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Britain will refuse to sign a free trade deal with the EU unless it includes curbs on free movement David Cameron told leaders as he admitted it was immigration fears which led to the Brexit.
In his final Brussels summit, Mr Cameron warned his EU counterparts that nothing less would be acceptable to the British public after a decisive referendum result.
He told them it was clear that the UK had voted for Brexit because the public thought immigration was out of control.
In his final Brussels summit, David Cameron warned his EU counterparts that nothing less would be acceptable to the British public after a decisive referendum result
The Prime Minister’s intervention – less than a week after the historic vote to Leave – blamed Britain’s departure on Angela Merkel and other foreign leaders who refused to give him any worthwhile reforms on immigration.
But it also had huge ramifications for the Tory leadership battle.
The field of candidates – many of whom voted to remain in the EU, and preserve unfettered free movement – will now come under pressure to follow Mr Cameron’s belated lead that Britain must take back control of its borders.
Yesterday, Boris Johnson made clear to the Tory right that he would end EU free movement. He had been accused of backsliding after suggesting that immigration was not the main reason why people voted Leave.
Theresa May is also expected to confirm her commitment to curbing free movement. The Home Secretary has argued in the past that migrants from the EU should have secured jobs before moving to Britain and should not be allowed to come here to hunt for work.
Yesterday, Boris Johnson made clear to the Tory right that he would end EU free movement. He had been accused of backsliding after suggesting that immigration was not the main reason why people voted Leave
However, Angela Merkel set the stage for a major battle over the issue yesterday by saying Britain could not ‘cherry pick’ what it wanted during negotiations to quit the EU. Mr Cameron delivered his warning to the 27 other EU leaders over dinner last night, as he explained the events that led to Brexit.
A senior Government source said: ‘He believes that one of the key issues in the referendum campaign, and therefore why a lot of people voted to leave, was this sense that there was no control on the scale of immigration or free movement.
‘It is going to have to be worked out as part of any new relationship between Britain and the EU.’ His comments were a recognition, months too late, that his renegotiation with Brussels went nowhere near far enough.
European leaders have reacted with a mixture of fury and sorrow – one accusing the UK electorate of ‘ripping off one of the EU’s wings’.
Last night, an insider said Mr Cameron told the 27 leaders that, if they are to secure a trade deal with the UK, free movement will have to be restricted.
A No10 source said: ‘In his view it is in the interests of the UK and the EU that we have as close an economic relationship as possible. The key to staying close is to look at free movement and how do you address that issue. If we want a close relationship we cannot shy away from that issue.’
Mr Cameron had originally wanted curbs on free movement as part of his renegotiation with Brussels, but caved in the face of opposition from Germany.
Mr Cameron had originally wanted curbs on free movement as part of his renegotiation with Brussels, but caved in the face of opposition from Germany
In the end, he ended up with a watered down deal which limited the access which EU migrants have to in-work benefits, plus a complex regime of curbs on child benefit.
The deal, secured in February, was widely derided as ‘thin gruel’ by Tory MPs. The new terms ceased to exist when Britain voted to Leave.
During the referendum campaign, ex-Cabinet minister Iain Duncan Smith claimed that Germany had a secret veto over Mr Cameron’s EU renegotiations and used it to kill plans for an emergency brake on migrants.
Yesterday, ahead of dinner with the PM, Europe’s leaders continued to insist there is no prospect of any changes to free movement.
Mrs Merkel said she expects that Britain will want to maintain ‘close relations’ with the EU once it leaves, but warned it cannot expect a business-as-usual approach.
She added: ‘Whoever wants to leave this family cannot expect to have no more obligations but to keep privileges.’
However, she is under pressure from German manufacturers – the car industry in particular – to strike a trade deal with the UK.
Xavier Bettel, the Luxembourg prime minister, said Britain and the EU could be ‘married or divorced but not something in between’. |
The cutting down of a stand of trees on the banks of the Thames River has sparked a city investigation.
The trees were removed from a 40-metre stretch of private property along the river opposite Springbank Park. The area is considered environmentally sensitive.
City approval is required to cut down the trees and the landscaping company did not have it, the city’s manager of urban forestry said.
“The site in question is in a tree-protection area, there has been no permit,” Jill-Anne Spence said Wednesday. “We’re looking into this to see what was removed and what work was done.”
Ron Koudys is a landscape architect hired by the property owner.
He can be fined or ordered to replant, Spence said.
But Koudys said Wednesday he met with city forestry officials and considers the matter closed.
“The city reviewed the situation and said they are fine with it. As far as I know, everything is fine.”
Koudys said he has permits from the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority, but only the city can allow tree removal, Spence said.
Koudys said he was contracted to clear the land by a Hampton Crescent homeowner. He removed trees, bushes and brush because they were invasive species and plans to plant native trees, he said.
“Not many trees were removed, it was mostly groundcover on the banks and it was invasive.”
Koudys said he removed Norway maple, buckthorn and honeysuckle and is replacing them with hackberry, sugar maple and red oak.
But a neighbour said it will take years for the new growth to fill in, and the tree cutting has wiped out waterfront growth that enhanced the neighbourhood, river and Springbank Park.
“They clear-cut the width of the property down to the river,” Susan Skelton said. “It was natural growth, not scrub, and it should have been saved. There is mud to the water now.
“It does not respect the city’s plan for an urban forest that runs along the river. I value this, we are the Forest City and this seems to disregard that.”
Skelton said she believes more than 15 trees, mostly maples, were removed and the result is visible from the park across the river.
“What is to stop the next person from doing the same thing? This sets a precedent. It is contrary to what the city wants to achieve.”
This is the second time in less than a year that Koudys has been involved in a tree-cutting controversy.
In November, the city ordered a halt to removal of trees from St. Peter’s Seminary because Koudys lacked the proper permit. Dozens of trees were chopped down before he was forced to stop work.
In all, about 100 trees were chopped down at that site. Work there is ongoing, with trees slated to be replanted later this year and early next year, he said.
[email protected] |
The Club is delighted to announce the appointment of Ron Robson as Non Executive director with immediate effect.
Ron is a Managing Director in the Tavistock Group and Deputy Chairman of Mitchells & Butlers plc, a FTSE 250 group that is the UK’s largest owner of managed pubs and restaurants. He is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland and trained with Arthur Andersen. Ron has held a number of senior finance roles in both public and private companies and has particular experience in the leisure, real estate and logistics sectors.
Ron joins current Non-Executive Directors Sir Keith Mills and Kevan Watts.
Chairman Daniel Levy commented, “We are delighted to welcome Ron to Tottenham Hotspur. He brings with him expertise and experience in sectors relevant to our operations." |
WASHINGTON (AP) — A State Department assistant secretary said Wednesday it's "not acceptable" for any agency employee to conduct government business on a private email server as former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton did.
Joyce Barr, the agency's chief freedom of information officer, made the comment under questioning from Republican senators who used a Senate Judiciary hearing on open records laws to attack Clinton over her email practices.
Sen. John Cornyn of Texas said that Clinton's approach amounted to a "premeditated and deliberate" attempt to avoid open records requirements.
Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina said that anyone who took such an approach should be fired, and asked Barr whether it would be considered acceptable.
Barr said that she had not been aware of Clinton's decision to conduct all her State Department email on a private server but that the agency has now made it clear to employees that such an approach would not be acceptable.
"I think that the actions that we've taken in the course of recovering these emails have made it very clear what people's responsibilities are with regard to record-keeping," she said. "We continue to do training, we've sent department notices, telegrams, we've talked to directors and I think the message is loud and clear that that is not acceptable."
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Clinton, who is running for president, has defended using a personal email account while serving as secretary of state as a matter of personal convenience. She says she has turned over to the State Department all work-related emails, though House Republicans investigating the 2002 attacks on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, are demanding more and insist the server itself should be examined by a third party.
Barr acknowledged problems with the State Department's overall record on responding to open records requests, calling an existing backlog of 18,000 requests "unacceptable." But she insisted improvements were being made even as the number of requests keeps growing and the agency is understaffed.
Karen Kaiser, general counsel at The Associated Press, testified that despite promises of greater transparency by the Obama administration, most agencies are not abiding by their legal obligations under open records laws. "We are witnessing a breakdown in the system," she said in prepared testimony. |
Dark Souls patch version 1.05 has been released.
US members of the Dark Souls forum confirm they have downloaded the patch. And on both platforms, PS3 and Xbox 360.
Eurogamer can confirm that a Dark Souls patch is available to download in the UK on Xbox 360 now.
Dark Souls patch 1.05 has already been released in Japan. Here's a list of Japanese patch notes, which we'll update with official Western patch notes when they're available.
Patch 1.04/1.05 Changes
Translated by Brett (twitch.tv/thebrett)
Taken from in-game testing / jp wiki notes (http://w.livedoor.jp/project_dark)
Via Pastebin.
Magic Changes:
Pyro Glove nerfed from 270 to 230.
You can see resonance signs now.
Vow of Silence range increased.
Sorcery spell damage as a whole was slightly buffed, but Homing Soul Mass and other pursuit style spells were nerfed.
Magic Shield duration lowered to ~11 seconds.
Strong Magic Shield duration lowered to ~11 seconds. Invincibility removed. Effect on Stamina drastically reduced.
Tranquil Walk of Peace and other Slow duration reduced to ~10 secs. Effect supposedly changed from 100% encumberance to 50%. Rolling possible if your equip burden is lowered. Slowness is similar to swamp effect.
Iron Flesh effectiveness nerfed.
Invisible Body duration remains unchanged.
Status Changes:
Base Equipment Burden increased (~6-10 points)
Humanity Item drop rate increased from 10 to 210
Medium roll recovery faster? (unclear and unconfirmed)
Defensive bonuses gained via Humanity reduced. Other defensive bonuses remain unchanged.
Item discovery gained via Humanity improved. Capped at 20.
Equipment General Changes:
Reported some weapon scaling gets improved at higher normal upgrades (+15 uchi dex scaling goes to A)
Some scaling reported as changing from A to S with higher upgrades
Upgrade Changes:
Normal scaling buffed by 5-20% (20% at +14).
Crystal scaling buffed by 5-20% (20% at +4).
Lightning +4 nerfed by 2% (+5 remains unchanged).
Raw scaling buffed by 10% (all levels).
Magic stat scaling buffed by 10-20% (20% at +9).
Enchanted stat scaling buffed by 15-20% (20% at +4).
Divine stat scaling buffed by 10-20% (20% at +9).
Occult stat scaling buffed by 15-20% (20% at +4).
Fire +9 nerfed by 2%. (+5 remains unchanged)
Dragon stat scaling buffed by 5-20% (20% at +5).
Specific Gear Changes:
Grant scaling changed to Strength:B and Faith:A
Gold-hemmed nerfed, still can't be upgraded.
Dust skirt nerfed hard (streamlined to match the other pieces).
Silver Knights, Sun, Hollow Soldier's Shield and other medium shield stability nerfed to ~70 at max upgrades to improve Great Shield viability.
Crystal Ring Shield scaling drastically nerfed. Does around ~200 +-50
Dragon Greatsword buffed from 360 to 390.
Silver Knight's Sword lightning effect removed. Now enchantable.
Elite Knight gear nerfed, then buffed slightly in 1.05
Combat Changes:
Lock-on acquisition range increased.
Lock-on changing/switching got easier (more responsive).
Ring of Fog users can now be locked on.
PVE Changes:
Overall increase in souls gained (~2-2.5 times more)
Damage reduced on some mobs?
HP lowered on some mobs?
Reduced acquisition range on normal enemies.
Supposedly reduced poise on some enemies.
Bosses drop Humanity and Homeward Bones
Ghosts and Skeletons give souls now.
Twinkling Titanite drop rate improved.
Pyromancers in Catacombs drop Skull Lanterns.
Darkwraiths in New Londo drop Dark Hand.
Online Changes:
You can see resonance signs.
Some invasion restrictions possibly changed? Darkwraith upperlimit confirmed as unchanged.
1.05: Summon restrictions improved slightly again.
Amount of souls the Master of the game gains changed.
Cracked Eye Orbs no longer get consumed on failure. Confirmed
You can hit Select to rate messages.
1.05: Fixed 1.04 bug where summon signs were invisible.
Covenant Changes:
Covenant Material drop rate improved.
Lowered requirements for Sunbro covenenant (requirements moved from 50 to 25. 3/4 assists should do the trick)
Other Changes:
Official Guide nerfed.
Forest Hunter NPC farming remains unchanged.
Dark Anor Londo NPC farming remains unchanged.
Kiln Skip Glitch still works in 1.05
Merchant stock updates:
Male Undead Merchant: Also sells bottomless box
Female Undead Merchant: Sells Arrows / Crossbolts
Andrei: Sells Arrows / Crossbolts
Domnhal of Xena: Sells Arrows / Crossbolts, Master Key (5000)
Giant Blacksmith (Fapsmith): Sells Arrows / Crossbolts, Small Titanite Shards, Large Tit Shards, Twinkling (8000 per, inf amount), Green Shards, Repair box, upgrade boxes
Vamos: Arrows / Crossbolts, Small Tit, Large tit, Repair box / upgrade boxes
Inglwood: Sells Transient Curses
Fixes: |
When Owen Paterson was sacked from his position as Environment Secretary back in June, he blamed the ‘Green Blob’ – a conglomeration of “powerful, self-serving” environmental lobbyists. Now an investigation by the Mail on Sunday has given shape to that blob, identifying the foundations that give well over half a billion pounds a year to environmental lobby groups – who are targeting the UK as the country leading the way in green energy policies.
At the centre of the blob is just one organisation: the European Climate Foundation (ECF), which pulls in about £20million a year in funds donated mainly from America, Switzerland and Holland, and parcels it back out to green lobbyists such as Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, Green Alliance and E3G (the elite lobby group which persuaded the government to set up the Green Investment Bank at a cost of £3billion) and others. Many more millions are donated to these groups directly.
“The projects we fund all fall within the overall mission of the Foundation to support the development of a prosperous low-carbon economy in Europe,” Tom Brooks, managing director of the ECF told the Mail.
He argued that the ECF merely provides “a fact base” to help politicians and policy makers make the “many complex decisions that are necessary to move towards a high-innovation, prosperous and low-carbon future,” adding “The UK is a leader in many of these fields.”
Indeed, so successful has the lobbying effort been in the UK, that their efforts have seen policies put in place that cost the British economy between £360 billion and £400 billion to implement by 2030, according to energy analyst Peter Atherton of Liberum Capital. He says that the cost will see household energy bills rise by a further third in real terms, on top of the rises already seen over the past decade.
The blob scored another victory this week when European Union leaders agreed to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent by 2030. The policy represents a drastic acceleration of climate change policy: the previous agreement was dubbed the 20:20 agreement as it consisted of cutting carbon emissions by 20 percent from a 1990 base level by 2020. T
his new policy aims to double the target in just one third of the time. To do so will mean massive investment in renewable and nuclear power, with a commensurate closing of carbon fuelled power stations. In its 2013 annual report, the ECF said that working towards the 2030 agreement was “a big focus area for ECF as a whole”.
Already Britain is facing the threat of blackouts this winter. Yesterday energy secretary Ed Davey confirmed in an interview that several disused power stations are going to be brought back online, whilst big businesses will be paid by the National Grid to generate their own power in the event of shortages. Other companies will be paid compensation and may be asked to reduce their working week.
“Some companies would change their behaviour, voluntarily, and be recompensed for it. Turning down their refrigerators by a degree, or changing a shift pattern for a week so staff come in earlier. The idea is to move factory production away from peak energy demand periods,” Mr Davey told the Telegraph. He was also forced to pledge that there “will be no blackouts this winter”.
The European deal does include a get-out clause: if other countries refuse to match the targets, Europe may be able to ‘review’ its target, or in other words, scrap it. With global powerhouses such as China, India and Australia refusing to sign up, and America looking likely to follow, that outcome is a marked possibility.
However, the option isn’t open to Britain thanks to the 2008 Climate Change Act which commits the country to reducing emissions levels by 80 percent from the 1990 base line by 2050. That Act was written by a Friends of the Earth lobbyist, Bryony Worthington, later Baroness Worthington thanks to Ed Miliband who made her a Labour peer in 2011.
Whilst working for Friends of the Earth she drafted a memo recommending the target, and outlining how it could be achieved by a massive shift to electric cars and heating, whilst investing heavily in renewable and nuclear energy.
Her lobbying efforts in promoting her memo paid off. First David Cameron, keen to rebrand the Conservative Party in a new green light, backed the proposals. Not to be outdone, the Labour government granted her a position within the civil service to redraft the memo as a Bill, which later became the Climate Change Act. Her job done, Worthington left the civil service to set up a new lobbying outfit, Sandbag, which lobbies for more stringent carbon taxes. Unsurprisingly, that organisation too has been granted funding from the ECF.
At the same time as the Act was passing through parliament, in 2007/8, ECF was also donating to Greenpeace UK, Friends of the Earth, Christian Aid, and the World Wildlife Fund to coordinate a campaign against coal fired power plants. They also funded Client Earth, a group of lawyers who managed to secure court acquittals for the direct action protestors who scaled the chimneys of the Kingsnorth power plant in Kent and occupied it.
The action on many fronts prompted Ed Miliband, who was then energy secretary, to cancel a new unit planned at Kingsnorth and commit to no new coal fired stations in the UK. The success of the campaign prompted Jules Kortenhorst, president of the ECF to boast that Miliband’s actions were in response to “a complex, multifaceted effort over a year and a half, with grass-roots mobilisation campaigns [and] behind the scenes lobbying.
“All of this work, backed by substantial philanthropic investment, resulted in UK Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband announcing that no new coal-fired power plants would be built… This is an example of a policy that can be replicated, increasing its impact,” he added.
As powerful as the European Climate Foundation is, it pales in comparison to its parent body, Climate Works, which boasts a budget not in the tens of millions, but in the hundreds. Climate Works was born out of a paper entitled “Design to Win: Philanthropy’s Role in the Fight Against Global Warming”.
Funded by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Energy Foundation, Joyce Foundation, Oak Foundation, and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the paper drew global support. It’s Scientific Advisory team included Dr Robert Socolow of Princeton University, Professor Michael Grubb of Cambridge University, Dr Priyadarshi Shukla of the Indian Institute of Management, and Dr Adrian Fernandez of the National Institute for Ecology of Mexico, amongst others.
Penned in 2007, the paper argued that without radical action, “we could lose the fight against global warming over the next ten years,” and called for $600 million in funding in order to mount an effective campaign to change governmental energy policies. The next year, $500 million was donated by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, which distributes the vast fortune amassed via the Hewlett-Packard computer company followed by another $100 million soon after. A further $60million was donated by the sister Packard foundation. One of the first tasks undertaken by US-based Climate Works was to set up the ECF as its European regional office. The ECF currently has offices in London, Brussels, The Hague, Berlin and Warsaw.
In July, a US Senate Committee report named the Hewlett foundation as a key part of a “billionaires club” which controlled the green movement by pumping more than half a billion dollars into the environmental industry each year. The report claimed that “wealthy liberals fully exploit the benefits of a generous tax code meant to promote genuine philanthropy and charitable acts,” and were diverting money to “activists” to “promote shared political goals”.
In contrast, Europe’s only think-tank dedicated to promoting a sceptical viewpoint on man-made global warming and related energy policy has an annual budget of £300,000 and employs just three people.
Yesterday, its director, Dr Benny Peiser, said “At the end of the day, someone will have to be held accountable for us committing economic suicide. We are the only organisation that does what we do – against hundreds on the other side, all saying the same thing.” |
This closure lets you quickly produce date-style range filters in the Django Admin interface without having to create a new class for each one.
It follows Python range semantics, with the lower value using a _gte test and the upper value using an _lt test.
