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Microsoft’s share price has more than doubled since Satya Nadella was named CEO in February 2014. Building on an enterprise business established by his predecessor, Steve Ballmer, Nadella has pushed Microsoft away from its proprietary, on-premise software into a “mobile-first, cloud-first” vision, embracing different platforms, as well as growing markets like the enterprise cloud and AI.
The transition is happening slowly and in a way that’s generating revenue growth. Emblematic of that transition was Microsoft’s announcement during its earnings call Thursday that for the first time, Office 365 revenue surpassed revenue from Microsoft’s traditional Office licensing business.
As Microsoft closed out its latest fiscal year, the company posted earnings showing the results of that effort. Microsoft reported non-GAAP net income of $7.7 billion, or 98 cents a share, on revenue of $24.7 billion in its fiscal fourth quarter. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters forecast revenue of $24.3 billion and net income of 71 cents a share. Most of the surprise profit came from a one-time tax benefit related to past losses in its phone business.
The non-GAAP revenue figure included a $1.4 billion impact from Windows 10 revenue deferrals. GAAP revenue rose 13 percent to $23.3 billion, representing the strongest quarter for revenue growth in nearly two years.
The quarter showed a familiar pattern for Microsoft, in which sales of its More Personal Computing segment declined 2 percent to $8.8 billion, while revenue from its Intelligent Cloud business rose 11 percent to $7.4 billion and revenue from its Productivity and Business Process segment rose 21 percent to $8.4 billion.
“Transformation is a continuous process of renewal and reinvestment,” said Nadella in a conference call with investors. “We will continue to invest in high-growth opportunities, lead innovation in cloud and AI, and bring our technology and products together into experiences and solutions that unlock new value for customers.”
For all of Nadella’s transformation, however, Microsoft’s operations still resemble a confederation of loosely related entities, with a wide variety of performance among them. Microsoft’s biggest growth is coming from its enterprise-cloud offerings, such as Azure, which grew 97 percent year-over-year last quarter; Office 365, which grew 43 percent; and Dynamics 365, up 74 percent.
Other areas, meanwhile, are more mixed. Windows OEM revenue rose 1 percent, which Microsoft noted was nevertheless better than the overall PC market (editor’s note: The company points this out every single quarter). Surface revenue declined 2 percent, an improvement over the 26 percent decline in the previous quarter. Microsoft attributed the lower Surface sales to “product lifestyle transitions” amid the Surface laptop’s release.
Enterprise services revenue fell 3 percent on declines in custom support agreements for Windows Server 2003. Gaming revenue rose 3 percent, while search ad revenue increased by 10 percent. Phones, a longtime ambition that the company recently abandoned, declined by $361 million. Microsoft wouldn’t specify a percentage-change figure for phone revenue. Nor would it for LinkedIn, which saw revenue of $1.1 billion.
Microsoft said it expects revenue in the current quarter to be between $23.6 billion and $24.3 billion. The midpoint of that range, $23.95 billion, represents a 7 percent increase over the year-ago figure but is below the analyst consensus estimate of $24.2 billion.
Shares of Microsoft, which closed up 0.5 percent during active trading, vacillated in after-hours trading. The stock rose as high as 1.8 percent following the financial report before falling as much as 1.6 percent on the lower revenue guidance.
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A survey released this week by two organizations that favor private school vouchers and other forms of school choice shows that Latino voters are more concerned about improving the quality of K-12 education than they are about reforming immigration policies.
Like all voters surveyed, Latinos listed the economy and job creation as their chief area of concern. Latinos in the survey ranked improving K-12 education as their next top issue over budget deficit reduction, which was the second-ranked issue for all voters. Fifty-eight percent of Latinos agreed with the statement that "we need to hear more from the presidential candidates on how they will improve education," compared to 37 percent who agreed with the statement that "we need to hear more from the presidential candidates on other issues before we talk about education." The poll was conducted on behalf of two pro-school choice groups—the American Federation of Children and the Hispanic Council for Reform and Educational Options.
Reforming immigration policy fell into fifth place out of the five areas that pollsters asked respondents to rank in terms of importance for local and state governments to address. That was the case for both all voters and Latino voters.
The poll queried 750 likely voters in five Latino-heavy states: Arizona, Florida, New Mexico, New Jersey, and Nevada. The interviews were done by telephone in English and in Spanish. Many of the survey's questions centered around people's views on school choice issues, such as publicly-funded vouchers for special education students to attend private schools, and "opportunity scholarships," which are generally private school vouchers provided to low-income families.
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SAN DIEGO (CNS) - A parolee was back behind bars Tuesday on suspicion of carrying out an apparently random and unprovoked shooting that killed a 43-year-old career Navy man and wounded the victim's cousin at the Westfield Horton Plaza mall.
Arrow Morris, 39, of San Diego was arrested during a traffic stop in the 3500 block of Afton Road in Serra Mesa on Monday evening, police revealed late this morning.
About 11:45 p.m. Saturday, Morris allegedly opened fire with a pistol on James Celani of San Diego and the victim's relative on the seventh floor of the downtown shopping center and fled with a companion.
Celani, a military aviator assigned to headquarters staff at Naval Special Warfare Command in Coronado, was pronounced dead at UCSD Medical Center from bullet wounds to his chest, homicide Lt. Mike Holden said.
Celani's cousin, a 29-year-old Riverside resident whose name was withheld, was treated for a minor gunshot wound to the leg.
Detectives identified Morris as the suspected gunman after interviewing witnesses and reviewing surveillance video, Holden said. The lieutenant declined to say where the images were captured, though he said the fatal assault was not recorded by a security camera.
Prior to the shooting, the suspect and the victims had been at a standup comedy venue at the mall, according to police. Just before the gunfire erupted, Morris was outside the theater, arguing with a woman, Holden said.
During the quarrel, the suspect allegedly grabbed the woman's purse and walked off along with a cohort, then shot the victims moments later upon encountering them as they were returning to the club.
"This just really seems to be an unprovoked, senseless attack on two people who happened to be walking by at the time," the lieutenant said.
Morris was booked into San Diego Central Jail on suspicion of murder, attempted murder, violation of parole and dissuading a witness. Holden declined to disclose the identity of that witness, though he said it was not the person Morris had been with at the shopping center.
Detectives have identified that man and "are attempting to determine his exact involvement in the shooting," Holden said.
"He has not been arrested, and his identity will not be released at this time," the lieutenant said.
Officers recovered the stolen purse, according to Holden.
RELATED COVERAGE
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Page Content
Auckland Libraries strategic plan 2013 to 2023.
What is Te Kauroa - Future Directions?
Te Kauroa - Future Directions is a strategic plan outlining what we will focus on over the 10 years to 2023. It provides a framework for our planning and development, and determines our priorities in contributing to the vision and outcomes of The Auckland Plan.
We play an important part in realising the Auckland Plan's vision for the people of Auckland. Current models of library service delivery will not meet the demands of an expanding, even more diverse city: we must adapt to suit our rapidly evolving world.
We aspire to:
be a leader on the national and international scene.
deliver what Aucklanders expect from a world-class library.
Two parts of Te Kauroa - Future Directions
Te Kauroa - Future Directions is in two parts:
the first part outlines the current state of libraries, what is changing in the world, digital innovation and the impact on library services and collections
the second part outlines the response to these changes.
Watch Te Kauroa - Future Directions New Zealand Sign Language videos
Auckland Libraries: your place of imagination, learning and connection
There are six focus areas in our library plan
Our development approach
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Yemen disaster: Aden’s Christian cemetery desecrated, Vicar of Arabia says
People unknown knocked down crosses and tombstones, including those of Mother Teresa's nuns, killed in March 2016. For Mgr Hinder, this is serious, confirming the country’s “ongoing difficult situation and violence." The Saudi blockade puts at risk “the survival of people”.
Nov 23, 2017
ADEN: In recent days "the Christian cemetery in Aden was desecrated," including the tombs of the Sisters of Mother Teresa killed during the attack against the retirement home they ran, said Mgr Paul Hinder, apostolic vicar of southern Arabia (UAE, Oman and Yemen), speaking to AsiaNews.
The economic, social and humanitarian situation in Yemen is disastrous, the prelate noted. For some groups, things are "particularly problematic" with "different imperatives" in different parts of the country. What is more, for Mgr Hinder, the blockade imposed by Saudi Arabia is a "major problem".
"The attack on the Christian cemetery in Aden occurred two nights ago,” Mgr Hinder noted. “The attackers, whose identity is still unknown, damaged crosses and tombs," including the tombs of the four Sisters of Mother Teresa killed on 4 March 2016 during an attack by a local extremist group.
Only one nun managed to survive the attack during which the terrorists abducted Fr Tom Uzhunnalil, an Indian Salesian missionary in Yemen. The clergymen was released only recently after a long captivity, also thanks to the intervention of Omani officials.
"This is not the first time that such a thing happens, but the damage to a cemetery is a serious thing. Of course, such episodes of violence do not only affect Christians, but they confirm the ongoing difficult situation and violence."
Since January 2015, the Arab country has been involved in a bloody civil war opposing the Sunni administration of former President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, backed by Saudi Arabia, and Houthi Shia rebels, close to Iran and Hezbollah.
In March of the same year, a Saudi-led Arab coalition launched air strikes against the rebels, which the United Nations criticised because of the casualties they caused, including civilians and children.
UN sources have put the number of dead at almost 9,000, 60 per cent civilians, and 45,000 wounded. Some 20 million Yemenis (out of 28) need humanitarian aid to survive. At least seven million are on the brink of famine, with 2.3 million malnourished children.
Making matters worse, the country has been hit by the worst cholera outbreak in the world, which, according to the International Red Cross, has already affected 900,000 people.
The already critical situation has been made worse by a land, sea and air blockade imposed by Saudi Arabia two weeks ago, which is preventing the arrival of food and humanitarian aid.
NGO Médecins sans frontiers (Doctors without Borders) has slammed Saudi Arabia for sealing its borders, thus aggravating the suffering of an already exhausted population.
International NGOs and groups have sounded the alarm of a possible "unprecedented deterioration" of the food situation. About 80 per cent of the country’s food is imported and Yemenis cannot survive without foreign aid.
"One of the main problems is represented by the blockade that prevents aid, whether food or medicines, from entering,” Mgr Hinder explained. “We need to act to provide humanitarian assistance, which is vital for the survival of the population."--Asia News
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(Current version 1.2.3 - see update notes below for details.)
Most drum step sequencers, including the Redrum Drum Computer, allow you to determine whether a sample will play at a particular step or not, but it is a binary choice - either the sample is triggered or it isn’t. A probability step sequencer allows you to determine whether a sample will play at a particular step, but also allows you to set the probability of the sample actually being triggered. For example, you can set step one to trigger sample one, but only 50 percent of the time. In the PDT2, when a step dial is set to 0 percent, the sample will never be triggered at that step. When the dial is set to 100 percent, the sample will always be triggered at that step. But when a step dial is set to somewhere in between 0 and 100 percent, the sample will be triggered that percentage of the time. (E.g. if a dial is set to 25 percent, the sample will be triggered, randomly, approximately 25 percent of the time at that step.)
Linear Drumming
A single PDT2 can control up to two drum tracks, either independently, or in tandem with each other. When the Linear Pattern button is turned off, the two sequencer channels operate completely independently. When the Linear Pattern button is turned on, each channel will calculate its own probabilities, but will never trigger at the same time as each other. For example, if channel 1 controls a closed hi hat sound and channel 2 controls an open hi hat sound, you might not want them to ever trigger at the same time. In that case, press the Linear Pattern button. Now, on any particular step, if both the closed hi hat and open hi hat channels are triggered, only one will play - usually the one with the higher probability.
Seeding
When dealing with random numbers, you usually want completely random numbers. But when making music, you usually want control over the final sequence of sounds. The PDT2 gives you both. The random probabilities that the PDT2 generates are completely random based on a “seed” that you control. For any given pattern of dials, and any given position in the song, when the seed is the same, the triggers will be the same. This means that when you have your drum pattern dialed in, the resulting triggered beat will sound the same each time you play the song. If you change one of the step dials, the entire beat will change. But if your dials are exactly where you want them to be, and drums are triggered exactly as often you want them to be, but you just don’t like the particular random choices of the pattern, change the seed. You’ll get a whole new pattern based on your same set of probabilities. Because any change in any probability dial produces an entirely new random sequence, and the seed dial can produce random variants of each pattern of dials, the variations are nearly endless, yet you can have complete confidence in knowing ahead of time what the final triggered sequence will sound like.
Shuffle
When playing a groove, a live drummer will often shuffle a hi hat ride differently than a shuffle between the snare and bass drum, both of which might be different than the global shuffle of the song. Each PDT2 has its own independent shuffle dial.
CV Outs
Each PDT2 has two channels. Each channel has two CV outs on the back of the device. The first is a Gate CV output. This is the primary trigger. This is the CV that goes into the Redrum or Kong or any other instrument that you want triggered based on probabilities. The other CV output is a Level CV output. When a signal is sent out of the Gate CV, the value of the source probability is sent out of the Level CV. For example, if the dial for step one is set to 50 percent, and the PDT2 determines that it should be triggered, a signal is sent to the Gate CV to trigger the sample, and a value of 50 percent is sent to the Level CV. This Level CV can be used any way you wish. In the example Combinator patches provided with the PDT2, the Level CV is often used to control the volume of the triggered sample. The thinking is that if a step has a low probability, it might be a ghost note, or a pick up, or something otherwise ancillary to the beat. Most of the time, those elements are softer than the primary elements of a beat - the downbeat or back beat - which should be louder, and should be played more consistently, meaning a higher probability. Therefore, when using the Level CV to control volume, the higher probability triggers are louder and the lower probability triggers are softer. There is no requirement to use the Level CV in this way, or to use it at all. But when used in this way, it adds a level of complexity and listenability and interest to a beat.
If you have any questions or suggestions, send them to [email protected]
** 1.2.2 UPDATE **
1) Add automation to Gate, Steps, and Speed dials.
2) Changed the way gate length works. Now, a gate length of 100 percent is the length of four beats.
3) Fixed light persistence bug when changing pattern length.
4) Fixed bug where note lanes were automatically created when creating a new device. Now, note lanes are not created automatically, but can be created manually.
** 1.2.1 UPDATE **
Four new pieces of functionality have been added for the 1.2.1 release:
1) A Gate dial now controls the length of the trigger signal sent out of the Gate CV.
2) A Steps dial now determines the number of steps in the sequence pattern, from 1 to 32. (Steps beyond 16 wrap around to the beginning of the dial sequence.)
3) A Speed dial determines how fast, and at what resolution, the pattern plays - from each step lasting a half note, to each step lasting a 36th note. Triplets included.
4) A Seed In CV on the back of the PDT2. Hook an external LFO to the Seed In CV to make the PDT2 always random, every time you press play, even if you don’t change any dials.
** 1.2.3 UPDATE **
1) All parameters are now Remote enabled.
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The Formula One season kicks off with today's practice sessions for the Australian Grand Prix, but rookie Rio Haryanto is already looking forward to the Singapore race in September.
The Singapore GP will be the closest thing the Solo native will have to a home race, with the 23-year-old spending his teenage years in the Republic. He was a student at the International School of Singapore, later graduating with a business management degree at private school FTMSGlobal Singapore in 2014.
His father, Sinyo Haryanto, 57, who owns a stationery business, said of the youngest of his four sons: "Even though he is Indonesian, he can be considered a Singaporean too."
The family own an apartment in Marine Parade, where his 81-year-old grandmother lives. Haryanto Sr himself travels here at least twice a month.
The F1 debutant said in a phone interview from Melbourne: "(Singapore) is closest to my home. I've got family and friends there and I had a big part of my education there."
His journey to F1 started when he was introduced to karting at the age of six in Indonesia. After he moved to Singapore as a student, Haryanto recalled practising at the now-defunct Kart World in Taman Jurong.
He served notice of his talent when he was crowned junior champion at the Asian Karting Open Championship from 2005 to 2007.
On the Marina Bay street circuit in 2009, the Indonesian triumphed in the Singapore leg on his way to winning the Formula BMW Pacific championship.
Today, he has become Indonesia's first F1 driver and the only Asian on the grid this term.
His father referred to a photo of a six-year-old Rio with his idol Michael Schumacher taken at the 1999 Malaysian GP at Sepang, and he said: "He wanted to meet Schumacher and he was so happy he could meet him. He said one day he want to be a famous F1 driver too."
Roland Chong, a karting chief with Kartmaster Drakar, said Haryanto is a fine example of a young karter who is showing that fulfilling the F1 dream is not impossible and not a vain pursuit.
Chong said: "A lot of people would say that it is a ridiculous dream to make it to F1. But look at Rio Haryanto."
Racing is in the Haryantos' blood. Two of Rio's older brothers, Roy, 39, and Ryan, 28, have taken part in racing series including the Formula Atlantic.
The Manor driver joked: "The F1 announcement was long overdue."
The family will be flying to Melbourne to support him as the Manor driver makes his F1 bow.
Said Sinyo, who used to take Rio on hunting, fishing and diving trips: "I've always dreamed that my children could become F1 drivers. Finally Rio has made it. We're so excited for him."
The boyish-looking driver has generated a huge following back home since signing for Manor Racing last month. He has been hailed as a breakout star and has even been asked by fans for the brand of face wash he uses.
However, detractors are not convinced that he deserves his seat, which came on the back of significant sponsorship from Indonesia's state-owned oil and gas giant Pertamina. He dismissed the naysayers, saying: "I worked very hard to reach the F1."
After all, it is not as if he lacks a racing pedigree: He recorded three race victories and an eventual fourth-place finish in last year's GP2 feeder series.
But Haryanto is not about to get distracted by the debate surrounding his qualifications or his skyrocketing profile.
He said: "My main focus is to go as fast as I can on the track. So I need to make sure popularity will only help my performance."
He insisted he has nothing to apologise for, adding: "Getting financial backing gives (an) opportunity for drivers to race in F1. I'm not the only one who has it, other drivers also have strong financial backing."
His goal for now is to be a "solid midfield runner".
"Manor (Racing) are a small team. The best comparison that I can make is with my team-mate (Pascal Wehrlein )," he said.
"Many drivers start from small teams and then they move up to bigger ones. I got to show my abilities and hope I can continue racing in F1 in the future."
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Emmanuel Adebayor could be reunited with Tim Sherwood as Spurs use him in their bid to sign Christian Benteke.
Spurs are challenging Liverpool for the signature of Aston Villa's Belgian striker.
But like Liverpool, Tottenham believe Aston Villa's £32.5m buyout clause for Benteke is too high.
Spurs hope Sherwood's relationship with Adebayor from their time together at White Hart Lane will work in their favour.
Sherwood has already proved he knows what makes Adebayor tick.
(Image: Ian Walton)
After being brought in from the cold by Sherwood in 2013/14, the Togolese scored 14 goals in just 25 games for Spurs.
One potential stumbling block could be Adebayor's huge £100,000-a-week contract, which comfortably tops Villa's current highest earners.
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Spurs chairman Daniel Levy may have to subsidise Adebayor's wages to get him off the books, as he was prepared to do in January to enable the Togo striker to join any interested club other than rivals West Ham.
(Image: Action Images)
Benteke, 24, has two years left on his contract and has no intention of signing a new deal to extend his stay at Villa Park.
Liverpool also have players who could be makeweights such as Rickie Lambert and Fabio Borini.
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We received a letter from Brian Dolan that we thought might be of interest to our readers and that he also sent into The Irish Times newspaper in response to TV3’s “debate” about MMA last night on ‘The Late Review with Tom McGurk’
If you haven’t seen the video of the debate yet then you can watch it below. Here is the letter in full:
“Dear Sir/Madam,
As an avid MMA fan and a proud Irishman, I was dismayed at the tactics employed by Tom McGurk and Eoghan Corry on TV3 last night, in what could only loosely be defined as a ‘debate’ with top level MMA coach and internationally successful martial artist John Kavanagh. I accept that in Ireland we are slow to change and recognise progress, but the misinformation, shock tactics and inappropriate browbeating of a sporting professional that went on was nothing short of a passive aggressive ambush. Armed with little education on the sport and a few one sided photos, they set about smearing a sport which is as old as sport itself, and I felt it necessary to clarify a few things, as it seems plain to me the gap is simply a generational one, derived from lack of understanding, coupled with irrational fear.
The ready acceptance of Barry McGuigan, Steve Collins and Katie Taylor as national icons illustrates the warm welcome of boxing competitors into the national consciousness with little or no fuss. Indeed Ms.Taylor is hailed as a modern icon across the board, while the mention of any of the names above stirring up national pride amongst those of a certain age group. The ideal of the ‘fighting Irish’ has long been part of our identity – sadly, this reverence has not been extended to MMA by the older generation for a variety of supposed ‘reasons’.
Safety was initially mooted as a concern last night – Mr.McGurk launching into a series of graphic photos portraying the admittedly awful looking injuries from various cherry picked MMA fights – mostly heavy bruising to the face. No allowance was made for the fact that this could be done for any sport where collision is a necessity, particularly in Mr.McGurk’s beloved rugby. One need only Google Image search ‘rugby facial injuries’ to view a similar gallery of uncomfortable images. So too for examples of concussion and head injury. If an O’Driscoll or a Sexton soldiers on with injuries symptomatic of concussion on the rugby pitch, they are lauded as heroes – in MMA, it is slammed as irresponsible and dangerous.
The point was also made that no one steps in to stop MMA athletes from competing as they age – this is false. Fighters are licensed – unlike rugby they must undergo a formal submission procedure and they are medically checked before and after events. It is rare someone is denied – but by parallel, it is equally true that it is not often someone tells Cian Healy he can not play.
Incidentally, returning to the boxing comparison – the UFC, an organisation which Eoghan Corry stated represents the bulk of the sport in the public mind, has not had a single death or major spinal injuries in 20 years of competition. This is because of the proximity and involvement of the referees, who are never more than an arm’s length from the action. Often they will literally dive in and separate competitors if there is no intelligent defence offered by a stricken fighter. Boxing creates 10 deaths a year on average (“Boxing — Acute Complications and Late Sequalae,” Hans Forstl, M.D), MMA is yet to experience a single one, and as the years progress it’s safety regulations are only becoming more stringent.
Also, crucially, there is no standing count in MMA as exists in boxing. Concussives are not given the time nor opportunity to carry on, thus damaging themselves further. The traditional 14 ounce boxing gloves also do far more spread damage over an extended time limit. The time limit itself is also a consideration – the average scheduled total fight duration in MMA is 15 minutes – which is shorter than boxing bouts.
The presenter seemed to revel in the term ‘cage fighting’, failing to understand it is simply a safety measure to ensure no one is hurt by falling out of ring – the cage is rubber covered wire and in no way dangerous. Mr. Kavanagh tried to explain this, but was cut off by the ‘impartial presenter’ Mr.McGurk.
The primary driver in Mr.Corry’s debate seemed to be that MMA is transitory and not in for the long haul. He fails to realise its steady growth over two decades, and the recent explosion of the last ten years. MMA is often dubbed ‘the fastest growing sport in the world’, with a global audience which is said to be 65 million people and year on year increases in subscriptions to its on demand Fight Pass service, as well as a corollary jump in ticket sales. He need only take a look at Kavanagh’s own SBG MMA gym chain for an indicator of how incorrect he is about the demand for MMA in this country – with the crop of young kids currently enrolled in any variety of disciplines earmarking the sport for a potentially huge future on home shores.
The older fan base has shown itself to be as passionate as supporters of any sport and are being currently being praised on a global level for their enthusiasm and sense of fun.
Take Chad Mendes, who recently lost to McGregor and who took a moment to praise the Irish fans, and lament the lack of similar American support.
Take a moment to YouTube ‘Irish MMA fans’ and you will be treated to a raucous sight of a safe and upbeat crowd enjoying themselves with non violent and open love of MMA – something this country had lost in my opinion in regard to other sports. Corporate takeover and lack of grass roots investment have killed the once joyous Irish soccer fan base and rugby seems to cater only for a certain section of society.
I would like to take a moment to praise the technical skill of MMA. If one were to tune into rugby for a moment, it would simply seem as if giant men were chasing an oval ball around, occasionally crashing into each other at volatile pace. There would be no appreciation of the balance, dexterity and measured power it takes to play the game, nor would the tactical prowess be readily apparent. The same applies to MMA. A simple glance will yield only lean men and woman trying to punch each other. The truth is far more complex and varied – the subtlety of grappling, the submission techniques of Ju Jitsu, the precision of kicks and punches as well as the mental and physical ability to see a way to victory and take your chance makes it a sport like no other. Indeed many competitors are former Olympians and World Champions in their respective disciplines – before migrating to MMA to test themselves on the ultimate stage. To dismiss these athletes as mere ‘cage fighters’ is about as callous a dismissal as to say Lionel Messi kicks a ball about.
What the vanguard of the Irish sporting media such as Paul Kimmage, Tony O’Donoghue and Tom McGurk seem to want to shoo away is that MMA has captured the imagination of the younger generation, who are emerging from the shadow of austerity and want to dream of something bigger and brighter.
This is possibly, as Mr.Corry maintained, as a replacement for boxing (which with its stale rules, $300 million paydays, multiple organisations, doping, top level fighters avoiding each other for years and the total disconnection from the common fan has become a dead enterprise) but is more likely due to the professionalism, the ambition and swagger of McGregor and his ilk. They are not like our politicians and public figures, a stodgy and unrelatable bunch to the youth of today. They do not linger on austerity, or doom and gloom. They are rising fast with their future in their own hands. They the best in the world, not simply participating in a sport watched by millions on a world stage – all the while a tri-colour draped around their shoulders. At the very least, the host and his guest could have extended a simple congratulations to McGregor and Kavanagh for bringing home a world title – the first for any Irish or British in the UFC. Three years ago, one was an on the dole and the other ran a small Dublin gym. One is now a renowned champion, and the other is a global byword for MMA success in Europe.
A pat on the back maybe? Or must we always attack what we don’t understand?”
Written by Brian Dolan
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Donald Trump launched a blistering counterattack Thursday in response to multiple allegations of sexual assault, calling them “entirely fabricated,” accusing the media outlets that reported them of backing Hillary Clinton and slamming the four accusers as “horrible, horrible liars.”
In a nearly hour-long speech, with language fiery even by Trump standards, the Republican spent over half of it blasting the media, in particular the New York Times, for allegedly pushing an agenda to elect Clinton.
“Let’s be clear on one thing, the corporate media in our country is no longer involved in journalism – they are a political special interest no different from a lobbyist,” Trump said in the speech in West Palm Beach, Fla. “Their agenda is to elect crooked Hillary Clinton at any cost, at any price, no matter how many lives they destroy.”
Trump said the campaign has “substantial evidence” to dispute the latest “orchestrated” allegations and will release them at the appropriate time.
“These vicious claims about me of inappropriate conduct with women are totally and absolutely false. These claims are all fiction, entirely fabricated and are outright lies,” he said.
He singled out the accusers as “horrible, horrible liars.”
In a story published Wednesday evening, The New York Times reported that 74-year-old Jessica Leeds of New York told the paper Trump groped her on a flight more than 30 years ago. Leeds says Trump grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt.
In the same story, Rachel Crooks told the paper that the real estate developer "kissed me directly on the mouth" after she introduced herself to him outside a Trump Tower elevator in 2005.
"It was so inappropriate," Crooks told the paper. "I was so upset that he thought I was so insignificant that he could do that."
Also Wednesday night, the Palm Beach Post published claims by a Florida woman that Trump had groped her during a concert at his Mar-a-Lago estate in January 2003. The woman, 36-year-old Mindy McGillivray, told the paper that she "chose to stay quiet" and did not report the incident to authorities.
Additionally, PEOPLE Magazine writer Natasha Stoynoff published a story late Wednesday detailing her own encounter with Trump in 2005 when she went to interview Donald and Melania in Mar-a-Lago.
Stoynoff says that Trump showed her one “tremendous” room and allegedly pushed her against the wall and was “forcing his tongue” down her throat.
Even before his rally, Trump blasted the reports on Twitter.
Why didn't the writer of the twelve year old article in People Magazine mention the "incident" in her story. Because it did not happen! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 13, 2016 The phony story in the failing @nytimes is a TOTAL FABRICATION. Written by same people as last discredited story on women. WATCH! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 13, 2016
In a statement, PEOPLE Editor in Chief Jess Cagle stood by the account from their reporter.
"We are grateful to Natasha Stoynoff for telling her story. Ms. Stoynoff is a remarkable, ethical, honest and patriotic woman, and she has shared her story of being physically attacked by Donald Trump in 2005 because she felt it was her duty to make the public aware," he said.
"To assign any other motive is a disgusting, pathetic attempt to victimize her again. We stand steadfastly by her, and are proud to publish her clear, credible account of what happened," he said.
Earlier, the Trump campaign, in challenging the reports, said it is planning to file a lawsuit against The New York Times.
Apart from attacking the media, Trump on Thursday spent much of his time on the Clintons and what he called the “international corruption of the Clinton machine.”
When the crowd chanted the refrain of “lock her up,” Trump allowed it to ring out, before adding: “She should be locked up.”
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Intel Haswell chip boasts 24 hours on one charge
During Intel’s Developer Forum today, the chip maker revealed its next-gen Haswell chip architecture set to debut in 2013. It will be the successor to the Ivy Bridge architecture, which has yet to ship for 2012, and is built on the same 22nm process but promises up to a 20-fold reduction of overall power consumption.
Not a whole bunch of technical details were revealed on the Intel Haswell, but the promised performance of the new chip architecture was jaw-dropping. A laptop running on the Intel Haswell chip can reportedly run for 24 hours on one charge and remain for 10 days on connected standby. And because the 22nm 3D transistor architecture uses so little power, it can run on a solar cell.
In fact, at the IDF event, Intel presented a brief demonstration using a Windows prototype with the Haswell chip being powered entirely by a tiny solar cell. The solar cell was only being exposed to two light bulbs for its power source. This shows that Intel is getting mighty serious about power consumption.
Earlier today, Intel and Google jointly announced that future Android releases would be fully optimized for Intel’s Atom-based processors. Meanwhile, Microsoft showed off a new Windows 8 tablet prototype developed by Samsung and powered by an Intel processor.
[via Gizmodo]
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As a portable source of food, water, fuel, and construction materials, the coconut (Cocos nucifera L.) played a fundamental role in human migrations and the development of civilization across the humid tropics. Here we investigated the coconut's domestication history and its population genetic structure as it relates to human dispersal patterns. A sample of 1,322 coconut accessions, representing the geographical and phenotypic diversity of the species, was examined using ten microsatellite loci. Bayesian analyses reveal two highly genetically differentiated subpopulations that correspond to the Pacific and Indo-Atlantic oceanic basins. This pattern suggests independent origins of coconut cultivation in these two world regions, with persistent population structure on a global scale despite long-term human cultivation and dispersal. Pacific coconuts show additional genetic substructure corresponding to phenotypic and geographical subgroups; moreover, the traits that are most clearly associated with selection under human cultivation (dwarf habit, self-pollination, and “niu vai” fruit morphology) arose only in the Pacific. Coconuts that show evidence of genetic admixture between the Pacific and Indo-Atlantic groups occur primarily in the southwestern Indian Ocean. This pattern is consistent with human introductions of Pacific coconuts along the ancient Austronesian trade route connecting Madagascar to Southeast Asia. Admixture in coastal east Africa may also reflect later historic Arab trading along the Indian Ocean coastline. We propose two geographical origins of coconut cultivation: island Southeast Asia and southern margins of the Indian subcontinent.
Funding: The study was funded by a National Geographic Society (CRE 8178-07) grant to KMO and BFG, http://www.nationalgeographic.com/field/ , and COGENT network and the CGIAR Generation Challenge Progamme to LB, http://www.inibap.org/cogent/ . The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Introduction
The impact of the coconut palm (Cocos nucifera L.) on the history of human dispersal in the humid tropics is unparalleled in the plant kingdom. As a portable source of both food and water, the coconut played a critical role in the ability of humans to voyage, establish trade routes, and colonize lands in the Pacific Rim and regions throughout the Old World tropics [1], [2]. This species continues to have hundreds of uses as a source of food, drink, fiber, construction material, charcoal, and oil (used in cooking, pharmaceuticals, industrial applications, and biofuels); over 12 million hectares of coconut are currently planted across 89 tropical countries [3]. The history of dispersal and cultivation of this species is thus fundamentally intertwined with human history in the tropics.
The long-term interaction between humans and coconuts has shaped both the geographical distribution of C. nucifera and its phenotypic diversity. While the coconut fruit is naturally adapted for dispersal by sea currents [4], its pantropical dissemination was achieved with the help of humans [5], [6]. A native of the Old World tropics, the species was spread to eastern Polynesia and subsequently introduced to the Pacific coasts of Latin America, most likely by pre-Columbian Austronesian seafarers from the Philippines [7]. In the Indian Ocean, the composition of coconut populations was likely influenced by Austronesian expansions westward to Madagascar. Later, coconuts were introduced by Europeans from India to the Atlantic coasts of Africa and South America and to the Caribbean [8]. The species is typically found in areas of present or past human activity, and all or nearly all coconut populations worldwide have likely been influenced by human cultivation and dispersal.
Phenotypically, coconuts vary widely in the degree to which they show evidence of selection under human cultivation. Classic analyses of coconut fruit morphology revealed two predominant fruit types, named after traditional Polynesian varieties: the ‘niu kafa’ form, characterized by oblong, triangular fruits with a large proportion of fibrous husk; and the ‘niu vai’ form, whose fruits are rounded and often brightly colored, with a large proportion of liquid endosperm [9], [10]. The ‘niu kafa’ form has been interpreted as the more ancestral morphology, reflecting natural selection for ocean dispersal, and the ‘niu vai’ form as reflecting selection under human cultivation [1]. Coconuts have also been traditionally classified into ‘Dwarf’ and ‘Tall’ varieties based on tree habit. ‘Dwarfs’ represent about 5% of coconut palms and are cultivated worldwide; they are typically found near human habitation and show traits closely associated with human selection: slow trunk growth, self-pollination, and the production of niu vai fruits [11]. The more common ‘Tall’ coconuts are outcrossing and grow faster than ‘Dwarfs,’ resulting in greater height at reproductive maturity. Many ‘Talls’ are grown for the production of copra for oil extraction and coir for fiber; while actively cultivated, these varieties lack the obvious domestication traits of the self-pollinating Dwarfs.
The lack of universal domestication traits among coconut varieties, combined with the long history of human interaction with this species, have made it difficult to trace the coconut's cultivation origins. However, applications of molecular markers for purposes of crop germplasm characterization have provided some insights into the coconut's evolutionary history, genetic diversity and population structure (e.g., [12], [13]). Analyses using RFLPs (e.g., [14]), microsatellites [15], [16] and AFLP markers [17] have suggested the presence of two genetically distinct groups, corresponding broadly to the Pacific Ocean basin on one side and the Indian and Atlantic Oceans on the other (see also [18], [19]).
In the last decade, a worldwide coconut germplasm collection, coordinated through the International Coconut Genetic Resources Network (COGENT) and the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD), with further support through the Generation Challenge Programme (GCP: http://gcpcr.grinfo.net/index.php), has served as the primary source of materials for genetic characterizations. Together with a polymorphic microsatellite marker kit [20], the GCP/CIRAD coconut collection has been used to characterize genetic diversity in regional coconut collections (e.g., [21], [22]), infer origins of specific cultivars [7], and assess planting material for trueness to type [23]. Importantly, this worldwide collection has not been used previously to examine the coconut's cultivation history. Moreover, while global in scope, the GCP/CIRAD collection has left some geographical regions under-represented. Most notably, it contains few coconuts from the western Indian Ocean, which would be key to elucidating any influence of ancient Austronesian expansions in this region.
In the present study, we have employed ten polymorphic loci from the GCP/CIRAD microsatellite kit to examine genetic variation in a worldwide collection of >1300 coconuts, representing GCP/CIRAD germplasm plus collections from key under-sampled regions of the western Indian Ocean: Madagascar, Comoros, and Seychelles islands. We use population structure analyses, together with ethnographic and archaeobotanical evidence, to examine the impacts of human-mediated dispersal and domestication on this important tree crop. Our analyses suggest the following: 1) Despite the widespread movement of coconuts by humans, both historically and today, the species has retained clear population structure on a global scale; 2) Present-day cultivated coconuts arose through independent domestications in the Indian and Pacific Ocean basins; however, the definitive domestication traits — dwarf habit, self-pollination, and niu vai fruits — arose only with the Pacific domestication event; and 3) Geographical locations of genetically admixed populations are consistent with human introductions of Pacific germplasm along the ancient trading routes connecting Asia to Africa.
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On the 9th of February I not only had the pleasure of attending a conference that I had been excited about for month, but the opportunity to present a paper of which I was quite proud. To my joy this was A Conference of Ice and Fire, the first, and hopefully not last, conference organized by the English Student Society on my campus focused on George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire.
The previous term the University had offered the first, and to my knowledge only, A Song of Ice and Fire focused class in Canada. Being a graduate student in History I was not allowed to take the course for academic credit, but that did not dissuade me. Despite the trepidation from my own department that I would be far too busy to handle my work load, excel in my courses, and audit another course, let alone do the assignments required, I forged ahead. To put it mildly, I had an absolute blast every Tuesday and Thursday from September to December getting ‘geek out’ with others like me. To the amazement of a few unnamed individuals, it did not make any negative impact on the progress I was making with my own thesis.
As with most conferences ours had a guest of honour, a speaker of repute; this was Dr. Janice Bogstad from the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire. Editor of sci-fi, Tolkien/LoTR collections, she is a fascinating woman, and her experience within the sci-fi and fantasy, and comparative fields in literary studies is astounding. After a rousing morning of excellent papers, amazing conversation, and thought-provoking questions, Dr. Bogstad present us with a series of rather remarkable ideas regarding the concept of time in fantasy and in particular in Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire, and the notions of sibling-hood.
When she spoke of time in fantasy writing she brought up the works of David Eddings, one of the authors whose work I devoured as a teenager. I could not help but begin to think about how time works in his novels, especially pertaining to the Belgariad sage, and the joining books Belgarath the Sorcerer and Polgara the Sorceress.
In The Belgariad it would seem that time very rarely comes into focus from a flowing river of eternity. It is punctuated and measured only in prophecy and tragedy. This is especially true for Polgara, Belgarath, and the Gods.
The Gods very rarely seem to keep track of time in any nature, unless they are directly affected by tragedy or prophecy. Issa, the god of the Nyissans, does not note the passage of time, and is only brought reeling back into the flow when he comes to find out that the name of his beloved high priestess, Salmissra, had passed from one woman to another more times than a snake can shed its skin. For Mara, god of the Marags, time is a perpetual march of sadness, loneliness and misery after his ‘children’ were murdered by the Tolnedrans. The driving force behind the concept of in The Belgariad time is also rooted in the suffering of Torak who sleeps endlessly, as if caught in a single long night until the prophecy wakes him.
For gods the idea of ceaseless and undocumented time is common place. For the continual existence of such figures time cannot flow as it does for mortals. But this way of measuring time can be juxtaposed onto Belgarath and his daughter Polgara. This notion is put forward in their respective off-shoots stories, where the two most timeless mortals within the mortal world condense their exceedingly long lives into manageable collections. Once again, time begins to slip away from the measurements that we have become accustomed to in our own world and in literature.
Belgarath has refrained from writing out his history because it goes back beyond knowns records of the world. Belgarath is the first mortal to enter into the Vale of Aldur, and as a Disciple of Aldur and a user of the Will, the longest living one. He is, as his daughter Polgara calls him, the Old Wolf. When he enters the Vale seems time stop for him, held in a vacuum and unable to touch him. He spends years working at menial tasks without knowing that time has passed, isolated from the march of time. This is long before the War with Torak over the Orb of Aldur, the establishment of the Rivan king, and the splitting of Arendia. Belgarath only notes that time begins to move again in moments of tragedy; finding that the village of elderly people who helped him on his initial journey to the Vale has vanished, the death of his wife Poledra, and the death of his daughter Beldaran. Does Belgarath avoid time as much as possible outside of prophecy because it simply hurts too much to exist within it? As the Eternal Man, how does time make sense to him outside of prophecy and tragedy?
The same if true for Polgara. However, as a woman who thrives on order and control, she does record the dates of major events, such as the death of her sister Beldaran, and the extinction of the Wacite Arend line. She, unlike Belgarath, has a direct connection to the flow of time, thought she does not always exist within those constrants. She too must watch those she grows to love, age and die, while not losing sight of her own will and passion. She must form those close connections within the span of the prophecy, or be the knife on which the world impales itself when the prophecy comes to fruition.
Prophecy, that tricky master or mistress, always has seems to have a plan waiting in the wings, and surfaces when a major split in time is on the verge of occurring. It surfaces and draws all of these figures back into the flow of mortal time; Mara learns that he is not alone, and that he does still has a child; Issa changes Salmissra into a snake, elongating her life and ensuring that he will be able to tell one high priestess from the next should he be called upon. Belgarath and Polgara journey with Barak, Silk, and Garion, all guided and measured by prophecy, who could only exist in the proper span of mortal time (arguably), with the right set of predetermined events unfolding.
The insight that we get from Belgarath and Polgara’s accounts help to explain some of the elements which Eddings incorporated in The Belgariad; we discover why Polgara is met with such awe and reverence whenever she presents herself, and why she must always appear in a certain fashion. They also explains why Belgarath has the need to run free and escape from the world; it has become difficult to form attachments when one knows they are eternal while others are merely ephemeral. However, Garion is their link to the mortal world, and he gives new meaning and flow to time.
Sibling relationships within these books are also interesting. The gods are brothers, raised and watched by father Ul and mother Universe, and yet they have their differences; the rifts and tragedies they experience give them a sense of time and yet do not bind them to exist within the constraints of the concept. Belgarath forges brotherhoods with those who come to the Vale of Aldur and become, like him, initiates of the Will and disciples of Aldur. Polgara must sacrifice her sister in order to set the prophecy of the orb in motion, and to ensure that Garion will one day meet his destiny, despite the fact that it will be centuries before he is born.
In contrast, Martin ensures that we have a grasp on the flow of time within his world, even if it is biased when it comes to key events. We know exactly when the War of the Ninepenny Kings occurred, the successions of knights who held the title of Commander of the Kings Guards, and that Dunk the Tall rode as a hedge knight 89 years prior to the events in A Game of Thrones. Martin firmly cements his readers in a carefully constructed time-line with defined dates and orders, and yet those events that he leaves out are the more important.
These fantasy novels present one of the key problems that occurs in the study of history. What occurred directly before and directly after the most important events which we have recorded? What has been left out, and why? Is it absent because no one survived to speak of it, because no one had the heart to record it, or because it did not seem to be that important when it occurred? It is always a difficult question to navigate when looking into cause and effect in history, as often the small aspects are disregarded in favour of the larger picture.
Interested in the Books?
Belgariad Vol. 1
Belgariad Vol. 2
Polgara the Sorceress
Belgarath the Sorcerer
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These days everyone is on Twitter. There are tweets flying left, right and center through cyberspace. So how do you get your latest tweet to display on your website? Well there are plenty of ways to do it, but the easiest way that I have come across is this one. No plugins or installation required and it works on any website. All you need to do is copy and paste three lines of code and you’re done.
First of all you need to decide where you want your latest tweet to go on your website, then copy and paste the following HTML there.
<div id="twitter_update_list"></div>
Then simply copy and paste this JavaScript at the bottom of your website before the </body> tag.
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://twitter.com/javascripts/blogger.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/blah.json?callback=twitterCallback2&count=1"></script>
Don’t forget to replace “blah” in the code with your own Twitter account name. You can also change the “count” to display more of your tweets. Now all you need to do is style up your tweet with a bit of simple CSS and you’re done!
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Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Mr Netanyahu showed a drawing illustrating Iran's alleged progress towards nuclear weapons
Iran has warned it is ready to retaliate against attack after Israel's prime minister urged a red line to be drawn to stop its nuclear programme.
Benjamin Netanyahu told the UN time was running out to stop Iran having enough enriched uranium for a nuclear bomb.
In response, Iran's deputy UN ambassador said his country was strong enough to defend itself.
Israel and Western countries suspect Iran is seeking nuclear weapons capability, a charge Iran denies.
Tehran says its nuclear programme is for purely peaceful purposes, such as energy and producing medical isotopes.
Iranian deputy UN ambassador Eshagh al-Habib said his country was: "strong enough to defend itself and reserves its full right to retaliate with full force against any attack".
He accused Mr Netanyahu of making "baseless allegations" in his address to the UN General Assembly in New York.
Mr Netanyahu told delegates at the annual meeting of the assembly that Iran could have enough material to make a nuclear bomb by the middle of next year, and a clear message needed to be sent to stop Tehran in its tracks.
Analysis Mr Netanyahu is a man at home in US politics and his message was more attuned to that audience. It was a message of grand simplifications: "the great battle between the modern and the medieval" - in other words between modernity and the forces of radical Islam. This was the cue for Mr Netanyahu to move to his main focus, the potential threat from a nuclear armed Iran. The "hour was getting very late" he said. The Israeli prime minister also twice made positive reference to US President Barack Obama's own comments and actions. It was perhaps a realisation that the antipathy between the two leaders was reaching damaging proportions and also maybe a hint that, while still favouring Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney, Mr Netanyahu has sampled the political mood in the US and is re-balancing himself ahead of a possible second Obama victory. Mid-East leaders' new priorities Media see grave warning in Netanyahu speech
"Red lines don't lead to war, red lines prevent war," he said. "Nothing could imperil the world more than a nuclear-armed Iran."
He said sanctions passed over the past seven years had not affected Tehran's programme. "The hour is very late," he told delegates. "The Iranian nuclear calendar does not take time out."
He said he was convinced that faced with a "clear red line, Iran will back down" and added that he was confident the US and Israel could chart a common path on the issue.
On Tuesday, in his own address to the General Assembly, US President Barack Obama stressed the US would "do what we must" to stop Tehran acquiring nuclear arms.
