classified for players who have played with their prior teams for only one season. A team can use the Non-Bird exception to re-sign its own free agent to a contract of up to four years in length, starting at up to 120 percent of either his salary in the previous season or the then-current minimum salary, whichever is greater. For Whiteside, that would have been just $1.2 million.
The Mid-Level exception would likely have been the best tool the Heat would have had to match an outside offer, which will be worth either $3.4 million (via the Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception) or $5.5 million (via the Non-Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception) depending upon how things play out.
Using the larger mid-level exception automatically triggers a hard cap at the “apron,” the point $4 million above the projected $81.6 million luxury tax level. The apron is a brick wall on spending, one that cannot be crossed for any reason. A team cannot exceed it even for a moment, and even if it were to subsequently drop back down below it. Merely approach it, and it becomes harder to make trades that bring in more salary than they send out, or even sign minimum-salary players when injuries strike. It is a menace constantly floating in the distance.
In other words, had the Heat signed him to a one-year contract, Whiteside would have become free agent this summer, and the Heat would have been powerless to match any outside offer with a starting salary greater than $5.5 million. And if that outside offer started at more than $3.4 million, the Heat would have become hard-capped at the apron for all of next season, severely restricting their summer plans.
Therefore, offering Whiteside a one-year contract was not really all that appealing for the Heat.
Had they signed Whiteside to a one-year contract with a team option for a second year, the Heat would have had the flexibility to control when Whiteside was to become a free agent. This would have been something of a best-case scenario for the Heat in that it would have allowed the Heat to evaluate his performance for this season before deciding upon the appropriate course of action, but the structure wasn’t without its severe challenges.
Adding a team option to a contract imposes several restrictions on how the contract can be structured. First, an option year cannot pay out less than the year prior; this did not present a problem in the case of Whiteside because his was to be a minimum salary contract, which by rule increases in value every year. Second, and more importantly in the case of Whiteside, the terms of any partial guarantee in an option year need to be identical to the year prior; this presented possible complications for both the Heat and Whiteside.
For the Heat, Pat Riley negotiated to give Whiteside just a $100,000 partial guarantee on his $769,881 prorated minimum salary for this season. The presence of a team option, therefore, would have required the Heat to guarantee the same percentage of Whiteside’s salary for next season as implied by the $100,000 for this season; that’s a $127,468 guarantee on his $981,348 salary for next season. Of course, since any partial guarantee on the second season would be subject to the Heat’s prior exercise of its team option (i.e., if the Heat chose not to exercise their player option, the partial guarantee on the second season would become irrelevant), this was a manageable complication for the Heat.
For Whiteside, the presence of the team option would have required, assuming the option were exercised by June 29th, that his second year salary would be just $127,468 partially guaranteed all the way through January 10th of next season (the point at which all salaries across the NBA become guaranteed for the rest of the season). Whiteside instead negotiated for his contract to be $245,337 (25 percent) partially guaranteed on August 1st, $490,674 (50 percent) partially guaranteed on October 31st, and fully guaranteed on December 1st.
Therefore, while a one-year contract with a team option for a second would clearly have been the best structure from the perspective of the Heat, Whiteside likely refused.
And so, the Heat bypassed both the one-year contract and the one-year contract with a team option for a second year in favor of a straight two-year contract, with $100,000 in guaranteed money to serve as an enticement for Whiteside to accept.
Whiteside is under contract to the Heat through next season. His contract pays out (a now-guaranteed) $769,881 this year, and calls for a non-guaranteed minimum salary of $981,348 next year, which will become 25 percent partially guaranteed on August 1st, 50 percent partially guaranteed on October 31st, and fully guaranteed on December 1st. The contract could soon become one of the biggest bargains in the whole of the NBA.
The two-year contract now appears prophetic. It is the only thing keeping other teams from swooping in and offering Whiteside a contract greater than the value of the full Mid-Level exception this summer, a contract which, even though it may have retained his restricted free agent rights, the Heat may have been powerless to match.
Whiteside’s contract extends through the 2015-16 NBA season. By the time it is over, he will have accrued four years of NBA experience, making him ineligible for restricted free agency. He will become an unrestricted free agency during the summer of 2016.
If he continues to progress along his current trajectory, he can expect a massive payday.
So what happens in the summer of 2016?
It depends upon how much you think Whiteside will be able to command in free agency.
Whiteside will be in the very same position two summers from now as was Chris Andersen this past summer. Remember what the Heat did with Andersen?
Andersen had been playing for the Heat for two years, each at the minimum salary, and therefore, by rule, carried with him a cap hold equal to the minimum salary for a player with two-years of experience.
Cap holds are placeholder charges against team salary for a team’s own free agents. They are designed to protect against a team using all of its cap space to sign outside free agents and then circling back to its own free agents utilizing their Bird rights, which allow teams to exceed the cap to re-sign their own players.
Cap holds can be released in order to free up the cap space, but it comes at a cost. To release such cap holds, a team can either re-sign the free agent, at which point his cap hold is replaced with his new salary, or renounce him, at which point his team forfeits his Bird rights.
The amount of the cap hold depends upon several factors, including the player’s previous salary and what kind of free agent he is. Cap holds for most players are between 120 percent and 250 percent of their previous salary, but for players on minimum salary contracts are equal to the minimum salary of a player with two years of experience(2) for the upcoming season.
The Heat exploited Andersen’s small cap hold to retain his Early-Bird rights, charging only the two-year minimum amount against the Heat’s salary cap position. They then utilized the rest of its cap space elsewhere, and circled back to him, leveraging his Early-Bird rights to exceed the cap in offering a two-year, $10.4 million deal.
Whiteside, by virtue of playing at the minimum salary next year, will carry a minimal cap hold of $980,431 to be charged against the Heat’s cap position as he enters free agency in the summer of 2016.
So, whatever the Heat has planned for 2016, at a cost of just $980K, they can use up all their cap space to do it, and then, after it is all used up, circle back to Whiteside to give him a contract that exceeds the salary cap (utilizing his Early-Bird rights). The Heat can exceed the salary cap to re-sign him to a two, three or four year deal with annual raises of as much as 7.5 percent of his starting salary.
But there is a giant catch: The Heat can only utilize this strategy to give Whiteside a starting salary equal to 104.5 percent of the NBA’s average salary in the prior season (2015-16), which figures to be roughly $6.3 million. That may not be enough to re-sign him if he continues to perform at this level.
If you believe that Whiteside will command a starting salary of greater than roughly $6.3 million when he becomes an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2016, then the Heat can’t use his Early-Bird rights to give it to him. Instead, the Heat would need to fit his entire starting salary into its available cap space.
Of course, that would mean that over the next year and a half, Whiteside will have become something of a star in the making. And if that’s true, the Heat would presumably be more than happy to utilize as much of its summer of 2016 cap space as is necessary to grant him the long-term contract he requires.
The Heat figures to have plenty of summer of 2016 cap space with which to work.
The cap is expected to rise from a projected $67.8 million next season to anywhere from $87 million to $90 million the following year (unless a salary cap smoothing mechanism is implemented), as the league’s massive new $24 billion TV rights takes effect.
The Heat therefore figures to have anywhere from $57 million to $60 million of summer of 2016 cap space(3). Re-signing Whiteside to a starting salary of greater than $6.3 million would eat into that cap space, but it would be well worth it if he continues to play like this.
Whiteside will be eligible for a starting salary of up to the maximum, which for him projects to be somewhere between $20 million and $21 million. The final figure will be set when the 2016-17 salary cap is set in the first week of July 2016.
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Dr at mass general says he’s never seen this volume of patients come in this fast before. Many injuries are shrapnel //t.co/K1YzmEJTBH — Kathryn Sotnik (@kathrynsotnik) 16 Apr 13
Peter J. Fagenholz, a trauma surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital said that many of the 29 victims of Monday’s bombing sustained “complex lower extremity trauma.”
Doctors performed several amputations, he said at a news conference on Monday evening. Some victims suffered from shrapnel wounds and at least one person was being treated for a shattered eardrum.
He said eight of the victims at the hospital were in critical condition, and that a number of patients will require repeat operations in the days to come.
He said the volume of patients was unprecedented, and some of the injuries were particularly gruesome. But he had high regard for the patients.
“People, they were pretty brave,” he said.
— JENNIFER PRESTON
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Who would be in your top ten?
Like a fine wine, some women just get better with age. We’ve compiled a list of the hottest women over 40 who still give their younger counterparts a run for their money.
10. Elle MacPherson, 44.
Nicknamed “the body” in her modeling days, now a business woman and Director of a surfwear company called Hot Tuna. The first supermodel to have postage stamps made using her image. Divorced and recently single and looking for Mr Right..
9. Teri Hatcher, 43.
Rose to fame in the New Adventures of Superman, playing Lois Lane. Now plays Susan Mayer in Desperate Housewives and won a golden globe for that role. Also divorced and single.
8. Pamela Anderson, 41.
Found fame playing the part as CJ in Baywatch, being a playboy model and of course that video with Tommy Lee. Married three times, may be single when this reached the press, could be back with any number of rocker-ex boyfriends or husbands.
7. Kim Cattrall, 52.
Brit born actress has been in many movies, most famous for her role as Samantha in Sex and The City and appearances in the Police Academy series. Married three times and wrote a book about orgasms with an ex-husband. Currently single.
6. Elizabeth Hurley, 43.
More famous for dating Hugh Grant and wearing THAT dress. Just make sure you don’t watch her movies or it might detract from this foxy English rose. Married to Arun Nayar, still.
5. Sharon Stone, 50.
Actress that has showed more than most. Basic Instinct being the film that made her an A-List celebrity, not forgetting the scene with the uncrossing of legs. Has hinted a being bisexual on many occasions, is now divorced and single.
4. Michelle Pfeiffer, 50.
Perhaps her sexiest role was that of Catwoman in the film Batman returns, her least remembered role was in Grease 2. Married twice, and still married to the creator of Ally McBeal, David Kelley.
3. Kylie Minogue, 40.
The singer and actress first shot to fame in Neighbours and reached global fame with the song “can’t get you out of my head”. Had breast cancer and took a year off to recover. Famously dated Michael Hutchence, is now however, single and looking for Mr Right and have babies.
2. Halle Berry, 42.
Been gracing our screens in a wide range of movies, a firm favourite and too many sexy roles to mention here, apart from maybe that Bond scene on the beach. Married twice, divorced twice, now happy with a guy ten years her junior and the father of her child. Said to be happy and planning a second child.
1. Monica Belucci, 44.
Many films in many languages, was in two of the Matrix films, recently said “I love the idea that when a man pays to see one of my films, he’s paying me to feel pleasure. That’s good enough for us to get her to the number 1 spot. She is married.
Did we miss anyone in your opinion?? If so, let us know in the comments.
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The United States Geological Survey confirms an earthquake felt in Maryland originated in Delaware Thursday afternoon.The coordinates of the quake (39.2N 75.4W) put the center of the quake 10 miles northeast of Dover, in the Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, at a depth of 8 miles, USGS officials said."(It) puts it below all the sand in the Delmarva and into the basin rock below Dover," Geologist Richard Ortt, with the Maryland Geological Survey said.The 4.1 magnitude earthquake was reported at 4:48 p.m. 10 kilometers east northeast of Dover Base Housing in Delaware, USGS confirms. The USGS initially reported the earthquake as a 4.4, then a 5.1, before dropping back to a 4,4, and currently at 4.1 magnitude.USGS geophysicist Rafael Abreu said the earthquake could be felt as far at 275 miles from the epicenter.There are no reports of damage or injuries at this time.Officials said anyone sustaining serious damage of an emergency nature to a building or home should call their local 911 center to report it.The United States Geological Survey asks anyone who may have felt the quake to report it on their website here.Meanwhile, the Maryland Emergency Management Agency said it is monitoring for any reports of damage in the region.While earthquakes are not common in this region, they do happen. In August of 2011, most of Maryland felt a magnitude 5.8 earthquake that was centered near Mineral, Virginia, officials said. Check here for more information about earthquakes in Maryland. For more general information about earthquake preparedness check here.Also on WBALTV.com:
The United States Geological Survey confirms an earthquake felt in Maryland originated in Delaware Thursday afternoon.
The coordinates of the quake (39.2N 75.4W) put the center of the quake 10 miles northeast of Dover, in the Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, at a depth of 8 miles, USGS officials said.
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"(It) puts it below all the sand in the Delmarva and into the basin rock below Dover," Geologist Richard Ortt, with the Maryland Geological Survey said.
The 4.1 magnitude earthquake was reported at 4:48 p.m. 10 kilometers east northeast of Dover Base Housing in Delaware, USGS confirms. The USGS initially reported the earthquake as a 4.4, then a 5.1, before dropping back to a 4,4, and currently at 4.1 magnitude.
USGS geophysicist Rafael Abreu said the earthquake could be felt as far at 275 miles from the epicenter.
There are no reports of damage or injuries at this time.
Officials said anyone sustaining serious damage of an emergency nature to a building or home should call their local 911 center to report it.
The United States Geological Survey asks anyone who may have felt the quake to report it on their website here.
Meanwhile, the Maryland Emergency Management Agency said it is monitoring for any reports of damage in the region.
While earthquakes are not common in this region, they do happen. In August of 2011, most of Maryland felt a magnitude 5.8 earthquake that was centered near Mineral, Virginia, officials said.
Check here for more information about earthquakes in Maryland. For more general information about earthquake preparedness check here.
UPDATE: Prelim. magnitude has been revised from 5.1 to 4.4: https://t.co/2sCYZ30xPt — USGS (@USGS) November 30, 2017
M 5.1 - 10km ENE of Dover, Delaware https://t.co/2sCYZ2IWqT Don't forget to send the USGS a "Did You Feel It!" report pic.twitter.com/LZoxq5H8f8 — USGS (@USGS) November 30, 2017
Also on WBALTV.com:
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Tickets are on sale for the second stage of the CrossFit Games Season: Regionals.
After the Open, the top men, women and teams move on to prove their fitness at the Regional level. Only the top five from each division in each of CrossFit’s eight Regionals will advance to the 2017 Reebok CrossFit Games in Madison, Wisconsin.
Regional Schedule
May 19 - 21, 2017
East Regional | Albany, New York |Times Union Center
South Regional | San Antonio, Texas | Alamodome
May 26 - 28, 2017
Pacific Regional | Wollongong, Australia | WIN Entertainment Centre
California Regional | Del Mar, California | Del Mar Arena
Central Regional | Nashville, Tennessee | Music City Center
June 2 - 4, 2017
Meridian Regional | Madrid, Spain | Caja Mágica
West Regional | Portland, Oregon | Portland Expo Center
Atlantic Regional | Atlanta, Georgia | Georgia World Congress Center
Get Tickets
Regional tickets cost $75 for three days or $30 per day (Friday, Saturday, Sunday). Kids 12 and under are admitted free of charge with a ticketed adult. Each Regional athlete will receive one complimentary three-day pass (teams will receive six, one per athlete).
Affiliate owners will receive one complimentary non-transferrable ticket to their respective Regional. Their ticket and affiliate credential can be picked up at will call when they present a valid photo ID. Affiliate owners will be granted additional viewing access to the athlete warm-up area and venue-specific VIP benefits with approved affiliate credential.
Click on a Regional link below to purchase tickets now.
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Donald Trump denied on more than one occasion that the Russians attempted to meddle in the 2016 election even as late as a few days ago. Once the story broke in The Washington Post about Obama’s lack of a response to the meddling, President Trump took on a whole new outlook.
Going back over 2016, Donald Trump denied Russian involvement in election interference on a number of occasions:
September 2016 – During the first presidential debate, Trump made his first public denial.
October 2016 – During the second presidential debate, Trump suggested there was no hacking at all and why Russia was blamed.
December 2016 – After the election, Trump rejected a CIA assessment that said Russia intervened in the election in the hopes he’d win. “I don’t believe it.”
December 2016 – Trump’s transition team dumped on the CIA pointing to their assessment that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction
It wasn’t until the DNI released a report that said the NSA, CIA, and FBI all agreed that Russia meddled in the election that Trump was forced to acknowledge the obvious.
That didn’t stop Trump from occasionally tweeting it was all a “hoax” or “made up.”
All of that suddenly changed when the Washington Post released their story revealing President Obama didn’t take action against Russia because he was concerned about the political impact.
Trump tweeted the following in response:
Just out: The Obama Administration knew far in advance of November 8th about election meddling by Russia. Did nothing about it. WHY? — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 24, 2017
What meddling, Mr. President? A day earlier he was still calling it a hoax:
…Why did Democratic National Committee turn down the DHS offer to protect against hacks (long prior to election). It's all a big Dem HOAX! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 22, 2017
I am sure the President’s loyal followers will claim he is engaged in another brilliant scheme to throw his accusers off base when in reality he doesn’t think. He reacts. When asked about his sudden turnabout, he’ll likely deny the interference again but say if it happened, Obama should have done something.
In other words, it will be a day that ends in ‘y.’
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The World Health Organisation has recorded the first suspected outbreak of polio for 14 years in Syria , sparking renewed alarm at the collapse of health care caused by the country's civil war.
Doctors in Syria are also seeing a flare-up of typhoid, hepatitis, and the flesh-eating parasite, leishmaniasis, blamed partly on the inability to administer a proper vaccination programme and partly on poor living conditions and a much-reduced access to health care.
Some 22 people in the northeastern province of Deir Ezzor are now showing symptoms that are "very likely" to be polio, Oliver Rosenbawer, from the WHO Global Polio Eradication Initiative told The Telegraph.
"We still need final confirmation from a laboratory, but all the indicators show that this is polio," said Mr Rosenbawer.
For centuries, epidemics of polio, a highly infectious disease that invades the nervous system and can cause paralysis within hours, blighted countries across the globe, leaving hundreds of thousands of children and adults permanently incapacitated.
Vaccination programs have dramatically reduced the number of cases, and the disease is now targeted for global eradication. In the past century the number of cases around the world has fallen from 350,000 in 1988 to 223 reported last year, according to the WHO.
Until this outbreak in Deir Ezzor, in Syria the last recorded case of polio was in 1999.
"We are worried about the suspected outbreak [in Syria]," said Mr Rosenbawer. "As long as there is polio in one place, countries around the world are at risk. The tragedy is that there is no cure; once you have polio, it is for life. So the only way is to tackle it is through vaccination."
Immunisation, already insufficiently widespread in Syria before the civil war, is almost impossible to carry out in Deir Ezzor and other parts of the country that are subjected to near constant shellfire and airstrikes, or are rife with lawlessness and kidnappings.
A study by WHO earlier this year found that least 35 per cent of the country's public hospitals had been damaged or destroyed in the conflict, and that in some areas, up to 70 per cent of health workers had fled.
In recent months the WHO has set up an "Early Warning and Response System" designed to identify possible outbreaks of dangerous diseases within Syria, said Tarik Jasarevic, a spokesman.
"We have 291 public health providers in government and opposition-held areas reporting suspected diseased that we then investigate. This network has detected hepatitis A, leishmaniasis, typhoid and measles."
In war-riven Aleppo, the summer heat combined with streets filled with putrid, uncollected rubbish, allowed leishmaniasis to thrive. Doctors recorded tens of thousand of cases of the tropical disease, transmitted by sand flies, that causes skin ulcers resembling leprosy.
The mass exodus of Syrian civilians fleeing the war is also increasing the risk of conveying diseases that had mostly been eradicated through vaccination back to neighbouring countries.
Alla Karpenko, a communications officer with Medicins Sans Frontieres, said the organisation had recorded cases of leishmaniasis, usually endemic to Syria, whilst working in Lebanon.
A measles outbreak that started in northern Syria is now showing up among refugees in Lebanon.
The revelation of the polio cases came as western diplomats prepared to step up efforts to convince leaders of the Syrian opposition to take part in a planned peace conference in Geneva next month.
Meanwhile nine Lebanese citizens who were kidnapped by rebel groups in May last year arrived back in Beirut late on Saturday, after a hostage swap with two Turkish airline pilots who were held prisoner by gunmen in Lebanon.
Lebanon says the hostages were Shia pilgrims, but the rebel opposition accused them of being part of the Lebanese militia Hezbollah.
Murat Akpinar, one of the pilots, described facing despair and hardships while in captivity. "For the first 15 days, we were kept in a room and didn't see the light of day," he said, adding that and his colleague were guarded by dozens of gunmen. "It was impossible for us to escape," he said.
Whooping crowds greeted the Lebanese men on their arrival at Beirut airport. One of them accused his kidnappers of not offering the hostages medical care.
"We wished that any of them had any kind of values," he said. "We were with people who couldn't tell a female camel from a male camel," he said, referring to an Arabic proverb to describe an ignorant person.
Other pilgrims said they were kept in dark, humid rooms for most of their confinement and reported hearing heavy fighting nearby.
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Washington: Finance minister Arun Jaitley has strongly raised with US commerce secretary Wilbur Ross India’s concerns over the Trump administration’s move to tighten the H-1B visa regime, highlighting the key role played by Indian professionals in boosting the American economy.
President Donald Trump this week signed an executive order for tightening the rules of the H-1B visa programme to stop its “abuse" and ensure that the visas are given to the “most-skilled or highest paid" petitioners, a decision that would impact India’s $150 billion IT industry.
The Indian IT industry has expressed serious concerns over the US’ move to tighten the rules for grant of the H-1B visa, mainly used by domestic IT professionals for short-term work. During the meeting, Jaitley raised the issue of recent executive orders which indicate a possible tightening of the H-1B visa regime. He outlined the significant contributions the skilled Indian professionals have made to the US economy and expressed the hope that the US administration will take this aspect into consideration while taking any decision.
During the meeting—the first cabinet-level interaction between the two countries under the Trump administration—Ross is believed to have said that US has started the process of reviewing H-1B visas issues and no decision has been taken on them yet, they said.
Ross is understood to have said that whatever the outcome of the review process, the Trump administration’s objective is to have a merit-based immigration policy that gives preference to highly-skilled professionals.
The executive order signed by Trump earlier this week calls for a review of H-1B visas by the departments of state, labour, homeland security and justice. The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise in specialised fields.
Indian technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year for their US operations. The US market accounts for about 60% of the revenue of the Indian IT industry. Reforming the H-1B visa system was one of the major election promises of Trump.
As per several US reports, a majority of the H-1B visas every year are grabbed by Indian IT professionals. India accounts for the highest pool of qualified IT professionals, whose services go a long way in making American companies globally competitive.
As mandated by the Congress, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) every year issues 65,000 H-1B visas and another 20,000 to those applicants having masters and higher degrees from a US educational institution.
Jaitley, leading an Indian delegation, arrived in Washington on Thursday to attend the annual Spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Over the next two days, the finance minister is scheduled to hold a series of bilateral meetings with his counterparts from the US, Australia, France, Indonesia and Sweden. He is also likely to meet finance ministers from neighbouring Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
Stressing that India-US relationship has bipartisan support in both the countries, the finance minister during his meeting with the US commerce secretary, said the two largest democratic countries of the world over the years have developed strong strategic, economic and defence ties.
The three phone conversations that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Trump had, along with the officials meeting, has shown that the two governments are going to build on this momentum in the years to come, the officials said.
Briefing Ross on India’s growth story, Jaitley is believed to have given him an insight into a series of “far reaching reforms" being undertaken by the Modi government post-demonetisation including the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
The US commerce secretary Ross congratulated Jaitley on making the GST a reality, an official statement said in New Delhi.
Jaitley said the two countries should be able to move towards achieving the goal of $500 billion per annum in bilateral trade in the next few years. The finance minister was accompanied by the India’s ambassador to the US, Navtej Sarna and secretary economic affairs Shaktikanta Das.
In addition to his meetings and presentations at the annual Spring meetings of the IMF and the World Bank, Jaitley is also scheduled to attend meetings of other multilateral forums including that of the G-20 finance ministers. Before leaving Washington DC for New York on Sunday, he is expected to interact with think-tanks and eminent Indian- Americans.
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(a) Identity --(1) Definition. Catsup, ketchup, or catchup is the food prepared from one or any combination of two or more of the following optional tomato ingredients: (i) Tomato concentrate as defined in 155.191(a)(1), except that lemon juice, concentrated lemon juice, or safe and suitable organic acids may be used in quantities no greater than necessary to adjust the pH, and in compliance with 155.191(b). (ii) The liquid derived from mature tomatoes of the red or reddish varieties Lycopersicum esculentum P. Mill. (iii) The liquid obtained from the residue from preparing such tomatoes for canning, consisting of peelings and cores with or without such tomatoes or pieces thereof. (iv) The liquid obtained from the residue from partial extraction of juice from such tomatoes. Such liquid is strained so as to exclude skins, seeds, and other coarse or hard substances in accordance with current good manufacturing practice. Prior to straining, food-grade hydrochloric acid may be added to the tomato material in an amount to obtain a pH no lower than 2.0. Such acid is then neutralized with food-grade sodium hydroxide so that the treated tomato material is restored to a pH of 4.2+/-0.2. The final composition of the food may be adjusted by concentration and/or by the addition of water. The food may contain salt (sodium chloride formed during acid neutralization shall be considered added salt) and is seasoned with ingredients as specified in paragraph (a)(2) of this section. The food is preserved by heat sterilization (canning), refrigeration, or freezing. When sealed in a container to be held at ambient temperatures, it is so processed by heat, before or after sealing, as to prevent spoilage. (2) Ingredients. One or any combination of two or more of the following safe and suitable ingredients in each of the following categories is added to the tomato ingredients specified in paragraph (a)(1) of this section: (i) Vinegars. (ii) Nutritive carbohydrate sweeteners. Such sweeteners if defined in part 168 of this chapter shall be as defined therein. (iii) Spices, flavoring, onions, or garlic. (3) Labeling. (i) The name of the food is "Catsup," "Ketchup," or "Catchup." (ii) The following shall be included as part of the name or in close proximity to the name of the food: (a ) The statement "Made from" or "Made in part from," as the case may be, "residual tomato material from canning" if the optional tomato ingredient specified in paragraph (a)(1)(iii) of this section or tomato concentrate containing the ingredient specified in 155.191(a)(1)(ii) is present. (b ) The statement "Made from" or "Made in part from," as the case may be, "residual tomato material from partial extraction of juice" if the optional tomato ingredient specified in paragraph (a)(1)(iv) of this section or tomato concentrate containing the ingredient specified in 155.191(a)(1)(iii) is present. (iii) Label declaration. Each of the ingredients used in the food shall be declared on the label as required by the applicable sections of parts 101 and 130 of this chapter; except that the name "tomato concentrate" may be used in lieu of the names "tomato puree," "tomato pulp," or "tomato paste" and when tomato concentrates are used, the labeling requirements of 155.191(a)(3)(ii)(a ) and (a)(3)(ii)(b ) do not apply. (b) Quality. (1) The standard of quality for catsup is as follows: The consistency of the finished food is such that its flow is not more than 14 centimeters in 30 seconds at 20 deg. C when tested in a Bostwick Consistometer in the following manner: Check temperature of mixture and adjust to 20+/-1 deg. C. The trough must also be at a temperature close to 20 deg. C. Adjust end-to-end level of Bostwick Consistometer by means of the spirit level placed in trough of instrument. Side-to-side level may be adjusted by means of the built-in spirit level. Transfer sample to the dry sample chamber of the Bostwick Consistometer. Fill the chamber slightly more than level full, avoiding air bubbles as far as possible. Pass a straight edge across top of chamber starting from the gate end to remove excess product. Release gate of instrument by gradual pressure on lever, holding the instrument down at the same time to prevent its movement as the gate is released. Immediately start the stop watch or interval timer, and after 30 seconds read the maximum distance of flow to the nearest 0.1 centimeter. Clean and dry the instrument and repeat the reading on another portion of sample. Do not wash instrument with hot water if it is to be used immediately for the next determination, as this may result in an increase in temperature of the sample. For highest accuracy, the instrument should be maintained at a temperature of 20+/-1 deg. C. If readings vary more than 0.2 centimeter, repeat a third time or until satisfactory agreement is obtained. Report the average of two or more readings, excluding any that appear to be abnormal. (2) Determine compliance as specified in 155.3(b). (3) If the quality of catsup falls below the standard prescribed in paragraphs (b) (1) and (2) of this section, the label shall bear the general statement of substandard quality specified in 130.14(a) of this chapter, in the manner and form therein specified, but in lieu of such general statement of substandard quality when the quality of the catsup falls below the standard, the label may bear the alternative statement, "Below Standard in Quality--Low Consistency." (c) Fill of container. (1) The standard of fill of container for catsup, as determined by the general method for fill of container prescribed in 130.12(b) of this chapter, is not less than 90 percent of the total capacity except: (i) When the food is frozen, or (ii) When the food is packaged in individual serving-size packages containing 56.7 grams (2 ounces) or less. (2) Determine compliance as specified in 155.3(b). (3) If the catsup falls below the standard of fill prescribed in paragraphs (c) (1) and (2) of this section, the label shall bear the general statement of substandard fill as specified in 130.14(b) of this chapter, in the manner and form therein specified. [48 FR 3956, Jan. 28, 1983, as amended at 49 FR 15073, Apr. 17, 1984; 58 FR 2883, Jan. 6, 1993]
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President Trump’s nominee for education secretary, Betsy DeVos, appeared before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee for her confirmation hearing on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2017. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post)
Eli Broad, a billionaire philanthropist from California and major backer of charter schools, is urging senators to oppose the nomination of Betsy DeVos as education secretary, saying that she is unqualified for the job.
“At the risk of stating the obvious, we must have a Secretary of Education who believes in public education and the need to keep public schools public,” Broad wrote in a letter Wednesday to Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.).
“With Betsy DeVos at the helm of the U.S. Department of Education, much of the good work that has been accomplished to improve public education for all of America’s children could be undone.”
[Two Republicans say they will vote against DeVos]
Broad’s opposition to DeVos is notable in part because it illuminates the extent of the opposition movement.
Republicans have argued that Democrats are fighting against DeVos out of allegiance to teachers unions. Broad is a major Democratic booster. But he has used his wealth to promote charter schools in Los Angeles and cities nationwide, and could hardly be considered in the pocket of unions. In fact, unions have often attacked him, alleging that he is trying to undermine public education.
Broad expressed his opposition at a time when DeVos’s nomination appeared to be hanging by a thread, after two Republican senators, Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), said Wednesday they plan to vote against her.
Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said they couldn't commit to voting for President Trump's education secretary pick Betsy DeVos on the Senate floor Tuesday. (Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions)
However, the White House press secretary and key GOP senators said that they were still confident DeVos will be confirmed.
[DeVos questionnaire appears to include passages from uncited sources]
Broad has spent more than $140 million backing charter schools and is a proponent of strict accountability for schools. He does not support vouchers, according to a spokeswoman.
He wrote in his letter, which was sent by email to all Senate offices, that he has had serious concerns since DeVos’s nomination about her support for “unregulated charter schools and vouchers as well as the potential conflicts of interest she might bring to the job.”
He said his concern grew after her Jan. 17 confirmation hearing, where she stumbled over basic policy questions.
“I now also question her ability to enforce key provisions of the range of federal statutes entrusted to this role,” Broad wrote.
“In short, I believe she is unprepared and unqualified for the position. As someone who is deeply committed to the belief that all children deserve access to a strong public education, I hope you will join me in opposing Mrs. DeVos’s nomination.”
Eli Broad, billionaire philanthropist and charter school backer, opposes Betsy DeVos by emma brown on Scribd
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Jihadis enter ancient city, where they wreaked destruction last year, after earlier report that airstrikes had repelled them
Isis has regained control of the city of Palmyra in Syria, nine months after it was driven out by Russian-backed government forces, opposition activists said on Sunday.
Russia earlier said it had repelled militants, forcing them to retreat to the outskirts of the ancient city by launching more than 60 airstrikes.
But the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) and the Palmyra Co-ordination group say Isis militants fought their way into Palmyra on Sunday, forcing government forces to retreat to the south.
Russia’s defence ministry said the strikes had killed more than 300 Isis militants and destroyed 11 tanks and vehicles. The Syrian army also reportedly sent reinforcements to the city, diverting troops from Aleppo.
Isis held Palmyra, a Unesco world heritage site containing monumental ruins of a great city, from May 2015 until they were forced out in March this year. But they started a surprise advance on Thursday and entered the city on Saturday.
Russian war planes carried out over 60 strikes overnight, halting the offensive, Russia’s defence ministry said on Sunday.
“Russian air force planes carried out 64 airstrikes against the positions, convoys and advancing reserves of militants,” a defence ministry statement said. “Over the past night, Syrian government troops with active support of the Russian air force thwarted all terrorist attacks on Palmyra. The attacking militants actively used car bombs with suicide bombers, armoured vehicles and rocket artillery.”
On Saturday, SOHR said Isis had taken most of the city back and surrounded the airport. During its previous occupation, Isis beheaded the archaeological director and destroyed a number of monuments including two 2,000-year-old temples, an arch and funerary towers. The city is considered strategically important by the group because of its proximity to oil fields.
The Isis attack on Palmyra came as the Russian-backed government forces of Bashar al-Assad closed in on the remaining rebel-held area of the city of Aleppo.
Medical charities reported that chlorine gas attacks had been reported in the Kallaseh neighbourhood of Aleppo, with 25 victims reported to have experienced suffocation and difficulty breathing.
In a statement, UOSSM International, which provides medical aid to the people of Syria, said: “Targeting civilians and medical facilities with chemical weapons is a war crime. [...] We ask the OPCW [Organisation for the Prohibition Of Chemical Weapons] to fulfil its mandate and launch an immediate investigation into this attack and hold perpetrators responsible for these grievous violations to international law. ”
Rebel forces said they had halted the advance of government forces in the small pockets they still control in Aleppo, possibly due to the redeployment of troops to Palmyra, one commander told the BBC. But, backed by Russian air support, Assad’s forces now reportedly control 93% of Aleppo.
The UK foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, and the US secretary of state, John Kerry, joined world diplomats in Paris to call for civilians to be evacuated from the besieged city and for respect to be shown to Syria’s diminished rebel forces. The bombardment of the city continued on Saturday and leaders condemning Assad’s “indiscriminate” bombing as a crime against humanity.
Kerry urged Russia to show “a little grace”. The UN has expressed concern about reports that hundreds of men have gone missing after reaching government-held territory.
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An Alberta man is perplexed after thieves made off with a large outhouse from his farm near Edmonton — but he doesn't plan to take the crime sitting down.
"I think at least four to six guys had to come here to do this … two guys? No way they could do this," said Randy Nemirsky, as he stood at the edge of the hole where the outhouse used to stand.
The farm near Lamont, about 60 kilometres east of Edmonton, has been in the family for nearly 90 years. Last summer Nemirsky and his son Nick tore down the original outhouse, which had been built in 1936, and rebuilt it.
"We planned this summer to rebuild the old outhouse there and we dug the hole and it was a whole summer project."
The new structure was meant to be a major improvement to the farm and was finished in August. But when the family returned to the property in the fall, they found the outhouse missing, with the hole in the ground and a few scattered boards as the only sign anything had stood there.
"I got a phone call [from Nick] … "He said, 'The outhouse is missing,'" said Nemirsky.
"I said, 'What?'"
He says the outhouse wasn’t just a flimsy structure — it was bolted to the ground and weighed between 350 and 450 kilograms. A large picnic table was also taken.
Nemirsky says while the theft may be unusual, it’s not a laughing matter. Between building, painting and siding the outhouse, he suspects he's out about $1,000.
"You spent time building it, and where do you go now?
"I can build another one, but how low can you go to steal a man’s privy?"
Reward brings support, but no leads
The family reported the theft to the RCMP. After a month with no progress, they decided to put an ad online with a $500 reward for information on the theft.
Randy Nemirsky says he got a chuckle out of the theft, but estimated he's out around $1,000 after rebuilding the outhouse. (CBC News)
It didn’t bring in many leads, but the family has received many messages of support.
"The best one I heard was to steal a man's throne is a pretty low down, man," said Nick Nemirsky.
The family says they plan to build a replacement — a reinforced version that will be harder to swipe.
While he doesn’t think it likely they will ever see the missing outhouse again, Randy Nemirsky said he will still keep a close eye in nearby fields and lake lots for his property.
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Jonathan McCready: It is possibly the most anticipated match up in motocross history. The two greatest riders of their generation facing off in the World Championship with no home country advantage – just like it should be.
Antonio Carioli has had to do just what RV is doing this year, he had to leave Italy and go to Belgium, he had to learn the tracks, he had to learn the sand and he also had to learn English something RV won’t have to do! So Villopoto isn’t doing anything this year that AC hasn’t had to face either but it will be a big change for RV to go from racing in his home country all his life to racing in a different country every race weekend.
Can he cope with the diversity of the tracks and will his all out aggressive style work on the slower more technical tracks in the World Championship? On the other side of the coin is Cairoli, he is smoother and more calculated than RV but will he have to step up the intensity especially in the beginning of the race to stay with the rapid American? It is going to be fascinating to see whose style works and who has to adapt.
I keep going back and forth but i have to give AC the edge (barely). Cairoli has proven his adaptability on all the tracks and travelling to all the countries, that for me is what makes AC the best in the world. He has proven he can rise to challenges before, like reclaiming the World title off Pourcel in 2007 in dominant fashion, or winning virtually every moto of the MXGP class when he lost the red plate to Desalle a couple of years ago after two DNFs in Sweden. AC can up his pace when required.
But if Villopoto can prove he has the versatility over 16 countries across four continents and 18 weekends and 36 days of racing and comes out on top, then he finally and accurately can be called the best in the world – and he will well and truly deserve it! RV can definitely win this championship, it won’t be easy but he is brilliant under pressure and if it comes down to a few points going into the last round at Glen Helen I don’t think anyone would bet against Villopoto getting it done and riding off into the sunset as World Champ.
It’s going to be close, it’s going to be awesome and both will believe they are the guy to beat -let battle commence!
Andrew McKinstry: I am so happy RV has decided to come and race the MXGP this year, more top Americans should definitely do the same. I think he will win Qatar as the track will suit him as well as Matterly Basin and Villars Sous Ecot as those tracks don’t get that rough. I think he will be surprised at how hard the Italy, Czech Republic and Sweden tracks will be as well as the sand of course!
RV said in a recent interview that he said that he doesn’t think he will have problems adjusting to the tracks because they only get two 15 minute sessions before first moto in USA. However, I’m not so sure…he’s forgetting that he has rode those tracks in USA pretty much all of his life and the tracks are pretty similar in USA as well.
In GP’s you can go from the sand of Valkenswaard one week and then somewhere like Sweden the week after… He will need most of the Saturday sessions to get used to the tracks in my opinion but his speed is unreal so I expect him to challenge for the title but it will be close!
I think Cairoli will win the championship; the guy is so smart and always knows when it’s best to finish second or third. I honestly think RV coming means we will see Cairoli’s real speed… in previous years he has been smart and if he ever got a bad start he would take his time to come through the pack.If RV gets the holeshot and Cairoli gets a bad start he won’t have time to hang about this year especially as RV’s speed at the start of the moto will be fast. I am sure over pre-season Cairoli will have also been working on his sprint speed at the start of the moto because he knows RV’s is so good, it’s going to be an intense and fascinating battle that’s for sure!
Jeremy Van Horebeek is the real dark horse, he believes he can win now and if he can win a GP early in the season he could challenge them both. Gautier Paulin on the HRC could be very dangerous as well and will definitely will moto’s… working with JMB could be the big difference for him.
Clement Desalle has been Cairoli’s main threat these last few years so you cannot count him out and will win moto’s…. this championship is going to be all about who can stay injury free and be the most consistent because there will be a lot of guys that win races!
Paul McCready: Ryan Villopoto has added a whole new demention to MXGP this year. The 10 time AMA Supercross & Motocross Champion, the guy that the Americans proclaim to be the best in the World facing of against the 8 time World Champion is a mouth watering propest.
I feel with RV we know he is fast and aggressive, we know he will win plenty of races and be fighting for podiums every week but can he avoid injury and finish a full motocross season on the 450? He has only done it twice in the AMA 450 Motocross championship! Chad Reed commented on the Pulp Mx show that he heard Villopoto has chosen to ride with his U.S. bike settings but the tracks are much different in the world championship so it will be interesting to watch how his bike is handling the first few rounds and if he will need to change his set up.
The biggest question mark for me is how much had Cairoli left in the tank when he has been winning the last six MXGP/MX1 titles relatively easily. Once quoted as saying he normally rode at 80%, how often have we actually seen him ride at 100%? Certainly in 2012 after he had a double DNF in Sweden which eliminated his huge points lead, he went on a rampage winning 13 out of 14 motos showing speed nobody could match. However Cairoli hasn’t been in a dog fight for a championship since Pourcel stoppped him retaining his MX2 crown in 2006, which leaves me to wonder how will he react to the pressure if RV, or the others for that matter, can keep the champioship points close. Jeremy Van Horebeek recently commented that he thinks pressuring Cairoli will result in mistakes appearing from the Italian.
I am still going for Cairoli to win this year. I think the motivation of Ryan Villopto coming over will push his riding to a new level, like we seen from Everts when Tortelli annouced a return to the World stage in 2006. It will be close but Cairoli will edge it… lets hope injurys don’t play a role so we can see these two greats do battle!
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At the end of the Second World War, it is accepted that much of the western populace regarded the Soviet Union as a close ally, given their role in crushing Nazi Germany. But to those who knew the real picture behind the scenes, the view was somewhat grim. ‘Liberation’ and ‘victory’ were quickly replaced with scenes of famine, food and fuel shortages, illness, genocide and tyranny.
In the days just after the Nazi surrender Winston Churchill was moved to warn President Truman, a year before he famously used the metaphor, that an ‘iron curtain was drawing upon Europe. The seeds for this warning were arranged at Yalta, in February 1945, where the division of Europe was sealed and that of the postwar fate of Eastern Europe and the Balkans. Convoys of tanks carried Soviet agents into Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary and Romania was not liked, but reluctantly tolerated. Each side of the political divide had agreed to respect each others sphere of influence. This, of course, did not soothe Churchill’s concerns and whether or not through honour, duty or a little bit of ‘grandstanding’, Churchill on March 5th 1946 made his famous address at Westminster College, Fulton Missouri.
“From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia, all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and, in many cases, increasing measure of control from Moscow.”
This most important passage of the ‘iron curtain’ speech attracted immediate world attention. Once, where the press had portrayed an alliance of the three equals between the United States, Britain and Soviet Union, now was about to turn ‘Uncle Jo’ (Stalin) into a screaming depot, forcing whole countries into submission.
Churchill’s speech would go on to further point out that “the communist parties, which were very small in all these Eastern States of Europe, have been raised to pre-eminence and power for beyond their numbers and are seeking everywhere to obtain totalitarian control.”
A recent book by Anne Applebaum (read by this author) called Iron Curtain: The crushing of Eastern Europe 1944-56, highlights these same views outlined by Churchill and how millions of Germans, Poles, Hungarians and Ukrainians were ruthlessly evicted from their historic homes to satisfy Soviet territorial ambitions. They were also beaten, imprisoned and transported off to Serbian labor camps. Applebaum, also points out how quickly institutions, schools, churches and opposition political parties were persecuted and banned.
Churchill’s speech from Moscow was responded in kind very aggressively. Soviet cartoonists created defamatory representations of Churchill and the West. These new type of caricatures would go onto form part of a new type of (cold) war, in which governments taught whole populations to demonise each other. The Soviets, in turn, would go on a defensive ‘war’ by further buffering its sphere of influence away from the West.
This decline in cordiality of relations after 1946, fortunately didn’t come to ‘real’ war, although many thought war was frighteningly close with the Berlin Blockade of 1948-49 and later the Cuban Missile Crisis as two examples. As the ‘cold war’ took shape and/or intensified, the metaphor ‘iron curtain’ that Churchill had first coined, came to be accepted by people throughout the West, as the divide between east and west.
And so do we thank Mr.Churchill then for his choice of words? Can we credit his speech for beginning the cold war? If anything is it not prudent that we sometimes revisit history and important events that have shaped our world? History will after all continue to be written, revised and analysed and so will Churchill’s infamous words.
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As President Donald Trump‘s tweets continue to jolt the world, a new parody account imagines what they’d look like in the format of official White House statements.
The transformation is a straightforward one: simply grab a direct quote from Trump’s account and print it out in the font and style of the White House’s press office. The account @RealPressSecBot started posting just that on Sunday night and had already gained 39,000 followers by Monday morning. By giving Trump’s tweets a more traditional look, this sendup will take the Twitter-scrolling American citizen to a reality where Trump-style social media statements are underneath the White House letterhead under the header “Statement by the President.”
It’s the brainchild of Russel Neiss, an educator and software engineer. Neiss’ inspiration came when Pat Cunnane, a former deputy director of messaging at the White House under President Barack Obama, tweeted Sunday that, “all of Trump’s Tweets should be mocked up in the correct Presidential statement format. It’s telling.”
“Functionally his tweets are presidential statements,” Neiss told TIME. “Formatting them as such gives them the gravity they deserve.”
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“I like using twitter as a platform for advocacy and for helping to raise a level of discourse, not merely to mock,” he added of the new account’s mission.
Neil said he uses Twitter’s data tool called REST API to collect the tweets, and a code called Python to reformat them to churn out the images. He created the account quickly. “Pat Cunnane’s tweet inspired me and I had an hour to kill while my kids napped and I was avoiding doing dishes.”
This isn’t the first Twitter robot to take on the President. There’s a bot that automatically prints his 145-character missives and burns each one. Satirizing Trump has inevitably taken the form of Twitter parody accounts, so the Internet is racing to come up with ways to remix Trump’s tweets.
See the tweets below.
Write to Ashley Hoffman at [email protected].
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Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) signs in to cast his vote Saturday during the 2016 Republican caucus in Bowling Green Ky. (Timothy D. Easley/AP)
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – It was the question no one could answer until Saturday morning; the question they preferred to dodge.
Was anyone going to show up for this thing?
The answer, by 10 a.m., was yes. The first Kentucky Republican presidential caucuses anyone could remember seemed to have caught on. A line wrapped around the Warren County caucus site, where residents of the state’s third-largest city would vote.
“It’s much higher turnout than anyone expected,” caucus captain David Graham said cheerfully. “We were hoping for 3,000 voters, 10 percent of registered, and we might hit that by noon.”
Kentucky’s caucus experiment, a byproduct of Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-Ky.) unsuccessful presidential campaign, was not a bust. Like the caucuses in Iowa and Nevada, it offered Republicans a ballot they could use to vote anonymously. Unlike those caucuses, it would last a generous six hours; Paul himself was planning to vote after the first wave.
“We think it’s going to energize the party,” Paul said. “Today’s kind of like a pep rally.”
Unclear in the first hour of voting was who might win. Rival campaigns had speculated that Donald Trump would suffer in a system that required voters to have registered as Republicans by the end of last year. Leading in polls, the front-runner’s campaign had run its typically opaque ground game, anchored by a monster rally five days earlier in Louisville. Tea party organizers for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) were much more visible; legislators getting behind Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) had larger megaphones.
At the caucus site, at Western Kentucky University, volunteers for Rubio, Cruz and Gov. John Kasich (R-Ohio) set up tables with literature for wavering voters. Americans for Prosperity, the Koch-founded group that accidentally produced some of Trump’s best organizers, tabled nearby with free food for anyone willing to join a contact list.
Trump’s campaign was not present, but his voters were.
“He takes no s--t, and neither do I,” said Barbara Eljizi, 68, who referred to the current president as “Osama Obama.”
“I kind of preferred Cruz on some issues, but I think he lied about the whole Ben Carson situation,” said Vicky Byrun, 70, referring to a misunderstanding about the retired neurosurgeon’s campaign schedule that inspired some Cruz volunteers to tell Iowa caucus-goers that he was quitting the race.
[Ben Carson officially drops out of the presidential race]
“I’m for Trump 100 percent,” said Jonathan Bunch, 63.
“I was for Trump until around two weeks ago,” admitted Leon Vincent, 70. “Rubio makes more sense.”
Vincent and Bunch, both veterans from the Vietnam War era, spent some of their wait time debating the race, not expecting to change minds.
“If Trump don’t get it, they go up there and do this crap of trying to keep it out, and Rubio, Cruz, and John-what’s-his-name take the nomination, nothing changes,” said Bunch.
“Well, whoever gets the nomination – even if it’s Trump – I’ll vote for him,” said Vincent.
Nathan Shouse, 33, had never considered a Trump vote. Neither had his wife, Michal, 28. As their three children amused themselves in a Radio Flyer wagon, they described how the “integrity” of Ben Carson had won them over, but his apparent befuddlement over foreign policy sent them reaching for Cruz.
“Trump is saying a lot of things that the voters want to hear, but he’s not standing behind the core principles of conservatism,” Nathan Shouse said. “That worries me.”
“In the Fox debate, he was making very crude jokes,” said Michal Shouse. “I don’t want that in a president.”
Sen. Rand Paul does an interview with CNN at the Republican caucus. (Austin Anthony/Daily News via AP)
Many voters admitted, in a bittersweet tone, that they would have preferred to be supporting Paul. Their praise got a little louder when the senator started working the long voting line, signing books and posing for photos. To do so, he walked right past a sign alerting voters to the fact that he – as well as Carson et al. – would appear on the ballot but was no longer in the race.
Whom would he vote for?
“I’m not making an endorsement.”
Whom was he telling his constituents he would vote for?
“Everybody asks that,” Paul said. “If I say who I’m voting for, it’s an endorsement. Even my wife – I’m not telling her!”
Watching the clock before he raced to catch a flight to Washington, Paul got ushered through the line and into the caucus site, where volunteers were staffing 30 tables to check in voters. The man whose campaign had paid $250,000 to organize the caucus went to Table 24 – last names from Owsley to Phillips – and displayed his driver’s license. Moving quickly away from a prying cameraman, he filled it out, dropped it into a box, and headed for his waiting SUV.
What, asked a reporter, did he think of the voters insisting that they would still give him a vote for president?
“It’s nice,” said Paul. “You know, maybe we’ll unsuspend!”
“No, no, no!” said Paul’s state press secretary, Kelsey Cooper. “Please don’t tweet that.”
“Well, if we win,” Paul said, still sort of joking. “It is bittersweet. We worked pretty hard in the election. It’s kind of neat to be on the ballot, but we wish we were still active. I’m still saying the same things, just in a different race.”
And then the senator was gone, leaving behind a table full of information – including copies of his 2015 memoir – for anybody who wanted to help his Senate reelection campaign.
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That “New Year, New You” saying gets us every time doesn’t it?
We make New Year resolutions, set goals, and make plans to do bigger and better things in the new year.
But, somewhere along the way, we end up struggling. Our progress slows down until we just stop and quit before reaching success.
We chock it up to life, work, family, and other things. But the truth is, once we drop the ball, we rarely attempt to pick it back up again. Even if we do, it’s never with the same enthusiasm.
So what are we to do?
How can we make sure we don’t drop the ball? And if we do, how can we pick it up and start again with the same determination as before?
Well, here are a couple ideas.
Don’t Break the Chain
When Brad Isaac ran into Jerry Seinfeld at a comedy club, he couldn’t wait to ask him for advice.