Here's an example of how I'm using it in one of my projects:
list_filter = ('complete', ('chapters', makeRangeFieldListFilter([ (_('1'), 1, 2), (_('2 to 10'), 2, 10), (_('11 to 30'), 11, 30), (_('31 to 100'), 31, 100), (_('At least 100'), 100, None), ], nullable=True)), ('word_count', makeRangeFieldListFilter([ (_('Less than 1000'), None, 1000), (_('1K to 5K'), 1000, 5000), (_('5K to 10K'), 5000, 10000), (_('10K to 75K'), 10000, 75000), (_('75K to 150K'), 75000, 150000), (_('150K to 300K'), 150000, 300000), (_('At least 300K'), 300000, None), ], nullable=True)), ('derivatives_count', makeRangeFieldListFilter([ (_('None'), 0, 1), (_('1 to 5'), 1, 5), (_('5 to 50'), 5, 50), (_('50 to 1000'), 50, 1000), (_('At least 1000'), 1000, None), ])), 'pub_date', 'upd_date') |
Amid Economic Crisis, Even Sugar Becomes A Luxury In Egypt
Enlarge this image toggle caption Amr Nabil/AP Amr Nabil/AP
At the huge weekly market on the outskirts of Cairo, live chickens crowd wooden cages next to tables piled with ruby-red pomegranates, deep-orange persimmons and baskets of fresh dates from the countryside.
But as Egypt endures its worst economic crisis in decades, many shoppers can barely afford the tomatoes and cucumbers that are a staple of the poor. They hurry past to a nearby square in the hope of buying cartons of government-subsidized food.
Egypt is the Arab world's most populous country, with more than 90 million people, and one of the world's biggest food importers. The protests that swept Egypt and the Arab world five years ago and frightened off foreign investors and tourists collided with decades of a deeply inefficient, state-controlled economy.
After the Egyptian government loosened exchange rates this month, the official value of the Egyptian pound plunged by almost half. One U.S. dollar bought less than nine Egyptian pounds before the devaluation, and these days buys more than 17 pounds. That means that anything imported — from sugar to medicine — became much more expensive and many items disappeared from the market.
"I went to all the shops and even if you can afford to buy sugar you can't find it," says Saleh Attiya, a furniture maker out shopping with his son.
"A kid like that — how will he drink his milk without sugar?" he said, pointing to 6-year-old son, also named Saleh. Attiya the father freely admits that his own missing teeth could be due to his habit of drinking each small glass of tea with four or five spoons of sugar. But for millions of Egypt's poor, sugar has been the only luxury they could afford.
To ease the hardship of rising prices and broad subsidy cuts required by a $12 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund, the Egyptian government sent the army into neighborhoods with 8 million food boxes at bargain prices. Egypt's official figures indicate almost one-third of Egyptians are in poverty, defined as living on about $50 a month or less.
Near the weekly market, a crowd of Egyptians, many of them elderly, crowded around a truck with subsidized food packages for sale. They sold out within minutes, leaving people shouting, "I want a carton!" and holding up tattered bills even as soldiers slammed shut the doors of the empty truck.
The lucky ones walked away with a cardboard box containing margarine, macaroni, beans, tea, sugar and tomato paste. All for about $1.50 — less than half the normal price.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Nariman El-Mofty/AP Nariman El-Mofty/AP
The IMF loan is part of a wider economic restructuring aimed at encouraging investment and creating private sector jobs.
The plunge in the currency has also sparked a shortage of medicines in pharmacies and hospitals, from contraceptives to cancer medicines. With Egypt's weaker currency, it costs companies nearly twice as much to import drugs. They are selling some at the old prices, but some have stopped importing pharmaceuticals altogether.
The Egyptian government is negotiating an emergency plan with the pharmaceutical industry in which it would subsidize essential drugs. In the meantime, some Egyptians have set up an informal market on Twitter — offering to sell or give away extra insulin and other drugs to people in need.
Even Egypt's upper classes have been hurt by the currency plunge. At the American University of Cairo, popular among middle- and upper-class Egyptian families, students held a sit-in last week at the prospect of sharply higher tuition.
Upscale online supermarkets normally full of imported foods are now full of "out-of-stock" notices instead.
Many economists have welcomed the measures to overhaul the economy, but say they need to be part of structural rather than cosmetic change that would make it easier for companies to invest in Egypt and create jobs.
"We are a country with limited resources and we have to make choices on spending," says economist Ziad Bahaa el-Din, a former deputy prime minister in Egypt.
The economic crisis has had political implications. Some Egyptians, who remained silent as security forces killed hundreds of protesters and imprisoned thousands more over the past three years, now openly criticize the government.
Egypt's current government, led by former army general Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, took power after a military coup toppled the previous elected government.
"You did not wake up because of the blood and now you are because of sugar and rice?" writes Mohammed Abo El-Gheit, a columnist for al-Araby al-Jadeed.
El-Din, the economist, says despite the economic misery, he isn't expecting unrest.
"On the whole, Egyptians after five years of political change do not have a lot of appetite for dramatic change and most people are really willing to endure a lot to avoid other forms of turmoil," he says. |
Most of us have no doubt that our fellow humans are conscious. We are also pretty sure that many animals have consciousness. Some, like the great ape species, even seem to possess self-consciousness, like us. Others, like dogs and cats and pigs, may lack a sense of self, but they certainly appear to experience inner states of pain and pleasure. About smaller creatures, like mosquitoes, we are not so sure; certainly we have few compunctions about killing them. As for plants, they obviously do not have minds, except in fairy tales. Nor do nonliving things like tables and rocks.
All that is common sense. But common sense has not always proved to be such a good guide in understanding the world. And the part of our world that is most recalcitrant to our understanding at the moment is consciousness itself. How could the electrochemical processes in the lump of gray matter that is our brain give rise to — or, even more mysteriously, be — the dazzling technicolor play of consciousness, with its transports of joy, its stabs of anguish and its stretches of mild contentment alternating with boredom? This has been called “the most important problem in the biological sciences” and even “the last frontier of science.” It engrosses the intellectual energies of a worldwide community of brain scientists, psychologists, philosophers, physicists, computer scientists and even, from time to time, the Dalai Lama.
So vexing has the problem of consciousness proved that some of these thinkers have been driven to a hypothesis that sounds desperate, if not downright crazy. Perhaps, they say, mind is not limited to the brains of some animals. Perhaps it is ubiquitous, present in every bit of matter, all the way up to galaxies, all the way down to electrons and neutrinos, not excluding medium-size things like a glass of water or a potted plant. Moreover, it did not suddenly arise when some physical particles on a certain planet chanced to come into the right configuration; rather, there has been consciousness in the cosmos from the very beginning of time.
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The doctrine that the stuff of the world is fundamentally mind-stuff goes by the name of panpsychism. A few decades ago, the American philosopher Thomas Nagel showed that it is an inescapable consequence of some quite reasonable premises. First, our brains consist of material particles. Second, these particles, in certain arrangements, produce subjective thoughts and feelings. Third, physical properties alone cannot account for subjectivity. (How could the ineffable experience of tasting a strawberry ever arise from the equations of physics?) Now, Nagel reasoned, the properties of a complex system like the brain don’t just pop into existence from nowhere; they must derive from the properties of that system’s ultimate constituents. Those ultimate constituents must therefore have subjective features themselves — features that, in the right combinations, add up to our inner thoughts and feelings. But the electrons, protons and neutrons making up our brains are no different from those making up the rest of the world. So the entire universe must consist of little bits of consciousness.
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Nagel himself stopped short of embracing panpsychism, but today it is enjoying something of a vogue. The Australian philosopher David Chalmers and the Oxford physicist Roger Penrose have spoken on its behalf. In the recent book “Consciousness and Its Place in Nature,” the British philosopher Galen Strawson defends panpsychism against numerous critics. How, the skeptics wonder, could bits of mind-dust, with their presumably simple mental states, combine to form the kinds of complicated experiences we humans have? After all, when you put a bunch of people in the same room, their individual minds do not form a single collective mind. (Or do they?) Then there is the inconvenient fact that you can’t scientifically test the claim that, say, the moon is having mental experiences. (But the same applies to people — how could you prove that your fellow office workers aren’t unconscious robots, like Commander Data on “Star Trek”?) Finally, there is the sheer loopiness of the idea that something like a photon could have proto-emotions, proto-beliefs and proto-desires. What could the content of a photon’s desire possibly be? “Perhaps it wishes it were a quark,” one anti-panpsychist cracked. |
Dr Karel Habig and some of his colleagues sent me a response to the HIRT trial post that I reblogged from the Careflight Collective blog. Here it is :
Hi CF Collective,
Thank you for the opportunity to reply to your posts surrounding prehospital care in greater Sydney.
The following represents our personal view.
Prehospital research is a huge challenge but in our opinion the HIRT study question, study methodology and setting were crucially flawed. This resulted in a study which took almost 6 years but failed to recruit enough patients to definitively answer the question it posed.
The Study Question.
Rather than test the effect of a specific intervention or bundle of interventions the study intervention described in the HIRT paper was ‘standard treatment plus a physician arriving by helicopter’. Prehospital & retrieval medicine (PHARM) has evolved well beyond the assumption of physician superiority. The international PHARM community, supported by an expanding literature, acknowledges the necessity of prehospital critical care delivered by teams who have received a structured and ongoing training program, applying interventions and monitoring according to clear standard operating procedures, and whose safety and quality is assured through an open and robust clinical governance framework. No mention of specific training is given, no clinical operating procedures were available in the public domain during the term of the study, and worryingly the only standard of care mentioned is “protocols for standard trauma therapy as determined by the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons Early Management of Severe Trauma programme”, a 2.5 day ATLS-equivalent course for junior staff devoid of prehospital training.
Without specific operating procedures or protocols the trial could never be replicated: an essential component of the scientific method. Without a multicentre design any outcome would inevitably lack external validity. Were there a specific set of operating procedures these operating procedures needed to have been at the core of this study.
Methodology
The second major issue was the study methodology. In a reversal of sound RCT methodology patients were randomised at the time of tasking (or self-tasking by HIRT) then eligibility criteria were applied resulting in data on very few patients being analysed (≈10%). Patients were excluded for a variety of reasons some of which were likely to be non-random. This intrinsically limited the statistical validity of any result whether the trial had recruited fully or not.
If one had to point to the single biggest failure it was clearly recruitment with not enough patients recruited despite 5yr and 10mths elapsing in a study designed to last 3yrs. This became clear to the investigators early on and led to change of inclusion criteria while the study was underway.
Why did the study fail to recruit?
A significant factor was the choice of setting, Sydney NSW. Sydney has 6 major trauma centres in the metropolitan area which limits the number of patients who can be attended by any single service before they get to hospital. At the time of inception of the trial in 2005 there were two services providing physician/paramedic teams in the city with an ability to respond to prehospital cases (including unconscious head injuries) by road and helicopter (one half of which was run by CareFlight NSW themselves). This had been the situation for the last 25 years. Those of us looking from outside harboured severe doubts the trial would succeed simply due to recruitment issues. Indeed the trial recruited just over 1 patient every fortnight in the treatment arm to give a total of 169 patients treated by the HIRT team in 5 years 10 months.
There is the suggestion that a cause of the failure of the study was cross-over ie patients treated by “standard” physician/paramedic teams. Over the almost 6 year period the study paper identifies 30 patients (≈5/year) which puts this suggestion into perspective. It is also suggested that cross-over became an issue because NSW Ambulance introduced a role called Rapid Launch Trauma Co-ordinator (RLTC) “replicating” the HIRT case identification system. Any one working in HEMS in NSW knows this to be untrue.
The RLTC is a position within the Aeromedical Control Centre designed to find patients in rural, remote and outer urban fringes of metropolitan areas distant from Major Trauma Centres who would otherwise be subject to delays in advanced care due to geography or because of entrapment. They task any one of 10 helicopters or road teams around the state. NSW Ambulance went to significant lengths to avoid interfering with the HIRT Trial. That the cross-over remained so small is testament to the different targets for case identification.
No HEMS system would wish to “replicate” the HIRT case identification system considering the very high call-off rate (approx 3 taskings for every patient.) Self-tasking of helicopter EMS carries significant risks to crew and the general public which can not be tolerated in mature systems.
The public reporting of this trial has been slow.
The study protocol and plan for analysis was only published 2 years after the study finished. One (of the many) subgroup analyses has been reported in the study paper as the major outcome despite the primary and secondary endpoints showing no difference
Subsequent sub-group analyses reported as “studies” are merely observations of non-random data and use surrogate markers of “performance” such as “time-to-CT-scan” and fail to refer back to the original trial primary outcome showing no evidence of benefit.
There is inadequate comparison of complications or adverse events (ie inadequate pre-oxygenation, episodes of desaturation or hypotension post RSI, multiple intubation attempts, failure to decompress pneumothorax etc…) encountered in the haste to “stop the clock” by moving from scene, especially as the rate of urgent surgical intervention in blunt major trauma patients is very low.
The Principal Investigator cites the Monash review prepared for the 2012 independent Aeromedical Review into Rotary Wing Services in NSW and quotes the author Prof Belinda Gabbe but omits other essential elements of the main conclusion such as:
“Physician staffed retrieval teams were a pre-existing component of the Sydney prehospital system. This was acknowledged in the study hypothesis and protocol. Therefore, the capacity of the study to answer the research question was limited at the outset”
And…
“Analyses released subsequent to the Final Report were not pre-specified in the statistical analysis plan and suggest lower mortality and morbidity risk for patients managed by physician staffed retrieval teams overall, and specifically for road trauma patients. However, these significant findings resulted from comparison of non-randomised groups. As patients who changed treatment allocation groups after randomisation differed significantly from patients who remained in their allocated group, the findings are likely to be biased, and should be interpreted with considerable caution”.
Karel Habig
Cliff Reid
Brian Burns
Geoff Healy
Sandra Ware |
5 Things That Are Better in Cabarete, Dominican Republic
Our top picks of things that are better in Cabarete, Dominican Republic
There are telltale signs that you have traveled to Cabarete – tanned skin, strong arms, and sand in every nook and cranny of your body and luggage. After spending some time here, you’ll come to learn that some things are just better in Cabarete, like waaay better than back home. Many people end up moving here on a whim after falling in love with the scenery, the culture, and the super laidback way of life. So whether you’re a first time visitor, have been vacationing in Cabarete for years or are a diehard expat, we think you’ll agree that the following 5 things are just way better in Cabarete.
Water Activities
By now, we think just about everyone realizes Cabarete is called the “Action Sport Capital of the Caribbean” for a reason. Anything powered by the ocean and/or the wind will be found right in our front yard: surfing, windsurfing, kitesurfing, paddle surfing, laser boat races…the list goes on and on. But don’t forget that when the wind and waves die down (which is hardly ever), the water gets crystal clear and you can also go snorkelling and diving at any of the 5 main beaches in Cabarete. Each has a different view and formations under the water, so take some time to explore!
Family Time
At home, there are schedules, appointments, work, school, pickups and drop offs. Squabbling about homework and housework puts a strain on relationships. But in Cabarete…family time is just so much better. Relaxing together at the beach, eating lots of fresh fruit, and sleeping in (unless you are a family of surfers, then you will want to wake up early!). A holiday in Cabarete is the perfect opportunity to go on adventures with loved ones without the stress of regular life bogging you down. So whether you are travelling as a couple or a whole family, time together in Cabarete is just so much more fun.
Fruit
It’s everywhere. It’s inexpensive. It’s delicious. Fresh mangos, ripe bananas, and papayas the size of footballs – All the things healthy dreams are made of! Follow a big beach adventure with a plate of fresh fruit and you too will be scheming ways to sell everything you own and move to Cabarete. The most convenient way to enjoy this healthy treat? Buy fresh fruit from the fruit lady on Cabarete beach that strolls up and down the playa with a big basket of fruit on top of her head. Otherwise, our town is bustling with street-side fruit stands, so you are never far from a freshly picked pineapple.
Sunsets
Obviously, the sun sets every night, but in Cabarete it never gets boring. There is always a sky bursting with colors and clouds. Some nights it looks like a rainbow, others it looks like it’s on fire…but the good kind of fire. Our condos are located directly on the beach, so you are only steps away from a breezy sunset like the one everyone sees on Instagram.
Dancing
If dancing the Macarena while listening to top-40 club music makes you want to cry, then the music and dancing in Cabarete will be a breath of fresh air. Dominicans love to dance to Reggaton, Salsa, and Merengue. They are THE inventors of the often imitated, yet never duplicated, Bachata. That being said, you are likely to see dancing at every opportunity imaginable: the gas station, on the porch, and at the colmado after hours. Even little kids are fantastic dancers! Turn on some Dembow and prepared to be amazed.
Beach Bodies
Fit, healthy, bronzed and happy. Even the most stressed tourists look better in Cabarete after a few weeks of good sleep, good food, sunshine, and a lot of dancing. If watersports aren’t your thing (and even if they are), Cabarete has a nice selection of gyms and yoga studios, so it is very easy to get/stay fit while on vacation here. *photo by Pearlkini
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We know there are a million other things that are just better in Cabarete, so feel free to leave your list in the comments below. |
DreamHack Regionals Finals for South Europe and Valencia Invitational in StarCraft II to be played the 16th-17th of September. Official match-ups and match times released today together with the official host-duo Hailey Bright and James Harding.
This Friday, 16th of September, DreamHack South Europe starts at Veles e Vents in Valencia, Spain. It kick-offs with the Regional Finals in Counter-Strike 1.6, StarCraft 2 and Super Street Fighter IV AE where the best players from Spain, Portugal, France and Italy will battle it out to determine the Regional DreamHack-champions 2011 and also qualify for the Grand Finals at DreamHack Winter 2011.
In addition to the event, DreamHack will host the fourth event in DreamHack Sapphire AMD Championship – the Valencia Invitational. DreamHack have invited 8 of the world’s best players to fight for 100 000 SEK prize purse and also auto-berths into the main tournament at DreamHack Winter 2011.
Today we’re proud to announce the match-ups for Valencia Invitational. All matches are played best-of-3 and the Finals is played best-of-5.
Schedule / Match-ups 17th of September:
15.00 Round of 8 EG HuK (Protoss) vs. Mouz Thorzain (Terran)
16.00 Round of 8 Liquid`HerO (Protoss) vs. EG IdrA (Zerg)
17.00 Round of 8 Fnatic Rain (Terran) vs. Dignitas NaNiwa (Protoss)
18.00 Round of 8 MVP.coL.DongRaeGu (Zerg) vs. APSC2 LucifroN (Terran)
19.00 Semifinal #1 TBA
20.00 Semifinal #2 TBA
21.00 Grand Final TBA
15:30 Fan meeting #1 – Rain, NaNiwa, DRG & LucifroN
17.15 Fan meeting #2 – HuK, ThorZaIN, HerO & IdrA
Click the picture for a larger version
Maps:
TSL3 Metalopolis
Antiga Shipyard
ESL Shattered Temple
GSL Dual Sight
ESL Shakuras Plateau
Tal’Darim Altar LE
GSTL GSL TerminusRE
Each player will blindly veto one map from the pool. The maps will then be randomly chosen of those remaining.
Official hosts for the event will be Hailey Bright and James ‘2GD’ Harding. Bright, famous from Coin-op TV, Spike TV and self-professed ‘tech geek’ will be the presenter of the games and interview the gamers between matches. Esports celebrity James ‘2GD’ Harding will assist as the co-host throughout the event.
All matches will be livestreamed in three different languages: English, Swedish and Spanish. English stream in 720p will be available thanks to TwitchTV. Sweden’s largest and most influencing media outlet Aftonbladet will broadcast the show in Swedish – produced by Amok Studios. And for the first time, we’ll also feature a Spanish stream through Canal+ and produced by Canales.
Streams:
English stream: www.dreamhack.tv
Swedish stream: www.aftonbladet.se
Spanish stream: www.plus.es
More information about DreamHack South Europe is available at www.dreamhack.es and information about DreamHack Valencia Invitational can be found at www.dreamhack.se |
An Uptown woman dropped her newborn girl from an eighth-floor window late Wednesday, killing the baby, because she feared discovery by her family, prosecutors said Saturday.
Mubashra Uddin, 19, was ordered held without bail on a first-degree murder charge Saturday after a hearing in Cook County Bond Court. The newborn, being called Baby Jane Uddin in police reports, was found in the grass outside a high-rise in the 800 block of West Eastwood Avenue about 11:45 p.m. Wednesday, according to authorities.