However, while the Obama administration has not ruled out a military option, it says sanctions and multilateral negotiations with Iran must still be given time to work.
Earlier this month, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the US was not prepared to commit to drawing "red lines".
On Wednesday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused Western countries of nuclear "intimidation".
"Continued threat by the uncivilised Zionists [Israel] to resort to military action is a clear example of this bitter reality," he told the General Assembly.
'Ethnic cleansing'
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas highlighted the Palestinians' UN status, saying he would continue to seek full membership.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption President Mahmoud Abbas says a Palestinian state must be realised
But he said negotiations had begun with "regional organisations and member states" aimed at adopting a resolution making Palestine "a non-member state of the United Nations during this session".
"In our endeavour," he added, "we do not seek to delegitimise an existing state - that is Israel - but rather to assert the state that must be realised - that is Palestine."
Currently, the Palestine Liberation Organisation only has "permanent observer" status. Last year, a bid for full-member status failed because of a lack of support at the UN Security Council.
The change would allow Palestinians to participate in General Assembly debates. It would also improve their chances of joining UN agencies and the International Criminal Court.
Last year, Palestinians joined the UN cultural agency Unesco, despite Israeli and US opposition.
Mr Abbas also denounced Israeli construction in and around East Jerusalem. "It is a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Palestinian people via the demolition of their homes," he said.
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Unfortunately you seem to be too late to join the Kickstarter here.
If you find the idea of Location Cards interesting, click on the UPDATES tab above to find up to date details on Location Cards, and details of future project, or message me.
Location Cards Are
Three different decks of playing cards, Urban, Rural and Epic (which consists of two sets of Major Arcana rather than a standard deck) with a shared back and different fronts.
54 fantasy locations that could be encountered in the wilderness, 54 locations for a town or city, or 52 locations that can define a region of either.
A way to generate new locations in an instant.
The sequel to the Character Cards project, which received highly positive reviews from backers.
Excellent for Hexcrawling
Usable for hundreds of unique games... most of which haven't been invented yet!
Click to view secret.
What Location Cards Can Do For You
Whether you're a roleplayer, a storyteller or an English teacher, Location Cards provide a useful tool for improvisation and creativity.
Each of these 54 playing cards provides you with a unique location, detailing it's structure (♠), inhabitants (♥), treasures (♦) and dangers (♣); as well as a secret that serves as a twist to any tale.
The modular nature of the cards allows you to draw 5 cards and combine their traits to produce one of 300 million different locales for your story.
The compact nature of the deck, combined with the fact it doubles as a standard deck of playing cards, means that you can easily keep it on you in many different circumstances, meaning that you're never without your Locations Cards when you need inspiration.
Stretch Goals
There are a number of extras we'd love to create as part of this project; but we can only do so much at our base goal of £900. So if we exceed that goal we'll be adding more.
£1800: A second deck will become available, detailing urban locations. You may choose any mix of the two Location Decks up to the total number you have pledged for. Unlocked
£2400: We'll commission a second set of suit symbols for the urban deck, further differentiating it from the rural deck. Unlocked
£3600: Each location deck will contain the rules for a new, playtested, game that makes use of the fact that each card has a value for all 4 suits. Unlocked
£4800: A full-art card in both the urban and rural decks, created by the incredible Marcos Hidalgo Unlocked
26 Supporters: A separate 52 card Major Arcana deck available as an addon. Supporters need to post both on the Kickstarter comments and on some form of social media. Unlocked
£6000: Urban, Rural and Epic decks all get expanded to 56 cards. Unlocked
We've now added everything we have plans for, but stretch goals are still desired, so here are some nice free ones :-)
£8000+: We'll do a silly thank you video+ another silly video for each £1000 over we reach.
Add-ons
As people have such varied tastes, we can't have a perfect pledge level for everyone, so we encourage you to make your own, increase your pledge to add any of the following:
+£2: A digital copy of our previous product, Character Cards
+£8: An extra deck of Location Cards
+£12: An 80 card deck of Character Cards (includes PDF version)
+£13: Double the size of cards in one of your decks to (3.5"x5") [Not currently available for signed decks]
International Shipping Costs
Over the course of fulfilling our previous Kickstarter we discovered that, unfortunately, we can't offer a one-size-fits-all pricing system for international postage. Some nations (I'm looking at you Australia) have much higher costs than others.
UK and US: Included
EU: Add £3 for postage on any pledge.
The rest of the world: Add £5 for postage.
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Melinda Gates and Paul Farmer. Marton Perlaki
Paul Farmer and Melinda Gates have a lot in common. They're both Duke University alums, and they're both devoted to improving health around the world, especially in places with few resources. As cochair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Gates is particularly dedicated to empowering women and girls, which in turn benefits the health and prosperity of entire communities. Farmer splits his time between Boston (where he runs the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School), Haiti, and Rwanda. He's founding director of Partners in Health, an international nonprofit that delivers health services to the rural and urban poor in a dozen countries. Gates and Farmer don't often work together, but their work certainly unites them. In New York City for UN meetings, the two friends talked to wired about the best ways to improve health all over the world.
WIRED: What innovation do you think is changing the most lives in the developing world?
MELINDA GATES: Human-centered design. Meeting people where they are and really taking their needs and feedback into account. When you let people participate in the design process, you find that they often have ingenious ideas about what would really help them. And it's not a onetime thing; it's an iterative process.
How does that work in practice?
PAUL FARMER: In Haiti I would see people sleeping outside the hospital with their donkey saddle under their neck — they'd been waiting there for days. And no one was asking them, "What are you eating while you're waiting? What is your family eating while you're gone?" We have to design a health delivery system by actually talking to people and asking, "What would make this service better for you?" As soon as you start asking, you get a flood of answers.
GATES: The first time I went to Haiti and saw Paul in 2003, he said, "How can we expect them to take these pills if they have nothing to eat?" He decided that they needed health care workers who could follow patients, and that they had to be people from the community.
FARMER: In Rwanda we worked with the ministry of health when it decided to vaccinate all 13-year-old girls against HPV. And we said, "OK, but what about the girls in school? How would they get the second dose? What about the third? And what about the girls not in school — how do we find them?" With community health workers. And when we studied this new system, we saw that it wasn't just improving the outcomes a little, but a lot: Rates of HPV vaccination in Rwanda are twice what they are in the US.
GATES: Transportation is a huge issue in health. I was in Malawi, and in one village they were mapping things out on a piece of butcher paper, trying to figure out why they don't transport women to facilities to give birth. Well, they realized that they didn't have a bridge to get across a stream that becomes a river during the rainy season. They realized they needed resources to build a bridge — and to buy motorcycles.
Do you see ways for communications technology to help further these efforts?
GATES: I think cell phones are a huge opportunity. I saw it firsthand when I was in India earlier this year. I met with a network of community health workers who had been given cell phones by the government. Each day via cell, the local health authority sends these workers, mostly young women from villages, a list of patients they need to visit. The workers also have training modules they can call into from their phones, and they get free airtime so they can make personal calls to their families once they've listened to their modules. Every week they meet with someone further up in the system who can answer questions. But also, if they go into a patient's home and the person doesn't trust their advice, the worker can call a more highly trained health worker and give the phone to the patient so they can be reassured. What this means is more people are getting better health care in a really efficient way. That's the power of a simple cell phone.
FARMER: The cell phones are also a way to develop human capital. Say you have a 22-year-old woman who becomes a community health worker. Using the example Melinda gave, that person can obtain some continuing education through technology that just 10 years ago wasn't even available.
So in India, do community health workers sign up so they can get a phone?
GATES: Yes. That's part of how they are paid. And they love being more knowledgeable! All of a sudden they have so much more cachet. People say, oh, they really do know what they're talking about. And when I talk about contraceptives, I see that young women are starting to stand up to their husbands, because they're empowered by what they learn from the health workers.
What about established medical professionals?
FARMER: Partners in Health built a teaching hospital in Haiti, and not too long ago I stopped by the emergency room. There had been a road accident with 12 critically injured people, but there were also more than a dozen doctors and nurses, and there was a functioning CAT scanner. Not a single person died. I had never seen that before. I watched a doctor who had always seemed so dispirited. But that night at the new hospital, he looked excited — you can see people come alive if you just give them a chance to learn and to provide better care.
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NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Despite a commonly-held belief among many doctors who treat lupus patients, headaches — particularly migraines — are not a manifestation of that disease and should be treated as a separate problem, report researchers in Greece.
Previous studies that found migraines to be more common in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) may have suffered from methodological errors, said senior author Dr. Dimos Mitsikostas from Athens Naval Hospital, and have led doctors to dismiss headaches as a neurological symptom of lupus.
Instead of being part of the disease, however, headaches may result from the stress of having the disease.
“In SLE, headaches may be associated with poor quality of life and bad mood. If an SLE patient reports headaches, please see if he or she is happy and if there is any other reason to cause secondary headaches and treat them not as an SLE feature, but like a separate disorder,” Mitsikostas told Reuters Health in an email.
Although various studies of the headache question have produced conflicting results, the American College of Rheumatology includes headaches and migraine as part of the spectrum of lupus symptoms.
In a previous analysis, Mitsikostas and colleagues found no significant link between migraines and lupus. To clarify the association (or lack thereof), they performed the current study, in which lupus patients, healthy controls and multiple sclerosis (MS) patients all kept headache diaries for a year.
Like lupus, MS is a disease in which the body’s own immune system attacks its nervous system, so Mitsikostas’ group included 48 MS patients for comparison. The healthy controls in the study were matched by age and gender with the lupus patients to form 72 pairs.
All participants had similar headache frequencies in the year before the study period, except the lupus patients, who had a significantly higher number of tension-type headaches, the researchers report in the journal Headache.
Results were similar during the year of headache diaries: the three groups suffered comparable numbers of headaches, but chronic tension-type headache continued to occur more often in the lupus patients.
Migraine attacks were less severe and tended to be of shorter duration in lupus patients, whereas the severity of the chronic tension-type headaches was milder among lupus patients than among controls (but similar between lupus and MS patients).
Among both lupus and MS patients, the presence and type of headache could not be related to any other detectable manifestation of the disease, flare-up or cumulative damage.
Lupus patients had higher levels of anxiety and lower quality of life compared to controls and MS patients, and depression status was worse in lupus and MS patients than in controls. None of these features, however, coincided with the presence of headache.
“Although there are always missed points and issues for further evaluation, we feel that this study may be the last one in a long clinical research (path), starting 15 years ago,” Mitsikostas concluded. “Yet, no pathophysiological links between SLE and migraine” could be found along the way, he wrote.
Somewhere between 322,000 and one million Americans are believed to have lupus, nine out of 10 of them women, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The disease is difficult to diagnose and there is no cure. Although some symptoms are treatable, approximately one third of deaths among lupus patients occur before age 45.
SOURCE: Headache, online July 28, 2011.
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CTVNews.ca Staff
Nash the Slash, the Toronto-born experimental rocker whose signature on-stage wardrobe included surgical bandages, has died. He was 66.
His long-time collaborator and friend, Robert Vanderhorst, posted the sad news on Monday on his Facebook page.
"My dear friend and artistic partner, NASH THE SLASH (Jeff Plewman) died this past weekend. March 1948 – May 2014," the post read. Vanderhorst did not say how Plewman died.
Hours after the announcement, fans of the celebrated musician paid tribute to him on social media -- many of them noting his extensive influence on the new wave and avant-garde music scene.
Creativity...should be inspirational, ... absorbed...+ then woven into the fabric of some other person’s creative vision. #NashTheSlash #RIP — Leslie Hetherington (@LHetherington) May 12, 2014
#NashTheSlash was once banned from playing because he used a drum machine instead of a drummer. A true Pioneer R.I.P. http://t.co/miHq3kILK2 — Silent Shout (@silentshoutca) May 12, 2014
back when i was a teenager i caught #nashtheslash accompanying silent films at the #bloorcinema. never seen anything like it! #RIP — JJ Hunt (@heyheydoublej) May 12, 2014
Plewman played a number of instruments but was known primarily for playing the electric violin. Throughout his career, he worked as a solo artist, but enjoyed his greatest commercial success with the experimental rock group FM.
Plewman announced his retirement in 2012 on his website.
"It's time to roll up the bandages," he said. "I'm proud of my remarkable 40-year career in the music biz with not hit (commercial) records."
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Paul said he believes the NSA program conflicts with the Constitution. Paul: Snowden 'civil disobedient'
Sen. Rand Paul described NSA leaker Edward Snowden a “civil disobedient” and noted that others protesting the government like Martin Luther King Jr. had only faced short jail terms.
The Kentucky Republican told Sean Hannity on his Fox News show Monday night that Snowden only revealed a program everyone knew about. If he had leaked information about eavesdroping on enemies, Paul said, that would be a serious crime, but what he did release was a known program that Snowden and that Paul believe conflicts with the Constitution.
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“On deciding when you decide to become a civil disobedient - we’ve had famous ones in our career, but some of them only had to serve, like [Henry David] Thoreau only had to serve one day in jail, Martin Luther King served 30 days in jail,” Paul said. “[Snowden] may be looking at life in prison. … People are saying, ‘Oh, he ought to just come home.’ But I don’t know if that’s a good or a bad idea if he’s facing life in prison.”
( PHOTOS: 10 famous/infamous whistleblowers)
Hannity also pressed Paul on his aspirations for 2016, pointing out that Paul’s travel schedule lately has taken him to states like Iowa and South Carolina.
Paul said he was focused on growing the party, especially to include African-Americans, and what comes after that, “we’ll see.”
“When you go to the early primary states, people do pay attention. And right now, I want them to pay attention to the fact that I want a bigger Republican Party that competes in all 50 states. I want to go from 5 percent of the African-American vote to at least 20, 25 percent of the African-American vote in one election,” Paul said.
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Taichung City - If you are visiting Taiwan and looking for a taste of home, you might want to book a stay at the Talmud Business Hotel in Taichung. Located on Liou Chuan West Road in Taichung City, the hotel hopes to appeal to business travelers by appealing to the Chinese fondness for Jews that seems to include a notion that learning the Talmud can somehow foster success in business. In fact, books with names such as Crack the Talmud: 101 Jewish Business Rules, The Illustrated Jewish Wisdom Book and Know All of the Money Making Secrets of the Talmud are all reportedly popular in China.
Instead of the traditional Bible in the nightstand drawer, every room at the Talmud Business Hotel has a copy of Talmud-Business Success Bible, which according to the hotel’s website is “for anyone who would like to experience the Talmud way of becoming successful.” The red interior of the hotel is reportedly inspired by “Talmud theory” to add a splash of fashion and professionalism.
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While it appears that the Chinese are fascinated with Jews, their interest extends beyond the perception that Jews are good at making money. In fact, according to Google, the fourth most asked “why” question in Mandarin in 2009 is “Why are Jews excellent?”
Hotel online here
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Listed modernist London icon, Centre Point, which stands atop the key junction between New Oxford Street and Tottenham Court Road has had plans mooted for an overhaul that would turn it into a largely residential building.
Controversial when built, the tower itself has gradually become more and more loved as the years have gone past, although compliments are usually framed with the counterpoint that the base is a mess.
Developed Almacantar is the latest to propose its redevelopment after the previous ideas by Targetfollow fell by the wayside following their collapse during the world financial crisis.
Almacantar, which picked up Centre Point for �120 million in 2010, has hired Conran & Partners to convert the main tower into a selection of new flats from its current office space that was only renovated five years ago by Rolfe Judd Architects.
In addition to them, Rick Mather has been signed up to give the interior of Centre Point House an overhaul. Less famous than its taller brother, this is the low-rise Seifert apartment block that stands next to the tower.
Mather has already established a reputation as a tasteful renovator of listed buildings as any visitor to the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, a project which he led, will testify.
Here, the key for both firms will be rejuvenate the interior of the tower, and exploit to the full the lucrative location in London's West End and stunning views, whilst respecting the listed fabric of the building and retaining its exterior look. If done well it could prove as popular as Trellick Tower, another sixties building that has been given a new lease of life.
As such the only major external change is expected to be finally dealing with the messy base of the tower. The main problem with this is the road that runs through the site that has managed to take on the appearance of a dreary bus-choked underpass. The plans could see this road finally removed and a public space replace it which will prove something of a relief for the pedestrians which have to cross it.
Although Almacantar is a new name in the London property business the company brings much experience to the table - Mike Hussey, the former head of Land Securities now runs it, so any proposals should be taken seriously.
The developer is due to show off their proposals for the site for the first time next month. Article Related buildings:
Centre Point
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The U.S. Navy's Carl Vinson Strike Group holds a joint exercise with South Korean warships in the East Sea in this undated file photo provided by South Korea's Navy. / Yonhap
A U.S. naval ship collided with a South Korean fishing vessel in the East Sea on Tuesday during its training mission in a highly unusual incident, according to defense authorities here.
"There was an accident involving the U.S. cruiser USS Lake Champlain and the South Korean fishing ship 502 Namyang in the waters 56 miles south of Ulleung Island at around noon today," a military official said.
But there was no report of any casualties from the accident involving the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser and the 9.77-ton, 20-meter-long small fishing boat with six people on board, he added.
The U.S. Naval Forces Korea said the cruiser was conducting "routine operations in international waters." Lake Champlain's port side collided with the ship.
Even after the collision, it said, both ships were able to navigate under their own power and no one was injured.
U.S. Navy and South Korea's Coast Guard are investigating the cause of the incident, with damage assessments of both ships also under way, it said.
As part of the Carl Vinson Strike Group, the cruiser is currently on a Western-Pacific deployment, along with several other ships, including the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, and Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Wayne E. Meyer and USS Michael Murphy.
The team has staged joint drills with South Korean warships near the peninsula. (Yonhap)
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This article is over 6 years old
Virgin Media has pulled an advert in a multimillion-pound ad campaign featuring David Tennant after the BBC complained about references to Doctor Who.
The TV campaign features Tennant explaining the virtues of Virgin Media's TiVo personal video recorder and catch-up service.
In the ad Tennant uses the service to look up episodes of Doctor Who, while making a reference to how TiVo is good for watching sci-fi, and in the background Sir Richard Branson is seen using a time machine.
BBC Worldwide lodged a complaint with Virgin Media that the ad campaign, which was launched during ITV1's Britain's Got Talent in March, appeared to be a commercial endorsement of the service, breaking the corporation's guidelines.
"Virgin Media has listened to concerns raised by BBC Worldwide about perceived commercial endorsement by a BBC brand relating to the recent Virgin Media advertisement that featured David Tennant and Richard Branson," the two companies said in a joint statement. "As a gesture of goodwill Virgin Media has agreed to withdraw transmission of the advertisement and BBC Worldwide is now satisfied that the issue has been addressed."
Virgin Media has created three TV ads with Tennant. The two others will continue to air.
Actor Marc Warren has previously appeared in the TiVo ads promoting the range of bundles of products, including superfast broadband, that Virgin Media offers.
The "collections" campaign was launched in January featuring Olympian Usain Bolt.
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Bovine tuberculosis (BTB) is an infectious disease affecting cattle and badgers. New research from the Universities of Bristol and Cambridge has found that BTB is most likely to be nearly under control in both species taken in isolation, however together, control is likely to be considerably more challenging.
In the UK, a test-and-slaughter surveillance scheme forms the basis of BTB control, as well as badger vaccination and culling being trialled in select areas. Until now, studies have tended to focus on the disease in cattle or badgers, but not together. This work, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, demonstrates that feedback between cattle and badgers is critical for understanding and controlling BTB.
Using mathematical modelling techniques combined with data from a range of sources including badger and cattle population data and BTB infection rates, researchers from Bristol’s School of Social and Community Medicine and Cambridge’s Department of Veterinary Medicine, were able to model the cycle of infection between cattle and badgers and predict the impact of BTB controls.
The findings showed that while infection in both cattle and badgers is most likely nearly under control on their own, targeting badger-to-badger transmission has only had a modest impact on cattle infection. More effective strategies are reducing badger-to-cattle and cattle-to-cattle transmission.
Dr Ellen Brooks-Pollock, the study’s lead author and now lecturer in Infectious Disease Mathematical Modelling at the University of Bristol, said: “Bovine TB has had a serious impact on the cattle industry in the UK, as well as across Europe. Our findings show that in areas with badger infection, cattle-to-badger and badger-to-cattle transmission is critical to the whole system. You can’t just consider one species in isolation. Reducing badger-to-cattle transmission is likely to be more effective than reducing prevalence in badgers alone. This may have particular implications for badger vaccination programmes, depending on local incidence of badger infection.”
Professor James Wood, Head of the Department of Veterinary Medicine at Cambridge, added: “The dual host element of the disease has been ignored for far too long in the public debate about the disease. We hope that this paper provides a dynamic framework that can help take the debate and control of this disease to the next level.”
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Both men, who live in the main city of Abidjan, are single with no children, do not own a car, a house or land and were affected by the five-month conflict that followed the disputed 2010 polls.
Konan Kouassi Vercruysses:
I manage a phone box at the market of Cocody in Abidjan.
I spend most of my money on food every month for me and my cousin. Here in Abidjan, food is very expensive Konan Kouassi Vercruysses
A phone box is where people come to make a call or buy airtime for their mobile phones.
When you have many customers it's profitable but if you don't get many customers, unfortunately, you leave your work place empty-handed.
I don't live with my parents. I rent a room in a house with my cousin.
He helps me manage my business when I am at university.
I'm studying English at the Felix Houphouet-Boigny University in Abidjan.
I don't own the house or have any land.
I just want to live alone to be a man, to face the difficulties by myself and be independent.
My parents take care of my school fees so I just pay for everything else.
Image caption The university is in Cocody, an upmarket suburb of Abidjan
I spend most of my money on food every month for me and my cousin. Here in Abidjan, food is very expensive. If you want to eat very well you need to spend more.
I face many difficulties because when I'm managing my business myself I cannot study very well.
I'm wasting my time and often I'm very angry because I see my friends go to school but I'm obliged to stay here and manage my business.
I become very sad and very angry because my aim is not to stay here. My aim is to go beyond and be excellent in my studies.
'I will be rich'
My dream is to become a businessman but here in Ivory Coast it's not easy to start that right now so I would like first of all to be a teacher and then if I get some money I will set up my own business.
Image caption Sweets are also for sale at the phone box
Of course I am afraid of losing my business because it pays for my life.
During the crisis I had to stop working; I lost everything; I had to spend all my savings just to live, to eat.
Now I put money aside every day. I started my savings again just five months ago because I want to buy a computer. Maybe in three months I will have enough money to buy one.
Right now I don't find I have enough money to do what I want to do because I need to pay for so many things so it's not easy to start a good business.
If one of my brothers calls me and says he needs money, I give him some money. I have two younger brothers and three sisters; I'm the eldest.
I cannot say I'm wealthy but I cannot say I'm poor because if I'm living it means I can sustain my life.
I don't like the word poor because if you have this in your mind it brings you down.
I'm convinced I will be rich one day. I would like to reach my goals.
If I am able to pay my food, buy my clothes it means I have something. I am not nothing.
Kouadio Koffi:
I am a security guard in the east of Abidjan but I live in Yopougon [in the west].
Transport is very expensive in Abidjan so if I had to go from my house to my work every day it would cost a lot of money because it's far away.
So I sleep here with a friend during the week and go home at the weekends [where] life is good because things are cheaper there.
Other areas, like here where I work, are more expensive.
Image caption Kouadio Koffi cannot afford to visit cyber cafes
I live with my younger cousin in a one-room house.
He is staying with me so he can go to school here. He helps with the food bills but he doesn't have very much.
When I wake up in the morning my problems begin, truly, because I have to first find food and then I have to help my cousin. If I had more money I could help more.
This work is tiring. I start at 6.30pm and finish at 6.30am but what other work can I do?
'I want a family'
My father died in 2004 and that's when I stopped going to school because I had to work to find money.
BBC Africa Debate Tune in to the BBC World Service at 1900 GMT on Friday 28 June to listen to the BBC Africa Debate - Can the middle class drive growth in Africa? - recorded in Accra, Ghana Or take part on Twitter - using #bbcafricadebate - Facebook or Google+ Africa Debate
It was hard to find work then because it was just after the first crisis. Everyone fled to Abidjan and everybody needed jobs.
I don't have any savings or any emergency fund. There is nothing in my bank account.
Everything I earn goes on rent, bills and food. There's nothing left for savings.
When there's a death in my family I go to my friends for help, to give me a little something. It's like that.
Yes I am scared if I lose my job because there will be nothing to pay for my rent.
When you're sick it is serious because there is no money for the hospital. I find small treatments or drugs from people who sell them on the street Kouadio Koffi
Where will I find money? If I lose my job there will be many problems for me.
I don't have a computer and I've probably only been on the internet four or five times in the last five years.
It is very rare for me to visit a cyber cafe. I just don't have the money.
After all the bills there is no money left. If there is anything, I give it to my cousin or I use it for transport to go home.
But there is usually nothing - 50,000 CFA ($100) a month is too small to live on.
When you're sick it is serious because there is no money for the hospital.
I find small treatments or drugs from people who sell them on the street.
There are many challenges. I want to see a better life, a better life for me.
I want to have a wife and children but what food can I give them?
I need money to give them a life and send them to school. I don't want them to suffer.
When life is better for me I can have a family.
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On Monday, January 11 the U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear expanded oral arguments in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, a case brought by 10 Golden State public school teachers.
Friedrichs is directly based on precedents set by the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation’s last two Supreme Court victories, Knox v. SEIU (2012) and Harris v. Quinn (2014).
Friedrichs challenges the constitutionality of public sector forced unionism, which was deemed constitutional in Abood v. Detroit Board of Education in 1977. A decision in Friedrichs that overturns Abood would prohibit public sector union bosses nationwide from compelling employees to pay union dues or fees just to get or keep a job.
In the petitioners’ merits brief, filed with the High Court in September, they contend, in part, that educators should not be forced to pay union dues or fees because the statewide California Teachers Union and its national affiliate, the National Education Association (NEA), “advocate numerous policies that affirmatively harm [many] teachers …”
Neither teacher union bosses nor California Attorney General Kamala Harris, also a respondent, have since challenged the plaintiffs’ understanding that NEA negotiating demands such as “[l]ayoff and recall based only on seniority as bargaining unit members, licensure/certification, and … affirmative action” benefit some educators at others’ expense.
In fact, in her own merits brief, Harris explicitly conceded: “Unions do have substantial latitude to advance bargaining positions that … run counter to the economic interests of some employees.”
What Harris failed to acknowledge is the legal significance of this stunning concession. It means that a key rationale for upholding public-sector compulsory unionism in Justice Stewart’s 1977 Abood opinion was based on a completely false premise. Stewart theorized: “A [forced] union shop arrangement has been thought to distribute fairly the cost of … [bargaining] activities among those who benefit.”
Considering that parties on both sides agree that the Court mischaracterized the ends government union bosses often seek when imposing forced unionism on workers who may want nothing to do with a union, the High Court cannot uphold Abood on the original grounds.
To find public-sector forced union dues and fees constitutional now, the Justices would effectively have to rewrite Stewart’s Abood opinion to read: “A [forced] union shop arrangement has been thought to distribute fairly the cost of … [bargaining] activities among those who benefit and those who are harmed.”
According to a union-label politician like Kamala Harris, there is nothing untoward about the government forcing public employees, as a condition employment, to financially support a union whose actions may harm the workers economically all while union bosses pursue their own special interest agenda.
In her brief, Harris contends that government union bosses can choose to make “trade-offs” in which conscientious, hardworking, and forced fee-paying employees lose economic opportunities they otherwise would have had while the union’s power is further entrenched, as long as such “trade-offs” are made in a “reasoned” manner!
But it is far from clear whether a majority of Supreme Court justices will go along with this extraordinary new rationale for upholding Abood’s result.
Indeed, denying private organizations the legal power to collect compulsory assessments, even from people who truly benefit from their activities, is a “hallmark of a free society,” as the late Pennsylvania law professor Clyde Summers, an eminent specialist in labor policy, once acknowledged.
If the Supreme Court upholds Abood and continues to hold public sector compulsory unionism constitutional, allowing union bosses to collect forced fees from public employees who are actually harmed by union activities, to what extent will the U.S. be a “free society” at all?
Hopefully, we never have to answer that question.
Mark Mix is the president of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, the leading national organization dedicated to defeating forced unionism in the courts.
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Apple/Screenshot by John P. Falcone
"I'll make him an offer he can't refuse."
"I know it was you, Fredo. You broke my heart. You broke my heart."
"Every time I try to get out, they pull me back in."
Think of "The Godfather" movies, and those are just three of the classic lines you'll remember. But if your Corleone memory is fuzzy, I have some good news for you: all three of Coppola's crime epics are now available on iTunes for a mere $9.99 total. (By comparison, "Goodfellas" alone currently costs $14.99.)
Yes, you're locked into the Apple ecosystem with this purchase, but at this price -- just $3.33 each, and over 9 hours of total viewing time -- who's complaining? Blu-ray sets will run you closer to $25 (Barnes & Noble) or $30 (Best Buy), while digital versions cost $42 to $45 on Vudu and Amazon, respectively. At least, that's the situation today -- we may yet see more price cuts as the Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales go into high gear.
And what about the much-maligned third movie, 1990's "The Godfather Part III"? Yes, Sofia Coppola was woefully miscast. And yes, the movie suffers from the dearth of Robert Duvall. But in a post-"Phantom Menace" world, this movie may actually be better than you remember. (I'd suggest listening to Wolfpop's The Canon podcast for a deeper dive.)
So what are you waiting for? Buy "The Godfather Trilogy" at iTunes
Put another way: Leave the gun. Take the digital download.
(via Slickdeals)
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The Air Force’s long-range strike bomber has officially been named the B-21 Raider.
Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James announced the results of the Air Force Global Strike Command led naming contest alongside selected members during her remarks at the Air Force Association’s Air, Space and Cyber Conference here Sept. 19, 2016.
“Today I want to recognize three Airmen who answered the call to be a part of a new Air Force legacy and name our new bomber,” James said. “The first two … submitted proposals that captured the essence of the bomber force and they are the winners of our contest.”
The third Airmen James recognized, calling him one of the greatest men of his generation, was Doolittle Raider retired Lt. Col. Richard E. Cole.
The Doolittle Raiders are known for their surprise attack against Japan during World War II on April 18, 1942, which forced the Japanese to recall combat forces for home defense, and boosted morale among Americans and U.S. allies abroad.
The name was ultimately selected by James and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Dave Goldfein after a panel composed of staff from AFGSC and Headquarters Air Force determined the top-ranked selections from more than 2,100 unique naming submissions.
While there were multiple entries advocating for the B-21 to be dubbed Raider, Air Force officials said the members were selected based on the overall quality of their justification.
James has often highlighted the important role the B-21 Raider will play in allowing the Air Force to operate in tomorrow’s high end threat environment, and in providing the Air Force the flexibility and capability to launch from the continental United States and deliver air strikes on any location in the world. She has also cautioned of the delays the program could face under a continuing resolution.
“A short-term (continuing resolution) is manageable … but, let me tell you, a long-term continuing resolution would be very damaging for the Air Force,” James said. “(It would) cap the production of the KC-46, prevent us from devoting more funds to developing the B-21 next year, and delay about 50 construction projects.”
The service’s ability to divest old capabilities and build new is paramount, and modernization remains a priority for the Air Force as it continues to play a major role defending against current and emerging threats.
“We have the oldest aircraft fleet we have ever had, 27 years old on average,” James said. “This absolutely needs to be a focus for us.”
The B-21 Raider, designed based on a set of requirements that allow the use of existing and mature technology, is currently in the Engineering and Manufacturing Development phase and the Air Force plans to field the initial capability of the aircraft in mid-2020s.
B-21 naming contest selected members:
· Lt. Col. Jaime I. Hernandez, 337th Test and Evaluation Squadron commander, Dyess Air Force Base, Texas
· Tech. Sgt. Derek D. White, emergency management craftsman, 175th Civil Engineering Squadron, Maryland Air National Guard
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MP3, YouTube and the death of the LP. With all the changes that have taken place in music in recent decades, it appeared that only live music remained untouched by the coming of the digital age. However, with the advent of Evergig, live music may be the last domino to fall to the changing times.
Calling themselves “the Soundcloud of live music”, Evergig provides a means of collating various fan videos from live music shows, producing an end product which (almost) looks like a professional concert video shot from a variety of angles.
The sound recorded by fans is then processed and synced, so that the best possible audio is there to accompany the footage. Evergig has also indicated that they will strike up deals with labels to get official recordings – meaning top-quality audio paired with fan-shot videos.
A quick glance on the Evergig website – you don’t need to be a member to browse – shows a number of reputed live acts, like Neil Young, Pearl Jam and Metallica, as well as hip-hop acts like Eminem and Nicki Minaj.
As a warning to those seeking vintage Neil Young footage (or vintage Nicki Minaj footage and – if so – may god have mercy on your soul), these concert videos are all from concerts in the past three or so years. So those looking for a multi-angled, well-recorded version of Bob Dylan going electric at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival might have to rely on early iPhone prototypes or time travel.
That said, there are quite a few great performances from ‘vintage’ acts like the Rolling Stones and the Who – when many, including me – thought their best days were behind them.
But enough about the ol’ fat cats and their expensive baby boomer crowds and their M&M-related rider requests – what does this mean for the industry?
Live performances have become increasingly important for musicians in recent decades, particularly as a source of income. Less and less money is made from recorded music, and so ticket and merchandise income is crucial.
With Spotify attempting – and failing according to some – to give artists some form of income with their streaming services, there is the potential that Evergig could evolve into another income source for musicians who want to sell vision of their live performances. Then, there’s always live DVD box set releases just in time for Christmas.
A casual browse over the past few days shows that the amount of album footage is constantly increasing, and there is a good chance bands (and labels) will jump on board if they can make money out of it.
So is this a great way to see your favourite artist performing when you can’t actually go and see your favourite artist performing?
To be honest, I am torn. That’s because there are two Daniels (my name is Daniel, for those playing at home).
The first Daniel is the one who sits at home, procrastinating by watching concert videos instead of meaningful work (like writing articles about concert videos). This Daniel loves the idea. A lot.
There is, however, another Daniel. This Daniel goes to concerts, like after paying real money and stuff. This Daniel does not record concerts, preferring to see them with his eyeballs.
But, unlike Daniel (still my name), everyone else seems to have brought their iPhones and iPads and MacBook Pros and Sony HandyCams to the concert. And they are holding them up, filming the entire thing – making it harder for Daniel to see things with his eyeballs.
And even stranger, people are actually watching the show on the screen instead of on the stage.
As Louis CK said “The resolution on the stage is unbelievable! It’s totally HD.”
So for something that is attempting to improve concert footage, it may actually be harming the concert experience.
The other issue though, is the quality.
There are also a few technical issues. Of course, fan-shot video using an iPhone is not going to give you U2’s Zoo TV tour or Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker. Much like ol’ timey cassette tape bootlegs, the quality is not great.
Even pooling resources of a bunch of different cameras, there are still some angles that are a bit shoddy. Sound quality is often not great either, although as earlier mentioned, there are suggestions that Evergig will work in tandem with venues, artists and labels to ensure a quality recording can be put to some fan-shot video.
Either way, it is early days for Evergig and perhaps working in tandem with musicians will allow them to get better quality output. Plus, with the proliferation of smartphones, they will have plenty of camera angles to choose from – even if it means that those who attend the gigs can only see 1000 iPhone screens and some very annoyed artists.
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(W) Gail Simone (A) Jon Davis-Hunt, Jenny Frison
It's the start of the first Vertigo series from fan-favorite writer Gail Simone, with 2000AD artist Jon Davis-Hunt! Astrid Mueller is the enigmatic and compelling guru of a giant self-help organization-a devastatingly powerful figure in the industry between psychology and religion. Journalist Chloe Pierce's fiancé decided to pick up Astrid's book, and within three months he was dead. Something in Astrid Mueller's book made Philip blow his brains out all over Chloe's new kitchen.
Now Chloe is on a mission to find out who Astrid Mueller really is. What is this Clean Room she's been hearing about where your deepest fear and worst moments are revealed? Chloe intends to immerse herself in the Clean Room and wreak havoc on Astrid's empire.
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Hi friends! Happy Cinco de Mayo! Any fun plans? We are going to lay low and maybe have a margarita or two. I was supposed to go to Chicago for the weekend, but I ended up staying home and having a really busy weekend! Funny how that happens isn’t it? It was crazy hot here in San Diego, so I ended up near the beach 90% of the weekend. Here are a few pics from the weekend:
Lunch time
Can you believe that view?
We made our way through a maze! It’s a miracle that we weren’t stung by bees.
I got to meet my friend Maggie’s cat, Louis and fell in love ♥
Maggie and I went to the Queen Bee Market where I bought lots of cute Mother’s Day presents!
I went down to the beach with Billy and caught up on my SHAPE and Fitness mags.
I got to see some cool yoga moves at a festival called Yoga Disco!
Namaste
I also wanted to thank you for all of your sweet comments about Happy Explosion! If you missed it, you can check it out here. This week, the top voted act of kindness for Happy Explosion was A) Buy the person’s coffee behind us. If you’re participating, you can choose to do that or any other act of kindness that you want. I’ll be posting about my experience buying someone coffee on Saturday and starting a link up so that you can share your post that day too. I can’t wait – I hope you’ll join me!
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Jameis Winston and the Seminoles have three regular season games remaining, the last of which is Nov. 29 vs. Florida. (Photo11: Andrew Weber, USA TODAY Sports)
Jameis Winston stands to remain eligible for the Seminoles through the national championship game after a Florida State investigative hearing into whether an alleged sexual assault involving the quarterback violated the student conduct code was delayed Wednesday until Dec. 1.
A person involved in the process notified USA TODAY Sports of the postponement. The person requested anonymity because specifics of the hearing are to remain confidential.
Florida State is ranked No. 3 in the latest College Football Playoff Top 25 that was released Tuesday. The top four teams qualify for the playoffs, with the semifinals scheduled for Jan. 1 and the championship game Jan. 12. Florida State's last regular season game is scheduled for Nov. 29 against Florida.
Whether Winston is found responsible or not for any student conduct code violations, that decision could be made after a national champion has been crowned. FSU's conduct code says a decision letter will be sent to the student within 10 class days from the conclusion of the hearing but allows for more time "if additional consideration of evidence and deliberation is required."
The last day for fall semester final exams is Dec. 12 and spring semester classes begin on Jan. 7.
If the proceedings conclude on Dec. 5, Major Harding, a former Florida Supreme Court judge who is conducting the investigative hearing, would not be due to render a decision until Jan. 13, one day after the championship game.
Winston and the former female FSU student who said Winston raped her also have the right to appeal the ruling within five class days, meaning that if Harding rules before Jan. 12 an appeal could keep Winston on the field.
A finding that Winston is responsible for violating the student conduct code could carry sanctions ranging from verbal reprimand to probation or expulsion. Some of those potential sanctions would not affect his playing status.
As basis for an appeal, either party would have to show that one of five considerations -- including violation of due process rights or complainants' rights, prejudice by the hearing officer, newly discovered information, a sanction disproportionate to the violation or that the preponderance of the evidence doesn't support the finding -- affected the outcome of the hearing.
If the appellate officer determines more information is needed, that person can request that in writing or schedule an appeal hearing within 10 class days.
If it came to that, it's unclear who FSU would use to hear an appeal. Harding has been retained by the school as a neutral third party to conduct the investigative hearing.
FSU notified Winston and the woman on Nov. 4 that the hearing would be scheduled for the week of Nov. 17. David Cornwell, an attorney advising Winston, sent a letter to the school and attorneys for the woman on Nov. 6 requesting a delay in the hearing, which was scheduled to begin nearly two years after the woman first reported to campus police on Dec. 7, 2012.
In an email to FSU on Monday, Cornwell again voiced his concerns, saying, "I have been consistent -- we will cooperate as long as the process is fair."
The hearing was delayed after a conference call on Wednesday.
Harding will use the same university procedures as internal hearing officers and panels, meaning he will produce a detailed findings of fact, determine if the student conduct code had been violated and, if appropriate, decide on a sanction.
Harding, 79, will rule if Winston violated any of four sanctions of the student conduct code. Two potential violations relate to sexual misconduct and two more to endangerment, according to an Oct. 10 letter FSU sent to Winston.
Attorneys for the woman and Winston have raised concerns about the process. Cornwell sent letters to FSU in September and October questioning the timeliness of the investigation and whether the hearing process would protect his client's due process rights.
FSU officials first interviewed the woman on Aug. 6. It is not clear whether Winston has been interviewed by the school related to the case. He declined to make a statement when the university's Title IX office met with him on Jan. 24.
John Clune, a Title IX attorney for the woman, said earlier this month that to his knowledge Winston had not been interviewed. In late September, Cornwell said Winston would cooperate with the inquiry.
The investigation comes after a lengthy delay. In a timeline of its handling of the case, FSU said the athletic department was aware of the allegation in January 2013, a month after the woman reported to police, but did not notify the Title IX coordinator or the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities.
In that timeline, FSU said it tried to contact the woman in November 2013 but was "told by her local attorney to cease all contact with her client." Since the spring, Clune and Baine Kerr, who is also a Title IX attorney, have said their client will cooperate with a university investigation.
Guidance from the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights says schools should conduct investigations into reported sexual assaults in a "prompt, thorough and impartial manner." They should typically seek to resolve cases within 60 days.
The timeliness of Florida State's response as well as its handling of the disciplinary proceedings will be considered as part of an ongoing Title IX investigation by OCR. That office opened an investigation in April after the woman filed a complaint in March.
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Pennsylvania metalcore band, Royal/Revise, have released a music video for the song, “Your Shadow”. The song is taken from the band’s upcoming Advent EP that was produced by Brette Ciamarra of Studio 344 (Those Who Fear, Rings of Saturn, Kamikabe, Delusions of Grandeur). Advent will be released on October 28, 2014. A raucous release show is planned for Halloween evening, October 31, at Basement Transmissions located in Erie, PA. Pre-orders are available at here or here.
“This song is about watching someone that you care about walk out of your life,” shared Frontman LJ Fickenworth about “Your Shadow”. “Coming to terms with something like that can be extremely hard but once you do, the inner strength gained is concrete. Once you find that resolve, it will never let you down and will lead you to greater days.”
According to Fickenworth, the message behind the record is born from this event and follows the coping process throughout the other songs:”‘Dark Passenger’ represents the inner struggle, and blame that you feel after the event. ‘Advent’ symbolizes the anger that can consume you in the course of coping and ‘Still Breathing’ offers a look into the sadness that can be felt. Finally, ‘Ego’ shows the completion of this process by exemplifying the determination and inner resolution to live life to the fullest and appreciate everything.”
Share your stories of loss and rebirth below.
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New study shows how researchers tame the notoriously fickle supermaterial in aerogel form with 3-D printer and ice
BUFFALO, N.Y. - Graphene is a wonder material saddled with great expectations.
Discovered in 2004, it is 1 million times thinner than a human hair, 300 times stronger than steel and it's the best known conductor of heat and electricity. These qualities could, among other things, make computers faster, batteries more powerful and solar panels more efficient.
But the material is tough to manipulate beyond its two-dimensional form.
Recently, scientists poured graphene oxide suspension, a gel-like form of the material, into freezing molds to create 3-D objects. The process works, but only with simple structures that have limited commercial applications.
Another option is to use a 3-D printer. In this scenario, scientists typically mix graphene with a polymer or other thickening agent. This helps keep the structure from falling apart. But when the polymer is removed via thermal process, it damages the delicate structure.
A research team - comprised of engineers from the University at Buffalo, Kansas State University and the Harbin Institute of Technology in China - may have solved that problem.
A study published Feb. 10 in the journal Small describes how the team used a modified 3-D printer and frozen water to create lattice-shaped cubes and a three-dimensional truss with overhangs using graphene oxide. The structures could be an important step toward making graphene commercially viable in electronics, medical diagnostic devices and other industries.
"Graphene is notoriously difficult to manipulate, but the structures we built show that it's possible to control its shape in three-dimensional forms," said Chi Zhou, assistant professor of industrial and systems engineering at UB's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and a corresponding author of the study.
Zhou is a member of the Sustainable Manufacturing and Advanced Robotic Technologies (SMART), a UB Community of Excellence launched in 2015; he also is a member of UB's New York State Center of Excellence in Materials Informatics.
In their experiments, the research team mixed the graphene oxide with water. They then printed the lattice framework on a surface of -25°C. The graphene is sandwiched between the layers of frozen ice, which act as a structural support.
After the process is completed, the lattice is dipped in liquid nitrogen, which helps form even stronger hydrogen bonds. The lattice is then placed in a freeze dryer, where the ice is changed into gas and removed. The end result is a complex, three-dimensional structure made of graphene aerogel that retains its shape at room temperature.
"By keeping the graphene in a cold environment, we were able to ensure that it retained the shape we designed. This is an important step toward making graphene a commercially viable material," said Dong Lin, assistant professor of industrial and manufacturing systems engineering at Kansas State University, and the study's other corresponding author.
The researchers plan to build on their findings by investigating how to create aerogel structures formed of multiple materials.
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First authors of the study are Qiangqiang Zhang, a student at Harbin, and Feng Zhang, a student at UB. Contributing authors are Hui Li, a student at Harbin, and Sai Pradeep Medarametla, a student at Kansas State University.
The research team received support from Mark T. Swihart, UB Distinguished Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering, and Jonathan F. Lovell, assistant professor of biomedical engineering at UB. Both Swihart and Lovell are faculty members within UB's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
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Sen. Harry Reid is fighting back against claims that Hillary Clinton was responsible for the deaths of four Americans in Benghazi, Libya by calling the most outspoken parent “crazy.”
While speaking to reporters, Reid slammed Patricia Smith, the mother of Sean Smith, who died in the 2012 terrorist attack.
“At the national convention, they had that poor Smith woman some out and say, ‘Hillary Clinton killed my son,'” Reid told reporters (wearing sunglasses inside).
“How crazy,” he said.