He asked if Seinfeld had any tips to help the young comic improve. Here’s how Isaac describes Seinfeld’s response:
“He said, the way to be a better comic was to create better jokes and the way to create better jokes was to write every day. He told me to get a big wall calendar that has a whole year on one page and hang it on a prominent wall. The next step was to get a big red magic marker. He said for each day that I do my task of writing, I get to put a big red X over that day. After a few days, you’ll have a chain. Just keep at it and the chain will grow longer every day. You’ll like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks under your belt. Your only job is to not break the chain.”
Isaac credits Seinfeld for helping him become a more productive person and comedian.
So how does this apply to you?
If you want to get better at a specific thing, the best way to get there is to practice it every day. Each day that you work toward your goal this year, make a note of it.
Place an “X” on a calendar or use a productivity app, but find a way to keep visual track of your progress each day.
As that chain grows, do your best to keep the chain going.
That level of consistency and commitment to a task alone will cause you to be a different person. Instead of someone who tends to quit and give up. You’ll be someone who’s accomplished something that many people haven’t.
I’m using this technique this year for my reading and writing. I use an app that shows me my progress each day.
Use this technique to make better progress on your goals.
But…
Let me guess what you’re thinking.
Regardless of how much we commit to our goals and dreams this year, for some of us, we will end up breaking the chain. It’s practically inevitable, right?
Well, that may be true and I’ll address that in a moment.
But, there are things we can do to stave off what we perceive to be inevitable failure.
Here are two great strategies:
Make it Easy…Really Easy
For some of us, lofty goals that need a lot of work make us feel overwhelmed. Instead of putting all that work and pressure on yourself, simplify your goals.
For example, I want to read 20 books this year. For me, an average reader who still likes to binge watch Netflix and Hulu, 20 books is an aggressive amount.
I set the same goal last year and only made it halfway. Last year, I thought I was making it easy on myself by setting the goal of reading 20 pages a day.
That didn’t work. For some reason, I felt that I had to read my 20 pages in one sitting. That wasn’t my original plan when making this goal, but for some reason that’s what I felt I had to do. So, I kept falling behind or getting interrupted before reaching my 20 pages.
This year, I’m trying for 10 pages in the morning and 10 in the evening with no pressure to do it all in one sitting.
In other words, I made my easy reading plan even easier. So easy in fact, that the only way I can fail, is if I don’t try at all.
Under-promise and Over-deliver
If you look at any great company, you’ll notice two distinct features about them. First, a lof of these companies make promises that seem to be well within their reach. Then, they deliver more than what they said they would.
For example, Facebook is working to help connect people all around the world. They’re striving to make social media more social. They also want to make your interactions on Facebook as real as possible.
That’s a steep promise. But, it’s within the grasp of the world’s largest social media platform, right?
They’ve been at this for years, with over a billion people now using Facebook on a regular basis.
But recently, they did something that wasn’t expected. They created a way for users to record a video and stream it out to the world at the same time.
Facebook Live.
How’s that for over-delivering on making your social media interactions more real?
We can use this same concept in our own lives. By under-promising on our goals, we give ourselves the opportunity to over-deliver.
How do we do this?
Whatever goals we set, we make sure they are within our reach. They should still be challenging, but reasonable to achieve. With our goal in place, we can set a secondary goal to surpass our original one.
I’m keeping this in mind with my reading goal this year.
Again, my goal is 20 books this year. But I’m hoping to over-deliver and read 25 books with a little extra effort.
Look at your own goals for 2017 and set some secondary goals and over-deliver this year.
Don’t just run toward your target, run through it!
What if You Break the Chain?
OK, I hear you. All that stuff sounds great, and I know you’ll try your best this year. But, what if you break the chain?
If that happens, you’re allowed to have your emotions about it.
You’re allowed to be mad or upset. You can be angry, disappointed, or any other emotion you might have at that moment… for about 5 minutes.
Then forgive yourself, learn from it, and start back the next day.
The strategy of never breaking the chain isn’t about the outcomes. It’s not about seeing the finished product.
It’s about consistency.
This strategy helps you build a habit of showing up to work on something that’s important to you every day. The point isn’t the outcome, let that be a byproduct of your work.
The point is to do the work.
Life does happen. Things do get in the way. We all get derailed at some point.
But, it’s our job to right the ship, get back on course, and keep going.
That’s true strength. That’s true courage.
If life knocks you down to the mat, you get back up and start going again. You owe it to yourself to keep going. You owe it to yourself to pursue your dreams and get better and stronger every day.
How to Keep Going
When I started learning about blogging, I found the work of Jon Morrow.
In the blogging world, Jon Morrow is by far one of the greatest bloggers of all time. He has worked tirelessly to build some of the most popular blogs ever. But, that’s not what drew me to him.
It wasn’t his ability to paint a picture with his words or to explain things with amazing detail.
It was his story.
You see, Jon has a neuromuscular disorder called Spinal Muscular Atrophy. It’s a form of Muscular dystrophy that severely affects children.
Most of the children who have this disease don’t survive for long, usually just a few years.
For Jon, who is now 34 years old and the oldest living person with his disease, this means he can’t move his arms or legs. Except for the ability to move his eyes and lips, he is paralyzed.
But Jon had a mother who would do anything to help him survive.
There were nights when Jon’s mom would have to beat on his back and chest every two hours just to help him cough. She would do this for days on end. This brutal assault on his fragile body caused him to suffer from fractured ribs in the process.
Just imagine, being unable to move. Picture being unable to help yourself. Imagine crying and suffering from the pain that your mother has to inflict on you, just so that you can live.
At one point, when Jon was struggling to breathe, his mother brought him a framed quote. The quote explained everything that his mother wanted Jon to know.
She placed the plaque on the table beside Jon and told him to read it aloud.
He couldn’t muster the strength.
“Whisper them, then,” she said, and Jon did.
He whispered them that night and every night afterward. He thought about the words when he was in the hospital.
Jon thought about them as he grew older and learned to navigate school from his wheelchair.
He recited them as he learned to use a computer and write articles using dictation software and a lip operated computer mouse.
Today, he’s a sought-after writer and teacher. He travels the world and changes the lives of millions of people.
How did he do it?
Sure, he had the help of his mother, doctors, and aides. Sure, he had people give him a chance when nobody else would.
But, what helped Jon become so successful were the words on the plaque that his mother bought him.
It was a short quote from Winston Churchill. Just 5 words in total.
“Never Never Never Give Up!”
Overcome your fear of public speaking. Conquer talking to strangers, meeting new people, and starting a deeper relationship.
Travel the world, start your business, write your book, and tell your story. Become the person you’ve always wanted to be.
Just take the advice that helped Jon and remember it every day.
Never Never Never Give Up!
Take Action Today
The team over at Appsumo, wants to help you and I accomplish all our goals this year. They’ve structured an amazing opportunity for you and I to purchase a 2018 Calendar from the Best Self Company. Best Self Company creates products that help you build positive daily rituals for success.
This year they’ve re-created their famous Wall Calendar for 2018 and they’re offering it through Appsumo for a special discounted price.
Appsumo, is allowing me to offer that very same discount to you as an affiliate of their services. The Calendar cost 24.99 plus shipping regularly, but with this deal it will only cost you $15 and the shipping is free!
Click here to find out more about this amazing offer.
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Rick Perry indictment tossed by Court of Criminal Appeals Copyright by KXAN - All rights reserved Rick Perry (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File) [ + - ] Video
AUSTIN (KXAN) -- The remaining felony indictment against former Texas Governor Rick Perry has been dismissed by the Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas.
The ruling issued Wednesday effectively ends the case against the former governor; a lower court dismissed the coercion by a public servant charge in July.
At a 2:00 p.m. press conference, Perry said, "I've always known that the actions I took were not only lawful and legal, they were right," calling the indictment a "baseless political attack." In response to a question, Perry said the indictment had a "negative effect" on his candidacy.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals dismissed the abuse-of-power charge in Wednesday's ruling saying,
"The Governor acted and he had the power to do so. The governor's power to exercise a veto may not be circumscribed by the Legislature, by the courts, or by district attorneys (who are members of the judicial branch). When the only act that is being prosecuted is a veto, then the prosecution itself violates separation of powers."
Perry was indicted in August 2014 on charges of abuse of official capacity and coercion of a public servant stemming from a veto of state funding for a public corruption division within the office of Democratic Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg. That came after Lehmberg, whose county includes Austin, rebuffed the governor's calls to resign following her conviction and jail sentence for drunken driving.
Copyright by KXAN - All rights reserved Rick Perry at Texas Public Policy
Copyright by KXAN - All rights reserved Rick Perry at Texas Public Policy
Perry dismissed the case as a "political witch hunt," while legal scholars from across the political spectrum raised objections about it. Still, the Republican judge overseeing the case repeatedly refused to throw it out on constitutional grounds, prompting Perry's appeals.
Perry is pleased that the charges have been finally thrown out, said his attorney Tony Buzbee, who called it a "shame that it took that long to get something as weak and misguided as this to be dismissed."
"It was a bunch of foolishness from the beginning. I feel bad for him because he was put through this for no reason," Buzbee said.
The special prosecutor who secured the indictment against Perry has the opportunity to appeal the court's ruling.
It wasn't immediately clear whether the indictment hampered Perry's presidential aspirations. The Associated Press reports Perry spent more than $2 million on his defense team while his campaign "barely half that much in its first month."
Read the ruling
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
https://www.scribd.com/doc/300287466/Perry-Indictment-Dismissed
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In their first 138 days in control of Congress, Mitch McConnell and John Boehner have passed zero jobs bill. Instead, Republicans passed budgets that would give big tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires.
The numbers, as compiled by Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, reveal the truth about the Republican Party.
0: GOP jobs bills passed in the 114th Congress.
5: Additional times the House GOP has voted in the past 135 days to repeal or undermine the Affordable Care Act (2015 Vote #14, 2015 Vote #45, 2015 Vote #58, 2015 Vote #142, 2015 Vote #183).
58: Times so far House Republicans have voted to repeal or undermine the ACA since 2011.
100: Percent of House Republicans who voted against bringing up the student loan refinancing bill.
2.9 million: Number of jobs that would be destroyed under the House GOP FY 2016 Budget.
$2,000: More in taxes for middle-class American families with children greenlighted by the final FY 2016 Republican Budget.
$200,000: Average tax break for the wealthiest Americans making $1,000,000 or more greenlighted by the final FY 2016 Republican Budget.
99: Percent of House Republicans who voted against allowing a vote on the Paycheck Fairness Act – a bill to ensure equal pay for equal work.
[[AD2]]
The only Republican attempt at a “jobs” bill was the Keystone XL legislation, which won’t create more than a handful of permanent jobs, and it isn’t a jobs bill. The Republican-run Congress has lived down to expectations. If you are a corporation in need of some regulatory rollback, or a wealthy person who wants a tax cut, the Republican Congress is your new best friend.
For working people, women, the poor, the disabled, veterans, and everyone else, Republicans are only interested in cutting what you have to give more to the wealthy.
The Republican Congress does not represent the majority of the American people. The congressional majority is being controlled by corporations and billionaires. Republicans are more interested in taking away your health care than creating an economic environment where people have good paying jobs.
The numbers don’t lie. Republicans are working against the interests of the majority in this country, which is why the American people must stand up and take their Congress back.
If you’re ready to read more from the unbossed and unbought Politicus team, sign up for our newsletter here! Email address: Leave this field empty if you're human:
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MELBOURNE recruit Michael Hibberd is still up to three weeks away from being ready to play after a slower than expected recovery from Achilles soreness.
Hibberd experienced tightness through his Achilles prior to the Demons' final JLT Community Series game against West Coast and the club decided to pull him out of the match as a precaution.
Demons elite performance manager Dave Misson said the club would be purposefully cautious with Hibberd, who was traded from Essendon in the off-season, and his return to the field.
"Hibbo settled really well over the weekend and he ran well [Tuesday] but because he's been a little bit up and down, he's probably a couple of weeks away," Misson told the club's website.
Aaron vandenBerg's recovery from a stress fracture in his heel is also a slow burn with his timeframe to return remaining between 4-6 weeks.
"'Vanders' has that heel stress fracture and it's been a little bit slow, so he's still in a boot at the moment and will probably come out next week. He'll need a reloading program to get him up to play," Misson said.
Veteran defender Colin Garland will have surgery next week officially ending his 2017 campaign after rupturing the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in Sunday's VFL practice match against Port Melbourne.
In better news, Jay Kennedy-Harris (broken arm) and defender Josh Wagner (fractured fibula) will look to increase their workloads in the coming weeks, while defender Sam Frost (toe) could play in a practice match for Casey this weekend.
"Jay Kennedy-Harris is actually going really well. He sees the surgeon early next week to get the clearance for contact, so he could actually be training with the group by next week and playing the week after that, so he's going well," Misson said.
"Josh started training Tuesday, so he'll continue to do that for a couple of weeks, because he's been out now for nearly five weeks. He'll need a couple of weeks training before he comes back to play."
However, promising forward Liam Hulett (hip flexor) and third-year rookie Mitch White (ankle) will miss the start of the season, along with second-year ruckman Mitch King (knee).
"Liam unfortunately strained his hip flexor playing very late in the game (Sunday's VFL practice match). That's probably a 3-4 week [injury],"Misson said.
"Mitch has had that ankle problem that was a little bit slow to start with, but he’s going really well now and he’s probably due to play with the group on Thursday. He’s similar to Josh Wagner and will need a couple of weeks of training before he plays."
Melbourne injury list
Sam Frost (toe) – test
Colin Garland (knee) – season
Michael Hibberd (Achilles) – 2-3 weeks
Liam Hulett (hip) – 3-4 weeks
Jay Kennedy-Harris (arm) – 2-3 weeks
Mitch King (knee) – 5 weeks
Aaron vandenBerg (heel) – 4-6 weeks
Josh Wagner (fibula) – 2-3 weeks
Mitch White (ankle) – 2-3 weeks
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“History simplifies,” wrote the great baseball analyst Bill James, thirty years ago. “But you never know in which way.” He was writing, as it happens, about the career of Dave Parker, the great Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder who seemed a lock for the Hall of Fame until the cocaine scandals of the early eighties got him by the throat, or, rather, by the nose. Would history recall the drugs and keep him at a distance, or would it forget them and see only his sterling record? The Hall of Fame hasn’t opened to him yet. But James’s rule is true of bigger histories, too: history does simplify—the trick, a hard one, is that restoring complexity doesn’t always make things clearer.
This reflection is set off by something the President said recently, at the National Prayer Breakfast, apropos the horrors of ISIS’s murder of helpless captives. His comment was seemingly obvious and unobjectionable: that almost every religion (perhaps excepting certain strains of Buddhism, Jainism, or the like) has been implicated in horrors throughout its history, including his own Christian faith. “During the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ,” he said, stating a truth that one would think only the half crazy could dispute.
Well, half crazy is not so hard to find in America, and Obama’s statement became a source of outrage among the predictable parties, with a lot of frantic Googling to find evidence that our record, though it may look bad, is nowhere near as bad as theirs. The Crusades were not that simple. They were reprisals for Muslim invasions. (This is the “Ma, he started it!” school of moral inquiry.) They weren’t even called the Crusades! (But then the Holocaust was never called the Holocaust while it was happening.) The Inquisition? Well, the Inquisition didn’t actually burn people alive; it told the state authorities that the heretics were hopeless, and they did the burning. (So that’s all right, then, said all the heretics burned alive.) And, anyway, everybody burned and massacred everybody back then.
This leads, in turn, to a fixed line of apologetics, which the ideologically minded for some reason think particularly profound: it wasn’t the faith itself, just some misfits among the faithful, who did the killing. That the terrorists in Paris cried out “The Prophet is avenged!” doesn’t implicate their religion anymore than that the Catholic Church’s participation in those autos-da-fé implicates the Church.
History does simplify, and even horrors have micro-histories of their own. This accounts, perhaps, for a primitive but common confusion between the forces that make history and the facts that history makes happen. The forces in history are always multiple, complex, and contingent, much more so than the fables make it seem. The forces in any particular historical event are always almost infinitely divisible into smaller and often contradictory parts, with a lot of fuzzy cases and leg room. The Crusades were a lot more complicated than an assault of murderous Christians on innocent Saracens. But the basic facts remain the same: huge numbers of helpless people, from Jews in Central Europe to Byzantine Greeks in Constantinople, got raped and tortured and murdered in the name of faith. You don’t have to be Jewish to enjoy Levy’s rye bread, the old ad used to say, and you don’t have to be Jewish to deplore the massacre at Worms.
The Crusades were not an assault of evil Christians on innocent Muslims anymore than the Turks who took Byzantium were horrible savages engaged in a war with classical humanism. But what happened happened. We welcome complexity because it makes the moral points stand out more clearly against their background, just as we welcome linear perspective in paintings because it makes the acts of the foreground figures more fully articulate. We can understand the long pasts that make bad things happen and still put the blame on the bad people who did them. Ideologies are abstract; the acts they inspire are real.
You can immunize any ideology, no matter how vile, if you insist that no one is responsible for what it actually creates. You can give any doctrine in history tenure if you insist that it’s responsible only for the good things that came of it and ascribe the rest to misunderstandings and mistakes. There are people who will say that Stalinists or the Khmer Rouge, not Marxists, staffed the Gulag or the killing fields; that rogue elements of the American army, not Americans, massacred the Vietnamese at My Lai; and so on. But no doctrine or national ideal exists pristinely, outside the practices of its believers. (Nazi apologetics has trafficked in exactly the same apologias—the Bolsheviks started it—but on the whole the memory of Nazi horrors is sufficient to get this line of argument shut down.)
The job of the good historian is to balance understanding with indictment; it’s the polemicist who tries to use history only to plead innocent. The acts of the Crusades, like the facts of slavery, happened. Fanatics acting in the name of a faith murdered thousands of helpless people. That nobody else did better in the period of the Crusades is not the point; it is exactly the problem. It’s why we feel now that all the fanaticisms and ideologies at large in the period were equally horrible, and why we thank our stars, and our enlightened forefathers and foremothers, that we have (mostly) escaped from them.
Bad acts may rise from good causes: faith may never be the enemy; fanaticism is always the enemy. But faith has always been the first seedbed of fanaticism. That’s why, when people commit acts of horrible cruelty for political purposes, we say that they’ve made a “religion” out of their politics, or have succumbed to a mad ideological dogma. Fanaticism is the belief that a single faith or ideology contains all the truth of the world, and that others should at best be tolerated. Liberalism is the belief that toleration is not enough, that an active, affirmative pluralism is essential to social sanity. Pluralism is the essence of liberalism—including the possibility of self-reproach for things that liberalism has done badly. America is not responsible for My Lai only to the degree that America renounces the self-righteous “exceptionalism” that put those murders in motion and then prevented those who caused them from being blamed. Excessive scruples—liberal guilt—are as sure a sign of sanity as excessive sanctimony is a sign of the opposite.
It became clear, as the week went past, that one needn’t go so far back to find ISIS-style deeds committed by Jesus-styled people. (Ta-Nehisi Coates and Jamelle Bouie have pointed out that horrors precisely congruent to those carried out by ISIS were pursued by lynch mobs in the American South with implicit evangelical approval, and at times active endorsement, in our own recent history.) The President’s point turned out to be not just exactly right but profoundly right: no group holds the historical moral high ground, and no one ever will. But this is not because a moral high ground doesn’t exist. It’s because we’re all still climbing.
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Glorious day! While solemnly surveying the damage to the Delmar Loop, primarily between Melville and Limit, I noticed an AALCO Wrecking dumpster in the parking lot of the boarded-up, blighting, under-productive, auto-oriented, former fast food building last occupied by Church’s Chicken over 4 years ago.
Checking the city’s records reveals a demo permit had been applied for on September 15th.
Church’s Chicken closed in May of 2013 after 40 years on the prominent corner. Washington University leased the property immediately after, planning something more productive in vain. The owner refused to sell or do anything but lease the building. Since ideas like a paid parking lot and most recently a Ferris wheel went nowhere.
Like a sore thumb, its auto-oriented land use sticks out in the human-scaled Delmar Loop while other parts progress. Like a middle finger it exemplifies how low-productivity auto-oriented development patterns bankrupt our city. Here’s hoping for a more productive future for this corner of the city!
Previous Coverage:
Church’s Chicken in The Loop Closes
Washington University Eyes Vacant Church’s Chicken Site for Next Loop Project
Pay Parking Lot May Be Next for Vacant Church’s Chicken in The Loop
Ferris Wheel Proposed for Delmar and Skinker
What Should Be: Delmar and Skinker
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The clip reveals cramped and squalid rooms, believed to have been used by the depraved death cult to punish women who defied their orders. The awful discovery was made after Syrian rebel fighters liberated the city of Manbij.
IG Eerie footage shows the conditions of the prison
Rebel fighters said they found tools, sexual stimulants, contraceptives and drugs inside the sex-prison. Group leader Omar Mazerli said: "We found various kinds of pills, including sexual stimulation, contraceptives and narcotic pills which were used by the Islamic State group for torture. "They have very strange ways. This place was very hard to find and it is well hidden, but we got here with God's will and the efforts of the Military Council."
IG Writing was scrawled onto the walls
IG A comb was left on a pillow in the prison
God, I have wronged myself, and no one forgives sins but you. Forgive me, you are forgiving and merciful
The eerie video shows stained pillows, dog bowls filled with discoloured liquids and writings on the wall. The writing, which is in Arabic, read: "God, I have wronged myself, and no one forgives sins but you. Forgive me, you are forgiving and merciful." Prison-like doors are on each of the cells, with dirty towels littered around the mouldy rooms.
Migrant crisis: Key locations before and after Tue, April 4, 2017 In these composite images, a comparison has been made between a scene at a key location during the height of the 2015 migrant crisis last year and the view there now Play slideshow Getty Images 1 of 10 Aid workers help migrants up the shore after making the crossing from Turkey to the Greek island of Lesbos on November 16, 2015 in Sikaminias, Greece
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MUMBAI: Small particles of air pollution and dust may play a role in enhancing a good monsoon while aggravating a poor one.That is one implication of a new IIT-Bombay study that found a link between the amount of aerosols in the atmosphere and cloud formation during the monsoon. Aerosols refer to small particles of dust and pollutants like soot.For the study, scientists analysed observational data on aerosols and clouds over central and north India between 20002009 monsoons. They were surprised by what they found: high levels of aerosols were correlated with modifications in cloud formation -but in diametrically opposite ways in good and bad monsoon years.In deficient monsoon years, scientists found, dust and pollutant particles built up in the atmosphere during frequent breaks in rainfall. This accumulation of aerosols coincided with the formation of smaller cloud droplets and shallower clouds. When clouds are shallow, they drain out quickly.The opposite trend was seen in good monsoon years. During these years, high levels of aerosols coincided with bigger cloud droplets. Clouds also grew much taller resulting in greater ice formation. “Taller clouds and greater ice formation are linked respectively to more intense rainfall and cold rain,“ said IIT professor and study co-author Chandra Ven kataraman.The findings imply that aerosols could further inhibit cloud development during a deficient monsoon while invigorating cloud formation during a good monsoon, she added.The mechanisms underlying these processes need to be studied further, scientists said.And while this paper only looked at links to changes in cloud properties, the investigation of actual rainfall changes is also underway, said Venkataraman There has been relatively little research looking at the effect of local factors like land use or air pollution on monsoon cloud formation. Monsoon studies have traditionally focused on the impact of large-scale factors like El Nino or La Nina. Some studies have looked at the effect of aerosols on the overall monsoon through temperature changes since aerosols can both cool and warm the atmosphere. Those studies have linked aerosols to short-term increases in rainfall as well as longer-term drying out of some regions.“We have to understand local processes along with largerscale monsoon dynamics,“ said Venkataraman.The study, by PhD students Nitin Patil and Prashant Dave and Venkataraman, was published in the journal Scientific Reports this month.
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Ross McLaughlin and Sandra Hermiston, CTV Vancouver
Look inside the average grocery cart and you’re sure to find a lot of packaging. You’ve got meat that’s wrapped in cellophane and Styrofoam, plastic containers filled with yogurt and cereal sealed in not one, but two layers of packaging.
It’s estimated that 8 million tons of plastic end up in our oceans every year. And it’s something Vancouver’s first zero waste grocery store wants to put an end to.
“We generate way too much garbage and plastic waste. It’s dire,” said Linh Truong, co-owner of The Soap Dispensary + Kitchen Staples.
Truong and her husband, Stewart Lampe, opened The Soap Dispensary in 2011, and have now expanded to include grocery staples as well, becoming the first permanent packaging-free grocery store in the city.
Customers bring their own containers or jars into the Main Street location and fill them with all the store has to offer.
There’s a sea of taps pouring all kinds of bulk liquids such as olive oil, honey and soy sauce. Customers can also purchase frozen items such as pierogis, cookie dough and dumplings, all of which are sold in bulk as well.
There is also fresh food and spices, but no plastic containers or bags to take away.
“I just bring my own containers and don't have to pay any extra packaging," said customer Elani Parsons.
As the store’s name suggests, The Soap Dispensary also sells soaps, raw ingredients for cleaning products and homemade cosmetics.
"I have had customers who've come in and said their grandmother used to shop like this or their parents used to shop like this in Europe or Asia," Truong said.
The Recycling Council of B.C. says 40 per cent of our garbage is packaging. Truong says her store has diverted over 172,000 containers since it first opened in 2011.
“I think it’s great. I’d love to see more of it,” said Harvinder Aujala with the Recycling Council of British Columbia,”I think what Linh and her team are proving is that you don't need to have packaging and there are alternatives."
As for price, we're told buying in bulk can still be cheaper than buying in packages, but it also depends on the products you're looking for.
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Nearly a year into the PlayStation Vita’s lifecycle, the powerful handheld isn’t exactly selling like hotcakes. However, Sony has acknowledged this, and has announced plans to cut the system’s price as early as next year.
Speaking with Eurogamer in an interview, Sony UK’s vice president Fergal Gara stated that while the company has no plans to drop the price of the system for the upcoming holiday season, there are currently discussions regarding lowering the Vita’s price point, which is currently at $249.99 for a Wi-Fi-only model, or $299.99 for a Wi-Fi- and 3G-capable model in the United States. However, the company has yet to determine when such a price drop will occur, though Gara stated that the drop could go into effect as early as next year.
A price drop could definitely help the system achieve greater success. While the Vita is powerful for a handheld gaming system, the high price point and lack of “must-have” titles can be seen as setbacks. Would you buy a Vita if it was sold at a lower price? Let us know in the comments section below.
Source: Eurogamer
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A few years ago, when a major political science conference was held in Spain, I rented a country house with some American colleagues for a week in deep Catalonia – near Ripoll. It turned out to be a medieval castle, replete with a chapel that our hosts had lovingly restored. Over those days, a world soccer championship that Spain eventually won was unfolding and we duly congratulated our hosts, only to find them deeply offended. A success of Spain, they told us, meant the opposite to them, as Catalans. The Catalan soccer players in the national team were opportunists, if not traitors.
Such deep nationalist resentment in a core EU member state presents the European Union with its next major challenge after Brexit. Catalonia is one of the regions that has profited most from EU cohesion programs during its development (in 2007-2013 it still qualified for 1.4 billion, although it has meanwhile been raised to the status of ‘very developed’). Spain, one of the few successes of fiscal equilibration after the euro crisis finds herself entirely destabilized by the unilateral proclamation of Catalonia’s independence following a non-constitutional referendum where less than the absolute majority voted in favor. The whole set of arguments of the Catalan nationalists for their independence could apply nearly everywhere else in Europe and if deemed acceptable for Catalonia the European ‘integration’ concept would become meaningless. A brief review of such claims from a scholar of nationalism might therefore be helpful.
To start with, the Catalan claim rests on the separate history and identity of the Catalans which entitles them to a separate path from the rest of Spain. But Spain as a whole, as, indeed, Germany, Italy, France, Belgium, United Kingdom (this is why it’s called ‘united’), let alone Poland and Romania, are the products of different regions, states or a part of states opting in at some historical moment when borders have been put into question – 1918, 1945, 1989-1990 – in order to combine their destinies into modern multinational states. Some of them opted for unitary states, others for federal ones, but none of the European nation states are based on collective identities where the region is based on a specific ethnicity.
Some EU states have been more respectful of the traditional, organically developed institutions of such regions (as in Germany), others less (as in Italy), but nobody was unwise enough to enshrine an ethnic character into EU regions, grounded in a feudal order predating the modern idea of the nation. Indeed, only the 1918 born Yugoslav kingdom was officially called the ‘Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes’ and despite the historical transformations it underwent, it was the persistence of this ethnic character which led to its tragic end.
A threat to their survival?
Therefore, the insistence of the Catalan Parliament on being allowed a unilateral right to secede is anything but democratic. There is no iron law of democracy allowing the right to unilaterally vote to leave a nation state that one has subscribed to before without coercion. Catalonia was no colony. Therefore, the citizens of the rest of a Spanish state based on the 1978 democratic Constitution have as much right to vote on the future of their joint project as do those who reside temporarily in the autonomous Catalonia (of which many are Spanish).
Of course, each region has its history and differences apply. For instance, the Communist Yugoslav constitution allowed the right of secession, as does Quebec’s. In the case of Scotland, the right was granted as a temporary power by Westminster to the Scottish Parliament to make it constitutional by a decision of David Cameron’s government. It was not unilateral.
Of course, if there is a real threat to the identity or survival of the minority group in the seceding region, its right to self-determination becomes stronger. The international community respects existing borders, but has acknowledged secessions by endangered regions or groups whose rights were systematically infringed by the state they lived in. This was the situation of Kosovo, where the entire education in their native language had first been suppressed under the Communist strongman Slobodan Milosevic, followed by a mass expulsion of Kosovar Albanians by the Yugoslav army once an armed conflict broke down. The Kurds can also point to the Anfal genocide that killed over 50,000 Kurds and the enforced change of the ethnic character of Kurd areas like Kirkuk through Arabization during Saddam Hussein. The forces surrounding them today are not so very different from the ones during the Iran-Iraq war that ended in their victimization, and so their argument that they alone can ensure their own safety (especially after their heroic fight against ISIS) is worth listening to. They have a legitimate claim which should be discussed peacefully.
But not so the Catalans. They have an advanced autonomous rule in a country ranked by OECD in the top ten in the world where fiscal decentralization (direct collection of taxes by the sub-national units) is concerned. Not only are their general human rights not infringed upon in democratic Spain, which also ranks among the most democratic countries in the world by Freedom House or Human Watch standards, but their linguistic policy had been, on the contrary, one of exclusion, not inclusion[1].
In Catalonia students are only taught in Catalan in their first years of schooling, English is more promoted than Spanish as a foreign language (although the majority of Catalans have long indicated that Spanish was the number one mother tongue, before this statistical item was dropped). The obligatory use of Catalan as the sole medium of instruction for all school subjects has been championed by Catalan nationalists over the past decades with little contestation, although in no other region of Europe has a group which does not have the linguistic majority managed to promote a monolingual model[2].
True, the Spanish dictator Franco had once banned Catalan in schools, but arguing in democratic Spain that one has to go completely in the opposite direction to do justice or make reparation, goes too far. In fact, in a bilingual society a bilingual model should be promoted to ensure social communication. Had a similar policy existed in Scotland, they would have gained independence by now. This long term linguistic policy is a proof of an exclusionary, not inclusionary identity politics. Indeed, the many people who rally for independence are the products of such schools. Unfortunately, academics have long gathered evidence that organizing states on identity lines – giving each group each own police and army, for instance, does not result in anything else but secession. What if people in Baden-Wurttemberg, a region which always comes out on top of Europe’s net donor regions, claimed that from tomorrow onwards they wanted to keep all their income in Baden-Wurttemberg?
Furthermore, although they live in a region which has benefited the most from European redistribution from the rest of Europe in earlier years (two different lavish highways connect Lerida to Barcelona, a sign of abundance rarely seen anywhere else in Europe), they seem themselves less inclined to return this generosity. Catalonia is not plundered by Madrid, whose redistribution to poorer Spanish regions is twice Barcelona’s (5 versus 10% of GDP).
Economic solidarity within nations and the Union is a guarantee for bad times
What if people in Baden-Wurttemberg, a region which always comes out on top of Europe’s net donor regions, claimed that from tomorrow onwards they wanted to keep all their income in Baden-Wurttemberg rather than redistributing it to poorer EU regions, and that otherwise they would threaten secession? And yet this region does not owe the debt that Catalonia does – all the great separation plans rest on the assumption that secession is good for business if there are no more taxes and the 72 billion euros in debt (16.34 percent of Spain's) are no longer paid to Spain. Catalonia has 16% of Spain’s population and its grievance is that it pays almost 20% to the budget in taxes. But that is how Europe works – more urban areas, and capitals in particular redistribute to more rural ones and those whose economies do well help those who experience downturns, as economic fortunes are not everlasting. Economic solidarity within nations and the Union is a guarantee for bad times – Europe is full of cities which once had mighty economic power on the European scene and are today just charming places to visit for the amateurs of UNESCO heritage sites. Surely it would be good business for all of us to leave our debts unpaid and leave with all the income when we are riding high? Of course, this might appeal to more naïve voters.
And what if every region where the political majority happens to be different at one moment in time than in the centre – it happens every day, anywhere, when you hold free elections – just left, calling the others Fascists or Communists? Last, but not least, there is the argument regarding the monarchy. Yes, this is a deep division between Republicans and Monarchists. Funnily enough, in the constitutional textbooks we have all been citing, two economists once calculated that Greece would have been as prosperous as Spain had it only kept its monarchy and the stability advantage it entailed[3]. So more neutral outsiders can even find some good features in constitutional monarchies.
Nationalism and populism combined
The combination of nationalism with populism is not new in Europe and has been resurfacing in recent years. But the Catalan story is exemplary. If we accept such self-serving and irresponsible arguments in one case, the whole of Europe is gone. This is why both Vladimir Putin and Nigel Farage champion the Catalan cause, because it enfeebles Europe. Could something that propaganda channel Russia Today champions daily, the cause of Catalan independence, be good for the rest of us, Europeans? Perhaps it is time to think more critically of charismatic Catalan national heroes, before they rally all the separatists of Europe. In the early 1990s, Italy also had similar problems, when the Northern League (Lega Nord) party enjoyed an electoral breakthrough in Veneto and Lombardy precisely by campaigning against Rome and the “centralist state” allegedly ripping off the hard-working North to redistribute resources in the parasitic South.
When independentists moved to real action – civil disobedience, tax strikes, occupation of public places like San Marco bell tower in Venice, the government struck back by legal methods and eventually accused them of crimes ranging from tax evasion to terrorism. And no, Italy was not ruled by Fascists at the time, but by left-winger Eurocrats like Giuliano Amato and Romano Prodi.
Notes
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/may/04/spain
[2] http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/eurocrisispress/2014/04/22/language-rights-in-catalonia/
[3] Persson, T., & Tabellini, G. E. (2005). The economic effects of constitutions. MIT Press.
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(Photo: REUTERS / Adrees Latif)Some of hundreds of thousands take part in the People's Climate March through Midtown, New York September 21, 2014. An international day of action on climate change brought hundreds of thousands of people onto the streets of New York City on Sunday, easily exceeding organizers' hopes for the largest protest on the issue in history. Organizers estimated that some 310,000 people, including United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, actor Leonardo DiCaprio and elected officials from the United States and abroad joined the People's Climate March, ahead of Tuesday's United Nations hosted summit in the city to discuss reducing carbon emissions that threaten the environment.
Climate, Faith and Hope: Faith traditions together for a common future
Statement made by representatives at meeting called by World Council of Churches and Religions for Peace
As representatives from different faith and religious traditions, we stand together to express deep concern for the consequences of climate change on the earth and its people, all entrusted, as our faiths reveal, to our common care. Climate change is indeed a threat to life, a precious gift we have received and that we need to care for.
We acknowledge the overwhelming scientific evidence that climate change is human-induced and that, without global and inclusive action towards mitigation and unless fully addressing its fundamental causes, its impacts will continue to grow in intensity and frequency. At the same time, we are ready to dialogue with those who remain skeptical.
In our communities and thanks to the media, we see the manifestations of climate change everywhere. From our brothers and sisters around the world, we hear about its effects on people and nature. We recognize that these effects disproportionally affect the lives, livelihoods and rights of poorer, marginalized and therefore most vulnerable populations, including indigenous peoples. When those who have done the least to cause climate change are the ones hardest hit, it becomes an issue of injustice. Equitable solutions are urgently needed.
We recognize that climate change stands today as a major obstacle to the eradication of poverty. Severe weather events exacerbate hunger, cause economic insecurity, force displacement and prevent sustainable development. The climate crisis is about the survival of humanity on planet earth, and action must reflect these facts with urgency.
Therefore, as faith leaders, we commit ourselves to the promotion of disaster risk reduction, adaptation, low carbon development, climate change education, curbing our own consumption patterns and reducing our use of fossil fuels. Based on our spiritual beliefs and our hope for the future, we commit to stimulating consciences and encouraging our peers and communities to consider such measures with urgency.
We share the conviction that the threats of climate change cannot be curbed effectively by a single State alone but only by the enhanced co-operation of the community of States, based on principles of mutual trust, fairness and equity, precaution, intergenerational justice and common but differentiated responsibilities and capabilities. We urge the rich to support the poor and the vulnerable significantly and everywhere, especially in Least Developed Countries, Small Island States and Sub-Saharan Africa. Significant support would include generous financial resources, capacity building, technology transfer and other forms of co-operation.
We encourage Heads of State and Ministers attending the Climate Summit to announce pledges for the Green Climate Fund, including commitments to increase them thereafter, to establish new partnerships for climate resilience and low carbon development, and to assure access to renewable energies for all people.
As people of faith, we call on all governments to express their commitment to limit global warming well below 2° Celsius. We emphasize that all States share the responsibility to formulate and implement Low Carbon Development Strategies leading to de-carbonization and the complete phase-out of fossil fuels by mid-century.
Consequently we encourage world political and economic leaders to exercise their leadership during the Climate Summit by announcing joint actions such as important short-term emission cuts, phasing out fossil fuel subsidies, coal caps or coal divestment, forest protection, increased energy efficiency in construction and transportation, and other concrete steps. We further call on all governments to identify medium and long-term adaptation needs and to develop strategies to address them based on country-driven, gender-sensitive and participatory approaches to better manage residual loss and damage due to adverse climate impacts.
Ultimately we request all States to work constructively towards a far-reaching global climate agreement in Paris in 2015, building on transparency, adequacy and accountability. The new agreement must be:
ambitious enough to keep temperature from rising well below 2° Celsius;
fair enough to distribute the burden in an equitable way; and
legally binding enough to guarantee that effective national climate policies to curb emissions are well funded and fully implemented.
As religious representatives and citizens in your countries, we hereby commit ourselves to address the climate change threat. We continue to count on your leadership, and we encourage and expect you to make the right decisions. When difficult decisions need to be taken for the sustainability of the earth and its people, we are ready to stand with you. We pray for you and for all humanity in caring for the earth.
New York, 21 September 2014
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ABSTRACT
Background: A reduction in dietary saturated fat has generally been thought to improve cardiovascular health. Objective: The objective of this meta-analysis was to summarize the evidence related to the association of dietary saturated fat with risk of coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke, and cardiovascular disease (CVD; CHD inclusive of stroke) in prospective epidemiologic studies. Design: Twenty-one studies identified by searching MEDLINE and EMBASE databases and secondary referencing qualified for inclusion in this study. A random-effects model was used to derive composite relative risk estimates for CHD, stroke, and CVD. Results: During 5–23 y of follow-up of 347,747 subjects, 11,006 developed CHD or stroke. Intake of saturated fat was not associated with an increased risk of CHD, stroke, or CVD. The pooled relative risk estimates that compared extreme quantiles of saturated fat intake were 1.07 (95% CI: 0.96, 1.19; P = 0.22) for CHD, 0.81 (95% CI: 0.62, 1.05; P = 0.11) for stroke, and 1.00 (95% CI: 0.89, 1.11; P = 0.95) for CVD. Consideration of age, sex, and study quality did not change the results. Conclusions: A meta-analysis of prospective epidemiologic studies showed that there is no significant evidence for concluding that dietary saturated fat is associated with an increased risk of CHD or CVD. More data are needed to elucidate whether CVD risks are likely to be influenced by the specific nutrients used to replace saturated fat.
See corresponding editorial on page 497
INTRODUCTION
Early animal studies showed that high dietary saturated fat and cholesterol intakes led to increased plasma cholesterol concentrations as well as atherosclerotic lesions (1). These findings were supported by associations in humans in which dietary saturated fat correlated with coronary heart disease (CHD) risk (2, 3). More recent epidemiologic studies have shown positive (4–10), inverse (11, 12), or no (4, 13–18) associations of dietary saturated fat with CVD morbidity and/or mortality.
A limited number of randomized clinical interventions have been conducted that have evaluated the effects of saturated fat on risk of CVD. Whereas some studies have shown beneficial effects of reduced dietary saturated fat (19–21), others have shown no effects of such diets on CVD risk (22, 23). The studies that showed beneficial effects of diets reduced in saturated fat replaced saturated fat with polyunsaturated fat, with the implication that the CVD benefit observed could have been due to an increase in polyunsaturated fat or in the ratio of polyunsaturated fat to saturated fat (P:S), a hypothesis supported by a recent pooling analysis conducted by Jakobsen et al (24).
The goal of this study was to conduct a meta-analysis of well-designed prospective epidemiologic studies to estimate the risk of CHD and stroke and a composite risk score for both CHD and stroke, or total cardiovascular disease (CVD), that was associated with increased dietary intakes of saturated fat. Large prospective cohort studies can provide statistical power to adjust for covariates, thereby enabling the evaluation of the effects of a specific nutrient on disease risk. However, such studies have caveats, including a reliance on nutritional assessment methods whose validity and reliability may vary (25), the assumption that diets remain similar over the long term (26) and variable adjustment for covariates by different investigators. Nonetheless, a summary evaluation of the epidemiologic evidence to date provides important information as to the basis for relating dietary saturated fat to CVD risk.
SUBJECTS AND METHODS
Study selection
Two investigators (QS and PS-T) independently conducted a systematic literature search of the MEDLINE (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/) and EMBASE (http://www.embase.com) databases through 17 September 2009 by using the following search terms: (“saturated fat” or “dietary fat”) and (“coronary” or “cardiovascular” or “stroke”) and (“cohort” or “follow up”). Studies were eligible if 1) data related to dietary consumption of saturated fat were available; 2) the endpoints were nonfatal or fatal CVD events, but not CVD risk factors; 3) the association of saturated fat with CVD was specifically evaluated; 4) the study design was a prospective cohort study; and 5) study participants were generally healthy adults at study baseline. The initial search yielded 661 unique citations, of which 19 studies met the inclusion criteria and were selected as appropriate for inclusion in this meta-analysis (Figure 1) (4–6, 8–11, 14–16, 18, 27–34). All 4 investigators participated in the selection process (PS-T, QS, FBH, and RMK). Additional reference searches were performed by conducting a hand review of references from retrieved articles, and 3 more studies were identified (13, 17, 35). Of the 22 identified studies, 10 studies provided data appropriate to the constraints of this meta-analysis, specifically, relative risk (RR) estimates for CVD as a function of saturated fat intake (10, 14–16, 28, 30–34). Where such data were not provided (n = 12), data requests were made to investigators. Investigators from 6 of the studies (4, 5, 8, 18, 29, 35) responded with the requested data. A data set of the Honolulu Heart Study (9), obtained from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (36), was used to derive the RR estimates for this study. Investigators from 5 studies either did not respond or could no longer access data sets (6, 11, 13, 17, 27). However, 4 of 5 of these studies provided data for saturated fat intake as a continuous variable (6, 11, 13, 17). For these studies, we derived RR estimates (see Statistical analysis) for categorical saturated fat intake and CHD and/or stroke. The study by Boden-Albala et al (27) was excluded because the RR estimate published did not correspond to the values given for the upper and lower bounds of the CI, ie, using these values to derive the SE resulted in different estimates, and the authors did not respond to our attempts to obtain the correct data.
FIGURE 1 View largeDownload slide Study selection process. CHD, coronary heart disease; CVD, cardiovascular disease; RR, relative risk. 1Three studies provided outcome data for both CHD and stroke.
FIGURE 1 View largeDownload slide Study selection process. CHD, coronary heart disease; CVD, cardiovascular disease; RR, relative risk. 1Three studies provided outcome data for both CHD and stroke.
Altogether, this meta-analysis included data from 21 unique studies, with 16 studies providing risk estimates for CHD and 8 studies providing data for stroke as an endpoint. Data were derived from 347,747 participants, of whom 11,006 developed CVD.
Data extraction
Two authors (PS-T and QS) independently extracted and tabulated data from each study using a standard extraction form. Discrepancies were resolved via review of the original articles and group discussion. From each study, we extracted information on first author, publication year, disease outcome, country of origin, method of outcome ascertainment, sample size, age, sex, average study follow-up time, number of cases, dietary assessment method and the validity of the method, number of dietary assessments, covariates adjusted, unit of measurement, RR of CVD comparing extreme quantiles of saturated fat intake or per unit of saturated fat intake, and corresponding 95% CIs, SEs, or exact P values.
Statistical analysis
RRs and 95% CIs were log transformed to derive corresponding SEs for β-coefficients by using Greenland’s formula (37). Otherwise, we used exact P values to derive SEs where possible. To minimize the possibility that the association for saturated fat intake may be influenced by extreme values, we contacted the authors of studies in which RRs were presented as per-unit increments of saturated fat intake and requested RRs comparing extreme quantiles. For studies for which we did not receive responses, we used the published trend RRs comparing the 25th and 75th percentiles to estimate RRs comparing high with low dichotomized saturated fat intakes (38).
Meta-analyses were performed by using STATA 10.0 (StataCorp, College Station TX) and Review Manager 5.0 (The Nordic Cochrane Centre, The Cochrane Collaboration, Copenhagen, Denmark; http://www.cc-ims.net/RevMan). P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Random-effects models taking into account both within-study and between-study variability were used to estimate pooled RRs for associations of dietary saturated fat with CHD risk. Relative to fixed-effects models, random-effects models were more appropriate for the current study because test statistics showed evidence of heterogeneity among these studies. When several RRs were given for subgroup analyses within a single study, random-effects models were used to pool the RRs into one composite estimate.
We used the STATA METAINF module to examine the influence of an individual study on the pooled estimate of RR by excluding each study in turn. We used the STATA METAREG module to examine whether the effect size of these studies depended on certain characteristics of each study, including age, sex, sample size, duration of follow-up, whether disease outcomes were confirmed by medical record review, and a score evaluating overall study quality. This quality score was derived from the following information: dietary assessment method (where 5 points were given for diet records, 4 for validated FFQs, 3 for FFQs that were not formally validated, 2 for diet history, and 1 for 24-h recall), number of dietary assessments, and number of adjusted established risk factors for CVD. Points were totaled to construct a composite quality score for each study.
We further conducted secondary analyses to examine age- and sex-specific effects (ie, age <60 y compared with ≥60 y and male compared with female) of saturated fat on CVD risk. These secondary analyses were performed with only those studies that provided stratified data according to these variables.
To examine the effects of replacing saturated fat with carbohydrate or polyunsaturated fat, we performed secondary meta-analyses with studies that provided pertinent and extractable data. Because energy from carbohydrate intake was excluded in fully adjusted models (including adjustments for total energy and energy from protein and fats other than saturated fat) in 6 of 21 studies, the regression coefficients of saturated fat could be interpreted as the effects of isocalorically replacing carbohydrate intake with saturated fat (25). Similarly, there were 5 studies (4, 9, 29, 31, 33) in which the regression coefficients of saturated fat could be interpreted as the effects of isocalorically replacing polyunsaturated fat intake with saturated fat. Finally, because consideration for total energy intake has been shown to be relevant in the evaluation of nutrient-disease associations (39), we also performed a subanalysis of studies (n = 15) that provided total energy intake data (4, 6, 8–11, 15, 16, 18, 29–31, 33). Begg funnel plots were used to assess potential publication bias (40).
RESULTS
The study design characteristics of the 21 studies identified by database searches and secondary referencing that were included in this meta-analysis (4–6, 8–11, 13–18, 28–35) are shown in Table 1. Altogether, there were 16 studies that considered the association of saturated fat with CHD and 8 studies that evaluated the association of saturated fat with stroke. Dietary assessments included 24-h recalls, food-frequency questionnaires (FFQs), and multiple daily food records. The duration of follow-up ranged from 6 to 23 y, with a mean and median follow-up of 14.3 and 14 y, respectively.