Uddin did not appear in court Saturday because she is hospitalized.
Charges expected in death of baby in Uptown. Nov. 13, 2015. (CBS Chicago) Charges expected in death of baby in Uptown. Nov. 13, 2015. (CBS Chicago) SEE MORE VIDEOS
When Uddin became pregnant by her boyfriend and took a pregnancy test, she told her boyfriend and a friend, but did not tell her family because she knew her Pakistani parents, who are Muslim, would not approve, said Assistant State’s Attorney Patrick Turnock. Judge Peggy Chiampas said Uddin’s family circumstances would be important in the case and would be considered.
During her pregnancy, Uddin, a student at DeVry University, wore clothing to help hide the pregnancy and kept it a secret from her family, Turnock said.
On Wednesday, Uddin went into labor at the eighth-floor apartment she shares with her parents and younger sister, in the bedroom she shares with a sister, Turnock said. She gave birth about 11:20 p.m. to a full-term, 7 pound, 11 ounce girl.
After the baby was born, Uddin heard her mother approaching the bedroom, so Uddin opened a bedroom window and dropped the girl out, Turnock said.
The baby fell eight stories and landed on a grassy area near the apartment building. A man found her naked and bloody, but still breathing, and alerted security at the building to call 911, Turnock said.
Anthony Souffle / Chicago Tribune Donna Pedraza straightens up a bear on Nov. 14, 2015, that had been blown over by the wind as stuffed animals, flowers and cards surround a tree in the grassy area where prosecutors say Mubashra Uddin, 19, dropped her newborn girl from an eighth-floor apartment window on Nov. 11, 2015, killing the baby. The incident occurred in the 800 block of block of West Eastwood Avenue in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago. Donna Pedraza straightens up a bear on Nov. 14, 2015, that had been blown over by the wind as stuffed animals, flowers and cards surround a tree in the grassy area where prosecutors say Mubashra Uddin, 19, dropped her newborn girl from an eighth-floor apartment window on Nov. 11, 2015, killing the baby. The incident occurred in the 800 block of block of West Eastwood Avenue in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago. (Anthony Souffle / Chicago Tribune) (Anthony Souffle / Chicago Tribune)
The man wrapped the baby in shirts and went back to his own home and retrieved two baby blankets for the girl, then waited for paramedics to arrive, Turnock said.
The girl was taken to Weiss Memorial Hospital, where she died at 12:25 a.m. Thursday from her massive injuries, Turnock said.
The girl suffered complex skull fractures, a fractured spine, a broken left shoulder, fractured left and right ribs and a lacerated aorta, lacerated liver and lacerated bowel and suffered from blood in the abdomen, Turnock said. The Cook County medical examiner's office later declared the death a homicide by blunt-force trauma.
After the baby was found, police canvassed the area and learned from people they talked to that they thought Uddin might have been pregnant, Turnock said. They also figured out that Uddin’s apartment was directly above where the infant was found.
When police went to Uddin’s family’s apartment, they found blood in several places in the bedroom and bathroom, as well as bloody sheets and bloody scissors, Turnock said. When investigators interviewed her, Uddin at first denied she had anything to do with the infant but made “multiple admissions” on video.
Uddin is scheduled to appear in Cook County Violence Court on Monday for a bond review hearing. |
by Lowell Francis
Pick-n-Choose: I’ve focused on inner life and knowing details, but of course I leave these kinds of considerations for characters who are going to reappear or serve a more permanent role. Sometimes I’ll know that beforehand– certain characters fit into vital roles for the plot. We know they’ll be recurring and worth developing. However we know that some characters just don’t stick. They don’t generate interest among the players. You can bring a character back and try to add some element to them that might make them more interesting, but in general because I operate with a large cast, if someone doesn’t work I will retire them. They’ll still exist but probably won’t get much time at the table. If they served a particular minor role, I’ll transfer that to another existing character or develop an entirely new one.
The trick for noticing this at the table is twofold. Obviously if the players actively seek out the characters to talk with them, that’s an indication that they’re interested in them. A more subtle clue is to listen when the PCs talk amongst themselves and see who they mention. Those mentions indicate that the character has made an impression. Take advantage of that. Bring the character back for a ply-through or make them more integral to the plot. If you’re keeping a list of quick scenes for the PCs make sure to use those NPCs.
From the player side of things, if you find an NPC intriguing, seek them out. Tell them GM that you enjoy how a particular character plays at the table. A good GM will take that into account and bring them back. By the same token don’t push that point– sometimes a GM will not enjoy an NPC as much as the players do. They may be bothered at how the character’s actually rolled out in play.
Sometimes a weird dynamic arises from this. One of the most frustrating things for me as a player is to have an NPC I liked never reappear or be available. I’ve had a couple of times where I’ve pushed hard, in part because talking to or allying with a particular NPC makes sense but the GM avoids it. Sometimes this makes sense– the NPC has another role to play or has other circumstances going on that means they react that way. The GM ought to communicate that.
Dead NPCs: I kill NPCs, but I do that more sparingly than I have in the past. I’ve learned over the years that being ready to kill NPCs at the drop of a hat is a certain way to make players avoid making real connections and investment in the world around them. The same thing applies to trust and betrayal by NPCs. Both death and revelation of the traitor scenes need to be handled carefully. While they might seem like potent dramatic moments they have serious consequences on the players’ mindset. Obviously the Gm can’t rule these things out– but assess the consequences carefully.
Keep in mind that players at your table are constantly trying to get a sense of the world around them. And in another sense they’re trying to get a feel for what kind of story they’re in. If you signal that death is cheap, players will act accordingly. Some players naturally avoid NPCs because of this– assuming they’re unimportant or more likely some kind of trap for the players. You can usually pick these players out early in a game. Dealing with them is a more difficult task. If they’re clearly gunshy, then you need to probably talk openly about that issue. If they just don’t care about NPCs or take them seriously then you have a few options. You can concentrate on other plot details for them– concrete things, puzzles, rumors or capers. You can also try to provide them with NPCs who might demonstrate the value of these interactions. Someone who can get them something they need or want, but only if they’re treated respectfully.
Puzzling out how different players see the NPCs is important. Some players seem to think NPCs function as they do in videogames– possessing limited dialogue branches, providing fetch quests, vomiting exposition, or to be killed without consequence. If possible, rid these players of that conception early. Some players haven’t played in an “open game”– where NPCs serve as a kind of floating pool of information. I’ve had some frustration in games where I’ve provided lists of NPCs and then had players decide they’ve come to a dead end in an investigation because they don’t have the appropriate skills. The GM has to make clear a few times in a gentle manner that the campaign has a certain logic to it– model and reward play to help players who feel stuck. Some players play defensively across the board– they’ve come from games where the GM and player have an adversarial relationship or else they’re generally risk-adverse. They avoid all but the most superficial engagements with the NPCs or, in fact, most background and setting detail.
Another player approach worth watching out for and dealing with, on some level, are players who take a proprietary approach to NPCs. They interact with a particular NPC and then assume that this character is their’s and their’s alone. If other players interact with that character, especially when they’re not present, they become irritated. That gets played out as a certain amount of tension and irritation at the table. On the one hand if another player is deliberately moving to step on another player’s toes, that’s one thing. But I’ve seen this happen as both a GM and a player– usually without any basis except a feeling that an NPC represents a very personal thing or a resource to be written down on a character sheet. A GM has to keep a close eye on this for a couple of reasons. First, it creates inter-party tension, especially when you have players operating in different modes– a player who doesn’t see anything proprietary in interactions may not understand why another player has suddenly become angry at the table. Second, if you’ve invested plotlines in a particular NPC and a player has decided that no one else should interact with that character, it can bring those plots to a screeching halt. If the player doesn’t follow up then those plots become lost. On the other hand, if you do activate those plots and they by necessity broaden to impact the whole party they you run the risk of irritating the possessive player again.
Selfish players and players who overly invest in their characters are just as dangerous, if not more dangerous, to the smooth operation of a group than apathy. In some ways, I’d rather deal with apathy– as the other set of problems requires disentangling personal and play behaviors.
Authority: It has been my experience that players generally tend to react negatively to authority figures. I’m not saying constantly, but more often than not if a figure seems to be part of the establishment, players may react out of preconceptions rather than who the character is. A person who is in charge when the PCs meet them will more often than not be seen as an obstacle or as wrongly holding their authority. A GM has to be prepared for those kinds of reactions. You can sometimes spot that pattern with players and begin to shape your narrative in reaction to that. Not that authority figures then all have to be sunshine and roses, but you can taken the opportunity to complicate their reactions and deepen the scene. I’d take this authority-reaction as a general idea and not a strict rule. It varies from player to player and from campaign to campaign.
Next post– romance, rivals, the paradox on rpg narrative, email voice, living with the consequences, pandering and more. |
AHMEDABAD: As Prime Minister Narendra Modi encourages competition among states, his home state Gujarat is likely to lose its position as the top solar power producing state. It is facing tough competition from states like Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh which are fast catching up.
Gujarat is currently the top solar power generating state with commissioned capacity of 929MW out of the country’s total capacity of 3,002.66MW. Close on heels of Gujarat is Rajasthan with 839.5MW followed by Madhya Pradesh (353.58MW), Maharashtra (286.9MW) and Andhra Pradesh (234.86MW).
There is intense competition among states for solar power generation. Apart from Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka are aggressively coming out with schemes to promote solar power generation.
In the last couple of years there has been no significant addition to the solar power generation in Gujarat, sources in the state government said. Another indication of the lack of enthusiasm among solar power developers with regard to Gujarat was that, at the Vibrant Gujarat Summit 2015, only one investment proposal for solar power generation was signed and that too by Ahmedabad-based Torrent Power Ltd which signed agreement for setting up 51MW of solar power project in the state.
However, in the past few years Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh have become very aggressive in marketing their states as the next destination. They have come out with solar policies and incentives for those setting up units there.
In addition, the major draw to these states is the availability of land at cheaper rates. Land prices are higher in Gujarat compared to Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, said industry sources.
They are of the view that Rajasthan may race ahead of Gujarat within a period of six months to one year.
The solar power capacity in Gujarat is low, said government sources, because it is already a power surplus state, while Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh are power deficit up to a certain extent.
According to the ministry of new and renewable energy, Rajasthan, MP and Andhra Pradesh have more projects in pipeline than Gujarat. Rajasthan recently signed agreements with US-based Sun Edision and Azure Power India Pvt Ltd for generation of 1,000MW each in the next two years.
“Now there is need for a revised policy in Gujarat especially in view of the significant developments at the national level. The industry is awaiting new policy from Gujarat with baited breath,” said Pranav Mehta, chairman of National Solar Energy Federation of India (NSEFI). Gujarat government had announced its solar policy in 2009.
Adani, Rajasthan govt ink pact to set up India’s largest solar park
Ahmedabad: In what could give a major boost to the solar power generation not only to Rajasthan but to the entire country, Adani Enterprises Ltd (AEL), the flagship company of Adani Group on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the government of Rajasthan to set up a 10,000MW solar power park in the neighbouring state. This will be India’s largest solar park.
As per the agreement, billionaire Gautam Adani-controlled AEL and Rajasthan Renewable Energy Corporation Ltd (RREC) will form a joint venture to set up the solar park, which will include generation projects and a manufacturing unit for solar module, parts and equipment.
Although Adani Group did not provide the investment figure for the project considering the average cost of Rs 7 crore for per MW solar power generation depending on location and other factors involved, the investment in the proposed solar park could be around Rs 70,000 crore.
“India has embarked upon an ambitious programme of becoming the world leader in renewable power generation, with a special focus on solar. The development of solar park facility is our contribution towards realization of our Prime Minister’s campaign and commitment towards clean and green energy in India,” Gautam Adani, chairman, Adani Group, said in a statement.
Last month, AEL signed an MoU with US-based SunEdison Inc to jointly invest $4 billion in setting up India’s largest integrated solar photovoltaic making plant in Mundra, Gujarat. |
Suspected ISIL fighters killed at least six Afghan employees of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) who were carrying supplies to areas hit by deadly snowstorms, according to government officials.
Another two employees were unaccounted for after Wednesday's attack in the northern Jowzjan province, said ICRC spokesperson Thomas Glass, adding that the group did not know who was responsible for the attack.
"Devastated by this news out of #Afghanistan," Peter Maurer, ICRC president, said on Twitter. "My deepest condolences to the families of those killed - and those still unaccounted for."
ICRC put its activities in the country on hold following the attack, the group's global operations head Dominik Stillhart said, "because we need to understand what exactly happened before we can hopefully resume our operations".
Lotfullah Azizi, Jowzjan's governor, told Reuters news agency the aid workers were in a convoy that was carrying supplies to areas hit by avalanches when they were targeted by fighters belonging to ISIL, or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group.
"Daesh is very active in that area," Azizi said, using an alternate name for ISIL, also known as ISIS, which has made limited inroads in Afghanistan but has carried out increasingly deadly attacks.
Rahmatullah Turkistani, Jawzjan police chief, said the workers' bodies had been brought to the provincial capital.
A search operation was launched to find the two missing aid workers.
Zabiullah Mujahid, Taliban spokesperson, told Al Jazeera the group was not involved in the attack.
Al Jazeera's Qais Azimy, reporting from Kabul, said the attack was "one of the few incidents" in the country's north carried out by ISIL, which has been mainly active in the east.
"It's going to be another challenge for Afghanistan security forces," our correspondent said. "They are already fighting the Taliban in that part of the country. Now, a new group is emerging in the north."
Under attack
Aid workers in Afghanistan have increasingly come under attack amid a surge in violence in recent years.
Speaking from Geneva, ICRC spokeswoman Marie Claire Feghali told Al Jazeera that the organisation makes contact "with all the groups that are active on the ground" to ensure safety before carrying out humanitarian work.
"We do not know why our convoy was attacked," she said.
"Our colleagues were on a humanitarian mission to deliver assistance in Jowzjan ... [Our] team there would have made all the contacts and they were in clearly marked ICRC cars."
In January, a Spanish ICRC employee was released less than a month after he was kidnapped by unidentified attackers in northern Afghanistan.
That staff member was travelling with three Afghan colleagues between Mazar-i-Sharif and Kunduz on December 19 when the attackers stopped the vehicles. The other Afghan ICRC staff were immediately released.
In a recent summary of its work in Afghanistan last year, the ICRC said increasing insecurity had made it difficult to provide aid to many parts of the country.
"Despite it all, the ICRC has remained true to its commitment to the people of Afghanistan, as it has throughout the last 30 years of its continuous presence in the country," the statement said.
In April 2015 the bullet-riddled bodies of five Afghan workers for the Save the Children charity were found after they were abducted in the southern province of Uruzgan. |
Handscomb posts 82 on ODI debut
Peter Handscomb reckons he needs to buy himself a lottery ticket after his contribution to Australia's victory in Perth on Thursday night.
And after the dream summer he's had, you wouldn't be surprised if he won the jackpot.
Quick wrap: Aussies cruise to 2-1 series lead
The Victorian has made his own luck in the early stages of his international career, which has so far yielded two Test hundreds, two fifties and an average just shy of 100.
But there was no doubt the cricket gods were on his side against Pakistan at the WACA Ground, where he was dismissed off a no-ball from the third ball he faced and then dropped at backward point when on 10 from a delivery that replays showed should have also been called a no-ball.
Handscomb spared of debut duck by no-ball
"Yeah 100 per cent, I think I need to buy a lottery ticket tonight," Handscomb said when asked if his ODI debut innings of 82 was one of the luckiest knocks of his career.
"I guess, I've been working really hard to get everything going to this point so that when I do get the opportunity I try to grab it with both hands.
Quick Single: Superb Smith breaks another record
"Obviously today was very lucky, initially getting caught off a no-ball and then dropped at backward point. Although I think it shows on the replay that that was a no-ball as well so I actually missed out on a free hit there, which was a bit disappointing.
"Then from there I was able to play my own game and go about it the way I normally do."
Quick Single: Smith, Handscomb punish Pakistan
Good fortune aside, Handscomb was able to carry his supreme Test form into his first taste of ODI cricket, his score of 82 the third-highest by an Australian on debut.
Fortune favours debutant Handscomb
He also became the first Australian since Shaun Marsh in 2011 to post a score of fifty or more in his maiden innings in both Test and one-day cricket.
Incredibly for a player of his talent, it was also his highest score in 47 one-day innings at either domestic or international level, the absence of a 50-over century at List A level pointed out this week by former national selector and Tasmania batsman Jamie Cox.
While admitting his 50-over domestic record that includes an average of just 31 "isn't great", Handscomb said his Test form this summer gave him confidence that he could handle the jump in class.
Handscomb's classic catch to remove Babar
But he concedes he remains a work in progress in white-ball cricket.
"I felt good throughout the entire summer and I knew if I came out today and just tried to play the way the team wanted me to play then that's all I could do," he said.
"I wasn't too worried about what had happened in previous years.
"I understand my one-day record in domestic cricket isn't great but to come out here and do what the team needs, that was my only job today and it was great to be able to do it.
Gilchrist delivers Handscomb his maiden ODI cap
"I need to find a way to score off more balls. In the longer format you can let a lot go, you can really wait until the ball's in your zone to hit. Whereas here you need to start fabricating a few shots and making a few things up, which I'm working on and obviously trying to score quicker.
"But I've got to let my own game develop in the way that will let that happen."
Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur lamented the opportunities his side missed in the field, but denied that paceman Junaid Khan - the bowler who overstepped on both occasions - was a serial offender.
Arthur laments missed opportunities
"Junaid was battling into the Fremantle Doctor a little bit so that caused him to over-stride, but it's still no excuse," Arthur said.
"We've got to be keeping our foot behind the line.
"Every little opportunity ... we have to take to be competing with Australia in these conditions.
"Where we're at as a team, we just can't afford those little lapses. So that was particularly disappointing." |
Share. A higher opening, but not exactly a clean kill. A higher opening, but not exactly a clean kill.
Atomic Blonde may not have topped the box office in its opening weekend, but the film's debut did overtake one of the movies the Charlize Theron action film has been most compared to — John Wick.
Directed by David Leitch, one half of the directing duo behind John Wick, Atomic Blonde took in an estimated $18.6 million in its debut, while John Wick only pulled in about $14.4 million when it opened in 2014. (Even adjusted for inflation, John Wick wouldn't crack the $15 million-mark for its opening weekend.) With only three days to compare, Atomic Blonde took in approximately $1.5 million more per day of its opening than John Wick did.
Exit Theatre Mode
Of course, the comparison isn't exact — Atomic Blonde opened in 715 more theaters than the original John Wick did, which amounts to about a 27 percent increase in the number of theaters. The first Keanu Reeves-starring action film, which opened in second place at the box office in 2014, would go on to gross about $43 million domestically and about $89 million worldwide. Atomic Blonde opened fourth at the domestic box office and has made an estimated $24.5 million worldwide so far. Numbers via Box Office Mojo.
Other factors such as release window — John Wick opened in October whereas Atomic Blonde debuted at the end of July — as well as competition may have contributed to the results as well. Wick opened opposite Ouija, with Fury and Gone Girl the holdovers at the box office, whereas Atomic Blonde faced off with reigning box office champ Dunkirk and newcomer The Emoji Movie.
Exit Theatre Mode
John Wick: Chapter 2 went on to build on the success of its original, however, and opened to $30.4 million earlier this year — and did so in less theaters than Atomic Blonde opened in.
For more on Atomic Blonde, check out IGN's review of the film and check out what director David Leitch had to say about how video games influence his work.
Jonathon Dornbush is an Associate Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter @jmdornbush. |
WASHINGTON — The House Armed Services Committee has dealt a blow to President Obama’s hopes to shutter the military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, by unanimously approving legislation that would prohibit creating a detention center inside the United States.
The administration had asked Congress to approve about $350 million to buy and renovate a nearly empty prison in Thomson, Ill. The White House plan was to empty Guantánamo and transfer its detainees to Illinois — including 48 who would be held without trial as wartime prisoners.
But late Wednesday, the House committee unanimously approved a defense bill for 2011 that bans spending money to build or modify any facility inside the United States to house Guantánamo detainees, according to a summary of the bill.