The Senate Minority Leader was referring to Smith’s speech to the Republican National Committee in July.
“I blame Hillary Clinton personally for the death of my son. personally. in an e-mail to her daughter Hillary Clinton blamed it on –shortly after the attack– terrorism, but when I saw Hillary Clinton, she lied to me and then called me a liar,” Smith said, according to Real Clear Politics.
“Since then, I have repeatedly asked Hillary Clinton to ask plaintiff may the real reason why my son is dead. I’m still waiting. Whenever I call the State Department, no one would speak to me because they say I am not a member of the immediate family…”
“Sean was my son. Hillary Clinton is a woman, a mother, a grandmother of two. I am a woman, a mother, and a mother of two. How could she do this to me? How could she do this to any American family?”
“Donald Trump is everything Hillary Clinton is not,” Smith said. “He is blunt, direct, and strong. He speaks his mind and his heart. And when it comes to the threat posed by radical Islamic terrorism, he will not hesitate to kill the terrorist who threaten American lives.”
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Techweek Reaps A Whirlwind With Sexist Party Invite Backlash
By Lisa White in News on Jun 4, 2014 9:45PM
The issues surrounding gender diversity affects numerous industries, but one industry that continues to struggle when it comes to a welcoming culture for all genders is the tech industry. This issue raised its ugly head again this week after Techweek, the four-year-old Chicago conference, were called out for sending out an invite to a "Black Tie Rave" which featured snapshots of scantly dressed women posing in sexually flirtatious manners.
Before we go deeper into the backlash, here is a direct quote from Techweek's 'Code of Conduct' that all those attending Techweek must follow (apparently this doesn't apply to Techweek itself): "Sexual language and imagery is not appropriate for any conference venue, including talks, workshops, parties, Twitter and other online media."
Obviously (and thankfully), numerous people were not happy with this behavior and social media became a firestorm of reasonable anger. Several members of Techweek's Tech100 list publicly called out Techweek on this behavior and asked to be taken off of the list, including Harper Reed, CEO of Modest Inc. and the former CTO of Obama for America; Paul Lee, partner at Lightbank; and Brian Fitzpatrick, engineering manager at Google Inc.'s Chicago office. Microsoft, a presenting sponsor at Techweek, also released a statement regarding the incident:
"It is unfortunate our name was mistakenly associated with the ad as it does not reflect Microsoft’s values or the spirit of the tech community. We don’t condone the objectification of people for any reason, least of all a charity event. Techweek has taken full responsibility for the image selection and has taken steps to resolve the situation, including an open dialogue on the issue.”
Obviously Techweek began damage control immediately, issuing their own version of an apology and a promise of open discussion regarding the incident. Chairman Iain Shovlin included the following line where Techweek passes the buck onto those offended:
"The last thing we want to do is alienate anyone in the community and we sincerely apologize if this event or imagery is offensive to you."
The statement backpedals a bit, basically saying their goal was not to offend or upset and they recognize the criticism and take full responsibility. And putting an emphasis on the event being charity, although we're pretty sure charity and sexy women do not need to go hand-in-hand.
This lackluster response wasn't enough for Techweek sponsor Crain's Chicago Business. Publisher David Synder decided today to pull Crain's sponsorship of the event. Snyder released the following statement regarding his decision:
“Techweek's response to their highly offensive promotion for their Black Tie Rave was not sufficient so we have decided to reconsider our involvement in this year's event.”
The Tribune spoke to public relations director Sara Davine, who told them the photos came from the kickoff event during this year's Miami festival and that the photos have been on Techweek's Facebook page since March "without incident." Maybe Davine is also not familiar with Techweek's "Code of Conduct." Needless to say Techweek might want to reference it more when planning their own events and marketing material. For a more detailed breakdown of the situation, check out some of the responses online below.
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The Apple Watch could become our central hub in a wheel of identity, in which all spokes rotate around our wrist. Some early Watch apps already have a high degree of utility. But we’re only scratching the surface of what’s to come.
In this roundup, we look at six apps that offer varying forms of authentication on the Watch. Three allow a tap on the Watch to unlock something: an account, a login, a computer, or more. The other three handle the most common form of app-generated second-factor authentication codes.
Speak, Friend, and enter
As a highly personal device, the Watch should let you chain its security with that of your phone: the default configuration locks a Watch when it’s removed from your wrist, and unlocks it when your phone is unlocked. To use these apps, you’ll always have to have your phone with you, and you’ll have to unlock one or both devices to use them.
That combination means that a tap on a Watch can be as secure as enter a passcode or using Touch ID by inference. I wouldn’t gamble nuclear security on it, but for unlocking the right set of resources, it’s a powerful but reasonable shortcut.
Knock
Knock ($5) is a very simple app with a very simple purpose that it accomplishes admirably on a phone and on the Watch. The iOS app pairs with an OS X app. Once installed and set up, you can unlock your Mac by knocking twice on your phone when you’re nearby. Good enough.
Knock
With the Watch app for Knock, whenever you jiggle the mouse, swipe the trackpad, or tap a key to wake the login screen, a notification appears on your Watch as well as in iOS. Tap Unlock, and, voilà, your Mac is available. The current version only pairs with one Mac, and it’s more parlor trick than absolutely useful. But after installing it, I find myself using it every single morning to unlock my desktop computer rather than type in a password.
oneID
oneID (free) takes a little getting used to, because although it seems to have much in common with software like 1Password (see below) and LastPass, it’s instead a web-site login capture system. As with many newer apps, it has a strong, single focus. After installing the OS X app, whenever you log into a website in Chrome and Firefox (Safari should be coming), oneID captures the login information.
oneID
You can configure through a web dashboard or via an iOS app whether replaying that login on a subsequent visit requires approval from a phone or with a PIN. If you check Require Phone, then the next time you visit a site for a login that’s been captured in oneID, a phone overlay will appear in the upper right of the browser, and your phone and Watch will receive a notification. You can then tap Confirm (or Reject or Dismiss).
(oneID is free, but the company behind it makes its money from integrating this easy login approach for nonprofits and political groups for easy repeat donations. But there are no strings to use the ecosystem on its own.)
Duo Security
This is a bit on the enterprise and extra-geeky side, but it’s a good example of how the Watch will fit in as part of corporate security. Duo Security makes software that integrates with all kinds of back-end systems from straightforward Unix shells to VPN connections to Web apps and much more. I use Duo Security’s basic free service to secure a Linux virtual private server (VPS), for instance.
Duo Security
When you connect to an app or service protected by Duo Security for which you’re an authorized user, the company’s system can send one of several kinds of alerts or, in some cases, you can choose which one. When I connect via SFTP to my Linux box, I can only use the iOS app; via an SSH login, I can choose app-based authentication, an SMS code, or a phone call that speaks a code to me.
The Watch integration for Duo Security gives you a simple Approve and Deny notification along with the name of the service and the account. Tap, and you’re done. I no longer use the iPhone app; I favor the Watch notification.
Shred after Reading
The geekily named time-based one-time passwords (TOTPs) were made popular by Google’s Authenticator app. They’re broadly used now instead of, or as an alternative to, a code sent via SMS or through a dedicated app. A TOTP is seeded with a QR code (those 2D grids of rectangles that look like noise) or an initial string of text from the website at which you’re enrolling to use a second factor for logging in. An algorithm combines that seed code with the current time to create tokens that typically work for one minute.
TOTPs are used by Google web apps, Facebook, Dropbox, and many others. Apple has a separate proprietary two-step approach. (For more background detail, see my Private I column from last October.)
Authy
Authy (free on all platforms) is a robust multi-platform service for managing and syncing TOTPs. Enter or scan the seed information on one device, and it can be available on every device with which you connect. The Watch app, as an extension of the iPhone app, allows quick access to any code. Authy on the Watch shows all the tokens that are available. Tap an entry and receive the latest code along with an indicator as to remaining time.
Authy displays a time-based one-time code on your wrist for convenient entry.
The first time you use the Watch app, you need to open and unlock Authy on your phone. Based on conversations on Twitter, this first step is confusing, and I can’t find anywhere Authy documents it. And for the small number of sites that use Authy exclusively for a second factor, like Coinbase, you’ll also be asked to authenticate at the phone the first time for each of them you try to obtain a token on the Watch. This is also not documented.
Authy recently announced OneTouch, which will provide a single-tap Watch or mobile device login like Duo Security’s but available for integration into websites and apps.
1Password
AgileBits’ 1Password (free on iOS) is best known as a password storehouse and generator, as well as keeping track and autofilling credit-card and other information. Its integration into iOS 8 using an extension started good and got better, and many apps now integrate in iOS to pull 1Password-stored logins directly.
AgileBits
But 1Password added support for one-time passwords in iOS in January and in OS X in April as a second step in verifying identity. The 1Password Watch app can display entries that are set in the iOS version by tapping Add to Apple Watch. (The addition is made via a tag, so you can manually add “Apple Watch” as a tag in the OS X release for the same effect.)
For any entry that has both a password and a TOTP, 1Password cleverly shows just the one-time code on the Watch.
The $10 Pro in-app purchase is necessary for Watch features. The OS X app costs $50 for a single-user license.
Lockdown
Lockdown ($4) is another entrant in this category, but has a few unique aspects. First, it lets you preserve the seed codes for a TOTPs. There are risks associated with that, but given that few apps and ecosystems let you recover those original codes without resetting your entire two-step or two-factor login at a site or through a service, it’s worth considering. (In testing these apps, I wish I’d had such copies!)
Lockdown
Second, it can speak codes aloud from the phone, which is extremely useful. It’s almost always perfectly safe to have a code shared (see the screen captures in this article) or spoken aloud because they are only good during a very brief window of time and still require the other account credentials to use. I hope to see this feature come to the Watch when developers are able to access the Watch’s features fully later this year.
Favorite an item in iOS and it appears in the list on the Watch. The app is currently available only for iOS, but a Mac version is coming this month.
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Sinn Fein second biggest party in Republic of Ireland - poll BelfastTelegraph.co.uk The latest opinion poll in the Republic of Ireland places Sinn Fein as the second most popular party in the country https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/republic-of-ireland/sinn-fein-second-biggest-party-in-republic-of-ireland-poll-28693672.html
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The latest opinion poll in the Republic of Ireland places Sinn Fein as the second most popular party in the country
The recent leaking of the coalition government's budget cuts was yesterday blamed by a cabinet minister for the dramatic slump in support for the Fien Gael and Labour.
The survey shows Fine Gael and the Labour Party are down 11pc.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore have also taken a hit in their popularity.
Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte said the pre-budget speculation "irritated" people.
Health Minister James Reilly and Social Protection Minister Joan Burton are frequently cited as the prime culprits. But Mr Rabbitte didn't single out any individual.
Mr Rabbitte said he came across constituents who thought the cuts leaked in advance of the budget -- and then never appeared -- were actually being implemented because they heard about them in the media.
Despite the unpopular measures in the €3.8bn package of cuts and taxes, nearly two-thirds of people said the Budget was in line with what they expected.
The Behaviour and Attitudes opinion poll for 'The Sunday Times' showed a substantial slump for the Coalition and a boost for the opposition.
The poll, taken after Budget 2012, showed Sinn Fein overtook Labour and Fianna Fail to become the second biggest party, although Fianna Fail enjoyed the largest rise.
The Sinn Fein share of the vote is up seven per cent on their showing in the general election in February.
The figures showed Fine Gael on 30pc, down seven points, Sinn Fein on 21pc, up two, Fianna Fail on 20pc, up five, Labour on 11pc, down four, Independents on 15pc, up two, and the Green Party on 3pc, also up two.
Mr Kenny's personal satisfaction rating is down 14 points to 44pc and Mr Gilmore is down 11pc to 35pc. Micheal Martin rose four points to 40pc. Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams is the most popular leader on 48pc.
Belfast Telegraph
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The Milwaukee Bucks announced today a new partnership with Johnson Controls, a global multi-industrial leader, to become the official “smart building” partner for the new Wisconsin Entertainment & Sports Center in downtown Milwaukee. As the first Founding Partner for the new arena, Johnson Controls will implement a variety of building technology solutions throughout the facility to enhance the fan experience, improve the building’s performance, reduce energy usage and reduce the arena’s environmental foot print. Together, the Bucks and Johnson Controls are building a smart, sustainable and efficient world-class arena while joining together in a commitment to develop a healthier and more vibrant Milwaukee community for future generations.
“This is an absolutely historic day, not just for the Bucks and Johnson Controls but for the city of Milwaukee,” Bucks President Peter Feigin said. “Our ownership group is committed to building an arena that will be the gold standard for a sports and entertainment facility while also driving additional development and community growth throughout the region. We wouldn’t be able to accomplish those goals without the partnership and support of Johnson Controls. Together we’re going to build an incredible arena and an incredible future for our home city.”
“Johnson Controls has been committed to Milwaukee for 132 years and our partnership with the Bucks is an investment that will make the downtown arena a world class sports and entertainment destination while delivering a winning experience for fans with a building that is smart, connected and sustainable,” said Alex Molinaroli, chairman and CEO for Johnson Controls.
As the “smart building” partner of the new Wisconsin Entertainment & Sports Center, Johnson Controls will work closely with the Bucks, Mortenson Construction, ICON Venue Group and numerous industry-leading subcontractors to furnish, install and integrate state-of-the-art smart building solutions throughout the new facility. These innovative and integrated technologies will provide a combination of safety, security and sustainability that will maximize both the fan experience and building performance for Milwaukee’s new downtown arena.
Johnson Controls’ building, business and specialty systems will be managed on a unified, intelligent infrastructure including HVAC, building automation, security, lighting, fire protection and information technology. By simplifying and optimizing how the building functions, Johnson Controls will enable more control for the Bucks to operate the arena at the same time delivering a superior fan experience.
As a Founding Partner for the new arena, Johnson Controls will also receive sponsorship rights and benefits including important media assets, arena signage and other team and building activations. In addition, the Milwaukee-based company will partner with the team and the Milwaukee Bucks Foundation on additional initiatives aimed at building a safer, healthier and more vibrant community for Milwaukee residents, not just in and around the new arena but throughout the city. Additional details will be shared as they develop.
The new Milwaukee Entertainment & Sports Center is the centerpiece of an ambitious development project spearheaded by Bucks ownership to transform 27-acres of mostly vacant property into a vibrant retail and entertainment district in the heart of downtown Milwaukee. Scheduled to open in fall of 2018, the 714,000 square foot arena will be home to Milwaukee Bucks basketball and countless sports and entertainment events. The new arena was designed by Populous, Eppstein Uhen and HNTB, with Mortenson tabbed to lead the construction of the project. For more information, visit www.wisconsinesc.com.
About Johnson Controls
Johnson Controls is a global diversified technology and multi industrial leader serving a wide range of customers in more than 150 countries. Their 130,000 employees create intelligent buildings, efficient energy solutions, integrated infrastructure and next generation transportation systems that work seamlessly together to deliver on the promise of smart cities and communities. Their commitment to sustainability dates back to the company’s roots in 1885, with the invention of the first electric room thermostat. Johnson Controls is committed to helping its customers win and creating greater value for all of their stakeholders through strategic focus on buildings and energy growth platforms. For additional information, please visit http://www.johnsoncontrols.com.
WATCH: Learn More About Johnson Controls
Circular Economy Denver Airport London City
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We’re continuing our exclusive online coverage of our recent cover story, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, with a concept art gallery. Exhibiting Naughty Dog’s vision for its standalone DLC due out this year, this gallery shines the spotlight on the environments Chloe Frazer and Nadine Ross will visit. The two team up together to get their hands on the highly valuable Tusk of Ganesh, hoping to change their status in the treasure-hunting business. The trip will take them across the mountains of India, where they visit temples, scale statues, and drive through its terrain. Expect plenty of chaotic and dangerous moments, but also quieter, more reflective times.
Note: Click on photos for full size.
The expansion focuses on different areas within India, a place the series has never visited. The new locale offered the artists a new canvas, allowing them to add more color than Nathan Drake's recent excursions and experiment with different backdrops. For instance, in the PSX demo, we saw a war-torn city, while these photos feature more serene, rural landscapes. “What we are doing with [The Lost Legacy] is going back to some of those moments in Uncharted 1 and 2 of awe with exploration in terms of the environments and the temples, and that mystical sort of feeling you would get when you explored those places, like feeling small in a space,” says art director Tate Mosesian.
Check out the video above to hear more about the new game’s art direction from Mosesian
The game takes place in the Western Ghats, a mountain range parallel to the western coast of the Indian peninsula known for its beautiful terrain and biological diversity. Throughout the story, Chloe recalls her heritage, as her dad, an archaeologist, passed down stories about India and its history to her. "It gets a little more personal with Chloe than we’ve ever gone, tying the culture and stories of the Hindu gods, even the story of the Hoysala Empire and the kings that ruled there,” says creative director Shaun Escayg.
The Hoysala Empire is known for its development of art, religion, and architecture in southern India. Its legacy remains in intricate temple design; hundreds of them still survive today. "In my opinion, the temples outshadow even Egyptian architecture in just their complexity of detail, and beauty," Mosesian says. "It's amazing." Expect plenty of breathtaking structures as we showcased above.
For more on Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, you can check out our hub of exclusive content below, which includes developer interviews and more detailed info on what you can expect.
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/talk member and developer motoharu recently did a huge writeup on his work to dump PS vita cartridges. We reproduce it below with his consent. You can find all the tools and software from his work, including this detailed explanation at the source on his github here.
Note: the explanation below is only about the copy/dumping process, and does not contain any decryption step.
PSVCD Introduction.
PSVCD stands for Playstation Vita Cartridge Dump. Basically this project summarizes my half year research on the ways to do a hardware dump of PS Vita cart. I think I should indicate that this research has no relation to Cobra Black Fin project and team.
Currently the process of dumping PS Vita carts is quite involved because you have to create custom board. On the other hand – this approach does not have any firmware dependency since it is not related to software hacking. Current version of the board is constructed from DIP elements but I think in the future I will create PCB layout and smaller board.
So the good news are that carts actually can be dumped. You should be able to do it if you complete all the steps of this readme. At current point I do not know if any of these dumps can be played on multiple different instances of PS Vita. Most likely it is not possible currently. Process of writing content to PS Vita cart is also not established yet, though I think it can be done. Also most of the cart content is still encrypted. I do not know any ways to decrypt it now. Though I am sure that people who work with PSP and PS3 can do it because many files look similar to these consoles.
Last final note. This readme should not be considered as full or complete at current point. I hope I will be adding more and more details in the future.
Previous work.
I know that some research was done before me. Unfortunately clear results were not published. Previous works include:
There were also some software dumps made by Mr.Gas and game modding/decryption made by Major_Tom.
Motherboard. Game cart slot schematics.
There can be multiple ways to access game cart data lines on motherboard.
You can desolder game cart slot and solder to internal pins.
You can solder to test pads, located on motherboard.
First of all you will need to disassemble PS Vita body and take motherboard out. On the opposite side you will see game cart slot.
Consider looking at pics/pic4.png This is overall schematic for game cart slot and surroundings with all markings that you will need.
If you want to use first approach – consider looking at pics/pic1.png Test pads are marked as TP* Capacitors are marked as C* (though I am not sure they are really capacitors, they can be other smd parts) Resistors are marked as R* (though I am not sure they are really resistors, they can be other smd parts) Unknown parts are marked as UNK*
Some guesses on schematics: C1, C2, C3 – these are most likely supply filter capacitors C4, R2 – these can be RC circuit for generating game cart insert impulse
If you want to use second approach – consider looking at pics/pic2.png Marking is similar.
Some info on schematics: R3, R4, R5, R6, R7 – these are pull-up resistors for DATA and CMD lines.
I have chosen first approach with desoldering game cart slot since at that point I did not know all schematics. You may see at pics/pic3.png that motherboard also has LED1 and place for one more led that is not soldered. I have soldered 1×10 2mm female header to the pins because it fits the hole for game cart in PS Vita body.
Finally you will have to create 1×10 2mm male -> 1×10 2.54mm male adapter. This will be required for further usage of any prototype board. This adapter can be easily made with some pin headers. Consider looking at pics/pic5.png to see how it should look like.
Game cart. Schematics and plugging into prototype board.
I admit that this is not the best approach, so feel free to advice. It is not good because you have to disassemble game cart. The best one would be to print game cart slot on 3d printer but I do not own one. Unfortunately there is no easy way to desolder game cart slot from PS Vita motherboard. You will definitely need desoldering gun but this is not enough. Back side of cart slot is made from plastic and is glued to the motherboard. Even if you will manage to desolder game cart slot – construction will not be stable.
So I have created simple adapter that can be used with prorotype board. You will need:
Game cart
Memory Stick Duo adapter
Memory Stick Duo card slot – I desoldered one from old card reader.
1×10 2.54mm pin header
Steps are the following:
Disassemble Memory Stick Duo adapter
Solder pin header to adapter
Disassemble game cart – these come as monolithic chip with memory and controller on board.
Put game chip under pin headers of adapter then close the adapter.
Consider looking at pics/pic6.png to see how it should look like.
PS Vita game cart pinout.
Game carts turned out to be simple MMC cards. Pinout is of course a bit different but it still complies with MMC card specification. Consider looking at pics/pic.png for details. Game cart has 10 pins which go in the following order: VCC – 3.3 volt supply GND – ground pin CLK – clock pin DAT3 – data line 3 DAT2 – data line 2 DAT1 – data line 1 DAT0 – data line 0 INS – insertion detect pin CMD – command pin GND – ground pin
INS pin must be tied to ground which means that game cart is inserted. PS Vita uses all 4 DAT lines to transfer data from the cart and also to the cart. CMD line is used for transferring commands and reading response from the cart. CLK line would have frequency around 400 Mhz during initialization. When initialization is finished and reading starts, PS Vita switches to 4-bit width high speed mode. Not sure though if it is 26 or 52 Mhz but in any case this is very fast signal that is not easy to sample unless you have professional level gear. Typical logic analyzer will not help here.
Unfortunately FT232h can handle only one input and one output line at a time in MPSSE mode. Luckily for us game carts support both 1-bit and 4-bit data width modes. So by using couple of multiplexers and demultiplexers we can interface with the cart. Technically FT232h chip is capable of transferring data at max 30 Mhz in MPSSE mode. I was not able to get to such a high speed. I probably lack some knowledge but the other issue is that we need properly routed PCB for high speeds instead of DIP prototype board. So high speeds are not expected to work at the moment. Again luckily for us game carts can be accessed on low speeds for reading as well.
Configuring FTDI FT232h.
At this point you should be able to connect PS Vita and game cart to any prototype board. Next step would be creating custom board that will allow to dump game card. But before that we will need to configure FTDI chip that serves as heart of the board.
For custom board you will need FT232h chip. I guess FT2232h can also be used – it just has more pins and two channels instead of one. FT232h can come on a breakboard – Adafruit FT232H, FTDI UM232H etc. You can use custom board as well.
Before configuring FT232h chip you have to install D2XX direct drivers. They can be found on FTDI web page.
For configuring FT232h we will need FT_Prog utility that can be downloaded from FTDI web page. Settings for FT232h are as following:
USB Config Descriptor -> Self Powered: Enabled. We will use self powered configuration because all parts of the custom board including FT232h will be powered from one voltage regulator. I found out that some FT232h chips do not give 3.3 volts on corresponding 3v3 pins when USB power mode is selected. We MUST use 3.3 volts or game cart can be damaged.
USB String Descriptors -> Product Desc: USB FIFO. This is an identifier for the device that will be later used in C++ code. It will come in handy if you use other FTDI devices that are also plugged into your PC. For example I also used Lattice MachXO2 FPGA for some investigations. And it has FT2232h chip on board.
Hardware Specific -> Suspend on ACBus7 Low: Enabled. This setting is required if FT232h is used in self powered mode. ACBus7 line must be tied to 5V through resistor. It will be explained later.
Port A -> Driver -> D2XX Direct: Enabled. We will use fast direct drivers and not virtual com port.
Port A -> Hardware -> 245 FIFO: Enabled. This setting is required when Sync FIFO mode or MPSSE mode is used.
Problem 1.
There can be cases when you will not be able to program FT232h chip. In most cases you will see this error: “Index was outside the bounds of the array”. Unfortunately this is a bug in FTDI software that is mixed together with flaw in your breakboard. When you observe this error take a closer look at your EEPROM. Most likely you will have 93C46 type. It is indicated in FTDI datasheets that 93C46 can be used with FT232h but unfortunately it can not.
There are 2 solutions for this problem.
FT_Prog is written in C#. You can decompile it with Reflector and fix the code a bit so that FT232h can be programmed even with smaller 93C46. I have this fix so maybe I will share it in the future.
Desolder 93C46 EEPROM and solder 93C56 EEPROM or bigger one.
Problem 2.
Some FT232h chips do not give 3.3v on corresponding pins when used in USB powered mode. They may give 3.6v or 3.8v etc. To fix this you have to reconfigure FT232h chip to work in self powered mode. This may require some hadrware changes as well.
For example on my breakboard I had to desolder Zero Ohm resistor that connected USB pin and VREGIN pin. Then I have soldered another 39K Ohm resistor that was connected to AC7 and to USB pin. Please consider looking into FTDI datasheets to understand what is required for self powered configuration.
It looks like that famous Adafruit breakboard also has Zero Ohm resistor. FTDI UM232H is more clever – you can use jumpers without desoldering anything.
Building custom prototype board.
Heart of all system is a custom board that allows to interaction between PC and PS Vita game cart. Consider looking at schematic pics/pic7.png for further details. Custom board consists of multiple sections that are described below.
Voltage regulator section.
When powered from USB we have 5 volts. Any SD cards or MMC cards work from 3.3 volts or even lower 1.8 volts. Using 5 volts will damage the card. Voltage regulation section is located in top left corner of schematic file.
Required parts are:
DS1099-B USB port type B. You can use Type A if you prefer.
Two leds: these are optional and are used just to show that power is on.
R21, R22: 220 Ohm resistors for leds.
LD1117V33: Voltage regulator that will transform USB 5V to 3.3V
C1: Filtering capacitor 100 uF.
C5, C6, C7: Filtering capacitors 1uF.
S1: Dip Switch 1 pin: this is optional. Used to switch custom board power on and off.
SV3, SV4: Two 1×10 2.54mm female headers. These are used to wire any other places of custom board to VCC3V3 or GND.
Data lines section.
This section contains multiple female headers that can be used for wiring different devices. There are also other components that can be used to configure each individual line. Section can be found in the middle left part of schematic file.
Required parts are:
Two 2×10 2.54 male pin headers. These are used in conjunction with jumpers for each data line.
Two 2×10 2.54 female headers. These are used to connect any external devices (game cart, logic analyzer etc) or to do internal wiring.
JP1, JP2, JP3, JP4, JP5, JP6, JP7, JP8, JP9, JP10. These are jumpers that can be used to pull each individual data line to VCC3V3.
R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, R6, R7, R8, R9, R10. These are 4.7K Ohm pull-up resistors.
JP11, JP12, JP13, JP14, JP15, JP16, JP17, JP18, JP19, JP20. These are jumpers that can be used to pull each individual data line to GND.
R11, R12, R13, R14, R15, R16, R17, R18, R19, R20. These are 4.7K Oh, pull-down resistors.
Data multiplexing section.
This section is used to select 1 of 8 data lines and feed output to FT232h chip. Section can be found in the bottom left part of schematic file. Data transfer between game cart and PS Vita is bidirectional. That means that we may use tristate buffers as well. Though buffers are optional. Output of multiplexer can be controlled with G (enable) signal.
Required parts are:
74HC244N: Octal tristate buffer.
74HC151N: 8-dine to 1-dine data multiplexer.
Main idea is to connect data lines D0-D7 to 74HC244N. Output of 74HC244N should be connected to 74HC151N. 74HC151N will allow to select one of 8 data lines. Others will be tristate. Address lines of 74HC151N are connected to GPIO pins of FT232h. Enable pins of 74HC244N should be connected to GPIO pin of FT232h.
This will allow to select and read 1 of 8 data lines while others will be tristate. Address of line and read/write mode will be controlled by FT232h.
Data demultiplexing section.
This section is used to select 1 of 8 lines and use it as output to game cart. Section can be found in the bottom right part of schematic file.
Required parts are:
Two 74HC125N: Quadruple bus buffer gates with tristate outputs.
74HCT138N: 3 to 8 line decoder, inverting
Main idea is to connect data lines D0-D7 to output pins of 74HC125N tristate buffers. Outputs of 74HCT138N decoder should be connected to enable pins of 74HC125N. Input pins of 74HC125N should all be connected together to GPIO pin of FT232h Address lines of 74HCT138N decoder should be connected to GPIO pins of FT232h. Enable pin of 74HCT138N should be connected to GPIO pin of FT232h.
This will allow to select and write to 1 of 8 data lines while others will be tristate. Address of line and read/write mode will be controlled by FT232h.
Game cart initialisation bypass section.
PS Vita game cart requires special initialization sequence before game cart can be read. This sequence can not be reproduced at current point. Though it is already partially known. To bypass this initialization a simple trick can be used:
Allow real PS Vita to initialize game cart.
Then connect custom board.
Then disconnect PS Vita.
Now you can read game cart.
Make sure that during these steps game cart is always powered.
Required parts are:
SV5, SV6, SV7: Three 1×10 2.54mm female headers.
S2, S3: Two 1×10 Dip switches.
Main idea is to connect PS Vita data lines to SV6 and custom board data lines to SV5. On the other hand game cart will be connected to SV7.
Custom board core section.
Core of the custom board is FT232h chip. There are some other components required so that Ft232h runs as expected.
Required parts are:
R23, R24, R25, R27, R28, R29, R30, R31, R32: 4.7K Ohm pull-up/pull-down resistors.
Four 1×2 2.54mm male pin headers.
JP21, JP22, JP23, JP24: jumpers for selecting pull-down or pull-up configuration.
R26: 39K Ohm pull-up resistor.
Main idea is to connect address lines of 74HC151N to GPIOH pins AC0-AC2 of FT232h. Address lines of 74HCT138N decoder should be connected to GPIOH pines AC3-AC5 of FT232h. GPIOH pin AC6 serves as read/write mode pin and should be connected to 74HC244N buffer and 74HCT138N decoder. Single pin can be used because 74HC244N and 74HCT138N use different levels of enable signal. 74HCT138N uses high and 74HC244N uses low. All address lines and R/W line can be pulled together either to GND or to VCC by using jumpers JP23 or JP24. Due to properties of my prototype board I was not able to solder separate jumper for each line. But you can do it.
GPIOH AC7 line should be connected to USB 5V pin of FT232h through 39K Ohm pull-up resistor. GPIOH AC8, AC9 pins can not be used in MPSSE mode of FT232h so they are not connected. MPSSE mode will be explained later. VREGIN pin of FT232h should be connected to 3.3 volt output of voltage regulator.
3V3, VCCIO pins should be connected to 3.3 volt and two GND pins should be connected to ground.
GPIOL AD0 pin will serve as CLK in MPSSE mode. GPIOL AD2 pin will serve as DIN in MPSSE mode so it is connected to 74HC151N output. GPIOL AD5 pin will serve as DWAIT in MPSSE mode so it is connected to 74HC151N output also. GPIOL AD1 pin will serve as DOUT in MPSSE mode so it is connected to input of 74HC125N buffers. GPIOL AD3 pin can only serve as CS in MPSSE mode so it is not used and not connected. GPIOL AD4, AD6, AD7 pins are not used so they are not connected.
DOUT, DIN/DWAIT lines can be pulled together either to GND or to VCC by using jumpers JP21 or JP22.
Why FT232h. MPSSE Mode Description.
Choice of FTDI FT232h chip was not spontaneous. There are two main reasons for this:
It allows easy interfacing with other devices through USB
It allows to implement custom protocol with special MPSSE mode if having standard interfaces like UART, FIFO, SPI is not enough for you.
Basically MPSSE mode is the special mode of FT232h where you send commands to the chip through USB and they are translated into signals. Main features that may be useful for custom protocol include:
Single CLK line
Single DIN line
Single DOUT line
Single Wait line
3 GPIO Low pins
7 GPIO High pins
Using this MPSSE mode I have implemented variation of MMC protocol which uses 1-bit width bus and low frequency mode to transfer the data in both directions.
I also use FT232h in FIFO mode together with FPGA when I need to investigate packets on the data line. And there are many other ways FT232h can be used as well.
Interconnections. Connecting PS Vita, game cart and custom board.
Most of the custom board connections are soldered. But I tried to keep custom board as much generic as I could. So I left out some interconnections that should be connected with dupont wires. This allows more flexible configuration.
Consider looking at pics/pic7.png for further details.
There are two possible ways to connect:
Connect game cart directly to female pin header SV1 or SV2. This approach can be used only if CMD56 sequence is known (explained later).
Connect game cart to female pin header SV7. Then connect PS Vita to female pin header SV6 so that it can be enabled/disabled by using DIP switch S2. Finally connect female pin header SV5 with female pin header SV1 or SV2 so that all functionality of custom board can be enabled/disabled by using DIP switch S3.
There is some additional wiring required as well.
Use female pin header SV3 to connect VCC line with corresponding pin of the game cart. You can use SV1 or SV2 for this.
Use female pin header SV4 to connect GND line with corresponding pins of the game cart. You can use SV1 or SV2 for this.
Connect CLK pin of FT232h with corresponding pin of the game cart. You can use SV1 or SV2 for this.
From jumpers JP1-JP10 select those that you have used for CLK, CMD and DAT0 lines. Place these three jumpers to pull-up the lines.
Consider looking at pics/pic9.png which shows final result. You may notice one difference to the schematic – WAIT-DIN wire should not be there. Basically I did not solder this two wires together so I had to place a connection wire.
Final connection with PS Vita wired together is shown on picture pics/pic10.png You may notice that I had connected everything to the prototype board. Basically I did not have 1×10 DIP switches so I had to manually switch wires.
PS Vita game cart protocol.
I was kinda surprised when I figured out that standard MMC protocol is used to interface with game carts. Specification for this protocol can be found at JDEC web site. When game cart is inserted and PS Vita is turned on – cart initialization starts. You may notice this by looking at flashing red led indicator.
Initialization of PS Vita game cart consists of 3 steps.
PS Vita game cart initialization – Step 1.
During this step PS Vita tries to identify standard SD card or SDIO device. This is of course a speculation but a possibility can exist that PS Vita can interface with SD cards or SDIO devices. Commands that are sent during this step are not required to initialize MMC card. So I do not see any other logical explanation for these commands.
Initialization consists of these commands:
40 00 00 00 00 95 – CMD0 – GO_IDLE_STATE
48 00 00 01 AA 87 – CMD8 – SEND_IF_COND
45 00 00 00 00 5B – CMD5 – IO_SEND_OP_COND
77 00 00 00 00 65 – CMD55 – APP_CMD
PS Vita game cart initialization – Step 2.
During this step PS Vita tries to initialize PS Vita game cart which is basically MMC card. I will give a very brief description of what is happening. I am planning to share more details on this later.
Initialization consists of these commands:
40 00 00 00 00 95 – CMD0 – GO_IDLE_STATE
41 40 FF 80 00 0B – CMD1 – SEND_OP_COND
42 00 00 00 00 4D – CMD2 – ALL_SEND_CID
43 00 01 00 00 7F – CMD3 – SET_RELATIVE_ADDR
49 00 01 00 00 F1 – CMD9 – SEND_CSD
47 00 01 00 00 DD – CMD7 – SELECT_CARD
46 03 AF 01 00 43 – CMD6 – SWITCH (ERASE_GROUP_DEF)
48 00 00 00 00 C3 – CMD8 – SEND_EXT_CSD
50 00 00 02 00 15 – CMD16 – SET_BLOCKLEN
46 03 B9 01 00 2F – CMD6 – SWITCH (HS_TIMING)
46 03 B7 01 00 2D – CMD6 – SWITCH (BUS_WIDTH 4)
PS Vita game cart initialization – Step 3.
During this step PS Vita executes custom initialization sequence through generic command CMD56. This step is required for initialization. If it is not executed game cart can not be read. CMD56 is generic command that allows PS Vita to interface with game cart by sending and receiving data packets. Format of these packets is vendor specific. So basically this step is a game cart protection step which identifies only original game carts.
This initialization happens at high speed and is hard to sample unless you own professional gear. I do not own one so I have tried to sample with FPGA instead. As far as I understand this step includes 10 pairs of request/response packets. Some of these packets are constant while others are not and partially change after each time you turn on PS Vita. This is most likely related to some encryption mechanism.
If you want to completely reproduce initialization of PS Vita game cart then understanding of Step 3 is essential. This may be required if you want to try using SD card / MMC card / SDIO external device that contains game dump instead of original game cart. Basically some additional hardware will be required to simulate this CMD56 initialization step.
Last final comment. I currently have the dumps of these 20 data packets but I am not going to share them in the nearest future. I need to understand the structure of these packets and be sure that they do not contain any personal information that can disclose the user.
Initialization consists of these commands:
78 00 00 00 00 25 – CMD56 (REQUEST)
78 00 00 00 01 37 – CMD56 (RESPONCE)
Reading PS Vita game cart.
Consider looking at pics/pic7.png for details.
So it looks like game carts have protection and there is no way to deal with it. Lucky for us very old trick can be used to bypass this protection. Steps are the following:
Connect PS Vita and game cart – use SV2 DIP switch.
Turn on PS Vita and let it initialize the cart.
Connect custom board. Make sure that custom board also supplies power to the cart – use SV3 DIP switch.
Disconnect PS Vita – use SV2 DIP switch. Make sure that at this point PS Vita did not go to sleep mode and screen is still turned on. When PS Vita goes to sleep mode it sends deinitialization sequence to the game cart.
At this point game cart is initialized but we need to send couple more commands before we can read the data. First command is CMD6 [46 03 B9 00 00 39] – this switches game cart to low speed mode. Technically you should get a response for this command. But custom board is not able to handle high speeds so basically this response will contain garbage. Second command is CMD6 [46 03 B7 00 00 3B] – this switches game cart to 1-bit width data mode from 4-bit width data mode that is used by PS Vita. This command should give valid response since we are now in low speed mode.
At this point you should be able to read PS Vita game cart. Basic commands that can be used include:
CMD17, CMD13 – reads single sector, check cart status.
CMD23, CMD18, CMD13 – set number of sectors, read multiple sectors, check cart status.
These are exact sequences that are used by PS Vita to read game carts.
Last comment. I was also able to sample write sequences so probably it is possible to write to game carts. Writing sequence includes:
CMD24, CMD13 – write single sector, check cart status.
PS Vita game cart filesystem.
Surprisingly game cart filesystem is EXFAT. There are no official specifications published but some documentation on this filesystem can be found on net. Filesystem is not complicated and can be parsed without any issues. I have created corresponding parser tool that takes raw cart dump as input and produces directory structure with all the files from the cart in specified location.
There is one exception that I should mention. EXFAT filesystem is not located at sector zero. Instead at sector zero you will find some SCEI specific structure that points to EXFAT VBR record.
Directory structure.
The cart that I was trying to dump was “SAO – Hollow Fragment”. Directory structure looks as following:
root app PCSG00294 sce_module libc.suprx libfios2.suprx libult.suprx sce_pfs files.db unicv.db sce_sys about right.suprx livearea contents bg.png frame1.png gate.png template.xml manual 001.png .. 035.png package body.bin head.bin stat.bin tail.bin temp.bin trophy NPWR05519_00 TROPHY.TRP clearsign icon0.png keystone param.sfo pic0.png data.psarc eboot.bin hud_settings.ini gc param.sfo license app PCSG00294 ___.rif psp2 update psp2updat.pup
File encryption/compression.
Most of the files are encrypted/compressed – I am not sure which. So most likely this dump can not be easily used on different PS Vita instances. I only obtained valid dump recently and did not have time yet to explore the files. I am quite sure that encryption scheme should be quite identical to ps3. So most likely people that are experienced in that area will be able to figure out the details much quicker.
Building the project.
Installing D2XX direct drivers.
Unfortunately current implementation is only for Windows platform. This restriction is based on FTDI drivers that are for Windows. I think they also have some drivers for Linux as well so I am going to figure this out in the future.
After drivers are installed – create two environment variables:
FTDI_INCLUDEDIR : this should point to the folder where ftd2xx.h is located
FTDI_LIBRARYDIR : this should point to the folder where ftd2xx.lib is located
These two variables will be used by cmake later.
Also do not forget to add path to FTDI dlls to your PATH variable
Installing or Compiling BOOST.
This is optional and not required for dump utility. However this is required for exfat parser utility. I am not sure if I should quit using boost since it is not very easy to compile and may be considered big dependency to drag. But it has many useful things in it which I am used to.
You may either install prebuilt binaries or compile by yourself. There are lots of guides for this. If you are going to compile from source then make sure you compile static multithreaded version of boost. After you have your installation – create two environment variables:
BOOST_INCLUDEDIR : this obviously should point to the directory where “boost” directory with all the includes is located.
BOOST_LIBRARYDIR : this variable should point to the directory with boost static libraries.
These two variables will be used by cmake later.
Installing cmake.
Cmake is very useful crossplatform tool for generating makefiles/solutions etc. You can obtain installation from their web page.
Generating solution.
All you need is to navigate to src folder and execute generate.bat It will invoke cmake and generate MSVC 12 solution. If you want to use different version of MSVC – just change generator name that is specified in the bat. You can check generator names by calling cmake help.
Basically at this point you should be able to compile the project. Let me know if there are any issues.
Brief description of tools and libraries.
There are three executables and one library in total:
common : this library contains basic functionality that is required to initialize FTDI chip. It also contains low level stuff that uses driver API to talk directly to the chip.
sd_card : this one is currently a prototype for experimenting with something different than MMC cards. Not important.
mmc_card : this one can do several things with PS Vita game cart including: standalone initialization : this is currently a prototype because I need to figure out what to do with CMD56. entering dumpable state : this executes sequence of commands that prepare PS Vita game cart for dumping using FTDI chip and custom board. dump PS Vita game cart : this basically starts dumping PS Vita game cart to binary file. This is a long process and it can be interupted by transmission errors. However you can continue dump after failure by specifying different cluster address. Different destination file can also be specified if you wish to manually merge parts of the dump. For example in WinHex.
dump_exfat: this one basically takes raw dump of PS Vita game cart and extracts all the directory hierarchy and the files to specified location.
How to dump PS Vita game cart and get the files.
After you have bypassed CMD56 initialization step by using DIP switches do the following.
Run mmc_card executable with mode = 0. This will switch game cart to 1-bit bus low frequency mode.
Run mmc_card executable with mode = 1. Specify destination binary file path and start cluster address (should be zero on first run).
Wait. Seriously wait. Dump can take around 20 hours for 3.5 GB of data. I do not have exact time metrics but I am going to measure total time that can be required for dump.
When dump is finished you should obtain binary file that is basically snapshot of game cart filesystem. Pass this file to dump_exefat executable and specify destination directory path. This tool then should extract all the files and create corresponding directory structure in the destination folder.
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What we were discovering, more seriously, was that the study of literature wasn’t limited to Shakespeare and Dickens; it could illuminate the tokens of our daily lives, from cookbooks to Vogue. This doesn’t seem revelatory anymore—the idea of cultural studies as urban anthropology is now thoroughly enshrined—but it did fifteen years ago. Or at least it did to me, coming out of a traditional undergraduate English program, where I read Shakespeare and Joyce and Woolf with elderly professors who steered me clear of the upstarts practicing “theory.” I arrived at grad school with a bad case of anxiety of influence, convinced that everything had already been said. Dirt, at the very least, was an opportunity to look at something new. To regard this as somehow threatening to the established standards felt unhealthily conservative, not unlike those defenders of marriage who would deny equal rights to gays. Leopold Bloom ultimately has more to offer than Judy Blume, but to analyze Forever does no damage to Ulysses.
James quoted one participant as saying, “I do believe that pornography is literature, that it’s worthy of literary study.” He argued back, rightly, that not everything that seems worthy of literary study is literature. But what he did not acknowledge was that the tools of literary study—namely close reading and imaginative empathy—can be usefully employed even on a text that is not necessarily capital-L Literature. He would do it ingeniously himself a few years later, in a lengthy piece—one of my all-time TNR favorites—that analyzed the Starr Report as if it were a nineteenth-century novel, seeking out its rhetorical techniques and its symbolism. “Just as in Thérèse Raquin, we learn, in one of many superfluous details in the report, that Monica makes too much noise sexually … . Like a nineteenth-century adulterer, Monica falls for her lover, who is calculating and appetitive … . In the traditional literary mode, it is she who loses everything, she who is fallen, and she who must struggle to regain a place in society.” Like many of the Dirt papers, the piece manages to be at once silly and brilliant. It was also exquisitely topical, demonstrating that literary criticism, judiciously applied, could perform a valuable function even in the unlikeliest precincts. (Appropriately, James is now a professor—at Harvard—of “the practice of literary criticism.”)
By the time the Starr report came out, I had left graduate school. The elation I had experienced at the conference was short-lived. I was too traditional to throw in my lot with the theory-heads, but I couldn’t sign on for a lifetime studying Milton and Yeats, either. While my friends from Dirt went on to earn their degrees—none of them, as far as I know, wrote a dissertation on anything particularly transgressive—I took a leave of absence and never returned. Forget dirt—at Harvard, I felt like “matter out of place.”
I was moved to recall the Dirt dust-up by the appearance of a new book edited by Aviva Briefel, now a professor at Bowdoin, where she teaches courses on Victorian literature and horror movies. Horror After 9/11: World of Fear, Cinema of Terror, her new anthology co-edited with Sam J. Miller, is much in line with the Dirt approach, examining a genre that has traditionally not been valued for its insights into contemporary culture. At a discussion in New York last weekend featuring a few of the book’s contributors, the atmosphere had some of Dirt’s triumphalism—the freshness that follows the airing out an old taboo. Miller spoke about the “queer monster” in horror films as a sublimated expression of societal homophobia. “Torture porn” was invoked frequently as a dominant feature of movie-making in the Bush era. The audience was engrossed, respectful, and impressively well-informed about the subject. When a black audience member pointed out that horror movies almost always kill off their non-white characters, a hush fell over the room.