TABLE 1 Study Disease outcome Dietary assessment method FFQ items Validation of nutrients Correlation with diet record2 Validation in study population Multiple assessment of diet Assessment interval Average duration of follow-up y y CHD Shekelle et al, 1981 (17) Fatal CHD Interview (28 d) 195 Not validated — — Baseline — 20 McGee et al, 1984 (9)3 Total CHD 24-h recall (1 d) — NA — — Baseline — 10 Kushi et al, 1985 (13) Fatal CHD Diet-history (time frame unknown) — Not validated — — Baseline — 20 Posner et al, 1991 (16) Total CHD 24-h recall (1 d) — NA — — Baseline — 16 Fehily et al, 1993 (28) Total CHD 7-d diet records — NA — — Baseline — 5 Goldbourt et al, 1993 (35)3 Fatal CHD FFQ (time frame unknown) NR Not validated — — Baseline — 23 Ascherio et al, 1996 (4) Total CHD FFQ (1 y) 131 Validated 0.75 Yes Twice 4 14 Esrey et al, 1996 (6) Fatal CHD 24-h recall (1 d) — NA — — Baseline — 12 Mann et al, 1997 (32) Fatal CHD FFQ (time interval unknown) NR Not validated — — Baseline — 13 Pietinen et al, 1997 (15) Total CHD FFQ (1 y) 276 Validated 0.70 Yes Baseline — 6 Boniface and Tefft, 2002 (5) Fatal CHD FFQ (time frame unknown) 30 Validated 0.34 Yes Baseline — 16 Jakobsen et al, 2004 (8) Total CHD 7-d diet records — NA — — Baseline — 16 Leosdottir et al, 2007 (14)3 Fatal CHD FFQ (1 y) and 7-d menu-diary 168 Validated 0.50 Yes Baseline — 8 Oh et al, 2005 (33) Total CHD FFQ (1 y) 116 Validated 0.68 Yes 6 times 2–4 20 Tucker et al, 2005 (18) Fatal CHD 7-d diet records — NA — — 4 times 3–9 18 Xu et al, 2006 (10) Total CHD 24-h recall (1 d) — NA — — Baseline — 7 Stroke McGee et al, 1984 (9)3 Total stroke 24-h recall (1 d) — NA — — Baseline — 10 Goldbourt et al, 1993 (35)3 Fatal stroke FFQ (time frame unknown) NR Not validated — — Baseline — 23 Gillman et al, 1997 (11) Ischemic stroke 24-h recall (1 d) — NA — — Baseline — 20 Iso et al, 2001 (31) Hemorrhagic stroke FFQ (1 y) 116 Validated 0.68 Yes 4 times 2–4 14 He et al, 2003 (29) Total stroke FFQ (1 y) 131 Validated 0.75 Yes 3 times 4 14 Iso et al, 2003 (30) Hemorrhagic stroke 24-h recall (1 d) — NA — — Baseline — 14 Sauvaget et al, 2004 (34) Fatal stroke 1-d diet record — NA — — Baseline — 14 Leosdottir et al, 2007 (14)3 Ischemic stroke FFQ (1 y) and 7-d menu-diary 168 Validated 0.50 Yes Baseline — 8 Study Disease outcome Dietary assessment method FFQ items Validation of nutrients Correlation with diet record2 Validation in study population Multiple assessment of diet Assessment interval Average duration of follow-up y y CHD Shekelle et al, 1981 (17) Fatal CHD Interview (28 d) 195 Not validated — — Baseline — 20 McGee et al, 1984 (9)3 Total CHD 24-h recall (1 d) — NA — — Baseline — 10 Kushi et al, 1985 (13) Fatal CHD Diet-history (time frame unknown) — Not validated — — Baseline — 20 Posner et al, 1991 (16) Total CHD 24-h recall (1 d) — NA — — Baseline — 16 Fehily et al, 1993 (28) Total CHD 7-d diet records — NA — — Baseline — 5 Goldbourt et al, 1993 (35)3 Fatal CHD FFQ (time frame unknown) NR Not validated — — Baseline — 23 Ascherio et al, 1996 (4) Total CHD FFQ (1 y) 131 Validated 0.75 Yes Twice 4 14 Esrey et al, 1996 (6) Fatal CHD 24-h recall (1 d) — NA — — Baseline — 12 Mann et al, 1997 (32) Fatal CHD FFQ (time interval unknown) NR Not validated — — Baseline — 13 Pietinen et al, 1997 (15) Total CHD FFQ (1 y) 276 Validated 0.70 Yes Baseline — 6 Boniface and Tefft, 2002 (5) Fatal CHD FFQ (time frame unknown) 30 Validated 0.34 Yes Baseline — 16 Jakobsen et al, 2004 (8) Total CHD 7-d diet records — NA — — Baseline — 16 Leosdottir et al, 2007 (14)3 Fatal CHD FFQ (1 y) and 7-d menu-diary 168 Validated 0.50 Yes Baseline — 8 Oh et al, 2005 (33) Total CHD FFQ (1 y) 116 Validated 0.68 Yes 6 times 2–4 20 Tucker et al, 2005 (18) Fatal CHD 7-d diet records — NA — — 4 times 3–9 18 Xu et al, 2006 (10) Total CHD 24-h recall (1 d) — NA — — Baseline — 7 Stroke McGee et al, 1984 (9)3 Total stroke 24-h recall (1 d) — NA — — Baseline — 10 Goldbourt et al, 1993 (35)3 Fatal stroke FFQ (time frame unknown) NR Not validated — — Baseline — 23 Gillman et al, 1997 (11) Ischemic stroke 24-h recall (1 d) — NA — — Baseline — 20 Iso et al, 2001 (31) Hemorrhagic stroke FFQ (1 y) 116 Validated 0.68 Yes 4 times 2–4 14 He et al, 2003 (29) Total stroke FFQ (1 y) 131 Validated 0.75 Yes 3 times 4 14 Iso et al, 2003 (30) Hemorrhagic stroke 24-h recall (1 d) — NA — — Baseline — 14 Sauvaget et al, 2004 (34) Fatal stroke 1-d diet record — NA — — Baseline — 14 Leosdottir et al, 2007 (14)3 Ischemic stroke FFQ (1 y) and 7-d menu-diary 168 Validated 0.50 Yes Baseline — 8 View Large
TABLE 1 Study Disease outcome Dietary assessment method FFQ items Validation of nutrients Correlation with diet record2 Validation in study population Multiple assessment of diet Assessment interval Average duration of follow-up y y CHD Shekelle et al, 1981 (17) Fatal CHD Interview (28 d) 195 Not validated — — Baseline — 20 McGee et al, 1984 (9)3 Total CHD 24-h recall (1 d) — NA — — Baseline — 10 Kushi et al, 1985 (13) Fatal CHD Diet-history (time frame unknown) — Not validated — — Baseline — 20 Posner et al, 1991 (16) Total CHD 24-h recall (1 d) — NA — — Baseline — 16 Fehily et al, 1993 (28) Total CHD 7-d diet records — NA — — Baseline — 5 Goldbourt et al, 1993 (35)3 Fatal CHD FFQ (time frame unknown) NR Not validated — — Baseline — 23 Ascherio et al, 1996 (4) Total CHD FFQ (1 y) 131 Validated 0.75 Yes Twice 4 14 Esrey et al, 1996 (6) Fatal CHD 24-h recall (1 d) — NA — — Baseline — 12 Mann et al, 1997 (32) Fatal CHD FFQ (time interval unknown) NR Not validated — — Baseline — 13 Pietinen et al, 1997 (15) Total CHD FFQ (1 y) 276 Validated 0.70 Yes Baseline — 6 Boniface and Tefft, 2002 (5) Fatal CHD FFQ (time frame unknown) 30 Validated 0.34 Yes Baseline — 16 Jakobsen et al, 2004 (8) Total CHD 7-d diet records — NA — — Baseline — 16 Leosdottir et al, 2007 (14)3 Fatal CHD FFQ (1 y) and 7-d menu-diary 168 Validated 0.50 Yes Baseline — 8 Oh et al, 2005 (33) Total CHD FFQ (1 y) 116 Validated 0.68 Yes 6 times 2–4 20 Tucker et al, 2005 (18) Fatal CHD 7-d diet records — NA — — 4 times 3–9 18 Xu et al, 2006 (10) Total CHD 24-h recall (1 d) — NA — — Baseline — 7 Stroke McGee et al, 1984 (9)3 Total stroke 24-h recall (1 d) — NA — — Baseline — 10 Goldbourt et al, 1993 (35)3 Fatal stroke FFQ (time frame unknown) NR Not validated — — Baseline — 23 Gillman et al, 1997 (11) Ischemic stroke 24-h recall (1 d) — NA — — Baseline — 20 Iso et al, 2001 (31) Hemorrhagic stroke FFQ (1 y) 116 Validated 0.68 Yes 4 times 2–4 14 He et al, 2003 (29) Total stroke FFQ (1 y) 131 Validated 0.75 Yes 3 times 4 14 Iso et al, 2003 (30) Hemorrhagic stroke 24-h recall (1 d) — NA — — Baseline — 14 Sauvaget et al, 2004 (34) Fatal stroke 1-d diet record — NA — — Baseline — 14 Leosdottir et al, 2007 (14)3 Ischemic stroke FFQ (1 y) and 7-d menu-diary 168 Validated 0.50 Yes Baseline — 8 Study Disease outcome Dietary assessment method FFQ items Validation of nutrients Correlation with diet record2 Validation in study population Multiple assessment of diet Assessment interval Average duration of follow-up y y CHD Shekelle et al, 1981 (17) Fatal CHD Interview (28 d) 195 Not validated — — Baseline — 20 McGee et al, 1984 (9)3 Total CHD 24-h recall (1 d) — NA — — Baseline — 10 Kushi et al, 1985 (13) Fatal CHD Diet-history (time frame unknown) — Not validated — — Baseline — 20 Posner et al, 1991 (16) Total CHD 24-h recall (1 d) — NA — — Baseline — 16 Fehily et al, 1993 (28) Total CHD 7-d diet records — NA — — Baseline — 5 Goldbourt et al, 1993 (35)3 Fatal CHD FFQ (time frame unknown) NR Not validated — — Baseline — 23 Ascherio et al, 1996 (4) Total CHD FFQ (1 y) 131 Validated 0.75 Yes Twice 4 14 Esrey et al, 1996 (6) Fatal CHD 24-h recall (1 d) — NA — — Baseline — 12 Mann et al, 1997 (32) Fatal CHD FFQ (time interval unknown) NR Not validated — — Baseline — 13 Pietinen et al, 1997 (15) Total CHD FFQ (1 y) 276 Validated 0.70 Yes Baseline — 6 Boniface and Tefft, 2002 (5) Fatal CHD FFQ (time frame unknown) 30 Validated 0.34 Yes Baseline — 16 Jakobsen et al, 2004 (8) Total CHD 7-d diet records — NA — — Baseline — 16 Leosdottir et al, 2007 (14)3 Fatal CHD FFQ (1 y) and 7-d menu-diary 168 Validated 0.50 Yes Baseline — 8 Oh et al, 2005 (33) Total CHD FFQ (1 y) 116 Validated 0.68 Yes 6 times 2–4 20 Tucker et al, 2005 (18) Fatal CHD 7-d diet records — NA — — 4 times 3–9 18 Xu et al, 2006 (10) Total CHD 24-h recall (1 d) — NA — — Baseline — 7 Stroke McGee et al, 1984 (9)3 Total stroke 24-h recall (1 d) — NA — — Baseline — 10 Goldbourt et al, 1993 (35)3 Fatal stroke FFQ (time frame unknown) NR Not validated — — Baseline — 23 Gillman et al, 1997 (11) Ischemic stroke 24-h recall (1 d) — NA — — Baseline — 20 Iso et al, 2001 (31) Hemorrhagic stroke FFQ (1 y) 116 Validated 0.68 Yes 4 times 2–4 14 He et al, 2003 (29) Total stroke FFQ (1 y) 131 Validated 0.75 Yes 3 times 4 14 Iso et al, 2003 (30) Hemorrhagic stroke 24-h recall (1 d) — NA — — Baseline — 14 Sauvaget et al, 2004 (34) Fatal stroke 1-d diet record — NA — — Baseline — 14 Leosdottir et al, 2007 (14)3 Ischemic stroke FFQ (1 y) and 7-d menu-diary 168 Validated 0.50 Yes Baseline — 8 View Large
The baseline characteristics of the study participants are provided in Table 2. The number of subjects in each study ranged from 266 to 85,764. The age of participants ranged from ≈30 to 89 y. There were 11 studies conducted exclusively in men, 2 studies conducted exclusively in women, and 8 studies that enrolled both men and women. There were 12 studies that were conducted in North America, 6 in Europe, 2 in Japan, and 1 in Israel.
TABLE 2 Study No. of subjects Age Sex Country of residence Smoker Disease outcome Method of diagnosis y % CHD Shekelle et al, 1981 (17) 1900 40–55 Male USA NR Fatal CHD DC McGee et al, 1984 (9)2 8006 45–68 Male USA NR Total CHD MR and DC Kushi et al,1985 (13) 1001 30–69 Male USA NR Fatal CHD DC Posner et al, 1991 (16) 813 45–65 Male USA 41.6 Total CHD MR Fehily et al, 1993 (28) 512 45–59 Male UK NR Total CHD DC Goldbourt et al, 1993 (35)2 97673 ≥40 Male Israel NR Fatal CHD MR and DC Ascherio et al, 1996 (4) 38,463 40–75 Male USA 9.5 Total CHD MR and DC Esrey et al, 1996 (6) 4546 30–79 Both Canada 33.9 Fatal CHD MR Mann et al, 1997 (32) 10,802 16–79 Both UK 19.5 Fatal CHD MR Pietinen et al, 1997 (15) 21,930 50–69 Male Finland 100 Total CHD MR and DC Boniface and Tefft, 2002 (5) 2676 40–75 Both UK NR Total CHD DC Jakobsen et al, 2004 (8) 3686 30–71 Both Denmark NR Total CHD MR Leosdottir et al, 2007 (14)2 28,098 45–73 Both Sweden 29.5 Total CHD DC Oh et al, 2005 (33) 78,778 30–55 Female USA NR Total CHD MR and DC Tucker et al, 2005 (18) 2663 34–80 Male USA 21.8 Fatal CHD MR and DC Xu et al, 2006 (10) 2938 47–79 Both USA 29.7 Total CHD MR Stroke McGee et al, 1984 (9)2 8006 45–68 Male USA NR Total stroke MR and DC Goldbourt et al, 1993 (35)2 97673 ≥40 Male Israel NR Fatal stroke MR and DC Gillman et al, 1997 (11) 832 45–65 Male USA NR Ischemic stroke MR Iso et al, 2001 (31) 85,764 34–59 Female USA NR Hemorrhagic stroke MR and DC He et al, 2003 (29) 38,4633 40–75 Male USA 9.5 Total stroke MR and DC Iso et al, 2003 (30) 4775 40–69 Both Japan 13.5 Hemorrhagic stroke MR and DC Sauvaget et al, 2004 (34) 3731 35–89 Both Japan 26–35 Ischemic stroke DC Leosdottir et al, 2007 (14)2 28,098 45–73 Both Sweden 29.5 Ischemic stroke DC Study No. of subjects Age Sex Country of residence Smoker Disease outcome Method of diagnosis y % CHD Shekelle et al, 1981 (17) 1900 40–55 Male USA NR Fatal CHD DC McGee et al, 1984 (9)2 8006 45–68 Male USA NR Total CHD MR and DC Kushi et al,1985 (13) 1001 30–69 Male USA NR Fatal CHD DC Posner et al, 1991 (16) 813 45–65 Male USA 41.6 Total CHD MR Fehily et al, 1993 (28) 512 45–59 Male UK NR Total CHD DC Goldbourt et al, 1993 (35)2 97673 ≥40 Male Israel NR Fatal CHD MR and DC Ascherio et al, 1996 (4) 38,463 40–75 Male USA 9.5 Total CHD MR and DC Esrey et al, 1996 (6) 4546 30–79 Both Canada 33.9 Fatal CHD MR Mann et al, 1997 (32) 10,802 16–79 Both UK 19.5 Fatal CHD MR Pietinen et al, 1997 (15) 21,930 50–69 Male Finland 100 Total CHD MR and DC Boniface and Tefft, 2002 (5) 2676 40–75 Both UK NR Total CHD DC Jakobsen et al, 2004 (8) 3686 30–71 Both Denmark NR Total CHD MR Leosdottir et al, 2007 (14)2 28,098 45–73 Both Sweden 29.5 Total CHD DC Oh et al, 2005 (33) 78,778 30–55 Female USA NR Total CHD MR and DC Tucker et al, 2005 (18) 2663 34–80 Male USA 21.8 Fatal CHD MR and DC Xu et al, 2006 (10) 2938 47–79 Both USA 29.7 Total CHD MR Stroke McGee et al, 1984 (9)2 8006 45–68 Male USA NR Total stroke MR and DC Goldbourt et al, 1993 (35)2 97673 ≥40 Male Israel NR Fatal stroke MR and DC Gillman et al, 1997 (11) 832 45–65 Male USA NR Ischemic stroke MR Iso et al, 2001 (31) 85,764 34–59 Female USA NR Hemorrhagic stroke MR and DC He et al, 2003 (29) 38,4633 40–75 Male USA 9.5 Total stroke MR and DC Iso et al, 2003 (30) 4775 40–69 Both Japan 13.5 Hemorrhagic stroke MR and DC Sauvaget et al, 2004 (34) 3731 35–89 Both Japan 26–35 Ischemic stroke DC Leosdottir et al, 2007 (14)2 28,098 45–73 Both Sweden 29.5 Ischemic stroke DC View Large
TABLE 2 Study No. of subjects Age Sex Country of residence Smoker Disease outcome Method of diagnosis y % CHD Shekelle et al, 1981 (17) 1900 40–55 Male USA NR Fatal CHD DC McGee et al, 1984 (9)2 8006 45–68 Male USA NR Total CHD MR and DC Kushi et al,1985 (13) 1001 30–69 Male USA NR Fatal CHD DC Posner et al, 1991 (16) 813 45–65 Male USA 41.6 Total CHD MR Fehily et al, 1993 (28) 512 45–59 Male UK NR Total CHD DC Goldbourt et al, 1993 (35)2 97673 ≥40 Male Israel NR Fatal CHD MR and DC Ascherio et al, 1996 (4) 38,463 40–75 Male USA 9.5 Total CHD MR and DC Esrey et al, 1996 (6) 4546 30–79 Both Canada 33.9 Fatal CHD MR Mann et al, 1997 (32) 10,802 16–79 Both UK 19.5 Fatal CHD MR Pietinen et al, 1997 (15) 21,930 50–69 Male Finland 100 Total CHD MR and DC Boniface and Tefft, 2002 (5) 2676 40–75 Both UK NR Total CHD DC Jakobsen et al, 2004 (8) 3686 30–71 Both Denmark NR Total CHD MR Leosdottir et al, 2007 (14)2 28,098 45–73 Both Sweden 29.5 Total CHD DC Oh et al, 2005 (33) 78,778 30–55 Female USA NR Total CHD MR and DC Tucker et al, 2005 (18) 2663 34–80 Male USA 21.8 Fatal CHD MR and DC Xu et al, 2006 (10) 2938 47–79 Both USA 29.7 Total CHD MR Stroke McGee et al, 1984 (9)2 8006 45–68 Male USA NR Total stroke MR and DC Goldbourt et al, 1993 (35)2 97673 ≥40 Male Israel NR Fatal stroke MR and DC Gillman et al, 1997 (11) 832 45–65 Male USA NR Ischemic stroke MR Iso et al, 2001 (31) 85,764 34–59 Female USA NR Hemorrhagic stroke MR and DC He et al, 2003 (29) 38,4633 40–75 Male USA 9.5 Total stroke MR and DC Iso et al, 2003 (30) 4775 40–69 Both Japan 13.5 Hemorrhagic stroke MR and DC Sauvaget et al, 2004 (34) 3731 35–89 Both Japan 26–35 Ischemic stroke DC Leosdottir et al, 2007 (14)2 28,098 45–73 Both Sweden 29.5 Ischemic stroke DC Study No. of subjects Age Sex Country of residence Smoker Disease outcome Method of diagnosis y % CHD Shekelle et al, 1981 (17) 1900 40–55 Male USA NR Fatal CHD DC McGee et al, 1984 (9)2 8006 45–68 Male USA NR Total CHD MR and DC Kushi et al,1985 (13) 1001 30–69 Male USA NR Fatal CHD DC Posner et al, 1991 (16) 813 45–65 Male USA 41.6 Total CHD MR Fehily et al, 1993 (28) 512 45–59 Male UK NR Total CHD DC Goldbourt et al, 1993 (35)2 97673 ≥40 Male Israel NR Fatal CHD MR and DC Ascherio et al, 1996 (4) 38,463 40–75 Male USA 9.5 Total CHD MR and DC Esrey et al, 1996 (6) 4546 30–79 Both Canada 33.9 Fatal CHD MR Mann et al, 1997 (32) 10,802 16–79 Both UK 19.5 Fatal CHD MR Pietinen et al, 1997 (15) 21,930 50–69 Male Finland 100 Total CHD MR and DC Boniface and Tefft, 2002 (5) 2676 40–75 Both UK NR Total CHD DC Jakobsen et al, 2004 (8) 3686 30–71 Both Denmark NR Total CHD MR Leosdottir et al, 2007 (14)2 28,098 45–73 Both Sweden 29.5 Total CHD DC Oh et al, 2005 (33) 78,778 30–55 Female USA NR Total CHD MR and DC Tucker et al, 2005 (18) 2663 34–80 Male USA 21.8 Fatal CHD MR and DC Xu et al, 2006 (10) 2938 47–79 Both USA 29.7 Total CHD MR Stroke McGee et al, 1984 (9)2 8006 45–68 Male USA NR Total stroke MR and DC Goldbourt et al, 1993 (35)2 97673 ≥40 Male Israel NR Fatal stroke MR and DC Gillman et al, 1997 (11) 832 45–65 Male USA NR Ischemic stroke MR Iso et al, 2001 (31) 85,764 34–59 Female USA NR Hemorrhagic stroke MR and DC He et al, 2003 (29) 38,4633 40–75 Male USA 9.5 Total stroke MR and DC Iso et al, 2003 (30) 4775 40–69 Both Japan 13.5 Hemorrhagic stroke MR and DC Sauvaget et al, 2004 (34) 3731 35–89 Both Japan 26–35 Ischemic stroke DC Leosdottir et al, 2007 (14)2 28,098 45–73 Both Sweden 29.5 Ischemic stroke DC View Large
The level of adjustment for covariates varied according to study (Table 3). Wherever possible, risk estimates from the most fully adjusted models were used in the estimation of the pooled RR. Studies that reported positive associations between saturated fat and CVD risk included the Lipid Research Clinics Study (6), the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (4), the Health and Lifestyle Survey (5), the Strong Heart Study (10), and studies by Mann et al (32) and Jakobsen et al (8). Notably, these positive associations were specific to subsets of the study population, ie, younger versus older (6, 8, 10), women versus men (5, 8), or for some, but not all, CHD endpoints (4). Although the Strong Heart Study reported a positive association between saturated fat and CVD in younger than in older individuals (ie, RR = 5.17; 95% CI: 1.6, 16.4), the fully adjusted model that included adjustment for polyunsaturated fatty acids, trans fats, and monounsaturated fatty acids was not statistically significant (RR = 2.98; 95% CI: 0.66, 13.6).
TABLE 3 Study Sex Cases Median or mean saturated fat intake Adjusted covariates Multivariate adjusted RR (95% CI) Coronary heart disease studies Shekelle et al, 1981 (17) (Western Electric Study) Male Fatal CHD: 215 16.6% of total energy Age, SBP, cigarettes per day, serum cholesterol, alcoholic drinks per month, BMI, geographic origin β = 0.031, P = 0.144 For 1-unit increase in saturated fat McGee et al, 1984 (9) (Honolulu Heart Study)2 Male Total CHD: 1177 12.7% of total energy (age-adjusted)3 Age, total energy intake, SBP, BMI, smoking, family history of MI, physical activity, intakes of PUFA, alcohol, protein, carbohydrate, vegetable, and cholesterol RR men < 60 y = 0.92 (0.68, 1.23)2 RR men ≥ 60 y = 0.70 (0.41, 1.20)2 Pooled RR = 0.86 (0.67, 1.12) P for test of heterogeneity = 0.39 For fifth vs first quintile Kushi et al, 1985 (13) (Ireland Boston Diet Heart Study) Male Fatal CHD: 110 16.8% of total energy3 Age, SBP, serum cholesterol, cigarette smoking, alcohol intake, cohort β = 0.061, P = 0.05 For 1-unit increase in saturated fat Posner et al, 1991 (16) (Framingham Study) Male Total CHD: 213 45–55 y old: 15.2% of total energy3 56–65 y old: 14.8% of total energy3 Variable of interest, energy intake, physical activity, serum cholesterol, SBP, left ventricular hypertrophy, cigarette smoking, glucose intolerance, Metropolitan relative weight RR 45–55 y = 0.78 (0.61, 1.00) RR ≥56 y = 1.06 (0.86, 1.30) Pooled RR = 0.92 (0.68, 1.24) P for test of heterogeneity = 0.06 For recommended versus actual intake (15.2% vs 10%) Fehily et al, 1993 (28) (Caerphilly Study) Male Total CHD: 21 17.3% for CHD-free subjects and 18.1% for CHD cases None RR = 1.57 (0.56, 4.42) For third vs first tertile Goldbourt et al, 1993 (35) (Israeli Ischemic Heart Disease Study) Male Fatal CHD: 1070 NR Age, blood pressure, serum cholesterol, ever-smoking, diabetes prevalence in 1963 RR men <60 y = 1.05 (0.87, 1.27)4 RR men ≥60 y = 0.66 (0. 44, 1.00)4 Pooled RR = 0.86 (0.56, 1.35) P for test of heterogeneity = 0.05 For fourth vs first quartile Ascherio et al, 1996 (4) (Health Professionals Follow-Up Study) Male Total CHD: 1702 Fifth quintile: 14.8% of total energy First quintile: 7.2% of total energy Age, BMI, smoking, physical activity, history of hypertension or high blood cholesterol, history of MI < age 60 y, energy intake, fiber RR men <60 y = 1.24 (0.87, 1.77)4 RR men ≥60 y = 1.01 (0.73, 1.41)4 Pooled RR = 1.11 (0.87, 1.42) P for test of heterogeneity = 0.42 For fifth vs first quintile Esrey et al, 1996 (6) (Lipid Research Clinics Study) Both Fatal CHD: 92 30–59 y old: 16.8% for CHD deaths and 15.1% for non-CHD deaths3 60–79 y old: 13.8% for CHD deaths and 14.3% for non-CHD deaths3 Age, sex, energy intake, serum lipids, SBP, cigarette smoking status, BMI, glucose intolerance RR <60 y = 1.11 (1.04, 1.18)5 RR ≥60 y = 0.96 (0.88, 1.05) Pooled RR = 0.97 (0.80, 1.18) P for test of heterogeneity = 0.40 For 1-unit increase in saturated fat Mann et al, 1997 (32) Both Fatal CHD: 45 Men: Third tertile, 41.0 g/d; First tertile, 14.6 g/d Women: Third tertile, 38.1 g/d; First tertile, 13.7 g/d Age, sex, smoking, social class RR = 2.77 (1.25, 6.13)5 For third vs first tertile Pietinen et al, 1997 (15) (Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene Study) Male Total CHD: 635 Fifth quintile: 67.5 g/d First quintile: 34.7 g/d Age, treatment group, smoking, BMI, blood pressure, education, intakes of energy, alcohol, fiber, physical activity, intakes of linoleic acid and trans and monounsaturated fats RR = 0.93 (0.60, 1.44) For fifth vs first quintile Boniface and Tefft, 2002 (5) (Health and Lifestyle Survey) Both Fatal CHD: 155 Men: 47.0 g/d3 Women: 34.4 g/d3 Age, alcohol, smoking, exercise, social class RR men <60 y = 1.51 (0.69, 3.31)4 RR men ≥60y = 1.01 (0.57, 1.80)4 RR women <60 y = 1.32 (0.38, 4.57)4 RR women ≥60y = 2.34 (1.02, 5.40)45 Pooled RR = 1.37 (1.17, 1.65)5 P for test of heterogeneity = 0.44 For third tertile vs first tertile Jakobsen et al, 2004 (8) Both Total CHD: 326 Men: 19.7% of total energy Women: 19.5% of total energy Fat intake as % total energy intake, total energy intake, cohort identification, % energy protein, % energy other fatty acids, family history of MI, smoking, physical activity, education, alcohol, fiber, cholesterol, SBP, BMI RR women <60 y = 4.78 (0.95, 24.10)4 RR women ≥60 y = 1.03 (0.53, 2.00)4 RR men <60 y = 1.01 (0.48, 2.14)4 RR men ≥60 y = 0.79 (0.48, 1.29)4 Pooled RR = 1.03 (0.66, 1.60) P for test of heterogeneity = 0.61 For third tertile vs first tertile Leosdottir et al, 2007 (14) (Malmo Diet and Cancer Study) Both Total CHD: 908 Men: Fourth quartile, 22.3% of total energy; First quartile, 12.3% of total energy Women: Fourth quartile, 21.8% of total energy; First quartile, 12.2% of total energy Age, smoking habits, alcohol consumption, socioeconomic status, marital status, physical activity, BMI, fiber intake, and blood pressure. RR women = 0.81 (0.53, 1.24) RR men = 1.02 (0.76, 1.37) Pooled RR = 0.95 (0.74, 1.21) P for test of heterogeneity = 0.38 For fourth vs first quartile Oh et al, 2005 (33) (Nurses’ Health Study) Female Total CHD: 1766 Fifth quintile: 17.6% of total energy; First quintile: 10.1% of total energy Age, BMI, cigarette smoking, alcohol intake, parental history of MI, history of hypertension, menopausal status, hormone use, aspirin use, multivitamin use, vitamin E supplement use, physical activity, intakes of energy, protein, cholesterol, MUFAs, PUFAs, trans fat; α-linolenic acid, marine n−3 fatty acids, cereal fiber, and fruit and vegetables RR = 0.97 (0.74, 1.27) For fifth vs first quintile Tucker et al, 2005 (18) (Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging) Male Fatal CHD: 71 Survivors: 12.3% CHD deaths: 13.8% Other deaths: 14.0 % of total energy3 Age, total energy intake, BMI, smoking, alcohol use, physical activity score, supplement use, fruit and vegetable intakes, secular trend RR men <60 y = 0.57 (0.14, 2.30)4 RR men ≥60 y = 2.31 (0.73, 7.27)4 Pooled RR = 1.22 (0.31, 4.77) P for test of heterogeneity = 0.13 For third tertile vs first tertile Xu et al, 2006 (10) (Strong Heart Study) Both Total CHD: 138 Fourth quartile: 16.5% of total energyFirst quartile: 7.5% of total energy Variable of interest as % of energy, sex, age, study center, diabetes status, BMI, HDL, LDL, TG, smoking, alcohol consumption, hypertension, energy from protein, total energy intake RR <60 y = 5.17 (1.60, 16.4)5RR ≥60 y = 0.80 (0.41, 1.54)Pooled RR = 1.91 (0.31, 11.84)P for test of heterogeneity = 0.006For fourth quartile vs first quartile Stroke studies McGee et al, 1984 (9) (Honolulu Heart Study)2 Male Total stroke: 492 12.7% of total energy (age-adjusted)3 Age, total energy intake, SBP, BMI, smoking, family history of MI, physical activity, intakes of PUFAs, alcohol, protein, carbohydrate, vegetables, and cholesterol RR men <60 y = 0.95 (0.60, 1.50)2RR men ≥60 y = 1.23 (0.66, 2.29)2Pooled RR = 1.04 (0.72, 1.50)P for test of heterogeneity = 0.52For fifth vs first quintile Goldbourt et al, 1993 (35) (Israeli Ischemic Heart Disease Study) Male Fatal stroke: 362 NR Age, body height, blood pressure, smoking, diabetes RR men <60 y = 0.75 (0.54, 1.05)4RR men ≥60 y = 1.26 (0.70, 2.29)4Pooled RR = 0.92 (0.56, 1.51)P for test of heterogeneity = 0.13For fourth quartile vs first quartile Gillman et al, 1997 (11) (Framingham Study) Male Ischemic stroke: 61 15.0% of total energy3 Age, total energy, SBP, cigarette smoking, glucose intolerance, BMI, physical activity, left ventricular hypertrophy, and intakes of alcohol and fruit and vegetables RR ischemic stroke = 0.90 (0.83, 0.96)5For 1% increase in saturated fat Iso et al, 2001 (31) (Nurses’ Health Study) Female Hemorrhagic stroke: 74 Fifth quintile: 36 g/dFirst quintile: 20 g/d Age, smoking, time interval, BMI, alcohol intake, menopausal status, postmenopausal hormone use, vigorous exercise, usual aspirin use, multivitamins, vitamin E, n−3 fatty acids, calcium, total energy intake, quintiles of cholesterol, MUFAs, PUFAs (linoleic), vegetable protein, trans or unsaturated fat, animal protein, history of hypertension, diabetes, and high cholesterol RR = 1.05 (0.33, 3.39)For fifth quintile vs first quintile He et al, 2003 (29) (Health Professionals Follow-Up Study) Male Total stroke: 598 Fifth quintile: 31 g/dFirst quintile: 17 g/d BMI, physical activity, history of hypertension, smoking status, aspirin use, multivitamin use, alcohol consumption, potassium, fiber, vitamin E, fruit and vegetables, total energy, hypercholesterolemia, other fats (MUFAs, PUFAs, and trans fats) RR men <60 y = 0.72 (0.35, 1.51)4RR men ≥60 y = 0.82 (0.49, 1.36)4Pooled RR= 0.79 (0.52, 1.19)P for test of heterogeneity = 0.79For fifth quintile vs first quintile Iso et al, 2003 (30) Both Hemorrhagic stroke: 67 Fourth quartile: 17.1 g/d First quartile: 5.2 g/d Age, sex, total energy intake, BMI, hypertension, diabetes, total cholesterol, smoking status, ethanol intake, menopausal status (for women) RR = 0.30 (0.13, 0.71)5 For fourth quartile vs first quartile Sauvaget et al, 2004 (34) (Adult Health Study) Both Ischemic stroke: 60 NR Age and sex stratified and adjusted for radiation dose, city, BMI, smoking, alcohol, history of hypertension and diabetes HR = 0.58 (0.28, 1.20) For third tertile vs first tertile Leosdottir et al, 2007 (14) (Malmo Diet and Cancer Study) Both Ischemic stroke:648 Men: Fourth quartile, 22.3% of total energy; First quartile, 12.3% of total energy Women: Fourth quartile, 21.8% of total energy; First quartile, 12.2% of total energy Age, smoking habits, alcohol consumption, socioeconomic status, marital status, physical activity, BMI, fiber intake, blood pressure RR women = 1.26 (0.81, 1.96) RR men = 1.19 (0.80, 1.77) Pooled RR = 1.22 (0.91, 1.64) P for test of heterogeneity = 0.85 For fourth vs first quartile Study Sex Cases Median or mean saturated fat intake Adjusted covariates Multivariate adjusted RR (95% CI) Coronary heart disease studies Shekelle et al, 1981 (17) (Western Electric Study) Male Fatal CHD: 215 16.6% of total energy Age, SBP, cigarettes per day, serum cholesterol, alcoholic drinks per month, BMI, geographic origin β = 0.031, P = 0.144 For 1-unit increase in saturated fat McGee et al, 1984 (9) (Honolulu Heart Study)2 Male Total CHD: 1177 12.7% of total energy (age-adjusted)3 Age, total energy intake, SBP, BMI, smoking, family history of MI, physical activity, intakes of PUFA, alcohol, protein, carbohydrate, vegetable, and cholesterol RR men < 60 y = 0.92 (0.68, 1.23)2 RR men ≥ 60 y = 0.70 (0.41, 1.20)2 Pooled RR = 0.86 (0.67, 1.12) P for test of heterogeneity = 0.39 For fifth vs first quintile Kushi et al, 1985 (13) (Ireland Boston Diet Heart Study) Male Fatal CHD: 110 16.8% of total energy3 Age, SBP, serum cholesterol, cigarette smoking, alcohol intake, cohort β = 0.061, P = 0.05 For 1-unit increase in saturated fat Posner et al, 1991 (16) (Framingham Study) Male Total CHD: 213 45–55 y old: 15.2% of total energy3 56–65 y old: 14.8% of total energy3 Variable of interest, energy intake, physical activity, serum cholesterol, SBP, left ventricular hypertrophy, cigarette smoking, glucose intolerance, Metropolitan relative weight RR 45–55 y = 0.78 (0.61, 1.00) RR ≥56 y = 1.06 (0.86, 1.30) Pooled RR = 0.92 (0.68, 1.24) P for test of heterogeneity = 0.06 For recommended versus actual intake (15.2% vs 10%) Fehily et al, 1993 (28) (Caerphilly Study) Male Total CHD: 21 17.3% for CHD-free subjects and 18.1% for CHD cases None RR = 1.57 (0.56, 4.42) For third vs first tertile Goldbourt et al, 1993 (35) (Israeli Ischemic Heart Disease Study) Male Fatal CHD: 1070 NR Age, blood pressure, serum cholesterol, ever-smoking, diabetes prevalence in 1963 RR men <60 y = 1.05 (0.87, 1.27)4 RR men ≥60 y = 0.66 (0. 44, 1.00)4 Pooled RR = 0.86 (0.56, 1.35) P for test of heterogeneity = 0.05 For fourth vs first quartile Ascherio et al, 1996 (4) (Health Professionals Follow-Up Study) Male Total CHD: 1702 Fifth quintile: 14.8% of total energy First quintile: 7.2% of total energy Age, BMI, smoking, physical activity, history of hypertension or high blood cholesterol, history of MI < age 60 y, energy intake, fiber RR men <60 y = 1.24 (0.87, 1.77)4 RR men ≥60 y = 1.01 (0.73, 1.41)4 Pooled RR = 1.11 (0.87, 1.42) P for test of heterogeneity = 0.42 For fifth vs first quintile Esrey et al, 1996 (6) (Lipid Research Clinics Study) Both Fatal CHD: 92 30–59 y old: 16.8% for CHD deaths and 15.1% for non-CHD deaths3 60–79 y old: 13.8% for CHD deaths and 14.3% for non-CHD deaths3 Age, sex, energy intake, serum lipids, SBP, cigarette smoking status, BMI, glucose intolerance RR <60 y = 1.11 (1.04, 1.18)5 RR ≥60 y = 0.96 (0.88, 1.05) Pooled RR = 0.97 (0.80, 1.18) P for test of heterogeneity = 0.40 For 1-unit increase in saturated fat Mann et al, 1997 (32) Both Fatal CHD: 45 Men: Third tertile, 41.0 g/d; First tertile, 14.6 g/d Women: Third tertile, 38.1 g/d; First tertile, 13.7 g/d Age, sex, smoking, social class RR = 2.77 (1.25, 6.13)5 For third vs first tertile Pietinen et al, 1997 (15) (Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene Study) Male Total CHD: 635 Fifth quintile: 67.5 g/d First quintile: 34.7 g/d Age, treatment group, smoking, BMI, blood pressure, education, intakes of energy, alcohol, fiber, physical activity, intakes of linoleic acid and trans and monounsaturated fats RR = 0.93 (0.60, 1.44) For fifth vs first quintile Boniface and Tefft, 2002 (5) (Health and Lifestyle Survey) Both Fatal CHD: 155 Men: 47.0 g/d3 Women: 34.4 g/d3 Age, alcohol, smoking, exercise, social class RR men <60 y = 1.51 (0.69, 3.31)4 RR men ≥60y = 1.01 (0.57, 1.80)4 RR women <60 y = 1.32 (0.38, 4.57)4 RR women ≥60y = 2.34 (1.02, 5.40)45 Pooled RR = 1.37 (1.17, 1.65)5 P for test of heterogeneity = 0.44 For third tertile vs first tertile Jakobsen et al, 2004 (8) Both Total CHD: 326 Men: 19.7% of total energy Women: 19.5% of total energy Fat intake as % total energy intake, total energy intake, cohort identification, % energy protein, % energy other fatty acids, family history of MI, smoking, physical activity, education, alcohol, fiber, cholesterol, SBP, BMI RR women <60 y = 4.78 (0.95, 24.10)4 RR women ≥60 y = 1.03 (0.53, 2.00)4 RR men <60 y = 1.01 (0.48, 2.14)4 RR men ≥60 y = 0.79 (0.48, 1.29)4 Pooled RR = 1.03 (0.66, 1.60) P for test of heterogeneity = 0.61 For third tertile vs first tertile Leosdottir et al, 2007 (14) (Malmo Diet and Cancer Study) Both Total CHD: 908 Men: Fourth quartile, 22.3% of total energy; First quartile, 12.3% of total energy Women: Fourth quartile, 21.8% of total energy; First quartile, 12.2% of total energy Age, smoking habits, alcohol consumption, socioeconomic status, marital status, physical activity, BMI, fiber intake, and blood pressure. RR women = 0.81 (0.53, 1.24) RR men = 1.02 (0.76, 1.37) Pooled RR = 0.95 (0.74, 1.21) P for test of heterogeneity = 0.38 For fourth vs first quartile Oh et al, 2005 (33) (Nurses’ Health Study) Female Total CHD: 1766 Fifth quintile: 17.6% of total energy; First quintile: 10.1% of total energy Age, BMI, cigarette smoking, alcohol intake, parental history of MI, history of hypertension, menopausal status, hormone use, aspirin use, multivitamin use, vitamin E supplement use, physical activity, intakes of energy, protein, cholesterol, MUFAs, PUFAs, trans fat; α-linolenic acid, marine n−3 fatty acids, cereal fiber, and fruit and vegetables RR = 0.97 (0.74, 1.27) For fifth vs first quintile Tucker et al, 2005 (18) (Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging) Male Fatal CHD: 71 Survivors: 12.3% CHD deaths: 13.8% Other deaths: 14.0 % of total energy3 Age, total energy intake, BMI, smoking, alcohol use, physical activity score, supplement use, fruit and vegetable intakes, secular trend RR men <60 y = 0.57 (0.14, 2.30)4 RR men ≥60 y = 2.31 (0.73, 7.27)4 Pooled RR = 1.22 (0.31, 4.77) P for test of heterogeneity = 0.13 For third tertile vs first tertile Xu et al, 2006 (10) (Strong Heart Study) Both Total CHD: 138 Fourth quartile: 16.5% of total energyFirst quartile: 7.5% of total energy Variable of interest as % of energy, sex, age, study center, diabetes status, BMI, HDL, LDL, TG, smoking, alcohol consumption, hypertension, energy from protein, total energy intake RR <60 y = 5.17 (1.60, 16.4)5RR ≥60 y = 0.80 (0.41, 1.54)Pooled RR = 1.91 (0.31, 11.84)P for test of heterogeneity = 0.006For fourth quartile vs first quartile Stroke studies McGee et al, 1984 (9) (Honolulu Heart Study)2 Male Total stroke: 492 12.7% of total energy (age-adjusted)3 Age, total energy intake, SBP, BMI, smoking, family history of MI, physical activity, intakes of PUFAs, alcohol, protein, carbohydrate, vegetables, and cholesterol RR men <60 y = 0.95 (0.60, 1.50)2RR men ≥60 y = 1.23 (0.66, 2.29)2Pooled RR = 1.04 (0.72, 1.50)P for test of heterogeneity = 0.52For fifth vs first quintile Goldbourt et al, 1993 (35) (Israeli Ischemic Heart Disease Study) Male Fatal stroke: 362 NR Age, body height, blood pressure, smoking, diabetes RR men <60 y = 0.75 (0.54, 1.05)4RR men ≥60 y = 1.26 (0.70, 2.29)4Pooled RR = 0.92 (0.56, 1.51)P for test of heterogeneity = 0.13For fourth quartile vs first quartile Gillman et al, 1997 (11) (Framingham Study) Male Ischemic stroke: 61 15.0% of total energy3 Age, total energy, SBP, cigarette smoking, glucose intolerance, BMI, physical activity, left ventricular hypertrophy, and intakes of alcohol and fruit and vegetables RR ischemic stroke = 0.90 (0.83, 0.96)5For 1% increase in saturated fat Iso et al, 2001 (31) (Nurses’ Health Study) Female Hemorrhagic stroke: 74 Fifth quintile: 36 g/dFirst quintile: 20 g/d Age, smoking, time interval, BMI, alcohol intake, menopausal status, postmenopausal hormone use, vigorous exercise, usual aspirin use, multivitamins, vitamin E, n−3 fatty acids, calcium, total energy intake, quintiles of cholesterol, MUFAs, PUFAs (linoleic), vegetable protein, trans or unsaturated fat, animal protein, history of hypertension, diabetes, and high cholesterol RR = 1.05 (0.33, 3.39)For fifth quintile vs first quintile He et al, 2003 (29) (Health Professionals Follow-Up Study) Male Total stroke: 598 Fifth quintile: 31 g/dFirst quintile: 17 g/d BMI, physical activity, history of hypertension, smoking status, aspirin use, multivitamin use, alcohol consumption, potassium, fiber, vitamin E, fruit and vegetables, total energy, hypercholesterolemia, other fats (MUFAs, PUFAs, and trans fats) RR men <60 y = 0.72 (0.35, 1.51)4RR men ≥60 y = 0.82 (0.49, 1.36)4Pooled RR= 0.79 (0.52, 1.19)P for test of heterogeneity = 0.79For fifth quintile vs first quintile Iso et al, 2003 (30) Both Hemorrhagic stroke: 67 Fourth quartile: 17.1 g/d First quartile: 5.2 g/d Age, sex, total energy intake, BMI, hypertension, diabetes, total cholesterol, smoking status, ethanol intake, menopausal status (for women) RR = 0.30 (0.13, 0.71)5 For fourth quartile vs first quartile Sauvaget et al, 2004 (34) (Adult Health Study) Both Ischemic stroke: 60 NR Age and sex stratified and adjusted for radiation dose, city, BMI, smoking, alcohol, history of hypertension and diabetes HR = 0.58 (0.28, 1.20) For third tertile vs first tertile Leosdottir et al, 2007 (14) (Malmo Diet and Cancer Study) Both Ischemic stroke:648 Men: Fourth quartile, 22.3% of total energy; First quartile, 12.3% of total energy Women: Fourth quartile, 21.8% of total energy; First quartile, 12.2% of total energy Age, smoking habits, alcohol consumption, socioeconomic status, marital status, physical activity, BMI, fiber intake, blood pressure RR women = 1.26 (0.81, 1.96) RR men = 1.19 (0.80, 1.77) Pooled RR = 1.22 (0.91, 1.64) P for test of heterogeneity = 0.85 For fourth vs first quartile View Large
TABLE 3 Study Sex Cases Median or mean saturated fat intake Adjusted covariates Multivariate adjusted RR (95% CI) Coronary heart disease studies Shekelle et al, 1981 (17) (Western Electric Study) Male Fatal CHD: 215 16.6% of total energy Age, SBP, cigarettes per day, serum cholesterol, alcoholic drinks per month, BMI, geographic origin β = 0.031, P = 0.144 For 1-unit increase in saturated fat McGee et al, 1984 (9) (Honolulu Heart Study)2 Male Total CHD: 1177 12.7% of total energy (age-adjusted)3 Age, total energy intake, SBP, BMI, smoking, family history of MI, physical activity, intakes of PUFA, alcohol, protein, carbohydrate, vegetable, and cholesterol RR men < 60 y = 0.92 (0.68, 1.23)2 RR men ≥ 60 y = 0.70 (0.41, 1.20)2 Pooled RR = 0.86 (0.67, 1.12) P for test of heterogeneity = 0.39 For fifth vs first quintile Kushi et al, 1985 (13) (Ireland Boston Diet Heart Study) Male Fatal CHD: 110 16.8% of total energy3 Age, SBP, serum cholesterol, cigarette smoking, alcohol intake, cohort β = 0.061, P = 0.05 For 1-unit increase in saturated fat Posner et al, 1991 (16) (Framingham Study) Male Total CHD: 213 45–55 y old: 15.2% of total energy3 56–65 y old: 14.8% of total energy3 Variable of interest, energy intake, physical activity, serum cholesterol, SBP, left ventricular hypertrophy, cigarette smoking, glucose intolerance, Metropolitan relative weight RR 45–55 y = 0.78 (0.61, 1.00) RR ≥56 y = 1.06 (0.86, 1.30) Pooled RR = 0.92 (0.68, 1.24) P for test of heterogeneity = 0.06 For recommended versus actual intake (15.2% vs 10%) Fehily et al, 1993 (28) (Caerphilly Study) Male Total CHD: 21 17.3% for CHD-free subjects and 18.1% for CHD cases None RR = 1.57 (0.56, 4.42) For third vs first tertile Goldbourt et al, 1993 (35) (Israeli Ischemic Heart Disease Study) Male Fatal CHD: 1070 NR Age, blood pressure, serum cholesterol, ever-smoking, diabetes prevalence in 1963 RR men <60 y = 1.05 (0.87, 1.27)4 RR men ≥60 y = 0.66 (0. 44, 1.00)4 Pooled RR = 0.86 (0.56, 1.35) P for test of heterogeneity = 0.05 For fourth vs first quartile Ascherio et al, 1996 (4) (Health Professionals Follow-Up Study) Male Total CHD: 1702 Fifth quintile: 14.8% of total energy First quintile: 7.2% of total energy Age, BMI, smoking, physical activity, history of hypertension or high blood cholesterol, history of MI < age 60 y, energy intake, fiber RR men <60 y = 1.24 (0.87, 1.77)4 RR men ≥60 y = 1.01 (0.73, 1.41)4 Pooled RR = 1.11 (0.87, 1.42) P for test of heterogeneity = 0.42 For fifth vs first quintile Esrey et al, 1996 (6) (Lipid Research Clinics Study) Both Fatal CHD: 92 30–59 y old: 16.8% for CHD deaths and 15.1% for non-CHD deaths3 60–79 y old: 13.8% for CHD deaths and 14.3% for non-CHD deaths3 Age, sex, energy intake, serum lipids, SBP, cigarette smoking status, BMI, glucose intolerance RR <60 y = 1.11 (1.04, 1.18)5 RR ≥60 y = 0.96 (0.88, 1.05) Pooled RR = 0.97 (0.80, 1.18) P for test of heterogeneity = 0.40 For 1-unit increase in saturated fat Mann et al, 1997 (32) Both Fatal CHD: 45 Men: Third tertile, 41.0 g/d; First tertile, 14.6 g/d Women: Third tertile, 38.1 g/d; First tertile, 13.7 g/d Age, sex, smoking, social class RR = 2.77 (1.25, 6.13)5 For third vs first tertile Pietinen et al, 1997 (15) (Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene Study) Male Total CHD: 635 Fifth quintile: 67.5 g/d First quintile: 34.7 g/d Age, treatment group, smoking, BMI, blood pressure, education, intakes of energy, alcohol, fiber, physical activity, intakes of linoleic acid and trans and monounsaturated fats RR = 0.93 (0.60, 1.44) For fifth vs first quintile Boniface and Tefft, 2002 (5) (Health and Lifestyle Survey) Both Fatal CHD: 155 Men: 47.0 g/d3 Women: 34.4 g/d3 Age, alcohol, smoking, exercise, social class RR men <60 y = 1.51 (0.69, 3.31)4 RR men ≥60y = 1.01 (0.57, 1.80)4 RR women <60 y = 1.32 (0.38, 4.57)4 RR women ≥60y = 2.34 (1.02, 5.40)45 Pooled RR = 1.37 (1.17, 1.65)5 P for test of heterogeneity = 0.44 For third tertile vs first tertile Jakobsen et al, 2004 (8) Both Total CHD: 326 Men: 19.7% of total energy Women: 19.5% of total energy Fat intake as % total energy intake, total energy intake, cohort identification, % energy protein, % energy other fatty acids, family history of MI, smoking, physical activity, education, alcohol, fiber, cholesterol, SBP, BMI RR women <60 y = 4.78 (0.95, 24.10)4 RR women ≥60 y = 1.03 (0.53, 2.00)4 RR men <60 y = 1.01 (0.48, 2.14)4 RR men ≥60 y = 0.79 (0.48, 1.29)4 Pooled RR = 1.03 (0.66, 1.60) P for test of heterogeneity = 0.61 For third tertile vs first tertile Leosdottir et al, 2007 (14) (Malmo Diet and Cancer Study) Both Total CHD: 908 Men: Fourth quartile, 22.3% of total energy; First quartile, 12.3% of total energy Women: Fourth quartile, 21.8% of total energy; First quartile, 12.2% of total energy Age, smoking habits, alcohol consumption, socioeconomic status, marital status, physical activity, BMI, fiber intake, and blood pressure. RR women = 0.81 (0.53, 1.24) RR men = 1.02 (0.76, 1.37) Pooled RR = 0.95 (0.74, 1.21) P for test of heterogeneity = 0.38 For fourth vs first quartile Oh et al, 2005 (33) (Nurses’ Health Study) Female Total CHD: 1766 Fifth quintile: 17.6% of total energy; First quintile: 10.1% of total energy Age, BMI, cigarette smoking, alcohol intake, parental history of MI, history of hypertension, menopausal status, hormone use, aspirin use, multivitamin use, vitamin E supplement use, physical activity, intakes of energy, protein, cholesterol, MUFAs, PUFAs, trans fat; α-linolenic acid, marine n−3 fatty acids, cereal fiber, and fruit and vegetables RR = 0.97 (0.74, 1.27) For fifth vs first quintile Tucker et al, 2005 (18) (Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging) Male Fatal CHD: 71 Survivors: 12.3% CHD deaths: 13.8% Other deaths: 14.0 % of total energy3 Age, total energy intake, BMI, smoking, alcohol use, physical activity score, supplement use, fruit and vegetable intakes, secular trend RR men <60 y = 0.57 (0.14, 2.30)4 RR men ≥60 y = 2.31 (0.73, 7.27)4 Pooled RR = 1.22 (0.31, 4.77) P for test of heterogeneity = 0.13 For third tertile vs first tertile Xu et al, 2006 (10) (Strong Heart Study) Both Total CHD: 138 Fourth quartile: 16.5% of total energyFirst quartile: 7.5% of total energy Variable of interest as % of energy, sex, age, study center, diabetes status, BMI, HDL, LDL, TG, smoking, alcohol consumption, hypertension, energy from protein, total energy intake RR <60 y = 5.17 (1.60, 16.4)5RR ≥60 y = 0.80 (0.41, 1.54)Pooled RR = 1.91 (0.31, 11.84)P for test of heterogeneity = 0.006For fourth quartile vs first quartile Stroke studies McGee et al, 1984 (9) (Honolulu Heart Study)2 Male Total stroke: 492 12.7% of total energy (age-adjusted)3 Age, total energy intake, SBP, BMI, smoking, family history of MI, physical activity, intakes of PUFAs, alcohol, protein, carbohydrate, vegetables, and cholesterol RR men <60 y = 0.95 (0.60, 1.50)2RR men ≥60 y = 1.23 (0.66, 2.29)2Pooled RR = 1.04 (0.72, 1.50)P for test of heterogeneity = 0.52For fifth vs first quintile Goldbourt et al, 1993 (35) (Israeli Ischemic Heart Disease Study) Male Fatal stroke: 362 NR Age, body height, blood pressure, smoking, diabetes RR men <60 y = 0.75 (0.54, 1.05)4RR men ≥60 y = 1.26 (0.70, 2.29)4Pooled RR = 0.92 (0.56, 1.51)P for test of heterogeneity = 0.13For fourth quartile vs first quartile Gillman et al, 1997 (11) (Framingham Study) Male Ischemic stroke: 61 15.0% of total energy3 Age, total energy, SBP, cigarette smoking, glucose intolerance, BMI, physical activity, left ventricular hypertrophy, and intakes of alcohol and fruit and vegetables RR ischemic stroke = 0.90 (0.83, 0.96)5For 1% increase in saturated fat Iso et al, 2001 (31) (Nurses’ Health Study) Female Hemorrhagic stroke: 74 Fifth quintile: 36 g/dFirst quintile: 20 g/d Age, smoking, time interval, BMI, alcohol intake, menopausal status, postmenopausal hormone use, vigorous exercise, usual aspirin use, multivitamins, vitamin E, n−3 fatty acids, calcium, total energy intake, quintiles of cholesterol, MUFAs, PUFAs (linoleic), vegetable protein, trans or unsaturated fat, animal protein, history of hypertension, diabetes, and high cholesterol RR = 1.05 (0.33, 3.39)For fifth quintile vs first quintile He et al, 2003 (29) (Health Professionals Follow-Up Study) Male Total stroke: 598 Fifth quintile: 31 g/dFirst quintile: 17 g/d BMI, physical activity, history of hypertension, smoking status, aspirin use, multivitamin use, alcohol consumption, potassium, fiber, vitamin E, fruit and vegetables, total energy, hypercholesterolemia, other fats (MUFAs, PUFAs, and trans fats) RR men <60 y = 0.72 (0.35, 1.51)4RR men ≥60 y = 0.82 (0.49, 1.36)4Pooled RR= 0.79 (0.52, 1.19)P for test of heterogeneity = 0.79For fifth quintile vs first quintile Iso et al, 2003 (30) Both Hemorrhagic stroke: 67 Fourth quartile: 17.1 g/d First quartile: 5.2 g/d Age, sex, total energy intake, BMI, hypertension, diabetes, total cholesterol, smoking status, ethanol intake, menopausal status (for women) RR = 0.30 (0.13, 0.71)5 For fourth quartile vs first quartile Sauvaget et al, 2004 (34) (Adult Health Study) Both Ischemic stroke: 60 NR Age and sex stratified and adjusted for radiation dose, city, BMI, smoking, alcohol, history of hypertension and diabetes HR = 0.58 (0.28, 1.20) For third tertile vs first tertile Leosdottir et al, 2007 (14) (Malmo Diet and Cancer Study) Both Ischemic stroke:648 Men: Fourth quartile, 22.3% of total energy; First quartile, 12.3% of total energy Women: Fourth quartile, 21.8% of total energy; First quartile, 12.2% of total energy Age, smoking habits, alcohol consumption, socioeconomic status, marital status, physical activity, BMI, fiber intake, blood pressure RR women = 1.26 (0.81, 1.96) RR men = 1.19 (0.80, 1.77) Pooled RR = 1.22 (0.91, 1.64) P for test of heterogeneity = 0.85 For fourth vs first quartile Study Sex Cases Median or mean saturated fat intake Adjusted covariates Multivariate adjusted RR (95% CI) Coronary heart disease studies Shekelle et al, 1981 (17) (Western Electric Study) Male Fatal CHD: 215 16.6% of total energy Age, SBP, cigarettes per day, serum cholesterol, alcoholic drinks per month, BMI, geographic origin β = 0.031, P = 0.144 For 1-unit increase in saturated fat McGee et al, 1984 (9) (Honolulu Heart Study)2 Male Total CHD: 1177 12.7% of total energy (age-adjusted)3 Age, total energy intake, SBP, BMI, smoking, family history of MI, physical activity, intakes of PUFA, alcohol, protein, carbohydrate, vegetable, and cholesterol RR men < 60 y = 0.92 (0.68, 1.23)2 RR men ≥ 60 y = 0.70 (0.41, 1.20)2 Pooled RR = 0.86 (0.67, 1.12) P for test of heterogeneity = 0.39 For fifth vs first quintile Kushi et al, 1985 (13) (Ireland Boston Diet Heart Study) Male Fatal CHD: 110 16.8% of total energy3 Age, SBP, serum cholesterol, cigarette smoking, alcohol intake, cohort β = 0.061, P = 0.05 For 1-unit increase in saturated fat Posner et al, 1991 (16) (Framingham Study) Male Total CHD: 213 45–55 y old: 15.2% of total energy3 56–65 y old: 14.8% of total energy3 Variable of interest, energy intake, physical activity, serum cholesterol, SBP, left ventricular hypertrophy, cigarette smoking, glucose intolerance, Metropolitan relative weight RR 45–55 y = 0.78 (0.61, 1.00) RR ≥56 y = 1.06 (0.86, 1.30) Pooled RR = 0.92 (0.68, 1.24) P for test of heterogeneity = 0.06 For recommended versus actual intake (15.2% vs 10%) Fehily et al, 1993 (28) (Caerphilly Study) Male Total CHD: 21 17.3% for CHD-free subjects and 18.1% for CHD cases None RR = 1.57 (0.56, 4.42) For third vs first tertile Goldbourt et al, 1993 (35) (Israeli Ischemic Heart Disease Study) Male Fatal CHD: 1070 NR Age, blood pressure, serum cholesterol, ever-smoking, diabetes prevalence in 1963 RR men <60 y = 1.05 (0.87, 1.27)4 RR men ≥60 y = 0.66 (0. 