It says the committee wants to see “a thorough and comprehensive plan that outlines the merits, costs, and risks associated with utilizing such a facility. No such plan has been presented to date. The bill prohibits the use of any funds for this purpose.”
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The bill also requires Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates to produce a report for Congress that “adequately justifies” any proposal for such a facility in the future, suggesting that lawmakers could reverse course.
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It was already clear that the Guantánamo prison would not be closed until 2011 at the earliest. With the committee’s stance, the prospects of closing it receded still further.
Mr. Obama had declared he would close the prison within a year of taking office. The administration argues that Guantánamo is a symbol used for terrorism recruitment, so closing it would enhance national security. |
Liberty Wall
- I - The President's plan was bold, far reaching, and America believed in it. Everything was pretty cut and dry, and every single one of us working class stiffs could get behind it in a big way. They made it sound really simple, and excluding all of the politics and economic stuff and other stuff I don't really have a head for, it kinda was. Just one big domestic initiative. An infrastructure so big it could feed everyone for years. It made the Hoover Dam look like a dredged canal out in the bay. One big project. Hire everyone who could swing a hammer or walk a straight line. "Opportunities for All!" You couldn't escape the billboards and posters. As if they stopped talking about it in the news, you'd somehow forget. You couldn't forget it; things were working again. Even the naysayers who started off calling it "socialist witchcraft" got behind it when they realized how big the tax breaks were gonna be for their petrol investments. Outside of the conspiracy nuts and privileged white art students, no one could find much fault in the program. At least, not enough fault to turn down the paycheck. For so many of us trapped in the bad parts of the cities, those who were over-qualified and under-employed (you know, all of us), this was just like winning a lottery. Salaried contracts that would last a few years, benefits after we leave, vouchers for services, paychecks. We all felt the same way. Full fridges, finally. No more picking which bill to pay at the end of the month. This was going to pull us out of all our debts. My brother-in-law David and I were on the first bus out of the Tennessee Valley as soon as we got the word we qualified. We didn't even unpack our documentation and paperwork until we were 100 miles in. I'm not sure how everything happened so quick and easy. When the President introduced that big multi-media simulcast of "Project Liberty Wall", it was almost too much to take in at once. I could only imagine this sort of stuff must've already been on the back-burner. Somewhere between Operation SafeGuard and the TSA meltdown, they said. A lot of lobbying, a lot of incredible tax breaks for mining companies and the transportation industry. They practically couldn't ship blue collar down south fast enough. This thing was big and it hit the ground running. There was such a sudden change that the economy bounced back immediately; we could do no wrong. The world basically accepted we'd done the impossible, and we got our credit rating back up. I think we also ended up taking a Central American country while no one was looking. Some of the less-learned workers from deeper in the ‘burbs where asking about why no one was being sent North. We were able to straighten them out when we reminded them of that Jihadist attack that destroyed the reactors and wiped out most of Quebec. |
Mr Obama 's Democrats open their party convention in North Carolina tomorrow determined to reverse any momentum gathered by the Republicans ' own gathering last week, which appeared to have given Mr Romney only a moderate boost in opinion polls.
Speaking in Iowa over the weekend, the president said the Republicans had offered no new ideas to revive the country. "It was a re-run – we'd seen it before," he told thousands of supporters at a rally in Sioux City. "You might as well have watched it on a black-and-white television."
Antonio Villaraigosa, the Democratic convention chairman, said yesterday that the Republican manifesto, with its zero-tolerance on abortion and gay rights, was "a platform from another century, maybe even two". He told Fox News: "It looks like the platform of 1812."
Mr Obama, who is due to address voters in a 78,000-capacity stadium on Thursday night, sharply criticised his opponent for offering almost no details on the policies that he would implement to "restore America".
"When Governor Romney had his chance to let you in on his secret sauce, he didn't offer you a single new idea," said Mr Obama. "It was just a retread of the same old policies that have been sticking it to the middle class for years."
Mr Romney promises to cut income taxes by 20 per cent, while also bringing down the $1.2 trillion budget deficit. A non-partisan study concluded his plan had a $360 billion black hole that must be filled by tax increases on middle-income Americans, which Mr Romney denies.
Mr Romney's speech continued to be overshadowed by the rambling sketch given beforehand by Clint Eastwood, who argued with an empty chair in which he said Mr Obama was sitting.
Mr Obama brushed aside the incident yesterday, saying Eastwood was "a great actor, and an even better director". He added: "One thing about being president or running for president – if you're easily offended, you should probably choose another profession," he told USA Today. Some conservatives were also scathing about Mr Romney's remarks. The pro-business Wall Street Journal said his speech was a "policy-free zone" that left Mr Obama a "blank canvas" on which to caricature Republican proposals as mean-spirited and destructive.
The president enters the final two months of campaigning with a wafer-thin lead over his opponent, according to a RealClearPolitics poll average. However, he is ahead in 10 of the 12 states likely to decide November's US election.
As weak Chinese industrial data stoked fears of fresh economic turmoil, Obama aides yesterday avoided answering whether voters were indeed "better off than they were four years ago".
The question, made famous by Ronald Reagan in 1980, was posed to Americans again last week by Mr Romney amid declining wages and 23 million people still unemployed or seeking more work.
David Plouffe, a senior White House aide, told ABC News that while the US had improved from the depths of the recession, "it took us a long time to get us into that hole and it's going to take us a long time to get out". Martin O'Malley, the governor of Maryland who is tipped as a possible presidential candidate in 2016, admitted on CBS that the answer was "no".
Four years after addressing 84,000 adoring supporters at the party's 2008 convention in Denver, Mr Obama is under pressure to deliver a speech that might provide a similar boost to his prospects this November. Data on jobs created in August is due to be released the next morning. A disappointing report could deflate any excitement generated by the event.
Mr Romney sought to capitalise on his moment in the spotlight by heading for the mid-western state of Ohio, which pollsters say could be the "tipping point state".
Early polls suggested a below-average uplift from Mr Romney's performance in Tampa. An Ipsos/Reuters poll found Mr Obama had regained a slender one-point lead over Mr Romney, who had edged two points ahead before his speech.
There was better news for Mr Romney in a Rasmussen Reports poll, which showed him four points ahead of Mr Obama after a six-point surge from last week. However, this left him short of the historical average of 6.4 per cent post-Convention bounce for Republican candidates.
Tim Stanley: Page 20 |
Caste-related violence has occurred and occurs in India in various forms. According to a report by Human Rights Watch, "Dalits and indigenous people (known as Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes or adivasis) continue to face discrimination, exclusion, and acts of communal violence. Laws and policies adopted by the Indian government provide a strong basis for protection, but are not being faithfully implemented by local authorities."[1]
1968 Kilvenmani massacre, Tamil Nadu [ edit ]
December 25, 1968 in which a group of c.44 striking Dalit (untouchable) village labourers were murdered by a gang, allegedly sent by their landlords, as they were demanding higher wages.
1981 Phoolan Devi, Uttar Pradesh [ edit ]
Phoolan Devi (1963 – 2001) was an Indian dacoit (bandit), who later turned politician. Born into a traditional boatman class Mallaah family, she was kidnapped by a gang of dacoits. The Gujjar leader of the gang tried to rape her, but she was protected by the deputy leader Vikram, who belonged to her caste. Later, an upper-caste Thakur friend of Vikram killed him, abducted Phoolan, and locked her up in the Behmai village. Phoolan was raped in the village by Thakur men, until she managed to escape after three weeks.[2]
Phoolan Devi then formed a gang of Mallahs, which carried out a series of violent robberies in north and central India, mainly targeting upper-caste people. Some say that Phoolan Devi targeted only the upper-caste people and shared the loot with the lower-caste people, but the Indian authorities insist this is a myth.[3] Seventeen months after her escape from Behmai, Phoolan returned to the village, to take her revenge. On February 14, 1981, her gang massacred twenty-two Thakur men in the village, only two of which were supposedly involved in her kidnapping or rape. Phoolan Devi later surrendered and served eleven years in prison, after which she became a politician. During her election campaign, she was criticized by the women widowed in the Behmai massacre. Kshatriya Swabhimaan Andolan Samanvay Committee (KSASC), a Kshatriya organization, held a statewide campaign to protest against her. She was elected a Member of Parliament twice.
On July 25, 2001, Phoolan Devi was shot dead by unknown assassins. Later, a man called Sher Singh Rana confessed to the murder, saying he was avenging the deaths of 22 Kshatriyas at Behmai. Although the police were skeptical of his claims, he was arrested. Rana escaped from Tihar Jail in 2004. In 2006, KSASC decided to honor Rana for "upholding the dignity of the Thakur community" and "drying the tears of the widows of Behmai."[4]
1985: Karamchedu massacre [ edit ]
Karamchedu massacre is a massacre which occurred in Karamchedu, Andhra Pradesh on 17 July 1985, where madiga caste dalits were killed by Kamma then ruling caste in 1985.Many people lost their lives in the incident.[5]
1990s: Ranvir Sena [ edit ]
Ranvir Sena is a militia group based in Bihar. The group is based amongst the higher-caste landlords, and carries out actions against the outlawed naxals in rural areas. It has committed violent acts against Dalits and other members of the scheduled caste community in an effort to prevent their land from going to them. [6]
1991-Tsundur Andhra Pradesh [ edit ]
The village became infamous for the killing of 8 dalits on the 6 August 1991, when a mob of over 300 people, composed of mainly Reddys and telagas chased down the victims along the bund of an irrigation canal. This happened after police department asked locals to go aggressive against large number of eve teasing outsiders entering village . In the trial which was concluded, 21 people were sentenced to life imprisonment and 35 others to a year of rigorous imprisonment and a penalty of Rs. 2,000 each, on the 31 July 2007, by special judge established for the Purpose under SC,STs Atrocities(Prevention) Act.
1992 Bara Massacre,Bihar [ edit ]
At midnight on 12–13 February 1992, the Maoist Communist Centre of India (now the Communist Party of India (Maoist)) brutally killed 35 members of the Bhumihar caste at Bara Village near Gaya District of Bihar, India. The MCC's armed group brought the 35 men of Bara village to the bank of a nearby canal, tied their hands and slit their throats.As many as 36 people were accused of the crime, but charges were framed against only 13. The police failed to arrest the others, who had defied their summons.
1996 Bathani Tola Massacre, Bihar [ edit ]
21 Dalits were killed by the Ranvir Sena in Bathani Tola, Bhojpur in Bihar on 11 July 1996.[7] Among the dead were 11 women, six children and three infants. Ranvir Sena mob killed women and children in particular with the intention of deterring any future resistance which they foresaw. [6]
Six members of Naimuddin Ansari's family were slaughtered by Ranvir Sena according to the Naimuddin Ansari's witness statement. The FIR was lodged against 33 persons the day after the massacre. Niammuddin was a bangle-seller at the time of the carnage, whose 3 month old daughter was killed. Widespread claims suggest they were killed by Ranvir Sena aggressors.. Naimuddin's 7 year son Saddam was attacked and his face was mutilated by sword lacerations.
On 17 April 2012, the Patna High Court acquitted 23 men convicted of the murders. A Division Bench of judges Navneeti Prasad Singh and Ashwani Kumar Singh cited "defective evidence" to acquit all of them.[6][7] The next day, the Bihar State SC/ST Welfare Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi stated that the NDA-led Government (under Nitish Kumar) had decided to move to Supreme court challenging the Patna HC Order.[8]
A Ranvir Sena sympathizer, who spoke to the Hindu correspondent Shoumojit Banerjee, justified the reactionary mobilisation of the upper castes against those Naxals. "The land is ours. The crops belong to us. The labourers did not want to work, and also hampered our efforts by burning our machines and imposing economic blockades. So, they had it coming."[6]
Post Bathani Tola Carnage there were several retaliatory naxal attacks killing at least 500 upper caste civilians [9] as well as attacks on Dalits and Labourers organized by the Ranvir Sena in Laxmanpur Bathe and Sankarbigha in which 81 Dalits were killed.[6]
The Counsel for the witness, Anand Vatsyayan, expressed being shocked at the High Court verdict and reportedly said that "sufficient evidence were at hand to uphold the judgement passed by the Ara sessions court. The Supreme Court guidelines in the event of a massacre are quite clear. The eyewitnesses need not remember all the names. And, of the six prime witnesses questioned in this case, all had conclusively pointed fingers at the persons convicted by the lower court.[7]
1996 Melavalavu murders [ edit ]
In the village of Melavalavu, in Tamil Nadu's Madurai district, following the election of a Dalit to the village council presidency, members of a higher-caste(Kallar) group murdered six Dalits in June 1996.[10]
Melur panchayat, which was a general constituency, was declared a reserved constituency in 1996. This had caused resentment between Scheduled Caste people and Kallar (Ambalakarar) community. In the 1996 panchayat elections, Murugesan was elected president.[11]
In June 1996, a group of persons attacked Murugesan, vice-president Mookan and others with deadly weapons, resulting in the death of six persons and injuries to many others. A total of 40 persons were cited as accused in the case. The trial court convicted Alagarsamy and 16 others and sentenced them to undergo life imprisonment. On appeal, the High Court by its judgment dated April 19, 2006, confirmed the trial court's order. Alagarsamy and others filed appeals against this judgment.[11]
1997 Laxmanpur Bathe Carnage, Bihar [ edit ]
On 1 December 1997, Ranvir Sena gunned down 58 Dalits at Laxmanpur Bathe in retaliation for the Bara massacre in Gaya where 37 upper castes were killed. In particular, a specific Bhumihar community of upper castes was targeted in retaliation for their opposition towards handing out their land for land reform. Charges were framed in the Laxmanpur-Bathe case against 46 Ranvir Sena men on December 23, 2008.[12]
On 7 April 2010 sentenced 16 convicted persons to death out of the 26 convicted at Patna court. Announcing the judgement, Additional District Judge Vijay Prakash Mishra sentenced to life imprisonment the remaining 10 convicts and imposed a fine of Rs. 50,000 on each.[12]
Around 91 of 152 witnesses in the case had deposed before the court.[12]
1997 Ramabai killings, Mumbai [ edit ]
On 11 July 1997, a statue of B.R. Ambedkar in the Dalit colony of Ramabai was desecrated by unknown individuals. An initially peaceful protest was fired on by the police, killing ten people, including a bystander who had not been involved in the protests. Later in the day, 26 people were injured when the police carried out a lathi charge against the protesters. Commentators suggested that the arbitrarily violent response from the police had been the result of caste based prejudice, as the leader of the team stood accused in multiple cases involving caste-based discrimination.[13]
1999 Bant Singh case, Punjab [ edit ]
In January 1999 four members of the village panchayat of Bhungar Khera village in Abohar paraded a handicapped Dalit woman, Ramvati devi naked through the village. No action was taken by the police, despite local Dalit protests. It was only on July 20 that the four panchayat members and the head Ramesh lal were arrested, after the State Home Department was compelled to order an inquiry into the incident.[14]
On the evening of January 5, 2006 Bant Singh, Mazhabi, Dalit Sikh, was attacked by unknown assailants. His injuries necessitated medical amputation. He alleges that this was in retaliation for actively working to secure justice for his daughter, who was gang raped by upper caste members of his village in Punjab five years earlier.[15][16]
A 55-year-old Dalit Sikh woman, Sawinder Kaur has been tortured, stripped and tied to a tree in Ram Duali village of Punjab because her nephew eloped with a girl from the same community. The police arrested four persons for allegedly committing the crime on 9 September 2007.[17]
2000 Kambalapalli incident Karnataka [ edit ]
On 11 March 2000, seven Dalits were locked in a house and burnt alive by an upper-caste Reddy mob in Kambalapalli, Kolar district of Karnataka state. The Civil Rights Enforcement (CRE) Cell investigation revealed deep-rooted animosity between the Dalits and the upper-castes as the reason for the violence.[18]
A division bench of Karnataka High Court acquitted all 46 accused in August 2014. The bench headed by Justice Mohan Shantanagoudar held that a conviction would be "pre-judicial" to the interest of the accused given that 14 years had passed since the incident and all the 22 eyewitnesses had since turned hostile. The court also observed that the investigating police officer and some of the eyewitnesses were not cross-examined properly.
The witnesses in the case, many of whom had narrowly escaped with their lives, had turned hostile during the trial in a lower court, resulting in a similar acquittal in 2006. Immediately after that verdict was delivered, many of the witnesses told the media that they backtracked because of threats from upper-caste groups.[19]
A subsequent plea for a retrial was rejected by the High Court.[20]
2003 Muthanga Incident Kerala [ edit ]
On 19th Feb 2003, the Adivasis/Tribals gathered under Adivasi Gothra Mahasbha (ADMS), at Muthanga faced 18 rounds of police firing in which 2 fatal casualties were confirmed officially. The Tribals gathered in protest to the Governments delay in allotting them land, which was signed in October 2001. Later, the casualty toll had reached 5 deaths among the Tribals. Vinod, a Police Constable who died, was also a Dalit. [21]
2006 Khairlanji massacre Maharashtra [ edit ]
On September 29, 2006, four members of the Bhotmange family belonging to the Mahar community were killed by a mob of 40 people belonging to the Maratha Kunbi caste. The incident happened in Kherlanji, a small village in Bhandara district of Maharashtra. The Mahars are Dalit, while the Kunbi are classified as an Other Backward Class by the Government of India. The Bhotmanges were stripped naked and paraded to the village square by a mob of 40 people. The sons were ordered to rape their mother and sister, and when they refused, their genitals were mutilated before they were murdered.[22] An initial call to the police was ignored, and a search for the bodies was deliberately delayed 2 days. The bodies were found in a canal, and due to the length of time the bodies were in the water, much of the physical evidence was contaminated or destroyed.[23] The subsequent police and political inaction led to protests from Dalits. After allegations of a cover-up, the case was transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).[24]
Maharashtra's home minister and Indian National Congress leader RR Patil claimed that the Dalit protests were motivated by extremist elements. A government report on the killings implicated top police officers, autopsy doctors and the local BJP MLA Madhukar Kukade for covering-up.[24] A local court convicted 8 people, sentencing 6 of them to death and the other 2 to life.[25] However, the death sentences were later commuted to life by the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court. The High Court declared that the murders were motivated by revenge, not caste.[24]
2006 Dalit protests in Maharashtra [ edit ]
In November–December 2006, the desecration of an Ambedkar statue in Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh) triggered violent protests by Dalits in Maharashtra. Several people remarked that the protests were fueled by the Kherlanji Massacre.[26] During the violent protests, the Dalit protestors set three trains on fire, damaged over 100 buses and clashed with police[27] At least four deaths and many more injuries were reported.[28] [29] [30]
2008 caste violence in Rajasthan [ edit ]
In the Indian province of Rajasthan, between the years 1999 and 2002, crimes against Dalits average at about 5024 a year, with 46 killings and 138 cases of rape.[31][32]
2011 killings of Dalits in Mirchpur, Haryana [ edit ]
In 2010, Jai Prakash's house at Dalit Valmiki community colony of Mirchpur has a 2 year old dog named Ruby, which allegedly barked at some 10 to 15 drunk boys from Jat community drove on motorcycles in front of his house.[33][34] One of the Jat boys, Rajinder Pali hurled a brick at the dog which was objected by a young dalit boy named Yogesh which lead to physical fight between them.[33] Jat boys threatened dalits of dire consequences for this.[33] Later. two Balmiki elders named Veer Bhan and Karan Singh apologized to Jat elders and still got beaten by them.[33] Narnaund's Station House Officer (SHO) Vinod Kumar Kajal was close to a prominent Jat of Mirchpur.[33] On 21 April 2010 all Dalit men were invited for a compromise to another place.[33] In their absence, 300 to 400 Jat men,[35] women came with jerry cans of kerosene and petrol, agricultural implements and lathis first ransacking jewels, cash, clothes in the houses and than setting the homes ablaze with dalit women and kids inside.[36] This led to Death by burning of 70-year-old Tara Chand and his 18-year-old physically challenged daughter Suman in fire.[33][37] After this incident, 200 dalit families left the village fearing for their safety. Only 50 families remained with a group of 75 CRPF personnel deployed in the village.[38] Police named 103 people in the charge sheet out of which 5 were juveniles.[39] In September 2011, 15 people were convicted and 82 acquitted by a Sessions court.[40] CRPF was withdrawn in December 2016. In January 2017, Shiv Kumar a 17-year-old Dalit boy (also a district-level athlete) won a cash prize of Rs 1,500 in the cycle-stunt competition at a local playground.[41] A group of youths from the upper castes Brahmins, Lohars, Khatis[42] including Jats allegedly passing casteist remarks against him which led to a fight where nine Dalit youths, aged between 14 and 25, were severely injured. After this incident remaining 40 dalit families also left the village.[43] On 24 August 2018, in a landmark judgement[44] Delhi High Court reversed the acquittal of 20 accused and upheld the conviction of 13 others in the case with enhanced punishment for nine of them.[45][46] A bench of justices S Muralidhar and I S Mehta observed
The incidents of April 21, 2010 constituted an act of deliberate targeting of Balmiki houses by Jats, setting them on fire in a pre-planned and carefully orchestrated manner. It was pursuant to a conspiracy by the Jats to ‘teach the Balmikis a lesson’.[47]
The statement that atrocities by those belonging to dominant castes against Scheduled Castes have shown no sign of abating even after 71 years of Independence forms part of the 209-page judgement authored by Justice S Muralidhar.[48][49] After the verdict, two police companies were deployed in Mirchpur under the charge of duty magistrate and DSP.[50] The next day, witnesses in the case didn't step out for work fearing backlash of the verdict.[51]
2012 Dharmapuri violence [ edit ]
In December 2012 approximately 268 dwellings – huts, tiled-roof and one or two-room concrete houses of Dalits of the Adi Dravida community near Naikkankottai in Dharmapuri district of western Tamil Nadu were torched by the higher-caste Vanniyar.The victims have alleged that ‘systematic destruction’ of their properties and livelihood resources has taken place.[52]
In December 2012, in case of caste violence, two men named Akbar Ali and Mustafa Ansari were beaten by Muslims.[53]
2013 Marakkanam violence, Tamil Nadu [ edit ]
In April 2013, violence broke out between the villagers along East Coast Road near Marakkanam and those travelling to Vanniyar dominant caste gathering at Mamallapuram. A mob indulged in setting fire to houses, 4 buses of TNSTC and PRTC. 3 people were injured in police firing. Traffic was closed in ECR for a day.[54]
2015 Jat-Dalit violence in Dangawas, Rajasthan [ edit ]
On Thursday, May 14, 2015, clashes between Jats and Dalits in Dangawas village of Rajasthan's Nagaur district left 4 people dead and 13 injured.[55]
2016 Rohith Vemula Suicide in Central University of Hyderabad [ edit ]
The suicide of Rohith Vemula on 18 January 2016 sparked protests and outrage from across India and gained widespread media attention as an alleged case of discrimination against Dalits and backward classes in India in which elite educational institutions have been purportedly seen as an enduring vestige of caste-based discrimination against students belonging to "backward classes".