Dirt, I realized watching the scene, has grown up. Nobody would dare to call Aviva giggly or squirmy now; she spoke with confidence and poise, and mentioned her experience as a mother during the discussion. The majority of the Dirt participants are now ensconced in the academy, including Sianne, Aviva’s former co-author on the Judy Blume paper, now a professor at Stanford. Horror After 9/11 was published by University of Texas Press, a mainstream academic publisher. Sure, there were still a few awkward giggles at the mention of some of the coarser subjects under investigation. (A scene-by-scene analysis of Psycho is one thing; a scene-by-scene analysis of Saw is quite another.) But the aura of disrepute that once attached itself to the study of popular culture has been dispelled.
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Phoenix Coyotes Playoff Chances 2013-2014 Beat Dallas 2-1, lottery seed down 0.4 to 18 89 points 37 30-15 Add your own league How are these numbers calculated? Lottery We are out of the playoffs. Here are the big games and what ifs for draft seeds.
Although it might be more fun to go down swinging. Big Games Friday 100.0* Lottery seed Washington 4 Chicago 0 +0.2 Dallas 3 St. Louis 0 +0.2 New Jersey 2 NY Islanders 3 (so) -0.1 Saturday 100.0* Lottery seed Phoenix 2 San Jose 3 +0.5 Nashville 7 Chicago 5 +0.1 Sunday 100.0* Lottery seed Phoenix 2 Dallas 1 -1.4 New Jersey 3 Boston 2 +0.3 Minnesota 3 Nashville 7 +0.3 Pittsburgh 2 Ottawa 3 (so) +0.2 Washington 0 Tampa Bay 1 (so) +0.2 Points Chance Will Make Playoffs
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Finalists for the 2017 NBA awards were announced Friday night prior to Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals. There are three finalists each for the following awards: Kia NBA Most Valuable Player, Kia NBA Rookie of the Year, Kia NBA Defensive Player of the Year, Kia NBA Sixth Man Award, Kia NBA Most Improved Player and NBA Coach of the Year. Rapper/entertainer Drake will help reveal the winners when he hosts the first-ever NBA Awards show June 26.
Here is a running list of the award finalists:
Most Improved Player of the Year
Milwaukee PG/F Giannis Antetokounmpo: He became just the fifth player in NBA history to lead his team in points, rebounds, assists, blocks and steals, joining LeBron James, Kevin Garnett, Scottie Pippen and Dave Cowens. Antetokounmpo has increased his points per game, rebounds, assists, blocks, steals and field goal percentage averages in each of his four seasons.
Denver C Nikola Jokic: Jokic saw significant increases in his scoring average, rebounding, assists and field goal percentage from the past season to this season. Averaged 16.7 points, 9.8 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 57.8 percent shooting while posting six triple-doubles. He was the only player to post averages of 18-11-6 since the start of February.
Utah C Rudy Gobert: Gobert increased his scoring average from 9.1 to 14.0 PPG and averaged a career-high 12.8 rebounds (fourth in NBA) while contesting 14.2 shots per game.
Sixth Man of the Year
Golden State F Andre Iguodala: Iguodala posted his highest player efficiency rating (14.4) in four seasons in Golden State. Iguodala averaged 7.6 points and came off the bench every game this season for the team with the best record in the NBA (67 wins).
Houston G Eric Gordon: Gordon made the fourth-most 3-pointers (246) this season with 206 made off the bench, the most in a season off the bench in the 3-point era (since 1979-80), according to ESPN Stats & Information. The guard averaged 16.3 points per game off the bench, second in the NBA.
Houston G Lou Williams: Williams averaged an NBA-best 17.6 points per game off the bench and made 161 3-pointers off the bench this season. He averaged a career-high 17.5 points.
As expected, Houston's James Harden, left, and OKC's Russell Westbrook are MVP finalists. Thomas B. Shea/USA TODAY Sports
Defensive Player of the Year
Golden State PF/C Draymond Green: Green led the NBA with a career-high 2.03 steals and was second in defensive real plus-minus (5.03) this season. He was second in defensive win shares (5.4) and second with 3.9 deflections per game. According to NBA.com player-tracking data, Green limited opponents to 44 percent shooting at the rim, behind only Gobert and LaMarcus Aldridge.
San Antonio F Kawhi Leonard: Leonard hopes to join Dwight Howard as the only person to win Defensive Player of the Year honors three years in a row. Leonard was sixth in defensive win shares (4.7) and averaged 1.8 steals and 3.4 deflections per game. According to ESPN Stats & Info, Leonard allowed only 40 isolation points total this season and faced only 43 isolation plays.
Utah C Rudy Gobert: Gobert led the NBA in defensive win shares (6.0), defensive real plus-minus (6.01), blocks (2.6) and field goal percentage allowed at the rim (43.9) while contesting 14.2 shots per game.
Rookie of the Year
Milwaukee G Malcolm Brogdon: Drafted 36th overall in the second round, Brogdon averaged 10.2 points and 4.2 assists. He posted 10 points and five assists in 20 games this season, most among rookies. Brogdon was first among all rookies in steals and assists.
Philadelphia C Joel Embiid: Embiid averaged 20.2 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.5 blocks but was limited to just 31 games due to injury. Embiid’s scoring average was 28.7 PPG on a per-36-minutes basis. The only rookie to average more points per 36 minutes was Wilt Chamberlain (29.2 in 1959-60), according to ESPN Stats & Info.
Philadelphia F Dario Saric: He came on strong in Embiid’s absence, averaging 12.8 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.2 assists. Saric led all rookies with five 20-point, 10-rebound games this season.
Coach of the Year
Houston’s Mike D’Antoni: The Rockets posted the league’s third-best record at 55-27. Under D’Antoni, James Harden posted a historic season and the Rockets made a record 1,181 3-pointers. They also averaged 115.3 points this season.
San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich: Popovich led the Spurs to 60 wins for the second straight season and a 20th consecutive playoff appearance, tying Phil Jackson for most consecutive postseason appearances by a coach in NBA history. The Spurs led the NBA in defensive efficiency for the eight time under Popovich.
Miami’s Erik Spoelstra: He orchestrated an NBA-record turnaround, going from an 11-30 start to a furious 30-11 finish to reach 41-41. According to Elias Sports Bureau, the 19-games-under-.500 start was the biggest gap that a team has rebounded from to reach .500, shattering the previous record of 12 games under. The Heat also became only the second team to post a double-digit win streak during a season despite having no All-Stars play in any of those games, joining the 2007-08 Trail Blazers.
Most Valuable Player
Oklahoma City PG Russell Westbrook: After Kevin Durant moved on to Golden State, Westbrook joined Oscar Robertson as the only players to average a triple-double in a season, finishing with 42 triple-doubles, breaking Robertson’s previous single-season record of 41 in 1961-62. Westbrook led the NBA in total points and was second in total assists, averaging 31.6 points, 10.7 rebounds and 10.4 assists. The Thunder went 33-9 when he recorded a triple-double.
Houston PG James Harden: Harden became the first player to score 2,000 points and assist on 2,000 points in a season in NBA history, creating the most points per game (scored or assisted) in the NBA this season with 56.2. Harden finished first in total assists and second in total points, averaging 29.1 points, 11.2 assists, 8.1 rebounds and 1.5 steals.
San Antonio F Kawhi Leonard: Leonard averaged 25.5 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.8 steals as the Spurs’ leader on offense and defense. According to ESPN Stats & Info, he had the best record and player efficiency rating in head-to-head matchups against the other MVP contenders. He also was the only player in the NBA to rank in the top 10 in points per game (ninth), steals per game (tied for seventh) and deflections per game (tied for eighth).
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We here at TTAG are concerned that economically disadvantaged, legally challenged shooters are misrepresenting the marksmanship skills possessed by the majority of the firearms community. Every single day we hear about gun battles where criminals fail to hit their target, even at close range. Obviously, bad strategy, improper weapon and ammunition choices and poor training are to blame. To help correct these deficiencies, TTAG offers these helpful hints for gun slingers wielding weapons beyond the letter of the law. Let’s start with weapons choice . . .
1. Use the biggest gun you can find
Rifles are easier to get than crabs, but you can no more conceal a rifle than you can hide a hard-on from Rhianna. So get a handgun. A BIG handgun. ‘Cause that’s some scary ass shit. And the bigger the gun, the bigger the bullet (larger bullets are more stable in flight than small ones).
Also, handguns are like fine wine; they get more accurate once they’re fully broken in (as long as you don’t pamper them too much). A really big, really old gun is the perfect combo. Just make sure you don’t hold the gun too tightly; recoil can really hurt and, more importantly, mess up your aim. Alternatively . . .
2. Use the smallest gun you can find
The element of surprise always favors the guy with the small gun. (If nothing else, they’re harder to see in the dark.) The bullets from a small gun f you up just as bad as the bullets fired from a bigger gun, which are usually the same bullets anyway. So why not keep it on the down-low?
Remember: small guns don’t do jack unless you pull the trigger really hard and really fast and you’ve got a really hot load (a lot of powder and a large caliber bullet). A snub-nosed 38 (named after the year it was invented) firing .357’s is the ideal set-up. It may take a little extra effort to get big bullets into a small gun, but it’s worth it!
3. Double up!
If you shoot two guns—one in each hand—you double the chances of hitting your target. While it might be cool to have two of the same guns like some Old West gunfighter, you’re much better off with two different types of guns: a revolver in one hand and a semi in the other. Revolvers never fail and semis never need reloading.
Don’t forget that different bullets do different things: small bullets go really fast and big bullets make huge holes. Get two different caliber bullets and fire both at the same time. Safe!
4. Cant the gun
Turn the gun sideways. Sure, you can’t use the sights when the gun’s tilted, but most combat shooters don’t use sights anyway (they call it “instinctive shooting” or “point shooting”). Besides, using the sights screws up your eye line. You want to be able to stare your victim in the eyes before you shoot them. Sometimes they literally freeze with fear, making them an easy target.
5. Don’t practice
Training ranges are monitored by the ATF, FBI, DEA and CNBC using real-time video links to local and state police. Even worse: the signal’s processed by computers with advanced facial recognition software. If you practice at a gun range even once, the prosecution can use it as proof of premeditation.
Why bother practicing anyway? Shooting a gun is ridiculously easy. If a stupid redneck can kill a deer with a rifle, you can take out a rival gang banger with a handgun, no sweat.
I’m sure TTAG’s Armed Intelligentsia have other handy tips for gunfighters whose selfless pursuit of income redistribution means they need to keep it real on the street. I’ll leave you with one bonus tip: most guns kick upwards when you fire them. If you want to hit what you’re aiming it, push the gun’s nose down as you shoot. You can thank me later.
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From today, changes to the Adoption Amendment (Adoption by Same-Sex Couples) Act 2015 in Victoria allow couples to adopt regardless of their sex or gender identity.
These changes mean that LGBTI couples can adopt under the same circumstances as any other couple.
The reforms are an important part of the Andrews Labor Government’s equality agenda for LGBTI Victorians. The Act reflects the fact that a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity is distinct from their capacity to be a loving and caring parent.
The increase in families applying to adopt will mean that there will be more opportunities for children to be matched with the best possible family.
The paramount consideration of courts in considering adoption applications remains the best interests of the child to be adopted. Other safeguards continue to apply, such as the requirement that applicants are fit and proper persons.
Adoption agencies in Victoria are available to assist applicants.
Intercountry Adoption Victoria (IAV) will handle queries in relation to adoption in the context of overseas surrogacy and is providing extra resources to handle these queries, including providing initial, specific advice and guidance for parents applying to adopt in this situation.
Those who are interested in applying to adopt should visit www.dhs.vic.gov.au/adoption or contact their local Adoption and Permanent Care team.
Quotes attributable to Equality Minister Martin Foley
“Today is a historic day in Victoria –we’re another step closer to equality for thousands of same-sex families.”
“This law brings much needed certainty for many children and their parents who currently live in a legal haze in terms of their relationships with the people they love.”
“This Government is proud of its equality agenda. While the Turnbull Government has refused to bring a vote for marriage equality in the Federal Parliament, we’re moving to improve recognition for LGBTI couples in Victoria.”
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My Twitter has been seriously hacked--- and we are looking for the perpetrators.
The most powerful publication in the world today is Donald Trump's personal Twitter account. In the past six weeks, it has moved markets, conducted shadow foreign policy, and reshaped the focus of media around the world. Just today, it caused Toyota's stock to drop. It is also shockingly insecure.
That insecurity was acceptable when @realDonaldTrump concerned itself with Kristen Stewart cheating on Robert Pattinson and how thin people don't drink Diet Coke. And yet Trump's newfound influence — combined with the unpredictability of his tweets — makes the president-elect's account a particularly tempting target for hackers.
That's especially true because there is a large fortune that could be made in a single 140-character message. If someone were able to gain access to Trump's Twitter, they could tweet approvingly or disapprovingly about a company (as Trump has done) and play the stock market accordingly — or cause others to do so. A market-tracking app called Trigger has already set up an alert that responds whenever Trump tweets about publicly traded companies.
If the hacker were geopolitically motivated, they could tweet favorably or unfavorably about a country or a leader (as Trump has done) and alter foreign affairs. Or if the hacker had a grudge, they could call their enemy out in a tweet (as Trump has done) and unleash the rage of Trump's nearly 19 million followers. Plus, who knows what's in Trump's DMs?
And precisely because the president-elect's tweets are so far afield of current president Barack Obama's on-message, workshopped ones, someone with improper access to Trump's account could accomplish their goals while staying in character as Trump. (A hack of the Associated Press Twitter account in 2013 that falsely asserted breaking news about an explosion at the White House caused the Dow to drop 150 points.)
This is not a far-fetched scenario. Putting aside the specter of state-sponsored Russian hacking, in the past year alone, the Twitter accounts of Kylie Jenner, Mark Zuckerberg, Keith Richards, Sundar Pichai, Drake, Travis Kalanick, the National Football League, and the foreign minister of Belgium (to name a few) were hacked or accessed by someone who wasn't supposed to have access. Many of these infiltrations didn't require sophisticated skills or the ability to hack Twitter. Bad actors can often gain access to an account through a third-party app that has permission to post to Twitter, for example. These hacks didn't take the expertise or resources of a nation-state; some of them were done by a Saudi teenager. And Trump's account has been hacked before. In 2013, someone gained access to his account to tweet Lil Wayne lyrics.
So who is going to secure the president-elect's account?
According to multiple people who have managed the campaign social media accounts of Hillary Clinton and President Obama, as well as the official presidential account, Twitter does not have any special security measures for politicians.
"I've never encountered a separate set of security features being available for public figures' social media accounts," said Laura Olin, who ran Obama's social media strategy in 2012. "They get two-factor authentication like everyone else. I wouldn't be surprised if that begins to change, especially after widespread Russian hacking."
Twitter declined to comment for this story.
According to Alex Wall, who served as director of online engagement in the Obama White House, special security protocols do exist for the official @POTUS account — they just all come from the user side. These steps, set up by the White House Communications Agency (which provides "services and communications support to the president and his staff"), include multiple password layers and limiting the number of encrypted devices that can post to the official account.
"It's a small handful of devices that are under significant security and handled with extreme care," Wall said.
Wall, who was also director of social media for Hillary for America, said that the Clinton team planned on adopting the same protocols had she won. And if Trump would commit to adopting these precautions and tweeting only from the @POTUS account, Wall said, concerns about hacking would be lessened.
But that seems unlikely. In an interview earlier this week with Fox News, incoming White House press secretary Sean Spicer said, "He'll probably be tweeting from both, or whatever he chooses." Also worrisome is that both Spicer and incoming chief of staff Reince Preibus have promised to re-examine the traditional daily White House press briefing, a step that could lead to even more tweets. And it's unknown how many devices have access to Trump's Twitter account, let alone which third-party apps installed on those devices have been given permission to write to Twitter. (The Trump transition team did not respond to an email request for comment.)
All of which leaves the @realDonaldTrump as a vulnerable major target that could be exploited for financial gain, geopolitical instability, or worse. Scary!
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Homer J. Simpson once referred—unknowingly of course—to the pig as a “magical, mystical creature,” and for many, culinarily speaking, this is right on the mark. Yet, public health officials and farmers view the “enchanted” porcine much differently. In addition to the animals being a haven for zoonotic diseases that often spread to humans, viral infections in pigs cost the swine industry billions of dollars in lost product every year. Creating animals that are genetically resistant to various viruses would not only save money, but could also provide a greater means to protect the population from potentially epidemic diseases such as influenza.
Now, a team of investigators from the University of Edinburgh and the biotech company Genus have used the genome-editing tool CRISPR/Cas9 to engineer pigs that are potentially resistant to porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS), which causes severe breathing problems in young pigs and breeding failures in pregnant females.
The findings from this study were published recently in PLOS Pathogens in an article entitled “Precision Engineering for PRRSV Resistance in Pigs: Macrophages from Genome Edited Pigs Lacking CD163 SRCR5 Domain Are Fully Resistant to Both PRRSV Genotypes While Maintaining Biological Function.”
“Genome editing offers opportunities to boost food security by reducing waste and losses from infectious diseases, as well as improving animal welfare by reducing the burden of disease,” explained senior study investigator Alan Archibald, Ph.D., head of the division of genetics and genomics at the Roslin Institute within the University of Edinburgh. “Our results take us closer to realizing these benefits and specifically address the most important infectious disease problem for the pig industry worldwide.”
Initial findings from the study revealed that cells from the engineered pigs are completely resistant to infection with both major subtypes of the virus that causes the disease. Moreover, the investigators say that the animals are otherwise healthy and the gene edit should not affect their ability to fight off other infections.
Previous studies have shown that the PRRS virus targets macrophages—specifically a molecule on the surface of these cells called CD163, which plays a key role in enabling the PRRS virus to establish an infection. The investigators used the CRISPR/Cas9 technique to cut out a small section of the CD163 gene in the pigs' DNA code. Tests using the edited cells from the pigs with the modified CD163 gene have confirmed that the genomic edit blocks the virus from being able to cause infection.
The research team is looking ahead toward the next stage in the study, in which they will test whether the pigs are resistant to infection when exposed to the virus. Previous work by a different research group produced pigs that lacked the entire CD163 molecule and did not become ill when exposed to the PRRS virus. However, in this latest study, only the section of CD163 that interacts with the PRRS virus was removed, allowing the molecule to retain its other biological functions.
PRRS is endemic in most pig-producing countries worldwide. Vaccines have mostly failed to stop the spread of the virus, which continues to evolve rapidly. Consequently, it is one of the greatest challenges facing pig producers today.
“This result furthers the case for the criticality of CD163 in PRRS virus infection and demonstrates that a targeted removal of the viral interacting domain can confer resistance while the remainder of the protein is present,” concluded Jonathan Lightner, Ph.D., CSO for Genus. “This, and other gene edits, will be evaluated as Genus advances the development of gene editing to confer PRRS virus resistance. Genus is committed to pioneering the responsible application of technology to animal genetic improvement to enhance the well-being of animals, the livelihoods of farmers, and the sustainable approach to producing food for a growing global population.”
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7 Ethical Codes of Conduct for IT Consultants and Contractors
December 21, 2011 by Mridula Velagapudi
Ethics are important for everyone in any type of business. Ethics are certain set codes of conduct that a person follows and is identified with in his or her professional life. When it comes to being an employee there are certain work ethics that are common across the industries and that need no separate emphasis. There could just be a few incumbent codes of conduct which may be very industry-specific or specific to a company. Such codes of conduct may need special mention when a new recruit joins that company.
But when it comes to being a contractor or a consultant you may have to be extra cautious. The playing field here is quite different from that of an employee. So, what are these special codes of conducts that should define your work ethics as a consultant or as a contractor? I have listed 7 of them here. There could be more and it would be great if you could share them with us in the comments below:
1. Keep the Faith
Yes, you must try and ‘Keep the Faith’ of your client. When a client hires you, he places a lot of professional trust in you and your services. You must try and account for your services properly and honestly. Don’t break the trust by falsely increasing or misquoting those hours that you spend on the project, just to make that extra buck. If it gets revealed at a later date, then it will lead to premature termination of your contract and a bad word-of-mouth for you.
2. Don’t Make False Promises
No matter how tempting it might be financially, do not make false promises in order to get more business. You may get the business by bloating your technical skills, but when you underperform, it will do you more damage to your reputation than you think.
3. Don’t Break Confidentiality
When you are hired as a consultant you may come across certain confidential data as a result of special requirements of the services that you provide. For example, if you are a DB Consultant with an Investment Bank, then you maybe maintaining and updating millions of customer accounts for many of the Bank’s services. Never sneak out data in any form.
You may at times also come across proprietary data of two clients who are in the same industry. As a part of your professional work ethics, you must disclose it to your client when you are working for direct competitors. This may lead you to sign confidentiality agreement with the client, but even if not, it becomes a part of your professional code of conduct to not reveal proprietary data to competitors.
4. Don’t Recommend Unnecessary Products
It is a common practice with product vendors to rope in successful consultants to recommend their products to companies. Many times this is tied-up to a commission. It is advisable to stay away from recommending unnecessary products to your clients no matter how lucrative the commission being offered by the product vendor is. Providing unnecessary recommendations do not speak very high of you.
5. Document Backdoor and Debug Options
Seasoned developers usually write applications with a backdoor and debug options which provide quick and unrestricted access to programmers to the application. While these backdoor and debug options are of great significance when the application is still in development stage, but when it goes live, these backdoor and debug options can provide easy access to hackers. So, if you are a developer contractor, and you happen to leave a client before your application goes live, it should be a part of your professional ethic to provide documentation for all the backdoors and debug options that you have created.
6. Ensure Clear Communications
When defining the scope of any project, always make sure that the ambiguities are cleared early. You must also ensure that the right set of people is always in the chain of discussions. Your professional code of conduct must make you stay clear of biases, communicate properly and treat every stakeholder with equal respect and importance.
If you think any work is beyond the scope of your proposals, then you must speak-up about it early. It may create bitterness later if you procrastinate such discussions.
7. Don’t Do Anything Illegal
No matter how attractive a deal is, illegal is illegal. Never indulge anything that doesn’t sound legal according to you. Learn to emphatically say no. Otherwise, you never know, but you might be digging your own grave. If the client is sued for any illegal practice, and you happen to be a part of it in any way, you will lose your credibility too. This is what exactly happened to Arthur Andersen. They got caught of the fraudulent practices that they made while handling Enron’s audits. Although in May 2005, the Supreme Court reversed their felony, they could never come back into business because their reputation was so severely tarnished.
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As of the 2010 United States Census,[7] there were 1,526,006 people, 590,071 households, and 352,272 families residing in the consolidated city-county of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The population density was 4,337.3/km² (11,233.6/mi²). There were 661,958 housing units at an average density of 1,891.9/km² (4,900.1/mi²).
The racial makeup of the city as of 2016 was:
Of the 590,071 households, 27.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 32.1% were married couples living together, 22.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 40.3% were non-families. 33.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.48 and the average family size was 3.22.
The population was spread out with 25.3% under the age of 18, 11.1% from 18 to 24, 29.3% from 25 to 44, 20.3% from 45 to 64, and 14.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females, there were 86.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 81.8 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $30,746, and the median income for a family was $37,036. Males had a median income of $34,199 versus $28,477 for females. The per capita income for the city was $16,509. 22.9% of the population and 18.4% of families were below the poverty line. 31.3% of those under the age of 18 and 16.9% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.
The male-female ratio was 86.8 to 100, with 46.5% of the population male and 53.5% female. Of places with 100,000 or more people, this was the third lowest in the United States. Only Gary, Indiana and Birmingham, Alabama had a higher proportion of women.[9]
Of housing units, 590,071 (89.1%) were occupied and 71,887 (10.9%) were vacant. Of occupied housing units, 349,633 (59.3%) were owner-occupied and 240,438 (40.7%) were renter-occupied.
The mean travel time to work was 32.0 minutes for workers 16 years of age and older. Residents of Center City, however, had much shorter commutes. Center City has the second largest downtown residential population in the country, surpassing Chicago in 2015, and most walk to work.
63.97% of Philadelphians drove an automobile to work (including carpools), 25.93% commuted by public transit, 9.22% walked to work, and 0.88% commuted by bicycle. 35.74% of households did not have an automobile. The proportion of Philadelphians who do not commute by auto is high compared to most other American cities, although lower than the proportions in New York City and Washington, D.C.
Population history [ edit ]
From its founding through the early 19th century, the City of Philadelphia was considered the area between the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers and between Vine and South Streets. Although the city proper was second to New York City in population at the time of the first U.S. Census in 1790, Philadelphia County was the most populous urban (or metropolitan) area in the nation until 1810, when it was surpassed by New York. In 1854, the Act of Consolidation incorporated the rest of Philadelphia County and created Philadelphia's modern border. This resulted in a large population increase, evident in the 1860 census.
Philadelphia experienced steady growth between 1860 and 1950, except for a brief lull in the 1930s, which was due in part to the Great Depression. Its population peaked at 2,071,605 in 1950. Between 1950 and 2000, the city lost 554,055 people, or 26.7% of its population. To put this into perspective, Chicago lost 20.0% of its population during the same era, and Baltimore lost 31.4%, according to US Census data. This nationwide trend is often referred to as "white flight" because upper- and middle-class families, enabled by nationwide improvements to infrastructure, left cities in favor of the suburbs.
In 2011, census data was released showing that Philadelphia had achieved its first confirmed population growth in 60 years.[10] The increase was 0.6 percent. It is attributed to a variety of factors, including increased immigration (especially from countries like India, South Korea and Mexico) and migration from more expensive cities in the Northeast Corridor.[11] Between 2000 and 2010, the city's Hispanic population increased by 44 percent to 187,611 and its Asian population grew by 42 percent to 95,521.[12] Wealthy transplants, Asian American investors from New York City, and African Americans from Washington, D.C. have received media attention for setting their sights on Philadelphia.[13][14][15] The ten-year tax abatement, a historically undervalued housing market, improvements to the waterfront, and continuing redevelopment throughout the city are thought[by whom?] to be factors drawing people to the area.
Ethnography [ edit ]
For much of its early history and up until the mid-1800s, the vast majority of Philadelphia's population was Protestant and composed mainly of Protestant Anglo-Saxon English Americans (many of whom were Quakers or of Quaker descent). The city also contained significant populations of free blacks, Welsh Americans (including a great number of Welsh Quakers, such as in the Welsh Tract), Scottish Americans, Ulster Scots Americans, and Pennsylvania Dutch people (most notably the German Mennonites and German Quakers that founded Germantown), as well as the Protestant Swedish, Finnish, and Dutch American families that had originally arrived in the Philadelphia area to live in the colony of New Sweden (later taken over by the Dutch colony of New Netherlands before being absorbed into the British colonies.) The roots of the Mummers Parade can be traced back to a blend of the traditions of these ethnic groups in Philadelphia during this period, though the celebration would evolve and be altered by the traditions of subsequent immigrant groups.
First Immigrant Wave [ edit ]
Prior to the 1820s, the majority of German and German-speaking settlers in Philadelphia (such as the Pennsylvania Dutch) had belonged to Protestant sects. Starting around the 1820s, an increasing number of poor Catholic Germans began to immigrate to Philadelphia, though most German immigrants to Philadelphia continued to be Protestant. In response to the starvation and poverty that would lead to Irish Potato Famine, a growing number of impoverished Irish Catholic immigrants began to settle in Philadelphia, leading to a rise in anti-Catholicism, nativism, and anti-Irish sentiment among the majority Protestant population in the city. Hatred for the newly arrived Irish Catholic immigrants culminated in the bloody anti-Irish, anti-Catholic Philadelphia Nativist Riot of 1844 and fueled the rise of the Know-Nothing Party in Philadelphia. At the same time, as the number of poor and unskilled Irish Catholic and German immigrants increased, Philadelphia experienced an increase in freed and fugitive slaves from the South seeking refuge and employment in the city. Both blacks and Irish Catholics were at the bottom of the social hierarchy in Philadelphia at the time, and poor Irish immigrants often competed with African American ex-slaves for menial or unskilled work. The competition between the two ethnic groups led to the 1842 Lombard Street Riot. Also, beginning in the mid-1800s, immigrants from China began to settle in Philadelphia, establishing Philadelphia's Chinatown and further diversifying the city's demographics.
Second Immigrant Wave [ edit ]
Like its other immigrant-magnet peers in the Northeast, starting in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Philadelphia experienced an unprecedented heightened level of immigration. This period of immigration consisted of mainly impoverished Catholic and Jewish (and to a less extent Orthodox Christian) immigrants from Southern European and Eastern European countries such as Italy and Poland, as well as a second wave of Catholic immigrants from Ireland. Around this same time, an increasing number of African Americans from the Southern United States began to settle in Philadelphia during the Great Migration.
Though Italians in Philadelphia would experience high levels of discrimination and prejudice (including intense redlining), Italians in Philadelphia also significantly altered the city's culture and cuisine, creating the Italian Market, the cheesesteak, the hoagie, and water ice, and introducing pizza and other Italian cuisine to the city. Italian and Irish immigrants and their children in South Philadelphia also revived, altered, and continued the Philadelphia tradition of the Mummers Parade.[16]
1940s to Today [ edit ]
Since the 1940s, Philadelphia experienced large waves of Puerto Rican migration. They remain an integral part of the city and a sizable swath of eastern North Philadelphia is considered to have the highest urban concentration of Puerto Ricans in the continental United States. The number of Hispanics and Asian Americans has increased over the past 20 years and continues to accelerate. The number of foreign-born residents increased by 34,000 between 1990 and 2000. Of foreign-born Philadelphians, 38.5% were from Asia, 30.3% were from Europe, 23.4% were from Latin America, and 6.7% were from Africa.
Recent immigrants from Asia are mainly of Indian, Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, Laotian, Hmong, Filipino, Cambodian, Thai, Pakistani and Bangladeshi backgrounds. In addition, the Latino population continues to grow, as Dominican, Mexican, Colombian, Salvadoran, Guatemalan, Cuban, Honduran and Brazilian immigrants, as well as Puerto Rican citizens emigrate to the city.
Non-Hispanic White people [ edit ]
Large concentrations of non-Hispanic whites live in Center City, Northeast Philadelphia, and Northwest Philadelphia (although this is changing). Gentrification is altering the racial demographics of predominantly black neighborhoods close to Center City.
European immigration is also growing, with more Irish, Italian, and Polish immigrants. Recently,[when?] thousands of Russian and Ukrainian immigrants from Eastern Europe (many of whom are Jewish) have arrived, mainly in Northeast Philadelphia. There are other growing nationalities, which include Spanish, Portuguese, Slovak, Greek and Serbian.
The city's Middle Eastern population has tripled since 1990, with people of Palestinian, Turkish, Azeri, Lebanese, Iranian, Egyptian, Iraqi, Saudi, Syrian and Afghan backgrounds residing in Philadelphia.
Irish [ edit ]
Irish immigrants and the Irish Americans are associated in the North and Northeast Philadelphia neighborhoods, including Fishtown, Kensington, Mayfair, Frankford, Port Richmond, Holmesburg, Harrowgate, and Juniata, as well as Devil's Pocket, Whitman, Gray's Ferry, and particularly Pennsport in South Philadelphia. Philadelphia has the 2nd largest Irish American population in the country.[17]
In the 1960s, many of the Irish in Philadelphia were known to join the Philadelphia Police Department and Philadelphia Fire Department.[18]
Italians [ edit ]
Italian immigrants and the Italian American community are frequently associated with South Philadelphia as well as Bella Vista, Central South Philadelphia, Girard Estates, Marconi Plaza, Packer Park, the Italian Market area, Roxborough, Frankford, Wissinoming and Tacony, among others. Philadelphia has the 2nd largest Italian American population in the U.S.
Polish [ edit ]
Poles and Polish Americans, as well as Polish Jews, have a rich history in the Port Richmond-Bridesburg area, as well as areas of Kensington and the Northeast.
Non-Hispanic Black people [ edit ]
Non-Hispanic Blacks make up 42% of Philadelphia's population, and 44% when including Hispanic blacks. The native black population represents the vast majority of blacks in the city and about 39% of the citywide population. The remaining black population being black immigrants from the Caribbean and Africa, and Afro-Hispanics within the Puerto Rican and Dominican communities.[19][20][21][22]
African Americans [ edit ]
The largest concentrations of native-born blacks are in Germantown, North Philadelphia west of Germantown Avenue, the Point Breeze neighborhood of South Philadelphia, parts of Southwest Philadelphia, and West Philadelphia. Together these neighborhoods have a population of about 610,000 and are roughly 82% black; making it the 4th largest predominantly black area in the United States after Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, Detroit, and South Side Chicago. Philadelphia has one of the largest ethnic African American / native black populations in the country, tracing their ancestry to descendants of African slaves from the US south.[23][24]
African immigrant groups [ edit ]
Philadelphia has one of the most notable West African populations in the United States. As of 2010, there were 25,570 people of recent African origins living in Philadelphia. The largest Sub-Saharan African populations within the city are Nigerians and Liberians.[25]
In 2005 Philadelphia had immigrants from Ethiopia, Ghana, the Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone.[26] By 2008 about 15,000 Liberians had immigrated to Philadelphia area, the Liberians left their native country due to two civil wars and the destruction of Liberian infrastructure.[27] The African population is largely concentrated in West and Southwest sections of Philadelphia. However, the Cedar Park neighborhood is the only neighborhood predominantly made up of West Indian/Caribbean and Sub-Saharan African immigrants.
Around 2005 there had been instances of violence perpetrated by native-born African-Americans against African immigrants. The head of the Liberian Association of Pennsylvania, Samuel Slewion, said that as a result many African immigrants withdrew children from public schools.[26] The head of African Congress USA, Cyprian Anyanwu, proposed a charter school to improve relations between native-born blacks and immigrants; his 2003 proposal was rejected by the city, and he issued a revised proposal in 2005.[28]
Philadelphia also has a large West Indian community from the Caribbean islands. The West Indian population is largely concentrated in West Philadelphia, with smaller numbers in the Southwest and Northeast sections. As of 2010, there were 24,608 people of West Indian ancestry living in Philadelphia, representing about 1.6 percent of the city, the vast majority of which are Haitians and Jamaicans.[25] Though, the number of West Indians balloons when including other areas in the Philadelphia metropolitan area and not just the city itself. The Philadelphia area has one of the largest Jamaican populations in the country. Jamaicans.com features Philadelphia and Jamaican culture in the city.[29] Most West Indians live in West and Southwest Philadelphia. However, the Cedar Park neighborhood is the only neighborhood predominantly made up of West Indian/Caribbean and African immigrants.
Though, Haitians and Jamaicans are near even in population, Jamaicans represent the majority of West Indians in West Philadelphia, where most of the overall West Indian population lives. This is because Haitians are more evenly distributed throughout the city, outside of West Philadelphia, there are smaller numbers of Haitians in several neighborhoods in the Lower Northeast. Aside from Haitians and Jamaicans, there are also sizable numbers of Trinidadians and Bajans.
Hispanics and Latinos [ edit ]
As of the 2010 census, there were 187,611 Latinos and Hispanics in Philadelphia, constituting over 12 percent of the city's population, the vast majority of which are Puerto Ricans.[30] Most Philadelphia Hispanics self-identify as either white, black, mixed, or other, for government purposes i.e. United States Census.
In the early 20th Century companies such as the Pennsylvania Railroad and Spanish-speaking immigrant networks attracted Spanish-speaking workers to Philadelphia.[31] By 1910 several Latino and Hispanic groups had resided in Philadelphia. Cubans and Spaniards founded and initially lead the Latino and Hispanic community organizations. Due to the Immigration Act of 1924 Puerto Ricans, who were already U.S. citizens, became the predominate Hispanic group and had taken control of the organizations by the 1950s. Other Latino and Hispanic groups began establishing themselves by the 1960s.[30] By 2005 most of the leadership was still Puerto Rican. By then some non-Puerto Ricans had taken some leadership positions[32]
Puerto Ricans [ edit ]
As of 2010, there was of 121,643 Puerto Ricans living in Philadelphia. This meant that Puerto Ricans are the largest Latino group in the city and that Philadelphia has the second largest Puerto Rican population, after New York City.[33][34] Though, smaller numbers of Puerto Ricans can be found throughout the city, overall, eastern North Philadelphia has one of the highest concentrations of Puerto Ricans in the country, largely the result of high levels of segregation and a very large Puerto Rican population.[35][36]
Philadelphia has been a heavy Puerto Rican destination since the 1950s, though migration to the city has picked up and now Philadelphia has one of the fastest-growing Puerto Rican populations in the country. Puerto Ricans constitute over 75% of the Latino population in the city. Most Puerto Ricans live in the areas of North Philadelphia east of Germantown Avenue (eastern North Philadelphia), and to a lesser extant the Lower Northeast and Uptown sections of the city. In fact, the Fairhill section of Eastern North Philadelphia, particularly the blocks between 6th street and B street, north of York street and south of Erie avenue, have some of highest concentrations of Puerto Ricans in the country, with most blocks usually being around 85-90% Puerto Rican alone,[37] with most of the remaining portion made up of Dominicans and African Americans. Increases in Latino immigration and migration have fueled the growth of El Centro de Oro in Fairhill.
Puerto Ricans make up the majority of Hispanics inside of the city of Philadelphia and in the Philadelphia metropolitan area as whole, numbering about 300,000 in far southeastern Pennsylvania (around Philadelphia), and neighboring areas in New Jersey and Delaware, making up 60% of Metro Philly's Hispanics and 4.5% of Philadelphia metro as a whole.
Dominicans [ edit ]
As of the 2010 Census there were 15,963 Dominicans in Philadelphia, up from 4,337 in 2000. Dominicans are now the second-largest Hispanic group in Philadelphia and the city has the 6th largest Dominican population in the US.[33][38]
Dominicans began coming to Philadelphia after 1965.[30] Prior to 1990 there was a very small population of Dominicans. The a significant wave of Dominican immigration started in 1990 with a group of Dominicans moving from New York to gain jobs.[38] Though, immigration from the Dominican Republic to the Philadelphia region is increasing, most Dominicans moving to Philadelphia actually come from New York City and other nearby areas.[34][39][40] The vast majority of Dominicans live scattered in Lower Northeast and eastern North Philadelphia especially north of Erie Avenue, sharing neighborhoods with the city's larger Puerto Rican population.[41] Smaller numbers of Dominicans live in West Philadelphia. Recent estimates have the current Dominican population according to the 2017 Census from 29,524 to as high as 65,000 people of Dominican descent, the latter estimate giving Philadelphia the second-largest Dominican population amongst American cities.[42][43] Only New York, NY has more Dominican Americans. Dominicans are one of Philadelphia's fastest growing ethnic groups.[38]
Mexicans [ edit ]
As of the 2010 U.S. Census there were an estimated 15,531 Mexicans in Philadelphia, up from 6,220 in 2000.[33][34][44]
A small group of Mexicans arrived in the 19th Century. A small group of Mexicans remained throughout the city's history. A group of Mexicans arrived in the 1970s.[34] Small Mexican communities in South Philadelphia opened as a result of a 1990s wave of Mexican immigration.[44][38] Another wave of immigration started in 1998 with Mexicans arriving from Mexico and areas outside of Mexico such as New York.[44][38]
Most of Philadelphia's Mexican community lives in the area of South Philadelphia east of Broad Street, adding to the area's melting pot like cultural mix, sharing neighborhoods with Italian Americans and Asian immigrants.[34] As of 2011 most Mexicans in South Philadelphia originate from the state of Puebla.[34][44] Mexican immigrants have drastically changed the Italian Market area in South Philadelphia and have set up a small community in and around the market.[45] Mexicans are the third largest Hispanic community, after Puerto Ricans and Dominicans, both of whom mainly reside in North Philadelphia.[citation needed]
The Carnaval de Puebla, one of the largest Poblano carnivals (a celebration of the Battle of Puebla) held in countries other than Mexico, began circa 2006. It is held every May.[45]
Cubans [ edit ]
As of the 2010 Census, there was an estimate of 3,930 Cubans.[33][38] Cubans, along with Spaniards, had founded and initially controlled several Latino and Hispanic organizations in Philadelphia. In the early 1960s large numbers of Cuban refugees arrived in Philadelphia.[30]
Other Latino and Hispanic groups [ edit ]
As of the 2010 Census, Hispanics of all other Hispanic groups numbered nearly 30,000, including an estimate of 4,675 Colombians, 2,262 Guatemalans, 1,641 Hondurans, 1,542 Ecuadorians, 1,085 Peruvians, 1,049 Salvadorans, 1,006 Argentineans.[33][38][46]
Asian Americans [ edit ]
The Asian American community has long been established in the city's bustling Chinatown district, but recent Vietnamese immigrants have also forged neighborhoods and bazaars alongside the venerable Italian market. Korean immigrants have notably added to the melting pot of Olney.[citation needed] In several decades before 2010, the cost of living in Chinatown increased due to an influx in settlement, so Asian Americans began moving to other neighborhoods in northwestern Philadelphia, northeastern Philadelphia, and South Philadelphia.[47] As of January 22, 2010, according to David Elesh, a Temple University urban sociologist, there were almost 60,000 Philadelphia residents who stated that they were born in China and many of them lived in South Philadelphia.[48]
Hmong [ edit ]
A group of Hmong refugees had settled in Philadelphia after the end of the 1970s Laotian Civil War. They were attacked in discriminatory acts, and the city's Commission on Human Relations held hearings on the incidents. Anne Fadiman, author of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, said that lower-class residents resented the Hmong receiving a $100,000 federal grant for employment assistance when they were also out of work; they believed that American citizens should be getting assistance.[49] Bee Xiong, a Hmong leader in Philadelphia, stated that by the late 1970s there were up to 5,000 Hmong in Philadelphia but by in 1984 there were 650 Hmong.[50] Between 1982 and 1984, three quarters of the Hmong people who had settled in Philadelphia left for other cities in the United States to join relatives who were already there.[51] Reverend Edward V. Avery, a Roman Catholic priest quoted in the Philadelphia Inquirer, stated that unemployed black youths questioned why Hmong people instead of native-born U.S. citizens received the federal aid, and that contributed to violence against Hmong people.[50] A U.S. Attorney, Edward S.G. Dennis, had begun an investigation by 1984. His office asked the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to determine if there was a hate crime. By the same year Xiong opened an employment assistance office to stabilize what was left of the Hmong population. He had used $100,000 in federal grants.[50]
Native Americans [ edit ]
About 13,000 Philadelphians identified as Native American on the 2010 census. The original inhabitants of the Philadelphia region were the Lenni Lenape, but by the mid-19th century violence and fraudulent land purchases had driven most of them out of Pennsylvania and the 21st century Native American community includes members of many other tribes as well.
Religion [ edit ]
Christianity is the dominant religion in the city of Philadelphia. According to a 2014 study by the Pew Research Center, 68% of the population of the city identified themselves as Christians.[52] The largest single Christian denomination is Roman Catholic, at 26%; however, the various non-Catholic and Protestant Christian denominations combined make up a majority of the Christian population at approximately 42%.[52] Metropolitan Philadelphia's Jewish population, the sixth largest in the United States, was estimated at 206,000 in 2001 [53]. There is also a significant Eastern Orthodox population as well as a strong Lutheran community. The greater Philadelphia area is home to one of the largest Lutheran communities in the United States (the largest on the East Coast).[citation needed]
Many other religions have arrived, including Islam and Hinduism. With immigration from the Middle East, the Horn of Africa, Pakistan, Bangladesh and India, these two religions have increased their presence. The largest concentrations of Muslims and Hindus live in the Northeast and North parts of the city, Center City, West Philadelphia, and sprawling into the nearby suburbs.
The Muslim African American community in Philadelphia has grown substantially over the last decade.[54] According to several statistics, Philadelphia has surpassed Detroit and New York City to become the American metropolitan area with the highest proportion of Muslims.[55]
Religions with less numerous adherents can also be found. There are pockets of Buddhists in Center City, Chinatown, Northeast Philly, and other neighborhoods with significant Asian American populations.[56] There are Caribbean and African traditional religions in North and West Philadelphia. These numbers are also growing. Historically the city has strong connections to The Religious Society of Friends, Unitarian Universalism, and Ethical Culture, all of which continue to be represented in the city. The Friends General Conference is based in Philadelphia. African diasporic religions are popular in Hispanic and Caribbean communities in North and West Philadelphia.[57][58][59]
Ethno-religious groups [ edit ]
Jews [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
Vázquez-Hernández, Víctor. "From Pan-Latino Enclaves to a Community:Puerto Ricans in Philadelphia, 1910-2000" (Chapter 4). In: Whalen, Carmen Teresa and Víctor Vázquez-Hernández (editors). The Puerto Rican Diaspora: Historical Perspectives. Temple University Press, 2005. ISBN 1592134149, 9781592134144.
Notes [ edit ]
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John S. Chen to be Appointed Executive Chair of BlackBerry's Board of Directors and Interim CEO; Prem Watsa to be Appointed Lead Director
Company Concludes Review of Strategic Alternatives and Announces Changes to Board and Leadership Team
WATERLOO, ONTARIO and TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - November 04, 2013) - BlackBerry (NASDAQ: BBRY)(TSX: BB), a world leader in the mobile communications market, today announced that it has entered into an agreement pursuant to which Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited ("Fairfax") and other institutional investors (collectively, the "Purchasers") will invest in BlackBerry through a U.S. $1 billion private placement of convertible debentures. Fairfax has agreed to acquire U.S. $250 million principal amount of the Debentures. The transaction is expected to be completed within the next two weeks.
Under the terms of the transaction, the Purchasers will subscribe for U.S. $1 billion aggregate principal amount of 6% unsecured subordinated convertible debentures (the "Debentures") convertible into common shares of BlackBerry at a price of U.S. $10.00 per common share (the "Transaction"), a 28.7% premium to the closing price of BlackBerry common shares on November 1, 2013. The Debentures have a term of seven years. Based on the number of common shares currently outstanding, if all of the U.S. $1 billion of Debentures were converted, the common shares issued upon conversion would represent approximately 16% of the common shares outstanding after giving effect to the conversion.