44, 1.00)4 Pooled RR = 0.86 (0.56, 1.35) P for test of heterogeneity = 0.05 For fourth vs first quartile Ascherio et al, 1996 (4) (Health Professionals Follow-Up Study) Male Total CHD: 1702 Fifth quintile: 14.8% of total energy First quintile: 7.2% of total energy Age, BMI, smoking, physical activity, history of hypertension or high blood cholesterol, history of MI < age 60 y, energy intake, fiber RR men <60 y = 1.24 (0.87, 1.77)4 RR men ≥60 y = 1.01 (0.73, 1.41)4 Pooled RR = 1.11 (0.87, 1.42) P for test of heterogeneity = 0.42 For fifth vs first quintile Esrey et al, 1996 (6) (Lipid Research Clinics Study) Both Fatal CHD: 92 30–59 y old: 16.8% for CHD deaths and 15.1% for non-CHD deaths3 60–79 y old: 13.8% for CHD deaths and 14.3% for non-CHD deaths3 Age, sex, energy intake, serum lipids, SBP, cigarette smoking status, BMI, glucose intolerance RR <60 y = 1.11 (1.04, 1.18)5 RR ≥60 y = 0.96 (0.88, 1.05) Pooled RR = 0.97 (0.80, 1.18) P for test of heterogeneity = 0.40 For 1-unit increase in saturated fat Mann et al, 1997 (32) Both Fatal CHD: 45 Men: Third tertile, 41.0 g/d; First tertile, 14.6 g/d Women: Third tertile, 38.1 g/d; First tertile, 13.7 g/d Age, sex, smoking, social class RR = 2.77 (1.25, 6.13)5 For third vs first tertile Pietinen et al, 1997 (15) (Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene Study) Male Total CHD: 635 Fifth quintile: 67.5 g/d First quintile: 34.7 g/d Age, treatment group, smoking, BMI, blood pressure, education, intakes of energy, alcohol, fiber, physical activity, intakes of linoleic acid and trans and monounsaturated fats RR = 0.93 (0.60, 1.44) For fifth vs first quintile Boniface and Tefft, 2002 (5) (Health and Lifestyle Survey) Both Fatal CHD: 155 Men: 47.0 g/d3 Women: 34.4 g/d3 Age, alcohol, smoking, exercise, social class RR men <60 y = 1.51 (0.69, 3.31)4 RR men ≥60y = 1.01 (0.57, 1.80)4 RR women <60 y = 1.32 (0.38, 4.57)4 RR women ≥60y = 2.34 (1.02, 5.40)45 Pooled RR = 1.37 (1.17, 1.65)5 P for test of heterogeneity = 0.44 For third tertile vs first tertile Jakobsen et al, 2004 (8) Both Total CHD: 326 Men: 19.7% of total energy Women: 19.5% of total energy Fat intake as % total energy intake, total energy intake, cohort identification, % energy protein, % energy other fatty acids, family history of MI, smoking, physical activity, education, alcohol, fiber, cholesterol, SBP, BMI RR women <60 y = 4.78 (0.95, 24.10)4 RR women ≥60 y = 1.03 (0.53, 2.00)4 RR men <60 y = 1.01 (0.48, 2.14)4 RR men ≥60 y = 0.79 (0.48, 1.29)4 Pooled RR = 1.03 (0.66, 1.60) P for test of heterogeneity = 0.61 For third tertile vs first tertile Leosdottir et al, 2007 (14) (Malmo Diet and Cancer Study) Both Total CHD: 908 Men: Fourth quartile, 22.3% of total energy; First quartile, 12.3% of total energy Women: Fourth quartile, 21.8% of total energy; First quartile, 12.2% of total energy Age, smoking habits, alcohol consumption, socioeconomic status, marital status, physical activity, BMI, fiber intake, and blood pressure. RR women = 0.81 (0.53, 1.24) RR men = 1.02 (0.76, 1.37) Pooled RR = 0.95 (0.74, 1.21) P for test of heterogeneity = 0.38 For fourth vs first quartile Oh et al, 2005 (33) (Nurses’ Health Study) Female Total CHD: 1766 Fifth quintile: 17.6% of total energy; First quintile: 10.1% of total energy Age, BMI, cigarette smoking, alcohol intake, parental history of MI, history of hypertension, menopausal status, hormone use, aspirin use, multivitamin use, vitamin E supplement use, physical activity, intakes of energy, protein, cholesterol, MUFAs, PUFAs, trans fat; α-linolenic acid, marine n−3 fatty acids, cereal fiber, and fruit and vegetables RR = 0.97 (0.74, 1.27) For fifth vs first quintile Tucker et al, 2005 (18) (Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging) Male Fatal CHD: 71 Survivors: 12.3% CHD deaths: 13.8% Other deaths: 14.0 % of total energy3 Age, total energy intake, BMI, smoking, alcohol use, physical activity score, supplement use, fruit and vegetable intakes, secular trend RR men <60 y = 0.57 (0.14, 2.30)4 RR men ≥60 y = 2.31 (0.73, 7.27)4 Pooled RR = 1.22 (0.31, 4.77) P for test of heterogeneity = 0.13 For third tertile vs first tertile Xu et al, 2006 (10) (Strong Heart Study) Both Total CHD: 138 Fourth quartile: 16.5% of total energyFirst quartile: 7.5% of total energy Variable of interest as % of energy, sex, age, study center, diabetes status, BMI, HDL, LDL, TG, smoking, alcohol consumption, hypertension, energy from protein, total energy intake RR <60 y = 5.17 (1.60, 16.4)5RR ≥60 y = 0.80 (0.41, 1.54)Pooled RR = 1.91 (0.31, 11.84)P for test of heterogeneity = 0.006For fourth quartile vs first quartile Stroke studies McGee et al, 1984 (9) (Honolulu Heart Study)2 Male Total stroke: 492 12.7% of total energy (age-adjusted)3 Age, total energy intake, SBP, BMI, smoking, family history of MI, physical activity, intakes of PUFAs, alcohol, protein, carbohydrate, vegetables, and cholesterol RR men <60 y = 0.95 (0.60, 1.50)2RR men ≥60 y = 1.23 (0.66, 2.29)2Pooled RR = 1.04 (0.72, 1.50)P for test of heterogeneity = 0.52For fifth vs first quintile Goldbourt et al, 1993 (35) (Israeli Ischemic Heart Disease Study) Male Fatal stroke: 362 NR Age, body height, blood pressure, smoking, diabetes RR men <60 y = 0.75 (0.54, 1.05)4RR men ≥60 y = 1.26 (0.70, 2.29)4Pooled RR = 0.92 (0.56, 1.51)P for test of heterogeneity = 0.13For fourth quartile vs first quartile Gillman et al, 1997 (11) (Framingham Study) Male Ischemic stroke: 61 15.0% of total energy3 Age, total energy, SBP, cigarette smoking, glucose intolerance, BMI, physical activity, left ventricular hypertrophy, and intakes of alcohol and fruit and vegetables RR ischemic stroke = 0.90 (0.83, 0.96)5For 1% increase in saturated fat Iso et al, 2001 (31) (Nurses’ Health Study) Female Hemorrhagic stroke: 74 Fifth quintile: 36 g/dFirst quintile: 20 g/d Age, smoking, time interval, BMI, alcohol intake, menopausal status, postmenopausal hormone use, vigorous exercise, usual aspirin use, multivitamins, vitamin E, n−3 fatty acids, calcium, total energy intake, quintiles of cholesterol, MUFAs, PUFAs (linoleic), vegetable protein, trans or unsaturated fat, animal protein, history of hypertension, diabetes, and high cholesterol RR = 1.05 (0.33, 3.39)For fifth quintile vs first quintile He et al, 2003 (29) (Health Professionals Follow-Up Study) Male Total stroke: 598 Fifth quintile: 31 g/dFirst quintile: 17 g/d BMI, physical activity, history of hypertension, smoking status, aspirin use, multivitamin use, alcohol consumption, potassium, fiber, vitamin E, fruit and vegetables, total energy, hypercholesterolemia, other fats (MUFAs, PUFAs, and trans fats) RR men <60 y = 0.72 (0.35, 1.51)4RR men ≥60 y = 0.82 (0.49, 1.36)4Pooled RR= 0.79 (0.52, 1.19)P for test of heterogeneity = 0.79For fifth quintile vs first quintile Iso et al, 2003 (30) Both Hemorrhagic stroke: 67 Fourth quartile: 17.1 g/d First quartile: 5.2 g/d Age, sex, total energy intake, BMI, hypertension, diabetes, total cholesterol, smoking status, ethanol intake, menopausal status (for women) RR = 0.30 (0.13, 0.71)5 For fourth quartile vs first quartile Sauvaget et al, 2004 (34) (Adult Health Study) Both Ischemic stroke: 60 NR Age and sex stratified and adjusted for radiation dose, city, BMI, smoking, alcohol, history of hypertension and diabetes HR = 0.58 (0.28, 1.20) For third tertile vs first tertile Leosdottir et al, 2007 (14) (Malmo Diet and Cancer Study) Both Ischemic stroke:648 Men: Fourth quartile, 22.3% of total energy; First quartile, 12.3% of total energy Women: Fourth quartile, 21.8% of total energy; First quartile, 12.2% of total energy Age, smoking habits, alcohol consumption, socioeconomic status, marital status, physical activity, BMI, fiber intake, blood pressure RR women = 1.26 (0.81, 1.96) RR men = 1.19 (0.80, 1.77) Pooled RR = 1.22 (0.91, 1.64) P for test of heterogeneity = 0.85 For fourth vs first quartile View Large
In contrast, a number of studies did not show significant associations of dietary saturated fat intake with CHD, including the Western Electric Study (17), the Honolulu Heart Study (9), the Ireland Boston Diet Heart Study (13), the Caerphilly Study (28), the Framingham Heart Study (16), the Israeli Ischemic Study (35), the Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene Study (15), the Nurses’ Health Study (33), the Malmo Diet and Cancer Study (14), and the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (18).
With respect to stroke, although inverse associations of saturated fat intake with hemorrhagic stroke were reported in 2 studies (11, 30), no association between saturated fat and stroke was found in 6 other studies (9, 14, 29, 31, 34, 35). The relation of saturated fat with ischemic versus hemorrhagic stroke may differ given their different biological mechanisms, and consideration of these 2 disease states as distinct endpoints may be important.
Individual study estimates as well as the overall estimate for CHD, stroke, and CVD are shown in Figure 2. Saturated fat intake was not associated with an elevated risk of CHD, stroke, or CVD as a composite outcome. The RRs (95% CIs) were 1.07 (0.96, 1.19) for risk of CHD, 0.81 (0.62, 1.05) for risk of stroke, and 1.00 (0.89, 1.11) for overall CVD risk. Two of the 8 studies included in the meta-analysis related to stroke examined hemorrhagic stroke exclusively (30, 31). When these 2 studies were excluded from the meta-analysis, the pooled RR (95% CI) was 0.86 (0.67, 1.11).
FIGURE 2 View largeDownload slide Risk ratios and 95% CIs for fully adjusted random-effects models examining associations between saturated fat intake in relation to coronary heart disease and stroke. 1Updated data were provided by respective investigators (4, 5, 8, 18, 29, 35) or derived from a provided data set (9, 36). SAT, saturated fat intake; IV, inverse variance.
FIGURE 2 View largeDownload slide Risk ratios and 95% CIs for fully adjusted random-effects models examining associations between saturated fat intake in relation to coronary heart disease and stroke. 1Updated data were provided by respective investigators (4, 5, 8, 18, 29, 35) or derived from a provided data set (9, 36). SAT, saturated fat intake; IV, inverse variance.
We documented heterogeneity among studies that examined saturated fat in relation to CHD (P = 0.04) or stroke (P = 0.01). However, age (P = 0.16 for CHD, 0.40 for stroke), sex (P = 0.52 for CHD, 0.25 for stroke), sample size (P = 0.44 for CHD, 0.71 for stroke), duration of follow-up (P = 0.53 for CHD, 0.42 for stroke), medical record review for CVD outcome confirmation (P = 0.17 for CHD, 0.30 for stroke), and study quality as assessed by a quality score (P = 0.62 for CHD, 0.70 for stroke) could not explain this heterogeneity. Quality scores for each study are provided in Supplementary Table 1 (see ldquoSupplemental datardquo in the online issue).
No individual study had a particularly large influence on the pooled estimate of RR for CVD, although Gillman et al’s (11) and Boniface and Tefft’s (5) studies had relatively stronger effects on the overall RR estimate than did other studies. The pooled RRs for CVD were 1.03 (95% CI: 0.93, 1.14) after excluding Gillman et al and 0.97 (95% CI: 0.88, 1.08) after excluding Boniface and Tefft. When these 2 studies were excluded simultaneously, the pooled RRs (95% CI) were 1.02 (0.94, 1.11) for CHD, 0.86 (0.65, 1.14) for stroke, and 1.00 (0.92, 1.10) for CVD, respectively.
Subgroup analyses evaluating the association of saturated fat with CVD by sex or age (< or ≥ 60 y) showed no significant associations (see Supplementary Figures 1 and 2, respectively, under “Supplemental data” in the online issue). In men, the pooled RR (95% CI) of CVD in relation to saturated fat intake was 0.97 (0.87, 1.08), whereas in women this figure was 1.06 (0.86, 1.32). The associations for saturated fat intake were similar between participants who were younger than 60 y at baseline and those who were older: the pooled RRs (95% CIs) were 0.98 (0.84, 1.13) and 0.98 (0.86, 1.10), respectively. Further stratification by both age and sex (ie, men or women younger than 60 y and men or women older than 60 y) also showed no significant associations between saturated fat and CHD risk, although sample size may have been inadequate for these analyses (see Supplementary Figures 3 and 4, respectively, under “Supplemental data” in the online issue). The limited number of studies excluded our ability to further stratify the analysis by study outcome.
Of 21 studies, 15 studies adjusted for total energy intake in the fully adjusted model. Secondary analyses conducted within these studies showed results largely similar to the primary analysis (see Supplementary Figure under “Supplemental data” in the online issue). Six studies further adjusted for energy from other fats and protein, but left energy from carbohydrate out of the fully adjusted model. In these studies, the pooled RR (95% CI) was 0.98 (0.86, 1.13) for CHD, 0.93 (0.71, 1.21) for stroke, and 0.97 (0.86, 1.10) for overall CVD (see Supplementary Figure 6 under “Supplemental data” in the online issue). Similarly, 5 studies adjusted for energy from carbohydrate, protein, and fats but not polyunsaturated fat. The pooled RR (95% CI) for these studies was 1.07 (0.91, 1.25) for CHD, 0.95 (0.81, 1.13) for stroke, and 1.02 (0.92, 1.14) for overall CVD (see Supplementary Figure 7 under “Supplemental data” in the online issue).
A funnel plot of the 21 studies that evaluated the association of saturated fat with CVD is provided in Figure 3. The larger studies at the top of the plot were somewhat more symmetrically distributed than were the smaller studies at the bottom. This suggests the heterogeneity of the study estimates as well as possible publication bias favoring studies with significant results.
FIGURE 3 View largeDownload slide Funnel plot of studies of saturated fat intake in relation to cardiovascular disease. Dotted lines are pseudo 95% CIs. The large studies at the top of the plot were somewhat more symmetrically distributed than the small studies at the bottom. This indicates publication bias favoring studies with significant results. RR, risk ratio.
FIGURE 3 View largeDownload slide Funnel plot of studies of saturated fat intake in relation to cardiovascular disease. Dotted lines are pseudo 95% CIs. The large studies at the top of the plot were somewhat more symmetrically distributed than the small studies at the bottom. This indicates publication bias favoring studies with significant results. RR, risk ratio.
DISCUSSION
This study sought to evaluate the effects of dietary saturated fat on CVD risk by summarizing the data available from informative epidemiologic studies and including, where possible and relevant, supplementary information that had been provided on request from investigators of the component studies. The conglomeration of data from 16 studies with CHD as an endpoint and 8 studies with stroke as the endpoint showed no association of dietary saturated fat on disease prevalence after adjustment for other nutrients wherever possible. Evaluation of the subset of studies (n = 15) that adjusted for total energy, which has been shown to be relevant in evaluating nutrient-disease relations (39), yielded similar findings. This study had several strengths, including the selection of prospective epidemiologic studies that statistically adjusted for relevant covariates and the inclusion of large studies with a significant number of incident cases. Furthermore, the use of the random-effects model in our analyses allowed for the heterogeneity of variance between studies.
A caveat of this study was its reliance on the accuracy of the dietary assessments of the component studies, which may vary depending on the method used (25). Underreporting of calories has often contributed to the error associated with dietary assessments, particularly in overweight individuals. Generally, 4- to 7-d food records are considered to be the most accurate means of dietary assessment, but such methods are generally not feasible in large cohort studies. A single 24-h recall is relatively easy to collect, but the information does not reflect long-term dietary patterns. FFQs have become the method of choice in large epidemiologic studies because they are inexpensive and can assess long-term diets (25); however, this method is also subject to random and systematic errors.
As part of a quality score, the method of nutrient assessment was taken into account, and the risk estimates that each study contributed were adjusted based on this quality score, which also considered whether the dietary assessment method had been validated or repeatedly performed as well as the number of covariates included in the model. The latter criterion assumed that investigators included all relevant covariates in their regression models. Evaluation of the studies on the basis of this quality score did not change the findings of this meta-analysis.
Only a limited number of studies provided data that enabled the evaluation of the effects of isocalorically replacing saturated fat with carbohydrate or polyunsaturated fat, and, as such, the statistical power was diminished for the secondary analyses restricted to these studies. Most recently, however, an analysis conducted in a pooled cohort of studies showed a lower CHD risk when saturated fat was replaced with polyunsaturated fat and increased nonfatal myocardial infarction, but not fatal CHD, risk when saturated fat was replaced with carbohydrate (24).
Inverse associations of polyunsaturated fat and CVD risk have previously been reported (41, 42). Replacement of 5% of total energy from saturated fat with polyunsaturated fat has been estimated to reduce CHD risk by 42% (43). Notably, the amount of dietary polyunsaturated fat in relation to saturated fat (ie, the P:S ratio) has been reported to be more significantly associated with CVD than saturated fat alone, with a reduced CHD risk found with P:S ratios ≥ 0.49 (44). Only 1 of the 21 studies that met criteria for inclusion in this meta-analysis evaluated the relation of the P:S ratio with CHD (14). No effect was seen in this study, in which the average P:S ratio was ≈0.4, nor was there an association of P:S ratio with CVD in the Israeli Ischemic Heart Study (U Goldbourt, personal communication, 2008). However, these studies were relatively small.
Of note, in intervention trials that have shown protective effects of reducing saturated fat, ie, the Veteran Affairs (19), Oslo Diet Heart (20), and Finnish Mental Hospital (21) studies, the calculated P:S ratios ranged from 1.4 to 2.4—values that are much higher than the threshold of 0.49 above which CHD risk has been reported to be reduced (44). Relatively high P:S ratios (1.25–1.5) were also observed in the Anti-Coronary Club Study, an early trial that showed beneficial effects of a lower fat diet (30–32% of total energy) (45). The presumed beneficial effects of diets with reduced saturated fat on CVD risk may therefore be dependent on a significant increase in polyunsaturated fat in the diet. Existing epidemiologic studies and clinical trials support that substituting polyunsaturated fat for saturated fat is more beneficial for CHD risk than exchanging carbohydrates for saturated fat in the diet, as described further elsewhere (46).
With respect to dietary carbohydrate, the type of carbohydrate (ie, a high or low glycemic index) that replaces saturated fat is likely important in influencing dietary effects on CVD risk (47). However, there was insufficient information in the component studies of this meta-analysis to permit examination of this issue.
Our results suggested publication bias, such that studies with significant associations tended to be received more favorably for publication. If unpublished studies with null associations were included in the current analysis, the pooled RR estimate for CVD could be even closer to null. Furthermore, despite several indications in the published literature that sex and age may modify the association of saturated fat with CHD (5, 6, 8, 10), we did not observe effects of these variables on CHD risk. The lack of an association may have been related to limited statistical power.
Although an inverse association of saturated fat with stroke risk has been previously described (48), saturated fat intake was not significantly associated with risk of stroke in the current meta-analysis. The exclusion of 2 studies conducted in Japan (30, 34), where saturated fat intake is known to be significantly lower than in Western populations, did not substantially change the RR estimate (RR = 0.90; 95% CI: 0.70, 1.15). The exclusion of 2 studies that evaluated hemorrhagic stroke specifically (30, 31) also did not alter the RR estimate; however, these findings were likely limited by statistical power.
In conclusion, our meta-analysis showed that there is insufficient evidence from prospective epidemiologic studies to conclude that dietary saturated fat is associated with an increased risk of CHD, stroke, or CVD. However, the available data were not adequate for determining whether there are CHD or stroke associations with saturated fat in specific age and sex subgroups. Furthermore, there was insufficient statistical power for this meta-analysis to assess the effects on CVD risk of replacing specific amounts of saturated fat with either polyunsaturated fat or carbohydrate. Finally, nutritional epidemiologic studies provide only one category of evidence for evaluating the relation of saturated fat intake to risk for CHD, stroke, and CVD. An overall assessment requires consideration of results of clinical trials as well as information regarding the effects of saturated fat on underlying disease mechanisms, as discussed elsewhere in this issue (46).
We thank David Boniface, Alberto Ascherio, Dariush Mozaffarian, Katherine Tucker, Uri Goldbourt, and Marianne Jakobsen for providing data requested for inclusion in this meta-analysis. The Honolulu Heart Program is conducted and supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) in collaboration with the Honolulu Heart Program Study Investigators. This manuscript was prepared by using a limited access data set obtained from the NHLBI and does not necessarily reflect the opinions or views of the Honolulu Heart Program or the NHLBI.
The authors’ responsibilities were as follows—PWS-T, QS, FBH, and RMK: selected the studies for inclusion in the meta-analysis; PWS-T and QS: extracted data from the studies and wrote the manuscript; QS: performed the statistical analyses; and FBH and RMK: provided significant advice and consultation. No conflicts of interest were reported.
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Hu FB Stampfer MJ Manson JE , et al. Dietary fat intake and the risk of coronary heart disease in women . N Engl J Med 1997 ; 337 : 1491 – 9 . 44. Hu FB Stampfer MJ Manson JE , et al. Dietary saturated fats and their food sources in relation to the risk of coronary heart disease in women . Am J Clin Nutr 1999 ; 70 : 1001 – 8 . 45. Christakis G Rinzler SH Archer M Maslansky E Summary of the research activities of the anti-coronary club . Public Health Rep 1966 ; 81 : 64 – 70 . 46. Siri-Tarino PW Sun Q Hu FB Krauss RM. Saturated fat, carbohydrate, and cardiovascular disease . Am J Clin Nutr 2010 ; 91 : 502 – 9 . 47. Barclay AW Petocz P McMillan-Price J , et al. Glycemic index, glycemic load, and chronic disease risk–a meta-analysis of observational studies . Am J Clin Nutr 2008 ; 87 : 627 – 37 . 48. Corvol JC Bouzamondo A Sirol M Hulot JS Sanchez P Lechat P Differential effects of lipid-lowering therapies on stroke prevention: a meta-analysis of randomized trials . 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© 2010 American Society for Nutrition
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Detroit is the home of the Red Wings, the venerable Joe Lewis Arena, a large youth hockey culture and—for many years—the nickname "Hockeytown, USA." But that title may now belong on the opposite shore of Lake Erie ... in Buffalo, New York.
A recent Detroit Free Press article asks if Buffalo is indeed the new Hockeytown. Why? In addition to a Sabres fanbase as rabid as any that cheer for the Red Wings (or any other team, period), Buffalo recently opened HarborCenter, a 19-story building that's devoted exclusively to hockey.
The Free Press article describes HarborCenter as:
... a nearly $200-million waterfront edifice with 650,000 square feet of space that includes two rinks — on the building's sixth floor — a hockey academy, training center and parking garage. On the first floor is an elaborate Tim Hortons that is partly a memorial to the famous Horton himself, the coffee shop chain co-founder who died in an automobile accident in 1974 while playing for the Buffalo Sabres.
Meanwhile, sites devoted to hockey in Detroit have been closing.
So is it possible that Western and Upstate New York could steal the Hockeytown nickname that Detroiters hold nearly as dear as Motown?
[ Detroit Free Press ]
New Yorkers Try (and Fail) to Pronounce Michigan Place Names
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Doc Rivers shares the advice he would give to the Chargers with the team moving to Los Angeles and says there's enough room for them in the city. (0:56)
LOS ANGELES -- The Chargers' first public presentation in their new city didn't go over so well Saturday.
During Saturday's game against the Lakers, the Clippers showed the new Los Angeles Chargers logo on the video screen, and the Staples Center crowd promptly booed.
After a few seconds, the screen cut to Chargers tight end Jeff Cumberland, who briefly waved but was also booed.
Chargers CEO and president Dean Spanos announced Thursday that the team would move to Los Angeles after 56 seasons in San Diego. The team will play home games the next two seasons at the 30,000-seat StubHub Center in Carson, California.
Spanos, his wife, Susie, and two sons, John and AG, were in attendance at Saturday's NBA game. Dean Spanos said he had received a warm reception in Los Angeles.
"It really is great to be here," Spanos told Fox Sports Prime Ticket during an in-game interview. "Everybody's been so nice in welcoming me, my family, the Chargers. We're really looking forward to this season."
Following a 113-97 victory over the Lakers, Clippers coach Doc Rivers was asked if he had any advice for the Chargers as they deal with a polarizing reception in Los Angeles, which welcomed back the Rams last year.
"Well, win," Rivers said. "I don't think there's a [No.] 1 or 2 team yet. I think that the first team that wins will be the first team that wins, if you know what I mean. That would be my only advice. It's good to have them here. You never want anybody to leave a city, but this is a big city, and I think we can handle it.
"There's enough room for two basketball teams," Rivers continued. "We have a lot of Clippers fans, and there's a lot of Lakers fans. There are two soccer teams. There are two football teams. I guess there are two baseball teams, even though they're not both in L.A. There's enough room. So it'll be great. We have to something to do on all weekends. That's nice."
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The NFL Live crew debates how the Patriots should handle Gronk moving forward with the overwhelming theme being to rest him for the playoffs. (2:08)
NFL Nation reporters look ahead to what Tuesday has in store for each team.
AFC EAST
Buffalo Bills: The Bills are hoping to have running back Karlos Williams (shoulder) and defensive end Mario Williams (foot) back for Sunday's game against the Texans, but the status of both injured players remains up in the air. The Bills will be without linebacker Nigel Bradham (ankle), guard John Miller (ankle) and defensive end Alex Carrington (quad) for the game; Carrington was placed on injured reserve Monday. -- Mike Rodak
Miami Dolphins: The Dolphins move on from the firing of offensive coordinator Bill Lazor. Interim offensive coordinator Zac Taylor must figure out a game plan this week for the offense to score more points (20.5) and improve on third down (27.7 percent conversion), which have been major issues this season. Miami needs a spark on offense. -- James Walker
New England Patriots: While the Patriots received good news on the injury front with tight end Rob Gronkowski, they still might have to play without him for the next week or so. That will thrust Scott Chandler into an expanded role. Chandler played a season-high 54 snaps against the Broncos -- he had five catches on 11 targets with a touchdown -- and he could be a good fantasy pickup for those looking to fill a void. -- Mike Reiss
New York Jets: The Jets have injury issues at cornerback, and that's not a good thing with Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. looming Sunday. CB Darrelle Revis remains in the concussion protocol and has made only "slight progress," according to coach Todd Bowles. His backup, Marcus Williams, has a sprained MCL and is day-to-day. If they can't play, the Jets will start Darrin Walls or Buster Skrine. -- Rich Cimini
AFC NORTH
Baltimore Ravens: Quarterback Matt Schaub nearly cost the Ravens the game with uneven play in the last-second win over the Browns. He threw a pick-six, plus another interception with 50 seconds left in the game. It was his first win as a starter in 26 months. -- Jamison Hensley
Cincinnati Bengals: With their training room busier than it has been much of the season, several Bengals will be spending their off day receiving treatment to get as close to 100 percent as possible. Cornerback Adam Jones and tight end Tyler Eifert are two players worth keeping an eye on throughout the week as they try to get ready for Sunday's game at Cleveland. Jones played in Sunday's win over the Rams through a foot injury, and he said he was probably operating at about 65 percent health. Eifert suffered a stinger and admitted Monday he was still going through procedures to get full movement and range of motion back in his neck and shoulder. -- Coley Harvey
Cleveland Browns: Austin Davis finished Monday night's last-play loss to Baltimore, as the Browns had a field goal attempt blocked and returned for a touchdown as time expired. Now the Browns must decide if Davis should start Sunday against Cincinnati if Josh McCown's right shoulder prevents him from playing. -- Pat McManamon
Pittsburgh Steelers: Steelers players got Monday and Tuesday off. They know what's coming -- a critical, physical five-game stretch that requires everyone's best. The Steelers should have a healthy Ben Roethlisberger this week despite suffering concussion-like symptoms Sunday in Seattle. But don't be surprised if Pittsburgh sets a renewed focus on the running game after DeAngelo Williams had eight carries against the Seahawks. Williams averaged 20-plus carries in his first four starts. What the defense shows often dictates the Steelers' run-pass packages, but the offensive line will be hungry to move the ball downfield in rushing chunks against Indianapolis. -- Jeremy Fowler
AFC SOUTH
Houston Texans: For the second week in a row, the Texans players got a "Victory Monday." They got Monday off from team responsibilities to celebrate their win over the Saints. Despite that, O'Brien said, "They're all in here. I think they just like the fact that they don't have adhere to a structured schedule. They like a little freedom." -- Tania Ganguli
Indianapolis Colts: Daniel "Boom" Herron will get the first shot at backing up starting running back Frank Gore with Ahmad Bradshaw out for the season with a wrist injury. The Colts claimed Herron off waivers from Buffalo last week. Herron spent the 2013 and 2014 seasons with the Colts before being released by them earlier this season after suffering a shoulder injury while returning a kick in the preseason finale. Herron had 11 carries for 37 yards with the Bills this season. He also returned four kicks for 92 yards. -- Mike Wells
Jacksonville Jaguars: Quarterback Blake Bortles needs one more touchdown pass to tie the franchise record for the most in a single season (23). His opponent on Sunday is Tennessee, and he has thrown one touchdown pass in his three previous games against the Titans. Receiver Allen Hurns is in the NFL's concussion program after leaving Sunday's game on a stretcher and being briefly hospitalized. -- Mike DiRocco
Tennessee Titans: While the league conceded poor officiating on the key call that kept the Titans from winning, interim coach Mike Mularkey had a long list of Titans mistakes that also prevented a win against the Raiders. Mularkey said mistake-makers are trying their best, and he and his staff have to continue to find ways to help them succeed. -- Paul Kuharsky
AFC WEST
Denver Broncos: When the Broncos exited training camp, they weren't sure rookie guard Max Garcia was ready to play -- it was a big reason they signed Evan Mathis in late August and put him in the starting lineup. But injuries and Garcia's own efforts have put him in the lineup as he made his first start Sunday against the Patriots. And when Louis Vasquez left the game in the first half with a groin injury, Garcia smoothly flipped from left guard to right guard to fill in for Vasquez. It showed how far he has come in recent weeks as he continues to show he has the potential to be a top-tier blocker in the run game, and the Broncos believe he has at least helped pump up their rushing production. -- Jeff Legwold
Kansas City Chiefs: Entering the season, the Chiefs thought they had built their deepest roster in years, and it appears that has come to pass. Their depth in a couple of areas -- running back and offensive line, in particular -- has been a huge factor in their five-game winning streak. Against Buffalo on Sunday, Spencer Ware became their third back this season to rush for at least 100 yards, while the Chiefs have started eight different offensive linemen. -- Adam Teicher
Oakland Raiders: Oakland quarterback Derek Carr has thrown at least three touchdown passes in five of the team's 11 games this season. The only Raiders quarterback with more such games in a single season since the 1970 merger is Ken Stabler. -- Bill Williamson
San Diego Chargers: Speaking to reporters a day after his team's first win since Oct. 4, Chargers coach Mike McCoy was asked if the victory could possibly save his job with San Diego sitting at a disappointing 3-8. "I'm taking this job one day at a time like I do every day," McCoy said. "I just keep plugging away every day, put great plans week in and week out. And I take it one day at a time here." -- Eric D. Williams
NFC EAST
Dallas Cowboys: Kellen Moore will return to the backup role with Tony Romo out for the season because of a broken left collarbone. Moore was the backup in Brandon Weeden's first two starts before the Cowboys turned to Matt Cassel. Moore has been on the practice squad since Nov. 12. He has a solid understanding of the system, having spent time with Scott Linehan with the Lions. He has yet to throw a pass in a regular-season game in his career, but coach Jason Garrett said the Cowboys would be confident in Moore if he was pressed into service. "He wouldn't be on the team if we didn't think that way about him," Garrett said. -- Todd Archer
New York Giants: Watch for the Giants to get newly signed wide receiver Hakeem Nicks more involved this week against the Jets. Nicks played only a couple of series in his first game back, but it's noteworthy that they used him in Rueben Randle's spot. Randle's consistency and performance have been disappointing, and as Nicks continues to get up to speed in Ben McAdoo's offense, he could eat into Randle's snaps. The coaching staff likes the way Nicks looks in practice and believe he's showing a speed component he didn't have the last time he was here. -- Dan Graziano
Philadelphia Eagles: Coach Chip Kelly made two things clear Monday: He isn't about to head back to college football, and he isn't planning to change the way the Eagles approach things. Kelly isn't planning cosmetic changes on offense or defense. Twelve weeks into the season, the 4-7 Eagles are what they are. -- Phil Sheridan
Washington Redskins: The Redskins received just enough help from their run game to be effective Sunday. Running back Alfred Morris rushed a season-high 23 times for 78 yards, but it has been a tough season for him, as he has yet to score a touchdown. In his past 16 games, dating to last season, Morris has rushed for 855 yards (3.75 yards per carry) and scored only two touchdowns. He's a free agent after the season. If the Redskins want to win the NFC East, however, he'll have to play a key role. -- John Keim
NFC NORTH
Chicago Bears: On Monday, coach John Fox said he understands the importance of knocking off rival Green Bay: "I'm aware of the fact that it's a rivalry game. I know in this building for sure and I think probably outside of this building I think it is, too. We hadn't won a division game. We were 0-3. It's a good start as we trek back through the division." At 5-6, the Bears now prepare to host San Francisco on Sunday. For Chicago to be serious about reaching the postseason, the Bears may need to win out. The Bears rank 10th in the NFC playoff picture, partly because of their 2-5 record inside the conference. -- Jeff Dickerson
Detroit Lions: The good news for the Lions is that, other than wide receiver Lance Moore, they are fairly healthy. Still, be concerned about that secondary. Glover Quin practiced on a limited basis Monday and was spotted after the session with a lot of tape and ice around his ankle. He's a tough guy and will likely play Thursday night, but he's a key piece to what Detroit does defensively when it comes to limiting Aaron Rodgers and the Packers' passing game. -- Michael Rothstein
Green Bay Packers: Back in training camp, rookie receiver Ty Montgomery was perhaps the most intriguing prospect on the field. He looked like a smooth receiver, a shifty kickoff returner and even a guy who could carry the ball out of the backfield. Now, it looks as if his season might be on the brink of ending. He hasn't played in six weeks because of the ankle injury he sustained against the Chargers on Oct. 18, and he doesn't appear any closer to returning. "He hasn't made much progress," coach Mike McCarthy said, "and I'm sure there's going to be some more testing and so forth." -- Rob Demovsky
Minnesota Vikings: The Vikings beat Atlanta without safety Harrison Smith and with fellow starter Andrew Sendejo injured early in the game. It's possible they'll have to take on the Seahawks without one or both of their starters. Sendejo had an MRI on his knee Monday, coach Mike Zimmer said. And Smith, who was downgraded from questionable to out on Saturday with a left knee injury, said he didn't have any news to report on his knee Monday. -- Ben Goessling
NFC SOUTH
Atlanta Falcons: Falcons coach Dan Quinn said he'll make a decision by the end of the week on wide receiver/kick returner Devin Hester, who has been on injured reserve with a designation to return after tearing two ligaments in his right big toe. Hester said last week he has been cleared and expects to play against Tampa Bay on Sunday. The final decision will be made by Quinn, who anticipates Hester to be a full participant in practice this week. -- Vaughn McClure
Carolina Panthers: The Panthers will begin implementing newly acquired cornerback Cortland Finnegan into the on-the-field portion of practice after signing him Monday. Finnegan was brought in as insurance for Charles Tillman, who remains uncertain with a hyperextended knee. Tuesday will provide the first update on the status of defensive tackle Star Lotulelei and defensive end Mario Addison. Both suffered ankle sprains in Thursday's win at Dallas. -- David Newton
New Orleans Saints: The Saints' defense actually climbed out of the cellar in the NFL's yards-per-game rankings (they're at 418.6, with the Giants at 419.6). But they were still far from perfect in their first game -- a 24-6 loss at Houston -- under new coordinator Dennis Allen. The Saints spotted the Texans a 14-0 lead in the first quarter before settling in and showing signs of progress. Players insisted both before and after Rob Ryan got fired that it's their job to clean up their own fundamental mistakes, regardless of who's calling the plays. Carolina's defense will force them to be fundamentally sound this week with a zone-read run game that has caused the Saints some fits over the years. -- Mike Triplett
Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Despite the 25-12 loss to the Colts, the Buccaneers think they can run the table. "We've got to win every game," cornerback Alterraun Verner said. "A loss is like an elimination for us. We all sense ... [the] urgency on it. If we can win out, chances are really, really good we can make the playoffs." -- Rick Brown
NFC WEST
Arizona Cardinals: There was good news and bad news Monday for the Cardinals. Cornerback Jerraud Powers suffered a calf injury, not an Achilles injury like coach Bruce Arians initially thought. But the bad news is Arizona's top two running backs could be out for a while. Chris Johnson suffered a fractured tibia Sunday, a league source told ESPN's Adam Schefter, and Andre Ellington is dealing with a turf toe injury. Rookie David Johnson will assume the role of feature back while Johnson and Ellington are sidelined. -- Josh Weinfuss
St. Louis Rams: Rams coach Jeff Fisher is going back to a normal practice schedule this week, giving his team Tuesday off and adding a Thursday practice. Fisher said it's just a one-week change for now. After four straight losses and an emotional week last week, Fisher said he felt his team needed a day off. -- Nick Wagoner
San Francisco 49ers: The Niners breathed a sigh of relief after realizing tight end Garrett Celek did not suffer a more serious injury in Sunday's loss to the Cardinals. "Nothing was broke," coach Jim Tomsula said of Celek, who exited the locker room on crutches and wore a protective boot on his left foot. "Our people characterize it as a high ankle sprain." It should also provide more opportunities for tight end Vance McDonald, who caught a career-best six passes on seven targets, and rookie Blake Bell going forward. -- Paul Gutierrez
Seattle Seahawks: Doug Baldwin has been the NFL's leading receiver over the past three weeks with 339 yards. He has been getting open consistently all season long, but the ball hasn't always gone his way. With tight end Jimmy Graham (knee) out for the season, Baldwin will most likely be the Seahawks' most targeted receiver in the final five games. -- Sheil Kapadia
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*Don’t get the reference? You poor thing. Here you go.
For the second year running, Louisville City’s season ended a week too early. It seems like years ago when the season kicked off back in March. Anyone who listens to me on Barrel Proof knows perspective is not my thing, but I’ll try to exercise some here:
Louisville City exceeded expectations on the field.
Going into this season, this was a team that lost its two best players, Matt Fondy and Bryan Burke. One led the league in assists and was the league defensive player of the year. The other banged in about half the team’s goals in 2015 and was USL MVP. Then, just before preseason began, City lost its midfield engine Juan Guzman to Patriotas of the Colombian first division.
We were replacing Fondy and Burke with a proven goalscorer in Chandler Hoffman and some depth, sure. But we couldn’t have known that City would again be at or near the top of the Eastern Conference table the entire season. That LC would go 17 matches without dropping a game. That they’d beat sudden behemoth FC Cincinnati despite being down a man for 50+ minutes in front of the biggest crowd to ever watch a USL game (at that point). That they’d emerge from a bad five game stretch to go seven more unbeaten before falling in the Conference finals to the USL Champions again.
We didn’t know Magnus Rasmussen would barely see the field until 2/3 of the season was gone. We didn’t know we’d lose Scotty Goodwin to Harvard Medical School in July. We didn’t know we’d lose Niall McCabe for the last six weeks of the regular season.
We also didn’t know Sean Reynolds would be one of the best defenders in the league. Well, I did, but a lot of people didn’t. We didn’t know Paco Craig would be awesome. No one, and I mean no one, saw Kyle Smith coming. I don’t think Kyle Smith saw Kyle Smith coming. That was awesome.
This team showed resolve this season. They showed they were mentally tough, even after some disappointing and frustrating results against Charleston, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg and Orlando City B at home. They absolutely menaced when they were on the road. They were good, and beat the previous season’s points total by twelve despite just playing two more games. This season was a success on the field.
The atmosphere in the stands got better every game.
There were some bumps to start the season. The “Code of Conduct.” The “official” supporters group thing. The slightly less fun security personnel. Weird media and communications-related stuff. Tension between supporters groups in general.
I think by the end of the season, most of us forgot all of that. The final two home games were some of the best I’ve heard from the Rickhouse/Preston Street End/Third Base Line/whatever. Scouse got a lot more people on the terrace/right field wall/whatever. People all over were singing the songs. It was just…good. The longer Louisville City sticks around, and as long as people are willing to try and get along, the sky’s the limit for what we as supporters can do in the stands, wherever they are.
My hat is off to Ken Luther, Alex Miner and the rest of the Coopers leadership. Same to everyone else that makes game days what they are, be it the new and great tailgating tradition started in the Preston Street parking lot, the froth coming from Jordan Cooper and Jay Kirkman on the Final Judgment, everything Purple Kingdom does, and countless other things that made this season fun.
The front office made changes.
We don’t really know what impact the change in the club’s ownership group’s leader had/has had/will have. What we do know is that their number one priority is getting this club into a soccer stadium. That’s a good thing; reports all season indicated how dire the club’s finances are in their present confines. I, for one, am looking forward to seeing some movement on that front in the off-season. I think, given the club’s goal, that John Neace is a good person to head up the club for the task they’ve set for themselves. I also again think the club owes Wayne Estopinal enormous thanks for getting us this far.
Amanda Duffy did another bang-up job this year, and made some tough but very good decisions as the season wore on. I personally couldn’t be happier that Jonathan Lintner became Director of Communications for the club. Media strategies changed shortly after he joined the fold, and I look forward to seeing how those change or develop going into 2017.
It’s easy to get caught up in the bad feeling that City lost in the Conference finals. It’s easy to ask what might have been if some decisions were different. But be honest: no one thought this season would turn out like it did, and we can be glad knowing the next step is within reach. NEXT SEASON IS GONNA BE SO EXCITING, Y’ALL!
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This Cat Needs A New Home After Living In A Home Depot For 13 Years
The world was Depot’s oyster, and that world is the Home Depot. See, Depot is a cat and her home is Home Depot (try saying that three times fast). She’s lived in a South Carolina store for 13 years, but that life of trolling for pests, snuggling up with paint cans and greeting workers in the morning is about to end. She’s getting the boot after triggering the store’s security alarms one time too many.
Management says her adventures in the garden section will need to come to an end, reports WTOC, because she sets off the alarms at night. That means it’s time to find her a home, and some customers are upset that she’s getting evicted.
“Being an animal lover, I’d get rid of management before I’d get rid of the cat,” one customer told the news station.
Despite a petition on Change.org asking to let Depot stay, it’s not like she’ll be kicked out on her furry, adorable behind. Home Depot officials have said they won’t throw her out until someone steps up to adopt her.
If you live near Bluffton, S.C. and need a new furry friend, check out the contact info for the store in the source link below.
Cat kicked out of home, Home Depot [WTOC.com]
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It's no secret that Samsung manufactures the slender chipsets packed inside Apple iPhones, but some might be surprised to know that 26 percent of Apple iPhones are comprised of Samsung parts.