The violence broke out during the procession of Rajput warrior-king Maharana Pratap over the loud music. In the violence one man was killed, 16 were injured and 25 Dalit houses were burned. The incident was connected to the BJP MP from Saharanpur Raghav Lakhanpal.[56]
2018 Samrau Violence,Jodhpur (Rajasthan) [ edit ]
On the evening of 14 January 2018, clashes between Jats and Rajputs in Samrau village of Rajasthan's Jodhpur district burned shops and houses of many innocent people, and destroyed the Rawla(king's residence).[57]
April 2018 [ edit ]
Kachanatham, Sivagangai (Tamil Nadu), May 28, 2018 [ edit ]
Dominant caste Hindus were “enraged” that Dalits did not present temple honours to an upper-caste family, and a Dalit man sat cross-legged in front of upper-caste men. Dominant caste members also were enraged when Dalits protested the sale of marijuana in the area by people from a neighbouring village and intimidated and threatened the Dalits.[58]
When the Dalit caste protested the intimidation and threats from the dominant castes in the village with the local police in retaliation a gang of 15 dominant caste members raided the Dalit village at night attacking people indiscriminately killing three and injuring six.[59]
See also [ edit ] |
A statement to police that led to the arrest of the leader of an alleged Thai rhino poaching syndicate exposes the sleaze in the officially sanctioned shooting of this endangered species, with prostitutes used in “canned hunts”.
Evidence of the syndicate’s modus operandi emerged this week from a statement made to the police that led to the recent arrest of its leader, Chemlong Lemtongthai (43). The syndicate is alleged to have traded at least 40 rhino horns and placed an “order” for 50 more to be supplied in the next few months.
The evidence brings to light a growing trend among organised syndicates that are using hunting permits to export illegal rhino horns to the Far East. Almost a quarter of the 222 rhinos killed in South Africa this year have been “hunts” authorised by provincial conservation authorities.
A statement made to the police by Tim Smith* who worked with the syndicate, led to the arrest of Lemtongthai and five Thai “hunters” in Edenvale on July 9.
He described how Lemtongthai and his sidekick, Punpitak Chunchom, paid millions of rands in cash for live rhinos.
Smith claims in his statement to the police that Marnus Steyl, a wildlife trader based in Brits, North West, bought the rhinos from auctions and private owners.
Steyl is then alleged to have moved the rhinos to a farm in North West and soon after that they would be “hunted”, in contravention of regulations that the animals must be given time to acclimatise.
“Once the rhinos were established on Steyl’s farm he would call Lemtongthai and tell him how many animals were in place for a ‘hunt’ — [If] Steyl had supplied three rhinos Lemtongthai would call Chunchom and tell him that he needed three ‘hunters’ and Chunchom would know that he needed to find three Thai nationals to hunt the rhinos,” Smith said in the statement.
Usually friends were called in, or Thai women working as strippers and prostitutes were paid R5 000 to do the job. They were provided by a Midrand, Gauteng, woman wanted in Thailand for human trafficking. Their passports and fingerprints were needed to complete the necessary hunting permits and Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species paperwork.
Smith claims in the statement that “once the fingerprinting is done, the ladies are taken out to Steyl’s farm, where they are made comfortable and then introduced to the professional hunter.
“[He] would show them the rifle and even take the girls to a quiet spot where they could let off one or two shots so that they can later say that they have at least fired the weapon.”
An official from North West Parks would be called out to witness the “hunt”, measure the horn, scan the microchip and put the details in the professional hunting register. “I believe he would also get a kickback for being so cooperative,” Smith’s statement said.
After the rhino was dehorned and the carcass chopped up for delivery to a butcher in Vryburg, where the meat was sold off in boerewors and burgers, the horn was taken to a taxidermist who mounted it on a shield to look like a hunting trophy.
“The trophy is just a cover for getting the horn out of South Africa and into Asia. Once in Asia, it obviously would enter the black market as rhino horn for ‘medicinal purposes’. The person allegedly ‘hunting’ the rhino would never see the animal or its horn again.”
Lemtongthai argued with some of the rhino traders about the prices they were charging upfront, saying he would prefer to pay after the horns had been weighed, Smith’s statement said.
He felt he had paid too much for two rhinos shot in September or October last year—about R575 000 for one and R450 000 for the second—and told Smith that in future it would be done in a different way. “I remember his actual words: ‘We shoot, we cut, we weigh, then pay.’”
Smith said in the statement that Lemtongthai paid R65 000 a kilogram for the horns and sold them for $55 000 (R380 000) a kilogram. With the average horn weighing 5kg, he had made more than R60-million in profit on the 40 rhinos shot to date.
Smith said he decided to expose the syndicate after discovering an order to Steyl for 50 more rhinos from Lemtongthai’s company, Xaysavang Trading Export-Import Company.
“The receipt of this order made me realise he is just hellbent on killing as many rhinos as possible, for no other reason than harvesting the horn,” Smith said.
Xaysavang Trading Export-Import Company is based in Laos, a tiny country bordered by China, Thailand, Burma, Vietnam and Cambodia. It openly sells monkeys to a Chinese laboratory for use in experiments and in July 2009 was linked to the illegal sale of ivory and 18 kilograms of rhino horn in Kenya.
According to forensic investigator Paul O’Sullivan, who assisted in Lemtongthai’s arrest, he is number two in the syndicate, which is headed by a Vietnamese resident, Vixay Keovang, also known as Vixay Xaysavang.
Before it moved into rhino poaching in South Africa the company traded in large quantities of lion carcasses and bones supplied by breeders in the North West and the Free State. Days before Lemtongthai’s arrest, Chunchom, his man on the ground in South Africa, was deported for the illegal possession of lion claws and teeth.
Steyl and the professional hunters have not been charged. Steyl did not respond to questions from the Mail & Guardian.
State okayed ‘hunts’
Recent figures indicate that at least 60 of the 222 rhinos killed in South Africa this year were “hunts” authorised by provincial conservation bodies.
The department of environmental affairs did not answer the M&G‘s questions about the number of permits that had been issued for rhino hunts this year.
When the M&G first reported, in July 2008, that wildlife traffickers were laundering hunting permits to smuggle horns to the Far East, figures available showed that 205 rhino hunting permits had been issued in 2006.
Hawks spokesperson McIntosh Polela said this week that the National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure, a collaborative task team set up in May to deal with rhino poaching, had so far focused on the Kruger National Park because of the high density of its rhino population and because it made up 80% of poaching incidents. The Kruger would remain the focus “until we get things under control”, but the task team was spreading out to provinces affected by rhino poaching activities.
Cases included those of Chemlong Lemtongthai, the alleged leader of a Thai syndicate, and an alleged Limpopo syndicate headed by hunter Dawie Groenewald, Polela said.
Groenewald and 10 others were arrested last September. They face charges that include fraud, corruption, assault, defeating the ends of justice and contravening the Organised Crime Act.
Despite the charges, Limpopo conservation officials have issued Groenewald with 12 rhino hunting permits in recent months and at least 17 transport permits.
The permits came to light after the Democratic Alliance’s Limpopo leader, Desiree van der Walt, posed questions to Pitsi Moloto, the province’s environment minister. Moloto said the magistrate had prohibited Groenewald from engaging in any activity related to rhinos on his farm, but that “the period set by the magistrate expired and he was allowed to conduct his business as usual”.
Last week Groenewald offered to buy nine white rhinos from a private sanctuary in Limpopo. He backed down in the face of an outcry from conservationists and the rhinos were sold to Mpumalanga game rancher John Hume. Paul O’Sullivan, an investigator who worked with the anti-poaching task team to expose Lemtongthai and the Xaysavang Trading Export-Import Company, admitted that a link existed between Groenewald and the Thai syndicate.
In response to questions about whether Groenewald was supplying rhinos for the Thai syndicate’s “canned hunts” O’Sullivan said: “Yes, he’s at it as well, just with another syndicate that also traces back to Lemtongthai’s boss.”
Groenewald’s lawyer, Thomas Grobler, said Groenewald denied any connection with Lemtongthai, the Xaysavang Trading Export-Import Company, or its owner, Vixay Xaysavang. Polela also said there was no indication of a link.
* Name has been changed
In a previous version of this article, the M&G reported that a statement by a Thai Airways manager led to the arrest of members of a rhino-poaching syndicate. The person was not a manager at Thai Airways, but did receive information from employees at the airline. |
My client Stephen Gough, a former Royal Marine better known as the Naked Rambler, has now been in prison, largely in a segregation unit, for the best part of nine years.
Once the remission rules are taken into account, that is the equivalent of a sentence of nearly 18 years. It is about what you would expect to get if you committed a rape of an eight year old child. By my very rough calculations the cost of imprisoning him, ignoring altogether legal and police costs, has been about £330,000. His offence has been that he won't wear clothes in public.
Who is being the most ridiculous here: Mr Gough, or the Crown Prosecution Service?
It is seldom advisable for barristers to make any public comment on the rightness of a client's cause. If it were done regularly it would become expected, and a barrister's failure to voice an opinion in support of his client would then be taken as a lack of enthusiasm. Only because we are not expected to reveal our opinions can we represent the bad just as strongly as the good.
So it is with considerable hesitation that I am moved to comment on the Court of Appeal's decision yesterday. The Court rejected Gough's appeal against his latest conviction - a two and a half year sentence for breaching an anti-social behaviour order, or Asbo, which required him to wear at least a loincloth whenever he is in a public place. His crime was committed when he emerged from prison naked, whereupon he was immediately greeted by two police officers charged with the faintly absurd task of either making him wear trousers or arresting him.
Of the judgment itself there is little to be said. There was an irony in the fact that even as Lady Justice Rafferty ruled that the Crown Court judge had been correct to exclude a naked man from participation in a Crown Court trial, a live video of that same naked man sitting behind a desk in Winchester Prison was being prominently displayed in the Court of Appeal. At one point he even leant back in his chair, unwittingly displaying for an illicit moment a flash of the organs that the law has expended so much money, court room time, prison space and legal brainpower in keeping concealed.
Gough has previously walked from Land's End to John O' Gorats in the nude (Photo: David Burges)
The problem is not with the court that upheld his conviction and sentence yesterday. It is with an Asbo that turns an eccentric into a criminal, and a prosecution system that could easily turn a blind eye, but which prefers instead to try to break the will of a harmless and astonishingly courageous man.
Remember: it is not, in itself, unlawful to go naked in public. It is an offence under section 66 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 to expose one's genitals with intent that someone should thereby be caused “alarm or distress" – but nobody has ever suggested that Mr Gough had such an intent.
It can be an offence to cause a public nuisance and to “harm the morals of the public or their comfort, or obstruct the public in the enjoyment of their rights”. But as an earlier and more successful nudist, Vincent Bethell, showed in 2001, juries are reluctant to find that merely being naked in the street does anything of the sort.
Mr Gough could have been charged with the same offence but, as Hampshire prosecutors no doubt realised, that would have required them to persuade a jury that his nakedness had “harmed the morals of the public.” Since there was no evidence that it had done so – although some people objected to the sight of him wandering around the streets of Eastleigh – a jury would have been likely to acquit. They could have achieved and did secure a few convictions in the Magistrates' Courts for minor public order offences, but these were too trivial in themselves to put him behind bars.
So the only way that Mr Gough could be reliably jugged was to tailor him a bespoke Asbo, making it a criminal offence for him to display his genitals or buttocks in public. As far as I am aware, nobody else in the country is subject to a similar order.
The result is that one of the very few people in the country who actually wants to wander naked around the highways and byways of Hampshire is also the only man in the country who commits a crime by doing so.
It is extremely hard to come up with a defence to breaching an Asbo. In the past, Mr Gough has been represented by very able counsel who have struggled, with no success, to persuade judges that it breaches his human rights. In the latest prosecution he was representing himself in the Crown Court and so, once the judge forbade him to come into court undressed, he made literally no arguments at all. It was that ruling that he was challenging, unsuccessfully, on appeal. But even if he had been present to argue his case in court, the jury would not have been allowed to decide whether his nakedness should be treated as criminal; their only job was to say whether or not the Asbo had been breached.
He has now been in prison for the best part of 9 years. And for what?
What the #NakedRambler exposes about the illiberal daftness of our legal system is far more significant than what he exposes of himself. — Jack of Kent (@JackofKent) June 9, 2015
I feel sorry for the naked rambler guy. It's not like he almost bankrupted the country & expected tax payers to bail him out... — Morrigan (@Morrigan_Roars) June 10, 2015
He is emphatically not a sexual predator. He does not open up his grubby raincoat to terrify schoolgirls. He does not even possess a grubby raincoat, or indeed any other clothing apart from footwear (which he wears because walking barefoot becomes painful).
He is not violent, he is not dangerous and he is not dishonest. He is not a murderer or or a terrorist. He is not a drug dealer and he has never turned his house into a cannabis farm. He is not a computer or a phone hacker and does not download indecent images of children. He has never tried to live off immoral earnings or run a brothel. He has never tried to smuggle drugs, guns or antiquities. He does not pervert the course of justice or commit perjury. He does not commit bribery or blackmail. He has never attempted to intimidate witnesses or pervert the course of justice.
He does not ask anyone to look at him but nor does he hide menacingly in bushes. Although he draws attention to himself in the most effective way imaginable, he does so only because he wants to be ignored.
So what on earth is the justification for making him live his life behind bars?
Stephen Gough in 2012 (Photo: David Cheskin / PA Wire)
It is quite true that opinions differ. There are those who quite sincerely take the view that imprisoning Mr Gough indefinitely is a price worth paying to keep his private parts private.
Others think that if ever there was a case in which the law makes itself look like an ass, or perhaps a stubborn and biting mule, this is it.
So here is my solution. It might actually help both the CPS and Mr Gough out of the hole that they have dug for themselves.
Next time Mr Gough is released from prison, he may well continue to flout the Asbo.
Of course I would prefer it if he were allowed to go free.
But if he is arrested, instead of trying him for the technical offence of breaching the Asbo, which allows of no real argument, charge him with creating a public nuisance.
If there are witnesses who are upset, offended or fearful for their children's welfare, let them come to court and say so. If such people exist, they have a right to be heard.
But vary the Asbo to let Mr Gough explain, in the witness box, dressed or undressed as he wishes, why he should be left to live his life as he wishes.
That would allow a jury of Hampshire men and women to decide once and for all whether he should be treated as a criminal who must stay in prison until he dies or conforms, or as a harmless eccentric who poses no threat to anyone.
Matthew Scott is a criminal barrister at Pump Court Chambers. He writes at Barrister Blogger and tweets @Barristerblog. |
Note: You will receive a download code after purchase. A wireless internet connection is required to redeem the code and download the game on your Nintendo Switch Console.
Earn 300 Gold Points in My Nintendo!
About the game
Traditional 4-on-4 turf battles return in this full sequel to the original breakout hit game, along with new stages, new fashions and new weapons such as the two-handed Splat Dualies. Players can compete on the TV or on the go. Whether they use the Nintendo Switch Pro Controller (sold separately) or Joy-Con, players can aim their ink using motion controls. Splatoon 2 supports both local and online multiplayer matches. The game will also support voice chat using the new Nintendo Switch smart device app (a free, limited version of the app will be available this summer), and will add new stages, fashions and weapons after launch, as the original game did. Splatoon 2 is scheduled to launch this summer. |
San Francisco has gotten kudos from the global press for its efforts to eliminate waste. Mayor Ed Lee has boasted that his city diverts a greater percentage of its waste from the landfill than any other in the country. San Francisco’s environment department, down the street from Twitter and sharing a building with Uber, features art made from reclaimed refuse and a five-bin system for its employees to minimize trash.
But sitting at his desk on a recent weekday, the city’s zero waste manager, Robert Haley, pulled out a piece of paper that contained some troubling stats. After 12 years of consecutive declines, last year the city sent more tons of trash to landfills than it did in 2012: 456,764 tons, or about three pounds per day per resident.
That leaves San Francisco further from what was always an aspirational and probably unattainable goal of zero waste going to landfills or incinerators by 2020.
“I think it’s extremely ambitious,” Haley said of the goal. “It would be hard for me with a straight face to say, ‘In six years, nothing is going to go to the landfill.’ But we want to get as close as we can to that.”
San Francisco’s stall shows that a city’s biggest obstacle to achieving big goals may be the people it serves. No matter how progressive the people are, how long they’ve had to assimilate the mission, how convenient it is to use the freely provided recycling and composting bins, how strong the law is that mandates composting, some city residents just keep tossing items into the trash that they shouldn’t.
Even at the environment department’s office, employees don’t always get the sorting right. As Haley walked around the floor giving me a tour, he stopped to move an item that had been placed in the wrong bin.
“It’s complicated,” Haley said. “We used to say, back in the old days, recycling is simple. Now we’re telling people they have to compost food scraps.” Thousands of items are recyclable — too many to show them all in pictures on or near bins. “Recycling is more complicated. Composting is more complicated. It’s a very complex world.”