Upon the closing of the transaction, John S. Chen will be appointed Executive Chair of BlackBerry's Board of Directors and, in that role, will be responsible for the strategic direction, strategic relationships and organizational goals of BlackBerry. Prem Watsa, Chairman and CEO of Fairfax, will be appointed Lead Director and Chair of the Compensation, Nomination and Governance Committee and Thorsten Heins and David Kerr intend to resign from the Board at closing.
In addition, Mr. Heins will step down as Chief Executive Officer at closing and Mr. Chen will serve as Interim Chief Executive Officer pending completion of a search for a new Chief Executive Officer.
Today's announcement marks the conclusion of the review of strategic alternatives previously announced on August 12, 2013.
"Today's announcement represents a significant vote of confidence in BlackBerry and its future by this group of preeminent, long-term investors," said Barbara Stymiest, Chair of BlackBerry's Board. "The BlackBerry Board conducted a thorough review of strategic alternatives and pursued the course of action that it concluded is in the best interests of BlackBerry and its constituents, including its shareholders. This financing provides an immediate cash injection on terms favorable to BlackBerry, enhancing our substantial cash position. Some of the most important customers in the world rely on BlackBerry and we are implementing the changes necessary to strengthen the company and ensure we remain a strong and innovative partner for their needs."
Ms. Stymiest added, "I am also pleased that John Chen, a distinguished and proven leader in the technology industry, has agreed to serve as BlackBerry's Executive Chairman. I look forward to continuing to serve BlackBerry as a member of its Board of Directors and chair of the Board's Audit and Risk Management Committee. On behalf of the Board, I would also like to thank Thorsten for his service to BlackBerry over the past six years. Under his leadership, BlackBerry established a more efficient cost structure, developed new products, saw the adoption of BES 10 and delivered the BlackBerry 10 platform. These are all significant accomplishments. We are grateful for his contributions and wish him well in his future endeavors."
"Fairfax is a long-time supporter, investor and partner to BlackBerry and, with this investment, reinforces its deep commitment to the future success of this company," said Prem Watsa, Chairman and CEO of Fairfax. "I look forward to rejoining the BlackBerry Board and to working with the other directors and management team, under John Chen's leadership, to shape the next stage of BlackBerry's strategy and growth."
"I am pleased to join a company with as much potential as BlackBerry," said Mr. Chen. "BlackBerry is an iconic brand with enormous potential - but it's going to take time, discipline and tough decisions to reclaim our success. I look forward to leading BlackBerry in its turnaround and business model transformation for the benefit of all of its constituencies, including its customers, shareholders and employees."
The closing of the transaction is subject to customary conditions, including approval from the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Pursuant to the Transaction agreement, the investors have an option to purchase up to an additional U.S. $250 million principal amount of Debentures within 30 days following closing. If an additional U.S. $250 million of Debentures is issued and all U.S. $1.25 billion of Debentures were converted, the common shares issued upon conversion would represent approximately 19.2% of the common shares after giving effect to the conversion, based on the number of common shares currently outstanding.
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Shop owners in Appleby have spoken of their devastation but also their pride in their community after the flood waters tore through the town.
The banks of the River Eden burst on Saturday and wreaked havoc in homes and businesses on either side.
Jackie Kilpatrick, 58, is a relative newcomer to Bridge Street with her interior furnishings business, Jak & Co, only having been open for four weeks.
PA Copyright: PA
She said it is a new business after previously running a bakery in the town for most of her life. She said: "I'm devastated. Everybody has been affected but I will say there has been an amazing community spirit.
"Everybody all day long has pulled together. We have gone from shop to shop, there has been a lot of people who have helped.
"Obviously our busiest period was coming up, over the next three weeks leading up to Christmas. It will be at least February before lots of people get open again."
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American Jews, it seems, want out.
Or at least, they want the option of out.
Seventy-five percent of the Jewish community voted for Hillary Clinton in the November 2016 election, many spurred by rhetoric coming from Donald Trump that recalled Germany before the Nazis took power.
"We can confirm that there has been a perceptible increase in the number of people claiming German citizenship under Article 116, Paragraph 2 of the German Basic Law," said Bradford Elder, a spokesman for the German consulate in New York. The city has the largest population of Jews in the US, and is second only to Israel in the world.
Article 116, Paragraph 2 of the Basic Law, Germany's constitution, allows people who were stripped of their German citizenship between 1933 and 1945 to reclaim the passports revoked by the Nazis. That right also applies to their descendents.
Between 50 and 70 people in New York applied for German citizenship in the years 2014 and in 2015, according to the consulate. That figure jumped to 124 alone in November 2016, the month of the US presidential election, and it has climbed every month since then, according to the data provided to DW by the German consulate. In March 2017, 235 people applied to reclaim their or their ancestors' German citizenship.
A personal connection - and a way out
It appears to be a trend for Jews elsewhere in the US as well. For Terry Mandel, 63, of Berkeley, California, the reason to get German citizenship was clear and simple.
"It was 99 percent motivated by wanting to have a way out," Mandel told DW. "It's about having a plan B. I've always referred to it as plan B."
Read: Conflicting loyalties? Germany debates dual citizenship
Mandel first applied for a German passport back in 2000, when conservative Republican George W. Bush was named president in the wake of a controversial and hotly contested electoral college victory after he, like Trump, lost the popular vote. Then in September of 2016, while working on her submission to a book about Jews who were reclaiming German citizenship, Mandel realized her German passport had expired.
"Like many progressive Americans, I didn't think there was a chance that Trump could win," she said. "But I still thought: Why take the risk?" She started the process to renew her passport right before Election Day 2016.
Trump's electoral college victory and ascension to the presidency made renewing the passport feel "a lot more urgent and meaningful."
For Ilana and Rena Sufrin, 26-year-old twins from Pittsburgh, a German passport is less about politics and more about an easy way into the European Union, but also an insurance policy of sorts. While growing up, Rena Sufrin felt very connected to their German heritage, which they have through their grandmother - more so than Ilana, who felt more Jewish. Rena took German in high school and studied abroad in Cologne, Germany, during college.
New York has the second-largest population of Jews in the world
The sisters started the application process in 2015, long before Trump announced his candidacy for president.
"When we initially applied, Obama was president," said Ilana. "I'm a pretty liberal person. I had a lot of hope. I didn't think there was going to be any potential problem. But I would say now …"
"It's definitely a good thing to have," Rena finished.
Now their other set of twin sisters are also thinking about applying.
The luxury of choice
Adam Bencan, 26, originally from Philadelphia, is going through the application process now. He submitted his paperwork to the New York consulate in January, but his motivation was less about the political situation and more a deep personal connection to his German heritage through his grandfather, who he knew as Opa.
Read: Ranking the most powerful passports
"I just wanted to have German citizenship and fulfill the full circle of what my grandfather lost."
He said he had been planning to spend a year living in Germany at some point.
"The change in the political climate could play into how quickly I do move," Bencan said. Trump's victory did intensify his desire to leave a bit, he added.
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For the Sufrins, the idea of moving permanently to Europe is less appealing. Ilana said she planned to spend a year hopping between major European cities and working remotely, but didn't intend to stay.
"I don't think I would live there permanently," Ilana said. "I don't think I want to raise my kids in Germany. The US still affords the most opportunities. Unless that changes, and everything goes to hell."
"I feel like people don't really believe that something [horrible] could happen," said Rena, "but I feel like it's at the back of everyone's mind, especially when you start hearing the way people like Trump talk. It gets a little unnerving."
For Mandel, the idea of actually moving to Germany was becoming less and less foreign.
"It's really 50/50," she said. "I have the option to leave and the curiosity about relocating. In the current political climate, globally, in Europe and the US, Germany feels safer and more receptive and accommodating and welcoming than many, many other places."
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Steven Maclean looks at the evolution of Brendan Rodgers squad, his philosophy, and how this will develop in his second season in charge of Liverpool FC.
It’s now been over a year since Brendan Rodgers’ appointment as coach of Liverpool Football Club, but long before the Northern Irishman took charge of a competitive match, his notorious football ‘philosophy’ was well-known to Liverpool fans eager to get a feel for their new manager. Or so we thought.
The first clue to what Rodgers was about came prior to his taking the reins. Some young managers would have tripped over themselves to say yes to the advances of a footballing institution like Liverpool. Not Rodgers. Instead he told FSG to come back when they knew he was the man they wanted – a brave move which could have backfired, but one which showed a steeliness of character and nerve beyond his years. We’ve learned plenty about Rodgers since then, but what do we know of his fabled philosophy and is there a typical Rodgers player?
Silent Strong Types and Fearless, Fiery Fighters
Ever since arriving at Anfield, Brendan Rodgers has emphasised his concern at a lack of character in the dressing room and his desire to bring more vocal players into the side. The losses of Jamie Carragher and Pepe Reina has only intensified that need, but it’s clear from the the players he is chasing that big personalities and an insatiable will to win are qualities on which Rodgers has placed a premium.
Rodgers seems to favour two distinct character types: first there are the intelligent, grounded and reliable personalities; players like Simon Mignolet (who has a degree in political science), Glen Johnson (who studies maths in his spare time) and the humble and thoughtful Joe Allen. These model pros could be described as the strong and silent types (although I expect Mignolet to grow into a real leader) with their feet firmly on the ground.
Then there are the more fiery, competitive personalities determined to win at all costs. Luis Suarez personifies that temperament, but there’s also a hint of the same in Iago Aspas. This isn’t to lazily stereotype Southern Europeans and Latin Americans, though.
Beneath the shy exterior, there’s a similar competitive rage brewing within Jordan Henderson. It’s a fire only stoked by the manager’s refusal to see him as a first team starter, and it’s no bad thing to have a player perhaps not quite suited to the manager’s plans who refuses to accept it, determined to prove him wrong. At best, Henderson could yet show himself to be a fine midfielder capable of dancing to the tune Rodgers has on repeat, but even at worst, Henderson could make an excellent impact sub and utility player. Should he start the season as our fourth choice central midfielder, you can be sure Henderson will throw himself into every opportunity he does get with the kind of drive and passion we’ve become accustomed to in the form of Steven Gerrard.
And then there are the targets: Kyriakos Papadopoulos and Diego Costa. Writing in The Guardian, Sachin Nakrani portrays Papadopoulos as having an almost unhealthy determination and self-belief, and it seems Costa is a beast cut from the same sweat and blood sodden cloth.
He says as much himself:
“The street was my school. On the pitch I fought with everyone, I couldn’t control myself. I insulted everyone, I had no respect for the opposition, and I thought I had to kill them. Boys who grew up playing in academies are taught to control themselves and respect others, but no-one ever told me otherwise, I didn’t have a school to teach me this. I was used to seeing players elbowing each other in the face and thought it was the norm.”
If we thought Luis Suarez was a handful, Costa may need caging between games! Within that raw intensity, however, are qualities every manager desires. His former coach Jose Ramon Sandoval told him, “You are the most consistent player I’ve ever had – you go into every game wanting to score and get a yellow card” and if anyone can get him doing more of the former and less of the latter, it may be Brendan Rodgers.
One of Rodgers greatest strengths is his man management, as seen in his revival of Enrique and Downing last season, as well as the way he has brought through the younger players. If Rodgers can help Papadopoulos, Costa and Suarez – if he stays – to channel their primal aggression into their football, instead of towards their opponents, Liverpool will have a team possessing incredible drive and passion this season.
Technique and Tenacity
As well as securing players with a particular temperament, Rodgers and his team have gone about building a squad with some very specific on-field attributes. Like Benitez before him, Rodgers is obsessed with players with a great work-ethic and tactical intelligence, but there is one key difference between the two managers’ philosophies, and if one player encapsulates that difference, it is Dirk Kuyt.
Kuyt’s work-rate was extraordinary, but his first-touch often left a lot to be desired for a player occupying such an attacking role. Whereas Benitez was willing to sacrifice some style in favour of exceptional teamwork, Rodgers’ won’t accommodate players who work hard at the expense of technical ability. As good as Dirk Kuyt was (and he was one of the best defensive wingers around), he wasn’t the most flamboyant of attacking players, so it’s hard to imagine a player like Kuyt fitting into Rodgers’ team.
To play anywhere for Rodgers, whether it be in attack or at centre back, you must be technically strong. A good first touch and accurate passing are pre-requisites on which he will not budge, but Rodgers also believes his players must “earn the right to play”. That means centre-backs as good on the ball as most wingers and forwards who fight like defenders.
Should the deal for Costa go through, Liverpool will possess an attack as tenacious as it is technical; brutal and beautiful in equal measure. A squad including Suarez, Sturridge, Sterling, Costa, Coutinho and Aspas would give Rodgers a selection of pitbul ballerinas adept at inducing fouls from defenders and trained to nip at their heels to win back possession.
Between them there is pace (Sturridge, Sterling, Aspas), street-fighter guile (Suarez, Costa, Aspas), power (Costa) and creativity (Coutinho, Suarez, Sterling) galore. Every attacking player must have the tactical intelligence to find space between the lines and commitment to defend from the front. This will be an attacking side defined by sublime skill and cutting edge when in possession, and determination and synchronicity when trying to get it back.
A Season of Two Halves; A Team of Two Tempos
Yet there remains a question to be answered. We saw two Liverpool’s last season. There was the side that struggled to get results despite playing good football until Christmas, and the one that tore teams to shreds after adding Lucas, Coutinho and Sturridge to its ranks. Many fans are crossing their fingers in hope that Rodgers will discard his fetish for patient possession football in favour of the counter-attacking style that saw a steady rise up the table, while others are eager to see Tiki-Taka with Coutinho, Sturridge and Lucas in the side. Neither group have anything to fear.
For this season will again see Liverpool use both approaches, but not either side of Christmas, or even from one game to the next. We will be ready to switch between the two within games depending on what situations arise. If a team gifts us possession and sits deep, we will probe and recycle, stretching their defence to forge opportunities. But should they dare come at us, we will punish them on the break with lightening speed and surgical precision.
Like a boxer working the jab before landing the knockout blow, don’t be surprised to see this season’s Liverpool vary the tempo; moving the ball slowly… slowly…. slow…… before quickly changing pace. We will hunt in packs and prey on any weakness. We will grind them down, or tear them apart. This is the philosophy.
This, is Rodgers’ Liverpool.
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Odense has been chosen to host the offline finals of ESL Pro League Season 6, the tournament's organisers have announced.
The event will run from December 5 to 10 at the Sparekassen Fyn Arena, a 4,500 all-seated arena, as part of the Odense Gaming Week, a festival organised by the Odense Municipality.
The 12 best teams from Europe and North America will be in attendance at the event, where the bulk of the season's $1 million prize fund will be on offer.
Sparekassen Fyn Arena to host the next ESL Pro League Finals
The announcement marks the return of an ESL Pro League event to Europe, after the previous two editions took place in São Paulo and in Dallas.
"We are looking forward to bringing the Pro League CS:GO Finals to a completely new location and a brand new gaming expo", Ken Hershman, Commissioner and Executive Chairman of WESA, said in a statement. "With this year's Pro League Finals being held in two outstanding locations, both rich with fans known to have a big passion for esports and CS:GO, we are expecting a truly exciting year for the league."
HLTV.org knows that Odense plans to host several other events over the next two years as it hopes to become a go-to stop for esports enthusiasts from all over Europe.
Tickets for the ESL Pro League Season 6 Finals will go on sale on Friday on the event's official website, with prices ranging from 335 DKK (~$53) to 1,100 DKK (~$174).
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As possibly the most critically acclaimed and creative concept album in hip hop’s storied history, Prince Paul’s “A Prince Among Thieves” stands as a testimony to the elasticity of the rap genre. The album which features guest appearances from legendary artists Big Daddy Kane, Biz Markie and even features a cameo from Chris Rock who plays a crackhead, tells the tale of a young up-and-coming hip hop artist by the name of Tariq and his Judas-like friend True who betrays our protagonist in the worst possible way. Tariq, who has a meeting with the legendary RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan to discuss a possible record deal, needs to come up with quick $1,000 to finish recording his demo tape.
Unfortunately, True convinces Tariq to join the underworld of hustlers, pimps and prostitutes in order to make that fast money. Tariq’s life takes a turn for the worse and his downfall plays out much like the real life stories of the drug dealers and pimps from the drug-ridden streets of New York during the late 80’s and early 90’s crack epidemic. This thirty-five track masterpiece which spans an hour and seventeen minutes in length almost plays out like a full-length feature film with a well developed plot and some pretty interesting character developments and scenes sprinkled in between songs.
While most of the production is handled by Prince Paul himself and the majority of the album is written by the Prince, what’s even more impressive is that he crafted this classic without even laying down a single verse or line in the process. Most of the vocals come from the star-studded cast and the performances of both Big Sha and Breeze Brewin will continue to stand out as highly innovative for the culture.
9.5/10
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Stuff's current design is a few years old now, and we think it is time for a bit of a makeover.
After all, three years in the digital world is a long time, and there have been many new developments in the wider web world that we want to incorporate into our site and the way we bring you stories.
Over coming weeks, the Stuff team will be discussing what the next evolution of Stuff should be, what the site should look like, what features it should add or drop, and what ways we can best present our local, national and international news (and the not-so-serious stuff) to you.
Before we do that, we are keen to hear what you - our readers, viewers and contributors - would like to see happen in Stuff's next iteration.
What do you like about Stuff now? What bits irk you and you would like to see changed? What ideas do you have to make the site an even better experience for you - visually and functionally. What kind of content would you like more or less of?
The redesign will also coincide with some great new features we have planned for you this year. Some are aimed at giving you better ways to contribute to the site, others at helping you share and interact with our content and others are about giving you greater depth in the sections you already like and enjoy.
So please send us your comments and suggestions. In return, we will keep you up to date with what we are planning and thinking, and bring you into the process as much as we can.
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A Bangladeshi-American student has been admitted to Stanford University after writing #BlackLivesMatter 100 times in the essay section of his application.
Ziad Ahmed, 18, a senior at the Princeton Day School in New Jersey, said he was "stunned" that the prestigious Palo Alto university gave him a place after his stunt.
"I didn't think I would get admitted to Stanford at all, but it's quite refreshing to see that they view my unapologetic activism as an asset rather than a liability," he told US news website Mic.
"My unapologetic progressivism is a central part of my identity, and I wanted that to be represented adequately in my application."
Mr Ahmed proudly tweeted his answer to the question "What matters to you, and why?" and his acceptance letter for Stanford's Class of 2021.
His impressive CV probably helped as well.
According to the Washington Times, Mr Ahmed was recognised as a Muslim-American change-maker by former US President Barack Obama at the White House Iftar Dinner.
Mr Ahmed is a senior at Princeton Day School in New Jersey. PHOTO: @ZIADTHEACTIVIST/TWITTER
He also interned and worked for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's campaign last year.
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Here is my drum. It is a good drum. When I beat it, it goes, “GODS WILL BE WATCHING IS SUPER GREAT. THE PROSPECT OF AN EXPANDED VERSION IS VERY EXCITING.” A curiously specific percussive sound, yes, but one that I very much appreciate. Thus, I refuse to stop beating it until this Earth is naught but ash and dust. Or until the game comes out. Whichever happens first. Good news on that front, too: Devolver’s jumped on board to sweeten the already crowdfunded pot. The harrowing, ethical-choice-based disaster survival (and puppy petting) sim will now receive double the final amount it makes on Indiegogo.
The publisher – whose increasingly interesting roster gleams with promise thanks to the likes of Hotline Miami 2 and Shadow Warrior – announced its support of Gods Will Be Watching on its website:
“Valencia-based indie developer Deconstructeam and rogue game publisher Devolver Digital have announced their partnership to release Gods Will Be Watching to PC and mobile platforms in Spring 2014.” “Through Indiegogo, the development team has raised nearly €20,000 for the full game and Devolver Digital is excited to announce that the publisher will match all funds raise through the end of the campaign to ensure Gods Will Be Watching reaches its full potential.”
The expanded version will include scenarios ranging from coping with a deadly poison coursing through your veins to enduring 20 days of torture. Those and more come on top of the original struggle against a planet that wants to turn you and your team into diseased popsicles. Gods Will Be Watching is not a friendly game.
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The first smash-hit-sold-out-everywhere game of 2014 is expanding! Mark the date to pick up the third Collector's Pack in Adventure Time Card Wars Princess Bubblegum vs Lumpy Space Princess Collector's Pack.
This time, Princess Bubblegum and her NiceLands deck take on Lumpy Space Princess’s totally rad dual-Landscape deck in a royal rumble. First teased in the original two Collector’s Pack sets, and then previewed in the For the Glory! Booster packs, NiceLands are finally playable. This new Landscape type is as fluffy as a little bunny nibbling on some grass. But if you give it an owwie on its widdle foot… boy howdy, do these guys get vicious! NiceLands Creatures are all about using the damage on them to make them better. Most Creatures are looking for a particular sweet spot of damage. Sometimes you will want to heal damage from your Creatures to get them there. But sometimes you might actually damage your own Creatures to get them to that sweet spot.
This new deck not only brings a new Landscape to the mix, but a whole new style of play.
Lumpy Space Princess’s deck is a Useless Swamps and Blue Plains deck. This is the first time a Collector’s Pack has featured a deck that utilizes more than a single landscape type. The Useless Swamp side of the deck is themed around discarding cards to power up your Creature abilities. Which is never a bad thing for the swampy side, as they thrive when they have built up a sizable discard pile. The Blue Plains side of the deck is themed around replacing Creatures you control. Many of the Creatures in this half of the deck get killer bonuses for replacing Creatures that were already in play. It complements the Useless Swamp desire for a large discard pile as well. Such synergy!
Let’s take a peek at some of the new cards we will get to play with in this collector’s pack.
For more information, check out the Product Page
Pre-Order on the Cryptozoic eStore.
To find a local game store near you, check our Store Locator!
Card Sneak Peak:
They say falling stars are supposed to be lucky…even if it ends poorly for the star. This Falling Star in particular is very lucky to find in your deck as playing him will allow your creatures to attack with absolute impunity on your turn.
Ms. Fluff looks really sweet and cuddly from a distance, but I would not recommend making her angry. This card is a great example of how Nicelands creatures use their damage “sweet spots” to ramp up their level of danger. Ms. Fluff and Falling Star together can be a deadly combination.
Goat likes to eat things, even your own creatures. Though Goat is a rainbow colored card (meaning he does not need a particular type of landscape to be played), he fits into a Blue Plains landscape perfectly with the new focus on replacing creatures already on your landscapes. Blue Plains has a habit of changing frequently and keeping your opponents off balance.
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On October 12, The Document Foundation, a non-profit organization that promotes and governs the open-source LibreOffice office suite loved by numerous Linux users around the globe, published details about next year's LibreOffice Conference event.
LibreOffice Conference is one of the most important events in the LibreOffice community, as users, developers, and members of the press gather together for a few days to plan the next steps in the evolution of the acclaimed open source office suite used in numerous GNU/Linux distributions around the world.
Therefore, we're happy to inform you that the LibreOffice Conference 2016 event will take place between September 7 and September 9, and it will be held in Brno, Czech Republic, at the Faculty of Information Technology, Brno University of Technology. The event will be organized in collaboration with Red Hat Czech and OpenAlt.
"The Brno University of Technology is one of the largest and most influential IT universities in the Czech Republic. OpenAlt is a Czech not for profit organization which promotes the free software ethos and culture in the country. Red Hat Czech is a software development lab with over 700 employees (the largest development facility within the company)," says The Document Foundation in the press release.
The internal meetings will take place on September 6
Several members of the LibreOffice community will be there a day earlier to participate in a series of internal meetings, where they will plan the LibreOffice Conference 2016 event, including the talks, interviews, and everything else that matters, so that the entire event will run as smoothly as possible.
The local LibreOffice Conference team will be composed of Miloš Šrámek from the LibreOffice community, Jiří Eischmann, Jan Štafa, and Jaroslav Řezník from Red Hat Czech and OpenAlt, as well as Jiří Beránek and Jan Pacner from Open Alt. Be there if you care about the future of the LibreOffice office suite.
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iRobot is working on a new design that's on the softer side of the robotic spectrum — an inflatable arm that can lift multiple times its own weight. Dubbed Advanced Inflatable Robot — or AIR for short — the design is actually built off of the company's unmanned ground vehicle project (UGV). The AIR's inflatable arm weighs just half a pound at present, but can manage to lift objects that weigh up to three pounds — like a Gatorade bottle, for instance, as shown in the video below. DARPA is expected to award iRobot a $625,000 contract to further develop the AIR. The goal is to eventually make it both cheaper and lighter, as well as able to operate in harsher conditions so that it can be used for military applications. Now all it needs is a self-repairing hand.
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(Reuters) - Coach Inc’s COH.N sales in North America fell sharply during the key holiday quarter as the handbag maker continued to lose customers to fast-growing rivals.
The New York company, known for its Poppy handbags, on Wednesday reported a 13.6 percent decrease in comparable-store sales in North America.
It was the third straight quarter of decline in a market that accounts for 70 percent of its revenue, and a much deeper drop for the holiday quarter than Coach forecast in October.
Coach shares were down 6.2 percent to $49.29 in late morning trading.
There were some bright spots in Coach’s results: sales in China rose 25 percent, quelling fears a slowdown in luxury spending growth there would hurt Coach. And sales in North America for handbags priced above $400 were also up.
Still, company executives expect Coach’s problems to persist in North America in the next six months, predicting continued sales drops there.
Relief may only come in the fall, when the first collection designed under its new creative director, Stuart Vevers, hits stores.
Until then, Coach will have to make do with offerings many analysts said are stale and less appealing than merchandise offered by rivals such as Michael Kors Holdings Ltd KORS.N, kate spade FNP.N and Tory Burch, which are aggressively expanding their fleets of stores.
“These guys are definitely losing share. Fashionwise, they’re missing the beat,” Edward Jones analyst Brian Yarbrough said.
Between 2011 and 2012, Coach’s share of the U.S. handbag market fell to 17.5 percent from 19 percent, according to Euromonitor International. Michael Kors’ market share rose to 7 percent from 4.5 percent.
North American sales fell 9 percent to $983 million in the second quarter ended December 28, a startling drop in a women’s handbags and accessories market Coach executives said grew by a “high single-digit” percentage during the period.
People walk past a Coach store on Madison Avenue in New York, in this January 23, 2013 file photo. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/Files
Chief Executive Victor Luis is pinning Coach’s turnaround hopes on Vevers’ collections making Coach fashion-forward again. Luis told analysts on a call that Vevers was “providing a fashion relevance for the brand like we have never had.”
Vevers joined Coach from Loewe - a luxury handbag brand owned by LVMH (LVMH.PA) - in September, replacing longtime creative director Reed Krakoff.
Coach’s overall revenue fell 5.6 percent to $1.42 billion, in the second quarter, while net income dropped to $297.4 million, or $1.06 per share, from $352.8 million, or $1.23 per share, a year earlier.
Analysts on average had expected earnings of $1.11 per share on revenue of $1.48 billion, according to Thomson Reuters
REBALANCING ACT
To win back shoppers, the 73-year-old company is trying to offer more footwear and fashion to become a lifestyle brand. Coach will be presenting a collection at New York Fashion Week next month for the first time.
Chief Executive Victor Luis, who took the reins this month from longtime CEO Lew Frankfort, told Reuters that Coach is “rebalancing” its merchandise selection and increasing its offerings of handbags priced $400 or more.
After the 2008-09 recession, Coach had ramped up its selection of lower-price handbags.
During the 2013 holiday season, Coach had to contend with a problem many retailers have complained about: a drop in traffic to shopping malls, and fewer shoppers coming into its stores. Still, kate spade and Michael Kors, which operate many stores in the same malls as Coach, are expected to report sales gains.
Coach’s poor sales led to a surplus of merchandise it said it would clear through its factory outlets, raising the specter of more pressure on its profit margin. Inventory levels were up 12 percent at the end of quarter, while companywide sales fell 3 percent, stripping out the effect of currency fluctuations.
A man walks past a Coach store on Madison Avenue in New York, January 23, 2013. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri
Its gross profit margin fell 3 percentage points to 69.2 percent of sales during the quarter, hurt by deep discounting.
The 2013 holiday season was the most discount-driven period since the recession, leading many large U.S. retailers to slash profit forecasts earlier this month.
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Dr. Margo Fitzpatrick’s career at consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton began well: after joining the firm in 1999, she quickly earned a Performance Excellence Award, the firm’s highest honor, and was promoted to partner in 2005. Between 2008 and 2010, she won the firm more than $588 million in new business. Her evaluations reflected her success and praised her abilities. But when Lloyd Howell became Dr. Fitzpatrick’s supervisor in late 2009, she alleges, things changed: Sexist and derogatory comments towards women became the norm in his self-described “boys club,” and women who protested were punished. Dr. Fitzpatrick claims she was excluded from key meetings and denied opportunities to develop new clients. In 2010, quite suddenly, she was terminated.
Now, Dr. Fitzpatrick is suing Booz Allen for discriminating against women in its promotion practices. Debra S. Katz of civil-rights firm Katz, Marshall and Banks, which filed the suit on behalf of Dr. Fitzpatrick said:
No matter how accomplished or successful you are at Booz Allen Hamilton, if you’re a woman, you will hit a glass ceiling. And when you raise concerns about the exclusion of women from leadership positions at the Firm or other blatant acts of sex discrimination, you will find yourself, as Dr. Fitzpatrick did, out of a job.
Yet a Washington Post story about the lawsuit published this weekend managed to trivialize Fitzpatrick’s claims. It focused on one example of the systemic discrimination she alleges–exclusion from golfing:
Finn and Fitzpatrick describe top company leadership as unwelcoming to women, particularly pointing to overseas golf trips that never included women.
What the Post fails to explain is that it is the business connections made on these golfing trips that makes women’s exclusion discriminatory. Employees meet new clients, develop relationships with existing ones and strengthen their bonds with their colleagues and supervisors. The same is true of other “boys club” events, such as drinks after work and planning emails allegedly circulated only to other men because they contain raunchy jokes. Booz Allen Hamilton acknowledging the importance of such events on their own website:
From sports teams to volunteer brigades to professional events, networking and socializing with colleagues unifies us around common interests and helps build stronger teams, relationships, and networks.
Each exclusion of women may seem like just another isolated complaint, but the overall effect on women is serious and systemic. Women cannot advance in an environment in which they are ostracized and excluded.
The Post article also fails to detail the ways in which golf, specifically, is a major part of the Booz Allen culture. From 1998 to 2006 the company hosted the Booz Allen Classic as part of the PGA Tour. To this day they regularly host charity golf tournaments. Former CEO Bill Stasior has even publicly detailed [PDF] how golfing with founding partner Jim Allen enabled his ascent to the top. Being excluded from golf events, therefore, is not so trivial.
In 2010, Booz Allen was among the top 10 government contractors, receiving almost $3.4 billion in total contracts. Companies receiving government dollars are prohibited from discriminating on the basis of sex (as well as race, color, religion, national origin, disability or protected veteran status) and must have affirmative action programs in place. Booz Allen receives money from the EPA, the SEC, and the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, the Interior, the Treasury, and Health and Human Services, to name just a few.
Dr. Fitzgerald’s suit comes on the heels of another by Molly Finn, who sued Booz Allen for the same reasons earlier this summer, alleging that she was ostracized via alienating language, exclusion from events and threats of retaliation.The firm has previously come under fire for benefiting from no-bid contracts, helping the government with the warrantless wiretapping of American citizens, and selling their biometric identification program PISCES (Personal Identification Secure Comparison and Evaluation System) to countries known for human rights abuses.
Booz Allen claims “many women are in the pipeline for senior partner,” but only 21 percent of their partners are women and none are in the 45 top leadership positions. Must be a mighty long and narrow pipeline.
Photo from flickr user KRO-Media under Creative Commons 2.0
This blog is part of the #HERvotes blog carnival. Read more HERvotes posts by Ms. and other women’s groups.
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‘Oh my God, it’s the Aces’: Remembering the University of Evansville plane crash that shook college basketball
The headline the next day read, “The Night It Rained Tears.”
It was a cold, rainy night on Dec. 13, 1977, a night in Evansville, Indiana, history that everybody remembers. What they were doing. Where they were. The details are seared into their memories.
At 7:20 p.m. CST, Air Indiana Flight 216 took off from Dress Regional Airport on Evansville’s north side. Ninety seconds later, after clipping trees off of Twickingham Drive, the plane crashed, taking the lives of the 29 people who were aboard.
People around Evansville slowly learned of the crash. For some, it was a neighbor knocking on the door. For others, it was a telephone call, or from local television news. There were various reports of who was on the plane — some correct, and some not.
Gene Hollencamp was working at Patrick Aviation at the airport that night with Patrick Alvey. He watched the plane take off, disappear into the clouds after taking a hard left, and then heard an explosion. As a former medic in the Vietnam War, his instincts kicked in. He ran toward the crash site, along with Alvey, who was familiar with the neighborhood the plane landed just outside of.
When they made it to the crash site, Hollencamp tells me, “It looked like it had come down in a graveyard because there were these mounds that looked like gravestones sticking up here and there. As we got closer, I realized it was,” — he pauses to collect himself — “the seats from the plane had blown out.”
Hollencamp looked for survivors, checked vital signs, and carried the few who appeared to have a chance to safety. It was for naught — all 29 souls on board died that night.
Hollencamp didn’t know who was on the plane while at the scene — until he started leaving.
“As we started making our way out, my foot hit something,” he says with a recollection as if he were just discovering it again for the first time. “I look down and I picked it up, it was a U of E bag that they would carry stuff in.”
“I saw that and that’s when I realized — oh, my God, it’s the Aces.”
The University of Evansville Aces were rockstars at their peak. They won five national championships at the Division II level under legendary coach — and appropriately, an Evansville native — Arad McCutchan, who created a rich history within the program.
McCutchan was an original. He wore a red suit on the sideline, and despite the fact that the University’s official colors were purple and white, McCutchan had his team wear orange uniforms. In the winter time in Indiana, the fans’ heavy coats were dark colored, and it was hard for players to pick out their teammates, so he made the call: The team would be orange. They were also famous for their sleeved jerseys.
The Aces won five national championships in 13 years between 1959 and 1971. In February 1965, the year they won their second consecutive and fourth overall title, Sports Illustrated’s Frank Deford came to town to write about the “best small-college basketball team in the nation.”
In 1965, the Aces were led by Jerry Sloan and Larry Humes — two of the most recognizable names in the program’s history. Neither were Evansville natives, but became so good the city adopted them as their own. Sloan is still regarded as a god in Evansville.
“People here just adore — they could tell you everything about him,” current U of E head coach Marty Simmons says, while talking about a picture hanging up in Evansville’s facilities.
“He’s palmin’ two balls,” Simmons says, as he stretches his wingspan, pretending to hold two basketballs like Sloan is in the photo. “His hands are enormous! Ugh,” he sighs, “Lethal weapons.”
And they weren’t just beating teams in their division. Programs like Notre Dame, UCLA, Purdue, and others lost to the Aces throughout the years. Longtime WFIE sports anchor Mike Blake told me, “Press Maravich told Arad McCutchan after winning the fifth and 1971 title, ‘Mac, you could have played with the Final Four this year.’” That’s how good the Aces were.
Tickets were hard to come by. “If you didn’t have tickets to the Aces games, you were hoping for somebody to die,” Blake says, about the competition for season tickets. Despite being a college division school, the attendance for Roberts Stadium was top 10 nationally, even among Division I schools during McCutchan’s peak years at the university.
McCutchan’s tenure came to an end in 1976, and the team was set to hire Sloan, who would go on to coach the Chicago Bulls and the Utah Jazz, as their new coach. However, Sloan would rescind his acceptance just days later. The team then turned to Oral Roberts coach Bobby Watson to come be the new head coach. He accepted.
“We went from ecstasy, to great disappointment, back to, ‘Boy, this is gonna be fun,’” Blake tells me. Watson would lead the Aces.
To come close to understanding the heartbreak that the city of Evansville and the university suffered on the night of Dec. 13, 1977, you first have to know the town, its people, and the depth of their passion.
Athletic director Mark Spencer explains it to me in his office in early November. He tells me about working the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta doing ticketing. He was two blocks away from the bombing when it happened.
“People [in Atlanta] don’t remember that — they remember the ‘96 games ‘Oh that’s right, we had the bombing and it kinda dragged out,’” he says.
“Here, something like that would be just so woven into the fabric of their lives.”
Spencer elaborates. He says that a player getting in trouble, Colt Ryan breaking the school’s scoring record, and then D.J. Balentine breaking it would be a big deal in Evansville.
“The most recent tragedy is ‘The Bounce,’” he says. Northern Iowa’s Wes Washpun bounced a mid-range jumper off the rim and into the basket to sink the Aces and their chances for an NCAA Tournament bid in 2016.
“It becomes a part of them, they don’t let things go and they don’t let things slide because what might not have been a major event — a mid-level event is a major event here.”
This is a place where you identify yourself by where you went to high school, and either the west or east side of town.
“There’s such an immense school pride, and you never lose that,” Evansville mayor Lloyd Winnecke tells me. “If you went to Reitz High School, man, look out — you’re a Panther for life. If you went to Central, you’re a Bear for life.”
The city was, and remains, basketball crazy.
Though the Aces aren’t the juggernaut they once were, support remains strong. Paul Werner has been a booster for the program for 50 years. When I ask him if he still goes to games regularly, he says, “Oh, three hours early.” He missed his first game in 30 years this season because of back surgery. It’s been eating him up that he’s had to be at home watching the Aces instead of at the arena or traveling with the team.
Stafford Stephenson, who was an assistant on the 1977 University of Evansville basketball team, was once asked to describe Indiana high school basketball to his friends in Virginia. He said that everyone in Virginia thought it was a big deal when Ralph Sampson filled up a gym with 5,000 people for the state championship. In Evansville, that’s a regular season game on any weeknight.
That’s high school basketball. The Aces, at their peak, were another thing altogether.
In 1977, in Watson’s first year coaching the team and the year of the crash, the team was promoted to Division I. The Aces lost their first two games of the 1977 season to Western Kentucky and DePaul. Finally on the road on Dec. 6, they got a win against Pittsburgh. Stephenson jokes it might have given them a little too much confidence going into their game against Indiana State.
“Larry Bird and company wore us out,” he laughs.
Courtesy of the University of Evansville
However, Stephenson says Watson and the staff believed that even though Evansville started 1-3, the team had great promise. “We were not disappointed,” he says. “We were optimistic about what the future was going to hold.”
They were soon going to get another chance to improve, by playing Middle Tennessee.
Stephenson recalled Dec. 12, the day before the team was set to takeoff for Nashville. “We had practice, it had not been a real good practice,” Stephenson says. “We were not happy with the way things had gone in that one. Bobby got them together, and basically sent them back to the dorm. [Watson] said, ‘Get out of here, take a deep breath, come back tomorrow, and let’s go.’”
That was the last time Stephenson saw the team.
Kathy Vonderahe vividly remembers the last time she saw her husband Maury King on Dec. 13, 1977.
“That morning I remember clearly him leaving, and me standing at the front door — and walking down the sidewalk and then turning around,” she says. “We had a few more words, and then he left.”
“That’s just like a moment that’s frozen in my mind.”
King co-owned a furniture store on the west side of Evansville. He was a member of Evansville’s West Side Nut Club, which holds the “Fall Festival” — the city’s most popular festival annually in the first week of October.
He was also a sports enthusiast, so he naturally wanted to be involved with the Aces in any way he could, whether it was welcoming visiting teams, helping with meals, or even calling games with the legendary voice of the Aces, Marv Bates.
“Any opportunity he got to be with the team or help or do anything with the team, he was right there,” Vonderahe says. When Watson invited him to travel with the team that day, he couldn’t refuse. The Aces were loved by the community, and they embraced them with open arms. It wasn’t abnormal for somebody like King, a big Aces supporter, to travel with the team.
Air travel was new for the Aces in 1977. Because they moved up to Division I, Watson wanted his team to travel like a Division I program would.
After it happened, many of the first responders were residents of the Melody Hill neighborhood the plane crashed in. Whether or not they knew it at the time, they created even more of a connection with the team that night.
The crash site was hard to get to. The plane settled on the edge of a ravine east of the airport and just shy of the railroad tracks, not far from the trees it had clipped on Twickingham Drive. The visibility that night was poor by all accounts. Aside from it being misty and foggy, the plane landed where there were no lights. What they could see, the first responders haven't been able to forget.
“It was as bad as anything I’ve ever seen,” Hollencamp says. “The state of the bodies was,” he takes a long pause, “was pretty bad.”
But not all were bad — Hollencamp came across Michael Joyner. He put his leather jacket around him, “He wasn’t responding and breathing very shallowly,” he recalls. Joyner would die at the crash site minutes after Hollencamp found him.
Evansville police officer Mike Cook and his partner Stanley Michael Ford were patrolling the north side of town near the airport later that night, and would get the call after Hollencamp and Alvey’s arrival.
“Mike and I were riding around and we got this run,” he tells me. “Both of us kind of looked at each other like, ‘What is this?’ We realized it was an airplane crash.”
They, like other first responders, had trouble getting to the crash site. Cook and Michael waded through waist-deep water until they saw the flames.
“I did not know, and I don’t think Mike did either, that this was the University of Evansville,” Cook says. “You get there, and you checking bodies to see if you can find somebody alive.”
They found senior John Ed Washington, and he was alive. Cook could smell aviation fuel, and knew that they needed to get Washington to safety. “We found a banner that turned out to be a U of E banner. When we saw the U of E banner, we saw a couple of U of E bags, and that’s when I started realizing it was the basketball team.”
Cook and Ford then used the banner as a stretcher to carry Washington from the crash site to safety. Unfortunately, he died just minutes later from internal injuries.
“I don’t think it was more than 5-10 minutes max, when you think about it, it seems like it was forever,” Cook says. “You’re hoping that — for the best. But you know by — I could tell by the way he was breathing, he was having a very hard time breathing, laboring and I was just trying to talk to him a little bit.” Cook stops talking. He tries to collect himself, but starts to weep.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Larry Smith was the first reporter on the scene for WFIE, which was the only station at the time with a live truck. He arrived after Cook and Hollencamp, and was aided by following one of the fire department personnel units toward the wreck.
“I tripped over one body, because they were thrown hundreds of feet away from the airplane,” Smith recalls. “That made my heart stand still. Still does to think about it. I took three or four more steps, and I came across the next body. I very reverently approached it, and gently stepped over it.”
Smith, among others, says that most of the passengers on the flight were still strapped into their seats, but the condition of the victims varied.
Hollencamp decided he and Alvey would be leaving once police and firefighters arrived. “I could tell [Alvey] was really getting stressed out. I mean, he was looking pretty bad.”
I asked Hollencamp what they did once they got back to Patrick Aviation. He told me, “Tried to find alcohol,” which they had. Hollencamp’s friend ran a chain of liquor stores in Evansville, and brought them a bottle of whiskey.
While moments passed at the crash scene, Smith prepared to broadcast to the city of Evansville what had happened.
“It’s quite a responsibility when you face the prospect that you’re going to probably be the first person to tell a community that they’ve lost 25-30 of their finest young people and community leaders.”
Kathy Vonderahe and her two kids had just gotten home when she sat down and turned on the news. She recalls the bulletin coming across the screen that there had been a plane crash — but the Aces were supposed to leave much earlier that day.
She called assistant athletic director Bob Hudson’s wife, and asked if they got away on time. Mrs. Hudson said, “Oh, no honey, they were really delayed and they should have not left but very long ago.”
Vonderahe tells me, “Right then, nobody could convince me that it wasn’t that plane.”
It was confirmed moments later. As Blake read off the names of the individuals on the plane, Vonderahe watched with her 6-year-old son, who recognized the players as their images popped up on the screen. He recited the names before Blake could announce them.
The bodies from the wreckage were taken to the CK Newsome Center in downtown Evansville after being transported from the crash site by train. It was too muddy for cars to get to the crash site.
On the night of the crash, Grant Taylor, brother of Aces junior Bryan Taylor, had been in Huntingburg, 30 miles from his home of Tell City, Indiana, for a high school basketball game. On the way home with his friend, they heard on the radio there had been a crash in Evansville. But he didn’t think it could be the Aces and his brother because it was a short flight, and they didn’t play until the next day.
After the school contacted the Taylor family, Grant and his parents went to Evansville. “We went to the temporary morgue that they had set up and had to identify my — Bryan’s body,” Taylor says, shaken.
“Bryan loved basketball,” he says softly. “That’s what he was going to do on the night he was killed.”
The family of Mike Joyner, a “sharpshooter” on the team from Terre Haute, rushed to the CK Newsome Center to identify their loved one. It’s typically a two-and-a-half hour drive, but the Joyners made it in an hour and 15 minutes. His brother, Robert, said in Trophies and Tears, “I saw the shoes sticking out from under the blankets.”
“They were Michael’s favorite shoes. He wore them so much they had a hole in the bottom. When I saw the shoes, I knew it was him and that he was gone.”
There was one Aces player who did not make the flight — David Furr. He was working as a statistician, after having suffered an ankle sprain so severe that doctors said it was better off broken.
Two weeks later, the 18-year-old Furr died in a car accident with his younger brother. “It was like a tremor after an earthquake,” Blake says. “The earthquake was unbelievable, but the tremor that — oh, my God, when is this going to end?”
Dan Heierman, a 1981 graduate of the University of Evansville said in From the Ashes, “I guess about the only explanation we seemed like at that time we came up with was — God wanted a truly first-class Division I team in heaven and,” he briefly pauses. “He needed the whole team.”
Assistant coach Stafford Stephenson was not on the flight. He didn’t even learn about the crash until the day after. He spent the day in Florida recruiting and scouting, which turned into a late night for him. He went to McDonald’s and got a hamburger because he hadn’t eaten all day. When he got back to the hotel, The Johnny Carson Show was on when he turned on his television, and then he went to bed.