The Economist took an updated teardown provided by iSuppli and turned it into the nifty infographic below. Turns out, 26 percent of the bill of materials for the iPhone 4 went straight to Samsung.
Samsung made the ARM-based A4 processor that powers the phone, the iPhone's NAND-type Flash memory, and the mobile Double Data Rate (DDR) SDRAM memory. An earlier teardown from iSuppli shows that Samsung also made the baseband integrated circuit, though the updated teardown says it came from Taiwan's Infineon. Other component suppliers include Murata for the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi chip, Texas Instruments for the audio component, and Micron for more flash memory.
Samsung has provided components for the Apple iPhone for years now, but that relationship might be on thin ice now that Samsung mobile devices have emerged as the strongest force against Apple, and the company makes one in four cell phones in the United States. And to make matters worse, Apple is aggressively seeking to ban the Samsung's flagship Galaxy lineup around the world for "slavishly copying" the iPhone. The Samsung Galaxy S II phone is making its way to U.S. shores, but Apple has succeeded in temporarily blocking imports of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the European Union and Australia. Last week, the International Trade Commission agreed to hear Apple's argument for banning the Galaxy S II and Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the U.S.
The second part of the infographic, based on IDC figures, is all about margins. Apple's whopping "slice" for every iPhone it sells is $368 of the $560 retail price tag, or a 66 percent. Foxconn, Apple's beleaguered, Taiwanese assembly partner, receives 7 percent of the price tag, which is closer to what rival smartphone manufacturers make.
For more, see The Economist's blog post.
For more from Sara, follow her on Twitter @sarapyin.
For the top stories in tech, follow us on Twitter at @PCMag.
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Buy Photo Violation notice on a Spring Valley home following a fire last year. (Photo: Steve Lieberman/The Journal News)Buy Photo
A state agency has issued blistering letters citing inadequate building inspections and enforcement of zoning and fire-safety regulations in Ramapo and Spring Valley.
After state officials last year responded to complaints, the state Department of State's Division of Building Standards and Codes preliminarily found the municipalities allow potentially dangerous conditions to fester in housing and single-family-home conversions into schools and, in some cases, houses of worship.
The agency found Ramapo gave temporary approvals to buildings used for religious schools that remain in violation. The temporary certificates of occupancy benefit the schools as administrators can seek services from the school district and seek thousands of dollars in state aid and access other programs.
Critics claim many temporary COs never cease as private schools continue to operate, or get municipal approvals for classroom trailers, and rarely face court or government penalties.
If the municipalities don't move to correct the deficiencies, the state could intervene and conduct a "full investigation of all aspects" of enforcement. The agency can hold public hearings, according to the letters issued Jan. 28.
Both municipalities must respond in writing.
The agency's involvement followed several years of complaints of inadequate enforcement by the Rockland Illegal Housing Task Force. The Journal News did an investigative report on illegal housing and schools in Ramapo and Spring Valley in which landlords and schools allegedly profited while flouting the laws.
Ramapo allows schools in residential areas and its policy has been, if a school is in violation by opening up classes illegally in single-family homes, the administrators can continue operating if they file building plans with the town and provide fire safety.
In return, the town Building Department issues temporary COs after an evaluation by a town advisory agency, the Community Design Review Committee. The building inspector leads the committee, with a town attorney and planner.
"The Department preliminarily finds that the Town has not complied with the minimum standards relating to requiring building owners to obtain building permits" and "certificates of occupancy and temporary certificates of occupancy," the state agency wrote in a 14-page letter.
The agency also determined the town failed to "exercise its code enforcement powers in due and proper manner so as to extend to the public protection from the hazards of fire and inadequate building construction."
More local news: Lohud.com's Rockland news page
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Prior to the letters, the Rockland Illegal Housing Task Force went to the state with numerous complaints.
"We have contacted the state, they came down and saw the problem, but I am at a loss as to what their next move is," said John Kryger, head of the task force. "We've been very patient."
The state found Spring Valley inspectors failed to comply with certain minimum standards regarding using its code-enforcement powers to protect the public from fire and inadequate building construction.
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The village has also not met the minimum standard of conducting fire-safety and property-maintenance inspections, the agency said. The village has not always required the owner to apply for a building permit, the agency said in its letter.
Spring Valley officials have said the Building Department is understaffed, though fire officials such as Rockland County Emergency Services Coordinator Gordon Wren have for years suggested that charging businesses and schools for inspections would pay for additional personnel.
Spring Valley Chief Building Inspector Walter Booker has been suspended since January following a fallout with Mayor Demeza Delhomme.
Ramapo Building Inspector Anthony Mallia has said inspectors issue summonses for violations and it's the Ramapo Attorney's Office that prosecutes and courts that decide fines and other punishments.
State Assemblyman Kenneth Zebrowski, D-New City, has been pressing the state agency to act. He also introduced legislation mandating that private schools have a fire inspection and certificate of occupancy before getting state funding.
Zebrowski called the agency's reviews a positive step "to hold these municipalities accountable." He said full investigation is necessary to ensure the safety of residents and first responders.
"Unfortunately, this enforcement has not taken place and the state must intervene in order to protect the public," Zebrowski said. "Rockland's fire service has been decrying the lack of enforcement for some time now."
Twitter: @lohudlegal
State letters:
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1667540-new-york-state-building-codes-letter-to-ramapo.html
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1667544-codes-letter-to-spring-valley-2015.html
Read or Share this story: http://lohud.us/1DvgYuf
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Yakuza 0, the latest installment in SEGA’s long-running series following the life of Dojima family enforcer Kazuma Kiryu, is closing in on its January 24th release date. I have been going hands-on with the game for the past week and thanks to the first loosening of the embargo strings, I’m now able to bring you a set of first impressions on this latest tale of the Japanese criminal class. All impressions in the following article are based on the game’s initial six chapters, as that’s all we can talk about so far, and we’ll be bringing you our fully formed opinion in due course.
Yakuza 0 opens, as many crime dramas do, with a betrayal. Starting in 1988 at a point in the Yakuza timeline previous to any of the preceding games, Yakuza 0 introduces us to long-standing series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu when he was fresh out of Yakuza school and just starting out as a new member of the Dojima ‘family.’ A routine collection job goes wrong and Kazuma is framed for murder shortly after the game’s opening. Due to this, his position in the family comes under threat and since the Yakuza aren’t particularly forgiving types, his closest friends and associates are under threat too. Thus begins the quest to find the real killer and clear his name before he and the man he owes his life to pay the price. One of the most positive things I can say so far about Yakuza 0 is how well it balances this ultra-serious storyline against the utter craziness of the rest of the game. To give you an idea of what I mean, up until finding out he’s a murder suspect, Kazuma is engaged in a ridiculous karaoke battle with his best friend, Nishikiyama. It doesn’t stop there, as you are continually served slices of craziness in the form of side stories, side activities, and mini-games between main missions, and you’re mostly able to take these on at your leisure.
For anyone familiar with the franchise, the core of the experience will be much as you expect. For those new to Yakuza, this is an open world game with a twist. You’ll have full access to a loving (and somewhat fictionalized) rendition of Tokyo’s red-light district (dubbed Kamurocho) from the start. The map is of a size that facilitates walking everywhere, but that doesn’t stop a lot of life from being packed into the area. As you wander the streets as Kazuma, you’ll quickly discover that the core gameplay comes from the brutal, street-brawling, melee combat. Once you’re used to the controls – which may seem a bit slow to those used to the oft-copied attack and counter attack style made popular by Rocksteady’s Batman games – you’ll be gleefully smashing heads with bins, car-doors, bicycles, or anything else you can find.
For me, combat is a highlight. It’s smoother than previous entries in the series and the new system of having switchable stances with different move sets for your characters has allowed for plenty of variation and stopped the frequent encounters from becoming too repetitive. Kazuma’s ‘Beast mode’ is probably my favorite style so far, as it solves a niggle I’ve often had with previous Yakuza games. Namely, this mode prevents you from having to break off from combat to pick up weapons found in the environment. While weapon attacks are powerful and look cool, turning your back to an enemy to bend down and pick one up could be a costly mistake. With Beast mode, your default combo attacks allow you to automatically grab weapons that are close by without breaking your stride and leads to more free-flowing encounters. Not every aspect of combat shines, as the lock-on system is next to useless (though also mostly unnecessary) and the camera angle can be stubborn and refuse to turn with you when turning to face opponents who are out of shot. The camera problems are mostly negligible but the lock-on system has caused me a few frustrations, and it remains to be seen whether this gets worse as combat ramps up in difficulty later on.
Kamurocho, and later the new area of Sotenbori, look fantastic. The bright neon lights and streets full of people create a great impression of a living city. Look closely and you’ll find some bland textures and less than detailed character models here and there but the overall effect it creates is convincing. Yakuza games are rarely at the cutting edge of graphical fidelity, in part due to the time it takes for their localizations to reach us here in the West. Besides, it’s honestly the consistent art style that really sells the locations. Cutscenes, however, are a different matter. In these, the detail is dialed up to ten; character models look fantastic, as do many of the settings. The subtext-laden dialogue between rival Yakuza creates the kind of moody tension normally found in a classic gangster movie. It’s worth mentioning that there is no English language track for Yakuza 0, so you’ll be reading a lot of subtitles. For me, this just serves to preserve the emotional tone that the game is trying to convey. This is slightly spoiled by the fact that side stories aren’t voiced at all, so you’ll be reading a lot of text conversations if you choose to pursue the game’s many diversions. The dialogue itself rescues these scenarios by usually being amusing (or even hilarious) enough to stop them from growing boring.
Speaking of side activities, Yakuza 0 continues the series’ tradition of including more mini-games than you’d find in your average party game bundle. As well as longstanding staples like bowling and baseball, you’ll be racing pocket cars, watching ‘erotic’ movies, chatting up girls in a dating-sim/shooter hybrid that can only be described as “unique”, and more. At least, that’s according to the completion list that I’ve yet to encounter. Most of these activities are adequate diversions, but some serve as fully fleshed out side missions too. It’s these more developed activities that have managed to capture my interest, as there’s a surprising amount of depth to be found in things like customizing and racing your little battery powered circuit car. The standout side mission of Kiryu’s story is a real estate management mini-game that is introduced through the main storyline in which you’ll vie with other property tycoons for control of Kamurocho’s industries. It’s both addictive and lucrative and it seems to serve, at this point, as the main way of generating much-needed cash for Kiryu.
Worship of the almighty Yen is a central theme in Yakuza 0 and you need cash for literally everything from activities to equipment, to upgrading your fighting abilities and learning new moves. You’ll still have to meet drunken masters and following their bizarre training regimes but this time you’ll need to pony up cold hard cash as well. What this does is provide a good balance to your character progression, as in the early game you would find it very difficult to grind for the cash needed for higher tier abilities from fighting alone. In the first few chapters of the game, pacing and balance are both excellent, with the game introducing you to side activities and missions in an organic way in between your main mission objectives and at the same time slowly increasing the difficulty of combat until you’re familiar with all your fighting styles. This is also helped by the fact that you’re often free to divert yourself as you see fit if you don’t want to rush on with the plot.
Once you’ve been given a chance to get used to Kiryu and his moves, which constitutes the first two chapters of the game’s story, you’ll be transported from the familiar surroundings of Kamurocho to the Osakan city of Sotenbori and introduced to the game’s second playable character – series fan favourite side character Majima Goro. Majima has featured in several previous Yakuza entries, sometimes as the villain, sometimes as an ally, but always with a flair for violence and a badass eyepatch. His story is a little different from Kazuma’s, Majima has been kicked out of his family due to events that occurred in the past (this was actually a key plot line in Yakuza 4 but enough is explained here that you don’t have to have played that game to understand the plot) and he’s trying to earn his way back in by managing a cabaret, or hostess club. It’s not clear at this early stage how the two stories connect, though certain hints have led me to guess where the story may be leading, time will tell how this unfolds.
Majima feels a little overpowered in combat in his introductory chapters when compared to Kiryu, especially once you’ve learned his additional stances. Laying into goons with an indestructible baseball bat is fun, but fights do become a bit of a formality. This could change as the difficulty increases in later Majima chapters, as I’ve been led to believe that the protagonists swap every couple of chapters, and it will be interesting to see whether the challenge level can increase against his almost invincible-seeming move sets. Sotenbori also comes with its own side activities, like establishing a network of agents to bring you designs and components from all over the world that will allow you to craft weapons and gear. The pacing of story missions versus side content keeps up at a good pace, albeit slightly thrown off by the fact that you can wade through enemy encounters with ease. As the two maps of Kamurocho and Sotenbori are of limited size, I’m so far enjoying the change of scenery that comes with the character switching. The fact that the story points at which it switches are logical only adds to this effect.
As you can probably tell from the above, I’m impressed by what Yakuza 0 has to offer at this stage. I’m interested to see whether the intriguing story has a satisfying conclusion and whether the steady flow of content can keep up without becoming a mess of competing systems. There’s also a host of online modes featuring many of Yakuza 0‘s minigames that I haven’t been able to try yet. I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface of what promises to be a lengthy experience and I’m eager to jump back in and experience more as, most importantly, I’ve been having fun with the game’s varying mechanics at every turn so far. I’ll be back to fill you in on the rest once I’ve concluded our protagonist’s stories. For now, I’m off to pour some hot sake and dive back in.
Yakuza 0 is being reviewed on PlayStation 4 with a copy provided by the publisher.
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The Tory party is having the wrong conversation. Whenever two or three Conservative MPs are gathered together, they discuss who should succeed Theresa May. They lament that the front-runners all have their flaws, scan the ministerial list for a ‘dark horse’ candidate — and debate whether it’d be better for May to go at this autumn’s conference or to hang on until the end of the Brexit talks.
But rather than discussing who should succeed May, and when, they should be thinking about what should succeed her. The general election campaign confirmed that the Prime Minister is no saleswoman. What should worry the Tories more, though, is how little she had to sell. Back in government, the threadbare nature of the Tory agenda is even more obvious. If it were not for the Brexit-related legislation, this Queen’s speech would have been embarrassingly brief.
The 2017 Tory manifesto echoed Beveridge in identifying ‘five great challenges’ facing the country. The Beveridge report, however, had an answer to its five evils: the creation of the modern welfare state. The Tory document did not. It told the country what was wrong with it, not how to fix it.
The first thing that the party needs now is a vision for Brexit. Whatever the Chancellor might think of it, the Tories own this issue. It was a Tory prime minister who delivered the referendum, Tory politicians who led the Leave campaign, and a Tory government that is negotiating the terms of departure. If Brexit goes wrong, it will be the Tories who get the blame.
So how do the Conservatives make a success of Brexit? Well, part of it is negotiating a sensible deal with the EU. But just as important is working out how the deal fits with a vision of the UK’s future. They need to address the question of how the UK will make its way in the world, after Brexit. The answer should be about free trade, free markets and a sensible immigration policy driven not by a numerical target but the need for European and global talent.
The next thing the Tories need to address is how badly they are doing not just among young people, but among the under-44s. The Tories can comfort themselves that Labour’s 35-point lead among 18 to 24-year-olds is a product of the Corbyn policy of scrapping tuition fees. But the Tories’ 16-point deficit among 35 to 44-year-olds is harder to explain away. These are people who, if the Tories were doing their job properly, should have realised that the facts of life are conservative. Almost as alarming for the centre right is that the Tory lead over Labour among 45 to 54-year-olds is only three points.
The explanation for the Tories’ poor performance, as with so many other things in Britain, comes back to property and the broken nature of the housing market. Among those who own their home outright, the Tories have a whopping 25-point lead. But among renters it is a very different story. The Tories trail by 23 points among those in the private rental sector, while those in social housing give Labour a 31-point lead.
The phrase ‘property-owning democracy’ was first brought into use in these pages 90-odd years ago by the Scottish Unionist Noel Skelton. In a series of essays responding to Labour replacing the Liberals as the main opposition to the Tories, he argued that a property-owning democracy was necessary to ‘bridge the gulf set between Labour and Capital; to present a view of life in which private property, instead of being reckoned, as the Socialist reckons it, a shameful thing, shall be recognised to be an essential vehicle for the moral and economic progress of the individual’. He warned that without it, Conservatism would not be able to ‘withstand the shrill and angry gales which, in the new era’s uneasy dawn, sweep across the world of men’.
With the hard left closer to power in Britain than they have ever been, Skelton’s words seem prophetic. The Tories have let the idea of the property-owning democracy go into reverse. Home ownership is now at its lowest level since 1986, when Margaret Thatcher’s right-to-buy programme was at full throttle. The average age of first-time buyers has increased 10 per cent in the last 20 years: from 30 in 1994-95 to 33 in 2014-15. The Tories cannot carry on expecting people who have no capital to be capitalists.
It is imperative that the Tories get a large number of new houses built — and fast, preferably before the next election. But even Conservative MPs who recognise this fact say that they still couldn’t vote to allow any building on the green belt. This is so short-sighted as to be blind. Jeremy Corbyn’s willingness to talk about requisitioning homes show where politics is heading, unless more people get on the property ladder. If Britain ceases to be a property-owning democracy, the best defence against populism will have been washed away.
The Tories must also recover their moral mission. They should remember that, at its best, welfare reform is driven by the desire to save lives, not money. On education, they should be shouting from the rooftops that 86 per cent of pupils are now in good or outstanding schools, compared to 66 per cent when they came to power. They need to become better at lauding their own achievements. For instance, how many voters know that the improvements at primary level have been most pronounced in schools with the most deprived pupils? Since they came to power, it has too often seemed that Theresa May and her team were more interested in differentiating themselves from David Cameron and George Osborne than from Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell. As a result, the Tory record of public service reform is an untold, and unsold, story.
The next few years will be critical for the future of Conservatism. If they don’t get Brexit right and if they allow Corbyn to become prime minister, the Tories will have failed in their patriotic duty. As Skelton warned in these pages all those years ago, ‘if Conservatism fails to show the nation an alternative line of advance, it would have to bear the blame should the people come to the conclusion that the only way forward lay along the Socialist path, however desperate and perilous that might be.’
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Sep. 2, 2017, 10:04 AM GMT / Updated Sep. 2, 2017, 10:04 AM GMT By Harriet Baskas
One much-missed aspect of the “good-old days” of air travel was the ability to walk a friend or family member right out to the gate and to be right there with a hug, a kiss or a balloon when someone you loved exited the plane after a long flight.
That all ended after 9/11, when only ticketed passengers were permitted past the security checkpoints.
Now Pittsburgh International Airport has figured out how to bring that airport amenity back.
Non-ticketed members of the public will be able to access gates, shops, restaurants and artwork located beyond the security checkpoint year-round at Pittsburgh International Airport. Photo courtesy Pittsburgh International Airport
With the approval of the Transportation Security Administration, starting on September 5 non-ticketed members of the public will be able to access gates, shops, restaurants and artwork located beyond the security checkpoint year-round.
Non-flyers won’t be able to just sashay into the secure side of the airport, however. Before they are issued a “myPITpass,” an airport guest will have to check in at a special desk, show a valid photo ID (Driver’s License or Passport), have their name vetted against existing No Fly lists and then line up and go through screening at the security checkpoint just as if they were heading out to a flight.
For now, passes will only be issued Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and will only be valid the day they are issued.
PIT airport officials say they picked the 9 to 5 program hours to avoid the busiest times at the airport and at the checkpoints. “But if security lines were to become long, people seeking a ‘myPITpass’ will have to wait until the line dies down,” said airport spokesman Bob Kerlik.
For its part, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is pleased to support the myPITpass program, but is quick to note that the agency did not hire any additional staff to accommodate the program.
And while the agency doesn’t expect the myPITpass program will have a negative impact on checkpoint wait times, “There are no plans to expand the program at this time,” said TSA national spokesman Mike England via email.
Beyond seeing someone off or welcoming them home, there are plenty of reasons someone not flying away might want go through the trouble to get a pass to spend time on the secure, or air, side of PIT airport.
In addition to shops and restaurants not available anywhere else in the city, such as Hugo Boss, Armani, Tumi, Bar Symon and others, the airport also has a top notch art collection that includes a giant Alexander Calder mobile, works by Andy Warhol, and a new center core terrazzo floor that depicts iconic Pittsburgh neighborhoods.
News of the myPITpass program brings up pleasant memories for Dallas-based Southwest Airlines pilot Michael Weisser, who met his wife, Terri, in Pittsburgh back in 1998 when she worked for a contractor on the landside of the airport.
Back then Weisser flew for Chautauqua Airlines and, until 9/11, for US Airways, and whenever he passed through PIT around lunchtime the couple would meet on the airside to have lunch together.
The couple was married a month after 9/11 and by then airside was off limits unless you had a ticket. “Six months later I was laid off by US Airways,” said Weisser, “But we will always remember the early days of our relationship at PIT airport fondly.”
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MIDDLESBROUGH have allowed Luke Williams to sign for Scunthorpe United on a permanent basis for an undisclosed fee.
The 22-year-old has signed a three-year deal at Glanford Park after the Iron boss Mark Robins persuaded him the time was right to leave the Riverside.
Williams scored twice in six appearances for Scunthorpe during a loan last season and he has struggled to force his way in to Aitor Karanka’s plans on Teesside. He previously interested Hartlepool.
The skilful forward was always tipped to have a bright future at Middlesbrough after Gordon Strachan handed him his first team debut at the age of just 16 in 2009. He leaves, though, after 42 appearances for the club, five of which came under Karanka last season.
"It's brilliant to have signed. I couldn't be happier," Williams told the Scunthorpe Telegraph. "I came in on Wednesday and undertook my medical and saw all the familiar faces from when I was here before. Everyone is raring to get going.
"Knowing the club and a lot of the personnel before did help sway the move. I knew what a good group it was and it's a club that's going places. Hopefully I can add to that.
"There are a lot of new faces around the place and people that are only going to help our cause and the push for promotion. I want to carry on where I left off in my last spell here. I really enjoyed myself and managed score and create a few goals as well."
Williams’ departure frees up more funds on the wage bill following the departures of Seb Hines, Dean Whitehead and Emmanuel Ledesma.
Defender Jonathan Woodgate has also officially become a free agent and a decision on his future is expected soon with the squad due for pre-season training on Monday.
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Phenomenal Game! Strategic CQB at it's finest!
Ubisoft has done it again! Siege has captured the absolute essence of the Rainbow Six franchise and presents the player with fast-paced, tactical, 5v5, close-quarters, round-based combat. The game offers a staggering variety of operators and gadgets that complements nearly every style of gameplay and skill set imaginable and has an almost perfect balance between attacked and defenders resulting in highly competitive rounds when matched with other like-skilled players. Ubisoft's commitment to the game, to date, had been unwavering, offering frequent updates for bug fixes and fresh content each season in the form of new operators, new maps, as well as rebalancing of legacy operators to ensure no single "breaking" operator exists. New players will potentially feel a little intimidated at first given the sheer amount of content in game but will quickly come up to speed. If you're looking for a game that has a perfect blend of strategy, tactics, and plan execution, you've found it!
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Right now, the crossover market is hotter than a volcano on Venus. That said? The wagon is far from dead, and the 2018 Buick Regal TourX is compelling proof. Now, we’ve been impressed with the latest entry into the segment since we saw shots of its European cousin — the Opel Insignia — back in April.
It’s exactly the kind of sleek, sexy long roof we love to see on the road, and with its starting price of $29,995, the soft-roader version that’s just been announced seems like one heck of a deal.
And competitive pricing aside, it should should also be a hoot to drive. Power comes from a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder, which pipes its 250 horsepower and 265 pound-feet of torque to all four corners through an eight-speed automatic. Unfortunately, no manual option will be available, but given how the old-fashioned three pedal set up is less an less common, that’s hardly surprising.
Along with the all-wheel drive system, the raised suspension should provide confidence when conditions get sloppy, and the refined exterior styling belies the relatively low price point. Even in top-spec Essence trim, at $35,945, the TourX won’t break the bank, and provides creature comforts like an 8.0-inch touchscreen, leather, dual-zone climate controls, along with standard features like Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, 18-inch alloy wheels, and heated side mirrors.
While it wears a Buick badge, it’s worth noting that this wagon is a European through and through, as it’s designed and built in Germany. So if you were in the market for an Audi A4 Allroad or Volvo V60 Cross Country, it would make sense to swing through your local AutoNation Buick dealer to check it out, as the TourX will likely deliver similar driving dynamics for significantly less cash. Both the Audi and the Volvo start north of $40k, and obviously, adding options will quickly inflate the sticker.
As of yet, there’s no word on how much the standard version Regal Sportback liftback will command, but it will be even more affordable. We’re hoping to get our hands on both flavors in the next few months, so look out for our test drive reviews.
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Remember the "silly season" in politics?
Well in case you were wondering, we're now in the silly season of energy.
Oil traded from $35 to $50 and back to $37 in under three weeks, with no discernible reason based in fundamentals. Sure, we had lots of interesting news—inventory builds, paid-off pirates, geopolitical posturing, and a slew of revised demand and price forecasts—but nothing that would, in my mind at least, justify such short, sharp moves.
I can only conclude that the volatility in oil is an indication that traders are desperately seeking the right price.
I have news for them: As my friend energy analyst Gregor MacDonald (on Twitter: @GregorMacDonald) said today, "Oil at 38.00 is free."
Never mind the latest price forecast from the Department of Energy, which speculated that the recession in the US, Europe and Japan would give us an oil price of $43.25 a barrel this year. As bad as their track record in price forecasting is, you'd think they would at least have the decency to round it to the nearest buck! (For more on that, see " EIA's Oil Outlook Report .")
As for forecasting $54.50 a barrel in 2010...well, that's just silly. I understand that they have a mandate to forecast, but there should be a big, fat, red asterisk after any such prognostication, with a footnote saying "+/- 100%."
I wouldn't put much credence in the latest statement from the oil minister of Oman, either, who projected that oil would stay below $50 this year under recessionary pressure.
In fact, never mind any of the price forecasts you hear right now. There is no signal; it's all noise. Lots and lots of noise. Better yet, turn off CNBC altogether, for it can drive you mad.
Even the demand forecasts, upon which price forecasts are based, are suspect. I can't think of a single forecast from last June saying that global demand would crash 2.5 million barrels per day by September. It just wasn't knowable. I certainly didn't expect it.
So, I don't have much confidence in the EIA's revised demand forecast, either, which projects that world oil consumption will fall by 800,000 barrels per day this year. I don't mean to pick on the EIA particularly; they just happen to be the official agency responsible for energy data, and they must offer some numbers. They are also wise to tell the real story: "The oil price path going forward will be driven mainly by the depth and duration of the global economic downturn, the pace and timing of the recovery, and actual OPEC production."
On the question of the economic downturn and recovery, I don't think anybody can say with confidence what those timelines are. Most of the analysts I respect don't see an economic recovery until perhaps mid-2010, and then it will likely take until 2012 to get back to ‘normal' business.
We do, however, have some clear news from Saudi Arabia, where oil minister Ali al-Naimi has indicated that its output would be "lower than the target" announced in December—in other words, further production cuts. In which case, oil at $38 might as well be free.
OPEC has made it clear that it will continue to try to put a floor under oil, and that floor should be around $70. Since OPEC moves typically lag the market, and oil is already badly underpriced, every production cut now only stretches the price slingshot a little tighter.
When demand recovers, prices will snap back in a New York minute. Perhaps that tension is the real explanation for the volatility of the last three weeks.
Putting aside all that noise, however, here's the signal: peak oil. We need to start taking the long view on energy.
The Long View on Energy
What is the long-term outlook for energy? From my study of the data, it's pretty simple.
We're essentially at peak oil now because the global recession has wiped out any hope of achieving some theoretical higher peak two years from now. July 2008 will probably prove to be the absolute peak, but the "peak" will really be a plateau stretching from roughly 2005-2012.
Then we will begin the long descent down the back of Hubbert's Curve. By 2050, the world will have to make do with roughly half the current energy budget, all forms of energy included. By 2100, most fossil fuels will be kaput.
By 2150, I expect the world will be basically living off of solar income again, meaning biomass plus whatever remains of the renewable energy infrastructure. (At some point, I conjecture in the 2050-2100 time frame, it will get progressively more difficult to build and maintain renewable energy infrastructure because liquid fuels will be very limited and expensive.)
So, that's the outlook. The data supporting it is all publicly available, as I have documented in painstaking detail in my book Profit from the Peak . Barring some unforeseen event, like aliens dropping some crazy new energy technology on us, or cracking the cold fusion conundrum, there is little data to suggest otherwise.
Even oil and gas companies see the coming transformation. A recent survey by Deloitte of 52 directors and higher-level executives at oil and gas companies worth $100 million or more found that a majority believe reasonably priced oil will be out of reach for the US within 25 years, and for the world within 50 years. Three-quarters of them believe oil and gas is currently cheap, but only one-quarter think it will be cheap within 25 years. Only 17% think oil and gas will be sustainable within 25 years, and a majority see renewable energy taking their place. Three-quarters also believe that "transitioning away from the nation's reliance on fossil fuels for transportation is an appropriate goal for the country."
As we stand now on the cusp of "Change," then, what kind of infrastructure will Obama's stimulus plan give us, and will it conform to that outlook?
Rail to the Future, or Roads to Nowhere?
I have hoped as much as the next guy that the next administration will set a new and better course, but I am beginning to have my doubts.
It is abundantly clear to me, as it is to any student of peak oil or anybody who has read my column or my books, that rail is the obvious priority for the future of transportation. Rail is by far the cheapest and most fuel-efficient form of transport, requiring about a third less fuel than air for personal travel, and as little as 3% of the energy for freight.
Yet, our current rail system is a joke compared to the rest of the developed world. As James Howard Kunstler has remarked, even Bulgaria would be ashamed of our rail system. Destinations are limited, especially in the West, and most of the trains run on diesel. Our fastest train, Amtrak's Acela, only does about 100 mph on its short run from Boston to D.C., less than half the speed of modern high-speed trains elsewhere.
If we really intend to have an infrastructure that survives peak oil, we have to transform it to run on renewably generated electricity. We also have to expand it massively and take millions of cars and transport trucks off the road. Doing so would probably cost trillions of dollars and would be worth every penny. For example, a high-speed rail corridor for the Northeast would run about $32 billion. Laying high-speed rail between the major cities of California would cost north of $40 billion.
So far, however, I have seen little suggestion of such an ambitious transformation. The funding package approved in October by Congress would grant a paltry $13 billion to passenger rail over five years, of which three-fourths would go to Amtrak. Another $5 billion is currently proposed by the House transportation and infrastructure committee for intercity rail. That's not transformation spending; that's barely better than maintenance spending.
In fact, despite Obama's pledge to devote funds to projects beyond "roads and bridges," it's now looking like the states might hijack those funds and try to pour much of the Obama stimulus package money into roads and cars.
According to a report by Bloomberg, Missouri plans to spend $750 million of it on highways and nothing on mass transit. Utah would devote 87% of its share to new roads, and Arizona would spend $869 million on highways. Presumably, other states have similar priorities.
I'm not unsympathetic to the plight of the states. Saddled with declining revenues due to the recession and a crumbling road, bridge and airport infrastructure badly in need of repair, they have to do something. In the absence of strong federal leadership into mass transit, they have little choice but to try to maintain what they have.
A spokesman for House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James Oberstar quoted in the Bloomberg article was blunt: "We like the environmentally friendly way of doing things but the charge we were given was to come up with something that can happen quickly," he said. "We can't lose sight of what the primary goal here is, and that is to put people to work."
Not Just Jobs, but the Right Jobs
Which brings us to the key point: Instead of seeking "shovel ready" projects that can be started within 180 days to create new jobs ASAP, the Obama team should be looking at the long view on energy and ensuring what we build now is truly built to last. Roads—especially new roads—are definitely not that.
According to the director of Washington-based Building America's Future, some $16.5 billion in mass transit projects can be started within a year. (By comparison, tens of billions of dollars have already been committed to high-speed electric rail in Europe and Asia.) Those projects should be our immediate national priority, followed by some deep and serious planning for a long-term transportation infrastructure that will survive $150 oil and declining supply. President Roosevelt created just such a planning board as part of the New Deal, which eventually resulted in the interstate highway system.
By planning for it now, we could achieve a somewhat orderly transition away from liquid fuels and toward efficient electric transport. We'll still create millions of new jobs, only they'll be the right jobs. Jobs that won't disappear the next time oil spikes.
Sooner or later, we will have to make some hard choices about what kind of future we want: one that is doomed, but to our current liking, or one that our children's children can rely on. Do we really want to leave them a decrepit landscape of useless asphalt and concrete and an economy that's run out of fuel?
What we need now is an honest, long-range strategy. We need to build rail, rip up roads, massively beef up the electrical grid, and deploy millions of renewable energy generators— the more distributed, the better.
I sincerely hope that the incoming administration will avoid the temptation to reach for the quick fix of new jobs and deliver us that strategy. Without it, we may indeed be lost.
Allow me to close with a stanza from James Taylor's "Traffic Jam":
Now I used to think that I was cool
Running around on fossil fuel
Until I saw what I was doin'
Was driving down the road to ruin.
Until next time,
Chris
P.S. My colleague Nick Hodge has been on top of these crucial infrastructure plays from the start. And I know for a fact that he is the reason my readers have had tremendous success preparing their portfolios for Obama's multi-billion dollar strategy. Maybe it's time you joined them. You can learn all you need to know about the Alternative Energy Speculator by simply clicking here.
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First post of the bonsai blog! I decided to make a blog instead of posting an imgur album every time.
Let’s start this blog off good. With this bougainvillea.
Let’s take a closer look at the trunk
This thing has a nice large trunk!
I have no plans yet, I’ll have to take a closer look at it to figure out what to do.
So how much was it? $15. That’s right fifteen dollars.
Story time, how did I find this beauty? Well my Dad was going to visit a nursery and I decided to tag along. We walked in and the first thing I see at the entrance are a few bougainvilleas. Took a look at their trunks and found this beauty.
I decided I would walk around first and see if there are other things with potential. That was a mistake.
About two minutes after I walk away, people came in and pulled one of the bougainvilleas aside. My Dad freaks out because we may have lost this tree. He wanted to tell them we were taking it but I stopped him because it’d be embarrassing. So they walk out like they’re going home and I sneak a peek at the bougainvillea they pulled aside. It wasn’t this one. Phew. I pull the one I want aside and a few minutes later they buy all of the bougainvilleas that were left.
Almost lost this tree because of that! If you see something good, pull it aside since you don’t know when someone else will take it! Thinking about it, if we even hit an extra stoplight or left a few minutes later I wouldn’t have been able to get this. Jeez.
Some other things.
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I’ve been trying to make a lot more salads lately in place of whole cooked meals and I’ve been digging the results. I feel energized and full so much faster, and it’s super easy to put together a salad like this one after getting home from work. This salad is really nutritious. It has good amount of vitamin A and potassium from the leafy greens, and protein from the chickpeas. My mom is also a big fan of salads, so I can’t wait to share this recipe with her. It’s definitely a keeper.
Print Strawberry Balsamic Chickpea Salad Prep Time: 10 minutes Cook/Cool Time: 20 minutes My Latest Videos Total Time: 30 minutes Yield: 4 - 5 Servings Ingredients 1 cup strawberries, diced
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp sugar
handful arugula
handful spinach
red onion, thinly sliced (I used a mandolin and it worked perfectly)
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
handful sunflower seeds (I wanted to use sliced almonds but they were too expensive) Instructions Add strawberries, balsamic vinegar and sugar to a saucepan over medium-low heat and bring to a slow boil. Lower heat and simmer for 5 minutes until it reduces. Remove from heat and cool for 20 minutes. In a large bowl layer salad ingredients in the following order: spinach, arugula, red onion, chickpeas, strawberry-balsamic glaze and sunflower seeds. Toss before serving. 3.1 https://veganfoodlover.com/strawberry-balsamic-chickpea-salad/ © VeganFoodLover.com
We hope you enjoyed this Chickpea Salad and Balsamic Compote recipe. If you’d like to find more recipes like this one, check out more of VeganFoodLover.com.
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“I remember where I was the first time I heard Laura Branigan’s Gloria the way folks remember where they were when Kennedy was shot, and I’m comfortable with whatever it is you think that says about me.”
I realize that to the vast majority of the population, the phrase “Obscure Laura Branigan” is redundant, but to those of us who were paying attention between 1982 and 1985, the singer’s brief but dynamic run on the pop charts yielded several memorable hits. For a few years at least, Branigan was a big star and a major priority for Atlantic Records (especially for its then-President Doug Morris). A curious paradox of the digital age is that at the very moment that popular culture in its entirety becomes so easily accessible, the information tsunami has made almost everything that ever happened seem remote or even obsolete. In response, Stargayzing has initiated Obscure Laura Branigan, a periodic feature created with the loving intention of rescuing the winsome Branigan from the discount rack in the sky.
Laura streaked comet-like across the airwaves with a string of Euro-tinged Top-10 hits that began with the international monster Gloria, continued with Solitaire (Diane Warren’s first big hit) and How Am I Supposed To Live Without You (Michael Bolton’s first big hit), and ended with Self-Control, (which, incidentally, boasted an oh-so-steamy-for-1985 music video directed by The Exorcist’s William Friedken—the first clip to be helmed by an [allegedly] prestige director). Laura also had the the dubious distinction of recording early versions of two songs that became massive hits for others: Cher’s I Found Someone (Bolton again); and Celine Dion’s The Power of Love. Laura was still singing and recording when she died tragically in 2004, age 47, of a cerebral aneurysm. She was, incidentally, also known by all to be a lovely person, which only strengthens my sense of purpose with these shebranigans!
It was July, 1982. I had just graduated from high school and was working at the Chess King in Brunswick Square Mall in East Brunswick, New Jersey—my second real job, after a brief stint with at Hickory Farms of Ohio, (“Welcome to Hickory Farms, would you like to try our “chudder?” It’s cheddar cheese that spreads like butter!”) As I was organizing some silky, jewel-toned Bugle Boy shirts on an overstuffed rounder close to the entrance, I suddenly heard the first keyboard flourish of Gloria: soaring, regal. My head swiveled toward the speaker as the unmistakable keyboard riff began and I stood at attention. “What is this?” I wondered. You must understand that the Euro-dance sound had simply never been heard in the insipid Kenny Rogers-ridden corridors of the Brunswick Square Mall in 1982. Yes there was Joan Jett, Men at Work, and Elvis Costello by then, but Gloria was something altogether different and wonderful, and my young gay ears perked up and pivoted like a sunflower toward the sun. Then the vocal began: “Gloria/You’re always on the run now/Running after somebody/You gotta get him somehow.” “Who is this?” I asked aloud.
Well in a debate that anticipated a larger misunderstanding that would circulate for months, some of my Chess King colleagues swore it was Donna Summer. I could see why they would say that, as Donna was the closest reference point for the uber-vocal European style of the record, but I knew it wasn’t Donna because Love Is in Control (Finger on the Trigger), the Quincy Jones/Rod Temperton collaboration, had been released only a few weeks earlier and was all over the radio. A Chess King colleague named Jennifer insisted it was Donna but I decided it wasn’t worth the energy to disagree, and I moved over the rounder with the Members Only jackets, completely annoyed. Hell hath no fury like an annoyed queen in Chess King.
Of course the world soon came to know that the girl with the machine gun vibrato and leather pants was Brewster, New York’s own Laura Branigan. Check out this awesome Solid Gold clip!
You may also enjoy:
Obscure Laura Branigan, Volume 2: Her Not-to-Be-Believed Dr. Pepper Jingle
“Dim All The Lights” for Donna Summer: One of Our Greatest Singers (in Any Genre)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1u4-z2vL2TI
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In the rural Iowa town of Red Oak, the names and addresses of the 29 people who signed a petition to remove a candidate from the ballot in a local election were read on the radio repeatedly in 2004. The speaker’s voice dripped with outrage that citizens would try to keep someone from running for office.
“I thought they were going to burn someone’s house down,” Barry Loving, a Red Oak resident who heard the broadcasts, told The Daily Beast.
The candidate those 29 people wanted off the ballot was Joni Ernst, who is currently the Republican nominee for Senate in Iowa and running as the epitome of “Iowa nice”. Her race against Democrat Bruce Braley is currently one of the closest races in the country and could determine control of the Senate. And while Ernst paints herself as the candidate of small town values and attacks her opponent for his supposed lack of civility, she comes from a political background that’s more “House of Cards” than “Little House on the Prairie.”
Ernst won her race for Montgomery County auditor, a deceptively powerful position in local Hawkeye State politics, in 2005. Shortly afterwards, a group of veterans sitting on a local board who had signed the petition were forced out of office, an event they said was directly linked to their support of Ernst’s election opponent.
The county veterans’ commission then was composed of one full time employee making just over $7 an hour and three other part time members who received $25 a month. Their job was to help struggling veterans in the rural county, which had become famous during World War II when Red Oak suffered the highest casualty rate of any town in the United States. Its members were all older veterans, two of whom had signed the petition to remove Ernst from the ballot.
The first commission member to be forced out was Claude Peterson, a Vietnam vet who had signed the petition. Peterson’s reappointment to the commission, which he had served on since 1982, suddenly became caught up in a debate about whether to add additional members to the board. The county supervisors responsible for selecting members of the board, almost all of whom were allies of Ernst, voted against his reappointment. In the aftermath of that decision, Dale Watt, the longtime head of the veterans commission, resigned, as did the other two members.
Watt, another petition signer who was recovering from having a gangrenous gall bladder removed, had served in the post for 14 years. He cited Ernst and her husband Gail in his reasons for resignation, specifically for how they had treated Peterson. In his resignation, Watt claimed that he had never heard a single complaint about his conduct in office until he signed the petition, when Gail Ernst began telling people that Watt hadn’t helped him with a back injury claim. Watt never did anything to regain his position, although it bothered him for the rest of his life. Peterson, meanwhile, filed a lawsuit to try to get his old job back, although he tried to downplay what happened to The Daily Beast, saying “it was just a volunteer job anyway, no big deal and [Ernst] just wanted her people in.” He still seemed disappointed that, in his view, Ernst had injected politics into a job that had never before been political.
“I guess people want power,” Peterson said. “They want to be in control.”
The alleged power play had its roots in Ernst’s election to the county auditor post the year before. Her predecessor in the auditor position, Connie Magneson, was a deeply divisive figure in the little community known for her prickly personality. And her influence extended to the veterans’ commission, which was stacked with what one local reporter termed her “cronies.”
Pro- and anti-Magneson factions brought tape recorders to increasingly rowdy meetings of the county board of supervisors. In fact, tensions had grown so great that one county supervisor, Margaret Stoldorf, pressed assault charges against Magneson.
While almost everyone in deep red Montgomery County is a Republican, Stoldorf characterized many in the Magneson camp as “Republicans in name only” who just adopted the party label because it was easier for them to get elected as members of the GOP. This criticism was echoed by Glen Benskin, a county supervisor at the time and lifelong family friend of Ernst, who described the petition signers as “heretical Democrats.” Others criticized Magneson’s competence as well.
Those who wanted Magneson out of office looked for a challenger to the incumbent auditor, and found the perfect candidate in young emergency manager and veteran named Joni Ernst.
The problem was that Ernst was in Kuwait with the 1168 Transportation Company, a National Guard supply unit that she commanded. Although the unit was due back before the June primary election, she had to file the paperwork while deployed overseas, which created complications.
Federal law forbids active duty personnel from holding public office while serving, and 29 residents of the county, including Watt and Peterson from the veterans’ commission, filed a petition seeking to remove Ernst from the ballot. Ernst insisted that she had permission from her commanding officers to seek the office, although it eventually came out later that she didn’t actually get formal permission until a month after declaring her candidacy.
The local radio station, which was owned by Ernst supporter Jerry Dietz, mounted an all-out crusade on Ernst’s behalf. The names and addresses of Ernst’s opponents were repeatedly read aloud on air, and a county panel unanimously decided that Ernst could run. Ernst actually had to withdraw from the campaign though after it was discovered her emergency management position with the county also precluded a run, but her name was already on the ballot and she won anyway. After a county convention officially made her the GOP nominee, Ernst cruised to victory in the general election again against Magneson, who ran as an independent.
According to her supporters, Ernst’s election restored harmony in county politics. She was re-elected without opposition in 2008, and won a special election for the state senate in 2011. But the events around her entry into politics belie her image as the friendly woman next door in small town Iowa. While Ernst has spent much of the campaign attacking her opponent for allegedly threatening a lawsuit against a neighbor, she got her start in politics in a town that was defined at the time by bitterness and bickering. But, then again, the fault may be inherent in the town. “Red Oak’s not a very nice place, I’m afraid,” one resident told the Beast. “Too many un-nice people.”
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× Homeland Security agent accused of pointing gun at boss
SEATTLE — Federal prosecutors have charged a Department of Homeland Security detention agent with assault for allegedly pointing her gun at her supervisor at the agency’s Tukwila offices.
The Seattle Times reported Monday a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle alleges Peggy Robbins unholstered her handgun and pointed it at her boss Thursday after he asked her to sign documents related to an employee “performance improvement plan.”
The complaint says her supervisor fled through an emergency door and recruited other employees to help him evacuate the workspace.
The complaint says Robbins called 911 herself.
Documents say several other agents approached Robbins’ cubicle with their weapons drawn and she showed her hands and surrendered her firearm.
Robbins was arrested, charged with assaulting a federal officer and booked into the Federal Detention Center in SeaTac, where prosecutors have asked that she be held pending trial.
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WEST MILFORD — A 30-year-old West Milford High School teacher has been arrested for allegedly smoking pot with a student at the high school.
Michael Fleming, of Hackensack, was arrested Tuesday and charged with one count of third degree child endangerment, Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes said.
Authorities offered few details but said the math teacher smoked marijuana with a 17-year-old student sometime in February of 2015.
The prosecutor's special victims unit and the Department of Children and Families abuse investigations unit jointly conducted the probe, Valdes said.
Fleming's bail was set at $25,000 with a 10 percent option.
Prosecutors did not immediately respond to request for comment. Interim West Milford Superintendent Anthony Riscica also could not immediately be reached for comment.
The child endangerment charge calls for a maximum term of five years in state prison.
James Kleimann may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @jameskleimann. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer apologizes during an interview for saying Adolf Hitler did not use chemical weapons, at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 11, 2017. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts
By Jeffrey Heller
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A senior member of Israel's government welcomed on Wednesday White House spokesman Sean Spicer's apology for saying Adolf Hitler did not use chemical weapons, comments that overlooked the killing of millions of Jews in Nazi gas chambers.
"Since he apologized and retracted his remarks, as far as (I) am concerned, the matter is over," Intelligence and Transport Minister Israel Katz said in a statement, citing the "tremendous importance of historical truth and remembrance" of the victims of the Holocaust.
Spicer made the assertion at a daily news briefing, during a discussion about the April 4 chemical weapons attack in Syria that killed 87 people. Washington has blamed the attack on the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
"You had someone as despicable as Hitler who didn't even sink to using chemical weapons," Spicer said when asked about Russia's alliance with the Syrian government.
The Nazis murdered six million Jews during World War Two. Many Jews as well as others were killed in gas chambers in European concentration camps.
When a reporter asked Spicer if he wanted to clarify his comments, he said: "I think when you come to sarin gas, there was no, he was not using the gas on his own people the same way that Assad is doing."
Later on Tuesday, Spicer apologized and said he should not have made that comparison.
"It was a mistake. I shouldn't have done it and I won't do it again," Spicer told CNN in an interview. "It was inappropriate and insensitive."
Spicer's assertion, made during the Jewish holiday of Passover, sparked instant outrage on social media and from some Holocaust memorial groups who accused him of minimizing Hitler's crimes.
Katz, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's party, had tweeted late on Tuesday that Spicer's comments at the news briefing were "grave and outrageous", and he said the White House spokesman should apologize or resign.
There was no immediate comment from other Israeli leaders, during a Passover holiday period when government business is largely at a standstill and many in the country are on vacation.
It was not the first time the White House has had to answer questions about the Holocaust. Critics in January noted the administration's statement marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which omitted any mention of Jewish victims.
At the time, Spicer defended that statement by saying it had been written in part by a Jewish staff member whose family members had survived the Holocaust.
Despite these difficulties, relations between Trump administration and the Israeli government have been more cordial than under the Obama presidency, although differences remain over the scope of Israeli settlement-building.
(Additional reporting by Ayesha Rascoe, Steve Holland and Jeff Mason in Washington; Editing by Toby Chopra)
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Several jurors who helped convict Occupy Wall Street protester Cecily McMillan of assaulting a police officer are regretful after learning she may be imprisoned for seven years, according to her lawyer and a report in the Guardian.
McMillan was convicted Monday of second-degree assault for a March 2012 incident in which she elbowed a police officer in the face -- but only, she said, after he grabbed one of her breasts. She now faces a maximum seven-year prison sentence.
"Most just wanted her to do probation, maybe some community service. But now what I’m hearing is seven years in jail?" one juror told the Guardian on Tuesday. "That’s ludicrous. Even a year in jail is ridiculous."
With the exception of death penalty cases, jurors are never advised of the penalties defendants face. The juror who spoke to the Guardian said he or she was "remorseful" over the potential sentence. Martin Stolar, McMillan's defense lawyer, said that juror is not alone: two have now contacted him to express similar thoughts.
"What's been indicated to me is that at least nine and probably 10 of them are upset that she is facing a jail sentence, and they do not want her to go to jail," said Stolar. In decades of being a criminal defense lawyer, he said such a reaction was "not unheard of, but unusual."
Stolar said some jurors may be planning to write a letter to Judge Ronald Zweibel seeking leniency.
Their apparent remorse comes amid an outpouring of outrage in Occupy circles over the conviction of McMillan, who was known within the movement for vocally supporting non-violence. Occupiers and supporters have now raised more than $10,000 online for her legal defense, with much of that money coming in the days after her conviction.
One big motivating factor: a photo showing McMillan's bruised breast taken days after her arrest. Supporters said it proves she was reacting to being grabbed in the breast from behind, not willfully injuring the police officer.
A group supporting McMillan called Justice For Cecily alleged after the verdict that the picture depicts the result of sexual assault.
McMillan's prosecutor, Erin Choi, suggested during the trial that the photo of the bruised breast was a fabrication. She told the jury in the case that McMillan's story of sexual assault was unlikely because she failed to immediately report it to the police.
"She might as well have said that aliens came that night and assaulted her," said Choi, according to the Village Voice.
Stolar said that assertion is fueling anger over McMillan's verdict.
"A lot of people, it seems to me, are very upset that Cecily got convicted in a case where they take somebody who was an expressly non-violent activist and make her an example of Occupy Wall Street at its worst, and that's just not who Cecily is," said Stolar. "They're also upset about the fact that the [assistant district attorney] characterized the handprint on her breast, the injury that she received, as being put there by aliens instead of by a cop."
McMillan's sentencing is scheduled for May 19.
UPDATE: Nine of the 12 jurors have now written to the judge requesting leniency. "We the jury petition the court for leniency in the sentencing of Cecily McMillan. We would ask the court to consider probation with community service," the letter to the judge reads. "We also ask that you factor in your deliberation process that this request is coming from 9 of the 12 member jury."
Ryan Grim contributed reporting.
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Wilders's Trial: "Unnecessarily Offensive" Geert Wilders is now on trial for having national security views that the prosecution have deemed unacceptable to air in public.