Haley thinks the city can cut its landfill totals in half through education and incentives. The owners of single-family homes pay more than 12 times as much each month for a 32-gallon trash bin as they do for recycling and composting bins. And they can save more than $9 per month by switching from a 32-gallon trash bin to a 20-gallon bin. “We don’t need a lot of programs and policies here,” he said. “We need a lot better participation.”
To see the situation for myself, I walked about seven miles on an east-west route covering Potrero Hill, the Mission, the Castro, Cole Valley and Twin Peaks. Most of the oversize bins were for recycling, not trash. I counted over 230 bins of all sizes, the majority of them for composting and recycling. But 77 were trash bins. San Francisco must get that number to zero in six years to achieve its self-assigned mission.
The distraction of diversion rates
Many upbeat articles on the zero-waste project — and Lee himself — don’t stress the tonnage numbers. Instead, they talk about the percentage of waste that is diverted from landfills. In San Francisco, it reached 80 percent in 2010, a figure that continues to be cited to this day.
The only trouble is, San Francisco was using an unconventional method of tallying its diversion rate, one that counted heavy construction waste such as rock and crushed concrete.
Many other cities don’t count this category of construction waste in their diversion rates. Using that method, Samantha MacBride, assistant professor at the Baruch College School of Public Affairs in New York, calculated in an article that San Francisco’s diversion rate is closer to 60 percent than 80 percent.
Recycling managers from other North American cities “have written to me to thank me for writing the piece because they get compared to San Francisco in an unreasonable way,” MacBride said in a telephone interview. Others sent less friendly messages, questioning whether she opposed recycling. She said she has nothing against San Francisco. “One comes across as being an enemy of recycling, a naysayer” for questioning the figures, she said. “San Francisco has this kind of holy status.”
Haley acknowledged that San Francisco included heavy construction debris in its diversion rate. He hasn’t redone the calculation in four years, preferring to focus on reducing tonnage, which is, after all, the subject of the zero-waste target.
The 80 percent figure, Haley said, is “the kind of number that PR people and politicians like to say. I said, ‘I would downplay that,’ because eventually people will start coming at you” — as they have in recent articles in Bloomberg View and the San Francisco Bay Guardian questioning the stat.
It’s probably inevitable that some cities would put a positive spin on their diversion numbers, given the expectations of the public and state oversight agencies. Mike Ewall, founder and director of Energy Justice Network, a Philadelphia-based environmental group, says some cities take credit for preventing waste they say would have happened without their interventions. Or they take credit for the interventions themselves. Maryland, for example, gives cities a boost of up to 5 percentage points for its educational programs; Oregon gives up to 6 percentage points for educational programs, promotion of home composting and other activities.
“Comparing within California is tricky,” Haley said. “Comparing with other states is really, really hard.”
A whistleblower questions the stats
But some say San Francisco has gone beyond mere spin. Brian McVeigh, a former employee of Recology, the city’s waste management contractor, accused the company in a whistleblower lawsuit of fudging some numbers in order to receive incentive bonuses. He said he once saw Recology employees jackhammer concrete at a company waste facility, then truck the concrete in to be recycled. “That was pretty brazen, right in everybody’s face,” he said in a telephone interview. He also claims to have seen people walk in with 10 cans and leave with a receipt for $500 in recycled goods, a fraud which he said “absolutely” affected the diversion numbers.
Such practices show that the zero-waste campaign “is a make-me-feel-good thing,” McVeigh said. “We all want to feel good. … There’s good work being done. There’s potential to do better.”
In June, the jury in McVeigh’s suit compelled Recology to repay the city $1.37 million that it undeservedly received as a bonus for meeting a diversion goal.
In a statement, Recology noted the jury cleared the company on four of five counts of false claims to the city, and of all 154 counts of false claims to the state. “We will be appealing the one verdict, as the facts simply do not support it,” company spokesman Sam Singer said.
“Anytime someone accuses Recology or us of something, we take it really seriously,” Haley said. He heard from jurors that many felt Recology wasn’t sharing everything it could with the city. “I’m using that as way to get to Recology to be more forthcoming.”
He’s also assigning staff to go through court documents looking for anything worth following up. “We haven’t found anything substantive so far,” a spokeswoman said. Haley doubts the company would risk its monopoly over the city’s permits, worth roughly $300 million in annual Recology revenue.
Even if the 80 percent figure is accurate, San Francisco would still have 20 percent of the way to go — a figure that amounts to a large and growing pile. “On a recovery percentage basis, we do pretty well,” Haley said. “On a pure generation and consumption basis, we don’t.” Of 34 European countries tracked by Eurostat, the European Commission’s statistical arm, only Cyprus and Malta produced more landfilled or incinerated waste weight per resident than San Francisco did last year.
Haley offered one reason why the city sent more tonnage to the landfill last year than it did the year before. He pointed out that the booming tech economy has made it tough to keep the numbers down. He says the pile at the landfill would have been even higher if not for the progress the city has made.
Still, he’s disappointed. “It’s the first time in many, many years that the number went the wrong way,” he said.
Seattle’s story
Other cities have used the “zero-waste” phrase to describe more attainable numerical targets. Seattle, for instance, is aiming for 60 percent of its waste to be diverted from landfills by next year, and 70 percent in eight years. Those percentages don’t include heavy construction material, so if Seattle meets its goal it will be in line with San Francisco’s success.
“We don’t become students of other people’s numbers,” Timothy Croll, solid waste director for Seattle Public Utilities, said in a telephone interview, “but from what I read in [MacBride’s] article, it doesn’t seem to be apples-to-apples with how we do our numbers.”
Like San Francisco, Seattle is struggling to hold onto earlier gains. The city’s diversion rate barely budged between 2011 and last year, rising just 0.8 percentage points to 56.2 percent.
Croll said Seattle needs bold rule changes to increase recycling and reach the target. “What changes the shape of these graphs is when you do something,” he said. “We don’t expect to magically change the path of the curve unless we do something, but we think we have some tricks up our sleeves.”
In the middle of last decade, Seattle changed the curve by banning disposal of recyclables. Trashing compostables will be a fineable offense in January, if the city council approves it. “We have great hopes for our composting requirement,” Croll said.
Any further gains are unlikely to bring Seattle to absolute zero. “It’s fair to say we view zero waste as an aspiration, just as a doctor might view zero illness as a goal,” Croll said. “We may be stuck with a certain amount of waste, but it’s not a good thing.”
Portland, Ore., has its own zero-waste goal, but like Seattle it is aiming for a more attainable intermediate target. The city wants to get its diversion rate up to 75 percent by the end of next year — counting a 6 percentage point credit it gets from the state for education programs and for home composting. The city has been stuck at a recovery rate — its term for diversion rate — of between 67 percent and 71 percent since 2008. To reach the target, Portland must increase rates for recycling and composting by businesses, which have lagged residential rates, said Bruce Walker, manager of the city’s solid waste and recycling program.
For many places, “zero waste” is a rallying cry and a branding exercise but not a real goal, Ewall said. Anything else would be naïve. “The idea of zero waste is not to get to absolute zero,” he said. “It’s to drive home the point: If you’re not for zero waste, how much waste are you for? Don’t just sit back and get satisfied once you hit a certain goal post.”
The compost imperative
Recology’s compost facility in Vacaville, California, halfway between San Francisco and Sacramento, shows composting’s potential to drive waste down toward zero, and what it would take to achieve that potential. The Jepson Prairie Organics composting facility is down the road from Travis Air Force Base, and adjacent to a Recology landfill. Waste trucks hauling solids bound for either destination crowd the farm-lined road, fittingly called Hay Road.
Jepson turns food scraps and yard trimmings into a fine powder of fertile, soil-boosting compost through a multistage, two-month process. The food arrives between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m., to avoid daytime heat and to suppress odor. I visited Jepson in the morning, so I saw how yard trimmings get processed. First they’re fed into a grinder to reduce them to a manageable size. The pieces pass through a trommel — a screened, spinning cylinder that sorts them by size. The bigger pieces enter a conveyor belt, which feeds them past workers who pick out any trash that got mixed in. What they let pass gets ground once more, and then piled and exposed to the sun and to atmospheric microorganisms. Methane and other gases they emit get sucked out and can be used as fuel. The piles get turned and watered, to give the microorganisms sustenance as they break the nutrients into smaller pieces that can more effectively enrich soil.
This process normally plays out over several months. Like a cooking show where foods in different stages of a recipe have been pre-prepared, a tour of the Vacaville facility shows compost in each stage of development, in reverse order. As I entered the facility, the first thing I saw were piles of finished compost, alongside soil amendments — additives such as redwood sawdust — that Recology buys to mix in for custom blends designed to match the nutritional needs of customers’ soil. Recology sells the finished products to local farmers for about $12 per cubic yard, and often the supply can’t keep up with the demand, Recology spokesman Robert Reed said.
Part of Recology’s supply problem is that roughly half of San Francisco’s trash could be composted. Put another way, most of what can be composted isn’t going into green bins and getting to facilities like Jepson, reducing San Francisco’s share of the potential environmental benefits from composting. Daily composting tonnage from San Francisco has increased by 62 percent since 2008, the year before composting became mandatory, but it has much further to go.
Another composting challenge stems from what goes in the green bins, but shouldn’t. Two years ago, San Francisco banned from stores all plastic bags that can be used just once. But the city isn’t stopping people with bags at the borders, and workers and visitors leave plenty behind, some of them in green bins. The statewide ban passed by California lawmakers in August wouldn’t take full effect until 2016, if Gov. Jerry Brown signs it. Jepson’s trommel was lined with shredded plastic bags, and the piles of compost in their early stages contained bits of them. Eventually, most get filtered out, Reed said. Still, removal adds to the cost, and if any plastic gets left behind, it could contaminate the compost.
“Nothing is perfect on this planet,” Reed said during the tour. “It’s an imperfect business.”
CORRECTION (Sept. 4, 2:27 p.m.): An earlier version if this post indicated that a statewide ban on plastic bags in California would take effect in 2016, but the legislation still awaits the governor’s signature.
CORRECTION (Sept. 4, 6:32 p.m): Most of what can be composted in San Francisco isn’t going into green bins and getting to facilities like Jepson. This post originally said most of what can be composted is going into green bins.
CORRECTION (Sept. 4, 11:54 p.m): An earlier version of this article misspelled the last name of Samantha MacBride, assistant professor at the Baruch College School of Public Affairs in New York. |
Bay Bridge pooch Ponch finally gets a home
Spence and Marilyn (who preferred to withhold their last names) walk their new dog Ponch to their car at San Francisco Department of Animal Care & Control April 28, 2016 in San Francisco, Calif. Ponch is the dog that briefly led CHP officers on a chase that stopped traffic on the western span of the Bay Bridge earlier in April. less Spence and Marilyn (who preferred to withhold their last names) walk their new dog Ponch to their car at San Francisco Department of Animal Care & Control April 28, 2016 in San Francisco, Calif. Ponch is the ... more Photo: Leah Millis, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Leah Millis, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 15 Caption Close Bay Bridge pooch Ponch finally gets a home 1 / 15 Back to Gallery
The Chihuahua who dashed excitedly across the Bay Bridge early this month finally had something to be excited about on Thursday.
“Here, Ponch,” said a mysterious, gray-haired woman who, with her equally mysterious husband, had been selected from among 50 applicants to be Ponch’s new owners.
Ponch is the dog who scampered across the western span of the Bay Bridge on April 3. Two Highway Patrol officers shut down the bridge and, working as a tag team, managed to corral — and videotape — the runaway dog in a pursuit that went more viral than a case of rabies.
Deluge of applicants
The officers turned the dog over to the Animal Care and Control shelter in San Francisco, which was immediately flooded with applicants who wanted to adopt the dog instead of the other two dozen dogs in the shelter who were every bit as wonderful, if not as famous.
Applications were sifted. Interviews were conducted. Backgrounds were checked. After a final round of face-to-face meetings over the weekend, the shelter picked an elderly San Francisco couple who, in the interest of protecting Ponch’s privacy, declined to give their full names. The woman is Marilyn, her husband of 57 years is Spence and that, said Marilyn, “is all we really want to say about ourselves.”
Gawkers discouraged
Ponch, she explained, does not need a lot of unsolicited admirers dropping by. His life has been eventful enough.
The 10-pound social media star leaped into Marilyn’s lap to seal the deal at 1:15 p.m. Thursday in the shelter’s get-acquainted yard. Because no good deed goes unpunished, Marilyn and Spence were obliged to pony up $135 to make it official. The adoption fee covered such expenses as vaccination, castration and microchip installation. The shelter said that was a bargain, castration being no small thing, even for a Chihuahua.
Also on hand was CHP Officer Vu Williams who, with his partner, Garrett Pumphrey, had managed to snag Ponch using what Williams called “the old bullfighting technique.”
Coordinated rescue
Williams, in his squad car, had driven ahead of the dog, then got out and distracted the skittish pooch by waving his jacket, matador-style. That allowed Pumphrey to slip up behind on his motorcycle and snag the distracted dog. The rescue made the two officers very happy. Also happy were the hundreds of westbound motorists who had been obliged to wait out the drama.
“In my line of work, you don’t always have happy endings like this,” said Williams.
Ponch, named for a character in the old “CHiPS” TV show about the Highway Patrol, actually made the decision about his next owner more or less by himself. He doesn’t usually like men, said shelter animal behaviorist Ariana Luchsinger, but he seemed to like Spence who, during the crucial interview, had the sense to sit quietly on a bench and let the dog approach him in his own good time. And Ponch got along well with the couple’s other dog, a Chihuahua named “P.” So while the shelter was sniffing out the couple, that was not the only sniffing going on.
Spence, a retired real estate agent, said Ponch would have the run of the couple’s home, and would be allowed to sleep under the covers because, according to the shelter, that’s what he likes to do.
“So do I,” said Spence. “It will work out.”
S.F. shows heart
He said he was attracted to Ponch mainly because of what his rescue showed about San Francisco. Not every town would shut down a major thoroughfare to save a dog, he said.
“First Batkid and now this,” said Spence. “San Francisco has heart.”
Luchsinger lamented that all the fuss over Ponch had not generated more interest in the shelter’s other dogs, who would have gladly run across the Bay Bridge if that’s what it takes to get out of stir.
“They’re all wonderful,” said Luchsinger. “Just like Ponch. Come on down and find out for yourself.”
Steve Rubenstein is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: [email protected] |
Thursday, September 18, 2014
JERUSALEM—A walled compound dating to the Byzantine period has been discovered west of Jerusalem, in the neighborhood of Bet Shemesh. The compound, which has residential and large-scale industrial areas, may have been used as a monastery. “The finds indicate the local residents were engaged in wine and olive oil production for their livelihood,” excavation director Irene Zilberbod of the Israel Antiquities Authority told the Xinhua News Agency. Several colorful mosaics were found in the residential areas—one featured a cluster of grapes surrounded by flowers and set in a geometric frame. Two ovens were also uncovered. “The magnificent mosaic floors, windows, and roof tile artifacts, as well as the agricultural-industrial installations inside the dwelling compound, are all known to us from numerous other contemporary monasteries,” Zilberbod said. To read about a recent, similar discovery, see ARCHAEOLOGY's "Byzantine Mosaics Discovered in Israel." |
"Any game you are going to spend time in that is not totally linear … there’s this idea of home that is super important for the player."
- Nick Popovich argues that, even if they’re not aware of it, a “homey” space can keep players engaged in the long term.
When Slime Rancher lead developer Nick Popovich suggests that games should try and capture the feeling of “home”, he’s not talking about a literal home like an in-game house or a hub world. Rather, Popovich says that non-linear games benefit from giving players a cozy, comfortable gameplay space that lets them feel productive without imposing major demands.
During an insightful livestreamed interview last week, Popovich elaborated on how nailing that homey essence can be the key to keeping players coming back even after they’ve already invested a significant amount of time into a game.
“Is there a part of a game that you send a certain amount of time in that feels cozy? It might be suboptimal, compared to what you should be doing in the game right now, but it feels good to be there,” explains Popovich.
“A great example, in Destiny, is the Tower, the home base. That’s not home. Home is the patrol missions where you’re just wandering around and getting [experience], getting quest rewards, all of those things, and you’re waiting for your friends to come online. You’re going through the motions.”
Popovich says that, in his personal experience, games that manage to capture that homey feeling help to alleviate the choice paralysis that hits players when they sit down and try to find something to play since there’s always that comfortable gameplay space waiting for them to jump right back in.
“It's like eating mac and cheese in video game form. If your game can have some part of it that feels that way, that’s a really great path to, when someone sits down on their couch or in-front of their computer, to get them to play your game that night.”
Be sure to check out the full interview with Popovich for prototyping advice, development lessons, and design tips gathered from his time working on the recently released Slime Rancher. While you're there, be sure to subscribe to Gamasutra's Twitch channel for more developer interviews, editor roundtables, and gameplay videos. |
Name: Jessie
Primary Breed: American cross
Secondary Breed:
This animal has already been spayed/neutered
Colour: Black Sex: Female Age: 3Yrs 11Mths 1Wks
I am at the Victoria shelter
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Name: Ofelia
Primary Breed: American cross
Secondary Breed:
This animal has already been spayed/neutered
Colour: Brown Brindle Sex: Female
I am at the Richmond shelter
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Name: Lefty
Primary Breed: American cross
Secondary Breed:
This animal has already been spayed/neutered
Colour: Fawn Sex: Female Age: 1Yrs 7Mths 1Wks
I am at the Richmond shelter
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Name: Alice
Primary Breed: American cross
Secondary Breed: Florida White
This animal has not yet been spayed/neutered
Colour: White Sex: Female Age: 8Mths 4Wks (approx)
I am at the South Peace shelter
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Name: Dollie
Primary Breed: American cross
Secondary Breed:
This animal has already been spayed/neutered
Colour: Tan Sex: Female Age: 2Yrs 2Mths 4Wks
I am at the Vancouver shelter
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Name: Foxy
Primary Breed: American cross
Secondary Breed:
This animal has already been spayed/neutered
Colour: Brown Sex: Female Age: 1Yrs 7Mths 1Wks (approx)
I am at the Campbell River shelter
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Name: Gary
Primary Breed: American cross
Secondary Breed:
This animal has already been spayed/neutered
Colour: Brown Sex: Male
I am at the Burnaby shelter
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Name: Kira *adoption Pending
Primary Breed: American Bulldog cross
Secondary Breed:
This animal has not yet been spayed/neutered
Colour: White Sex: Female Age: 1Yrs 9Mths 4Wks
I am at the Nanaimo & District shelter
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Name: Lexa
Primary Breed: American Staffordshire Terrier cross
Secondary Breed:
This animal has not yet been spayed/neutered
Colour: White Sex: Female Age: 4Yrs 1Wks (approx)
I am at the Kamloops shelter
View Details |
Following the release of the Chaplin at Keystone DVD Collection, for which I prepared a bonus feature program, Kevin Dale contacted me wondering if Chaplin had filmed the opening scene from his inaugural film Making a Living in front of the home adjoining the Keystone Studio. The Keystone Studio environs frequently appear in Keystone productions, and after close study I am convinced Kevin is correct. Assuming they shot Making a Living in sequential order, this marks the very first scene of Chaplin’s entire career. It also means that when the film opened on February 2, 1914, 100 years ago, it was through this scene that movie audiences were first introduced to young Mr. Chaplin. The site is now a driveway to a Jack-in-the-Box restaurant, while the main filming stage remains in use today as a Public Storage warehouse.
Comparing details likely confirms the location. Notice the matching white trim of the square front porch steps, and the matching pair of palm trees.
The site is located approximately at 1710 Glendale Boulevard in Echo Park. Bing Maps Bird’s Eye – © 2010 NAVTEQ, Pictometry Bird’s Eye © 2010 Pictometry International Corp., © 2010 Microsoft Corporation.
Chaplin at Keystone: Copyright (C) 2010 by Lobster Films for the Chaplin Keystone Project.