“I woke up the next morning, and went down and bought a newspaper out of a vending machine and saw a headline that read, ‘Basketball Team Dies in Plane Crash’ and I thought, ‘Wow, that is awful.’” he says.
“And started looking at it, and names just — sort of jumped off the page. Bobby Watson, Bob Hudson, who was our assistant athletic director — and I realized that, that, what I was reading was our team.”
Stephenson would head back to Evansville, where the city and university were taking the first uneasy steps toward healing. The student body president, Chris Weaver, called the university chaplain to say that Neu Chapel should be ready for a gathering. “Students starting showing up, in Neu Chapel, without any notice being given,” he said in From the Ashes. They sat in the seats of the chapel, quietly, holding hands with one another.
On Feb. 11, 1978, just under two months after the crash, the Pittsburgh Steelers came to Evansville to play in a charity basketball game to raise money for the crash victims and their families.
“They all said, ‘When do they want us to come?’ Not, ‘I’m available next Saturday’ or ‘I’m available June the 15th,’” Stephenson tells me. “It was, ‘When do they want us to come?’ and they came.” The university offered to pay their travel expenses, and the Steelers declined.
Stephenson took Keith Vonderahe, Maury King’s 6-year-old son, back in the locker room to meet the Steelers. Back there, they met players like Lynn Swann, Joe Greene, Jack Ham, Franco Harris, and others.
“It was the first time since the plane crash that there was — you felt joy in the arena, and in the community,” Stephenson says.
“This was a unique group of people I think,” he says. “It would have been really interesting to know had it not happened, what those guys would be doing today 40 years later. I am convinced that they would be successful in whatever [they do].
“It was important for me to — let people know what type of kids they were. I don’t want to let that fade away.”
Harry Lyles Jr., SB Nation
The National Transportation Safety Board report on the cause of the plane crash was released Aug. 17, 1978. It determined that the takeoff was attempted with the rudder and right aileron control lockers still installed, causing a nose-high altitude immediately after takeoff. It was something that the pilot was unable to recover from.
Another contributing factor was the failure of the flightcrew to ensure the baggage was loaded in accordance with the configuration on the load manifest, causing a rearward center of gravity.
“I think that was just another kick in the gut,” Mayor Lloyd Winnecke says. “As a city, it was a huge body blow.”
Vonderahe, Stephenson, along with countless others, compared that tragic night of the crash to the President John Kennedy assassination — because everybody remembered where they were and who they were with when they found out.
“It’s one of the few times — like most of us when we lose someone — your immediate circle is affected,” Vonderahe says. “But the rest of the world just keeps going on, and sometimes you want to yell, ‘Come on, stop! Something’s happened!’
“But with this, I mean, everywhere you went — if you went to the grocery, no matter where you went — it was like everybody was in it with you.”
The “Weeping Basketball” sits on the University of Evansville campus near the University Center, and next to Neu Chapel where the memorial service for the team was held on Dec. 14. I walked to go see it from the Carson Center, where the Aces practice basketball, and their volleyball teams compete.
Too good, too fast Athletic director Jim Byers ultimately selected Dick Walters, who had been the head coach at DuPage Junior College in Chicago, to take over the team. He applied to be the coach in 1977, but lost out to Watson. The Aces went 13-16 the year after the plane crash in their first full season at the Division I level. In 1982, they made their first NCAA Tournament in a 23-6 season — both unthinkable accomplishments considering what the team had experienced just years earlier. But Walters will tell you that he won too fast. He told me about a time he was with boosters from the school, and legendary coach Jim Valvano. The boosters asked Valvano if Evansville could win a national championship. Walters tells me that Valvano said, “I absolutely think Evansville can win a national championship.” The boosters ate it up — and then Valvano added, “In soccer.” Walters adds, “He proceeded to go, ‘What are you guys smokin’? You’re 23-6 four years after one of the worst tragedies in the history of collegiate basketball, which is amazing! And now you think you’re going to win national championships? Against Kentucky, Louisville, Carolina, Duke?’” “We got too good, too fast,” Walters says.
There are old seats from Roberts Stadium outside of the Carson Center. As I get ready to cross the street, a man on a John Deere tractor passes by going east on Lincoln Avenue. All over campus, there are notes on the sidewalk in chalk. “Come to University Worship Sun @ 11,” one read. Another promoted, “Serious-fun-a-thon Carson Center Small Gym.”
I make my way to the courtyard, and it’s a beautiful memorial. There are 29 stakes that come from the fountain to represent the 29 individuals who were on board Air Indiana Flight 216, water spraying gently, as it hits the ground with a soothing calm.
In front of it, lie two concrete blocks — the left one reads, “In memory of those gallant and devoted men who gave everything they had, even life itself, to the sport and to the university they loved.” It also includes the names of those lost on the flight.
The right one reads, “Out of the agony of this hour, we will rise.” Below that, “SEVEN TWENTY-TWO P.M. DECEMBER THIRTEEN MCMLXXVII,” the date and time of the accident.
Students on campus sit on the concrete benches, some reading, texting, and some just enjoying the nice afternoon. It was 55 degrees out, but the clear skies and beaming sun made it feel like 70.
The memorial and its setting are subtle — nothing too big, but also nothing that you wouldn’t just notice. For this tragedy and this town, it’s perfect.
Evansville is 40 years removed from this tragedy, but remembers and grieves it — along with the flood of 1937, and tornado of 2005 — like they all happened yesterday. This is a town that does not hide from its tragedies. “I can show you the high water marks where they say 1937,” says Grant Taylor.
I was in attendance for the Aces’ game November 10 against Arkansas State at the Ford Center, where the Aces have played since Roberts Stadium closed in 2011. Many people echo Stephenson when it comes to the Ford Center: “It’s nice, but it’s not Roberts Stadium.”
Aces games aren’t the gigantic social event they used to be, and they don’t fill up the Ford Center. But as long as you’re there to root for the Aces, there’s still a sense of unity between yourself, and everyone else in the arena.
As people pour in sporting mostly purple, with splashes of white and orange, they walk past the memorial in the arena. To the left, it features pictures from their four games that season. Next to that are pictures of the 24 individuals involved with the program and university that were on the flight. On the far right, there are images from the tragedy, including the Courier & Press’ front page paper the next morning.
Harry Lyles Jr., SB Nation
In the middle, a statement from then-university president Wallace Graves, reads: “Out of the agony of this hour, we shall rise. Out of the ashes of a desiccated dream, we shall build a new basketball team, stronger, more valiant than ever before. That was the mission of our fallen brothers. Their dream will be fulfilled. Their supreme sacrifice will be vindicated. Out of the brokenness and despair which now grips this institution will burst a new University of Evansville more sensitive to human needs, more resolute in purpose than ever before. That is our tradition. That is our destiny.”
Some people would glance at the memorial as they walked by it. Others would stop and read, and some would take pictures of it. It caught the eyes of just about everybody in the arena.
It, much like the “Weeping Basketball,” are reminders of the tragedy. But they also represent the strength, love, and unity that makes Evansville unique.
“Without this community, and the history that was built to that point, there’s no way [the crash] should have killed the program for a generation,” Spencer tells me.
Though years went on since the crash, there was still one last loose thread to be tied. The team still hadn’t played Middle Tennessee, the opponent they were heading to meet that fateful night, in its history. Middle Tennessee’s manager that season was waiting for an airplane that would never show.
“It took 33 years to play the game,” Werner tells me. “And kind of a sad thing, but it was a game that really had to be played to take care of any of the skeletons laying back in the closet from the crash.”
That changed in 2010, when the Aces finally traveled to Murfreesboro to play the Blue Raiders. The University of Evansville got an email ahead of the game that there was going to be a guest to greet the team as they arrived in Murfreesboro.
The manager who was supposed to meet the Aces in 1977 met the team and Werner as they came off of the buses. Werner recalled the chilling words from the manager.
“Glad to see you after all these years,” he said.
Correction: This article originally stated Mark Aguirre was on the Depaul team in 1977. He was a freshman in 1978.
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Maisie Williams enters the London hotel’s coffee shop in a furry-ish jacket, ready to talk. She’s been out all night, but still has more energy than anybody in the room. During our annual chat about Game of Thrones, our candid conversation jumped from teasing her fan-favorite character Arya Stark’s action-filled storyline in season 6, to fan outrage, to her intriguing thoughts on feminism, to Jon Snow’s fate. As you’ll see below, the 18-year-old Williams comes across as youthful and mature at the same time; switching from exuberance to profundity in a snap. Here’s Williams
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: So it’s season 6…
MAISIE WILLIAMS: Every year I think, “This is really cool.” But this year, as I opened the scripts, it’s so exciting because nobody knows what’s happening. They’re going to hate it, but love it, and I can’t wait.
Why do you think people are going to hate it?
Just that they don’t know what’s going to happen. I know the showrunners don’t take [criticism] personally any more and that’s nice. People are outraged by last season, but they secretly love it too — because they don’t know what’s really going on.
Ah, yeah, the outrage meter went to 11 last season. What’s cool is the showrunners do not care.
Right. They’re going to make the show they want to make, they interpret the books they way they interpret them, and that’s okay because that’s all they set out to do. They didn’t set out to make a replica of the books. I’m in love with the work they’ve done and I’m in love with the work George R.R. Martin has done — they’re different things. People are like: “I’m never watching again!” But they so are.
And the ratings back that up. The Leftovers showrunner Damon Lindelof made the same comment about Thrones — that some people swear they’re never going to watch again when something happens, but it’s a false threat.
But I used to get so upset by that! “No! Keep watching the show!” I’d get really upset that people would feel like that. But now I see through it and it excites me a little.
GALLERY: Queens of the Throne Age! EW Exclusive Game of Thrones Portraits
Any thoughts on that Thrones feminism debate? I don’t think I’ve seen you asked about that before…
I got asked in one of my first interviews: “Is Arya a feminist?” I didn’t even know what a feminist was.
You were like 12!
And then someone explained it to me. And I remember thinking, “Isn’t that just like everyone?” And then I realized everyone is not a feminist, unfortunately. But I also feel like we should stop calling feminists “feminists” and just start calling people who aren’t feminist “sexist” — and then everyone else is just a human. You are either a normal person or a sexist. People get a label when they’re bad. Because it works the other way, as well. A lot of men have it hard too. On the show specifically, it’s always been a constant debate because women are treated badly on the show, and they’re treated well on the show. But it’s the same as the boys and the girls and the men and the animals. The themes are very dark. I get it that people don’t want to watch scenes like that. I understand, and you shouldn’t have to. But that’s the show that we’ve made, and I have no control over what’s written. I think it’s upsetting that so many people have found it upsetting. But I find a lot of things upsetting to watch. I get upset when animals get slaughtered. And lots of people are like, “But this is worse than that” — and I never understood that. I think everybody’s allowed to be upset about what they’re upset by. And once people are angry about something, you start worrying about saying the right thing instead of just saying what you mean. It’s very easy to have an opinion. Everyone’s got one. But it’s very difficult to speak up about difficult subjects when people are angry with you. People say: “Why don’t you speak up!” [and I’m thinking], “Because you all got pitchforks and you’re ready to kill us!” It’s scary if you say something wrong.
When people are upset, it sometimes doesn’t matter what you say — if don’t agree with them, you’ll just make them more angry.
Exactly. And I don’t want to be like, “Oh, people love to be angry,” because people have a right to be upset about scenes that upset them — just as much as people have a right to laugh at things that made them happy. Maybe I just have to get a backbone. I’m going to say this in this interview, but I wouldn’t say it with anyone else: I sometimes really worry about speaking up about feminist subjects out of fear of being bashed by women on social media. And there’s something not right there. Yeah, sometimes it’s men too. But there are women who are just nasty. I’m trying to do the best I can. I got a voice. I believe in equality and I know I have more power than the average person to reach people. And I just get petrified in case people are rude. You don’t want to put yourself through that. If people are angry about [the Sansa Stark scene last year] you have to watch [the season 5 DVD] commentary because [writer-producer] Bryan Cogman speaks about it in depth and it’s from the heart. I’m a very sarcastic girl and can sound like a dick in interviews — people are like, “Why are you so annoying?” In this you can hear his voice and it’s so full of emotion. So watch the commentary because you’ll get all your information there.
RELATED: ‘Game of Thrones’ Season 6 First Look
I read that Guillermo del Toro wants you to be in Pacific Rim sequel?
Totally random, totally amazing. Guillermo was [in London] promoting Crimson Peak and he said he’d like to take me to lunch. You meet a lot of people in general meetings that don’t go anywhere. But they’re a little bit curious, like: “Who are you?” I didn’t come from a family of actors, so I get it — people want to find out for themselves. I go to this meeting and we were chatting about the usual stuff, but this time it was different. A lot of the time I speak to adult male directors, they’re all, “Have you seen this film?” And before you’ve even said “No,” they’re like, “Probably not, it’s really great.” I feel awful because I’ve seen hardly any that were made before I was born. And I haven’t seen lots of films that were made after I was born.
Of course, you’ve been working.
I need to watch so many things! You feel so underprepared for a meeting you didn’t know you were going to anyway. I just want to impress, or I don’t know why I’m there. I was expecting a meeting like that again, but it wasn’t. He had the most amazing advice, and was really normal. He’s got daughters who are my age and he saying they struggle with everything in life, and he said, “You have to do all that too, and be famous.” And I was like: “Yeah!” Everyone’s got their struggles, but I only know what I know. I didn’t know if it was leading anywhere, but he said if Pacific Rim 2 ever happens, he’d like me to be in the Jaeger. So that’s really cool, but it’s a big If.
How many times have you been asked if Jon Snow is still alive?
An unbelievable amount.
What’s your stock answer?
I’ve been just saying “No.” I can say that with an honest heart.
This year, fans were in the bushes with cameras trying to find spoiler footage.
It’s amazing and sh–ty. But there’s no point in getting caught up about every little thing. Because then you get caught up in yourself, about every bad thing that’s written about you, and you carry that around. Then there’s no point in doing this job at all.
What kind of reactions did you get to the end of last season?
People don’t realize last season Arya went blind. Last season people asked: “Is she dead?” I’m all, “No, she’s blind.” It’s too easy to kill her. If there’s one thing we’ve learned from Game of Thrones it’s that death is the easy way out. They’re gonna keep her and make her have a s–t time. Look at Reek. I was so up for the contacts. I love having something weird going on on the set. There’s never a day where I just sat and did dialogue there’s always something going on. Then I realized they were the most painful things ever. And I hate saying that because I hate hearing people complain about things like that, and I’m like “It’s not that hard.” You hear about Jennifer Lawrence and her blue paint [in X-Men] and I remember thinking, “That can’t hurt.” Now I’m like, “Holy sh–, I’m sorry I ever felt like that because these little things in your eyes are so thick, they’re the most painful things ever.” I didn’t anticipate they’d get so sore after such little time.
I remember that last year you were like, “Yeah, let’s do contacts instead of CGI, old school!”
And now I realize why people do [CGI] instead.
RELATED: 17 Biggest Changes from Game of Thrones Books to TV
So if you’re teasing the new season…
I feel like I got a good one this time: Arya is being more physical again, but she’s blind. So her training has progressed even more but it’s on a more physical level and a more technical level because she’s lost her eyes.
She gets more action scenes this year…
And I love doing stunts. I’m so happy I’ve got some again. Last year, people have been like “Arya’s sweeping floors!” And everything I tweet they’re like, “Oysters, clams and cockles!” It’s part of the training okay? It’s what goes into that. And this year there is more of that, but it’s also more exciting.
Any final season 6 thoughts?
This year is so great because we’ve whittled it down. You can see the final storylines forming. We lost a lot of people last year and that makes it really exciting. There are fewer people on Arya’s list. But there’s also fewer people to fight for the throne.
For more on Game of Thrones season 6, get the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly, which goes behind the scenes in Northern Ireland and Spain, plus profiles six of the show’s female stars. Follow @jameshibberd for ongoing GoT coverage, subscribe to our Thrones email newsletter, and bookmark this page for our latest GoTstories.
Game of Thrones returns to HBO on April 24.
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The Syrian Electronic Army has been in the news a lot lately — in more ways than one. But who are they, what is their motivation, and why have they had so much success thus far?
They've taken down The New York Times, hijacked the Associated Press' Twitter feed and duped many into believing the White House had been bombed (the world panicked and the stock market plummeted before the deception was discovered).
This group of hackers, which supports the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, also appears to be responsible for hacking a number of other media websites, including NPR, The Washington Post and fake news site The Onion. In early August, the SEA hacked the blog of a contributor to Britain's Channel 4 news and posted a fake report of a nuclear strike on Syria.
In each case, the hacks seemed to come in response to an article or post that the SEA deemed anti-Assad.
The SEA's favored hacking methods include distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, in which hackers bombard a website with so many page views that they overwhelm the servers, effectively taking the website offline.
The SEA is also known to use phishing, which means sending official-seeming emails and websites to trick people into divulging login information. Once the SEA has this information, it places false or inflammatory posts on the compromised accounts.
Neither of these techniques is particularly sophisticated in terms of technical skill, but the SEA has been able to use them to great effect.
The most high-profile attack came on Aug. 27, when the SEA (or an organization claiming to be the SEA) effectively knocked The New York Times' website offline.
This time the SEA used a domain name system (DNS) attack, which is when attackers cause a URL (in this case "www.nytimes.com") to be associated with a different webpage. In this case, visitors to "www.nytimes.com" instead found themselves on a website emblazoned with the banner "hacked by Syrian Electronic Army."
In terms of technical savvy, a DNS attack is only slightly more sophisticated than the SEA's previous attacks. However, given the prestige of its target and the amount of control — however brief — the SEA gained over The New York Times' Web domain, it appears the SEA is upping the ante of its attacks.
Who are the Syrian Hackers?
Knowing what the SEA has done and how they did it is one thing. But it's still unclear exactly who and what this group is.
"The SEA is not an organization that we understand," Kevin O'Brien, an enterprise solutions architect from cloud security company Cloudlink, told Tom's Guide.
"There's not a group of actual state hackers — [the SEA] seems to be a quasi-political group of hackers who are doing certain things in the name of a political conflict happening around the world," he wrote.
The SEA first appeared in May 2011 when its first website, Syrian-es.com, went live.
At first, this website described the SEA as a group of young Syrians with no official ties to the Syrian government who wished to "fight back" against the country's enemies. However, two weeks after the website went live, the part claiming that the group was unofficial was removed.
The SEA's ties to al-Assad
Most of the SEA's websites were registered by the Syrian Computer Society, which serves as a registry for Syrian-based websites. The Syrian Computer Society was founded by Bashar al-Assad's brother Bassel al-Assad in 1989, and Bashar al-Assad later headed it before becoming president.
The Syrian Computer Society even gave the SEA a domain name ending in ".sy" (as opposed to ".com" or ".org"), which is usually reserved for official Syrian Computer Society websites. This is the SEA's only confirmed government connection.
In a June 2011 speech, Bashar al-Assad praised a number of Syrian citizen groups for supporting his regime, including the SEA, which he said "has been a real army in virtual reality."
The SEA posted on its website that it was honored to be acknowledged, but reiterated that it had no official ties to al-Assad's government.
In 2013, a representative of the SEA describing himself as "a (not the) leader" told The Daily Dot that "we are not supported by anyone or part of the government. We are just Syrian youths who want to defend their country against the media campaign that is full of lies and fabricated news reports."
In April 2013, a U.S. Web service provider called Web.com seized hundreds of domain names registered in Syria, citing trade sanctions against Syria as the reason for the action. Due to this action a majority of the SEA's websites offline, so the SEA moved the domains "sea.sy" and "syrianelectronicarmy.com" to a Russian Web host.
All that this background tells us is that some type of group calling itself the "Syrian Electronic Army" exists. The SEA's membership, recruitment methods and internal hierarchy are still a mystery.
Without more information about how the group makes decisions and executes attacks, it's impossible to know whether the SEA is responsible for The New York Times attack or even any of the other attacks associated with the group.
For example, just because the SEA claims responsibility for a hack doesn't necessarily mean that it's responsible; the group may be trying to increase its fame by riding on others' coattails.
Similarly, there's no way to tell whether a hacker claiming to represent the SEA actually has any ties with the organization.
And it's unclear what kind of resources or training the SEA has. They may not work directly with the Syrian government, but experts suspect that the SEA's membership includes some current and former government officials.
Thus far, the SEA has only launched unsophisticated attacks, but what the group lacks in technical finesse, they've made up for in persistence. As shown by the string of high-profile disruptions they've caused, their methods are working.
This story was provided by Tom's Guide, a sister site to LiveScience. Email [email protected] or follow her @JillScharr. Follow us @TomsGuide, on Facebook and on Google+.
Related on LiveScience and MNN:
This story was originally written for LiveScience and was republished with permission here. Copyright 2013 LiveScience , a TechMediaNetwork company.
What is the Syrian Electronic Army?
Bashar al-Assad's brother Bassel al-Assad in 1989, and Bashar al-Assad later headed it before becoming president.
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CALGARY • A corruption probe in China is reaching deeper into PetroChina’s operations in Canada’s oil industry, with four high-ranking company officials involved in oil sands deals now believed to be under investigation.
[np_storybar title=”Chinese arrest of former PetroChina Canadian chief casts shadow over Athabasca Oil projects” link=”https://business.financialpost.com/2014/07/16/petrochina-arrest-zhiming-li/”%5D
Zhiming Li, the PetroChina executive who until recently was responsible for the Chinese company’s operations in Canada, has been arrested in China, according to a report from Beijing
[/np_storybar]
Reports in China link Margaret Jia, until recently the general manager of CNPC International (Canada) in Calgary, to the investigation, which focuses on the Chinese oil giant’s purchase of oil sands leases at what are believed to be inflated prices.
Ms. Jia’s whereabouts are unknown. One report in China’s Want China Times says she has been arrested.
Ms. Jia, whose Chinese name is Xiaoxia Jia , is the sister-in-law of Yongkang Zhou, China’s retired national security chief who is the highest-ranking casualty of President Xi Jinping’s campaign against corruption and a main focus of the probe.
His whereabouts are also unknown and family members are believed to be with him, according to the South China Morning Post.
The probe initially targeted PetroChina, but has since spread to other oil companies and is expected to slow down decision-making.
The three other Chinese executives with connections to Canada who are under investigation are: Zhiming Li, the head of subsidiary Brion Energy Corp., who was arrested as he got off the plane in Beijing last month; Yiwu Song, the deputy-manager of overseas exploration and development at China National Petroleum Corp. who was taken away last week; and Qiliang Bo, the former chief of PetroChina’s international business, who is also being questioned, according to Caixin, a Beijing-based financial news organization.
The three executives had frequent dealings with Athabasca Oil Corp., the Calgary-based oil company that partnered with PetroChina in 2010 in a $5-billion joint venture to develop the MacKay River and Dover oil sands projects using steam-assisted gravity drainage technology.
Mr. Bo was the most senior and was closely aligned with Mr. Li, who was based in Calgary for four years and was unexpectedly recalled to China. Mr. Song was in Calgary in the mid-2000s and negotiated some of the company’s early oil and gas deals.
Athabasca is awaiting a US$1.23-billion payment from PetroChina after it exercised an option to sell its remaining 40% of the Dover project to the Chinese company. It was part of a complex put/call option agreement that Athabasca president and CEO Sveinung Svarte once described as a way out in case the two companies didn’t get along or had different priorities.
The mid-sized company needs the money to pursue its other plays in Canada for which it is seeking partners.
Athabasca investors are nervous that PetroChina will not honour the payment, which was expected by the end of June, or that it will try to re-negotiate it. The stock has weakened since then, but recovered some lost ground to close at $6.96 in Toronto Friday.
There is no fixed date for PetroChina to hand over the case, but Athabasca has been telling investors that the payment is imminent.
Others see the high-profile investigation as a signal that PetroChina wants to get to the bottom of activities in Canada before honouring the payment, and that the terms of the contract with Athabasca are not strict enough.
While the state-controlled company’s specific concerns about the Canadian activities are not known, the Chinese have expressed disappointment with the high prices paid for Canadian assets and about encountering difficulties in turning the assets into production. They seem more focused on cutting costs than on expanding.
Since taking over the MacKay River project from Athabasca, PetroChina has also faced huge cost overruns in developing production facilities, according to industry sources.
PetroChina has been criticized in China for buying oil sands projects that are an early development stage rather than properties already in production.
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An article last Thursday about Sweetwater Spectrum, a California residence for autistic adults, referred incorrectly to the extent of the financial support provided to residents. Of the 14 people holding leases at Sweetwater, 5 have subsidy arrangements of up to $2,250 month each; there are not just “a couple of scholarships.”
Bringing a Child Closer to Home
Sammy Rosenblum is a 30-year-old who enjoys swimming, swing sets, “The Muppet Movie” and karaoke. But most of all, said his father, Marc Rosenblum, “he likes being home.”
The catch is that Sammy lives in a facility for adults with autism 135 miles from his family’s place in Bergen County, N.J. “The round trip to take him home and take him back becomes 500 miles,” said Mr. Rosenblum, 56.
Sammy’s autism is profound. He can’t tell time or read the calendar, said his mother, Terri Rosenblum. “But he has some sense: he feels like he should be coming home,” Ms. Rosenblum, 53, said. “The longer the spacing between the visits, the worse his behaviors would become.”
That is about to change. In about a month, Sammy will be moving into Airmount Woods, a new eight-unit residence developed by Bergen County’s United Way and operated by the service agency New Horizons in Autism. “It’s going to be about 10 miles from our front door,” Mr. Rosenblum said. “The family will become an integral part of his life.”
The twin four-bedroom houses will use some of the latest concepts in building for autism. But the real innovation may be the way it promotes special-needs housing as a community asset. That term is not just a stock phrase. Airmount Woods belongs to a nonprofit group called Ramsey Housing Inc., formed by the Borough of Ramsey. The mayor, Christopher Botta, sits on the board, and he dropped by on a recent morning to show off the project. Almost every one of his constituents knows someone with autism, the second-term Republican mayor said. This isn’t housing for strangers.
Ramsey already owned the 1.6-acre site and was sitting on an affordable-housing trust fund of more than $2 million (amassed through compulsory surcharges). “It’s a good use for funds we’ve collected,” Mr. Botta, 46, said. But while good politics and good intentions may have laid the foundation, the $2.8 million project wouldn’t exist without the local United Way’s president, Tom Toronto, and the Madeline Corporation, a nonprofit developer.
Since 2000, the partnership has created 110 beds, more than half for supportive living. And projects in the pipeline will create residences for 24 more adults with autism. Mr. Toronto said, “We’d like to have a home for everyone.” They have a ways to go: New Jersey’s last housing wait-list for the developmentally disabled was 8,000 names long.
Mr. Toronto has shown a knack for marshaling millions of dollars from state and government programs. (The United Way also put $200,000 into Airmount Woods.) But the greater task lay in convincing boroughs to spend those funds in their well-mowed backyards. Ramsey, the mayor said, is a middle- and upper-middle-class community where typical houses sell for $400,000 to $500,000.
The key, Mr. Toronto said, was that “we were able to show that affordable housing didn’t look like affordable housing.” He points to Crescent Commons, a supportive-living home in Allendale, where “we had people coming in saying, ‘When’s the sales office open?’ ”
At Airmount Woods, the architect, James Virgona, 45, proposed an assertively modern design. But “we modified it to match the surroundings of the town,” he said.
The novel aspect exists on the inside, which has been planned for the safety and comfort of residents. It was a challenge, Mr. Virgona said, to maintain sight lines for caregivers while separating and noise-proofing bedrooms to minimize sensory stressors. And while architects prefer natural light, the autistic client is seldom fond of glare and shadow.
Ultimately, Mr. Virgona imagines that families will customize the 400-square-foot suites. When Sammy Rosenblum last lived with his parents, his mother painted “Sesame Street” characters on the wall. But that was 20 years ago. “It’s not age-appropriate here, maybe,” she said. Now she is thinking about a rain-forest mural. Ms. Rosenblum will know if Sammy approves. He’ll be living so close to home.
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Breitbart Tech editor Milo Yiannopoulos might consider himself social justice-proof, but even he must have been unsettled yesterday when two feminists called for him to be incarcerated for his tweets on live television.
Self-proclaimed comedienne Kate Smurthwaite called for Yiannopoulos to be “locked up” on the BBC’s The Big Questions yesterday, after having lost a debate to him previously by losing her temper.
Smurthwaite and Yiannopoulos had previously locked horns on the show last year, as her “institutionalised sexism” outburst was the source for the unforgettable “I’m talking about men, darling” viral video. For her disappointing performance, Smurthwaite received ridicule and criticism that she later sought to depict as “abuse” and “harassment.”
After complaining as to why Yiannopoulos, who refers to himself as a “Dangerous Faggot,” gets so much airtime, despite the fact his social media followings are over ten times the size of her own and probably more than the whole room combined, she argued that until we see some “high-profile individuals, perhaps including some in this studio, locked up, it’ll be time for other people to back off.”
This is not the first time feminists have called for Yiannopoulos and other free speech activists and writers critical of modern feminism to face criminal charges.
After his invitation to debate gender politics at Bristol University, the University’s LGBT+ Officer Charlie Oxborough defended prosecuting Milo on the basis that his “transphobic hate speech is not within the confines of the law.”
Calls were also made by Massachusetts Congresswoman Katherine Clark to open criminal proceedings against proponents of GamerGate such as Yiannopoulos, on the basis that the consumer movement for better ethics in video game journalism has been wrongly associated by the press with threats of murder, rape, violence, and the harassment of women.
It was also the police who feminists called into action in order to eject Yiannopoulos and Lauren Southern from the Amber Rose Slut Walk in Los Angeles last October, as women cried to police officers, “Thanks for taking out the trash!”
The progressive Left’s censorious instincts started with banning wrongthinkers from campus but is now escalating, with calls to effectively criminalise freedom of expression.
In fact when social justice warrior Bahar Mustafa, Goldsmiths University Student Diversity Officer, was arrested on the grounds of “sending a threatening communication” after she used the #KillAllWhiteMen hashtag, it was Yiannopoulos who was the first to speak out against her arrest.
As Yiannopoulos said at the time: “I mean, it’s only a matter of time before such a state would come for me, isn’t it?”
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“Battlestar Galactica” veteran Michael Hogan is taking on an earthier role for his next project.
Hogan, who played Colonel Saul Tigh on “Battlestar Galactica,” has been cast in Year 2 of FX’s anthology series “Fargo.”
Also Read: FX Boss Talks %u2018Fargo%u2019 Season 2 and %u2018The Bridge%u2019 Cancellation
Hogan will play Otto Gerhardt, a first generation immigrant from Germany who took over his father’s small trucking business and, through a mix of brutality and sheer will, turned it into a criminal empire that spans the upper Midwest. But he recently had a stroke and is now confined to a wheelchair, his every need taken care of by Indian servants.
Gerhardt has lost the ability to speak or feed himself or use the bathroom by himself. But he%u2019s too mean to die.
Also Read: FX%u2019s %u2018Fargo%u2019 Adds Ted Danson, Patrick Wilson and Jean Smart for Season 2
Set in 1979, the sophomore run of “Fargo” will focus on Lou Solverson (played by Keith Carradine in the first season, but inhabited by Patrick Wilson for the second run). The upcoming sophomore season will portray Solverson as a veteran who, four years back from Vietnam, is now a Minnesota state patrolman and devoted husband.
Ted Danson, Jean Smart, Kirsten Dunst and “Breaking Bad” alum Jesse Plemons have also been cast in the upcoming season.
Also Read: Colin Hanks Reveals Why %u2018Fargo%u2019 Needed to Go Back in Time for Season 2
Hogan’s post-“Battlestar” work includes roles on “Falling Skies,” “Teen Wolf,” “The Tomorrow People” and “Arctic Air.”
“Fargo” is produced by MGM Television and FX Productions.
Lauren Levitt & Associates and Thruline Entertainment represent Hogan.
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In anticipation of Project Scorpio's release this holiday season and the Xbox Game Pass later this spring, Microsoft has unveiled the details of its latest wireless controller.
The Recon Tech Special Edition controller retains many of the core features of the Xbox One's wireless controllers, such as customized button-mapping and Bluetooth connectivity with Windows 10 and Samsung Gear VR. It also increases the controller's wireless range and introduces a new design with laser-etching and rubberized grips on the back.
Launching on April 25 for $69.99, the Recon Tech Special Edition can be pre-ordered here.
[Source: Xbox]
Our Take
Microsoft is rolling out a lot of new hardware this year, as well as software improvements like the upcoming Creators Update. This is only going to continue to grow fan enthusiasm as the company forges ahead toward Scorpio.
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A candidate in Quebec's 2014 election has been refused the right to vote, which means he could face a lawsuit from the chief electoral officer if he's elected in his riding.
Quebec's chief electoral office (DGE) confirms that Brendan Edge is running as a candidate in Chomedey for the Green Party of Quebec. He's listed on the DGE's website as well as on his party's website.
But when Edge visited the local revision office with all his documentation to register to vote, he says he was turned down.
You could say there was a gap in the law if it was a frequent problem, but I think it's an isolated case.' - Denis Dion, Chief electoral office spokesman
"They said that [my documents] didn't prove that I was domiciled in Quebec and one of the men seeing me claimed that he checked and I wasn't even a candidate," he said.
Edge, who works and pays income tax in Quebec, said he moved from Ontario three years ago to study at McGill University.
Edge is one of many people who have publicly reported that they were turned down by the revision officers over the province's "in domicile" requirements.
The Quebec Elections Act requires all voters to prove that Quebec has been their main place of residence for the past six months, which complicates things for students from out of province, who often still have their old health cards and driver's licences.
Voters vetted more thoroughly than candidates
But that strict screening process does not apply to candidates, which creates issue for people like Edge.
Chief electoral office spokesman Denis Dion explains that candidates are only required to present a valid nomination paper and documents that verify their identity to the returning officer.
Candidates are also required to swear an oath that they're eligible to vote, but the returning officer is not required to ask for any proof of that claim.
Dion said cases like Edge's are an exception.
"He was obviously not aware of his status as a voter," Dion said.
"You could say there was a gap in the law if it was a frequent problem, but I think it's an isolated case."
The Quebec Elections Act states clearly that anyone elected to the national assembly must be a valid elector, which means Edge could be facing serious consequences if he wins in his riding.
According to Dion, Edge's election could be contested because he was not an elector, or he could also be sued by the chief electoral office.
Dion said Edge could face a lawsuit from the chief electoral office even if he's not elected.
Dion said that Edge's candidacy will remain valid, and the office will be keeping an eye on Edge's campaign.
"We took a good note of the story of Mr. Edge as candidate. We know him and we know what happened to him, but I can’t tell you if we’re going to do something more than that, it’s premature," Dion said.
Edge plans to take legal action
In the meantime, Edge said he's considering legal action of his own.
He'll be one of several people contesting their right to vote in the Quebec election.
Constitutional rights lawyer Julius Grey has already confirmed he is representing several others who have been kept off the voters list.
Grey said he'll be filing an injunction with Quebec Superior Court next week.
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In contrast to America's mixed system, Germany's non-government, non-profit healthcare promotes solidarity among income groups. The complaints seem modest by comparison.
Why not move to Germany? Credit: Getty Images
For the better part of a decade, the United States has fought a fierce partisan battle over whether Americans are entitled to a service that people in Germany and many other industrialized nations take for granted: universal, comprehensive health insurance. This debate touches a society’s core values. Many Americans struggle to reconcile their convictions about personal freedom, individual responsibility and the free market with a humanitarian imperative to ensure that no sick person goes without medical treatment because they cannot afford it.
In Germany, health insurance is not a partisan football. Germans believe strongly in a value rarely mentioned in the political discourse in the United States: solidarity. This principle is the foundation of Germany's statutory health insurance system, which in turn is the cornerstone of a social democracy that values equality as much as personal freedom.
What does solidarity mean in the context of health insurance? Germany’s largest health insurer, AOK, defines it this way: “The wealthier pay for less well-off citizens, the younger for the elderly, singles for families, and often, men for women.” As a result, almost nobody (less than 0.1 percent of the population as of 2015) lacks health insurance. And 84 percent of Germans like the system, according to an April 2017 survey by the pollster Forsa and the health insurer TK.
Around 85 percent of Germans are insured through the public, statutory insurance program that has its origins in Bismarck’s 1883 law.
The German system is nearly as old as Germany’s modern statehood. In 1871, after waging war in Europe to unify more than two dozen German-speaking principalities into a new state, Otto von Bismarck faced the task of consolidating Germany’s institutions at home. Confronted with rising agitation among the working class, Bismarck sought to defuse this "social question" and to win the loyalty of the proletariat. So he passed a raft of social insurance measures, including an 1883 law that required laborers to insure themselves through sickness funds. Laborers paid two-thirds of the costs of their insurance, employers paid the other third.
Bismarck was no progressive and he was certainly no socialist. He was a deeply conservative, authoritarian Prussian nobleman who banned most forms of socialist political activity and sought to limit the power of parliament. But as a practitioner of Realpolitik, he viewed social insurance programs as good statecraft to maintain social stability and to avert class warfare.
Despite Germany’s turbulent history, its health insurance system is one of its few institutions that has largely survived intact since the days of Bismarck. Today, around 85 percent of Germans are insured through the public, statutory insurance program that has its origins in Bismarck’s 1883 law.
Germans choose their primary care physicians, specialists and the hospitals they visit. In the German system there is no conflict between personal freedom and solidarity.
Though mostly public, the German health insurance system is not a state-run system like the National Health Service in the United Kingdom. In fact, more than 100 different health insurers, known as sickness funds, compete for members in Germany’s comparatively decentralized system. These sickness funds are non-profit, non-governmental organizations that operate autonomously.
The government does play a key role in setting standards. For example, all sickness funds are required by law to offer the same comprehensive benefits package, which covers virtually all health care needs. But it is a non-governmental body, the Federal Joint Commission, which decides what benefits are covered. The commission has 13 voting members, including 5 from the sickness funds, 5 from doctors and hospitals and 3 neutral members. The German system is thus not state-run. Nor, however, is it a private, for-profit system like America's. The sickness funds are non-profit organizations, and generally speaking, no money is exchanged at the point of service when Germans go to the doctor.
Most Germans' health insurance contributions are deducted from their paychecks by their employers. The amount, however, is capped at 14.6 percent of a person’s salary, split fifty-fifty between the employer and the employee, so 7.3 percent each way. But coverage is not dependent on the employer, so when Germans change or lose their jobs, nothing changes in their health insurance. Premium contributions, moreover, cover the full range of benefits. Co-payments do exist in Germany, but they are limited. For example, Germans have to pay €10 per quarter for outpatient care, between €5 and €10 for prescription drugs and €10 a day for hospital stays.
The sickness funds do not limit which doctors their beneficiaries can see, as is often the case with private health insurance in the United States. Germans choose their primary-care physicians, specialists and the hospitals they visit. In the German system, therefore, there is no conflict between personal freedom and solidarity.
Because the contributions are higher, patients with private insurance are a more lucrative business for doctors. As a consequence, they often receive service faster.
Though Germans are overwhelmingly satisfied, Bismarck’s system does face challenges in the 21st century. As in other rich economies, health care costs are rising in Germany as the population ages. In 2015, Germany spent €4,213 per person on health care, which adds up to 11 percent of gross domestic product. To deal with rising costs, the government has started subsidizing the sickness funds with tax money to the tune of €14.5 billion this year.
Private insurance exists but is controversial. Anyone who makes more than €57,600 a year can opt out of the public system and purchase a private policy. Nearly 9 million people have done this. Because the contributions are higher, patients with private insurance are more lucrative for doctors. As a consequence, they often receive service faster. An 2013 investigation by the news group Welt N24 found patients with public insurance often had to wait weeks longer to see a doctor.
Hoping to remove such disparities, the left parties in German politics have called for a sweeping reform that would in effect abolish the private insurance system and cover everyone in Germany under the public, statutory system. Frank Ulrich Montgomery, president of the German Medical Association, the main doctors’ organization, argues that this would lead toward a system of state medicine with rationing and long wait times. Proponents of the reform say that doctors simply don't want to lose the extra profits.
Proof, in other words, that healthcare is controversial all over the world. And yet Germans could not imagine discussing healthcare with the bellicosity and hysteria that Americans bring to the subject.
Spencer Kimball is an editor with Handelsblatt Global. To contact the author: [email protected].
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Many atheists who have left religion are angry.
They have good reason to be. There is often pressure from being in religion that too often ends in suicide, as is clear here and here, for example. Others have experienced various forms of religious trauma syndrome. Still others have PTSD symptoms that are perpetuated by religion, as this story notes:
Recently I was diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Interestingly enough, the PTSD stems mainly from my religious experiences and only partially from my time in Iraq. I would like to share what I go through every day with my PTSD symptoms, because hopefully my story can help someone else who has similar troubles. I really want to connect with people who experienced similar traumas to talk more–I don’t seem to find too many people that can identify with me in the Army. So here is what I go through every day: I’m so sick of my symptoms today–anxiety, anger, panic, depression, hopelessness. Like death is around every corner. I was starting to feel positive earlier today, like there was a light at the end of the tunnel, but then I read more of John Loftus’ How I Became an Atheist this evening. I need to read that book because avoiding the topic has gotten me nowhere, but every time I read it all the negative feelings start coming back, like I am headed towards hell. I will try to dissect these feelings. On the one hand, I felt positive today. I’m starting to believe in myself and my own recovery. I feel more confident, like I really am worth something, which contrasts with the bible that tells me I am worthless without god.
A read through hundreds of deconversion stories discuss similar stories of deep pain and loss — if you don’t believe me, follow the link and read them for yourself.
Here’s the thing: many Christians, reading this, don’t believe that it’s a big deal. It is very important for Christianity to be sunshine and rainbows, for many, so the first response is that we just didn’t hear the right Christianity, or something similar. And they often act as if it’s the first time we’ve heard these things.
To many Christians, this discussion is healthy, often because of what their church says weekly, or advice from evangelists and apologists, or — most likely — because of what the Bible says. Or maybe it’s because we just haven’t read Mere Christianity by CS Lewis or The Case For Christ by Lee Strobel (newsflash — we’re probably more familiar with him than Christians are) or Reasonable Faith by William Lane Craig, or The New Evidence That Demands A Verdict by Josh McDowell or I Don’t Have Enough Faith To Be An Atheist by Norman Geisler and Frank Turek or The Reason for God by Timothy Keller. Believe me, atheists — especially those in more Christian areas — tend to be more familiar with these books than non-Christians, in my experience.
So when the response is anger from someone who religion — your religion of Christianity, to be specific — has hurt, the response is often indignance.
How dare we share the feelings of those unjustly hurt by religion.
How dare we show the pain religion inflicts on hearts, minds, and bodies.
How dare we have the honesty and the empathy to state that yes, we are angry.
How dare we find ways to laugh at the items of faith that once made us tremble, to show that there is nothing in them to fear.
The nerve.
It’s much like someone complaining about someone screaming “call an ambulance” in a theatre when someone beside them has a heart attack. This does not obligate you to scream, as well, but to focus on the fact that his screams are disturbing people in the theatre more than the fact that he is concerned about the heart attack, or to be critical of his tone or volume in the theatre — that says more about you than him.
In some situations it is possible to be a physician in regards to religion and other ideological stances — distanced, measured, calm, collected. The physician may yell less, especially if the operation after the man comes in goes successfully.
In some situations, an insistent, strong insistence is needed.
That’s what I want to communicate, and why I at times sound shrill — religion a source of vast amounts of unjust suffering, and at times I declare that insistently, or I try to become a voice for those it so cruelly hurts.
Also — I think a respect for experience is needed. If you are not living in a predominantly religious area (and don’t read much about how religion harms individuals in other parts of the world), it seems likely that you will not think that atheism is a big deal. Fine. That does not give you license to wag fingers to someone who is trapped in the Bible Belt — a completely different situation. Same with aspects of gender, race, and familial background. Atheism may be just about a lack of belief in God or gods, but it is also often manifested in the noises made when you strike up against religion. The more you, in your situation, come up against religion, and the more connected your past is to religion, the more pain you may experience regarding the subject. The more belligerant and insistent you may have to be to set up boundaries for yourself and others.
And this pain is not self-inflicted. Make no mistake — it comes from a religious environment, most of the time, that there are legitimate reasons to be angry with.
I think it is, in many situations, ignorantly arrogant to say that you know what someone else’s temperance should be in their lack of belief of God or gods. We obviously should not harm people, but I do think anger is, at times, an appropriate response in someone’s situation, when they want to make an idea clear. And I think, in other situations, my job is not to wag fingers at the person who is angry, but to interpret that anger in a way that will clarify to hearers where it is coming from and the reasons it may, at times, be justified.
That’s basically it. Don’t judge people too quickly who handle their atheism a bit more “stridently” than you do, especially if you don’t know their situation.
I am frequently fairly insistent, as I am an African American, which is an ethnicity that is strongly religious, I live in the South, I have deeply religious family members, and I know many people who have been deeply hurt by religion and others who are in the closet. I am in a position to speak up, so I often speak up strongly. I don’t insist that others do the same, but I think that strident speech is often appropriate.
If we’re angry, perhaps you can ask us why, and we can clarify it to you. I assure you, there are many legitimate reasons — it is rationally based anger. And in more nonreligious countries, the louder insistence may not be necessary — just as, if people are paying attention and calling the ambulance, you don’t have to shout as much. But you don’t need to go far in those deconversion stories to see that, in many places, the louder voices seem to be appropriate for the situation discussed — especially among those on whom religious forces have inflicted the most pain.
I’d like to continue trying to represent them.
Thanks for reading.
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Task Force Argo uses a scorpion in its insignia. Image: NPS/Robb Hannawacker
Australian authorities hacked Tor users in the US as part of a child pornography investigation, Motherboard has learned.
The contours of this previously-unreported hacking operation have come to light through recently-filed US court documents. The case highlights how law enforcement around the world are increasingly pursuing targets overseas using hacking tools, raising legal questions around agencies' reach.