To suggest that Dutch citizens, whose safety Wilders was elected to protect -- it is his job; it is why he was elected -- should not publicly given his best advice, would to countermanding his official duty.
Is it racist to note these problems? Statistical data are usually not racist; they simply express the factual reality of a situation.
The freedom to speak and to question without fear of retribution is fundamentally what separates democratic governments from totalitarian ones. Sunshiny, politically correct views do not need protecting. The reason for free speech is to protect the less-than-enchanting views.
It is fundamental for the health of our society that Wilders and others be able to speak and be heard freely. To protect us and to protect the humanist values of freedom brought to us by Erasmus and the Enlightenment, it is crucial that the Dutch court grant Wilders a full acquittal. As his trial continues in the Netherlands, Geert Wilders, if found culpable, faces a fine for his comments, purportedly "racist", on Moroccans. The prosecution alleges that his comments unfairly "targeted a specific race, which is considered a crime." Never mind that Moroccans are not a race or even a religion; they are citizens of a country -- apparently, making comments on trends that are prominent within minorities, or advice on how to keep a country secure, is now criminal. Statements might sometimes be unpleasant to hear, but to express these views should not be "criminal." Look at the comments of the lead prosecutor, Wouter Bos, who said, "Freedom of expression is not absolute, it is paired with obligations and responsibilities." This is worrying. To suggest that an individual should have the obligation not to "unnecessarily offend," is to make every individual responsible for the thoughts of every other, theoretical individual who might be offended by one's words -- or even, as we see now all too often, just claim to be offended for malicious purposes. Bos added that Wilders has "the responsibility not to set groups of people against each other." Is this really what Wilders was trying to do? The opposite would seem to be true: Wilders was not calling for racial tension; in his view, he is seeking to alleviate it, his solution being less immigration from Morocco. So far, objectively, immigrants from Morocco seem to have had a significant effect on the increase in crime syndicates, drugs- and human-trafficking, and a notably lopsided change in the composition of the prison population in the Netherlands. Is it racist to note these problems? Statistical data are usually not racist; they simply express the factual reality of a situation. With this in mind, perhaps then the struggle Wilders faces could be better described as: Geert Wilders is now on trial for having national security views that the prosecution have deemed unacceptable to air in public. Dutch MP Geert Wilders is now on trial for having national security views that the prosecution have deemed unacceptable to air in public. (Source of Wilders photo: Flickr/Metropolico) The latest development in this process is that the prosecution have demanded that Wilders be punished with a €5,000 fine, in order for him to atone for his alleged transgression against Moroccans. To suggest that Dutch citizens, whose safety Wilders was elected to protect -- it is his job; it is why he was elected -- should not publicly be given his best advice, would to countermand his official duty. If, heaven forbid, there were to be adverse circumstances in the Netherlands, as seen all too often in France, Denmark, Germany and Belgium, and Wilders had failed to warn his countrymen, why could he not, conversely, risk being charged with reckless endangerment? Saying that the Netherlands should have fewer Moroccans is apparently considered "unnecessarily offensive." Perhaps the problem for the long-term survival of Europe is that in modern politics, too many individuals are seeking to base legislation on protecting people from being offended, instead of basing legislation on what is best for the national and cultural security of a country. While no-one might wish others to be offended, sometimes offending others is necessary, even a duty. When Wilders criticises Islam and its associated practices and legal codes, no doubt he offends many conservative Muslims. Does this mean his criticism should not have been expressed? (No.) When Wilders criticises the European Union, he no doubt offends Eurocrats in Brussels. Does this mean his criticism should not have been expressed? (No.) So when Wilders criticises immigration from Moroccan and suggests there should be less of it, he may well have offended Moroccans. Does this mean his criticism shouldn't have been expressed? (No.) Sometimes, causing offence and allowing individuals critically to engage with a viewpoint with which they disagree is a crucial part of our dialogue as a society. Individuals sometimes need to be presented with uncomfortable truths. Whether one agrees with Wilders's view or not, it should be comforting that an individual is allowed to question fundamental building blocks for the future health of our Western values and communal well-being. The freedom to speak and to question without fear of retribution is, in fact, fundamentally what separates democratic governments from totalitarian ones. If one wants individuals to be able to counter views they perceive to be "racist" or in some other way prejudiced, they first need to be able to hear them to counter them. In condemning Wilders, we are not only robbing Wilders of his right to free expression, we are also robbing individuals of a right to listen to him. In a democratic society, individuals should have the right to hear Wilders, and then, based on his arguments, to draw their own conclusions. Too many countries, based on originally well-intended laws that repress free speech, have already fallen into the trap of "the truth is no defense." Is the implication, then, that half-truths, distortions and lies are an acceptable defense? In closing the door to "truth" in Europe and Canada, our fragile Western democracies are opening the door to authoritarian governance. Farewell, democracy. There are other reasons why all Dutch citizens or other individuals should be terrified of this. For Wilders, as a Member of Parliament, the demand of the prosecutors in this case for a fine of €5,000 may not -- on the surface -- destroy his life. But this fine would not include the crushing court costs Wilders has had to incur, even if he is acquitted. What happens when ordinary members of the Dutch public are summoned before a court -- possibly for even greater penalties and with greater court costs -- for expressing views that prosecutors claim are "unnecessarily offensive"? Wilders, as a private citizen with possibly a moderate income, has had to go up against the virtually unlimited exchequer of the entire Dutch government. People's resources are not inexhaustible. This is the nightmare that great protectors of freedom such as Franz Kafka or George Orwell have written about. What happens if Geert Wilders, who is a politician, is only among the first of those who might be prosecuted for speaking out? Other individuals who might also want "fewer Moroccans" may not be able to afford endless court costs and a fine of €5,000 -- or whatever the judgement might be on December 9. Are we really asking the citizens of the Netherlands, and much the free world, as we have already seen too often -- to go through life weighing whether expressing a view will come with a crippling economic cost? Surely if there is a conviction this will be only the beginning. Will anyone ever feel free again to express opinions that might be found -- by someone, anyone, who knows -- "unnecessarily offensive"? Probably not. What, by the way, does "necessarily offensive" consist of? Will lawyers become rich as person after person is hauled into court to decide, case by case, how necessary is "necessary"? Is this really what the free world wants: societies that claim to protect the rights of the individual but then instead prosecute them? Sunshiny, politically correct views do not need protecting. The reason for freedom of speech is to protect the less-than-enchanting views. Without any contrarians, how would society have developed? If this court rules against Wilders, will every politician thereafter who makes a statement that someone deems "unnecessarily offensive" be summoned before a court? At the other end of the political spectrum, three Dutch Labour Party politicians were noted to have insulted Moroccans far more corrosively than Wilders ever did -- even likening them to dirt and excrement. Those Labour politicians were never prosecuted. Gee, could this be a double standard we are seeing? Wilders's judges refused to dismiss his trial on the grounds that it was, as Wilders maintained, politically motivated; but what looks suspiciously like a selective prosecution seems to bear him out. Will the Dutch prosecutors, in fairness, proceed to try these even-more-insulting politicians from the political left? Repeated trials and appeals only lead, as in a totalitarian government, to no-one being able to afford maintaining his freedom by due process. That thought leads to the major politically incorrect elephant in this room: Is it possible that there are people who are exploiting the West's open but expensive legal process precisely to shut down freedom of speech and political views they find inconvenient for themselves? Is that the whole secret point behind the prosecution: to smother speech and smother thought? European nations seem to be rapidly approaching a path of political censorship, to prevent views being expressed that their leaders deem unacceptable. The result? These views only grow in prominence. Across Europe, as Brexit, Wilders, Le Pen, and other "politically incorrect" tributaries that leaders are trying to restrict, are surging in popularity. Ideas cannot be killed by stopping individuals from hearing them; people only seem to want to hear more about what they sense is being hidden from them. You do not have to like Geert Wilders or even agree with him; it is, however, fundamental for the health of our civilization that he and others be able to speak and be heard freely. To protect us and to protect the humanist values of freedom brought to us by Erasmus and the Enlightenment, it is crucial that the Dutch court grant Wilders a full acquittal. Robbie Travers, a political commentator and consultant, is Executive Director of Agora, former media manager at the Human Security Centre, and a law student at the University of Edinburgh. © 2019 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute. Related Topics: Threats to Free Speech Recent Articles by Robbie Travers France: Free Speech on Trial - Again, 2018-03-21
The "Fake News" Crusade to "Protect" You from Free Speech, 2018-02-01
Campus Censorship: Orwell Ignored, 2017-09-13
UK: The Lessons of Manchester, 2017-05-31
Jews Under Assault in Europe, 2017-02-22 receive the latest by email: subscribe to the free gatestone institute mailing list en 9 Reader Comments Reply-> Reply-> Reply-> Reply-> Reply-> Reply-> Reply-> Reply-> Reply->
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Today, I applied extra lipgloss, perfect eyeliner, and blow-dried my hair. I went to ask a restaurant manager for a waitressing job. You see, the stakes are high – I’m desperate for even a minimum wage job. This is in spite of the fact I have several university degrees.
With my final PhD draft due in a week, I have degrees in economics, sociology and politics, research skills in qualitative and quantitative methods, teaching experience at universities, a decent publication record, and a significant conference list of presentations. But now I need lipgloss and cafe connections to get a job.
If degree apprenticeships are to widen access, we need to raise awareness | Petra Wilton Read more
It might be my own fault for having bought into the lie – study hard, get a good job. While I was always warned that full-time academic roles are difficult to attain, I was told that a PhD is an asset. We can get casual research work until we are qualified or, more accurately, connected enough to step into a full-time position. Employers outside the university will value the transferrable skills and critical-thinking capabilities.
This, I have now discovered, is far from the truth. Employers external to the university don’t want a PhD, they want five years of industry experience. Other employers consider me overqualified for basic research tasks. They don’t want to pay the higher rate of employing a PhD.
For those that might scoff, consider the fact that despite my education, I have been living on a scholarship valued just above the poverty line and volunteering my time and research skills to NGOs throughout the course of my doctorate. Ingrained within PhD students is a tendency to work hard; value the experience of the opportunity; and work a significant proportion of the time for an amount nowhere close to what we have trained for.
So, I worked hard. And as my PhD is drawing to a close, I faithfully applied for research work. Causal, part-time, full-time, university, NGO, you name it, I applied. I applied for graduate programmes, requiring only a credit average bachelor’s degree. I applied for administration. I applied in the media industry and in the public sector.
I didn’t even get shortlisted for an interview.
The truth of it is what the university doesn’t tell you. You learn along the way that research, including that produced by PhDs, brings in cash for universities. More PhDs are beneficial for an institution reliant on government funding. But they compete on graduation for fewer jobs in what was an already competitive field. The time spent on producing our PhD effectively renders our previous degrees useless – no graduate employer wants a degree from four years ago.
In Australia, where I study, the emphasis on research production increased. As a result, a number of academics, who had a teaching-only focus, were required to leave my university. A significant proportion of these academics who had focused on teaching were women.
Those wishing to retain an academic job were required to conduct their research in their own time, without a funding budget to support it. This also proved harder for women who still tend to bear the majority of childcare responsibilities. It’s also harder for those from low-income backgrounds, who maintain other work to support their ill-paid academic endeavours.
How do you finish a PhD when, as a working-class student, you don't feel you belong? Read more
The pursuit of more funding is also evident in the way universities chase more student enrolments, perpetuating the notion that a degree will guarantee a good job in spite of the oversupply of education. Students are encouraged to select specific majors which will benefit the university. I’ve been requested from the higher ups to grade on a curve since easy grades encourage retention, and I have been prevented from failing students.
When I first started my PhD, I ran a conference desk with someone who had completed her doctorate. What struck me at the time was how bitter and jaded she had become. Working causal tutoring jobs, she was failing to find full-time academic employment five yearsafter completing her PhD. I was confused and told a mentor, who explained that this can happen and that frequently PhD graduates will be exploited with regard to our time and work.
However, she pointed out that no one will employ an individual who appears disgruntled or complains. Therefore, she concluded, just keep smiling and carry on. More perniciously, my mentor also considered that all academics are already aware of the failures of the system, the exploitation that occurs, and the mental health crisis that accompanies it. Aware, and yet so embroiled in the system that action is not only not taken, but actively discouraged in favour of adhering to the status quo.
So, here I sit, a disgruntled graduate of the system. A PhD turned waitress. A waste of taxpayer money, of my own time and that of the people who taught me. I write this as a means to speak out, as I refuse to be another cog in the wheel that turns according to a code of silence. What’s more, I share my story, as I’m sure I know I’m not the only one who’s emerged from the system bewildered, lost, and with a bitter aftertaste of having been cheated – all in the name of funding.
Join the higher education network for more comment, analysis and job opportunities, direct to your inbox. Follow us on Twitter @gdnhighered. And if you have an idea for a story, please read our guidelines and email your pitch to us at [email protected].
Looking for a higher education job? Or perhaps you need to recruit university staff? Take a look at Guardian Jobs, the higher education specialist
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The Russian/Ukrainian fansite
Today we deployed the small Based on watching people convince themselves yesterday that the Rogue Exile in the Anarchy League screenshot was a revived hardcore character (it's not), I should probably confirm that the new currency recipe doesn't generate an Exalted Orb. I'd hate to see people draw that conclusion then get disappointed next week!The Russian/Ukrainian fansite www.pathofexile.com.ua have been in touch and asked that we mention them in the news. It's really nice to see localised versions of our news posts and information about the game posted for communities that don't natively speak English.Today we deployed the small 0.10.8d patch which laid some of the groundwork for next week's deployment of 0.11.0. I will let you know as soon as we have an accurate deployment window for the patch. YouTube |
Lead Developer. Follow us on: Twitter Facebook | Contact Support if you need help! Last edited by Chris on May 28, 2013, 9:06:02 AM Posted by Chris
on Grinding Gear Games on
I won't say it.
Still, :)
I can't wait for 0.11.0 to hit beta. sooooon. We all have to lie sometimes. It's just a part of being a grown-up.
It's the ones who lie even when they don't have to of whom you should be particularly wary. Last edited by 鬼殺し on May 28, 2013, 9:07:25 AM Posted by 鬼殺し
on on Quote this Post
Next week? But the 29th May is tomorrow!
mysterious... Posted by Scorptice
on on Quote this Post
" We can also confirm that we've added some new vendor recipes to 0.11.0. One of these generates a type of currency item that previously had no recipe.
My thoughts: Everybody will think it's Exalted Orb, but in the end it won't and people will be mad.
Then I read this:
" I should probably confirm that the new currency recipe doesn't generate an Exalted Orb. I'd hate to see people draw that conclusion then get disappointed next week!
Wise decision to let people know it's not a recipe to generate an Exalted Orb :) My thoughts: Everybody will think it's Exalted Orb, but in the end it won't and people will be mad.Then I read this:Wise decision to let people know it's not a recipe to generate an Exalted Orb :) Posted by Reizoko
on on Quote this Post
they're our orbs and we want them now! Call J.G Wentworth, 877-orbs-now I W I N GG
กิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิ ก้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้ ก็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็ ก็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็ กิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิ ก้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้ ก็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็ กิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิ ก้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้้ กิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิิ Last edited by DivineOregon on May 28, 2013, 9:20:27 AM Posted by DivineOregon
on on Quote this Post
" Hailo
Calling it! armorscrap(x amount)+whetstone ( x amount) + fusing = chiselCalling it!
Chisel has a recipe already: maps of up to 40% quality.
I'm calling that it's a recipe for Blessed or Eternal Orbs. Chisel has a recipe already: maps of up to 40% quality.I'm calling that it's a recipe for Blessed or Eternal Orbs. Alteration Orb Union Local #7
I'll smash your nose with 20 Alterations before I'll sell them for 1 lousy Chaos. 16:1. No questions. Posted by Shippal
on on Quote this Post
" Shippal " Hailo
Calling it! armorscrap(x amount)+whetstone ( x amount) + fusing = chiselCalling it!
Chisel has a recipe already: maps of up to 40% quality.
I'm calling that it's a recipe for Blessed or Eternal Orbs. Chisel has a recipe already: maps of up to 40% quality.I'm calling that it's a recipe for Blessed or Eternal Orbs.
Which is not enough to sustain the need.
Try a week race and you'll understand.
A different chisel recipe is needed as it's the only currency that is not sustainable as is.
With that being said I'm assuming it's a recipe for the eternal orb. Which is not enough to sustain the need.Try a week race and you'll understand.A different chisel recipe is needed as it's the only currency that is not sustainable as is.With that being said I'm assuming it's a recipe for the eternal orb. Posted by Hailo
on on Quote this Post
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he moment has finally arrived.... Did Nnekay meet Solange?!?!?! Nnekay breaks down her fabulous night at SFMOMA and how she may or may not have acted like a big ole trash bag... one might say a Trasharella? James also had a glamour night at a very exclusive Marvel private showing! James also talks about his newest obsession: Dear White People (the television show on Netflix). He HIGHLY recommends it! The jury is still out when it comes to Handmaiden's Tale on Hulu- we'll follow that up next week. We also want to congratulate our past guest, Ashley Nicole Black and her show Full Frontal with Samantha Bee. Samantha Bee hosted Not the White House Correspondence Dinner and it was a HIT. Also keep an eye out for Franchesca Ramsey's new talk show headed for Comedy Central (not VH1 like Nnekay said). Heading into our Korners, Nnekay talks about the Moapa Band of Paiutes Tribe of Southern Nevada who fought against a toxic Coal Plant, which was poisoning their land and their people. It's a successful story about grassroots efforts, looking for the right resources, and never giving up in the face of adversary. In James' Korner, he covers the life and times of Sarah Baartman, an South African woman who was stolen, displayed, and exploited even in death. James was inspired the play Venus by Suzan-Lori Parks (which is currently running NYC). The story of Ms. Baartman may enlighten you to the perception of the black female body and it's objectification which still lasts to this day. We dabble a little into the Korner Kids Playground and talk about some of the amazing things happening there (join the fb group). Also we get into how Nnekay does not like birds, James doesn't like racoons, and how Nnekay may or may not have a trash chariot pulled by Racoons. ENJOOOOOOY!
Links!
http://www.colorlines.com/articles/how-one-small-tribe-beat-coal-and-bui...
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On Haiti’s Earthquake Anniversary: Still Waiting for Godot
“Nothing happens. Nobody comes, nobody goes. It’s awful!” – Samuel Beckett, in Waiting for Godot
Months after Haiti’s January 12, 2010 earthquake, people were questioning the failure to deliver promised aid funds. Today they research the disappearance of these funds. The result is the same. No help will come. No help has come.
Elements to accelerate the country’s decline quickly came into place. By Summer 2010, the homelessness from the disaster was exacerbated by tropical storms that packed massive quantities of water because of climate change. In October, a cholera epidemic took hold, starting from a Nepalese base of the United Nations. An epidemic was predictable, though the specifics agents of infection were not, and Cuban health workers, rather than the non-governmental organizations (NGO) that became rich from the disaster, did most of the work to control the disease, as expected.
In the confusion, unscrupulous individuals in and around the government began to grab lands from Haiti’s small farmers, causing more homelessness and less agriculture. The usurpation of titles continues, but it is now done mostly by official governmental decree. Illegal adoptions and outright kidnappings of Haiti’s youngest citizens boomed in Summer 2010. These have not been prosecuted but instead legalized ex post facto.
From the start, Bill Clinton’s so-called Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC), an international group of wealthy businessmen, backed by an expanded army from the UN (MINUSTAH), forced themselves on the country to make it liquidate its commons to them and their friends at fire sale prices. The IHRC has disappeared as an entity because it is now the government. One of its formers members became Haiti’s Prime Minister; other members Gregory Mevs, of Haiti’s wealthy family, and Bill Clinton currently advise Haiti’s president. The names of possible presidents and prime ministers are hardly worth noting. They often change. They don’t matter.
Given that Haiti’s GDP grew 4.3 percent in 2013, money did circulate through the country. Funds from aid organizations like USAID do not help Haitians but instead support US corporations that need to unload defective goods, and foreign workers whose job is to displace Haiti’s middle class. Funds from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), World Bank and the like continue to plunge Haitians deeper into debt. As rich investors build hotels for tourism, the displaced farmers are shipped to work for foreign exchange throughout Latin America, where they are treated with the sort of disdain reserved only for those scorned by their own nation. All this was clear as early as six months after the earthquake when I wrote the article below.
Four years have passed… Haitians are still waiting. For whom, if not ourselves?
Haiti: A Six-Month Report Without Cute Baby Pictures or Demands for Aid Money
Well, yes, July tends to come six months after January. All agree that little help has arrived for the 1.5 million Haitians rendered homeless by the earthquake. But why arbitrarily pick July 12, 2010 as a milestone? Why not May 27, or August 10, for instance?
A rash of six-month reports have formed part of a press campaign, which I can only characterize as:
“Show me the money!”
because the articles go on, ad nauseum, about undisbursed aid funds, or
“See the cute adoptable Haitian babies!”
because the news suggest that all the country’s problems would be solved by spiriting away its children. These articles have had their intended effect of getting Haiti into debt again and boosting international adoptions of Haitian children. I will deal with this later. But first things first.
Earthquakes, storms and floods
On July 18, 2010 the northern Haitian city of Gonaives was shaken by a 4.3-magnitude tremor. This quake happened along the Septentrional Fault, rather than the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden Fault (EPGF) that caused the January 12 earthquake. The same study that correctly predicted the 7.2 earthquake in southern Haiti also noted that the Septentrional Fault holds the potential for an earthquake of magnitude 7.5 or greater, the next time in the Dominican Republic [Geophys. J. Int. (2008) 174, 889–903].
The tremor that occurred around 2 a.m. on July 18 was only the first of a series of disasters that day. Later a violent tropical storm battered northern and western Haiti, including the towns of Saint Marc, Arcahaie, and Montrouis. The Montrouis river swelled to more than 20 feet and overflowed its banks, carrying with it the neighboring villages and farm animals. At least three people died, and over 150 new individuals from the town of Montrouis alone joined the ranks of the homeless.
Due to other storms, a section of the city of Jacmel remains flooded from a river’s overflow. In Leogane, there are over 1,100 more homeless. Regional officials are appealing for potable water, food, and blankets. For those who were already crammed in Haiti’s homeless camps, the more than 30 storms since June have meant continuing destruction. Possibly, their deadliest aspect has been the effects of violent winds on structures already crumbling from the earthquake. In Port-au-Prince alone, one July storm swept away 300 tents, and the flying debris caused a panic that ended with the evacuation of 2,000 people; a fissured wall collapsed, killing two children, one four-years old and the other seven-months old.
“Enter the Gods, then the Cubans”
In between the storms, Haitian officials issued orange and red alerts for regions at risk of flooding and landslides. Alerts, however colorful, are of little use to those with nowhere to go. Epidemics of typhoid fever and malaria have thankfully not come, though many are sleepless from the stormy nights spent standing in their tents, and women routinely wash their families’ clothes in whatever waters they find near the camps. Many Haitians likely owe their lives to the vaccinations and other public-health campaigns by Cuban volunteers. A group of Cuban doctors went on strike when they discovered that their donated medical services were being charged to their patients. “Enter the Gods, then the Cubans” has become a Haitian proverb.
What’s in the aid package?
Aid from wealthy donors has come at the cost of marginalizing Haitian talent while creating jobs in Haiti for unemployable foreigners. Consider, for example, the report of a new Center for Journalism where French journalists would presumably train hapless Haitians. This report coincided with the award of one of the most prestigious prizes in journalism, the Maria Mors Cabot Prize from Columbia University, to SignalFM: the only radio station that continued to inform the public during the January 12 earthquake, and one run entirely by Haitians, in Haiti.
Plans to dump unwanted goods like Monsanto seeds, dirty industries such as mammoth factories for egg production, and large numbers of security personnel on the country have all been tied to aid packages. It is also an open secret that, for years, the United States and Canada have shipped their rapists, drug dealers, and other hardened criminals with the remotest Haitian ancestry, to the island. Many are so foreign to Haiti that they speak only English. They are presumed to have escaped from their cells during the earthquake. Little is done to counter their possible ravages apart from offers of prisons as aid to Haiti, especially from the Canadian government.
In Port-au-Prince, rapes of women and girls are routine in the homeless encampments. Outside these camps, politically-motivated kidnappings and murders are common. Here are some examples:
Patrick Moussignac , the director of Haiti’s Radio Caraibes, who had vocally opposed the IHRC and Rene Preval’s presidency, escaped a volley of gunfire as he walked out of a bank last June;
, the director of Haiti’s Radio Caraibes, who had vocally opposed the IHRC and Rene Preval’s presidency, escaped a volley of gunfire as he walked out of a bank last June; Former Representative Hugues Celestin , who had also opposed the IHRC, was kidnapped in June and luckily ransomed;
, who had also opposed the IHRC, was kidnapped in June and luckily ransomed; Turneb Delpe, the leader of a political party, and an outspoken opponent of Preval’s continuing presidency, barely managed to escape several would-be kidnappers on July 15 after they killed a member of his entourage.
The adoption industry
Perhaps the most pernicious strings of all have been the projects to depopulate Haiti of its youngest citizens in exchange for aid. Over 1,100 children were removed, immediately after the earthquake, from Haiti to the US, on US aircrafts and from a US-controlled airport. According to the largest US adoption agency, Bethany Christian Services, the Haitian earthquake was such a boon to business that adoptions climbed 26 percent in 2010 compared to 2009:
“As a result of increased attention due to January’s earthquake crisis in Haiti and other external factors, Bethany Christian Services , the nation’s largest adoption agency, is seeing significant growth and interest in the U.S. adoption market, with overall international and domestic adoption placements up 26 percent over the same time period in 2009.”
The children have been placed exclusively with white christian mothers. Are these adoptions meant to block the more coveted route to little ethnic children? I digress.
In at least one case, the zeal with which the children were snatched remains an embarrassment. Although in Haiti, almost any document can be had for a price, 12 undocumented Haitian children are in limbo at the Holy Family in Emsworth, Pennsylvania. According to one nun there, “the children had typical reactions to being whisked out of their country…. We had bed wetting and tantrums.”
These children arrived in a group of 54, the rest of whom were supposedly carrying legal adoption documents. Instead of returning the 12 to their Haitian parents and launching a credible investigation into the status of the rest, Pennsylvania Governor, Ed Rendell, complained of the interference of Haitian bureaucracy in expediting the adoptions of the 12. A few months before that, similar calls for the relaxation of Haitian adoptions had come from Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. These have quieted down since the British Petroleum (BP) oil disaster.
White Americans have not been the only collectors of Haitian children. A French group called SOS Haiti, founded one day after the earthquake, has vigorously lobbied its government to attach the disbursement of aid funds to the release of 500 children to adoptive French families. Their pressures have been resisted even by the current Haitian government, a coalition (IHRC) hand picked and led by former US president Clinton and not exactly known for its virtue. They have permitted the transfer to France of 60 children for whom documents were presumably approved before the earthquake.
The supposed adoption of children from a country in disarray and without a functional government is illegal and immoral by all standards. This is especially so in Haiti, where the Western style of full adoption is considered to be unacceptable. Haitian children usually have numerous mothers (aunts, godmothers, cousins, grandmothers, respected family friends) in addition to their biological mother. Even a mother who is so destitute as to place her child in the home of a relative or friend expects to be able to visit the child, mother this child to the best of her ability, and extract the child from the situation if it should become unacceptable.
With few exceptions, the children who are being labeled as orphans are not orphans at all but children whose parents were coaxed into bringing them to Haiti’s numerous foreign orphanages to get them schooled and fed.
Those who genuinely care about Haitian children should help the 20 to 40 year-old adults who care for the very young and the very old. Many of those young adults are in great mental distress from the earthquake. Some are traumatized by the disappearance of their children. The shakes are a common ailment.
Land grabs and foreign debt
Transfers of land titles are equally inappropriate during a disaster and foreign occupation. Nevertheless, the current difficulties with title transfers are being touted as impediments to reconstruction efforts. In the border town of Ganthier, for example, attempts last June by Wyclef Jean and his NGO, Yélé Haiti, to grab thousands of acres of a commons were met with violence from a group of irate farmers.
Although the IHRC has conferred on itself the power to grant property titles, its plans for land grabs look rather hopeless. Indeed the IHRC has become something of a joke. The show-me-the-money campaign has had little effect on well-meaning donors, who are holding on to their funds and refusing to disburse them to the gang of foreign thieves who have latched onto the country. The campaign has, however, had the effect of getting the country into debt again. Haiti’s so-called leaders, ever to do as they are told, have borrowed money from the IMF and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). Representatives of the World Bank are expected in Haiti.
As for every previous impasse, the government consolidates its power while it creates a distraction. Soon a group of 14 Israeli police will quietly join MINUSTAH (the UN force in Haiti), no doubt to share their expertise in settling of countries.
Elections
Executive and legislative elections are being organized for November and December 2010. Calls from the majority of Haiti’s political parties for the departure of President Preval and the replacement of a corrupt electoral council (Conseil Electoral Provisoire, CEP) have been ignored. Rallies for the dissolution of the IHRC and Haitian independence from foreign domination have been met with violence.
It is in this context that we find Haitian-born American musician Wyclef Jean promoting, mostly to the foreign press, his bid for the presidency of Haiti. Given that Jean left Haiti when he was nine years old and is actually a US citizen, such a candidacy is unconstitutional. But then again, a key qualification for the job is a disregard for Haiti’s Constitution. Jean claims that his documents are in order. Well, he should know how such things are done from his foray in Ganthier.
Jean’s main rival is predicted to be Jacques Eduard Alexis, a man who, during the earthquake, was also comfortably abroad, cooling his heels in Canada because he was wanted for human-rights abuses. As a prime minister in a previous administration, in 1999 Alexis had ordered a well-known massacre of a group of youths in the Carrefour-Feuilles neighborhood of Port-au-Prince.
Lavalas, the most popular political party in Haiti, is excluded from the elections. This alone, should have prevented any non-criminal from participating in this farce. The Organization of American States (OAS) and Caricom, on the other hand, assure us that everything will be all right after all, because they will monitor the elections for $5.3 million. Nice work if you can get it.
Haitians, who are no fools, persevere in staying alive and helping each other. Protests have supported Lavalas and marked the anniversary of the 1915-1934 US Occupation of the country.
Editor’s Note: Photographs one to five, seven to nine, twelve to fourteen, seventeen, eighteen and twenty by United Nations Photo. Photographs six, ten, eleven, fifteen, sixteen and nineteen by Zoriah.
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Mauricio Pochettino has told 19-year-old midfielder Josh Onomah that he will not be going anywhere on loan this season because he is so important to his plans at Tottenham.
Spurs start their Premier League campaign at Everton on Saturday afternoon and Pochettino has decided that the best of their young players, including Onomah, Harry Winks and Cameron Carter-Vickers, will stay as part of his squad this season, rather than going out on loan.
Pochettino believes that the most talented youngsters are better off being coached by him and his assistants rather than going to another team on loan. Although the youngsters would play more games out on loan, Pochettino would rather instil his football values into them while assessing whether they can step into his first team. He does not want his prospects being taught other principles by different coaches.
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The most promising of this generation of Spurs youngsters is Onomah, the young midfielder from Enfield. Onomah is a life-long Spurs fan who joined the club at the age of eight and has progressed through the youth system. He is widely admired at the club for his attitude and the grounding he has received from his parents Joseph and Josephine. Onomah made his first-team debut from the bench in January 2015 at the age of 17. Last season Pochettino decided against loaning out Onomah, and he made 19 appearances, four from the start.
There may be fewer opportunities for young players this season, as Tottenham are in the Champions League rather than the Europa League, but Pochettino and his team still see Onomah as a key part of their plans. They have noted his physical development, as he is now fits in with the powerful body-type of most of the Tottenham first team. While he has tended to play in an attacking midfield for Spurs so far, there is an expectation at White Hart Lane that his maturing may lead to him playing in the pair of midfielders in front of the back four.
Onomah is not the only youngster who Pochettino has decided to keep hold of for this season. Harry Winks has greatly impressed Pochettino with his attitude and his fitness in pre-season, and his mature performances on the tour of Australia last month. The 20-year-old midfielder has been pencilled in to be part of the first team squad for this season. Cameron Carter-Vickers, the 18-year-old centre-back, has not yet made his first-team debut for Tottenham, but he is expected to push for a place in Saturday’s match-day squad. 19-year-old Kyle Walker-Peters and 17-year-old Marcus Edwards, who signed his first professional deal this month, are both part of Pochettino’s plans.
Tellingly, none of Onomah, Winks, Carter-Vickers, Walker-Peters or indeed Edwards have ever been sent on loan, which shows Pochettino’s reluctance to let his most talented players be coached by anyone else. In contrast, Dominic Ball, Grant Ward and Alex Pritchard have all left Tottenham permanently this summer, having been loaned out last season. Connor Ogilvie and Nathan Oduwa, loaned out last year, are likely to follow.
Victor Wanyama is likely to make his Spurs debut on Saturday, as Moussa Dembele still has four games left of his six-game ban from last season left to serve. Pochettino coached Wanyama at Southampton and was confident that the Kenya international would comfortably fit into his team.
“Victor is a player that knows us, how we work and our philosophy,” Pochettino said. “It was easy for him to develop his quality and his skill in the team. From day one of preseason, he feel very comfortable and settled in the team. This is a good help for us.”
Pochettino said that Dembele’s suspension was a “big loss” for Spurs, but that they had to cope until he returns against Sunderland on 18 September.
“It is not fair to say that the team dropped performance [last season] because Moussa wasn’t there,” Pochettino said. “It was about Dele Alli too, and the team. I think it’s not fair. It’s true that Moussa was important for us last season. It’s a big loss for us for the first few games. But we need to deal with it.”
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Regierungsentwurf zur Vorratsdatenspeicherung : "Gefühlt erforderlich" ist lange nicht verfassungskonform von Prof. Niko Härting 19.05.2015 © Scanrail - Fotolia.com
Die Vorratsdatenspeicherung wurde vom BVerfG und EuGH nur unter engsten Voraussetzungen für zulässig erklärt. Man hätte erwarten können, dass der Entwurf, mit dem Justizminister Maas sie nun erneut einführen will, diesen Urteilen Rechnung trägt. Doch das Papier schränkt Grundrechte ein, ohne sich um eine Begründung zu bemühen. Eine Erfolgsgarantie für jede Verfassungsbeschwerde, meint Niko Härting.
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Es gibt gute Argumente für die Einführung einer Vorratsdatenspeicherung. Mit den Spuren der Kommunikation – Telefonnummern, Standortdaten, IP-Adressen – können Straftaten aufgeklärt und Straftäter dingfest gemacht werden. Sind diese Daten gelöscht, kommen Täter ungeschoren davon.
Der Zweck heiligt in einem Rechtsstaat allerdings nicht die Mittel. Die Erleichterung der Strafverfolgung kann daher einen Grundrechtseingriff nur rechtfertigen, wenn die Balance zwischen Freiheit und Sicherheit gewahrt bleibt. Je gravierender der Grundrechtseingriff ist, desto größer müssen die Ermittlungserfolge sein, die man sich von dem Eingriff verspricht.
Eine Vorratsdatenspeicherung ist ein außerordentlich gravierender Grundrechtseingriff. Das Bundesverfassungsgericht (BVerfG) sprach in dem Urteil, mit dem es 2010 die damals in Deutschland gültige Vorratsdatenspeicherung aufhob, von einem "besonders schweren Eingriff mit einer Streubreite, wie sie die Rechtsordnung bisher nicht kennt" (Urt. v. 02.03.2010, Az. 1 BvR 256/08, 263/08, 568/08).
Verfahren überhastet, Begründung nur in Allgemeinplätzen
Wenn Minister Heiko Maas beabsichtigt, einen solchen – "besonders schweren" – Eingriff vorzunehmen, ist er in der verfassungsrechtlichen Pflicht, dessen Erforderlichkeit sorgfältig zu begründen. Umso verwunderlicher, dass sich in den "Leitlinien", die Maas vor einem Monat veröffentlichte, kein einziger Satz zur Erforderlichkeit des geplanten Gesetzes fand.
Auch in dem Regierungsentwurf (TKG-E bzw. StPO-E), der jetzt im Eilverfahren durch das Gesetzgebungsverfahren gepeitscht werden soll, findet sich nichts Konkretes zur Notwendigkeit der Vorratsspeicherung. Es wird lediglich pauschal behauptet, die Speicherung könne "die Gefahrenabwehr" und "die Strafverfolgung" erleichtern. Weder wird ersichtlich, auf welche (empirischen) Erkenntnisse sich der Minister dabei stützt, noch wird auch nur der Versuch einer Abwägung unternommen. Die Karlsruher Richter werden dies mit deutlichem Stirnrunzeln verfolgen.
Das Begründungsdefizit ist keine Lappalie. Wenn ein Justizminister glaubt, einen außerordentlich schwerwiegenden Grundrechtseingriff mit Allgemeinplätzen begründen zu können, offenbart er gravierende Defizite des eigenen Verfassungsverständnisses. Als "Verfassungsminister" muss Maas wissen, dass sich Karlsruhe mit einer lediglich "gefühlten" Erforderlichkeit nicht zufrieden geben wird.
Zahlreiche Fragen bleiben offen
Da sich der Minister nicht der Mühe unterzieht, seinen eigenen Gesetzesvorschlag nachvollziehbar zu begründen, fehlt jeder Maßstab, an dem sich die Angemessenheit der vorgeschlagenen Regelungen messen ließe. Einige Fragen, die sich aufdrängen, sind die folgenden:
Warum beträgt die "Höchstspeicherfrist" elf Wochen (§ 113 b Abs. 8 TKG-E) und nicht weniger oder mehr?
Warum sollen der BND, der MAD und die Verfassungsschutzbehörden Vorratsdaten ohne jedwede Einschränkung für Bestandsdatenauskünfte verwenden dürfen (§ 113 c Abs. 1 Nr. 3 TKG-E i.V.m. § 113 Abs. 1 Satz 3 und § 113 Abs. 3 Nr. 3 TKG)?
Warum soll die Pflicht zur Speicherung von Verkehrsdaten nicht nur für Telekommunikations-Provider gelten, sondern – wesentlich weiter und gänzlich unscharf – für alle "Erbringer öffentlich zugänglicher Telekommunikationsdienste", zu denen auch die Betreiber öffentlicher WLAN-Hotspots zählen dürften (§ 113 a Abs. 1 Satz 1 TKG-E)?
Warum gibt es keine Ausnahme für Anbieter von E-Mail-Diensten, die als "Telekommunikationsdienste" – entgegen den Leitlinien – der Speicherpflicht vollumfänglich unterfallen?
Warum gilt die Verbreitung freizügiger Bilder eines Siebzehnjährigen ("Jugendpornographie") als schwere Straftat, obwohl es sich um ein Vergehen mit einer Höchstfreiheitsstrafe von fünf Jahren handelt (§ 100 g Abs. 2 Satz 2 Nr. 1 lit. d StPO-E i.V.m. § 184 c Abs. 2 StGB).
Kein solider Schutz von Berufsgeheimnisträgern, EuGH und BVerfG übergangen
Auf keine dieser Fragen findet sich in dem Gesetzesentwurf eine auch nur halbwegs befriedigende Antwort.
Völlig löchrig und unzureichend ist im Übrigen auch der Schutz der Berufsgeheimnisträger. Kommunikationsdaten von Anwälten, Ärzten, Seelsorgern und Journalisten sollen der Pflicht zur Vorratsdatenspeicherung in vollem Umfang unterfallen. Zudem soll es zulässig sein, diese Daten für eine Bestandsdatenauskunft (§ 113 c Abs. 1 Nr. 3 TKG-E) zu verwenden. Lediglich die gezielte Abfrage von Daten zum Zwecke der Strafverfolgung soll unzulässig sein (§ 100 g Abs. 4 Satz 1 StPO-E). Dies aber auch nur dann, wenn der Berufsgeheimnisträger nicht selbst einer Straftat verdächtig ist (§ 100 g Abs. 4 Satz 5 StPO-E i.V.m. § 160 Abs. 4 StPO). Von einem umfassenden Schutz des Berufsgeheimnisses, den der Europäische Gerichtshof verlangt hat, ist dies meilenweit entfernt.
Die vergangenen fünf Jahre mussten Polizei, Strafermittler und Geheimdienste damit leben, dass es in Deutschland keine Vorratsdatenspeicherung gab. Auch Maas selbst hat sich bis vor wenigen Monaten noch gegen ihre Wiedereinführung ausgesprochen. Woher sein jetziger Kurswechsel kommt und warum er meint, ihn im Eilverfahren umzusetzen zu müssen, ist von Außen betrachtet kaum nachvollziehbar. Indem er auf die verfassungsrechtlich gebotene Abwägung und Begründung seines Entwurfs verzichtet, lässt er nicht nur die Bürger, sondern letztlich auch Kriminalbeamte und Staatsanwälte im Regen stehen. Denn den bereits von verschiedener Seite angekündigten Verfassungsbeschwerden wird dieses Papier kaum standhalten.
Der Autor Professor Niko Härting ist Partner bei HÄRTING Rechtsanwälte in Berlin, Lehrbeauftragter und Honorarprofessor an der Hochschule für Wirtschaft und Recht (HWR Berlin) sowie Lehrbeauftragter an der Freien Universität Berlin.
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Tamora Pierce has written dozens of incredibly-beloved medieval fantasy books about young women doing amazing things. So why, in this era of wildly-successful YA and fantasy book adaptations, do Pierce’s books remain un-filmed?
Pierce, who says she gets asked this all the time, had the following to say over on her LiveJournal about her characters’ lack of screen time:
My film agent tells me that the largest barrier to my getting a film deal is one of the things my fans like best: the fact that, for 14 of my Tortall books, and 10 of my Circle books, there is a good chance the reader will encounter friends from the earlier books. Readers of the Kel series will encounter characters from the Alanna and Daine books; readers of THE WILL OF THE EMPRESS will encounter characters from The Circle of Magic. The feeling among moviemakers is that if Company A makes a movie based upon the Alanna books, and Company B makes a movie based on the Kel books, Company B will be profiting from all the work Company A did, for free! (Gasp! Say it’s not so!) The bottom line is that unless I get J.K. Rowling-hot, so that a film company will buy an entire universe, my chances of getting a film deal are Not Good. (My other alternative is to write a stand-alone book in a brand new universe, then not write any more in that universe. Where’s the fun in that?) Of course, Beka’s books may stand a chance, since they don’t have any characters from the other Tortall books except Pounce.
Tragically, I don’t doubt that Pierce’s agent is correct; but that’s why I’ve always thought her books would work better as a TV show, anyways. Game of Thrones gets record ratings, and Reign has a great cult following—what network wouldn’t want to combine the appeal of both into a female-driven series about girls coming into their own strengths and powers? If I ever get any pull in Hollywood (LOL), I swear to God this will be the first thing I make happen.
To her credit, Pierce takes it all incredibly well.
When I’m not writhing with envy, I actually don’t much mind. Unless I get as big as You-Know-Who, the likelihood that I will be given any degree of control or any advisory position on a movie is zilch. Have you ever heard the woefully incorrect joke: “How do you know who’s the stupidest starlet? She’s dating the writer”? (And that’s the writer of the movie writer.) Hollywood filmmakers are notorious for taking books and turning them inside out. Think a moment: “Eragon.” “Ella Enchanted.” “The Dark Is Rising.” “The Golden Compass.” I rest my case. If I did make a movie deal (I can be had–movie money is VERY good), I would warn my fans not to expect to see my books on the screen. As I said above, Hollywood is notorious for changing the book in their translations. Books take place in the reader’s head. No one will capture what you imagine, which is what I love about books.
If you haven’t read any of Pierce’s books, stop reading this article and immediately go get the first book set in the medieval fantasy world of Tortall, Alanna: The First Adventure. One day I will write a piece about what her books have meant to me and how important they are for young women, but io9 currently has a wonderful primer up on their site. Imagine Game of Thrones, but if there were several different series set in Westeros and they all had amazing female protagonists, including two lady knights, a WOC demigod who can speak with animals, a spy master, and a slum cop. Oh, and she wrote them ten years before Westeros was even a glimmer in GRRM’s eye.
If I’ve sold you on the books (or even if you’re just a die-hard fan like me), Simon & Schuster has just put out a brand-new boxed set of Pierce’s first series, The Lioness Quartet. Every book has a beautiful illustration, and even has a new foreward by Pierce herself! Full disclosure, I was sent one of these in the mail, and it’s incredible. Go grab one for yourself and every YA lover you know for the holidays and get ready for a whole new world of awesome. So mote it be.
(via io9, image via Minuiko)
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The Guardian has a short piece by David Leigh et al on the police investigation into the Climategate emails. Leigh has picked up on the comment left on this site by UEA's Paul Dennis, a climatologist who has a much less antagonistic approach to sceptics than his colleagues in CRU. Dennis had commented that he had been interviewed by police.
Here's the bit where I get a mention:
Dennis has now posted an account of his police interview at a British website run by a sceptic accountant, Andrew Montford. He told Montford's blog, called Bishop Hill: "They thought I might have some information on the basis that I had sent [Condon] a copy of a paper I had published on isotopes and climate at the southern end of the Antarctic Peninsula … and I had exchanged emails with Steve McIntyre over the leak/hack.
As you can see, they missed out the important bit, namely the words "and the author of a very excellent book on the Hockey Stick affair".
David Leigh interviewed me a couple of weeks back, and I was careful to cram him full of biscuits and the finest filter coffee that money can buy. And not a mention of the book, not a mention!
Chocolate biscuits next time, I think.
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Astronotus ocellatus, surveys its world An oscar , surveys its world
Vision is an important sensory system for most species of fish. Fish eyes are similar to the eyes of terrestrial vertebrates like birds and mammals, but have a more spherical lens. Birds and mammals (including humans) normally adjust focus by changing the shape of their lens, but fish normally adjust focus by moving the lens closer to or further from the retina.[1] Fish retinas generally have both rod cells and cone cells (for scotopic and photopic vision), and most species have colour vision. Some fish can see ultraviolet and some are sensitive to polarized light.
Among jawless fish, the lamprey [2] has well-developed eyes, while the hagfish has only primitive eyespots.[3] The ancestors of modern hagfish, thought to be the protovertebrate[4] were evidently pushed to very deep, dark waters, where they were less vulnerable to sighted predators, and where it is advantageous to have a convex eye-spot, which gathers more light than a flat or concave one. Fish vision shows evolutionary adaptation to their visual environment, for example deep sea fish have eyes suited to the dark environment.
Water as a visual environment [ edit ]
Fish and other aquatic animals live in a different light environment from that of terrestrial species. Water absorbs light so that with increasing depth the amount of light available decreases quickly. The optical properties of water also lead to different wavelengths of light being absorbed to different degrees. For example, visible light of long wavelengths (e.g. red, orange) is absorbed in less water than light of shorter wavelengths (green, blue). Ultraviolet light (even shorter wavelength than violet) can penetrate deeper than visual spectra [1] Besides these universal qualities of water, different bodies of water may absorb light of different wavelengths due to varying salt and/or chemical presence in the water.
Structure and function [ edit ]
[5] Unlike humans, most fish adjust [1] Teleosts do so by contracting the retractor lentis muscle. Diagrammatic vertical section through the eye of teleost fish. Fish have a refractive index gradient within the lens which compensates for spherical aberration Unlike humans, most fish adjust focus by moving the lens closer or further from the retina Teleosts do so by contracting the retractor lentis muscle.
Fish eyes are broadly similar to those of other vertebrates – notably the tetrapods (amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals – all of which evolved from a fish ancestor). Light enters the eye at the cornea, passing through the pupil to reach the lens. Most fish species seem to have a fixed pupil size, but elasmobranches (like sharks and rays) have a muscular iris which allows pupil diameter to be adjusted. Pupil shape varies, and may be e.g. circular or slit-like.[1]
Lenses are normally spherical but can be slightly elliptical in some species. Compared to terrestrial vertebrates, fish lenses are generally more dense and spherical. In the aquatic environment there is not a major difference in the refractive index of the cornea and the surrounding water (compared to air on land) so the lens has to do the majority of the refraction.[5] Due to "a refractive index gradient within the lens — exactly as one would expect from optical theory",[6] the spherical lenses of fish are able to form sharp images free from spherical aberration.[5]
Once light passes through the lens, it is transmitted through a transparent liquid medium until it reaches the retina, containing the photoreceptors. Like other vertebrates, the photoreceptors are on the inside layer so light must pass through layers of other neurons before it reaches them. The retina contains rod cells and cone cells.[1]
The retina [ edit ]
Within the retina, rod cells provide high visual sensitivity (at the cost of acuity), being used in low light conditions. Cone cells provide higher spatial and temporal resolution than rods can, and allow for the possibility of colour vision by comparing absorbances across different types of cones which are more sensitive to different wavelengths. The ratio of rods to cones depends on the ecology of the fish species concerned, e.g., those mainly active during the day in clear waters will have more cones than those living in low light environments. Colour vision is more useful in environments with a broader range of wavelengths available, e.g., near the surface in clear waters rather than in deeper water where only a narrow band of wavelengths persist.[1]
The distribution of photoreceptors across the retina is not uniform. Some areas have higher densities of cone cells, for example (see fovea). Fish may have two or three areas specialized for high acuity (e.g. for prey capture) or sensitivity (e.g. from dim light coming from below). The distribution of photoreceptors may also change over time during development of the individual. This is especially the case when the species typically moves between different light environments during its life cycle (e.g. shallow to deep waters, or fresh water to ocean).[1] or when food spectrum changes accompany the growth of a fish as seen with the Antarctic icefish Champsocephalus gunnari.[7]
Some species have a tapetum, a reflective layer which bounces light that passes through the retina back through it again. This enhances sensitivity in low light conditions, such as nocturnal and deep sea species, by giving photons a second chance to be captured by photoreceptors.[5] However this comes at a cost of reduced resolution. Some species are able to effectively turn their tapetum off in bright conditions, with a dark pigment layer covering it as needed.[1]
The retina uses a lot of oxygen compared to most other tissues, and is supplied with plentiful oxygenated blood to ensure optimal performance.[1]
Humans have a vestibulo-ocular reflex, which is a reflex eye movement that stabilizes images on the retina during head movement by producing an eye movement in the direction opposite to head movement, thus preserving the image on the center of the visual field. In a similar manner, fish have a vestibulo-ocular reflex which stabilizes visual images on the retina when it moves its tail.[8]
Accommodation [ edit ]
Accommodation is the process by which the vertebrate eye adjusts focus on an object as it moves closer or further away. Whereas birds and mammals achieve accommodation by deforming the lens of their eyes, fish and amphibians normally adjust focus by moving the lens closer or further from the retina.[1] They use a special muscle which changes the distance of the lens from the retina. In bony fishes the muscle is called the retractor lentis, and is relaxed for near vision, whereas for cartilaginous fishes the muscle is called the protractor lentis, and is relaxed for far vision. Thus bony fishes accommodate for distance vision by moving the lens closer to the retina, while cartilaginous fishes accommodate for near vision by moving the lens further from the retina.[9][10][11]
Stabilising images [ edit ]
There is a need for some mechanism that stabilises images during rapid head movements. This is achieved by the vestibulo-ocular reflex, which is a reflex eye movement that stabilises images on the retina by producing eye movements in the direction opposite to head movements, thus preserving the image on the centre of the visual field. For example, when the head moves to the right, the eyes move to the left, and vice versa. In many animals, including human beings, the inner ear functions as the biological analogue of an accelerometer in camera image stabilization systems, to stabilize the image by moving the eyes. When a rotation of the head is detected, an inhibitory signal is sent to the extraocular muscles on one side and an excitatory signal to the muscles on the other side. The result is a compensatory movement of the eyes. Typical human eye movements lag head movements by less than 10 ms.[12]
The diagram on the right shows the horizontal vestibulo-ocular reflex circuitry in bony and cartilaginous fish.