Young Mr. Chaplin stood here: |
Vivienne Pinay Biographical Information Drag Name Vivienne Pinay Real Name Michael Donehoo Ethnicity Filipino Date of Birth August 2, 1985 Age 33 Hometown New York, New York Current City Los Angeles, CA Season Information Season Season 5 Place 10th/11th Eliminated Episode 4 Sent home by RuPaul (Double Elimination) Challenge Wins 0 Friends Alyssa Edwards
Honey Mahogany
Gia Gunn
Laganja Estranja
Shangela
Vivienne Pinay is the stage name of Michael Donehoo, a drag performer from New York, New York. Donehoo is best know for being a contestant on Season 5 of RuPaul's Drag Race, and is the fourth contestant in series history to be of Filipino decent.
Contents show]
RuPaul's Drag Race
During the show, Vivienne became one of only six contestants in series history to be accused of "resting on pretty" (the other three being Mariah and Carmen Carrera of Season 3, Courtney Act of Season 6, Miss Fame of Season 7, Derrick Barry of Season 8, Farrah Moan of Season 9).
Drag Name Origin
Vivienne lasted through the first 3 episodes of Season 5 until Episode 4where she played the part of "America's Next Drag Superstar" during the main challenge where the contestants performed in a ballet. After being criticized on the main-stage for her lackluster performance in the ballet, she was placed in the bottom two alongside fellow contestant Honey Mahogany . RuPaul then choose to send both queens home for "half stepping" in the first double elimination to occur on the show.
The term "Pinay" is from Tagalog (a Philippine language) meaning "Girl from/ of the Philippines". Being of Filipino decent, Donehoo decided to use this term in his stage name to pay tribute to his heritage.
Other Work
Since her appearance on season 5 she is currently working as the personal assistant to fellow contestant Alyssa Edwards and is on her WOWPresents web-show "Alyssa's Secret". She can often be seen fixing Alyssa's hair and makeup.
As Michael, Vivienne appeared in the ninth season of SyFy channel reality series, Face Off, as one of the couples who were married as part of the main challenge.
Entrance
Season 5
"Hey y'all!"
Memorable Quotes
"Vivienne is all about glamour. My beauty is everything."
"I will always be the fishiest queen today, tomorrow, next month, the past seasons, and the next seasons to come."
"I love all my girls! Here's to the revolution of the FISH! ♡ Always, Vivienne Pinay" (Farewell message)
Trivia
Vivienne along with Honey Mahogany are the first two queens to be eliminated in a double elimination.
Follow Vivienne |
Game of Thrones is back. And from what we can tell from the show’s latest trailer, it seems like we might finally see the noble houses of Westeros unite to face the growing threat of the White Walkers, the north-of-the-Wall monsters that command a gigantic zombie army.
The White Walkers are some of Thrones’ creepiest monsters — but they also help tell a really interesting metaphor about climate change.
For starters, the White Walkers are a threat to all humanity: Their zombie minions are equally happy to rip apart people of all nations and noble houses. Yet instead of uniting to combat the shared threat to human existence, the houses in the show spend basically all their time on their own petty disagreements and struggle for power. White Walkers are generally ignored; some nobles deny their existence outright.
Swap climate change for White Walkers and "countries" for noble houses, and it starts to sound a lot like the real world.
Specifically, it sounds like the problem of international coordination on climate change. No one country can prevent catastrophic warming on its own: Every country that's a major greenhouse gas emitter is part of the problem.
Yet the biggest emitters, like the United States and China, are also geopolitical competitors: Both are wary of the other's intentions, making it hard for them to see any kind of deal that limits their emissions as win-win. And even if you get over the US-China hurdle, you have to get a deal that's acceptable to most every other country in the world — including developing ones that need cheap energy to fuel economic growth.
The big wars in Game of Thrones — the Baratheon-Targaryen-Stark-Tyrell-Lannister free-for-all — are basically supposed to stand in for these complications. All of these noble houses are focused on their short-term interests, but pursuing them is blocking the real problem: stopping the White Walkers and their zombie army. Likewise, CO2 emissions skyrocketed in the past 100 years — with potentially catastrophic consequences for the human race.
Summer is coming. |
Sulphur Dioxide (Global Warming)
SULPHUR DIOXIDE (S02) is an important component of the atmosphere, present as the result of both natural and human activity. Although it is a primary pollutant in its own right, causing respiratory irritation and damage to plants, it is the secondary pollutants produced from SO2 that are particularly important in connection with global climate change. Sulphur dioxide is notorious as the cause of acid rain, but it is also a precursor to the formation of clouds. Hence, its release to the atmosphere is a major contributor to global dimming, a process that is thought to offset some of the effects of global warming.
There are, therefore, important implications of SO2 release for the global climate change agenda. The reduction in SO2 pollution in recent decades, stimulated by health concerns and by the effects of acid rain, is removing an unexpected and previously unidentified protection against increasing global temperatures. This illustrates the complexity of climate science that compounds the social and political responses to the threat of climate change.
Once in the atmosphere, SO2 is rapidly oxidized, ultimately producing sulphuric acid. Although this transformation is well known in the formation of acid rain, it also has broader climatological significance. The liquid sulphuric acid forms as an aerosol (tiny droplets suspended in the air), and this sulphuric acid aerosol attracts water vapor, which dissolves in the acid. In this way, the gas-to-liquid conversion of SO2 to sulphuric acid brings about the nucleation of clouds: sulphuric acid aerosol is a cloud condensation nucleus (CCN).
Clouds play important roles in the atmosphere and in the climate, principally acting to transport water (and energy) between regions and to affect the Earth’s radiation balance. Clouds have a very strong tendency to reflect sunlight (they have a high albedo) and also absorb energy from the sun, so that the amount of cloud present in the atmosphere affects the amount of sunlight reaching the surface: more clouds result in a dimmer planet. This dimming effect of clouds is well documented.
SULPHUR DIOXIDE AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Furthermore, the influence of SO2, and subsequent aerosol formation, has been observed directly during volcanic eruptions. For example, the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines released an estimated 20 megatons (20,000,000 tons) of SO2 into the atmosphere. The force of the explosion injected a large fraction of this material, along with dust particles, directly into the stratosphere, from which removal via rainout is very slow. The aerosol and clouds that formed as a consequence of this lasted for many years, with measurable effects on global temperatures. In the year following the eruption, the global average temperature reduced by 0.9 degrees F (0.5 degrees C), and even in 1993 the temperature was depressed by as much as 0.45 degrees F (0.25 degrees C).
In the lower atmosphere, the rate of SO2 gas-to-liquid conversion is increased in the presence of other materials, notably particles such as soot, and this has an important effect on cloud condensation. The typically hydrophobic—water-repelling—surfaces of soot particles catalyze the chemical reactions that convert SO2 to sulphuric acid, so that the soot ends up coated with a water-loving, hydrophilic layer. The simultaneous emission of SO2 and soot (e.g., from burning coal or diesel fuel) therefore increases the concentration of cloud condensation nuclei in the air, affecting both the amount and nature of cloud formation.
Because there are many more cloud condensation nuclei under these conditions than in the clean atmosphere, clouds form with smaller, more numerous droplets. More numerous particles means that the clouds reflect more light, and smaller droplets take longer to form raindrops. Hence, the clouds formed on sulphate/soot aerosol CCN are longer lived and have a higher albedo than ordinary clouds. In this way, SO2 emissions in combination with soot increase the amount of incoming sunlight reflected away from the Earth, effectively dimming the planet’s surface.
Sulphur dioxide pollution-related global dimming is thought to explain the slight global cooling trend in the period from 1950 to the late 1970s. With the recent, legislation-driven decrease in emissions of SO2 and soot particles from industry and transport in industrialized nations, there has been a steady rise in the amount of sunlight reaching the earth. It is suspected that reducing this form of pollution is removing an effect that has been offsetting the full force of anthropogenic global climate change. |
Rookie cornerback Kendall Fuller is the only Washington Redskins draft pick that remains unsigned.
Why is this the case for the Redskins third round pick?
Well, first of all, he’s not alone as an unsigned third rounder.
Of 36 players selected in the third round, only 10 are currently signed. There are just nine unsigned players total in rounds 2 and 4-7.
The Florida Times-Union’s Ryan O’Halloran did some research on the topic.
“It’s just a weird round,” a veteran agent said Friday according to O’Halloran. “I called the [NFLPA] a couple weeks ago to ask about it, and they said, ‘It’s the wild, wild West.’”
The NFL’s salary slotting for rookies has a loop hole in the third round. There’s an allowance for “additional” compensation in the round.
For Kendall Fuller’s slot in the draft, he has projected base salary of $629,606 per year for four years with a $718,424 signing bonus. That’s a contract worth $3,281,507.
That’s minus the “additional compensation.”
O’Halloran used the Jaguars third round choice Yannick Ngakoue as an example of how the third round loop hole leads to varying negotiations and has stalled the signings in the round.
“Per salary cap expert J.I. Halsell, the system also allows for ‘additional compensation,’ of $456,000 for Ngakoue ($76,000 in 2017, $152,000 in 2018 and $228,000 in 2019). But there is no language in place for what percentage of that the players should get. Thus, the negotiating.
“Last year, Houston receiver Jaelen Strong, the third round’s sixth pick (Ngakoue’s slot this year), got 62 percent ($249,000 of an available $402,000). Three picks earlier, Jaguars guard A.J. Cann received 75 percent ($311,000).
“The delay in signings occurs when the team and agent look at the slot since 2011 and see what they feel is an abnormality. The team feels a higher percentage was given in the previous years and they want to lower that or the agent feels the previous teams successfully low-balled the player and thus, a greater increase is required.”
As for Fuller, he has participated in the Redskins rookie minicamp and the first week of OTAs, despite not having signed a contract.
Fuller must be signed, however, to participate in training camp.
Last year, five of the third round picks didn’t sign until June with the latest signing on Julty 27th. |
If you asked me 15 years ago to buy a Motorola cellphone, I would say I never would. Back then, Motorola cellphones had 1-bit displays, a couple of fixed ringtones, and you couldn’t record more than 10 numbers in the phonebook. If any of you remember these, you’d remember how hilarious it was to try to decipher what those orange letters said on that 1-bit display. By contrast Nokia was already playing with 8-bit displays on my first Nokia 250 NAMPS, which also allowed me to store 99 contacts in the phonebook, and even though the Snake game still didn’t exist, it was clear that Nokia gave me more for my money.
That mentality of mine didn’t last long, though. I really wasn’t a fan of the first StarTAC 3000 because it was just a smaller 1-bit phone, but it was clear that Motorola was on to something. Once Motorola figured out how to improve its UI, I simply couldn’t control my desire to switch to Motorola. I don’t know about you, but in my case, they convinced me by adopting bold designs, and adding some amazing call quality.
Now, it’s clear that Moto hasn’t had the best couple of years lately. The company did an amazing job in making a comeback with Verizon and the whole Droid campaign, so much so, that each gave the iPhone a run for its money. People still call Android phones Droids, so it’s clear that this strategy helped position Android to where it is today. The bold designs were still there, as the company experimented with things like Kevlar, nano-coating, and the likes as well. Sadly the resulting sales figures weren’t as strong as Motorola needed to keep the company running.
Many of us where skeptical about the Google buy-out, since hey, Google hasn’t really been a products company in the past. Still, as much as many debate whether the Moto X and Moto G are good or not, it’s interesting to admit that all the tech reviewers that I know love these devices. It’s clear that the combination of both Google and Motorola has given us a couple of products that are worthy of praise, even if each of these is a complete contrast to what the market screams that customers should buy. At times when competing OEMs are trying hard to make the spec sheet relevant, Motorola is doing the complete opposite, and delighting those who own its products in result. Why is this? How is it that Motorola is silently making everyone else look bad?
I want you all to think long and hard about this. At times when the Moto X and Moto G have nothing that a device like the Galaxy Note 3 can provide, and in the case of us tech reviewers who have access to all of these phones, why do many of us prefer the Moto X? Here are a couple of reasons:
Motorola is focusing on what matters
Here’s a little exercise for you – If I asked you to wear a winter jacket, boots, and long johns during the summer, would you? I’m not saying you can’t, I’m sure you can, and given the right motives, I’m sure a lot of you would do so if you had to, but the question is – would you? Without a logical motive to do so, would you?
See, I love my Galaxy Note 3. I enjoy knowing that I carry one of the most powerful phones in the market, and I love that I have an S Pen available to me everywhere, and the multi-window support is definitely awesome. Sadly, I’m not going lie that using this phone for most of the basic tasks that everyone else needs a phone, can be quite cumbersome. I hate making phone calls with it because it’s huge. I also hate having to carry it in my pocket. I hate having to use it as my only daily driver for things like messaging since the thing is so big. Sometimes, driving your 6-wheel Dodge RAM through Manhattan can prove to be difficult, and if all you want to do is get to the other side, it can be frustrating.
There are lots of us that want a phone that can do everything, but in reality, most of the rest of the world just wants a phone that can do everything right, and in a comfortable way. The Moto X is extremely underpowered when compared to the Galaxy Note 3, but it’s comfortable for making phone calls, it fits wonderfully in the hand, it has all-day battery life, and I can even talk to the phone and it responds, which is far better than doing stupid things like Air Gesture. I know S Voice allows me to do this in a way, but then I’d have to dare you to actually use S Voice, right?
If you’ve ever wondered why there are so many iPhones on the street today, I’m sure that if Motorola keeps this mentality that has begun with the Moto X, we’ll be asking that exact same question about Motorola phones in the future. Like the iPhone, the Moto X can’t do it all, but it does what matters to most people, better than most other competing phones.
Motorola isn’t scared to cannibalize itself
When Apple launched the first iPhone, the first question people asked is why would this company be willing to cannibalize its iPod line-up. In the words of Steve Jobs – “I’d rather do it myself, than have somebody else do it for me”.
Devices like the Moto G are disruptive. This phone is less expensive than the subsidy price of most smartphones, and it’s even less expensive than almost every single feature phone left in the market. For a company like Motorola, that still builds feature phones for emerging markets, this is a very bold move that could kill that business all together. Still, it’s really not a bad idea to give the world a reason to move away from feature phones.
Before you give me all the Nokia Lumia 520 talk at $100, let me remind you that you sadly can’t fully operate Windows Phone 8 on its underpowered hardware, which is not the case of the Moto G, and specially now that KitKat was designed to make it perform like a beast. Sure the Lumia 520 is inexpensive, but we’re talking disruptive, not inexpensive, and this Lumia sadly hasn’t reached that level.
I’m going to sound really funny saying this – but the Moto G can change the world. The iPhone changed what we expect from a smartphone, and if the Moto G succeeds, it’ll destroy the feature phone market, and force OEMs to drop the prices of smartphones. I won’t deny that I personally feel like buying one just to show my support for such a bold move, even if I don’t need the phone.
The bottom line
The greatest fact about adversity is that it forces people and companies to think out of the box. Motorola’s desperate times have clearly taught it to stop trying to have the customer compete against the spec sheet, and instead delight the customer with a great user experience. Our market is full of spec sheets, and full of phones that are too big to be comfortable to actually use. Even if they have gigantic screens for amazing multi-media consumption, this is pointless if they don’t have enough battery life to give me that experience all day.
People criticize Apple for not following what other OEMs do, and yet, the Cupertino kids still sell phones like hot cakes. I’m glad that Motorola has stopped focusing on being like every other OEM, and even stopped trying to be like Apple. Motorola is now trying to be the company it always was, which is a bold designer of disruptive technologies that can change the world. If you debate this statement, don’t forget to thank them for inventing the first cell phone, aside from other technologies.
The effects of what Motorola is doing will not be seen with the Moto X, nor with the Moto G. They are just the first step into a new mentality that I’m sure many will follow. Again, I just hope both these products succeed, because I can’t wait for more devices to cost a close amount to what the Moto G costs, for all those specs.
What about you? Do you feel Motorola is disrupting the market with these two products? Do you disagree? Leave us a comment. |
What’s the story and why is it important?
Germany goes to the polls on 24 September in national elections that will return a new parliament – the Bundestag – and decide whether Angela Merkel remains chancellor for a fourth consecutive term.
Comfortably re-elected in 2013 and the leader of Europe’s largest economy since 2005, “Mutti” or “mummy” Merkel is seen as the ultimate safe pair of hands at home, and as a uniquely powerful stabilising force on the continent – at a time when world political nerves are jangling.
Boosted by a steady economic recovery and alarming developments abroad, in particular the UK’s Brexit vote and Donald Trump’s election in the US, her popularity has bounced back after dipping during the 2015 migration crisis.
Hopes in Europe are now high that a Merkel victory – her CDU (Christian Democrat Union) party has a double-digit lead in the polls – could, with France’s reformist president, Emmanuel Macron now installed in the Élysée, usher in far-reaching, and necessary, EU reform.
Which parties are standing and how are they faring?
The CDU, with its Bavarian sister the Christian Social Union (CSU), is Germany’s main centre-right party and heads the outgoing coalition government. Led by Merkel, it is popular mostly among older, rural, conservative and Christian voters, and is currently polling at an average of 37%.
The Social Democratic party (SPD) is the country’s main centre-left party and the junior partner in the outgoing CDU-led coalition. Strong mainly in industrial western Germany, the party is led by the former European parliament president Martin Schulz, whose return from Brussels sparked an initial surge in support that has now subsided. The party lost a traditional stronghold, North Rhine-Westphalia, in a regional election in May, and is heading for 22-23% of the vote.
How Haßloch – the most average place in Germany – could play key role in election Read more
Four smaller parties should cross the 5% threshold (though remember, even if they fail they can still end up with seats if they win district contests). Die Linke is a more radical leftwing party formed in 2007. Strongest in the former East Germany, it has never been part of a governing coalition at national level and is currently the largest opposition party. It looks likely to win about 10%.
The free-enterprise, pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) have spent more time in government than any other party, but failed to enter parliament in 2013 for the first time. Now thriving under a new leader, Christian Lindner, they are polling at around 9%. The Greens still find support in west Germany’s university cities but, on 8%, are not the force they were in the early 2000s, when they governed with the SDP.
Finally the nationalist, Eurosceptic Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) – which welcomed both Brexit and Trump – looks likely to enter the Bundestag for the first time in its four-year history. The anti-immigration, anti-Islam party is now represented in every German state in parliament and, while it has been hit by infighting and seen its support fall from 15% at the height of the refugee crisis, is still polling at 10-13% and could, in the event of a repeat CDU-SDP coalition, be the largest opposition party.
How does the system work (and who elects the chancellor)?
Germany’s recently amended electoral system, combining direct and proportional representation, is fiendishly complicated. Its 61.5 million voters get two votes on a single ballot paper: the first for a local representative, the second for a party.
Roughly half the Bundestag’s seats are guaranteed to go to the 299 representatives of the country’s electoral districts, each chosen by their constituents with their Erststimme, or first vote, in a straight first-past-the-post contest.
The rest are allocated according to the national vote share won by every party that clears a 5% threshold in the second vote, or Zweitstimme – which is also used to determine the overall number of seats each party winds up with: if a party scores 25% of the national vote, it must get 25% of the seats.
Sometimes parties return more Erststimme representatives than they are entitled to, according to the Zweitstimme. So to compensate, the other parties get extra seats – which means the Bundestag, theoretically made up of 598 representatives, could expand to as many as 800 (it currently has 631).
Once a governing coalition has been formed, which can take up to a month, Germany’s president (a largely ceremonial role) nominates the chancellor – usually the leader of the largest party – who is confirmed by parliament in a secret ballot.
What are the big issues and party platforms?
Broadly trusted and respected on the economy and as a world leader, Merkel’s unexpectedly liberal open-door policy towards refugees and migrants, which led to about 900,000 newcomers arriving in 2015, cost her the support of part of her CDU base (though it appealed to some younger voters).
Along with immigration, security is also a theme after a series of terror attacks, including the Berlin Christmas market truck attack that killed 12 people. But with her popularity now restored, Merkel’s campaign is about not rocking the boat.
Her CDU has promised tax cuts and full employment by 2025, while the SPD is focused on wealth distribution and social justice (it also opposes a promised increase in defence spending to the Nato target of 2% of GDP, which the CDU backs).
Die Linke wants tougher market regulation and a higher minimum wage; the FDP is promising tax cuts and a push for greater EU integration; and the AfD is mostly about preserving “traditional” German culture and anti-immigration measures, including immediate deportation for failed asylum-seekers.