In one case, Australian authorities remotely hacked a computer in Michigan to obtain the suspect's IP address.
"I think that's problematic, because they've got no jurisdiction," Greg Barns, an Australian barrister who practices criminal and human rights law who's also a former national president of the Australian Lawyers Alliance, told Motherboard in a phone call.
"The Love Zone" was a prolific dark web child abuse site, where users were instructed to upload material at least once a month to maintain access to the forum. By July 2014, the site had over 29,000 members, according to US court documents, constituting what the US Department of Justice described as a "technologically sophisticated conspiracy."
"If they get your IP address from the Tor Browser, then it is law enforcement hacking"
In 2014, Queensland Police Service's Task Force Argos, a small, specialised unit focused on combating child exploitation crimes, identified the site's Australian administrator in part because of a localized greeting he signed messages with. The unit quietly took over his account, and for months ran the site in an undercover capacity, posing as its owner. Task Force Argos' logo includes a scorpion, and the tagline "Leave No Stone Unturned."
Because The Love Zone was based on the dark web, users typically connected via the Tor network, masking their IP addresses even from the law enforcement agents who were secretly in control of the site. Task Force Argos could see what the users were viewing, and what pages they were visiting, but not where they were really connecting from.
In response, Australian authorities hacked some of the users to get their real IP addresses.
"The proprietors of TLZ [The Love Zone] designed the website to allow users anonymity when they visited the site, but after the Australians took it over, they unmasked the IP addresses of many of those who used the site," a court document from the case of Seth Piccolo reads. Last month, Piccolo, from Grand Rapids, Michigan, was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to distribution and possession of child pornography.
Court documents describe how Australian authorities "unmasked" Tor users, which would require a hacking tool.
After hacking their targets, the Australians turned over information on US citizens to the FBI. A filing in another The Love Zone case suggests the FBI received IP addresses for more than 30 US-based users of the site.
"All of those users are currently under investigation for producing, distributing, receiving and accessing child pornography through this website," Department of Justice attorneys wrote in the document, unsealed in March of this year.
Matthew Borgula, Piccolo's attorney, confirmed to Motherboard in an email that Australian authorities sent Piccolo a link that, once clicked, sent his real IP address to investigators.
Details on how exactly this was achieved are limited, but according to a court document from another case, "When a user clicked on that hyperlink, the user was advised that the user was attempting to open a video file from an external website. If the user chose to open the file, a video file containing images of child pornography began to play, and the FLA [foreign law enforcement agency] captured and recorded the IP address of the user accessing the file."
The file was configured in such a way as to route the target's traffic outside of the Tor network, the document explains.
"If they get your IP address from the Tor Browser, then it is law enforcement hacking," Christopher Soghoian, principal technologist at the American Civil Liberties Union, told Motherboard in an encrypted phone call.
The Love Zone's Australian owner, Shannon McCoole, is currently serving 35 years in jail for child sexual abuse. But things get more legally complicated when Australian authorities gather information on suspects overseas.
"The person would have to have a link to the jurisdiction," Barns, from Stawell Chambers, wrote in an email.
He added that authorities might be able to argue that because the site's owner was Australian, that gives them the greenlight to conduct overseas searches for other suspects. At one point, The Love Zone server was also reportedly moved to Brisbane, giving Task Force Argos, the Queensland Police Service unit that took over the site, access to every private message on the site.
"But they can't simply wander around the world, assisting other law [enforcement], saying, 'We're here to help,'" Barns said.
By the very virtue of the investigation, Australian authorities likely would not have known where the computer they wanted to hack was located; indeed, that was the exact problem that the Tor network presented.
Whether the Australian authorities hacked computers in other countries remains unclear.
It is unclear on what authority Australian law enforcement obtained a warrant, or whether one was obtained at all to gather IP addresses from Piccolo and others in the US. Task Force Argos declined to answer any questions or comment for this story.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) told Motherboard in an email that, "The AFP was not aware of, or involved with this operation." The AFP directed all enquiries back to the Queensland Police Service.
Whether using a hacking tool to grab the real IP address of a Tor user constitutes a search in a legal sense has recently become a contentious issue in the US. Several judges have said that suspects do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy around their IP address when using the Tor network, meaning that it is not protected by the Fourth Amendment, and a hack grabbing it would not require a warrant. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, as well as some courts, have argued otherwise.
Many judges presiding over cases stemming from the FBI's Playpen investigation, in which the agency hacked thousands of suspected visitors of another child pornography site, have found that the warrant was invalid because the judge who signed it did not have the authority to greenlight searches outside of her district. Previous Motherboard investigations have found that the FBI, as well as targeting suspects around the US, hacked computers in Austria, Denmark, and elsewhere.
"It's easy to think of law enforcement hacking just as a phenomenon where the US hacks people who are located around the world, and we have to remember that this works both ways," Soghoian told Motherboard.
Whether the Australian authorities hacked computers in other countries remains unclear.
Christopher Allen, a spokesperson for the FBI, declined to answer specific questions about the The Love Zone operation, but said that generally, "The FBI, led by its Legal Attaches in numerous countries around the world, seeks to foster strategic partnerships with foreign law enforcement, intelligence, and security services as well as with other US government agencies by sharing knowledge, experience, capabilities and by exploring joint operational opportunities."
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Steinberg: If Trump won’t lead, there’s always Pope Francis
If you visit the University of Notre Dame, located near but not actually in South Bend, Indiana, as I did a few years ago, scouting colleges with my boys, you might be surprised, as I was, by the Jordan Hall of Science.
Though opened in the relative yesterday of 2006, Jordan Hall is a gorgeous brick edifice with crenelated ramparts, Gothic tracery windows and arched doorways festooned with carved stone statues. Not statues of Catholic religious saints either, but the Catholic saints of science: Louis Pasteur, Madame Curie, and, I noted with amusement, Galileo.
Galileo Galilei, you may recall, ran afoul of the church by claiming the Earth revolves around the sun; heresy because it implied that little old us are not the center of the universe, the hub of God’s creation.
The church has come around since then, and admitted the Earth does indeed revolve around the sun whether the pope says it does or not, just as — and you saw this coming, didn’t you? — the Earth’s climate is heating up because of the carbon emissions humanity has been spewing into the atmosphere for the past 200 years whether Republicans acknowledge it or not.
Most of the world accepts this, but the GOP — in the lazy denialism that also elects a Donald Trump to the presidency — are loath to recognize this truth for a simple reason: battling climate change costs money, money their masters — the oil and coal companies — prefer to keep for themselves.
Not that they put it in those terms. That I could almost respect. It’s one thing to boldly smoke, another to insist that medical warnings are dubious. In that spirit, Republicans gin up the most distorted climate change logic to hide behind. I’ve heard it all: science has been mistaken in the past, ergo it must be mistaken now. Some people disagree, therefore everything is up for grabs. Any rationale except the actual one.
OPINION
Enter Pope Francis.
At the end of November, the pope gathered some of the world’s premier scientists at a meeting of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences at the Vatican.
There has “never been such a clear a need for science,” the pope told them, not naming Trump, who said he would walk away from the global climate change agreements the United States signed, but condemning the “ease with which well-founded scientific opinion about the state of our planet is disregarded.”
You might wonder: how does the Catholic Church manage to mesh science with an ancient faith while more recent offshoots, like Evangelical Protestantism, can’t seem to get their heads around it?
I would argue that, while the Catholic Church certainly has had its moments of intellectual shame, burning books and holding inquisitions such as the one that vexed Galileo, respecting contrary opinions did not arrive with Pope Francis. “One should not try to defend the Christian faith with arguments that are so patently opposed to reason that the faith is made to look ridiculous,” St. Thomas said. If you read a Roman philosopher like Seneca, if you enjoy a play by Aeschylus, the only reason their words survived to our day is because Catholic monks transcribed them from crumbling scrolls onto new parchment for about 1,000 years, even though the ideas being preserved represented thoughts that were at odds with their theology. The church respected ideas other than its own.
Sadly, that tradition of preserving intelligence through a Dark Age is required again. The United States has hitched its cart to a fervently anti-science Congress under the whip hand of an unfit fraud. Pope Francis’ leadership is welcome, and while Trump hasn’t pried his lips off Putin’s hind end long enough to hypocritically denounce the idea of paying heed to a foreign leader, that great moment in hypocrisy no doubt approaches.
Inside Jordan Hall of Science is a museum dedicated to biology, with a focus on evolution, an endeavor that would get all responsible parties fired at Wheaton College.
Walking in, I couldn’t help point out the sculpture to my boys.
“Galileo,” I said. “All is forgiven.”
My lads squinted at the statue.
“He recanted,” my older boy dryly observed.
Cynics. Where would we be without them?
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UFO at the bottom of the Baltic Sea cuts off electrical equipment when divers get within 200m | Earth. We are one.
Sun, 22 Feb 2015 02:40
The divers exploring a 'UFO-shaped' object at the bottom of the Baltic Sea say their equipment stops working when they approach within 200 meters of the object.
Professional diver Stefan Hogerborn, part of the Ocean X team which is exploring the anomaly, said some of the teams' cameras and satellite phones would refuse to work when directly above the object, and would only work once they had sailed away. He is quoted as saying:
''Anything electric out there, and the satellite phone as well, stopped working when we were above the object. And then when we got away about 200 meters, it turned on again, and when we got back over the object it didn't work.''
Hefty trajectory: The Swedish diving team noted a 985-foot flattened out 'runway' leading up to the object, implying that it skidded along the path before stopping but no true answers to this are clear.
Diver Peter Lindberg said: ''We have experienced things that I really couldn't explain and I have been the team's biggest skeptic regarding these different kind of theories.''
He continues..
''I was kind of prepared just to find a stone or cliff or outcrop or pile of mud but it was nothing like that, so for me it has been a missing experience I must say.''
Member Dennis sberg said: ''I am one hundred percent convinced and confident that we have found something that is very, very, very unique.''
''Is it a meteorite or an asteroid? Or a volcano? Or a base from say, a U-boat from the Cold War which has manufactured and placed there? Or if it is a UFO?
Well, honestly, it has to be something.''
The quotes were first reported at NDTV. DailyMail also reached out to the Ocean X team for clarification.
The team did get some pictures, such as these soot-covered rocks that encircled an egg-shaped hole which went into the object at its center, and have no idea what any of it means.
No clarification: The divers made their sonar discovery public but waited a year to make the dive because they had to gather enough funding.
Landing spot: The exact coordinates of the object have not been released, but it is confirmed to be somewhere at the bottom of the Botnia Gulf in the Baltic Sea between Finland and Sweden.
The object was first found in May of 2011, but because of a lack of funding and bad timing, they have were not able to pull a team together to see for themselves '' just the strange, metallic outline and a similar disk-shaped object about 200 metres away.
During their visit, the team saw a 985-foot trail that they described as ''a runway or a downhill path on the seabed with the object at the end of it''.
The sonar picture of the unidentified object resembles the famed Star Wars ship the Millennium Falcon.
As it was before the recent dive, the story behind the object is anyone's guess, from a ''plug to the inner world'' to the Millennium Falcon ship from Star Wars.
While the Ocean Explorer team is understandably excited about their potentially earth-shattering find, others are slightly more sceptical and are questioning the accuracy of the sonar technology.
In the past, such technology has confused foreign objects with unusual, but natural rock formations.
Part of the trouble they face is that they have no way of telling what is inside the supposed cylinder, whether it is filled with gold and riches, some sort of energy source, or simply aged sedimentary particles.
The Baltic Sea is a treasure trove for shipwreck hunters. An estimated 100,000 objects are thought to line the cold seas' floor.
The company has created a submarine that they hope will appeal to tourists and wannabe shipwreck hunters who will pay to take a trip down to the bottom of the Baltic Sea to see it for themselves.
The Ocean Explorer team's sonar pictures show that the object is a massive cylinder with a 60 metre diameter and a 400 metre-long tail. A similar disk-shaped object was also found about 200 metres away.
Unidentified Object: Shipwreck divers are completely perplexed by the oddly-shaped object that they found at the bottom of the Baltic Sea.
Tourist trips: Diver Peter Lindberg is hoping to take tourists down in this submarine to see the object.
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Source: DailyMail
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There is no such thing as a free lunch, unless of course someone else is picking up the tab. While Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd’s services were entirely free for its customers until March 2017, they came at a great cost to the company.
Leave alone recovering the massive investment in the telecom project, operating expenses themselves are enormous and could be way above revenues that Reliance Jio will make based on current tariff plans.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (Trai’s) quarterly financial report provides a glimpse of how much Reliance Jio might have spent on just interconnection charges in the March quarter. Interconnection charges of 14 paise per minute are payable by a telecom operators whose subscriber makes a call to the telco whose subscriber receives the call.
Based on Trai’s data for the March quarter, analysts at Kotak Institutional Equities estimate that Reliance Jio may have paid other services providers as much as Rs1,500 crore for calls terminating in their networks (caveats/assumptions below). For perspective, Reliance Communications Ltd, with a somewhat similar subscriber base, reported gross revenues of Rs1,653.7 crore for the March quarter to Trai, which is nearly as much as what Reliance Jio spent on only one of its many expense items.
Reliance Jio is estimated to have had an average active subscriber base of around 70 million in the quarter, which translates to an outgo of more than Rs70 per subscriber per month on just interconnection usage charges.
Note that even after the company announced that it will start charging its subscribers, its revenue per subscriber per month is only around Rs100 for its flagship plan.
So while Reliance Jio may have started charging for its services, its tariffs still appear to be way below levels where they make economic sense. Analysts at CLSA Research said in a recent note to clients that the company’s current tariffs are at a 66% discount to full tariffs.
Of course, the estimated interconnection cost is based on a number of assumptions— that Reliance Jio didn’t account for any of the revenues it received for its Prime memberships, and that the gross revenues reported by the company pertain only to revenues received for incoming calls originating from other services providers. Likewise, the other assumption is that adjusted gross revenues of Rs1,178.6 crore are arrived at after deducting only interconnection charges paid, and not any other costs (see chart).
While these seem fair assumptions—for instance, if revenues from Prime memberships had been included (Rs99 from 72 million Prime subscribers), reported revenues would have been much higher than the reported number of Rs321.5 crore—it must be noted that numbers reported to Trai by telcos do vary at times with financial results reported to investors. As such, the true picture will emerge only when Reliance Jio starts recognizing revenues and profits (it has been capitalizing expenses until the March quarter), and reports its financial results.
It’s interesting to note here that while Reliance Jio has capped data usage in its flagship plan to 1GB per day, there are no restrictions on voice calls. If, indeed, the company is bearing a cost of as much as Rs70 per subscriber on interconnect costs, it probably should consider a fair usage policy that contains costs, besides an increase in tariffs to cover other costs. But considering that it is still in the process of growing its user base, either of these moves may well backfire.
From the looks of it, some lunches will be still free for Reliance Jio’s customers; investors in parent company, Reliance Industries Ltd, need to be mindful that the tab is getting bigger by the day.
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Episode 85
December 29, 2015, Dick
Filter Bubbles 1826 Envy / Jealousy 1212 Concussions 1192 Spending Too Much On Christmas Gifts 917
Welcome to episode 85. The one where I hate Star Wars. Mickey Mouse owes me 50 bucks or a night with Goofy.
Did you spend too much on Christmas presents? I didn't, but boy did my life-coach, who schlonged himself for three grand when he planned to spend about a tenth of that. Learn your geography, kids. That's the lesson. It could save you a mortgage payment someday.
Maybe my life-coach went to homeschool?
Speaking of, Maddox doubles down on homeschool before we even get started this week, but at least he gets back to basics by bringing in videos that children made and then making fun of them. He doesn't bring in the symphonies of 8-year-old Mozart, however, a famous homeschool. Nor does he mention something called The Constitution, written by famous homeschool Thomas Jefferson.
The study I mentioned about the average homeschooler testing at a full grade-level above their public school peers is linked in the sources below. The study also finds that if you read it, you're a nerd.
Maddox brings in jealousy and I hate because I wish I'd thought of it.
I bring in a bigger threat to the NFL than cheating, drunk driving, violent assault, dog fighting, racist names, wife beating, shooting yourself in the leg, flashing of bad tits, rape, murder, dick pics, and lack of a kick-off: concussions. 270,000 teens every year suffer from concussions. I think we can all agree that the last thing teenagers need is being a more dumber.
Maddox also brings in Filter Bubbles, the process by which computer algorithms give you the news you want to hear and not the news that's out there. I don't know if that's true though. My news feed isn't entirely nip slips and Black Twitter and that's all I want to see. Is the gradual homogenization of human thought by computers a problem? Vote it up.
Finally, Chris Strand sends in a song. I read an obvious prank email from a listener named Mia. Great job Mia. You almost got us.
Here are Angry Youth Comix by Johnny Ryan referenced in the show. Maybe you're the third person in the world who thinks these comics are funny besides Maddox and myself. I doubt it though, you're probably not cool enough and too stuck up.
Sources: Eric.ed.gov - Study about homeschoolers testing a full-grade above their level. Wikipedia - Health issues in youth sports Wikipedia - Filter Bubbles The Atlantic - Interview with Eli Pariser The Economist - "A world constructed from the familiar is a world in which there's nothing to learn..." -Eli Pariser Psychology Today - The difference between envy and jealousy The Conquest of Happiness, Bertrand Russell, p.67 Wikipedia - People with narcissistic personality disorder are more likely to be envious. Thumbnail Sources: Hillary Clinton Football helmet, MSNBC, Fox News
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Understanding the fear Debra Green says she lives, one must go back in time to March 19, 2010 and the funeral for her sister. The south sider says it was a horrific day burying her best friend. Then, she says, it got much worse.
As the procession left the funeral home, it headed west on 79th Street towards Vincennes. That’s when a Chicago police officer –driving her own car and late for work – cut in.
Green says she pointed to her own car’s funeral sticker, motioning that it’s not proper to disrupt a funeral procession. But she says, the woman, who turned out to be officer Sylshina London, cut in and kept following the procession.
But officer London tells a very different tale.
She says Debra Green threw a bottle at her and hit her in the face and her car. London made a “10-1” call: An assault on an officer, officer in distress. What happens next are lights flashing, sirens blaring as every officer available rushes to the aide of one of their own.
Debra Green had no idea what was about to happen. Here’s how she describes it:
“My heart had just dropped,” she says. “And the guns was just everywhere. They surrounded the whole car from the front to the back to the side saying “Get your f**king hands up right now. Get your hands up.’ And I just threw my hands up. I didn’t know what to do. I threw them up.”
Commander Glen Evans heard the call too. He was a lieutenant at the time and off-duty, but he showed up. Who is he? He’s best known for recently being accused to jamming his gun down a suspect’s throat in a police abuse case.
What Evans did next to Green might make one question whether there really was “an assault on officer” in this case. He let Green and the rest in her car go. But again, letting Green explain, Evans allegedly left her with this diatribe.
“He took my ID and he said I’m going to let you go,” she says. “And he said ‘You’ll all going to turn yourself in or I’m going to kick you’re f**king doors in’. And I’m like ‘For what, officer? I didn’t do nothing.’ ‘ You heard what the f**k I said. Turn yourself f**king in or I’m going to kick your f**king doors in.’”
All of this led to Green missing her sister’s burial. Then a date in court with a judge who didn’t believe her, but rather, believed Officer London’s version of the story.
Green was convicted of assaulting the officer. She was devastated. She says the judge told her there was no evidence showing she assaulted the officer. That he believed an officer of the law who testified under oath and not an angry woman about to bury her sister.
It turns out there was evidence. Camera #170 on the corner of 79th St and Vincennes shows something – a smudge, some trash or a bottle, but it’s nowhere near the officer’s white car. In fact, the officer’s window is clearly rolled up so nothing could have hit her.
A year later Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alverez cleared Green and charged Officer London with perjury. Green’s attorney, Victor Henderson, said, but for the camera, Green would be just another convicted Chicagoan.
Green is suing the city over the arrest and conviction she was put through. But even now, there is some justice. On Thursday, former Officer London began serving four months in prison for lying. Her mentor and the man who testified under oath on her behalf is none other than Commander Evans.
Chicago police wouldn’t comment because there is a lawsuit from Green pending. It did say the Independent Police Review Authority is investigating the case. Evans attorney did not comment. Evans, by the way, pled not guilty to the most recent case of sticking the gun barrel down the man’s throat.
WGN Investigates talked off camera to former Officer London as she was turning herself in to jail. She maintains her innocence, saying she was hit with a bottle during a confrontation but it happened before the videotaped moment that was made public.
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Welcome to my
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I'm Jacqueline Stallone, world famous and internationally esteemed astrologer and psychic. You may also know me as the mother of the iconic Sylvester Stallone and Grammy winning singer/songwriter Frank Stallone.
But here is what I want to tell you right now!
I have been the astrologer to kings, prime ministers, politicians, movie stars, gamblers, generals, gangsters, cops and priests.
If I can help THEM -- I certainly can help YOU!
You probably have heard me on Howard Sterns' radio show or seen me on Oprah, Larry King, David Letterman, as well as Graham Nortons' show in the U.K.
I have the answers to your questions with my many astrological tools. Are YOU…
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I'm much more than someone who has been around the block many times. I have seen and done damm near it all, or tried to!
I have been a circus aerialist, a Broadway show girl, a Radio City Music Hall "Rockette", a beautician, author, host of my own sports show featuring my fabulous wrestlers, "The Glow Girls" and my boxers, "Stallones' Knockouts". You can read more about my life on my biography page!
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You have unlimited power over your mind – not outside events.
Realize this, and you will find strength.
–Marcus Aurelius
These small changes in your daily routine will make a major difference in your life by helping you grow stronger and more capable in the long-run:
1. Make yourself somewhat uncomfortable.
You may feel comfortable bobbing around in the little lake that you’re used to, but if you don’t stretch your comfort zone and venture out into the adjoining waterways, you’ll never discover the beauty and immensity of the ocean – you will never even know it exists. Holding on to what’s comfortable may be the very reason you often feel like something is missing in your life.
Remember, just because you venture out into the world doesn’t mean you can’t return home whenever you want to. It’s okay to come back to where you started, but it’s not okay to never leave.
2. Work on substantial goals.
The worst thing you can do is set personal goals that are far lower than you are able to achieve. Settling for mediocrity when you know you are capable of doing better is reprehensible. Too many people don’t realize this until it’s too late. They think failure is the worst possible outcome of a goal. But the truth is, when a goal is set properly failure still brings you closer to success by teaching you lessons about what doesn’t work. Failure lets you move on, while mediocrity holds you back from reaching your full potential.
Life is short. If you catch yourself continuously succeeding but still feeling incomplete, it’s time to reevaluate your goals. It’s time to stop diminishing your soul by being run-of-the-mill with mediocre intentions when you have the opportunity to stretch yourself to your full potential. Pursue something so significant that even if you fail, you are better off for having tried. Read The Front Nine.
3. Nurture your self-worth.
The worst loneliness – the kind you can’t escape – is when you are uncomfortable with yourself. If you feel lonely when you’re alone, it’s time to start loving yourself more. As the Buddha so profoundly said, “You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.”
If you are not at peace with yourself, you will not be at peace in the company of others. They may distract you for awhile, but the truth will eventually reveal itself. Almost everything you do and think is a reflection of what you believe about yourself. You simply can’t outperform the limits you set. If you expect less of yourself, you will never rise to your full potential. You cannot withdraw any more from your potential than you think you’re worth.
4. Tell yourself the right story.
You tell yourself a story inside your head every day. No matter where you are or what you’re doing, you’re always reciting it. This story makes up a big part of who you are – you build much of your life from it.
You will either use this story to your advantage, or it will use you. This is why you have to tell yourself the right story. If you tell the right one, it will make you more alive, more human, more courageous, more passionate, and more loving. If you tell the wrong one, the exact opposite occurs. Obviously, you owe it to yourself to get the story right. Read 1,000 Little Things.
5. Chat with people who see things differently.
As Frank Zappa once said, “A mind is like a parachute. It doesn’t work if it is not open.” It’s okay to disagree with the ideas and opinions expressed by others, but that doesn’t give you the right to discredit their character simply because you don’t like what they’re saying. Learn to appreciate new and interesting perspectives when you encounter them, even if it means opening your mind beyond what you currently find comfortable.
Before it is too late, pay attention to those around you and find someone who, in your opinion, believes or understands certain things very strongly and very differently from your own perspectives, and just have a friendly, honest conversation with them. It will be a healthy, eye-opening experience for both of you.
6. Avoid those who hold you back.
As Gandhi once said, “Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” It’s about making choices and taking actions that speak to your soul.
Don’t live a life of emotional poverty in which your happiness depends on the permission of another. Give yourself permission to follow the path that makes you happy. Realize that some people in your life will refuse to walk beside you as you embark on this journey; they simply won’t approve no matter what you say, and that’s okay.
Sometimes when you commit yourself to creating your own happiness, it clashes with the perceptions of others. Sometimes when you gain something great, you have to let go of something else. And sometimes this ‘something else’ is a relationship that only wants you to do what they want you to do. Read Emotional Vampires.
7. Cope effectively.
Every human being on Earth is part of a tragedy at some point. No one is immune. You never really know what’s coming – a small ripple in the water or a tidal wave. All you can really do is cope effectively so that when the big one comes, you can surf over it instead of drowning in its monstrosity.
The key is to remain positive, because honestly, if you can’t laugh a little when things don’t go exactly as planned, then you’re either dead or wishing you were… lose-lose. The bottom line is that, on some level or another, every event in your life is either good for you or it is bringing about what you need to deal with in order to create goodness in your future.
Life’s changes and evolutions are win-win. Life is self-correcting.
8. BE where you are while you’re there.
It’s the process of following your path that’s important, not the speed at which you progress down it. Happiness is found during the journey, not at the destination. Slow down so you can appreciate the forest for each of its trees. You have a better chance of truly seeing where you are when you stop spending every waking moment trying to get somewhere else.
You have the power to make your moments more enjoyable simply by realizing that where you are is as good as where you want to be. It’s not a matter of settling for less than you are capable of, or staying right where you are indefinitely. It’s about taking the time to celebrate the goodness surrounding you and how far you’ve come, rather than focusing exclusively of what’s still left to be done. Read The Power of Less.
Photo by: Hartwig HKD
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Despite the apparent failure of the Schiaparelli lander, the ExoMars 2016 mission is still rolling, the European Space Agency (ESA) said.
According to ESA officials, the Schiaparelli lander might have released the parachute and rear heat shield too soon as it streaked down the atmosphere of the Red Planet on its scheduled landing Wednesday, Oct. 19. The lander fell silent shortly before its scheduled touchdown, but its mothership--the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) -- entered the orbit of Mars as planned.
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has captured images of markings on the expected touchdown site of the Schiaparelli lander, which was suspected to be the remains of the spacecraft. ESA officials estimated that the lander dropped from a height of between 2 to 4 kilometers, impacting at a speed of more than 300 km/h. Officials also suspected the lander exploded on impact, as its thruster propellant tanks were still possibly full. The ExoMars team is still working to reconstruct an accurate chain of events and identify the source of the anomaly.
At the moment, officials said that the ExoMars team continues to decode the data extracted from the recording of the lander's descent signals recorded by the TGO in order to establish correlations with the measurements made with the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT), which is an experimental telescope array located near Pune in India and with ESA's Mars Express from orbit. According to the team, a "substantial amount of extremely valuable" Schiaparelli engineering data were relayed back to the TGO during the descent is being analyzed by ESA engineers.
Despite the Schiaparelli's ill-fated landing, TGO is still looking well and healthy, and is currently well within the planned initial orbit, ESA said in the same statement. The orbiter will then be ready for the planned maneuver in March 2017, which will bring the vehicle into a 400-km (250 miles) altitude circular orbit around Mars. From then, TGO will begin its two-year science mission: to study Mars' gases.
"Following yesterday's events we have an impressive orbiter around Mars ready for science and for relay support for the ExoMars rover mission in 2020," Jan Wörner, ESA's Director General, said in a statement. "Schiaparelli's primary role was to test European landing technologies. Recording the data during the descent was part of that, and it is important we can learn what happened, in order to prepare for the future."
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One Nation candidate and former senator criticised for ‘absolutely appalling decision’ not to stand down staffer, who was charged with rape in May
Malcolm Roberts, the disqualified One Nation senator now running for a Queensland state seat, retained an accused rapist as his adviser for five months.
Sean Black, who worked for Roberts until the senator was ruled ineligible by the high court last Friday, was charged with rape and six counts of assault on 24 May.
Black’s arrest was widely reported but the rape charge, confirmed at the time by Queensland police to Guardian Australia, could not be made public for legal reasons.
The ban on reporting has been lifted now that Black has been committed to trial in the Queensland district court.
One Nation adviser Sean Black charged with assault Read more
Hetty Johnson, a prominent advocate for victims of sexual crime and an independent candidate in the seat of Macalister, said Roberts had made an “absolutely appalling decision” by not standing Black down when he was charged.
“It lacks any kind of moral integrity towards alleged victims of crime,” she said.
A Brisbane magistrate ruled on 12 September that the rape charge against Black was supported by sufficient prima facie evidence. Details of the allegations against him still cannot be published. Black was committed to stand trial in the district court on one count of rape and three of assault occasioning bodily harm.
A date for a trial is yet to be set. Black separately faces three counts of common assault in the Brisbane magistrates court.
Black told Fairfax Media, which reported his committal to trial on Thursday, that he was no longer working for Roberts, who is standing for the seat of Ipswich.
Johnson told the Guardian: “You would expect Sean to have stood himself aside [from his role in Canberra], to be honest. But failing that, you would have to expect a politician, an elected representative would stand him down.
“We’re talking about somebody who’s working to change laws and legislation, whose voice is an important part of our democracy.
“Not to say the person’s guilty or not guilty, but that’s the problem, you don’t know, so no – they shouldn’t be working for a politician. They should be stood down immediately from any public role, even in a public service role.”
Troy Aggett, who was the endorsed One Nation candidate in Ipswich before Roberts until he quit the party over a falling out to run as an independent, said Roberts had shown a lack of judgment and should have stood Black down.
“I don’t think something like that should be taken lightly. Considering the position you’re holding and the impact you can have on legislation being made, I don’t you should be advising or anywhere near someone who has an influence on legislation being made.”
Aggett, a former Australian federal police officer, said an AFP officer charged with rape would be stood down immediately without pay.
“I would have thought that if you had those sort of allegations against you that you wouldn’t be allowed to work within the parliament realm but apparently you can.”
The Guardian attempted to contact Roberts for comment on Thursday morning.
Black told Fairfax that he was not managing Roberts’ Ipswich campaign, but was “a friend of Malcolm’s”.
“That is the only role I have in his endeavours. Any claims to other roles is [sic] inaccurate.”
Black was charged after a police investigation that began when a complaint was lodged in August 2016.
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Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. speaks to reporters, Friday, April 8, 2016, in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) ORG XMIT: NYMA102 Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. speaks to reporters, Friday, April 8, 2016, in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) ORG XMIT: NYMA102 Photo: Mary Altaffer Photo: Mary Altaffer Image 1 of / 4 Caption Close Albany braces for Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump events 1 / 4 Back to Gallery
Albany
Downtown business operators anticipate high foot traffic on Monday, when thousands of people are expected to flock to the city to hear presidential candidates Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders speak at two rallies within hours of each other in advance of the state's primary on April 19.
At 2 p.m. Monday, Sen. Bernie Sanders will host a rally at the Washington Avenue Armory, a venue that can hold up to 4,300 people, and businessman Donald Trump will speak at 7 p.m. at the Times Union Center, which can hold up to 17,500 people. His fellow Republican candidate, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, will also be in the area Monday, but will bypass Albany.
The city used the weekend to prepare for an influx of visitors.
The Downtown Business Improvement District alerted businesses to road closures and parking restrictions, and Albany's "clean team" swept sidewalks to tidy up the city in advance of an influx of out-of-town guests, said Georgette Steffens, the group's executive director.
Cider Belly Doughnuts put a political spin on its treats, sold on North Pearl Street near the Times Union Center.
The shop advertised its "Cider Bernie" — topped with maple buttercream and a honey sriracha drizzle – and a "What A Trump" – a plain doughnut with chocolate mousse and sea salt caramel truffles – on a sign outside its shop. (Other candidates have themed doughnuts on the "ballot," too.)
Employees of local restaurants said they prepared for the rallies by adding staff to Monday shifts and, of course, speculating about what it would be like to have a candidate as a customer.
"It'll be chaos, but let's hope it's organized," said Erika Presher, a bartender at the Pearl Street Pub, less than a half-mile away from the Times Union Center.
Several extra employees will work on Monday to accommodate the anticipated frenzy, Presher said. "It's going to be like a St. Patrick's Day, but people won't be outside drinking."
City Beer Hall will bring on its full staff on Monday, as it does for other large events at the Times Union Center.
The crowd coming on Monday may largely be from out of town, restaurant general manager Josh Grant said on Saturday.
More Information Candidate convergence comes to the Capital Region Monday Sen. Bernie Sanders, Democratic presidential candidate When: 2 p.m. (doors open at 11 a.m.) Where: Washington Avenue Armory, 195 Washington Ave., Albany Info: http://berniesanders.com Donald J. Trump, Republican presidential candidate When: 7 p.m. Monday (doors open at 4 p.m.) Where: Times Union Center, 51 S. Pearl St. Info: http://donaldjtrump.com Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Republican presidential candidate When: 2:30 p.m. Monday (doors open at 1:30 p.m.) Where: LaSalle Institute, 174 Williams Road, Troy When: 5:30 p.m. Monday (doors open at 4:30 p.m.) Where: Springs City Center, Broadway, Saratoga Springs Info: http://johnkasich.com
"We're ready for it," Grant said. "It's always exciting to be next to the Times Union Center at events like this."
Additional parking regulations likely will not affect business at the Steuben Street Market, an organic and local food store, said part-time employee Barbara Tonne. "Finding parking is tough here anyway," she said.
Tonne said the intense political dialogue has made the primary season exciting in New York.
"I would like to have a placard out there saying 'Go Home, Trump,'" she said, later crediting the candidate for the "open and rich" conversation regarding the election that stretched over the last several months.
Taylor Cianciotto, a College of Saint Rose student who has worked at Noho Pizza for three years, said she would be working on Monday evening at the small shop just feet from the Washington Avenue Armory. She said Sanders supporters may drop by the store after the rally.
Her boss, she said, joked that Sanders may turn to the shop for a slice of pizza, too.
"I can only hope," she said, laughing.
Doors will open at the Armory at 11 a.m., and at the Times Union Center at around 4 p.m.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich will also be in the region on Monday, with appearances scheduled at 2:30 p.m. at La Salle Institute in North Greenbush and at 5:30 p.m. at the Saratoga Springs City Center in Saratoga Springs.
Democratic front-runner and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Albany and Cohoes on Monday, and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz appeared in Scotia on Thursday.
[email protected] • 518-454-5018 • @lindsayaellis
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The Pitcher formed the hardstyle scene in his early stages. Now, he gathered his experience in his new album with a solid mix between energy and dynamic.
Not only a must have for true The Pitcher fans, but also for people who desire a true hardstyle sound. Great collabs and a brilliant mix will make this single CD album to an unforgettable experience.
Check out the promo mix below and hear for yourself. Buy it on hardstyle.com or the official Fusion Records shop.
Interview with The Pitcher
“Shock And Awe” is a powerful name for an album, what is the idea behind it?
Hardstyle has always been about power, energy and the dynamics in structure of the tracks. The typical anti-climax in a lot of hardstyle tracks is the best example for this. Shock and Awe stands for these dynamics, but in a way that it fits with the typical The Pitcher sound. We want to surprise our fans with new innovative sounds and tracks, which will put them in “Shock And Awe” 😉
How did you get started, producing the first tracks and how did the whole project evolved with time?
Michel and I decided to create a rougher sound for The Pitcher; by that time our track Rhapsody was born. It really had that raw sound but we haven’t forgotten our roots in hardstyle.
To make a statement about where we stand in today’s scene we decided to make a whole album with this “realhardstyle” sound. It still has this typical The Pitcher twist though, which stands for quality and to push sounds and ideas to a next level.
Any track or collab you are very proud of, and why?
We are proud to work with all those big names in the scene. They are the leading artists at the moment, not only in popularity but also in sound, which is more important to us. Every collab has something special and has a big value for this album. We are very thankful that we worked with these guys.
The best solo track for me is the “Shock And Awe Anthem”. It was pretty difficult to find the right feeling in the track. It took us some months but now it sounds exactly like the hardstyle sound we love the most. The track is not raw, not euphoric, just #realhardstyle.
We had the chance to check out the album already. But could you give our readers a brief summary of the style of “Shock And Awe”?
Like I already mentioned before, we wanted to produce some “realhardstyle”. Our goal was to create some tracks with guts. The most of our tracks have rough sounds in the intro and a good melody in the middle of the track.
“Shock And Awe” stands for The Pitcher’s sound anno 2015 and shows the listeners how diverse we are and what real hardstyle is all about. So nope, it’s not just euphoric or just raw.
With the album there is also a documentary going around. What’s that all about?
We already have released a few episodes of The Hardstyle Way. It’s about me touring, promoting and working in the studio. The whole “DJ experience”. It’s on all the usual social media channels: Facebook and YouTube.
People can have a look into my life and ‘join me backstage’ at an event. We also gave the listeners some sneak previews of tracks before we uploaded the official previews. So yeah, give it a name, it’s a mixture between a documentary and some personal after/backstage videos.
Do you have a personal message for our readers?
We already gained some massive support, thank you for that! We read every comment and private message and I really love it to make people happy with our music. We put a lot of time, effort and passion into this project. So, I really hope to get your support!
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The proprietor of renowned Astoria food cart The King of Falafel and Shawarma is slated to open his first brick-and-mortar location at the end of January, as first reported by DNAinfo. Food cart master Freddy Zeideia will be serving an expanded menu at the 30-seat restaurant, including charcoal-grilled kebabs, hummus, and tabouli. A post to the King of Falafel's Facebook page touts a January 30 grand opening. The restaurant at 30-15 Broadway is just a block away from the original cart, which will still be operating.
Zeideia has been working in food since he opened his first cart close to 15 years ago, a project he started after he quit driving a cab. In 2010, he won a Vendy award for his falafel and shawarma. He makes the white sauce, tahini, and hot sauce from scratch, and the best seller is the chicken platter, made with boneless chicken thighs that are marinated overnight.
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John Goodman will star in Rupert Wyatt’s next film, “Captive State,” sources tell Variety.
Wyatt, whose past credits include “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” and “The Gambler,” will direct from a script he co-wrote with his wife, Erica Beeney. David Crockett will produce along with Wyatt. Participant Media recently won a heated bidding war for the spec, beating out a handful of suitors, including FilmNation Entertainment.
Plot details are being kept under wraps, but the film will have a sci-fi angle. It is also unknown what role Goodman will be playing in the film.
Jeff Skoll and Jonathan King of Participant Media will executive produce. The movie will be released through Participant’s output deal with Amblin Partners, with Focus Features releasing domestically and eOne launching it in the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, Spain, and the Benelux countries.
Goodman most recently starred in Dan Trachtenberg’s “10 Cloverfield Lane” from producer J.J. Abrams, as well as Peter Berg’s upcoming Boston Marathon bombing pic “Patriots Day.”
Goodman will next appear in “Kong: Skull Island” and “The Coldest City” opposite Charlize Theron. He is also lending his voice to the next “Transformers” movie, “Transformers: The Last Knight,” and Luc Besson’s “Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets,” which hits theaters next summer.
He is repped by Gersh.
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Stephen Gorevan, a co-founder of Honeybee Robotics, has thick snow-white hair that seems to float above his head like a cloud, and he wears glasses with pronounced black frames. He greeted a recent visitor to Honeybee’s offices, on Thirty-fourth Street, by producing a magnifying glass from his pocket and pointing toward a framed photograph of Mars on the wall. “Want to look at something neat?” he said.
The photo showed what some scientists believe is an ancient salt-sea bed near the Martian equator, and was taken by the NASA rover Opportunity, in 2004. To the visitor, it looked like a generic spacescape: rocks and dust and not much in the way of color. Gorevan handed over the magnifying glass. “Do you see anything near my pinkie?” he asked. It was hard to say. “Something segmented?” Gorevan suggested. After some hesitation, the visitor wondered, “Is it supposed to be an animal?”
“We’re forbidden to utter those words,” Gorevan said, and then bounded down the hall to his office overlooking the Hudson River, sidestepping the large reddish hunks of basalt that were scattered about on the carpet: simulated interplanetary surfaces collected from the Mojave Desert, southwestern Spain, and the Canadian Arctic, for drilling practice. He retrieved a copy of the latest Aviation Week from his desk. The cover showed the Phoenix spacecraft, which had recently managed, after several failed attempts, to shake some dirt collected on the northern plains of Mars into an onboard oven, for chemical analysis. (Scientists at the University of Arizona, which is leading the Phoenix mission, celebrated by dancing to K.C. and the Sunshine Band’s “Shake Your Booty.”) “When you have something land on Mars, we start wearing our T-shirts, and sleeping and thinking and almost eating Mars,” Gorevan said. His shirt read “M.E.R. Development Team,” referring to the Mars Exploration Rover project.
Honeybee is a rare breed—a NASA spacecraft contractor in Manhattan. “People in our community are used to Southern California and Texas,” Gorevan said, and conceded that recruiting employees was “problematic.” (First-generation Americans from City College are the company’s prime resource.) But now that the Phoenix has struck a hard white material beneath the Martian dirt, it is Honeybee’s own custom-made scoop that is responsible for digging and collecting. The hard white material, Gorevan explained, is presumed to be a kind of “super ice, up to four or five times stronger than sidewalk concrete.” His scoop features a rasp which resembles a tile-cutting bit that you might buy at Home Depot. It spins at five thousand revolutions per minute and is unaffected by extreme low pressures and temperatures.
Ice equals water equals . . . life? “They never say they’re looking for life directly, because that would be setting themselves up for huge failure,” Gorevan said, of NASA. “They’re looking for ‘the conditions for life to have evolved.’ The mantra is ‘Follow the water, and we’ll get there.’ ” He added, “To me, this is ultimately all reconnaissance for sending people. I mean, we have to check the place out.”
Gorevan led his visitor on a brief tour of the engineers’ workspace, which resembled both a metal shop and a HAZMAT treatment facility, with “Nitrogen Warning” signs, a thermal vacuum chamber, and a “clean room,” where a test was being conducted for a five-hundred-piece mechanism that will be sent to the Red Planet in 2009, to aid in collecting rock samples. “I did have a dream once that there was this great ‘Eureka!’ press conference about how we’ve discovered life on Mars, and it was actually the dead skin of one of our employees,” Gorevan said.
Back in his office, the television was tuned to Channel 367, NASA-TV, which showed astronauts floating around inside the space shuttle Discovery. Gorevan mentioned the photograph in the hallway again and, using a red globe on his desk, indicated the spot where the Opportunity rover had landed: the Meridiani Planum. Honeybee also built the rock-abrasion tool (or RAT), that the Opportunity uses for its own shallow digging. “I have this fantasy that that bug out there is actually a fossil of a segmented worm,” Gorevan said. He recalled his feeling of intense relief when a photograph came back from the rover following its landing and its initial successful employment of the RAT, in 2004. “I have kids,” he said. “I’m supposed to say I was happy when my kids were born. I was much happier when this image came through.” ♦
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(To all first time readers, this "chatroom" style writing does not last beyond this chapter, dont be scared off)
/SYSTEM_BOOT_UP
/BOOT_UP COMPLETE
-WELCOME_USER_MAE-
Mae: Hey sorry about earlier.
Bea: It's fine, it was a mistake, I know you didn't purposely do it.
Mae: Thanks… Uhh, How's your Dad doing?
Bea: Pretty good, we took him to Dr. Hank, he says that the parasite in my Dad can be beat and he should just rest for now.
Mae: So do nothing? Isn't that like, what he normally does?
Bea: He's old, Mae.
Mae: Yea but like Mr.P is like waaaay older then him and he's still outside doing stuff.
Bea: My Dad worked hard before and a while after my Mom passed away. Him working 12 hour shifts almost every day did a lot of damage to his body.
Mae: True but Mr.P fought "em dam effing Krauts" Which I think wore down his body a *lot* faster.
Bea:Wait, what? How do you know that?
Mae: He wasn't always such a meanie, remember? back when we were kids Mrs.P would have us over for lemonade and let us play in the sprinkler, do you really not remember?
Bea: Oh wow I totally forgot about that. Man that feels like it was a 100 years ago.
Mae: After we were done we would sit on his porch and he would tell us about when he was young.
Bea: Oh yea and Mrs.P would have to tell him to "Quiet down now Richard" when he started too get to *graphic* lol.
Mae: Scar3d 4 lif3
Bea: agr33d
Mae: Whatever happened to Mrs.P?
Bea: I think she kicked the bucket? Pretty sure it was just age.
Mae: I guessed now we know why he's so cranky. I feel bad but like, he's like *always" an ass so.
Bea: Still, try and be at least a little nice to him?
Mae: Yea, sure.
Bea: Ok well, Im gonna go to bed, I am so. Effing. Tired.
Mae: Same. Why did Greg have to drag us so far out in the woods, just to see some stupid waterfall?
Bea: I mean, it was pretty, but not worth the three hour long hike.
Mae: Agreed. Well, goodnight.
Bea:Night
*A few hours later
*Bea wakes up to a loud crash from her Father's room. She runs in to find him on the ground, grabbing his chest and coughing blood. Bea quickly picks him up and places him back in bed, she then runs to the living room, grabs the house phone and calls 911. The operator says to hang tight, that help is on the way and will be there soon. Thing is, the hospital is a 20 minute drive away and one look at her Dad's state convinces Bea that it may already be too late. She tries to call doctor Hank, but is interrupted by her Father.
"Bea… Come here." Says Bea's Dad.
"Y-yea Dad? What is it?" Says Bea, walking hastily towards her Father.
"Bea look at me…"
"Bea turns to look at her father. He's a mess, his eyes are red, and his teeth are stained red as well from all the bloody coughing.