Ultraviolet [ edit ]
Fish vision is mediated by four visual pigments that absorb various wavelengths of light. Each pigment is constructed from a chromophore and the transmembrane protein, known as opsin. Mutations in opsin have allowed for visual diversity, including variation in wavelength absorption.[16] A mutation of the opsin on the SWS-1 pigment allows some vertebrates to absorb UV light (≈360 nm), so they can see objects to reflect UV light.[17] A wide range of fish species has developed and maintained this visual trait throughout evolution, suggesting it is advantageous. UV vision may be related to foraging, communication, and mate selection.
The leading theory regarding the evolutionary selection of UV vision in select fish species is due to its strong role in mate selection. Behavioral experiments show that African cichlids utilize visual cues when choosing a mate. Their breeding sites are typically in shallow waters with high clarity and UV light penetration. Male African cichlids are largely a blue color that is reflective in UV light. Females are able to correctly choose a mate of their species when these reflective visual cues are present. This suggests that UV light detection is crucial for correct mate selection.[18] UV reflective color patterns also enhance male attractiveness in guppies and three-spined sticklebacks. In experimental settings, female guppies spent significantly more time inspecting males with UV-reflective coloring than those with UV reflection blocked.[19] Similarly, female three-spined sticklebacks preferred males viewed in full spectrum over those viewed in UV blocking filters.[20] These results strongly suggest the role of UV detection in sexual selection and, thus, reproductive fitness. The prominent role of UV light detection in fish mate choice has allowed the trait to be maintained over time. UV vision may also be related to foraging and other communication behaviors.
Many species of fish can see the ultraviolet end of the spectrum, beyond the violet.[21]
Ultraviolet vision is sometimes used during only part of the life cycle of a fish. For example, juvenile brown trout live in shallow water where they use ultraviolet vision to enhance their ability to detect zooplankton. As they get older, they move to deeper waters where there is little ultraviolet light.[22]
The two stripe damselfish, Dascyllus reticulatus, has ultraviolet-reflecting colouration which they appear to use as an alarm signal to other fish of their species.[23] Predatory species cannot see this if their vision is not sensitive to ultraviolet. There is further evidence for this view that some fish use ultraviolet as a "high-fidelity secret communication channel hidden from predators", while yet other species use ultraviolet to make social or sexual signals.[1][24]
Polarized light [ edit ]
It is not easy to establish whether a fish is sensitive to polarized light, though it appears likely in a number of taxa. It has been unambiguously demonstrated in anchovies.[25] The ability to detect polarized light may provide better contrast and/or directional information for migrating species. Polarized light is most abundant at dawn and dusk.[1] Polarized light reflected from the scales of a fish may enable other fish to better detect it against a diffuse background,[26] and may provide useful information to schooling fish about their proximity and orientation relative to neighbouring fish.[27]
Double cones [ edit ]
Most fish have double cones, a pair of cone cells joined to each other. Each member of the double cone may have a different peak absorbance, and behavioural evidence supports the idea that each type of individual cone in a double cone can provide separate information (i.e. the signal from individual members of the double cone are not necessarily summed together).[28]
Adaptation to habitat [ edit ]
The Four-eyed fishThe four-eyed fish feeds at the surface of the water with eyes that allow it to see both above and below the surface at the same time. Eye of a four-eyed fish
1) Underwater retina 2) Lens 3) Air pupil
4) Tissue band 5) Iris 6) Underwater pupil
7) Air retina 8) Optic nerve
Fishes that live in surface waters down to about 200 metres, epipelagic fishes, live in a sunlit zone where visual predators use visual systems which are designed pretty much as might be expected. But even so, there can be unusual adaptations. Four-eyed fish have eyes raised above the top of the head and divided in two different parts, so that they can see below and above the water surface at the same time. Four-eyed fish actually have only two eyes, but their eyes are specially adapted for their surface-dwelling lifestyle. The eyes are positioned on the top of the head, and the fish floats at the water surface with only the lower half of each eye underwater. The two halves are divided by a band of tissue and the eye has two pupils, connected by part of the iris. The upper half of the eye is adapted for vision in air, the lower half for vision in water.[29] The lens of the eye changes in thickness top to bottom to account for the difference in the refractive indices of air versus water. These fish spend most of their time at the surface of the water. Their diet mostly consists of the terrestrial insects which are available at the surface.[30]
Mesopelagic fishes live in deeper waters, in the twilight zone down to depths of 1000 metres, where the amount of sunlight available is not sufficient to support photosynthesis. These fish are adapted for an active life under low light conditions. Most of them are visual predators with large eyes. Some of the deeper water fish have tubular eyes with big lenses and only rod cells that look upwards. These give binocular vision and great sensitivity to small light signals.[31] This adaptation gives improved terminal vision at the expense of lateral vision, and allows the predator to pick out squid, cuttlefish, and smaller fish that are silhouetted against the gloom above them. For more sensitive vision in low light, some fish have a retroreflector behind the retina. Flashlight fish have this plus photophores, which they use in combination to detect eyeshine in other fish.[32][33][34]
Still deeper down the water column, below 1000 metres, are found the bathypelagic fishes. At this depth the ocean is pitch black, and the fish are sedentary, adapted to outputting minimum energy in a habitat with very little food and no sunlight. Bioluminescence is the only light available at these depths. This lack of light means the organisms have to rely on senses other than vision. Their eyes are small and may not function at all.[35][36]
Deepwater fishes, like this Antarctic toothfish, often have large, upward looking eyes, adapted to detect prey silhouetted against the gloom above. [37]
The telescopefish has large, forward-pointing telescoping eyes with large lenses. [38]
The mesopelagic sabertooth is an ambush predator with telescopic, upward-pointing eyes.
At the very bottom of the ocean flatfish can be found. Flatfish are benthic fish with a negative buoyancy so they can rest on the seafloor. Although flatfish are bottom dwellers, they are not usually deep sea fish, but are found mainly in estuaries and on the continental shelf. When flatfish larvae hatch they have the elongated and symmetric shape of a typical bony fish. The larvae do not dwell on the bottom, but float in the sea as plankton. Eventually they start metamorphosing into the adult form. One of the eyes migrates across the top of the head and onto the other side of the body, leaving the fish blind on one side. The larva loses its swim bladder and spines, and sinks to the bottom, laying its blind side on the underlying surface.[39] Richard Dawkins explains this as an example of evolutionary adaptation
...bony fish as a rule have a marked tendency to be flattened in a vertical direction.... It was natural, therefore, that when the ancestors of [flatfish] took to the sea bottom, they should have lain on one side.... But this raised the problem that one eye was always looking down into the sand and was effectively useless. In evolution this problem was solved by the lower eye ‘moving’ round to the upper side.[40]
Most deep-sea fish cannot see red light. The deepwater stoplight loosejaw produces red bioluminescence so it can hunt with an effectively invisible beam of light. [41]
When the larvae of a flatfish grows, the eye on one side rotates to the other side so the fish can rest on the seafloor
The European plaice is a flatfish with raised eyes, so when it buries itself in sand for camouflage it can still see
Prey usually have eyes on the sides of their head so they have a large field of view, from which to avoid predators. Predators usually have eyes in front of their head so they have better depth perception.[42][43] Benthic predators, like flatfish, have eyes arranged so they have a binocular view of what is above them as they lie on the bottom.
Coloration [ edit ]
Fish have evolved sophisticated ways of using colouration. For example, prey fish have ways of using colouration to make it more difficult for visual predators to see them. In pelagic fish, these adaptations are mainly concerned with a reduction in silhouette, a form of camouflage. One method of achieving this is to reduce the area of their shadow by lateral compression of the body. Another method, also a form of camouflage, is by countershading in the case of epipelagic fish and by counter-illumination in the case of mesopelagic fish. Countershading is achieved by colouring the fish with darker pigments at the top and lighter pigments at the bottom in such a way that the colouring matches the background. When seen from the top, the darker dorsal area of the animal blends into the darkness of the water below, and when seen from below, the lighter ventral area blends into the sunlight from the surface. Counter illumination is achieved via bioluminescence by the production of light from ventral photophores, aimed at matching the light intensity from the underside of the fish with the light intensity from the background.[44]
Benthic fish, which rest on the seafloor, physically hide themselves by burrowing into sand or retreating into nooks and crannies, or camouflage themselves by blending into the background or by looking like a rock or piece of seaweed.[45]
While these tools may be effective as predator avoidance mechanisms, they also serve as equally effective tools for the predators themselves. For example, the deepwater velvet belly lantern shark uses counter-illumination to hide from its prey.[46]
Some fish species also display false eyespots. The foureye butterflyfish gets its name from a large dark spot on the rear portion of each side of the body. This spot is surrounded by a brilliant white ring, resembling an eyespot. A black vertical bar on the head runs through the true eye, making it hard to see.[47] This can result in a predator thinking the fish is bigger than it is, and confusing the back end with the front end. The butterflyfish's first instinct when threatened is to flee, putting the false eyespot closer to the predator than the head. Most predators aim for the eyes, and this false eyespot tricks the predator into believing that the fish will flee tail first.
The John Dory is a benthopelagic coastal fish with a high laterally compressed body. Its body is so thin that it can hardly be seen from the front. It also has a large dark spot on both sides, which is used to flash an "evil eye" if danger approaches. The large eyes at the front of the head provide it with the bifocal vision and depth perception it needs to catch prey. The John Dory's eye spot on the side of its body also confuses prey, which is then scooped up in its mouth.[48]
Barreleyes [ edit ]
Left: The barreleye has barrel-shaped, telescopic eyes which are
generally directed upwards, but can also be swivelled forward
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Right: The brownsnout spookfish is the only vertebrate known
to employ a mirror eye (as well as a lens):
(1) diverticulum (2) main eye
(a) retina (b) reflective crystals (c) lens (d) retina
Barreleyes are a family of small, unusual-looking mesopelagic fishes, named for their barrel-shaped, tubular eyes which are generally directed upwards to detect the silhouettes of available prey.[49][50] Barreleyes have large, telescoping eyes which dominate and protrude from the skull. These eyes generally gaze upwards, but can also be swivelled forwards in some species. Their eyes have a large lens and a retina with an exceptional number of rod cells and a high density of rhodopsin (the "visual purple" pigment); there are no cone cells.[49]
The barreleye species, Macropinna microstoma, has a transparent protective dome over the top of its head, somewhat like the dome over an airplane cockpit, through which the lenses of its eyes can be seen. The dome is tough and flexible, and presumably protects the eyes from the nematocysts (stinging cells) of the siphonophores from which it is believed the barreleye steals food.[49][50][51]
Another barreleye species, the brownsnout spookfish, is the only vertebrate known to employ a mirror, as opposed to a lens, to focus an image in its eyes.[52][53] It is unusual in that it utilizes both refractive and reflective optics to see. The main tubular eye contains a lateral ovoid swelling called a diverticulum, largely separated from the eye by a septum. The retina lines most of the interior of the eye, and there are two corneal openings, one directed up and the other down, that allow light into the main eye and the diverticulum respectively. The main eye employs a lens to focus its image, as in other fishes. However, inside the diverticulum the light is reflected and focused onto the retina by a curved composite mirror derived from the retinal tapetum, composed of many layers of small reflective plates possibly made of guanine crystals. The split structure of the brownsnout spookfish eye allows the fish to see both up and down at the same time. In addition, the mirror system is superior to a lens in gathering light. It is likely that the main eye serves to detect objects silhouetted against the sunlight, while the diverticulum serves to detect bioluminescent flashes from the sides and below.[52]
Sharks [ edit ]
Shark eyes are similar to the eyes of other vertebrates, including similar lenses, corneas and retinas, though their eyesight is well adapted to the marine environment with the help of a tissue called tapetum lucidum. This tissue is behind the retina and reflects light back to it, thereby increasing visibility in the dark waters. The effectiveness of the tissue varies, with some sharks having stronger nocturnal adaptations. Many sharks can contract and dilate their pupils, like humans, something no teleost fish can do. Sharks have eyelids, but they do not blink because the surrounding water cleans their eyes. To protect their eyes some species have nictitating membranes. This membrane covers the eyes while hunting and when the shark is being attacked. However, some species, including the great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias), do not have this membrane, but instead roll their eyes backwards to protect them when striking prey. The importance of sight in shark hunting behavior is debated. Some believe that electro- and chemoreception are more significant, while others point to the nictating membrane as evidence that sight is important. Presumably, the shark would not protect its eyes were they unimportant. The use of sight probably varies with species and water conditions. The shark's field of vision can swap between monocular and stereoscopic at any time.[54] A micro-spectrophotometry study of 17 species of shark found 10 had only rod photoreceptors and no cone cells in their retinas giving them good night vision while making them colorblind. The remaining seven species had in addition to rods a single type of cone photoreceptor sensitive to green and, seeing only in shades of grey and green, are believed to be effectively colorblind. The study indicates that an object's contrast against the background, rather than colour, may be more important for object detection.[55] [56][57]
Other examples [ edit ]
By schooling together, small fish provide many eyes as a precaution against ambush, and can visually confuse predators if they do attack
The omega iris allows Loricariids to adjust the amount of light that enters their eye
Small fish often school together for safety. This can have visual advantages, both by visually confusing predator fishes, and by providing many eyes for the school regarded as a body. The "predator confusion effect" is based on the idea that it becomes difficult for predators to pick out individual prey from groups because the many moving targets create a sensory overload of the predator's visual channel.[58] "Shoaling fish are the same size and silvery, so it is difficult for a visually oriented predator to pick an individual out of a mass of twisting, flashing fish and then have enough time to grab its prey before it disappears into the shoal."[59] The "many eyes effect" is based on the idea that as the size of the group increases, the task of scanning the environment for predators can be spread out over many individuals, a mass collaboration presumably providing a higher level of vigilance.[60][61]
Fish are normally cold-blooded, with body temperatures the same as the surrounding water. However, some oceanic predatory fish, such as swordfish and some shark and tuna species, can warm parts of their body when they hunt for prey in deep and cold water. The highly visual swordfish uses a heating system involving its muscles which raises the temperature in its eyes and brain by up to 15 °C. The warming of the retina improves the rate at which the eyes respond to changes in rapid motion made by its prey by as much as ten times.[62][63][64]
Some fish have eyeshine.[65] Eyeshine is the result of a light-gathering layer in the eyes called the tapetum lucidum, which reflects white light. It does not occur in humans, but can be seen in other species, such as deer in a headlight. Eyeshine allows fish to see well in low-light conditions as well as in turbid (stained or rough, breaking) waters, giving them an advantage over their prey. This enhanced vision allows fish to populate the deeper regions in the ocean or a lake. In particular, freshwater walleye are so named because their eyeshine.[66]
Many species of Loricariidae, a family of catfish, have a modified iris called an omega iris. The top part of the iris descends to form a loop which can expand and contract called an iris operculum; when light levels are high, the pupil reduces in diameter and the loop expands to cover the center of the pupil giving rise to a crescent shaped light transmitting portion.[67] This feature gets its name from its similarity to an upside-down Greek letter omega (Ω). The origins of this structure are unknown, but it has been suggested that breaking up the outline of the highly visible eye aids camouflage in what are often highly mottled animals.[67]
Distance sensory systems [ edit ]
Visual systems are distance sensory systems which provide fish with data about location or objects at a distance without a need for the fish to directly touch them. Such distance sensing systems are important, because they allow communication with other fish, and provide information about the location of food and predators, and about avoiding obstacles or maintaining position in fish schools. For example, some schooling species have "schooling marks" on their sides, such as visually prominent stripes which provide reference marks and help adjacent fish judge their relative positions.[69] But the visual system is not the only one that can perform such functions. Some schooling fish also have a lateral line running the length of their bodies. This lateral line enables the fish to sense changes in water pressure and turbulence adjacent to its body. Using this information, schooling fish can adjust their distance from adjacent fish if they come too close or stray too far.[69]
The visual system in fish is augmented by other sensing systems with comparable or complimentary functions. Some fish are blind, and must rely entirely on alternate sensing systems.[70] Other senses which can also provide data about location or distant objects include hearing and echolocation, electroreception, magnetoception and chemoreception (smell and taste). For example, catfish have chemoreceptors across their entire bodies, which means they "taste" anything they touch and "smell" any chemicals in the water. "In catfish, gustation plays a primary role in the orientation and location of food".[71]
Cartilaginous fish (sharks, stingrays and chimaeras) use magnetoception. They possess special electroreceptors called the ampullae of Lorenzini which detect a slight variation in electric potential. These receptors, located along the mouth and nose of the fish, operate according to the principle that a time-varying magnetic field moving through a conductor induces an electric potential across the ends of the conductor. The ampullae may also allow the fish to detect changes in water temperature.[72] [73] As in birds, magnetoception may provide information which help the fish map migration routes.[74]
See also [ edit ]
Notes [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
Further reading [ edit ]
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More than a third of UK universities have given up offering specialist modern European language degrees over the past 15 years, the Guardian has found, as leading academics argue harsh marking at A-level is putting teenagers off studying the subject at school.
Since 1998, the number of universities offering French, German, Italian and Spanish as single honours degrees or jointly with another language has plunged by 40% and the rate of decline has increased in recent years.
The number of universities offering degrees in the worst affected subject, German, has halved over the past 15 years. There are 40% fewer institutions where it is possible to study French on its own or with another language, while Italian is down 23% and Spanish is down 22%.
The result is that languages are increasingly elite subjects, studied at an ever decreasing number of top universities. "If this rate of decline continues, two or three language departments will close every year and the remaining students will have a lot less choice," said Michael Kelly, head of modern languages at Southampton University and former adviser to both the coalition and Labour governments on modern languages.
"These findings confirm that the UK has in recent years been systematically squandering its already poor linguistic resources," said Katrin Kohl, professor of German at Jesus College, Oxford and director of the Oxford German Network.
"We're reaching the position where language competence is a prerogative of the privately educated elite, and language degrees are restricted to Russell Group universities."
The data has been derived from an analysis of Ucas course listings for 1998, 2007 and the forthcoming 2014-15 entry – which shows a steep and accelerating decline in institutions that provide specialist language degrees.
The last government scrapped compulsory languages at GCSE level in 2004. Falling numbers of degree courses reflect a decline in the number of pupils taking traditional modern foreign languages at A-level – the total is at its lowest since the mid 90s. This summer only 6.9% taking French, German and Spanish achieved A*, a lower proportion than other subjects, prompting a major inquiry into how modern language A-levels are marked.
But academics worry the inquiry itself may deter even more students from taking an A-level in a modern language unless a new marking structure is in place by next year's exams. In a letter in Tuesday's Guardian, leading academics warn that unless more is done to shore up languages in secondary schools, the closure of language departments could escalate still further.
"Modern languages departments in schools are under pressure from management because the subject is unfairly perceived to be underperforming," the group writes. "University departments of modern languages struggle to recruit students because A-level uptake is falling and candidates are missing their offers.
"The disadvantaging of modern languages candidates in school examinations has been blighting the subject at all levels, and will continue to do so until the unfair grading is addressed effectively. Gifted linguists discouraged by poor results drop the subject after GCSE. Some of the brightest linguists are wary of choosing modern languages at A-level for fear of losing out on top grades and university places."
However, while specialist language degrees are being cut, anecdotal evidence suggests degrees with other subjects that involve a language component, such as law and French or business studies and Spanish are stable.
Beginner and intermediate language modules that are not part of students' main degrees are also growing in popularity, university sources say, although comparative figures are not available.
No Northern Irish or Welsh university offers Arabic or Russian degrees, while outside England, Japanese is only available at Cardiff and Edinburgh. Although Chinese is growing in English universities, it is not available in Northern Ireland at all and only Bangor, Trinity St Davids, Heriot Watt and Edinburgh provide degrees in the subject in Wales and Scotland.
"Students already face fewer choices if they want to study languages," said Sally Hunt, general secretary of the University and College Union, the trade union that represents university lecturers. "If we continue down this path there will be whole swathes of the country where students simply won't be able to study languages," she added.
The analysis shows a continued concentration of language degrees at top universities. Of the 24 institutions that have cut language degrees since 2007, most were newer universities. For the remaining single honours courses, three quarters of Italian courses, two thirds of German and half of French and Spanish studies degrees are at the elite group of Russell Group universities. Even so, only 12 Russell Group universities still offer single honours degrees in all four main European languages: French, German, Italian and Spanish.
David Willetts, the universities minister, said: "The last government marginalised languages in schools. This government is reversing the decline. Language learning at GCSE is now at its highest level for five years."A DfE spokesman said: "We are addressing the chronic lack of attention paid to foreign languages in schools. For the first time ever, we have made it compulsory from September 2014 for primary schools to teach a language so that children can learn this crucial skill from a young age.
"Young people can then build on that at secondary school. Including foreign languages in the EBacc is already having an effect. The number of students studying languages at GCSE rose by more than 15 per cent last year – and is now at its highest level for five years. We fully expect this to have an impact on future A level numbers."
Additional reporting by George Arnett
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Via Deadspin, we have been made aware that on Saturday, LeBron James took in a screening of the hit Disney film Maleficent. By himself.
We know what #Lebron is doing right now. It's a Lebron selfie!! pic.twitter.com/ZbA0xaWBiI — Jeremy Baker (@JBWeather) June 7, 2014
Some people are taking this as an opportunity to mock LeBron James. (Other opportunities people think it is acceptable to mock LeBron: literally every instant he is alive.)
But not us. SB Nation is taking a firm stance that going to the movies by yourself is awesome. I personally have been of this opinion for some time. Going to the movies alone is like a staycation where you leave the house. (Someone should come up with a term for that.)
When you go to the movies by yourself:
- You can show up whenever you want and just see whatever
- You can get whatever you want at the snack bar, even one of those theater hot dogs you mock around your friends but that you secretly believe smell fantastic
- You can sit wherever you want, even in the very last row and use your phone to text snide comments without anyone looking at you like you just dropped a baby
- If someone is being obnoxious or kicking your seat, YOU CAN JUST MOVE AT ANY TIME
- You can sob as hard as you want to The Fault In Our Stars or Maleficent or X-Men: Days of Future Past (which has a final scene where sobbing is warranted and how dare you say otherwise)
In other words, LeBron James is reminding us all that Team Solo is awesome. He is a hero both on and off the court.
With all that being said, however:
lol
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Not to be confused with Forsyth, Georgia
Forsyth County is a county in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. At the 2010 census, the population was 175,511.[1] The county seat is Cumming.[2]
Forsyth County is one of the fastest-growing areas in the United States,[3][4][5] stimulated by its proximity to Atlanta and appeal as a commuter base for people working there. The influx of high-earning professionals has increased the average income dramatically; in 2008 Forbes ranked the county as the 31st-wealthiest in the United States in terms of median household income, now currently the 16th-wealthiest county in the United States.
In the 1980s, the county attracted national media attention as the site of large civil rights demonstrations and counter-demonstrations. Organizers hoped to dispel the county's image as a hate filled sundown town; blacks were unjustly forced out in 1912 and the county had a reputation of being hostile to people of color and gays [6][7] for many decades since. Thousands of marchers on both sides came from outside the area; officials kept peace with police officers and National Guard protecting the event.
From 2007 to 2009, the county received national attention because of a severe drought. Water supplies for the Atlanta area and downstream areas of Alabama and Florida were threatened. This followed a more severe drought in 2007 and 2008, and flooding in 2009.[8] Flooding occurred in 2013, and severe drought again in 2016. Georgia, Alabama and Florida have been in a tri-state water dispute since 1990 over apportionment of water flow from Lake Lanier, which forms the eastern border of the county and is regulated by the Army Corps of Engineers as a federal project.
History [ edit ]
repoussé copper plate. A Mississippian priest, with a ceremonial flint mace and severed head. Artist Herb Roe, based on acopper plate.
For thousands of years, varying indigenous cultures lived in this area along the Etowah River. Starting near the end of the first millennium, Mound Builders of the Mississippian culture settled in this area; they built earthwork mound structures at nearby Etowah in present-day Bartow County, and large communities along the Etowah River in neighboring Cherokee County. They disappeared about 1500CE.
Members of the Iroquoian-speaking Cherokee Nation migrated into the area from the North, possibly from the Great Lakes area. They settled in the territory that would become Forsyth County and throughout upper Georgia and Alabama, also having settlements or towns in present-day Tennessee and western North Carolina.
19th century [ edit ]
After the discovery of gold by European Americans in the surrounding area in 1829, numerous settlers moved into the area. They increased the pressure on the state and federal government to have the Cherokee and other Native Americans removed to west of the Mississippi River, in order to extinguish their land claims and make land available for purchase. The Cherokee were forced to relocate during what was called the Trail of Tears.[9]
Forsyth County was named after John Forsyth,[10] Governor of Georgia from 1827–1829 and Secretary of State under Presidents Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren. For many years, much of this hill country was farmed by yeomen farmers, who owned few or no slaves.
20th century [ edit ]
View of northern Forsyth County from Sawnee Mountain 's Indian Seats
The county population of about 10,000 was 90 percent white in the early 20th century, and residents still depended on agriculture. Its more than 1,000 "blacks" included 440 persons classified as mixed race on the census[which?], indicating a continuing history of racial mixing that dated to slavery times.
Lynching and other violence driving blacks from the county [ edit ]
After two different incidents in September 1912, in which black men were alleged to have raped white women, tensions rose in the county. In the first case, a black preacher was assaulted by whites for suggesting that the alleged victim may have been having a consensual relationship with a black man. The Sheriff gained support from the governor, who sent more than 20 National Guard troops to keep peace. The suspects in the first case were never tried, for lack of evidence.
In the second case, five suspects were arrested and held in the Cumming jail. A lynch mob of 4,000 whites stormed the Cumming county jail and dragged out so-and-so. They shot him and hanged his body on the town square. The woman rape victim died two weeks after being attacked. Charges against two of the four suspects held in the second case were dropped after a plea bargain. But two black youths under the age of 18 were quickly convicted by all-white juries and executed by hanging. Whites afterward harassed and intimidated blacks in Forsyth and neighboring counties. Within weeks, they forced most of the blacks to leave the region in fear of their lives, losing land and personal property that was never recovered.
Almost every single one of Forsyth's 1,098 African Americans — prosperous and poor, literate and unlettered — was driven out of the county. It took only a few weeks. Marauding residents wielded guns, sticks of dynamite, bottles of kerosene. Then they stole everything, from farmland to tombstones. Forsyth County remained white right through the 20th century. A black man or woman couldn't so much as drive through without being run out.... During the 1950s and '60s, there were no "colored" water fountains in the courthouse or "whites only" diners in the county seat, Cumming; there was no black population to segregate.[11]
By 1987, the county was "all white".[12] In 1997, African Americans numbered just 39 in a population of 75,739.[11]
Later 20th century [ edit ]
During the 1950s, with the introduction of the poultry industry, the county had steady economic growth but remained largely rural and all white in population. Georgia State Route 400 opened in 1971 and was eventually extended through the county and northward; it stimulated population growth as residential housing was developed in the county and it became a bedroom community for people working in Atlanta, which had expanding work opportunities. The opening of Georgia State Route 400 also spurred industrial growth in the South West portion of the county, starting in the early 1970s.
By 1980, the county population was 27,500, growing to 40,000 in 1987. While some blacks worked in the county in new industries, none lived there. The county gained more than 30 new industries from 1980 and unemployment was low. Such growth resulted in the median income, formerly low, "rising faster than in any other county in Georgia."[13] A small civil rights march by African Americans in the county seat of Cumming in January 1987 was attacked by people throwing rocks, dirt and bottles. A week later another, much larger march took place, with civil rights activists going from Atlanta to Cumming protected by police and the National Guard. Thousands of protesters joined a counter-demonstration. Local people said conditions had been improving for minorities, but whites appeared to be reacting to the march out of fear.[13]
21st century [ edit ]
Forsyth County continued to be developed for subdivisions, industry and related businesses. By 2008 it had been ranked for several years among the top ten fastest-growing counties of the United States. Many new subdivisions have been constructed, several around top-quality golf courses. The county's proximity to Atlanta and the Blue Ridge mountains, and bordering 37,000-acre (150 km2) Lake Sidney Lanier, has attracted many new residents. More than 60% of the current population either lived elsewhere in 1987 or had not yet been born.
The growth has put a strain on water supplies, especially during area droughts in the 21st century. Suburban growth has greatly increased water consumption in the area to maintain lawns and gardens, and supply new households. The region had severe droughts in 2007-2008 that threatened downriver water supplies in Alabama and Florida, in addition to Atlanta, in 2013 and in 2016. Bans on outdoor use of water were put in place, and the area has encouraged conversion of toilets and appliances to those that use less water. A severe drought in southern Forsyth County was declared by the end of June 2016.[14] Several county organizations work to plan growth that can sustain the high quality of life in the area.[15]
Racial history [ edit ]
The changing dynamics between white and black citizens after the Civil War resulted in tensions across the southern United States as whites tried to maintain dominance. They used violence to intimidate black voters and regain control of state legislatures, ending Reconstruction. At the turn of the 20th century, white Democrats dominated the Georgia legislature and passed laws increasing barriers to voter registration and voting, effectively disenfranchising most blacks in the state. Unable to vote, they were also excluded from juries. The white legislators passed racial segregation and other Jim Crow laws. Racial tensions increased as rural workers started to move to industrializing cities. Whites rioted against blacks in the Atlanta in 1906, resulting in more than 20 dead.[16]
Racial violence broke out in Forsyth County in September 1912, following allegations of sexual attacks by black men of white women.[16][17][18]
Forsyth County had a county population with a minority of ethnic African residents. The 1910 census recorded 10,847 white, 658 black, and 440 mulatto (mixed-race) residents, making the number of black citizens slightly more than 10% (as classified under the binary system of the South that classified all people of any African descent as Negro or black). They tended to work as sharecroppers, with some women working as domestic servants, and struggled with poverty.
In early September 1912 a white woman said she was the victim of an attempted rape by two black men, but they left before she was hurt. On September 7, 1912, police arrested five black men in connection with the assault, including Tony Howell and Isaiah Pirkle. That same afternoon members of numerous area black churches gathered for a barbecue just outside the county seat of Cumming. Preacher Grant Smith was heard to question the alleged victim's account, saying that perhaps she had been caught and had lied about what was actually a consensual relationship with a black man. (The mixed-race population in the county showed that whites and blacks had relationships; most were between white men and black or mixed-race women, which the whites tried to treat as a secret.) Whites horse-whipped Smith outside the courthouse, where he was rescued by police and taken into custody for his safety.
They locked him in the courthouse for safety. Rumors spread on both sides; whites said that the blacks threatened to dynamite the town. White residents gathered a lynch mob of 500 men (when Cumming had only 300 residents in total), with men coming to join from surrounding areas. They talked of lynching the black citizens held at the jail. By 1:30 p.m., the Sheriff deputized 25 men and called the Governor for help, who ordered in 23 National Guardsmen from nearby Gainesville, Georgia.
The next day, September 8, Mae Crow, a 19-year-old white woman, was attacked in a nearby community while walking to her aunt's house. She was pulled into the woods and assaulted. According to later testimony, she was raped by Ernest Knox, a 16-year-old black who worked as a hired hand at a neighbor's farm. Knox was said to have told friends about the incident: Oscar Daniel (17), his sister Trussie (Jane) Daniel (21), and her live-in boyfriend Rob Edwards (24), who also went to the scene. They left the girl, thinking she had died and being afraid to get involved. Crow was found the next day by a search party; whites said later that she had regained consciousness briefly and named Knox as her attacker, but no newspaper reported this. A small hand mirror found at the scene was recognized as belonging to Knox; police used it to connect him to the crime and arrested him that morning. Police said he confessed fully. Because of the trouble two days before in Cumming, they took Knox to the jail in Gainesville. Hearing threats of a lynch mob there, officials moved him to a jail in Atlanta.
The following day, Knox's friends were arrested in connection with the Mae Crow assault. Oscar Daniel and Rob Edwards were suspects in rape, and Trussie Daniel was held for not reporting the crime and as an accomplice. Ed Collins, a black neighbor, was picked up and held as a witness. They were detained in the small Cumming jail. The Atlanta Journal reported that Sheriff Reid drove through a mob of 2,000 people to get the suspects to the jail.
The Rob Edwards lynching made front-page news in all the Atlanta papers. Many newspapers first reported that Ed Collins was lynched because the body was so damaged that it could not be identified.
Within a few hours on September 9, the white mob increased to 4,000 people, who stormed the jail. Sheriff Reid was not there, having strategically left deputy Mitchell Lummus alone to protect the prisoners. Deputy Lummus hid most of them, but Rob Edwards was shot and killed by the mob while still in his cell. They dragged him out, mutilated him, and dragged his body behind a wagon, before hanging him from a telephone pole at the northwest corner of the Square.[19] The coroner's inquest, held on September 18, 1912 found the cause of death to be a gunshot by an unknown assailant.
Crow died in the hospital two weeks later on September 23, 1912. The cause of death was listed as pneumonia. Knox and Daniel were indicted for rape and murder on September 30. Trussie Daniel and Ed Collins were both charged as accomplices.
Photo taken October 2, 1912. Although not identified by the newspaper they are believed to be: (Left to Right) Trussie (Jane) Daniel, Oscar Daniel, Tony Howell (defendant in Ellen Grice rape), Ed Collins (witness), Isaiah Pirkle (witness for Howell), and Ernest Knox
All five trials, (including Tony Howell for the Ellen Grice case) were set for October 3 in Cumming, the county seat. The prisoners were escorted by four companies of the state militia by train to the Buford, Georgia station, and walked the remaining 14 miles (23 km).
The trial of Tony Howell was postponed due to the lack of evidence. Howell had an alibi, with Isaiah Pirkle as a witness. The case would never go to trial, and was eventually dismissed.
As part of a plea bargain, Trussie Daniel changed her story and agreed to turn state's witness. Charges against her and Collins were dropped, in exchange for her testimony against Knox, her brother Oscar, and Edwards. The all-white jury deliberated 16 minutes and returned a verdict of guilty in Knox's case. Although no confession or other evidence linked Oscar Daniel to the crime, his sister's testimony was fatal. The all-white jury pronounced him guilty that night.
On the following day, October 4, both teenagers were sentenced to death by hanging, scheduled for October 25. State law prohibited public hangings. The scheduled execution was to be viewed only by the victim's family, a minister, and law officers. Gallows were built off the square in Cumming. A fence erected around the gallows was burned down the night before the execution. A crowd estimated at between 5,000 and 8,000 gathered to watch the hanging of the two youths, at a time when the total county population was around 12,000.[17]
In the following months, a small group of men called "Night Riders" terrorized black citizens, threatening them to leave in 24 hours or be killed. Those who resisted were subjected to further harassment, including shots fired into their homes, or livestock killed. Some white residents tried to stop the Night Riders, but were unsuccessful. An estimated 98% of black residents of Forsyth County left. Some property owners were able to sell, likely at a loss. The renters and sharecroppers left to seek safer places. Those who abandoned property, and failed to continue paying property tax, eventually lost it, and whites took it over.[16] Many black properties ended up in white hands without a sale and without a legal transfer of title.[16] The anti-black campaign spread across Northern Georgia, with similar results of whites expelling blacks in many surrounding counties.[17]
In the 1910 Census, more than 1,000 black and mixed-race people were recorded in Forsyth County, with slightly more than 10,000 whites. By the 1920 Census only 30 ethnic African Americans remained in the county.
In the 2000s and 2010s, Forsyth County experienced unprecedented growth partly due to white flight from north Fulton County as a result of the rapid increase of Asians settling in that area which borders the southern part of Forsyth County. For example, the highly rated Northview High School based in north Fulton County, went from 60% white and 30% Asian in 2007 to 50% Asian and 30% white in 2017. Many white parents claimed some public schools in north Fulton County (mainly those with high percentages of Asian students) became overwhelmingly competitive and academic focused which negatively impacted their children's mental health and social life.[20]
Marches and demonstrations of the 1980s [ edit ]
More ethnically diverse citizens had begun in recent years to migrate to the county, particularly in the affluent southern portion. However, racial tension continued to be a part of the county's image into the early 1990s. On January 17, 1987, civil rights activists marched in Cumming, and a counter-demonstration was made by a branch of the Ku Klux Klan, most of whom were not residents of the county, as well as others who objected to the march. According to a story published in the New York Times on January 18, four marchers were slightly injured by stones and bottles thrown at them. Eight people from the counter-demonstration, all white, were arrested. The charges included trespassing and carrying concealed weapons.
White Forsyth resident Charles A. Blackburn wanted to have a brotherhood march to celebrate the first annual celebration of Martin Luther King's birthday as a national holiday. He wanted to dispel the racist image of Forsyth County, where he owned and operated a private school, the Blackburn Learning Center. Blackburn cancelled his plans after he received threatening phone calls. Other whites in nearby counties, as well as State Representative Billy McKinney of Atlanta and Hosea Williams, who was on the Atlanta City Council, took up the march plans instead.
The following week, January 24, approximately 20,000 participants marched in Cumming. This occurrence produced no violence, despite the presence of more than 5,000 counter-demonstrators, summoned by the Forsyth County Defense League. The county and state had mustered about 2,000 peace officers and national guardsmen. Forsyth County paid $670,000 for police overtime during the political demonstration. Many residents were outraged to have to pay for the march, as most participants were from outside the county. (V. S. Naipaul's interview with Forsyth County Sheriff Wesley Walraven, before the second march, is referred to in his book A Turn in the South.)
The demonstration is thought to have been the largest civil rights demonstration in the U.S. since about 1970. The unexpected turnout of some 5,000 counter-demonstrators, 66 of whom were arrested for "parading without a permit," turned out to be the largest resistance opposed to civil rights since the 1960s. The counter-demonstration was called by the Forsyth County Defense League and the Nationalist Movement, newly organized in Cumming by local plumber Mark Watts.
Marchers came for the second march from all over the country, forming a caravan from Atlanta; National Guard troops were assigned for protection on freeway overpasses along the route. When marchers, including John Lewis, Andrew Young, Julian Bond, Coretta Scott King, Joseph Lowery, Sam Nunn, Benjamin Hooks, Gary Hart and Wyche Fowler[21] arrived, they discovered that most of the Cumming residents had left town for the day. Some had boarded up their windows because they feared violence. Marchers wound slowly through streets lined by hundreds of armed National Guards, many of them black. . Forsyth County subsequently charged large fees for parade permits until the practice was overturned in Forsyth County, Georgia v. The Nationalist Movement (505 U.S. 123) in the Supreme Court of the United States on June 19, 1992.
Geography [ edit ]
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 247 square miles (640 km2), of which 224 square miles (580 km2) is land and 23 square miles (60 km2) (9.4%) is water.[22]
The eastern two-thirds of Forsyth County are located in the Upper Chattahoochee River sub-basin of the ACF River Basin (Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin), while the northwestern third of the county is located in the Etowah River sub-basin of the ACT River Basin (Coosa-Tallapoosa River Basin).[23]
Adjacent counties [ edit ]
National protected areas [ edit ]
Transportation [ edit ]
Major highways [ edit ]
Pedestrians and cycling [ edit ]
Demographics [ edit ]
As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 175,511 people, 59,433 households, and 47,623 families residing in the county.[29] The population density was 783.5 inhabitants per square mile (302.5/km2). There were 64,052 housing units at an average density of 285.9 per square mile (110.4/km2).[30] The racial makeup of the county was 85.4% white, 6.2% Asian, 2.6% black or African American, 0.3% American Indian, 3.8% from other races, and 1.6% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 9.4% of the population.[29] In terms of ancestry, 15.7% were German, 14.4% were American, 14.2% were Irish, 12.9% were English, and 5.8% were Italian.[31]
Of the 59,433 households, 46.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 68.5% were married couples living together, 8.0% had a female householder with no husband present, 19.9% were non-families, and 15.9% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.94 and the average family size was 3.29. The median age was 36.9 years.[29]
The median income for a household in the county was $87,605 and the median income for a family was $96,501. Males had a median income of $72,030 versus $46,310 for females. The per capita income for the county was $35,385. About 4.5% of families and 6.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.0% of those under age 18 and 4.9% of those age 65 or over.[32]
Education [ edit ]
Forsyth County is served by Forsyth County Schools. FCS serves 42,600 students and is the largest employer in the county with over 4,100 full-time employees and 1,500 substitutes. Out of 180 school districts, FCS is the seventh largest school system in Georgia. FCS is home to 37 schools – twenty-one elementary, ten middle, seven high schools, as well as the Academies for Creative Education (A.C.E) that houses one school, iAchieve Virtual Academy, FCS' 6–12 online school, and two programs, Gateway Academy (the alternative program for middle and high school students) and Forsyth Academy.
Elementary schools:
Big Creek Elementary School
Brandywine Elementary School
Brookwood Elementary School
Chattahoochee Elementary School
Chestatee Elementary School
Coal Mountain Elementary School
Cumming Elementary School
Daves Creek Elementary School
Haw Creek Elementary School
Johns Creek Elementary School
Kelly Mill Elementary School
Mashburn Elementary School
Matt Elementary School
Midway Elementary School
Sawnee Elementary School
Settles Bridge Elementary School
Sharon Elementary School
Shiloh Point Elementary School
Silver City Elementary School
Vickery Creek Elementary School
Whitlow Elementary School.[33]
Middle schools:
DeSana Middle School
Lakeside Middle School
Liberty Middle School
Little Mill Middle School
North Forsyth Middle School
Otwell Middle School
Piney Grove Middle School
Riverwatch Middle School
South Forsyth Middle School
Vickery Creek Middle School.[33]
High schools:
Forsyth Central High School
Lambert High School
North Forsyth High School
South Forsyth High School
West Forsyth High School
Denmark High School
Alliance Academy For Innovation
.[33]
Recreation [ edit ]
One of the steam engines in the July 4th , 2002 Parade in downtown Cumming
Lake Lanier, a 37,000-acre (150 km2) lake created and maintained by the United States Army Corps of Engineers in association with Buford Dam, is enjoyed by many residents and non-residents alike. Fishing, boating, tubing, wake boarding, and water skiing are common activities on the lake.
Forsyth County Parks and Recreation Department maintains more than 15 parks in the county.[34] Most notable are Sawnee Mountain Preserve, Central Park, Fowler Park, Poole's Mill Covered Bridge and the Big Creek Greenway.[35] The Cumming Fairgrounds host many events throughout the year including a rodeo, The Cumming Country Fair, and a farmers' market.[36] There is also the annual 4 July Steam Engine Parade.[37]
Government and politics [ edit ]
Forsyth County had voting patterns similar to most Solid South & Georgia counties prior to 1968 in presidential elections. It only backed Republican Herbert Hoover before then once in 1928 amidst anti-Catholic sentiment towards Al Smith. From 1968 on, the county has swung strongly away from the Democratic Party at the presidential level, only failing to vote for the Republican in presidential elections since then in 1968 when segregationist George Wallace appealed to anti-Civil Rights Act sentiment & in the two elections Georgian Jimmy Carter was on the ballot. In addition, unlike the inner suburban counties of the Atlanta metropolitan area, Forsyth County has continued to vote for Republicans by landslide margins as it lacks the increasing number of minority voters those counties have gained in recent years.
United States Congress [ edit ]
Senators Name Party Assumed Office Level Senate Class 2 David Perdue Republican 2015 Junior senator Senate Class 3 Johnny Isakson Republican 2005 Senior senator Representatives Name Party Assumed Office District 7 Rob Woodall Republican 2011 District 9 Doug Collins Republican 2013
Presidential elections results Previous presidential elections results[38] Year Republican Democratic Third parties 2016 70.6% 69,851 23.7% 23,462 5.7% 5651 2012 80.5% 65,908 17.8% 14,571 1.7% 1,421 2008 78.4% 59,166 20.4% 15,406 1.2% 931 2004 83.0% 47,267 16.2% 9,201 0.8% 451 2000 77.7% 27,769 18.7% 6,694 3.6% 1,292 1996 64.8% 15,013 25.7% 5,957 9.5% 2189 1992 50.6% 8,652 28.9% 4,936 20.5% 3498 1988 76.8% 7,947 22.7% 2,347 0.5% 50 1984 75.0% 6,841 25.0% 2,275 1980 40.8% 3,157 55.9% 4,325 3.3% 254 1976 23.5% 1,443 76.5% 4,693 1972 84.4% 2,968 15.6% 549 1968 31.3% 1,389 14.6% 647 54.1% 2,397 1964 46.6% 1,471 53.3% 1,682 0.0% 1 1960 26.7% 841 73.3% 2,309 1956 36.2% 1,131 63.9% 1,998 1952 27.8% 536 72.2% 1,391 1948 9.5% 252 68.1% 1,813 22.4% 597 1944 39.9% 695 60.1% 1,047 1940 31.5% 634 68.5% 1,378 1936 41.4% 551 58.6% 780 1932 6.7% 117 93.0% 1,627 0.3% 6 1928 76.5% 934 23.5% 287 1924 28.9% 298 69.4% 715 1.7% 17 1920 47.7% 741 52.3% 813 1916 15.3% 236 74.0% 1,146 10.7% 166 1912 32.4% 163 64.6% 325 3.0% 15
Georgia General Assembly [ edit ]
Georgia State Senate [ edit ]
District Name Party Assumed Office 27 Michael Williams Republican 2015 51 Steve Gooch Republican 2011
Georgia House of Representatives [ edit ]
District Name Party Assumed Office 9 Kevin Tanner Republican 2013 22 Wes Cantrell Republican 2015 24 Sheri Gilligan Republican 2015 25 Todd Jones Republican 2017 26 Geoff Duncan Republican 2013
[39][40][41]
Communities [ edit ]
City [ edit ]
Unincorporated communities [ edit ]
With only one officially incorporated city, the majority of Forsyth County citizens live in areas with zip codes assigned to cities in surrounding counties.
Alpharetta - 30005, 30004
Ball Ground - 30107
Cumming - 30041, 30040, 30028
Duluth - 30097
Gainesville - 30506
Suwanee - 30024
In addition, there are several unincorporated communities throughout the county.
See also [ edit ]
Notes and references [ edit ]
Further reading [ edit ]
Coordinates:
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Alterra is changing its name Monday. Credit: Journal Sentinel Files
SHARE Interactive Timeline
Alterra through the years: Since it first opened a kiosk in Bayshore mall in 1994, Alterra Coffee Roasters Inc. has expanded to 13 locations throughout central and southeastern Wisconsin.. Video Loading... Poll What do you think of Alterra's name change? It's better than falling into a corporate sinkhole with Mars. 'Alterra' is synonymous with 'Milwaukee' - bad move! I'll compromise and call it 'Alterrativo.' 'Viva Colectivo!' vote View Results It's better than falling into a corporate sinkhole with Mars.: 23% 'Alterra' is synonymous with 'Milwaukee' - bad move!: 61% I'll compromise and call it 'Alterrativo.': 5% 'Viva Colectivo!': 11% Total Responses: 1557
By of the
Alterra Coffee is changing its name to Colectivo Coffee starting Monday.
The company's top managers announced the rebranding Sunday night on its website and at a company-wide mandatory staff meeting at the Pabst Theater to mark the company's 20th anniversary.
Alterra Coffee Roasters Inc.'s co-founders and owners, Ward and Lincoln Fowler and Paul Miller, will remain in control and said nothing would change except the Colectivo name, which will appear on all cafes and products. The coffee, food, people, culture and quality will stay the same, they said.
The name change to Colectivo marks the end of a three-year relationship with Mars Drinks, a subsidiary of Mars Inc. The founders reached a deal with the company in 2010 that sold the brand name to Mars, allowing Mars to distribute globally under the name Alterra.
In exchange, Alterra was able to make a long-term investment and expand its cafes to Bay View, Wauwatosa and Madison, while keeping the Milwaukee roasting facility and the then- nine local cafes under local ownership.
"In 2010 we were presented with a great opportunity to strengthen our company and ensure we could grow and develop as we wanted, even during a period of economic uncertainty. We agreed to sell our name — not the company — to the Mars Corporation, retaining full control of our business," the founders say on the company's new website. "After three years of this relationship, we decided it was time for us to move on ... thus the name change."
Mars is distributing Alterra Coffee Roasters brand in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Korea and Japan. The Milwaukee chain will stay local under the Colectivo Coffee name.
The founders said in a news release that it was a priority in the deal that they maintained full control of the company and their employees' future.
The owners explained that "Colectivo" is inspired by the word colectivos, the artful, funky buses used for public transportation across Latin America, which play a significant role in everyday life for the people who live there.
"We think this symbol is a great match for our brand and the collective experience we share through the products we make, the places we build, the communities we support and the customers we serve," the owners said during a presentation.
The first location to get new signs will be the first cafe at 2211 N. Prospect Ave., which opened in 1994 — a year after the company was founded. The transition is expected to finish by mid-September, and operations will continue as normal.
The owners could not be reached for comment by press time.
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15 Pages Posted: 25 Jan 2012
Date Written: January 23, 2012
Abstract
This report examines data on the effects of Internet peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing activities on music purchasing which was obtained from a survey commissioned by Industry Canada. The survey was designed to inform Industry Canada's policy development work and ultimately therefore support better policy decisions regarding the copyright law in Canada. In order to support its policy decisions regarding the copyright regime in Canada, Industry Canada commissioned a survey by Decima Research in 2006 which was designed to measure the extent to which peer to peer (P2P) file-sharing activities act as substitutes or complements to music purchases. Given this purpose the Decima survey asked respondents to comment on their behaviour in the absence of P2P file-sharing, as follows:
Considering the songs that you downloaded for free through P2P networks during 2005 a) what % would you have purchased at paid music sites if they were not available through P2P b) what % would you have purchased as part of a music CD if they were not available through P2P
After analyzing the answers to this question, I report on two key findings: 1. three out of every four respondents said that if P2P were not available they would have purchased some or all of the music which they downloaded; and 2. almost two-thirds of the hardcore P2P downloaders (those who indicated in the survey that they only acquired music by P2P) said they would have purchased one-third of the tracks they downloaded if the songs were not available on P2P network. This is estimated to amount to an average additional expense of $168 per person, adding up to hundreds of millions of dollars in extra revenue for the music industry per year from this group alone.
This analysis of survey data then suggests that P2P downloads have strong negative effects on legitimate music purchases and that P2P downloading acts as a substitute for legitimate music purchases. One might reasonably infer from this analysis that stronger copyright laws would substantially increase music purchases and music industry sales revenues and, by implication, increase artist income, industry employment, economic growth and government tax revenues in Canada. My analysis not only focuses on an important survey question which to date has not been analysed by the researchers hired by Industry Canada, it also contradicts the results of the original analysis of the data commissioned by Industry Canada, first published on Industry Canada's website in a 2007 report entitled, Don’t blame the P2P file-sharers: the impact of free music downloads on the purchase of music CDs in Canada, and then subsequently republished with changes by the authors in the Journal of Evolutionary Economics in 201'3
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After more than a year’s work since v3.3, we are very pleased to announce XBMC4Xbox version v3.5. A large number of new features and improvements have been made since v3.3, including the integration of Python 2.7, improved video playback, updates to the skinning engine, scraper fixes, and plenty of bug fixes.
Key improvements:
Python 2.7 & API improvements
Python support in XBMC4Xbox has been overhauled, with the out of date Python 2.4 replaced with Python 2.7. This update, along with the addition of some missing API functions brings much better compatibility with Kodi (Formerly XBMC) plugins. The Addons4Xbox installer has also been updated, allowing many plugins written for Kodi to work right out of the box. The Python 2.7 update also brings performance improvements, and comes with fully working libraries for sqlite3, and SSL amongst others.
DVDPlayer updates
DVDPlayer (The main video player in XBMC4Xbox) has received numerous changes, including having the FFMpeg core libraries updated to v1.2.8 which brings a variety of new codecs, bug-fixes, and optimisations from the previous 0.10.x version. The libraries used for DVD navigation have also been updated which should bring better compatibility with problematic DVD menus.
Scraper fixes and clean-ups
We had a lot of broken and unmaintained scrapers with the previously version of XBMC4Xbox. With the 3.5 release only a few are included, but they are all maintained and working. We have scrapers for themoviedb.org, thetvdb.com as well as theaudiodb.com for music. Please do support and contribute to these open database projects, as the content and results are only as good as the information people have contributed.
PAPlayer updates
PAPlayer (the core audio player in XBMC4Xbox) has received some updates since the last version of XBMC4Xbox. DVDPlayer’s FFMpeg libraries are now used for decoding of some audio formats which means some of the old out of date libraries we used previously are no longer needed. This simplifies maintenance, and brings with it better performance and compatibility. The FFMpeg libraries are now used for OGG, FLAC, AAC, AC3,and DTS.
Skinning improvements
A variety of improvements have been backported from Kodi for the skin engine. This allows skins and features for Kodi to be more easily implemented. Thanks to the skin developers who requested changes/features and helped with testing. We currently ship with the same selection of skins as with v3.3 – Confluence Lite, Confluence, Project Mayhem III, and the PM3HD skin, but more can be found on the skin development section of our forum (such as the excellent Xbox Extended skin from Dom).
New branding
Thanks to SwedishGojira we now have our own project branding – our new XBMC4Xbox logo is used on our project site as well as for the XBMC4Xbox boot-up splash. Since the renaming of XBMC to Kodi, there has been some discussion regarding our name. I can confirm we are keeping the name XBMC4Xbox for our project. Changing it now would just introduce more confusion.
Transifex integration
Thanks to Kodi and their useful tools for handling translations, we are now using the on-line service Transifex to manage translations for the project. This means anyone who wants to help improve translations can now go and sign up over at https://www.transifex.com/organization/xbmc4xbox and start translating the software to their favourite language via the easy to use web interface. The updated translations can then be merged back into the XBMC4Xbox code base by us.
Bug fixes
There have been many bug fixes around the software with around 44 issues on the bugtracker resolved/fixed as well as more reported via the forum. Thanks to all those that have reported bugs, provided fixes & patches, and helped with testing.
Thanks
As well as the key features above, many other changes have been made with a lot of backported features and fixes from Kodi. Thanks to Team Kodi for creating our favourite media center software 🙂 Thanks also to all those who help and contribute to our project and forum.
If you enjoy using XBMC4Xbox and want to show your support for the ongoing development please consider making a donation to the project. Please also do join in the discussions over at our Forum.
Obtaining XBMC4Xbox
See the development page for links to the source code and the SVN repository. For binary builds, read the information on the download page. For those that want to build from source, 3.5 is tagged here: https://svn.exotica.org.uk:8443/xbmc4xbox/tags/3.5/.
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"The neutron bomb has to be the most moral weapon ever invented." -- Sam Cohen, inventor of the neutron bomb.
by Charles Platt
August, 2005
Note: This article is also available in the following formats: PDF document ASCII text file Palm OS doc file
Prologue: Nuclear News on Route 66
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I'm cruising into the small town of Williams, Arizona, heading for the laundromat, when my pickup truck coughs and dies, leaving me stranded at the side of old Route 66. As I pause to consider my options, my cell phone rings. The inventor of the neutron bomb is on the line.
"Charles, this is Sam," he says, sounding elderly and erudite. "Did you hear about Edward?"
In his inimitable fashion, Sam Cohen, who really did invent the neutron bomb, is notifying me that Edward Teller has died after a long series of health problems. Sam was on first-name terms with Edward for about fifty years, since the days when they worked on nuclear weapons at Los Alamos during World War II.
It occurs to me that something must be seriously wrong with the world when a former guru of American nuclear policy seems to have so much time on his hands, he can find nothing better to do than chat with a semi-retired, little-known science journalist sitting in the middle of nowhere in a dead pickup truck carrying an unprocessed cargo of dirty laundry.
Once upon a time Sam Cohen conferred with cabinet members, briefed congressional committees, and argued international strategy with U. S. presidents. He participated in the most influential think-tank that ever existed, and his bid to reform modern warfare earned him a Medal of Peace from Pope Paul VI. During a relentless campaign to deploy downsized nuclear weapons of vastly reduced destructive power, he received an audience from Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was polite but uninterested, preferring big bombs to small ones. He managed to get a memo through to John F. Kennedy, whose position turned out to be similar to that of Eisenhower. He spent some time with Richard M. Nixon, whose position turned out to be similar to that of Kennedy. Finally he scored a hit with Ronald Reagan, who initiated a project along the lines that Cohen had in mind, until George Bush, Senior, reversed the policy at a total cost approaching $1 billion.
The story of how this happened is not just of historical interest. It exposes pathologies in the Federal Government that devour our resources and jeopardize our security just as much now as they did then. For those who wonder how neoconservative think tanks managed to incite empire-building conceits that fomented a renewed war in Iraq, Cohen's experiences fifty years ago turn out to be unexpectedly relevant.
1. The Drama
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America's first and most notorious think-tank was RAND, an independent entity that became hugely influential on postwar military policy. Named by concatenating the words "research and development," RAND attracted world-class scientists such as John von Neumann, Herman Kahn, Edward Teller--and Sam Cohen. While Cohen's academic credentials were less impressive than those of most of his colleagues, he made up for them with qualities that many RANDites lacked: Commonsense coupled with undiplomatic, in-your-face honesty, regardless of any consequences to his own career.
In Cohen's words, RAND's objective was "to challenge the stultified mentality of the military brass who already had begun planning for the next war on the basis of the last one, even though we had entered the Nuclear Age. Their experience in nuclear war was zero. For that matter, RAND's experience also bordered on zero, but their intellectual arrogance convinced them this was no major handicap."
(Quotes in this text are taken from personal conversations with Sam Cohen and from his autobiography.)
While RAND's own official history claims that its studies were distinguished by "scrupulous nonpartisanship with rigorous, fact-based analysis," Cohen's assessment of his former colleagues is a bit less flattering. He remembers them as "people who thought they had a God-given ability to know the unknowable. At best, their behavior was hallucinatory. At worst, they were just crooks and liars."
Formulating scenarios for deploying and using nuclear weapons in opposition to the Soviet Union was the highest-stakes game in military history. Nuclear analysts who advised everyone up the chain of command to the President of the United States were conscious of controlling immense power; and inevitably, it colored their judgment. The title of Herman Kahn's notorious book, _Thinking the Unthinkable,_ accurately conveyed the mood of horrified fascination that infected some people who immersed themselves in the macabre study of megatons and megadeaths.
Kahn in particular became intoxicated by his role as a doomsayer. He actually seemed to enjoy delivering bad news, and with good reason: It made him famous. One of his fundamental messages was that national survival depended on deterring aggression from potential enemies, and a deterrent was only effective if you were willing to use it. Therefore, instead of being afraid to think about nuclear war, we had to show the world that we were perfectly willing to deal with the consequences, even if they entailed a dark age lasting ten thousand years. We had to "stop worrying and love the bomb," as Stanley Kubrick put it in his subtitle to the nuclear black comedy _Dr. Strangelove_--and some grim one-liners from _Thinking the Unthinkable_ actually were used as dialogue in the movie.
The problem was that Kahn's intoxication with his subject matter and his doomsayer status tempted him to cut corners on his science. One of his most influential papers claimed that the Russians could and perhaps would launch a pre-emptive strike against American air bases, wiping out the nation's ability to defend itself, and forcing it to capitulate. Sam Cohen had been a friend of Kahn's during their college days--in fact, he had brought Kahn into RAND--but friendship couldn't blind him to the defects he saw in the study. He recalls finding calculations of bombing accuracy based on guesswork, assessments of Soviet military strength that seemed grossly exaggerated, and estimates of bomb damage that Kahn had simply invented. "I suspected that Herman had put out his study more for effect and notoriety (which he sure got) than for substance," Cohen wrote later. "And I wasn't the only one on to Herman. There were plenty, in and out of RAND, who knew what he had done was basically fraudulent. The trouble was that he already had made his mark and a huge impact on Washington officialdom, which in those days liked hearing horror stories like this."
To anyone who wondered how horror stories about an elevated communist threat could possibly be popular, the answer was that they served the needs of hundreds of thousands of people who worked for the Federal Government or enjoyed its largesse. Bad news justified bigger military budgets, which enriched defense contractors, boosted employment in key congressional districts, and increased the influence of cold warriors in the Pentagon. Bad news united the nation and weakened opposition to legislation which rode in on the coat tails of anticommunist hysteria. Most of all, bad news enhanced nuclear drama, which inflated the importance of government in general and the Executive Branch in particular.
Kahn was by no means the only one with a flare for dramatic scare tactics. When Nikita Khruschev hammered his desk with his shoe in a temper tantrum at the United Nations General Assembly, or John F. Kennedy suggested that he might have to bomb Moscow if the Soviet Union didn't pull its missiles out of Cuba, anyone could see that nuclear drama had infected players up to the highest levels of government. Their performances became a prime-time phenomenon reaching a worldwide audience that numbered hundreds of millions. Hitler's rallies and Roosevelt's fireside chats were trivial by comparison. The Cold War was the ultimate endorphin rush for any public figure who enjoyed making dramatic pronouncements that could mold history, while legions of advisors experienced a contact high.
Imagine for a moment that at some time during the 1960s, the communist threat had suddenly disappeared. Politicians, policy wonks, and pundits would have found themselves instantaneously demoted from star status. They would have been forced to fall back on humdrum traditional issues in government such as placating special-interest groups or juggling the budget. For an ambitious statesman, a four-star general, a RAND doomsayer, or a hungry defense contractor, the disappearance of communism would have precipitated a humiliating career catastrophe.
Of course the rich rewards from nuclear drama lasted only so long as it stopped short of nuclear war. Therefore, a major task for RANDites was to develop strategies to stabilize the nuclear deterrent and discourage anyone from doing anything stupid, such as launching a pre-emptive strike. Cohen argued that this would be such a singular, unprecedented act, analysts who imagined they could predict the circumstances and evaluate the outcome would be indulging in self-deception. Still, RAND's mission was to give answers based on "rigorous, fact-based analysis," and a new analytical tool named game theory was the method of choice. Game theory began with the logical proposition that in a strategic two-player game, either player may try to obtain an advantage by bluffing. If the stakes are low, perhaps you can take a chance on trusting your opponent when he makes a seemingly fair and decent offer; but when the penalty for being deceived can be nuclear annihilation, taking a chance is out of the question. You work on the principle that the person you are dealing with may be utterly ruthless, unethical, and untrustworthy, no matter how peaceful his intentions may seem. You also have to assume that he may be smart enough to use game theory just like you; and therefore, he will assume that _you_ are ruthless, unethical, and untrustworthy, no matter how peaceful _your_ intentions may seem. In this way a supposedly rational system of assessment leads to a highly emotional outcome in which trust becomes impossible and strategy is based entirely on fear. This is precisely what happened during the decades of the Cold War.
Some key players during the 1950s really were ruthless and unethical--or at least, they talked as if they were. General Curtis LeMay had organized the firebombing of Tokyo during World War II, which took more lives than the atomic bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. LeMay now ran Strategic Air Command, and when Cohen enjoyed a frank conversation with him, the main thing the general really wanted was "a bomb that will wipe out all of Russia. That's my number one priority. When you kill enough of them, they'll stop fighting."
Of course extremists such as LeMay were outnumbered by moderates, but according to game theory, you couldn't count on that. You had to assume that the Soviet Union might have LeMays of its own, and they might actually have enough clout to persuade their bosses to build superbombs.
So, when the United States had to decide whether to spend vast sums on a project to develop the hydrogen bomb, a characteristically rigorous, fact-based study from RAND concluded that it would be necessary, because no one could trust the Soviet Union to refrain from starting a similar project of its own. "Not that they would be masters of the world if they built such bombs and we didn't," says Cohen. "But we feared they would. The fear may have been a myth but under such circumstances myths become all-important facts."
The fear-driven mindset became so deeply embedded in American foreign policy, it precipitated non-nuclear misdaventures such as the war in Vietnam--which was based on the fear that if Vietnam fell to communists, neighboring nations would follow. This "domino theory" turned out to be utterly false, but a similar set of fears precipitated subsequent adventures in the Middle East. As Cohen puts it, "Our policies, which since World War II have gotten us into war after war--none of them successful or in our true interests--have remained the same."
Today, RAND has been eclipsed by dozens of newer policy institutes in Washington. Neoconservative organizations alone include The American Enterprise Institute, The Bradley Foundation, The John M. Olin Foundation, The Heritage Foundation, The Smith Richardson Foundation, The Jewish Intitute for National Security Affairs, The Center for Security Policy, The Hudson Institute, The Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies, The Ethics and Public Policy Center, and The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.
The Project for the New American Century appears to have been especially influential. In 2000 it published a position paper endorsed by Dick Cheney, just in time to influence presidential candidate George W. Bush. Titled "Rebuilding America's Defenses" the paper argued that the United States under Clinton had behaved as irresponsibly as Britain during the 1930s, when the British chose to kick back in a cheerful state of peacetime complacency instead of building up an arsenal to counter the emerging threat of Nazi Germany. "Rebuilding America's Defenses" urged the United States to use its unique wealth and power to intimidate potential foreign adversaries before they could grow big enough to intimidate us.
The terrorist attack on the World Trade Center almost seemed to validate this call to action--except that the attack was launched by a handful of religious nuts armed with box cutters. A bigger arsenal to fight foreign wars could never prevent guerrilla actions of this type. Nevertheless the fate of the Trade Center somehow helped to justify deployment of stealth bombers, cruise missiles, tanks armored with depleted uranium, and many more state-of-the-art munitions including massive (conventional) bombs which George W. Bush described as inspiring "shock and awe." None of this could compare with the glory days of megatons and megadeaths, but the prospect of mobilizing a huge high-tech force (with a little old-fashioned torture on the side) still created perhaps a frisson of horrified fascination. More to the point it delivered an overdue dose of drama for those who still dreamed of playing an historically significant role on the global stage. When you factored in the fringe benefits, such as unifying an electorate that had been bitterly divided over an allegedly illegitimate presidential election, "Rebuilding America's Defenses" must have seemed irresistible.
RANDites were the primary architects of the Cold War, but today's policy advisors may be more potentially dangerous, not just because there are more of them but because their recommendations are more likely to be implemented. When some RAND studies advocated a pre-emptive nuclear strike against the Soviet Union back in the late 1940s, no one in government was willing to embark on such an adventure, partly because the consequences were so unpredictable and potentially horrific. More than fifty years later, when neoconservatives advocated a non-nuclear pre-emptive strike against Iraq, their suggestion quickly became a reality, because--initially, at least--the risk seemed so trivial.
2. The Most Moral weapon
------------------------
Sam Cohen might have remained relatively unknown, troubled by ethical lapses in government and the military but unable to do anything about them, if he had not visited Seoul in 1951, during the Korean war. In the aftermath of bombing sorties he witnessed scenes of intolerable devastation. Civilians wandered like zombies through the ruins of a city in which all services had ceased. Children were drinking water from gutters that were being used as sewers. "I'd seen countless pictures of Hiroshima by then," Cohen recalls, "and what I saw in Seoul was precious little different. . . . The question I asked of myself was something like: If we're going to go on fighting these damned fool wars in the future, shelling and bombing cities to smithereens and wrecking the lives of their surviving inhabitants, might there be some kind of nuclear weapon that could avoid all this?"
Here was a singularly odd idea: To re-engineer the most inhumane and destructive weapon of all time, so that it would _reduce_ human suffering. Cohen's unique achievement was to prove that this could in fact be done.
His first requirement was that wars should be fought as they had been historically, confining their damage to military combatants while towns and cities remained undamaged and their civilian inhabitants remained unscathed. This concept seemed quaint in a new era where everyone and everything was at risk of being vaporized in a nuclear exchange, but Cohen saw no reason why nukes had to be massively destructive. Technology existed to make them so small, they could cause less damage than even some conventional weapons.
Ideally he wanted to reduce blast damage to zero, to eliminate the wholesale demolition of civilian housing, services, and amenities that he had witnessed in Seoul. He saw a way to achieve this if a fusion reaction released almost all of its energy as radiation. Moreover, if this radiation consisted of neutrons, which carry no charge, it would not poison the environment with residual radioactivity.
The bomb would still kill people--but this was the purpose of all weapons. _If_ wars were liable to recur (which Cohen thought was probable), soldiers were going to use weapons of some kind against each other, and everyone would benefit if the weapons minimized pain and suffering while ending the conflict as rapidly as possible.
Cohen came up with a design for a warhead about one-tenth as powerful as the atomic bombs dropped on Japan. If it was detonated at 3,000 feet above ground level, its blast effects would be negligible while its neutron radiation would be powerful enough to cause death within a circle about one mile in diameter. This was the battlefield weapon that came to be known as the neutron bomb.
Such a weapon obviously would be more civilized than large-scale hydrogen bombs, and would also be more humane than conventional bombs, because it would create an all-or-nothing, live-or-die scenario in which no one would be wounded. A stream of neutrons cannot maim people. It will not burn their flesh, spill their blood, or break their bones. Those who receive a non-lethal dose will recover after a period of intense nausea and diarrhea, and Cohen estimated that their risk of subsequent cancer would be no greater than the risk we experience as a result of exposure to second-hand cigarette smoke. As for the rest, death would come relatively quickly, primarily from shock to the central nervous system. As he put it in his typically candid style, "I doubt whether the agony an irradiated soldier goes through in the process of dying is any worse than that produced by having your body charred to a crisp by napalm, your guts being ripped apart by shrapnel, your lungs blown in by concussion weapons, and all those other sweet things that happen when conventional weapons (which are preferred and anointed by our official policy) are used."
After assessing every aspect and implication of his concept, he reached his modest conclusion: "The neutron bomb has to be the most moral weapon ever invented."
3. A Nuke by Any Other Name
---------------------------
Since the United States refused to abandon South Korea, and a handful of neutron bombs might force the North Koreans to surrender with the same rapidity as the Japanese after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Cohen thought his concept should receive an enthusiastic welcome, especially considering that it would create virtually no radioactivity or collateral damage. He began by making a presentation to some former colleages of Robert Oppenheimer at CalTech.
They quickly enlightened him. The neutron bomb suffered from a terrible stigma: It was nuclear. Ever since the United States had bombed Japan, American strategists believed that using any nuclear device against any Asian people "would bring down on us the wrath of the civilized world," as Cohen put it. To the guys at Caltech, this was "an article of faith. It also became a basic tenet of U. S. policy, and still is."
The theory was not supported by evidence, but seemed so entrenched, Cohen was forced to conclude that if battlefield nuclear weapons were going to be used anywhere, "it would have to be somewhere other than Asia and against a different kind of people; namely, in Europe against Caucasians."
With this in mind he approached some Pentagon planners who were developing scenarios for defending Europe against a hypothetical Soviet invasion. Here he ran into a different kind of opposition, because military people did not remotely share his interest in minimizing damage. On the contrary, they wanted to do as much damage as possible. Typically they would send reconnaissance aircraft to take pictures after an attack, to evaluate their success at blowing up buildings, setting fire to factories, knocking down bridges, and sinking ships. If they used neutron bombs that caused no damage at all, how would they know whether their strikes had been effective? Neutron bombs wouldn't even cause bloodshed in the usual sense, because enemy soldiers would keel over and die wherever they happened to be--even inside armored vehicles and shelters. An accurate body count would be impossible.
As for a weapon that was "more ethical," this seemed of little interest to anyone. As for it being smaller and cheaper than big bombs, this was actually a disadvantage. Vast appropriations had been allocated for intercontinental ballistic missiles, giant bombers, and submarines capable of delivering the kind of megabombs that people such as Curtis LeMay insisted were necessary. A bargain-basement alternative that didn't require expensive delivery systems could bankrupt defense contractors and cause massive unemployment.
Meanwhile, to the peace movement, the neutron bomb was unacceptable because--well, it was still a bomb. Cohen was like a parent of two belligerent ten-year-olds who sees them brandishing guns at each other, takes the guns away, and gives the kids cans of pepper spray instead. "There," says the parent, "now you can't kill each other, or shoot the cat, or blow holes in the living room." Clearly this is an improvement, but, the kids are still fighting. As a realist, Cohen might argue that kids always pick fights with each other, and your best hope is to minimize their risk of injury. To a peace activist, fighting itself is inherently wrong, and anyone who supplies any kind of weapon is an enabler, perpetuating the sickness instead of eradicating it.
From an activist's point of view the neutron bomb suffered an additional, unique defect. It would kill people without damaging real estate, implying (incorrectly) that Cohen regarded real estate as being more important than people. In an era where the counter-culture had turned "capitalism" into a tainted word, the neutron bomb became stigmatized as "the ultimate capitalist weapon," as if a bomb that only killed people was somehow worse than conventional weapons that inflicted terrible wounds _and_ created environmental devastation _and_ killed people.
Overall, the neutron bomb displeased almost everyone, and its chances for development and deployment seemed essentially zero. Still, Cohen was relentless. He continued promoting the concept to anyone who would listen, and by chance his proselytizing reached the ears of a former nuclear weapon planner named Jack Morse. The situation now changed radically, because Morse had the political savvy and connections that Cohen lacked.
4. What's a Neutron?
--------------------
Morse began promoting Cohen around Washington, and Cohen found himself making presentations to politicians instead of the defense contractors, academics, RANDites, and Pentagonians he had dealt with before. His education in the processes of nuclear policy entered an entirely new phase.
Senator Clinton Anderson, Chairmain of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy (JCAE), denounced the neutron bomb primarily because it was being studied for possible development at the Livermore laboratory in Northern California, whereas Anderson represented the state of New Mexico, which was the home of Los Alamos National Laboratories. Any new project that would benefit Livermore at the possible expense of Los Alamos was a nonstarter so far as he was concerned. Its supposed benefits to the United States or humanity in general were of secondary importance.
Senator Thomas Dodd liked the neutron bomb mainly because he hated communism, and a weapon that would kill communists while leaving their territory in pristine condition for American occupation seemed a great idea. He presented a memo endorsing the bomb to John F. Kennedy, but Kennedy wasn't interested. When Dodd persisted, the Kennedy administration became so impatient with him that Dodd feared they would deprive him of support in his upcoming campaign for re-election. At this point he dropped the whole issue. He reminded Cohen that although the fight against communism was important, "the first duty of a politician is to be elected."
Senator John Stennis, then chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, paid extravagant lip service to the neutron bomb yet seemed disinclined to back his words with actions. In Cohen's estimation, "Had the bomb been a big ticket multibillion dollar item that could have been produced in Mississippi, his interest in it might have been diferent. But nuclear warheads, compared with the weapon systems that deliver them, are dirt cheap."
Representative Melvin Price was the most senior member of the JCAE, and had played a major role in formulating nuclear policy for more than a decade. Supposedly he was an expert on all things nuclear, but his response may have bothered Cohen more than any other. At the end of a briefing, Price asked only one question: "What's a neutron?"
Perhaps Cohen should have known what to expect, yet still he was appalled. Elected representatives on committees that established policy at the highest level were motivated by base self-interest, expediency, and petty rivalries. They were not only ignorant, but uninterested in educating themselves. Given a choice between saving public money and spending it, they preferred to spend it. Allowed the option of destroying a city or leaving it unscathed, they opted to destroy it. Forced to choose between maximizing human suffering on innocent civilians or minimizing it, they chose to maximize it.
Journalists were not much better. They could have learned the ethical basis for the neutron bomb easily enough if they cared to do so, but, they didn't care. They took the lazy way out, quoting cheap shots from peace activists' press releases, which never failed to tag the bomb as the "ultimate capitalist weapon." Cohen took grim solace when Leonid Brezhnev denounced him publicly as an "international war criminal," but the vilification he received in his own country was hard to endure.
Confronted with bad press, venal politicians, and world leaders who still seemed hooked on the drama of weapons that would cause as much destruction as possible, Cohen concluded that neutron bombs would be built only if the United States got itself into a conventional war that imposed an intolerable financial burden while creating unacceptable casualties among American troops. As the years passed, the Vietnam War certainly began to fit this description. "We had close to a half million American casualties in Vietnam," Cohen recalls, "and by this time the Livermore laboratory had put in a proposal to Washington stating that they could manufacture a couple hundred neutron bombs. Of course, no one can predict the number of bombs that would produce any specific result, but I believe that considerably less than 200 neutron bombs could have ended that war."
Since an outright retreat from Vietnam seemed unthinkable at this time, the situation invited a quick application of overwhelmingly superior military technology--which could now be achieved without targeting civilians or destroying the infrastructure that sustained them. Once again, however, Cohen found himself thwarted by theories and prejudices that made this unacceptable. The neutron bomb was still nuclear, the Vietnamese were Asian, yet even this wasn't the biggest issue. According to conventional wisdom, any small nuclear weapon was dangerous because the nation that used it would encourage other nations to use theirs, and a back-yard nuclear squabble would escalate to a full-scale nuclear war.
This was like the theory that anyone who used marijuana would wind up using heroin. No evidence existed to support it. No national leader had ever threatened to respond with a big nuke if someone else launched a small one. Still, everyone was afraid that it could happen, and Cohen couldn't prove that it wouldn't.
In a presentation that he made to the State Department, Cohen tried to get his audience to reconsider their prejudice against anything nuclear. He asked everyone to consider a hypothetical bomb that would be "semi-nuclear," using a very small charge to accelerate a cluster of projectiles. The nuclear detonation would harm no one directly. It would be like gunpowder moving a bullet. Would this be acceptable?
As Cohen remembers it, the State Department officials were unanimous in their response. The United States should never be the first to use any nuclear-based device. Since Cohen's hypothetical weapon was nuclear-based, it could not be used.
He countered by proposing another idea. Physicist Freeman Dyson had suggested a spaceship powered by small nuclear bombs. The spaceship would be blasted into orbit by a couple of explosions from a location such as a Pacific atoll, where nuclear weapons had been tested many times. Once the spaceship was in orbit, it could drop conventional bombs on North Vietnam. Would _that_ be acceptable?
No, it would not. Any kind of nuclear explosion was taboo if it was connected directly or indirectly with the delivery of a weapon.
All right, Cohen said, what if the spaceship was powered by a nuclear reactor? Better still, what if the United States sent one of its nuclear-powered aircraft carriers to launch conventional bombing missions from the North China Sea?
Even a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier was too much for some State-Department officials to accept--although subsequently, such aircraft carriers were deployed routinely for this purpose. By then, however, Cohen had given up trying to deal with the State Department. He said, "I could rebut people like these logically, and show how prejudiced they were, but their antinuclear phobia was of such enormous magnitude, they became totally irrational. It affected their science."
He continued to promote his beliefs within RAND, yet even in this academic enclave, where horrified fascination had been a routine corollary of thinking the unthinkable, the climate had changed. "Everyone at RAND was now totally against battlefield nuclear weapons," Cohen recalls. "In fact most of them were now against all nuclear weapons. They subscribed to the same mythology as everyone else, that if you get into a conflict where one nuclear device is detonated, there will be an escalation process that is unstoppable. There was nothing in history to justify this. They just concocted the idea as being an inevitability. They knew it as a fact of deep religiosity."
Cohen had been an irritant for many years, but now his relentless campaigning in favor of battlefield nukes caused him to be perceived as dangerous. He was fired from RAND in 1969. He continued working in various consultancy roles for the government and for defense contractors, but life was never quite the same again.
5. Warfare as a Biological Function
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Long after the Vietnam War reached its miserable end, Sam Cohen's cheerleading for the neutron bomb achieved unexpected results. More than twenty years had elapsed since his epiphany in Korea, and the best opportunities for deployment had passed; but he became a policy advisor for incoming president Ronald Reagan, who liked his ideas. Two friendly senators then led a successful effort that overcame resistance within the Pentagon.
Alas, the way in which the neutron bombs were built totally perverted Cohen's original plan for them.
Two sizes were devised. Both were configured to explode near ground level, so that instead of minimizing blast damage they would maximize it to satisfy the enduring military need to blow things up. The larger of the two designs was actually so big, Cohen calculated that it would inflict devastation on the same scale as the first atomic bomb at Hiroshima. Worse still, since the weapons honored the "no Asian targets" rule and were intended to defend American allies in Europe, their blast damage would destroy the friendly territory that they were supposed to protect.
Cohen was not particularly surprised when Europeans refused to allow the warheads on their soil. The neutron bombs remained in the United States, where they served no function because they could not be deployed rapidly if a Soviet invasion took place.
This, then, was the final insult. After the neutron bomb had been maligned and misunderstood, it was misapplied, and became just another profligate military boondoggle. Cohen made no secret of his dissatisfaction. His rants were not calculated to make friends or influence people, and he was forced into an early retirement in 1985.
Stocks of American neutron bombs were retained for a couple more years, but George Bush Senior finally made a policy decision to eliminate _all_ battlefield nuclear weapons, and thus "the most moral weapon ever invented" was scrapped without benefiting anyone other than the defense contractors who built it.
Cohen was left wondering about the real motives of people who mold military policy. He ran across a book from the Pentagon library titled _The Sexual Cycle of Human Warfare_ by a former British colonel named Normal Walter. Although Walter was not trained as a scientist, his view of warfare was basically sociobiological. He argued that in our evolutionary past, inter-tribal conflicts enabled elders to discipline younger, competitive males and reduce their numbers. According to this theory, war became institutionalized by older males who wanted to maximize the number of single females by culling the number of younger males.
The hypothesis was unprovable, but Cohen certainly saw that warfare satisfied an emotional need. In his words, "We just plain like to fight wars. We adore the military, and over the decades countless millions of young Americans have entered the services to fight. They were more than willing, and their parents accepted it. It's in the genes. We're being driven by forces that we can't afford to understand."
He now describes himself as "an extreme military isolationist. This may sound extreme for a Jew who really hated the Nazis, but the way I feel today, if I had been FDR when World War II broke out, I wouldn't have gotten us into it. I would have shied away and waited for things to resolve themselves."
Since no one is likely to re-engineer human nature, Cohen's ultimate conclusion is that government policy should impose financial limits on our human weaknesses. The defense budget should be cut to the point where we would be unable to afford any battles overseas. "Otherwise," says Cohen, "we're going to go on poking our nose in all over the world, supposedly to preserve freedom. And each time we will kill countless innocents and make lives miserable for those who survive."
He would apply a greatly reduced military budget primarily to defend the nation at home, using measures such as a realistic anti-ballistic missile (ABM) defense. By "realistic" Cohen means small nuclear warheads that would explode over an American city to knock down all incoming missiles. Unlike the non-nuclear devices proposed in Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative, which had to be accurate enough to "hit a bullet with another bullet," a nuclear system would be relatively simple, relatively affordable, would not require any technological breakthroughs, and would enjoy a good chance of working.
Unfortunately this would not only violate our ABM treaty but would trigger the same old visceral aversion to anything nuclear--even in response to a nuclear attack. As Cohen puts it, "Apparently it's okay for the other side to destroy us with nuclear weapons but it's fundamentally wrong for us to defend ourselves with non-destructive (to ourselves or anyone else) nuclear weapons."
Thus the real-world chance of such a system being developed remains close to zero.
6. The Global Consequences of Child Abuse
-----------------------------------------
The first time I heard Sam Cohen's name was in 2000 when I happened to catch Michael Reagan's AM hate show, or "talk show" as he prefers to call it. Just for once, he wasn't denouncing homosexuals or the homeless. He had read a book titled _Shame_, which was Sam Cohen's autobiography, and he seemed to think it was one of the most bizarre and remarkable memoirs he had ever seen. Not only did it expose hypocrisy, incompetence, and mendacity in government on an astonishing scale, it exposed the author himself with equal candor. Supposedly Cohen had pursued a lifelong obsession with radiation weapons primarily as a neurotic response to a miserable childhood dominated by a demonic mother.
This was odd enough to attract my interest, so I ordered my copy of _Shame_ from amazon.com. When it arrived I was in a perfect state of mind to read it, because I was reaching the end of my tenure as a senior writer on _Wired_ magazine and was beginning to feel a bit of a has-been. _Shame_ was the ultimate exercise in has-beenism, chronicling a career that had elevated Cohen to a position of immense influence in national policy-making before he suffered his downfall into obscurity. My modest arc through the tawdry world of journalism was trivial by comparison.
The title of the book refers to Cohen's own feelings of shame regarding his uncompromising and sometimes mean behavior toward contemporaries with whom he disagreed. He doesn't just implicate other cold warriors as having mixed motives; he goes into excruciating detail regarding the origins of his own.
By his account, his childhood was hell. When he suffered nasal congestion as a result of allergies, his mother gagged him to the point of suffocation in a misguided attempt to force him to breathe through his nose. When his allergies caused him to rub his eyes, his mother tied his hands behind his back. When he came down with a cold, he would be forced to lie under a heap of blankets to "sweat out the infection," even in midsummer when the temperature was in the 90s.
Worse was his mother's fanatical belief that infrequent bowel movements or constipation would slowly and fatally poison the body. In the interests of intestinal hygiene she compelled her child to consume a diet largely consisting of vegetable juices. Cohen recalls that this regimen induced nausea and uncontrollable diarrhea, including many episodes where the unfortunate boy literally shat in his pants during school lessons.
Like many abused children, Cohen developed fantasies of revenge. A central feature of these fantasies was his belief that if he so wished, he could emit harmful rays from his eyes capable of frying the brains of his enemies. "I went out of my way for years to avoid looking people in the eyes, especially if I were angry with them for some reason," he recalls.
To what extent did his abuse and his delusionary response affect his choice of career as a nuclear weapons designer? He responds: "I've got more than a hunch that what I've been describing has been a powerfully determining factor, if not the determining factor, in what I've done with my life." He notes the similarity between the symptoms of nausea and diarrhea that he endured, and the nausea and diarrhea that would be experienced by victims of the weapons that he designed.
When I read these strange and disturbing speculations in _Shame_ they confirmed my long-standing opinion that most people who rise to positions of great influence are carrying baggage that would shock us if we knew its contents. I remember a summer day in New York City, when I was walking past the Museum of Modern Art, and I realized that the man walking toward me, with a beautiful model on his arm and two Secret Service agents behind him, was Henry Kissinger, Richard Nixon's former Secretary of State. I had no special feelings regarding Kissinger, but as I looked at his face from a few feet away, I felt an overwhelming aversion reflex. Instinctively I sensed that this man was as twisted as a serial killer. He had the malign intensity of Charles Manson, fuelled with considerably more intelligence. (To some extent Cohen seems to share my outlook. "An absolute scoundrel," he remarked to me once about Kissinger. "I can hardly wait to read his obit.")
I remember also listening to a speech by renegade British politician Ken Livingstone, a one-time Member of Parliament whose disarming candor rivals even that of Sam Cohen. "Politics really does turn out to be even worse than your worst nightmares," Livingstone concluded, after listing the corruption and deception that he dealt with on a daily basis.
It seems to me axiomatic that most primary actors on the global stage are disturbed people, because an obsessive lust for power is itself a pathology, and in a competition among thousands or millions of power seekers, only the most pathological are likely to win. The difference between them and Sam Cohen is that Cohen fell into the world of government almost by accident, and admits his neuroses no matter how bizarre they sound.
I believe that his obsessive honesty helps to explain why the New York publishing house that commissioned his autobiography turned around and rejected the manuscript, forcing him to distribute it online, which virtually guaranteed the book's obscurity. To the well-intentioned liberals who constitute the primary population of publishing companies, Cohen's text said, in effect, that the behavior of nuclear policy makers was delusional bordering on insane. Scientists had based their recommendations on half-baked ideas and faked data. Trillions of dollars had been squandered, and national security had been jeopardized by prima-donnas and opportunists who systematically betrayed our trust in the pursuit of their base self interest.
Cohen realized that his readers might be skeptical about all this. In his preface he wrote, "That such deadly instruments of death and destruction have been in the hands of people who really didn't know what they were up to, never did, and still don't--this has to be hard to swallow."
Still, he stretched credulity even further as he insisted that the most supposedly contemptible weapon of the twentieth century, portrayed as serving the needs of capitalism by killing people while preserving real estate, actually was the most moral weapon ever invented. Finally, in a coup-de-grace that could hardly fail to repel any book editor who had perhaps expected a scholarly or academic work, Cohen explained in some detail that he developed his "most moral weapon" because on some visceral level he liked the idea of inflicting the same nightmare of vomit and diarrhea that had been inflicted upon him by his mother.
No surprise, then, that he was exiled from the East Coast literary establishment in much the same way that he had been exiled from the military establishment, and for much the same reason: He wouldn't stop telling people things that they didn't want to hear.
Personally I felt that his book was an immensely courageous document, for precisely the reasons that had made it almost unpublishable. I wanted very much to meet the author, and since he was in retirement I thought he might be willing to spend a little time talking to a journalist. I sent a snail-mail letter offering to do what I could to publicize, review, or promote _Shame_, although, I warned Cohen, I might be able to do nothing at all. A few days later he called to tell me he would be pleased to talk to me when I next visited Los Angeles.
7. The Problem of Selling Sam
-----------------------------
At this time I was still one of the three senior writers at _Wired_, although I didn't expect my contract to be renewed. At the end of the 1990s the editorship had changed, and the magazine was heading in a more conventional direction. I have never been very interested in writing conventional journalism, and Sam Cohen obviously wasn't a conventional subject for a feature. Still, I went to visit him at my own expense with the intention of putting together a proposal for a piece about him.
Looking back, I don't remember his house very clearly. I failed to document my perceptions thoroughly because I thought I was making only a preliminary visit and would return for a longer, deeper session if my proposal resulted in a commission.
I remember Cohen in his study, as amiably irascible as I expected and had hoped he would be. I have an image of him lurking in a room of many windows, with a lot of dark varnished wood. I think of him on a La-Z-Boy recliner, scowling at CNN. He was ironic, funny, fatalistic, but still fundamentally an idealist and very much a patriot.
He told me that I was the only reader who had bothered to write to him about his book, which did not surprise me, since print-on-demand publishing means precisely what it says. It prints copies only if there's a demand, but it never creates a demand, and therefore it is unlikely to print many copies.
Nevertheless "Sam" (as he insisted that I call him) was not embittered, merely saddened by his lifetime experience in government. With some pride he showed me the Medal of Peace that he had received from the Pope in 1979. As a Jewish atheist he had little interest in the Catholic Church, but coincidence had placed him in communication with its clergy, and he was happy to take whatever recognition they chose to offer.
I stepped outside his house to photograph the medal. The house was on a large plot in Brentwood, overlooking Los Angeles--a beatific location, not far from the old O. J. Simpson estate, and within commuting distance from RAND. I tried to imagine Cohen among the theorists, questioning their commonsense and debunking their data. Really I was surprised that he had lasted there as long as he had.
I asked him how his friends would characterize him, if I talked to them. "I think they would tell you I'm a loyal friend to them, but a stupid asshole who has gone out of his way to make trouble," he told me after a moment's reflection.
After I went home and wrote my proposal to profile Sam, it was rejected with the same inevitability that Sam himself had been rejected. "Selling Sam" remains problematic at best, since his views are so unconventional, his style is so uncompromising, and his self-revelatory tendencies are so unsettling. My editor simply remarked that he "sounds wacky."
In a way I was relieved, because writing for magazine publication almost always entails compromises, and I didn't feel like compromising in this instance. I set aside my notes but continued to enjoy occasional phone calls during the months and years that followed, whenever Sam felt like haranguing me with ideas for books or opinion pieces. Phone calls seemed to be his primary recreation, and I imagined him working his way steadily through his Rolodex each month, hitting my name as he reached the P section. I felt honored to be there.
Years later, when I mentioned Sam Cohen to Mark Frauenfelder, Mark said that if I were willing to write something for his blog, he would try to sell copies of it. I said, no, let's not try to sell it; the money will be trivial, and charging a download fee will limit the audience. Let's give the text away. My reason for writing this, after all, has nothing to do with money.
8. The Profits of Fear
----------------------
One benefit of the aging process--perhaps the only benefit--is that it enables historical perspective.
I was born in 1945, and can remember very clearly the nuclear hysteria of the 1950s and the 1960s. During the Cuban missile crisis I hung out with my teenage friends and discussed our options if we received a four-minute warning of nuclear attack. "I know what I would do," a rather lovely girl told me with a sexy smile, almost making me hope that Nikita Khruschev would launch a pre-emptive strike. As children of the Bomb we lived in everyday fear of annihilation for more than a decade, and during that time nuclear weapons remained the news topic in the western world, like a hit album that never dropped out of the charts.
Today, global nuclear war exists as a topic of interest only in Terminator movies, and even they have lost their former appeal. The weapons are still there, our leaders can still use them, but the Union of Concerned Scientists doesn't lose much sleep worrying about them anymore.
During presidential elections throughout the Cold War, our primary, overriding concern was that a candidate should be sane enough to "have his finger on The Button." Today, that "Button" phrase has become archaic. I can't remember when I last heard it. There was some residual concern about Ronald Reagan's qualifications to command nuclear forces (partly because of his advanced age), but I don't think the issue was mentioned at all when Bill Clinton or George W. Bush were running for office.
Over a period of decades, we gradually realized that our nuclear fears had been unwarranted. The hypothetical scenarios of game theory had entailed a lamentable ignorance of human psychology. No leader or militarist in the Soviet Union or the United States had been crazy enough to start a nuclear war, and we came to the conclusion that none ever would.
As the mood of the nation became slightly less belligerent, and a new generation insisted that we should "Give peace a chance," statesmen pandered to pacifists by staging occasional summit conferences or arms reduction negotiations at which they embraced one another as if their prior threats and warnings had never happened. In reality of course it was the other way around: The peace process never really happened. After the very last treaty was signed, both superpowers still owned more than enough weapons to annihilate each other, because it is not in the nature of people who seek power to relinquish it voluntarily.
Sam Cohen illustrates his skepticism toward nuclear treaties by telling the story of a negotiation in which Soviet representatives did not even know how many nuclear warheads their own nation possessed, because the Politburo didn't trust them with this information. The only way the treaty could be concluded was when the United States volunteered to guess the number of Soviet warheads, using its own intelligence data, which were classified. Divulging classified information to a potentially hostile foreign nation is a treasonous act, but that was what the United States had to do, to create a document that made mutual arms reduction look plausible. Its only real achievement was a photo op during the signing ceremony.
George Orwell suggested in his novel _1984_ that a totalitarian state would benefit most from a war which seems threatening yet is never sufficiently dangerous to defeat the nation and can be prolonged almost indefinitely. An ongoing conflict of this type provides an outlet for destructive energy and justifies material sacrifices while discouraging dissent. Whether this scenario is applicable to American government may be debatable, but certainly the Cold War satisfied all of these criteria.
Orwell imagined a regime that stopped "the pendulum of history," but in reality any status-quo becomes unstable with time, and the threat of communism turned out to be emptier than anyone had realized. I remember a TV interview with George Bush Senior, who was slumped in his chair with his chin in his hand, not saying much, as an interviewer asked why he didn't have a more emotional reaction to the wonderful news about the Berlin wall coming down. "I guess I'm just not an emotional kind of guy," Bush responded.
Yet he was reacting with obvious emotion. He was visibly depressed, with good reason, since the self-destruction of the Soviet Union caused a massive reduction in his own importance. After being empowered by nuclear weapons like his predecessors, he suddenly found himself as a Commander in Chief with no enemy to fight. No one cared anymore that his finger was on The Button, because he had lost any excuse to use it.
I think Bush understood very clearly a fundamental fact of politics: Our leaders are less valuable to us at times when we feel more secure. When a president has no foreign threat from which he can claim to protect the nation, his remaining primary task is simply to create national prosperity. Sure enough, as the economy tanked near the end of Bush's first term, there was no further use for him at all. He was terminated by uppitty voters who were annoyed by the rise in unemployment and weren't afraid anymore.
Freedom from fear made us a bit smarter--at least, smart enough to elect Bill Clinton, a feelgood guy who seemed sleazy and corrupt but was unlikely to cause much trouble. With no foreign threat to empower him, Clinton's domestic policy initiatives failed, and he was reduced to the status of a second-rate celeb attracting National Enquirer coverage. Instead of worrying about him starting a nuclear war, we spent months wondering whether an intern had given him a blow job. This was highly beneficial to We, the People, who, freed from fear, set about generating prosperity for ourselves on an unprecedented scale.
You might think that no one could object to a booming economy, yet the way it happened was unwelcome in segments of industry, government, and even the mass media where status and prosperity had been linked with stability. Disruptive technology threatened old-school industrial titans such as AT&T, Kodak, Warner, and IBM. Old-school billionaires found themselves outranked by disrespectful upstarts, and old-school stock analysts began to look like idiots. Meanwhile the Internet empowered voters by setting up an uncontrollable conduit of information, circumventing the traditional symbiosis between media conglomerates and legislators. Some writers even contemplated a future in which further advances in technology might render government obsolete altogether.
You didn't have to be a techno geek to calculate the sum of these vectors. When people in power feel threatened by rapid change, they apply the brakes. Initially we saw some straws in the wind: Microsoft was humbled by the Justice Department, Clinton signed the Communications Decency Act, Greenspan punished investors for being exuberant to a degree that he found irrational, legislators of both parties crafted laws to throw hackers and file sharers in jail, the State Department attempted to outlaw strong encryption, and prosecutors collaborated with their friends in the traditional news media to publicize endless cases of predators, pedophiles, thieves, and con artists infesting the Internet. The message was relentless: _New technology should not be trusted._ Even Bill Joy, cofounder of Sun Microsystems, decided that some aspects of future science would be so dangerous, they should be brought under control even though they didn't exist yet.
At the time when I visited Sam Cohen, in late 2000, I didn't realize how much further the backlash would go. I certainly did not imagine a faith-driven initiative in which primitive zealots would pervert foreign policy, cripple scientific research, curtail social freedoms, and revive international adventurism to entrap the nation in a new state of perpetual Orwellian war.
Eventually I saw George Bush Junior standing on an aircraft carrier, dressed like an Air Force pilot, shouting "Bring it on!" And unlike his father, he didn't look depressed at all, even though he was ordering thousands of young soldiers into a conflict that was quite capable of killing them, while threatening to undo all the prosperity that we had created for ourselves during our freedom from fear.
Many journalists dislike Bush Junior. They complain about him toadying to the religious right, and they make fun of his syntactical blunders--but no one treats him as if he's unnecessary, and the National Enquirer doesn't go near his sex life. Also, unlike his father, Junior got himself re-elected by a significant margin, even at a time when economic growth seemed questionable.
My only question is why this fear-based charade still works, and I guess the answer is that the fear makes us stupid enough to allow it to work.
Bush Junior still plays the nuclear-drama card once in a while, when he issues warnings about nations such as North Korea, but he never even mentions Moscow as a significant threat, because no one would take it seriously. We have given up sitting around wondering what we will do if there's a four-minute warning of armageddon. Instead, we have been induced to worry about primitive explosives in the hands of semi-literate fanatics who might kill perhaps a few thousand of us in tall buildings or a few dozen of us in public transit systems. Such numbers are utterly trivial compared with the mass annihilation that seemed plausible and imminent during the 1950s and 1960s. They are small even by comparison with highway traffic fatalities, yet the anxiety induced by the possibility of domestic terrorism has become comparable with bygone fears of communism. This makes no sense at all, but fears are seldom rational, especially when they are manipulated by elected representatives who somehow continue to command some trust and respect. In a system such as this, clearly there was no place for Sam Cohen. He invented a device that would win wars without destroying anything--and tried to sell it to military leaders whose greatest desire was to destroy as much as possible. He found a way to end conflicts quickly, with minimal drama--and offered it to political leaders who have more to gain from conflicts that create maximum drama and drag on for years. If policy makers in Washington had wanted to curtail human suffering and the appalling wastefulness of military expenditures, the neutron bomb offered them an option. Some found it provocative, a few were willing to pursue it, but a majority chose to let it disappear into obscurity, along with the man who created it.
Epilogue: An Exercise in Futility
---------------------------------
I'm driving a rented car north out of Boston on a stormy night in July 2005, trying to find Route 128 on my way to a conference, when my cell phone rings. It's 8:30 pm, I'm tired and hungry, and the inventor of the neutron bomb is on the line.
I pull onto the shoulder and talk to Sam for a while. He complains about his state of health, and tells me that he is no longer able to walk very easily. He reminds me that he is almost 85, and says that the future does not look good, either for himself or the nation generally. As always he is concerned about national security. He worries that our adventures in the Middle East will have long-term repercussions for which we are ill-prepared. He points out that the current adventures in Iraq would have been rendered totally unnecessary if neutron bombs had been used on Iraqi battlefields during Desert Storm. That war could have been ended decisively instead of leaving the door open for a renewed round of insanely expensive, divisive, conventional hostilities. I ask him if he feels certain that the neutron bombs which were built during the Reagan administration were really destroyed under Bush Senior. He replies that in some ways the United States is an odd nation. U. S. presidents often say things that they don't mean, but a small army of underlings works tirelessly to make sure that reality conforms with public statements. All edicts are faithfully carried out. The weapons were destroyed.
On the other hand, Sam has no doubt that China and Israel built their own neutron bombs, probably using information that was leaked to them in an attempt to stabilize their situation by assuring their defense. "If this is the case," he says, "those nations now are equipped with weapons superior to anything we have." He pauses and chuckles. "And more humane than anything we have."
He asks me if I am still planning to write about him for a web site, and I say I'm close to finishing the piece. "I hope you realize," he tells me, "that writing this will be futile. It won't change anything."
I answer that I work on the principle that if a piece of journalism reaches only one person who finds it significant, the effort is worthwhile.
"I suppose I have to agree," he says. "That's always the basis on which I operated."
Sam Cohen failed to change the world. Policies are still being initiated by analysts whose intellectual arrogance convinces them that they can know the unknowable. Data are still being manipulated to prove the unprovable, and wars are still being fought to serve the selfish interests of narcissists who profit from fear while enjoying their starring roles in the drama of international politics. Sam lost all of his battles with the establishment--yet if the experiences he has shared provide any of us with any insight at all, they will not have been wasted.
Charles Platt, August 2005.
Sam Cohen's autobiography, _Shame,_ is still available from the usual online sources.
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