"Look, help will be here soon, you just have to-"
"Bea… We both know this is it for me. When Hank said that there were, "some cases of survival" he was talking about for rich folk, not us. He also told me that *Cough* their people out there who buy the corpses of people with the parasite for research. I told him that once I die, I wanted them to take my body and give you the money…
"No Dad don't talk like that, you're gonna make it, please don't just give up on me!"
"I am Bea, im fighting as hard as I can, but it's doomed fight. Look, you need to promise me that you'll get out of this god forsaken town. Your Mom and I tried our hardest to get this family out of this hell hole, but it looks like only one of us is gonna escape. Bea… Promise me you'll live the life you deserve…
"Dad no, I-"
"Please Bea… Promise me…"
"Ok, I promise, look, the E.R people will be here any second, just stay with me, please!"
"Dad?"
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Republican leaders realize cannot win this election. They lack the leadership, and their policies run contrary to what the American people want. They are also starting to realize that they cannot buy the election. Democratic volunteer presence on the ground dwarfs the best Republicans can buy. That said, Republicans have more ways to steal an election than a blue dog has GOP fleas. Here’s another. They are trying to fool voters into believing that they have been disenfranchised, and in some states, they are using your tax dollars to do it.
A Pennsylvania judge on Tuesday blocked the key component of a highly contested state law requiring strict photographic identification to vote in next month’s election, saying the authorities had not done enough to ensure that voters had access to the new documents. The result, that Pennsylvanians will not have to present a state-approved ID to vote in November, was the latest and most significant in a series of legal victories for those opposed to laws that they charge would limit access to polls in this presidential election. With only a month left until Election Day, disputes around the country over new voter ID requirements, early voting, provisional ballots and registration drives are looking far less significant. “Every voter restriction that has been challenged this year has been either enjoined, blocked or weakened,” said Lawrence Norden of the Brennan Center for Justice, which is part of the New York University School of Law and opposes such restrictions. “It has been an extraordinary string of victories for those opposing these laws.” Voter ID laws have been taken off the table in Texas and Wisconsin. The Justice Department has blocked such a law in South Carolina, which has appealed in federal court. In Florida and Ohio, early voting and voter-registration drives have been largely restored. New Hampshire is going ahead with its law, but voters who do not have the required document will be permitted to vote and have a month to verify their identity… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <NY Times>
Photo credit: Veracity Stew
Now this article makes it look like we’re winning hands down, and we are, BUT that won’t help if voters stay home, because they believe that they need ID that they do not have to vote. Rachel Maddow and Joan Fitz-Gerald discuss how Republicans are still trying to disenfranchise legitimate voters, even in places where courts rejected their voter suppression laws.
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
It is critically to not only defeat these Republican attempts at election theft, but also to make sure voters are informed that we defeated the Republicans, so Republicans cannot fool them by lying to them they can’t vote.
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VR development is exciting, in part because of the immense, unexplored territory for creating usable, engaging, and delightful experiences. However, in these early days our ability to predict which ideas will turn into great experiences is still maturing and can often be wrong.
After several cycles of development, it became clear that getting our process into VR as early as possible was essential. This was difficult to do within the landscape of VR tooling. So, at the beginning of 2017, we began developing features for early-stage VR prototyping in a tool named “Expo.”
Our team has experienced this faulty forecasting first-hand. We brainstorm, whiteboard and pantomime many intriguing ideas. We filter them down to what we think is most promising and invest time into building usable prototypes. The outcomes can take us by surprise. What was imagined as a sure-fire idea reared unexpected problems, while minor or gimmicky sounding features provided delights worth keeping.
Expo is an Unreal template containing starter code and assets that allows us to jump into VR within minutes of creating a new project. We can quickly produce visual representations of our ideas and perform standard VR interactions, all within a collaborative setting.
Expo Features
Marker
The core brainstorming tool in Expo is the marker. The marker affords 3-D drawing with basic customization of size and color. Once a drawing is completed it becomes a physical object in the world that can be picked up, moved, duplicated, and pinned to a player avatar.
The fundamental workflow of brainstorming in Expo: draw objects & interfaces then manipulate them naturally
Rich avatars
To explore the nuances of social VR and to express our identity, each of our team members has an avatar in Expo. The avatars support a number of expressive features. The faces include voice-driven lips and synthesized, but believable, eyebrow movement and blinking. Hands support the vocabulary of gestures provided by the Oculus Touch and we are extremely excited to incorporate the finger tracking supported by Valve’s “Knuckles” controllers when we get them.
It’s amazing how expressive our avatars are using only information from the headset & motion controllers
Wizards of Oz
Avatars can choose to turn invisible at any time while retaining the ability to manipulate objects and talk. This serves as great way to do “Wizard of Oz” prototyping. When testers interact with elements that would require logic and animation, one or more invisible agents can act out that behaviour instead.
Pay no attention to the man behind the vendo-4000!
Similar to paper prototyping and other techniques, this allows usability testers to interact with an experience closer to our intended output, but before significant development effort is spent.
Scaling
A more recent addition to Expo is the ability to dynamically scale the size of our avatars. It has a been a surprisingly useful feature for creativity. At a large scale a user can draw full rooms and spaces in an ergonomically friendly way. At a miniaturized scale small objects can be produced in fine detail. For example, one team member created a jewelry store for a brainstorming session with highly detailed rings.
Mini-Jon & Byron discuss a watch UI
The Web in VR
We have incorporated the awesome BLUI Plugin into Expo. With it we can display HTML content and browse the web from within VR. A huge benefit is the ability to bring external docs into VR, be it an issue tracker from GitHub or a user-flow script from Google Docs. The browser preserves the real-time collaboration features of these tools, allowing people outside of VR to make changes that are immediately reflected in VR.
We expect the bridge between the 2-D web and VR to create other magical results in the near future.
A whole new dimension to the web
In our experience, anything that keeps us from having to remove the VR headset is a win for development speed. We are looking forward to the recently announced Oculus Dash platform that will allow us to debug code and perform other 2-D desktop-bound tasks within the VR headset.
Session Recording
Expo’s components are built with multi-user networking in mind and leverage Unreal Engine’s network replication. As a tremendously useful by-product, we are able to take advantage of Unreal’s replay recording & playback functionality. More powerful than mere video recording, replay recording allows us replay a scene from any angle, whether from an interactive camera or from the perspective an any person (or thing!) that was a part of the scene.
Controlling playback speed, timeline location, camera position and perspective in an Expo replay
Further, we can touch-up art and sounds post-recording and replay the performance. This has been a tremendous help in creating videos, GIFs, and exemplary content to share with others, while also documenting our explorations. Because Unreal engine is a multi-platform engine, these replays can be viewed in numerous ways: in VR, in a regular 2-D window or even on mobile devices. This functionality was used to produce all the videos/images for this post!
How We Use Expo
We use Expo both as a starting point for projects and as a tool for ideation and prototyping of new ideas. The tools organically support the entire project life-time, from being the first-step creative tool during brainstorming, to annotating and communicating required changes in the final stages of a project.
For ideation, the team will often jump in a half-hour session and ponder a single aspect of the VR commerce experience. For example, “What are different ways to manage a ‘shopping cart’ in VR?” Each team member gets their own semi-private space where they can explore and build ideas in the quantity or depth they choose. When time is up, we work our way down the row letting each member of the team show-and-tell.
Brainstorming time! “How do users explore product variants?”
This process in Expo has provided benefits beyond its use as a tool. The rapid expression and exploration of ideas in VR has allowed us to more effectively communicate.
Kae showing the group an interface concept
Our explorations in Expo has lead to meaningful team bonding. Similar to ice-breaker exercises for sprints, it’s not uncommon to start a week with a VR warm-up where we goof on silly scenarios or doodle outlandish outfits and scenes for each other.
Some ideas can only be communicated using the power of VR
Start Prototyping in VR Now
We developed Expo because the tools for collaborative prototyping did not exist at the start of this year. Since then, the landscape has dramatically improved and there are many tools providing prototyping workflows with no requirement to do your own development:
Facebook Spaces and SteamVR Home allow teams to create quick doodles and play with props together.
MasterpieceVR has professional-grade sculpting tools and the critical feature of multi-user interaction.
Mindshow allows a single user to pantomime and record avatars and objects interacting to create shareable vignettes.
In addition to these released tools, the development of tools aimed at VR UX professionals is well under way and should surface with time and industry growth.
Our team has already experienced a great return on investment from VR prototyping that is simple, sociable, and shareable. We encourage everyone to find tools to accelerate their prototyping and make team communication faster and more fun.
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Image copyright AFP Image caption North Korea has carried out nuclear tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013, despite international condemnation
Activity has increased at North Korea's nuclear test site, South Korea says, ahead of a visit by US President Barack Obama to the region.
The military was "currently detecting a lot of activity in and around the Punggye-ri nuclear test site", a South Korean defence ministry spokesman said.
North Korea could be planning to hold a "surprise nuclear test or just pretend to stage a nuclear test", he said.
North Korea has carried out three nuclear tests in the past.
South Korea's foreign minister warned of the dangers of another.
"If North Korea goes ahead with another nuclear test as it has publicly warned, it will be a game changer," Yun Byung-se said.
'New form'
North Korea's most recent test was in February 2013 - an incident that triggered several months of severe tension on the Korean peninsula.
Image copyright GeoEye
It also carried out tests in 2006 and 2009.
All of the tests - which were signposted well in advance - resulted in the imposition of UN sanctions on Pyongyang.
North Korean nuclear tests Three underground nuclear tests have been carried out by North Korea, in 2006, 2009 and 2013
The first two tests were believed to have used plutonium, but it is not clear whether or not the third test used uranium as the fissile material
North Korea is thought to have enough nuclear material for a small number of bombs, but not the technology to make a nuclear warhead
Multiple rounds of multi-national talks have failed to convince Pyongyang categorically to commit to giving up its nuclear ambitions N Korea's nuclear tests Q&A: N Korea's nuclear programme
UN Security Council resolution 1718, passed in October 2006 after the first nuclear test, bans North Korea from nuclear and missile tests.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff on Monday set up a special task force to monitor the situation, the spokesman said.
Multinational talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear ambitions have been stalled for years.
Late last month, North Korea threatened to carry out a "new form" of nuclear test. It is not clear what that means.
While Pyongyang has tested devices, it is not yet believed to have mastered the process of making a nuclear warhead small enough to deliver via a missile.
Mr Obama is due to arrive in South Korea on Friday, after a three-day visit to Japan.
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Theresa May has confirmed she will meet new US President Donald Trump for talks at the White House on Friday.
In a major coup for No 10, she will be the first world leader to visit President Trump in the White House and they will meet less than a week after his inauguration.
The PM, who has publicly criticised the billionaire in the past, insisted she 'won't be afraid' to challenge his 'unacceptable' views but said the focus of the meeting in Washington will be on trade, Nato and Syria.
She said she looks forward to welcoming Mr Trump to Britain 'sometime this year' but said invitations for state visits are decided by Buckingham Palace.
Theresa May has confirmed she will meet new US President Donald Trump for talks on Friday
She refused to say whether she will use Friday's meeting to bring up his controversial comments about women, but she told the BBC today: 'I will be talking to Donald Trump about the issues that we share - it's the special relationship that enables us to say when we think things are unacceptable.'
'Whenever there is something that I find unacceptable I won't be afraid to say that to President Trump,' she added.
She insisted that being a female Prime Minister and the first foreign leader to meet Mr Trump since his inauguration will be the 'biggest statement' she can make about the role of women in the world.
Mrs May did vow to use Friday's meeting to confront Mr Trump over his opposition to Nato.
She said she will reiterate the importance of the military alliance and press him to continue America's support to help protect Baltic states against Russian aggression.
But Ted Malloch, a close Trump adviser who is tipped to be his choice for the US ambassador to the EU, said the President will pursue a radical shake-up of Nato.
Mrs May's vow to stand up for women's rights during the Trump presidency comes after a weekend in which hundreds of thousands of people around the world joined women's marches to protest against Mr Trump.
THERESA MAY VOWS TO CONFRONT TRUMP ON NATO Theresa May, pictured arriving at the BBC in London today, insisted she 'won't be afraid' to challenge Trump's 'unacceptable' views but said the focus of their meeting later this week will be on trade, Nato and Russia Theresa May will tell Donald Trump he must recognise the value of Nato when she becomes the first world leader to meet the new US President on Friday. She vowed to press the US President to commit to continued US support for the mutual defence alliance. He has previously branded Nato 'obsolete' and in a sign that he intends to keep to his 'America First' strategy one of his close advisers said today that the new US administration will pursue a radical shake-up of the organisation. In the latest attack on Nato from Team Trump , Ted Malloch, tipped to be the next US ambassador to the EU, suggested there would be more 'burden sharing' in the military alliance. Asked about President Trump's stance on Nato now he has entered the White House, Mr Malloch told the BBC today: 'I think that the institutions will be recreated. 'Some of them may be taken down, there may be some new ones. 'I think Nato itself and certainly the defence secretary will have discussions with Donald Trump about how Nato can be reformed and reshaped and maybe there'll be more burden sharing. That's an important thing for Mr Trump.' Mrs May said she would confront Mr Trump on his opposition to Nato and urge him to make clear that America stands ready to defend the Baltic states in the event of Russian aggression. She will tell him that Britain is committed to spending a minimum of 2 per cent of national income on defence until at least the 2020 General Election and will pledge to press other Nato members to 'step up to the plate and pay their way'. Mrs May told the Andrew Marr Show today: 'I've spoken to him about Nato - Nato is very important, Nato has been the bulwark of our security here in Europe and we work together in Nato. 'We've both made the point before about contributions being made by countries, the United Kingdom is spending 2 per cent of its GDP on defence, I believe that's important.' She added: 'What is important is that we recognise the value of Nato, which he does, the value of Nato as an organisation that is helping us to defend Europe and defend the interests of all of those allies who are in Nato.'
An estimated 500,000 people joined the 'pink pussy hat' march in Washington and 100,000 marched in London yesterday.
In October Mrs May hit out at revelations that Mr Trump had boasted that his fame allowed him to 'do anything' to women - such as 'grabbing them by the pussy'.
She said his comments were 'unacceptable'.
Mrs May also lashed out at Mr Trump over his pledge at the end of 2015 to ban Muslims from entering the US and branded him 'plain wrong' after he claimed police in London were afraid to go out and police the streets of London.
She told the Andrew Marr Show today: 'I have already said that some of the comments that Donald Trump has made in relation to women are unacceptable, some of those he himself has apologised for.
'When I sit down I think the biggest statement that will be made about the role of women is the fact that I will be there as a female Prime Minister, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, directly taking to him about the interests that we share.'
The PM highlighted her 'track record' in defending the interests of women, including moves to tackle modern slavery and domestic violence while home secretary.
She said she will use Friday's meeting with Mr Trump as an 'opportunity to talk about trade, world challenges, defeating terrorism and conflict in Syria'.
The Prime Minister, who was the tenth world leader to be phoned by Mr Trump after his election, was due to meet him in February but will now fly out this week.
The pair are expected to discuss a new deal for Britain as it prepares to exit the EU and Mr Trump hopes their co-operation will match the friendship between Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s.
It was revealed that Mr Trump refers to Mrs May as 'my new Maggie'.
Mr Trump will also invite Mrs May to unveil a statue of Sir Winston Churchill which he has returned to the Oval Office after Barack Obama removed it.
The PM has said she is 'confident' of striking a deal and has suggested the UK and US could even reduce barriers to trade before being able to sign a formal agreement after Brexit.
She insisted Mr Trump was looking for 'early' talks on a UK-US free trade deal despite his 'America first' strategy sparking concerns that he would not be willing to reach an agreement.
'He and people around him have also spoken of the importance of a trade arrangement with the United Kingdom and that is something they are looking to talk to us about at an early stage, and I would expect to be able to talk to him about that alongside the other issues I will be discussing with him when I am in Washington,' she said.
Mrs May has also spoken of reducing barriers to trade before a formal deal can be reached after Brexit, amid reports of potential moves to set up a 'passporting' system for transatlantic banking.
One of the items said to be on the agenda is a possible 'passporting deal' which would allow British and American firms to set up and trade in each other's countries with minimum regulatory hurdles.
And Mrs May defended Mr Trump's widely criticised 'America first' message: 'If you think about it, any leader, any government, as we do here in the United Kingdom when we look at any issue, we ensure that we're putting the UK's interests and the interests of British people first.'
The Prime Minister insisted Mr Trump was committed to Nato despite worries that he has consistently undermined the mutual defence alliance at a time of Russian aggression.
At their meeting, the pair could agree a statement emphasising their commitment to spending at least 2 per cent of GDP on defence and urging other Nato countries to match them, according to reports.
President Donald Trump delivers his inaugural address after being sworn in as the 45th president of the United States
Donald Trump is sworn in as the 45th president of the United States by Chief Justice John Roberts
In a major victory for No 10 Theresa May, pictured on the Andrew Marr Show today, will be the first world leader to visit President Trump in the White House and they will meet less than a week after his inauguration
Mrs May said: 'I've spoken to him about Nato - Nato is very important, Nato has been the bulwark of our security here in Europe and we work together in Nato,' she said.
'We've both made the point before about contributions being made by countries, the United Kingdom is spending 2 per cent of its GDP on defence, I believe that's important.'
She added: 'What is important is that we recognise the value of Nato, which he does, the value of Nato as an organisation that is helping us to defend Europe and defend the interests of all of those allies who are in Nato.'
Mrs May also suggested her visit would be followed by a state visit by Mr Trump to Britain this year, which would include an audience with the Queen and the pomp and pageantry of which the President seems so fond.
'I would look forward to welcoming President Trump here to the United Kingdom sometime this year if that's possible but of course in terms of state visits that's a matter for Buckingham Palace and they haven't announced the visits this year yet,' she said.
In his inauguration speech, President Trump, whose mother is Scottish, pledged to 'reinforce old alliances' in a sign that Britain's special relationship with the US could be boosted under the new regime.
The Prime Minister, who has publicly criticised the billionaire in the past, insisted she 'won't be afraid' to challenge his 'unacceptable' views but said the focus of the meeting in Washington will be on trade, Nato and Syria. Pictured, Theresa May on the Andrew Marr Show today
Nigel Farage, pictured at a Trump inauguration party in Washington on Thursday, praised Donald Trump's speech and declared a new era for US-UK relations
Meanwhile, it has been speculated that Nigel Farage will become a member of Trump's team.
Phil Bryant, Governor of Mississippi, revealed at a party thrown by Farage that the former UKIP leader will be made a 'close but unofficial adviser' to the new President, reported the Telegraph.
Mr Bryant said: 'There is an opportunity for him to work directly with the president, we call it 'close but unofficial'.'
On Friday Farage praised Donald Trump's inauguration speech and declared a new era for US-UK relations.
He told MailOnline it was a 'great speech and good for the UK'.
Mr Trump's mention of 'old alliances' was interpreted as a reference to the 'special relationship' between the US and the UK, which critics claimed Barack Obama undermined during his eight years in office.
After Trump's speech, May said: 'I congratulate President Trump on taking office today.
'From our conversations to date, I know we are both committed to advancing the special relationship between our two countries and working together for the prosperity and security of people on both sides of the Atlantic.
'I look forward to discussing these issues and more when we meet in Washington.'
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Firing a gun into the air (Shutterstock)
Conservative New York Times columnist Bret Stephens said in an explosive op-ed piece on Thursday that the Second Amendment should be repealed.
“I have never understood the conservative fetish for the Second Amendment,” Stephens wrote.
“From a law-and-order standpoint, more guns means more murder,” he said, rejecting wholesale the Republican Party and the NRA’s line that guns prevent crime. He pointed out that states with looser gun laws have higher rates of death by gun homicides and pointed to a 2013 study by the American Journal of Public Health.
Stephens — who came to the Times after leaving the Wall Street Journal over the Journal‘s pro-Trump editorial policies — went on to knock down the right wing’s favorite pro-gun arguments one by one.
Guns do not make their owners safer, he wrote, pointing to evidence gathered by the FBI and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that said the number of so-called “justifiable homicides” with guns in 2015 (268) is dwarfed by the number of “unintentional firearms deaths,” which was 789.
“Between 77 and 141 of those killed were children,” he said.
Guns do not make the country safer, he said, calling it “quaint” to think that the “well-regulated militias” of the Second Amendment are “necessary to the security of a free State.”
“The Minutemen that will deter Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un are based in missile silos in Minot, ND, not farmhouses in Lexington, MA,” he wrote.
He blasted the conservative contention that the answer to stopping mass shooters is better mental health coverage, noting that Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock “would not have raised an eyebrow with a mental-health professional before he murdered 58 people in Las Vegas last week.”
He contended that liberals are going about the gun debate all wrong, that adhering to a so-called “nuanced reading” of the Second Amendment is nonsense.
“There is only one way to do this: Repeal the Second Amendment,” he said.
The idea may be unpopular, he said, but so was the idea of same-sex marriage at one point.
“It’s worth recalling that most great causes begin as improbable ones,” said Stephens. Gun ownership would not be illegal, but the consumer choice to purchase firearms does not merit the blanket protection of a Constitutional Amendment.
“The true foundation of American exceptionalism should be our capacity for moral and constitutional renewal, not our instinct for self-destruction,” he concluded.
Read the full essay here.
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A TTAC reader is an engineer with a major powertrain company, and offered his extremely detailed analysis of the ZF 9-speed. Consider this an AP level course in powertrain engineering.
Before we dive right in to the 9-speed gearbox, let’s take a quick refresher on the basics of gears. The simplest gear set consists of 2 parallel gears mounted on 2 parallel shafts. Shown in Fig.1 is a gear set with a 20 tooth drive gear on the right and a 30 tooth driven gear on the left. For this gear set the speed of the driven gear is 1.5 times lower than the drive gear, and assuming no frictional losses anywhere, the torque on the driven gear is 1.5 times higher. This gear set has a ratio of 1.5:1. This type of a gear set is usually not favorable for packaging since it requires 2 parallel shafts, and there are largest separating forces that push the 2 gears apart which means that the bearings supporting the shafts have significant radial loads on them, in addition to an axial load if the gears are helical.
A simple planetary arrangement is shown in Fig.2 – this is the basis of most modern automatic transmissions. A simple planetary gear set has 3 members mounted on concentric shafts, the innermost gear is called a sun gear, the outermost gear is called the ring gear, and there are evenly spaced planetary pinions that mesh with both the sun gear and the ring gear. These pinions are free to spin around their own axes, and ride on the planetary carrier, which is the third concentric member. The radial forces in a planetary gear arrangement cancel out due to symmetry, and therefore the bearings supporting these shafts do not see much, if any radial loads. Since the 3 shafts are concentric, there are significant packaging advantages as well. This particular planetary arrangement has a 30 tooth sun gear, 72 tooth ring gear, and 21 tooth pinions. For this gear arrangement to go together, the difference between the number of teeth on the ring gear and the number of teeth on the sun gear has to be an even number, and the sum of teeth on the ring gear and the sun gear has to be divisible by the number of planetary pinions. In this case, the sum of the number of teeth on the ring gear and the sun gear is 102, which is divisible by the number of planets (3), hence this is a feasible gear arrangement.
Since there are 3 members in a planetary gear set, one member has to be grounded (i.e. forced to stand still) for there to be a ratio. There are 3 possible ground members (the sun gear, the ring gear, or the carrier), and 2 possible input and output combinations possible for each ground member, therefore this arrangement can provide 6 different speeds. If the number of teeth on the ring gear is denoted by R and the number of teeth on the sun gear is denoted by S
If the ring gear is grounded by the use of a brake, the sun gear is the input and the carrier is the output, the
ratio of this arrangement is S+R/S or 3.4, i.e. the carrier is rotating 3.4 times slower
than the sun gear. Therefore in this configuration output is underdriven with respect to the input. If the carrier is
the input, and the sun gear is the output, then the output is overdriven by the same ratio. If the sun gear is grounded, the ring gear is the input and the carrier is the output, the
ratio of this arrangement is S+R/R or 1.417, i.e. the carrier is rotating 1.417 times
slower than the ring gear. If the carrier is
the input, and the ring gear is the output, then the output is overdriven by the same ratio. If the planetary carrier is grounded, the sun gear is the input and the ring gear is the
output, the ratio of this arrangement is R/S or -2.1875, i.e. the ring gear is rotating
2.1875 times slower than the sun gear and in the opposite direction. Therefore this arrangement
provides a reverse underdrive gear. If the ring gear is the input and the sun gear is the output,
this arrangement becomes a reverse overdrive, and who needs a reverse overdrive?
If 2 of the members are tied together, then the ratio of planetary becomes 1:1, as all members turn at the same speed. A single planetary gear with the right set of clutches and brakes to change the ground member, the input, and the output can provide 5 forward ratios and 2 reverse ratios with 9 shifting elements (6 clutches and 3 brakes). Of course it is not be possible to package the all 9 of the shifting
elements in a practical manner, and the 5 forward ratios are 3.4, 1.417, 1.0, 0.7, and 0.29 – not very useful even if it were possible to achieve them. In engineering literature, a stick diagram”is often used as short-hand to describe planetary gear sets, for the planetary shown in Fig.2 the stick diagram is shown in Fig.3.
Planetary gears can also carry a lot more torque in the same packaging envelope because the load is distributed between multiple gear meshes. Need more torque capacity than the 3 planet gears can provide? You can nearly double that by putting in 6 planets on the planetary carrier.
Now on to the ZF 9 speed – there is a high level presentation available from the ZF website. This presentation has some detailed CAD renders in it, but not a whole lot of detail on the exact function of the transmission. The 2 CAD renders are shown tell us that there are 4 planetary gear sets in this transmission.
From these CAD renders the patient among the B&B can see that the one ring gear visible in Fig.4 has 86 teeth, and the 4 planets have 22 teeth, which means the sun gear that is not fully visible in the view is a 42 tooth gear. Fig.6 shows the stick diagram representation of the ZF 9 speed transmission, with 4 planetary gear sets numbered 1 through 4 from left to right. If one were to spend 10 minutes gawking at the cut-away transmissions that ZF does bring to trade shows, the following gear specifications can be established quite easily
Gear set 1 has a 42 tooth sun gear and a 110 tooth ring gear Gear set 2 has a 42 tooth sun gear and a 110 tooth ring gear Gear set 3 has a 91 tooth sun gear and a 133 tooth ring gear 1 Gear set 4 has a 42 tooth sun gear and a 86 tooth ring gear
The input is the output shaft of the torque converter, which is not shown in Fig.6. The torque converter is obviously driven by the engine. The planetary carrier of gear set 1 is the output to the final drive of the transmission. The following elements are rigidly linked
The 2 sun gears for gear sets 1 and 2 are connected together, in fact it is one wide gear The ring gear for gear set 1 is linked to the planetary carrier of gear set 2. The ring gear for gear set 2 is connected to the planetary carrier for gear set 3, which is also the
planetary carrier for gear set 4 The sun gear for gear set 3 is linked to the sun gear of gear set 4
Additionally, the 6 shifting elements work as follows
Dog clutch A in connected state connects the sun gear of gear set 3 and the ring gear of gear set 4 to the
input shaft Friction clutch B couples the sun gear of gear set 4 to the input shaft Friction brake C ties the sun gear of gear set 4 to ground, i.e. stops it from turning Friction brake D ties the ring gear of gear set 3 to ground Friction clutch E couples the planetary carrier of gear set 2 and the ring gear of gear set 1
to the input shaft Dog brake F ties the sun gears of gear sets 1 and 2 to the ground
Now on to the gory calculations
First gear
First gear is achieved by engaging shift elements A, F, and D. In this configuration gear sets 1, 2, and 3 are used in series as underdrives, gear set 4 is just along for the ride. The sun gear of gear set 3 is connected to the input, and the ring gear is grounded, which leads to the carrier going slower than the input. The carrier is in turn connected to the ring gear of gear set 2, while the sun gear for gear set 2 is
grounded, causing the carrier of gear set 2 to be further under driven. Since the planetary carrier of gear set 2 is connected to the ring gear of gear set 1, and the sun gear of gear set 1 is connected to ground as well, the transmission output is underdriven even more. The overall ratio is
1st= S3+R3 S3 S2+R2 R2 S1+R1 R1 = 224 91 152 110 152 110 =4.700
(1)
Second gear
An upshift to second gear is achieved by turning friction brake D off and engaging friction brake C, i.e. shift elements A, F, and C are engaged. Now gears sets 1, 2, and 4 are used as a cascaded series of underdrives. Operation of gears sets 1 and 2 is identical to the first gear, gear set 4 acts as an underdrive, while gear set 3 is along for the ride now. Gear set 4 acts as an underdrive because the transmission input is connected to the ring gear, the sun gear is held stationary by brake C, and the planetary carrier is the output. This leads to a ratio of
2ndgear= S4+R4 R4 S2+R2 R2 S1+R1 R1 = 128 86 152 110 152 110 =2.8419
(2)
Third gear
The upshift to third hear is accomplished by releasing brake C and engaging clutch B. This operation causes both the ring gear and the sun gear of gear set 4 to be connected to the input, therefore the planetary carrier also turns at the same speed as the input. Since the planetary carrier of gear set 4 is connected to the ring gear of gear set 2, they both turn at the same speed, i.e. the input speed. The operation of gear sets 1 and 2 is unchanged, and they act as cascaded underdrives, yielding a gear ratio of
3rdgear= S2+R2 R2 S1+R1 R1 = 152 110 152 110 =1.9094
(3)
Fourth gear
By releasing clutch B and engaging clutch E, the transmission up shifts to 4th gear, i.e. shift elements A, F, and E are engaged. This action connects the ring gear of gear set 1 to the input, while the sun gear is connected to ground, setting up a straightforward underdrive ratio of
3rd= S1+R1 R1 = 152 110 =1.3818
(4)
At this point, the 4 gear ratios have been achieved by leaving the 2 dog” elements engaged, and
cycling through the 4 friction elements – and the shifts between these gears are therefore expected
to feel normal”. At this point, the vehicle is going at 30-35 mph and the shift to gear 5 is coming
up, and things get a little interesting.
Fifth gear
To achieve fifth gear, dog brake F needs to be disengaged. This now leads to a brief torque interruption because as brake F is disengaged, the transmission is in Neutral and engaging the frictional element B prematurely would just lead to wear and tear on the transmission for no reason. At this point the transmission ECU and engine ECU are working in tandem to get this upshift done as quickly as possible. The ratio calculation is fairly trivial though, all 4 gear sets are turning at the speed of the input. Why? Because engaging elements A, B, and E means that
The ring gear and the sun gear of gear set 4 are connected to the input, i.e. the planetary carrier
spins at the same speed as the input
spins at the same speed as the input Consequently, the sun gear and the planetary carrier for gear set 3 are spinning at the same
speed as the input, i.e. the ring gear gears for gear sets 2 and 3 are turning at the same speed as
the input
speed as the input, i.e. the ring gear gears for gear sets 2 and 3 are turning at the same speed as the input Through shift element E, the carrier of gear set 2 is turning at the same speed as the input,
therefore the sun gear of gear set 2 (which is also the sun gear for gear set 1) is spinning at
input speed
therefore the sun gear of gear set 2 (which is also the sun gear for gear set 1) is spinning at input speed Since the ring gear and the sun gear of gear set 1 is turning at the same speed as the input,
the planetary carrier which is the transmission output is turning at input speed
The ratio therefore is quite simply
5th=1.000
(5)
Sixth gear
So far, things have been pretty simple but now the magic begins where planetary gear sets are going to act as mixer” modules, i.e. the input and output turn at different speeds, but the reacting or grounding member is also turning at some speed. The upshift to sixth gear is achieved by releasing clutch B and engaging brake C. This causes gear set 4 to act as an underdrive just like second gear, therefore ring gear of gear set 2 is turning at a speed which is approximately 1.5 times slower than the input speed. The difference between second gear and sixth gear is that brake F is disengaged andclutch E is engaged, which means that the common sun gear for gear sets 1 and 2 is spinning at approximately 1.85 times faster than the input. This sets up a kinematic state for gear set 1 where the ring gear is turning at the same speed as the input but the sun gear is turning at 1.85 times the speed of the input, therefore the carrier has to spin at approximately 1.25 times faster than the input speed – overdrive!. Since the B&B do not deal in approximations, the exact ratio is
6th= 1 1+ S4 S4+R4 R2 S2 S1 R1+S1 =0.8081
(6)
Seventh gear
As sixth gear shows us, an underdriven ring gear of gear set 2 sets up an overdrive, seventh gear kicks it up a notch by underdriving the ring gear of gear set 2 even further. This is accomplished by releasing brake C and engaging brake D. The sun gear of gear set 3 through clutch A is connected to the input, while the ring gear is connected to the ground via brake D, which means that the carrier spins 2.46
times slower than the ring input, and the carrier is connected to ring gear of gear set 2. Therefore gear set 3 is in the same kinematic state as it is in first gear. This sets up a kinematic state for gear set 1 where the ring gear turns at the same speed as the input, but
the sun spins at a speed that is 2.85 times higher. Therefore at 2000 rpm engine speed, the sun gear of gear set 1 is spinning at 5700 rpm. A dog brake has essentially 0 parasitic losses, while a friction brake would have cost about a 0.2 horsepower drag. The ratio is
7th= 1 1+ R3 S3+R3 R2 S2 S1 R1+S1 =0.6995
(7)
Eighth gear
Eighth gear is achieved by closing brakes C and D at the same time, while disconnecting clutch A. At this point in time, the torque levels are low enough that in my humble opinion only the most discerning driver would be able to feel the torque interruption. This causes gear sets 3 and 4 to stop turning entirely, therefore the ring gear of gear set 2 is grounded. This causes the sun gear for gear sets 1 and 2 to spin faster – 3.65 times the input speed and sets up another over drive ratio
8th= 1 1+ R3 S3+R3 R2 S2 S1 R1+S1 =0.5802
(8)
Therefore at 2000 rpm engine the sun gear for gear sets 1 and 2 is turning at 7300 rpm. But we are
not done yet – things turn faster.
Ninth gear
If underdriving the ring gear of gear set 2 set up 2 overdrives, and grounding it set up another one, there is only one thing left to do, spin it backwards. Ninth gear does exactly that – by connecting clutch B and by the virtue of the fact that the ring gear for gear set 4 and the sun gear for gear set 3 are linked together, we have a very interesting kinematic state. Sun gear of gear set 4 spins at the input speed, the carrier for gear set 4 spins backwards at approximately half the input speed, and the ring gear turns backwards at 1.2 times the input speed. This means that the ring gear for gear set 2 is now spinning backwards at approximately half the input speed. The sun
gear of gear sets 1 and 2 is now turning at 4.95 times the input speed. If the car is going at 85 mph in the 4 cylinder engine variant at an engine speed of 2000 rpm, this little gear is going at any eye watering 9500 rpm. The use of a dog brake at F instead of a friction brake is saving 0.4 hp or about 0.4 miles per gallon, the ratio is
9th= 1 1+ R4R3 R4R3S4S3 R2 S2 S1 R1+S1 =0.4792
(9)
The interesting thing about the Ninth gear is that there are parts in the transmission spinning
backwards to send you forward.
Reverse gear
Reverse and 9th have the same kinematic states for gear sets 3 and 4, i.e. the ring gear for gear set 2 turns backwards at approximately half in the input speed. But gear sets 1 and 2 are switched over to an underdrive configuration which is identical to the configuration in First gear, i.e. brake F is engaged. The ratio is therefore
Rev= S4S3R4R3 S4S3 S2+R2 R2 S1+R1 R1 =3.8049
(10)
Downshifts
The only real kink when shifting up through the gears is that the 4 to 5 shift might have an objectionable torque interruption, but otherwise this transmission is going to be well behaved. Downshifting from say 7th to 5th is no problem as well, but a downshift from 8th or 9th to 5th is hard work for this design. As an example if the engine speed is 1700 rpm and a shift from 8th to 5th
is required (passing on 2 lane highways), clutch A has 1700 rpm of slip that needs to be reduced to 0 before it can be engaged. So as a first order of business brakes D needs to be disengaged (100 milliseconds), then engine ECU needs to blip the throttle” to increase speed to approximately 2350 rpm (another 400 milliseconds), then engine power needs to be cut and dog clutch A needs to be
engaged (another 100 milliseconds), and now you are in sixth after a half a second of no torque at all at the wheels, then another 200 milliseconds of low torque as the transmission finds fifth with a more conventional frictional clutch to frictional clutch shift and your engine speed is finally at the 2900 rpm.
From eighth gear to fourth gear is going to be even more of a contortion, with a torque interruption that is about a second long as the transmission ECU and the engine ECU do this delicate dance required to get both the dog shifting elements to engage. When you are looking to pass on a 2 lane road at 60 mph, a second can feel like an eternity, especially to a driver who has to use those paddle shifters to get into the right gear before executing the pass.
Gear spacing
Another issue that the reviewers (including our own Alex L. Dykes) tend to take note of is the wide spacing between first and second gears. Unfortunately this is a direct result of the transmission lay out. Gear set 3 is pushed to the limit with the ratio, trying to make first gear ratio any lower than 4.7 would make the planetary gear pinion speed unreasonably high. So the first gear ratio is more or less
a given. It would be possible to change the tooth count on gear set 4 to numerically increase the second gear ratio. As a thought experiment, we could change the sun gear of gear set 4 to 46 or 50 teeth instead of the 42 it has, the result?
Gear Ratios with S4 = 42 Ratios with S4 = 50 Ratios with S4=46 1st 4.700 4.700 4.700 2nd 2.842 3.020 2.931 3rd 1.909 1.909 1.909 4th 1.382 1.382 1.382 5th 1.000 1.000 1.000 6th 0.808 0.790 0.799 7th 0.699 0.699 0.699 8th 0.580 0.580 0.580 9th 0.479 0.454 0.467 Rev -3.805 -2.891 -3.308
So a 50 tooth sun gets better spacing between first and second, somewhat worse spacing between second and third, all other gears are largely unchanged, expect that reverse gets screwed up – it is perhaps not low enough for vehicles with off road ambitions. So perhaps a happier middle ground could have been a 46 tooth sun of gear set 4, that leads to a reverse of 3.308 with a second gear ratio of
2.9307. It also gives the transmission an overall ratio spread of 10.065, which sounds better for marketing purposes than the 9.81 that exists currently. This alternate reverse ratio is almost identical to the reverse in the ZF 8 speed RWD transmissions. So this 42 tooth sun gear is a bit of a head scratcher – perhaps keeping the tooth count at 42 saves some money because there is manufacturing tools can be shared between this sun gear and the sun gear for gear sets 1 and 2.
Conclusions
I give a Colbert Tip of the Hat” to the engineers at ZF for this design. It is obviously a clever design but one that could cause some drivability surprises to an average driver, though durability-wise, I see nothing that causes major concerns. Design and development of a transmission concept like this ranges from 20 million dollars
to 50 million dollars, so the ZF management had some serious cojones to OK this design, it is a risk that has paid off to an extent. I know of many a management teams that would have said no, but time will tell just how compact other 8/9/10 speed transmissions and just how good a decision this is..
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A gang is accused of raping and sexually abusing vulnerable girls as young as 13 after plying them with alcohol and drugs.
Six 'naive' victims were lured to parties at houses and flats, where they were expected to carry out sexual favours and services in return, Newcastle Crown Court heard.
Soran Azizi, Palla Pour, Ribas Asad, Saman Obaid and Heiman Mohammed, all from Newcastle, are alleged to have committed a string of sex crimes including rape, paying for the sexual services of a child and trafficking.
Heiman Mohammed (left) and Ribas Asad (right) are two of the men charged with sexually abusing the young girls. Pictured, they leave Newcastle Crown Court today
The men, who spoke through interpreters, denied all 31 of the charges against them at a hearing today.
Some of the sexual acts were carried out by the victims consensually, because they were 'in thrall' to their abusers, in return for 'rewards' of drink and drugs, the jury was told.
But prosecutor Anne Richardson said the victims were 'forced' at other times or were so intoxicated they were unable to consent to what happened to them.
Miss Richardson claimed the women and girls were treated as 'commodities', passed around various men and sometimes believed they were in relationships with their abusers.
She told jurors: 'The case involves allegations of sexual exploitation and trafficking of young women and girls in the Newcastle Upon Tyne area of the North East of England.
'The alleged offences occurred over a number of years, namely between 2007 and 2014 and those who makes these allegations are, for the most part, immature and vulnerable people.
'It is the Crown's case that these personality traits were exploited by the defendants and that each of the young women were lured to various houses and flats where drugs and/or alcohol were made freely available to them.
'It is perhaps easy to make assumptions about the complainants based on their relative youth and their somewhat unusual lifestyles.
'But in due course, when you have heard all the evidence, you may consider that they were young, naive women, who were in the thrall to and under the control of these, for the most part, older and more worldly wise defendants.
'It is not always apparent to someone that what they are engaged in is in fact abusive and the law exists to protect those who cannot or do not want to protect themselves.
Saman Obaid (left) and Palla Pour (right), along with with Soran Azizi, are the other members of the gang. Pictured, leaving Newcastle Crown Court
'In return, the Crown would say, these complainants were expected and encouraged to provide sexual favours and services, not because they wanted to do so, or through their own free and unencumbered will, but because they were beholden and in thrall to these men.'
Azizi, 28, from Newcastle, denies charges of rape, sexual activity with a child and trafficking within the UK for sexual exploitation. Pour, 25, from Newcastle, denies offences of sexual activity with a child, paying for the sexual services of a child, causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, supplying controlled drug to another and permitting his premises to be used for the supply of drugs.
Asad, 29, from Newcastle, denies sexual assault, paying for the sexual services of a child, conspiracy to arrange or facilitate the prostitution of a child, supplying a controlled drug, causing a child to engage in sexual activity and sexual activity with a child.
Mohammed, 26, from Newcastle, denies charges of sexual activity with a child, paying for the sexual services of a child and supplying a controlled drug.
Obaid, 26, from Newcastle, denies sexual activity with a child, paying for the sexual services of a child, conspiracy to arrange or facilitate the prostitution of a child and supplying a controlled drug.
Azizi, 28, from Newcastle, denies rape, sexual activity with a child and trafficking within the UK for sexual exploitation
All five men, who prosecutors say are all associated with each other but had varying roles in the offending, are being tried by a jury.
Miss Richardson said the alleged victims in the case were not all connected but all, to some extent, had experienced a difficult upbringing.
She added; 'All of them, on the Crown's case, were vulnerable people who were exploited by these defendants.
'On many occasions the sexual acts they performed with some of the these defendants were entered into on a consensual basis, due to the lure and promise of reward in the form of drink and/or alcohol.
'The Crown suggests this was because they felt compelled to return to the defendant's houses due to their addiction to alcohol and drugs and the hold the men had over them.
'Other times, the sexual acts were forced upon them, without their consent, and on still further occasions these complainants were so intoxicated with drink and/or drugs that they were totally incapable of giving consent at all.'
The court heard one alleged victim claims she passed out drunk, when aged around 14 or 15, at Azizi's flat and believes he had sex with her while she was unconscious.
Another woman claims she was kissed, twice, by Pour when she was just 13.
A third victim claims she was groped by Asad, while she was getting dressed after having consensual sex with Azizi at a party.
A fourth woman claims she was given speed, cocaine and cannabis while a teenager and 'gave in' to having sex with Asad due to pressure.
During one of the parties, the same alleged victim said she also had sex with Mohammed, who had plied her with drink and cannabis, when she was 15.
The court heard the behaviour became a habit and Mohammed would 'turn nasty' and verbally abuse her if she refused to have sex with him.
The same complainant said she was also sexually assaulted by Obaid, who told her he 'wanted something back' in return for the drink and drugs she had been given.
She said she continued to have sex with Obaid.
A fifth alleged victim said she was given 'whizz' by a man, who is not on trial, and Asad.
She said Asad asked her and her friend to have sex with Obaid in return for cannabis but both girls refused.
The alleged victim, who was a virgin, claims she was sexually assaulted by Asad and had consensual sex with Azizi because she was 'out of it' through drink.
The sixth alleged victim said she was about 14 when she had sex with Pour while high on drink and drugs.
The same woman would be transported to parties by Azizi, who knew she would be having sex with one of his pals when she got there, it is claimed.
Prosecutors claim Asad and Obaid conspired to turn two of the alleged victims into prostitutes, with the hope of making money for themselves
The trial, which is expected to last up to six weeks, continues.
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Report: Black sweater would feature gold stripes
Take a good hard look. This jersey or something like it may be an option for Canada during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, according to an anonymous report.
On a tip provided by a secondhand source through 25stanley.com, I asked frequent Icethetics concept contributor Steven Grant to illustrate his interpretation of the tipster's description. While I'm not able to publish the description provided to Icethetics, I can tell you that Steven has done an excellent job bringing it to life.
Whether or not it's accurate remains to be seen. We should find out for sure on Oct. 8. That's when Hockey Canada and Nike are planning to unveil the new 2014 uniforms.
The tip actually came prior to Roberto Luongo spilling the beans publicly on the fact that Canada will have three jerseys — unless it was just misinformation. According to Wyatt Arndt, a blogger for The Province in Vancouver, Luongo said he's seen the jerseys but wouldn't comment further.
Concept artist imagines white version of leaked jersey
As all of Canada surely knows by now, the country's new red jersey was leaked via Getty Images on Thursday. With that in mind, I asked Steven Grant to illustrate that jersey as well as a white version.
From the leaked photo, it's not clear whether the white stripe across the front wraps around to the back. So for the sake of simplicity when it comes to the back numbers, Steven has cut off the stripe along the sides. He's also guessing that the glossy elements on the shoulders are maple leaves.
Steven then created an inverted white version. And to insert some symmetry into an otherwise asymmetrical jersey, Steven's white version has the lone sleeve stripe on the opposite arm. Other than that, the jersey has all the same features with the red swapped for white.
Canadians, what do you think? A black third jersey for the Olympics? How often would you want to see your team sporting it? Among these three designs, do you have a favorite?
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