What might the government look like?
Given the choice, the CDU’s favoured coalition partner would be the FDP – a return to the “Black-Yellow coalition” that ruled Germany for 16 years under Helmut Kohl. But polls suggest that alliance may fall short of a majority.
An alternative could be a Black-Green coalition – though that, too, looks unlikely to get to 50%, and has proved shortlived when tried at state level. That could clear the way for a Black-Yellow-Green (known as “Jamaica”) coalition of the CDU, FDP and Greens, which has worked at municipal and state level but would demand huge concessions from the Greens nationally.
If the CDU fares much worse than expected and the SPD much better, possible centre-left coalitions include Red-Red-Green (SPD, Die Linke and the Greens – the alliance now governing Berlin), or a Red-Yellow-Green “traffic light” alliance of SPD, FDP and Greens. Both are considered difficult given the parties’ differences.
For obvious political reasons, both the CDU and SPD would much prefer to govern in coalition with one or more smaller parties. Germany’s voters, however, may well mandate another “grand coalition” uniting the country’s two biggest parties in what amounts to a marriage of necessity.
All other parties have so far ruled out working with AfD. |
The men and women start lining up around 9:45 a.m. along an imposing gray wall of the James A. Farley Post Office, that grand Manhattan landmark with sweeping front steps and soaring columns facing Eighth Avenue.
But they do not see this postcard view, for they are waiting outside the back door — on Ninth Avenue. They chat like neighbors who bump into one another at the mailboxes, which, in a way, they are. For while they live scattered all over town, sleeping in shelters or stoops or sidewalks, they share the same mailing address: 390 Ninth Avenue, the general delivery window of the city’s main post office.
“This is where homeless people get their mail,” said Jerome Dinkins, 58, waiting in line for the door to open at 10 a.m.
It is the last known address of Armando Calderon, 59. His older brother, Benjamin Calderon, sends letters from his home in Chicago. Each letter is a line cast into the vast sea that is the streets of Manhattan, some baited with a little money or a prepaid phone card, pleading for a response. |
Story highlights President Barack Obama is nominating John Brennan to lead the CIA
Peter Bergen: Brennan has been key in use of drones in Yemen
Drone war in Pakistan winding down as it intensifies in Yemen
Bergen: Controversy on drones is beginning in Yemen, as in Pakistan
If there is an emerging Obama doctrine to deal with the threat from al Qaeda and its allies, it is clearly a rejection of the use of conventional military forces and a growing reliance instead on the use of drones and U.S. Special Operations Forces -- and Brennan has been central to Obama's policy.
In an April 30 speech at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, Brennan laid out the rationale for the drone policy in more detail than any administration official had done publicly hitherto. He asserted that the drone strikes are legal both under the Authorization for Use of Military Force passed by Congress after the September 11 attacks and because, "There is nothing in international law that bans the use of remotely piloted aircraft for this purpose or that prohibits us from using lethal force against our enemies outside of an active battlefield, at least when the country involved consents or is unable or unwilling to take action against the threat."
Peter Bergen
This does not appear to be the view of Ben Emmerson, U.N. special rapporteur on counterterrorism and human rights, who announced plans at Harvard Law School in October to launch an investigation into U.S. drone attacks and the extent to which they cause civilian casualties.
One of Brennan's most significant legacies in the four years he has been the president's principal adviser on terrorism is the U.S. drone campaign against al Qaeda and its allies in countries such as Pakistan and Yemen -- one that has shifted focus significantly in the past year or so.
On Thursday, a CIA drone strike in the South Waziristan tribal region of Pakistan killed Mullah Nazir , a leading Taliban commander. That strike garnered considerable coverage in media outlets around the world and by U.S.-based news organizations such as The New York Times and CNN.
The same day a CIA drone killed three suspected Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula militants near the town of Rada'a in Yemen. There was scant media coverage of this attack.
Yet Thursday's dueling strikes in Pakistan and Yemen are emblematic of a quiet and largely unheralded shift in the way that the CIA conducts its operations.
The accompanying bar chart (click on it to enlarge) does a good job of representing this shift. The red bars are U.S. strikes in Pakistan, and the gold bars are U.S. strikes in Yemen based on data collected from reliable news reports by the New America Foundation.
U.S. drone strikes by year
JUST WATCHED 2011: Brennan briefs on bin Laden raid Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH 2011: Brennan briefs on bin Laden raid 03:51
(Due to the difficulty of distinguishing between what may be a U.S. drone strike or an airstrike by the Yemeni air force, the true number of American drone attacks in Yemen could be even higher than is shown in this chart.)
One possible reason for the decline of drone strikes in Pakistan is that the CIA is simply running out of targets; at least 36 militant leaders have been reported killed by drones in Pakistan since Obama took office, according to the New America Foundation data
The growing criticism of the drone program in Pakistan has also surely had some role in the Obama administration's decision to scale back the intensity of the drone campaign there. In April the Pakistani Parliament formally voted for the first time to end any kind of approval for the CIA drone program.
Unlike in Pakistan where political leaders have almost universally -- at least in public -- condemned the strikes, Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi said in September during an interview with the Washington Post that he personally signs off on all U.S. drone strikes in Yemen, and that they hit their targets accurately, asserting, "The drone technologically is more advanced than the human brain."
The steadily increasing rate of drone strikes in Yemen over the past two years shows that the CIA's drone war -- rather than declining -- is shifting from one part of the world to another.
Brennan has been the key architect of this policy. The Arabic-speaking Brennan, who was once CIA station chief in Saudi Arabia, in a sense became the "case officer" for the Yemen "account," traveling to Yemen seven times since al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula sent the so-called underwear bomber to try and bring down Northwest Flight 235 over Detroit on Christmas Day 2009.
How effective has the subsequent U.S. campaign against this group been? Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has not tried to launch an attack on a target in the West since its abortive attempt to bring down cargo planes bound for the United States more than two years ago, so the campaign does appear to have suppressed the group's abilities to attack overseas.
According to a count by New America, at least 28 of the group's leading members have been killed in drone strikes, including the notorious American-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who played an operational role in Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, for instance, offering instruction to the underwear bomber.
Balanced, against this is the fact that some of the popular resentment against the U.S, drone campaign that has long been the case in Pakistan is beginning to emerge in Yemen. On Friday, dozens of armed tribesmen took to the streets of Rada'a protesting the drone strike that had taken place a day earlier. One of the tribesman told Reuters that seven civilians had been killed in that drone strike.
And the drone program in Yemen is also stirring some of the same controversy internationally that the strikes in Pakistan have done for many years. Human rights groups in the United States are particularly aggrieved by the targeted killing of al-Awlaki, an American citizen who was killed by a drone along with his teenage son.
Gregory Johnsen, who has written an authoritative book about Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, "The Last Refuge: Yemen, al-Qaeda, and America's War in Arabia," says the group has grown from around 200 fighters to more than 1,000 and that the drone campaign has helped it to recruit these new fighters.
Christopher Swift, a Georgetown University academic, conducted interviews of tribal leaders in Yemen in June 2012. Swift found that it wasn't the drone campaign that had swelled the ranks of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula but rather because the group was able to offer jobs to desperately poor young men. Yemen is the poorest country in the Arab world.
And drone strikes are now reportedly being considered by the Obama administration in the West African nation of Mali , where an al Qaeda affiliate has largely taken control of the north of the country, an area the size of France.
Brennan has been at the center of the decisions about the use of drones in Pakistan and Yemen and their possible use in Mali, and all of this surely will be a matter of discussion during his forthcoming nomination hearings.
A road map to what Brennan will likely say about drones in his nomination hearing is provided by his April speech at the Woodrow Wilson Center in which he explained that drone strikes are "ethical" because of "the unprecedented ability of remotely piloted aircraft to precisely target a military objective while minimizing collateral damage; one could argue that never before has there been a weapon that allows us to distinguish more effectively between an al Qaeda terrorist and innocent civilians." |
Whoops, file this one in the retraction column. Apparently the Russians aren’t actually buying Pabst Brewing Company.
In September, it was widely reported that Russia’s Oasis Beverage was teaming up with TSG Consumer Partners, a New York-based private equity firm, and beverage entrepreneur Eugene Kashper to buy the Pabst brand from C. Dean Metropoulos for upwards of $750 million.
It appears now, however, that Oasis is not involved in the deal. NYTimes DealBook is reporting that Kashper, along with TSG, formed a new company at the time of the deal — Blue Ribbon Intermediate Holdings — that completed the purchase of Pabst last week. Oasis was, reportedly, never a part of the buying group.
So how did so many reputable outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and CNN get the news wrong? Maybe it was a BusinessWire release announcing the deal specifically stated that Oasis had agreed to purchase the brand.
“Eugene Kashper announced today that Oasis Beverages has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Pabst Brewing Company (“PBC”),” the release read.
Or maybe it was all the dust that the release kicked up: it quickly led to headlines from a mob of media outlets, many of which seemed to be casting the news as some kind of evil takeover plot engineered by Vladmir Putin himself.
NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams described the announcement as a “bombshell,” saying, “PBR is going to the former U.S.S.R.”
Comedy Central funnyman and political satirist, Stephen Colbert chimed in as well.
“Pabst is America, that’s why when I heard this news I exploded like a can of PBR in the glove box,” he said during one episode.
Colbert wasn’t the only one upset about the news. One Seattle restaurant owner who had been serving Pabst products for 25 years emptied nearly $800 worth of PBR in the gutter after hearing the news.
“I just don’t want to pad Putin’s pockets,” he told KIRO Radio. “My guess is that for every beer we sell, a penny would end up in Vlad’s pocket.”
Much of vitriol surrounding the sale was spurred by the barrage of coverage indicating that a Russian had somehow snuck in and stolen an American icon without anyone noticing.
Actually, Kashper — the man behind the acquisition — is a Russian-born American citizen who moved to the U.S. at the age of six. The 45-year-old began his career in beer 20 years ago, when he worked for the Stroh Brewery in Detroit.
Still, all of the media reports surfaced despite Oasis Beverages not actually being involved in the final purchase agreement. Nevertheless, at the time the news originally broke, CNN Money was somehow able to obtain a comment from an Oasis employee.
“There are definitely NO plans to change any of the recipes of the brands,” the Oasis spokesperson wrote to CNN Money in an email.
Talk about leaving some big question marks.
According to the New York Times, Kashper — who is also the chairman of Oasis Beverages — had been discussing a distribution arrangement for the Pabst brands in Russia, with Oasis. Those talks reportedly also included Oasis taking a minority, non-voting stake in company.
Talks eventually broke down because of “market conditions”, according to the New York Times.
Nonetheless, questions about the deal remain. What went wrong? Was the press release accurate or was it sent out in error? Was Oasis ever actually involved in the acquisition process? Had the company suddenly back out? If so, what caused them to back out?
At this point, it’s not exactly clear why the original BusinessWire release indicated that Oasis was involved in the transaction and a TSG spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.
Oasis, which was founded by a group of beverage industry entrepreneurs in 2008, is the leading independent brewer in Russia and is also the exclusive importer for Heineken in Ukraine and Kazakhstan. In addition to importing a variety of international beer brands, the company also produces a handful of beer, soft drinks and juice products under contract. |
SPOTLIGHT There's more to Shikhar Dhawan than meets the eye Vishaal Loganathan Share Tweet
An opener from Delhi with a penchant for destruction and a disregard for reputation sounded his arrival in 2010. © Getty
The story could have been a very different one.
At the start of Shikhar Dhawan's famous Test debut against Australia in 2013, Mitchell Starc had lost the ball during his run-up and inadvertently disturbed the stumps at the non-striker's end. Dhawan had already left his crease and if there had been an appeal (Starc just picked up the ball, smiled and returned to the top of his run-up) and if the umpire had deemed the effort intentional, Dhawan would have been Mankaded for a diamond duck on Test debut.
'Spirit of Cricket' prevailed. Dhawan survived. Dhawan batted. And records tumbled.
187 runs were scored at a blitzkrieg pace, and Shikhar Dhawan had announced himself to the world. An opener from Delhi with a penchant for destruction and a disregard for reputation. Everyone, barring the Australians that day, was excited.
***
During the recently-concluded Indian Premier League, one that Shikhar Dhawan's team finished as champions, I spoke to the left-hander about how it is like to be him. Over the conversation, I spoke to a man who was, to put it bluntly, just plain happy. A man who was grateful for the chance he got to do what he was doing. A man who loved what he was doing. A doting father. A loving husband. A prankster. An average comedian. A team man. A swashbuckling batsman. A sufi lover. A willing learner. I was talking to a man who was an intimate portrait of one who longs to be normal.
Dhawan is an opinion divider. Views about his spot and impact in the Indian side are still discordant.
He is easily pigeonholed as the typical Delhiite. Tattoos, a moustache he loves to twirl, bulging muscles that are barely concealed underneath a tight-fitting shirt, a booming voice and the tendency to crack silly jokes. All this, but with precocious talent. Others just see him as a player for whom the drop can't come quicker. A non-performer outside Asia. A flat-track bully. A man with the knack to score big just when the axe is about to fall.
But he continues to be a constant figure for the Indian team across all formats, in each as its specialist opener. MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, David Warner, Tom Moody, Ravi Shastri have all been effusive in their praise about Dhawan and what he can do when his batting comes off.
He knows why there is so much faith. He knows he is a match-winner.
"They say that I take more risk in my batting, and they see me as a match-winner for the team. That was one of the big reasons that they had a lot of patience towards me. They knew I can win matches for the side. I could play impact innings for the side.
"I really don't focus on what people say. With time, I have realized that it doesn't matter what people say out there. As I said, if I had those many failures, then how can I still average 43 and how did I become the fastest to 3000 runs. That's how I personally feel.
"I also know that once I'm set, I can play the impact innings for my side. That's what happened in the 2015 World Cup. Before that, I wasn't doing that great, but once the World Cup came, I started off with a bang and I started being consistent. And it went well for me."
Family figures quite highly in Dhawan's list of priorities. © BCCI
While Dhawan is not dividing opinions with his performances on the cricket field, he is at home with his wife Ayesha and their three children - Rhea, Aliyah and Zoravar. "After marriage, my life has totally changed," he said.
Dhawan met Ayesha Mukherji, who was an amateur boxer, on Facebook after Harbhajan Singh had played cupid. Mukherji had two daughters from her previous marriage. She and Dhawan got married in 2012 and soon Zoraver was born.
After his debut hundred against Australia, Dhawan was quick to dedicate the knock to his wife and kids. A gesture that had, as his wife admitted, left her overwhelmed. Even during the biggest moment of his cricketing life, Dhawan had amply displayed what truly was in his heart.
When his tour to Sri Lanka was cut short due to a broken finger, Dhawan rushed to Melbourne, Australia to be with his wife and kids. Australia, Dhawan felt, lets him get back to a normal way of life.
Being a cricketer in India has its ups and downs. While the adulation and fan-following is matchless, the lack of privacy and constant bombardment of fans for autographs and selfies can get to you. In June 2015, Dhawan tweeted a picture of him in an autorickshaw on the streets of Bengaluru. "Flying like a Ferrari. After years, maza aagaya (had fun)," he had tweeted. A part of everyday routine that most look at with not so much enthusiasm had Dhawan having the time of his life. It showed just how much he missed being normal.
Abroad, you are allowed a much more peaceful life.
In Australia, Dhawan can play the dad to perfection, and distance himself from the frenzy that prevails in India, should he step out in the open. He takes his daughters to school everyday and picks them back up when they're done. He goes on long walks with his wife and young son. The entire family enjoys the occasional movie night, and there is a lot of sports thrown in in between.
"I've been to parent-teachers' meetings, too," he laughs. "I take them to whatever activities they like, I try to be a part of it. Whatever they demand, basically."
Family figures quite highly in Dhawan's list of priorities.
***
In 2005, Dhoni and Dhawan opened the batting for India Seniors in the Challenger Series game in Mumbai. Dhoni slammed 102 off 96 balls, while Dhawan did slightly better with 126 off 124 balls.
The call-up to the India squad was handed to Dhoni. India needed a solid wicketkeeper who could take to the big hits when needed, and Dhoni looked perfect for the slot. Dhawan, on the other hand, had no such opening. Indian cricket boasted of the best-ever ODI opening pair in the history of the game, and there were numerous players, more experienced than Dhawan, waiting for a chance.
By the time Dhawan made his international debut, the calender had flipped to 2010. Dhoni had graduated to being the captain of the Indian team across all formats.
Dhawan's ODI debut was a horror show; he was out bowled for a two-ball duck. Dhawan, however, wore no remorse when making the walk back to the pavilion. He admitted years later, that he even allowed himself a smile despite the bad debut, knowing that the record of scoring a duck on debut is a rare one.
Everything about Dhawan oozes of this easy-going attitude. It's something that has been with him since he was a youngster.
***
Gabbar Singh is the antagonist of the 1975 hit film Sholay. Amjad Khan plays the role of a merciless bandit leader who spreads terror in Ramgarh - a character that has lived through eras of Indian cinema as one of its finest. Gabbar also happens to be the monicker given to Dhawan.
During a Ranji Trophy game, Delhi were on the field for a long time and were under the pump. Fielding at short-leg and irritated by his team not getting a breakthrough, Dhawan took off his helmet and in 'Gabbar Singh style' screamed "Suar ke bachon... wicket kab aayega?" (Sons of pigs, when will we get a wicket?!). And thus stuck the Gabbar Singh nickname.
But the only thing merciless about this Gabbar is his run-scoring ability when he's in full flow. For long periods during his relatively brief international cricket, though, he has not been in full flow. It's something he in enured to now, taking his failings more as learnings rather than him being out of form.
After a short run of ODIs and the lone T20I at the start of his career, during which he made just one fifty and five scores below 12, he was dropped from the side. His wait for a return was a long, and at times, hurtful.
"I played for India A for five-six years. I used to go to Australia to play, I was the highest run-getter there, I scored lots of runs. I never felt frustrated, but of course, when the Indian team selection happened, I used to think 'my name will appear'. When it didn't come, I used to feel hurt, for maybe one day or something, then I used to move on," he said.
Soon after being dropped from the limited-overs side, Dhawan went back to first-class cricket and scored big. He played the Irani Cup soon after and slammed two hundreds in as many innings, both scored at quicker than run-a-ball.
"That was a good thing, I knew I had to move on quickly. I was happy playing Ranji Trophy also. I always used to look to go forward in my life. I never used to feel sad about missing out on Indian team. My attitude wasn't that. I was just happy playing Ranji Trophy, but obviously I wanted to go to the next level. So that positivity got me going. And because of the positivity, I got a break into the side."
In the 2012-13 season, Dhawan stayed in the limelight. He scored 461 runs at an average of over fifty. He was drawing closer to an India return.
"See, it's a race which never ends. So I knew that. Those who are playing at the moment, it's a race, one day I can also play. That happened and I'm thankful to god," he added.
Poor form was resulting in the end of the race for a certain Virender Sehwag. When the right-hander was dropped for the Test series against Australia at home, Dhawan stepped in. It's a call, he said, he never expected. He was playing for Rest of India against Mumbai in Mumbai at that time, and had just fallen for a duck. That was another chance fluffed, he felt.
"I had thought, 'Oh man! I lost the chance. So close.' The Indian team was going to be announced soon and I thought I missed it again. I got out on zero. Then I was on the field, and I got a pat from someone saying my name was announced. I said, 'Seriously?'"
"I felt that I had come big in international cricket. It felt good and I wanted to do better. Things were going very good for me," Dhawan said. © Getty
***
A young Dhawan was the bane of his neighbours and had a certain like or dislike, depending on how you look at it, for letters and letter boxes. As a kid, Dhawan used to steal letters from wherever he could find and dump them in the drainage. During Diwali, he went one step further, and put in a firecracker in the letterboxes and watch the explosion from a safe distance. As he puts it, "that's how Punjabi kids grow up."
"I used to get a lot of beatings from everyone," he said. "I was a very naughty kid. I always used to be at the ground, so my dad used to tell me that I don't pay too much attention to my studies and scolded me for that. Somehow, I never understood studies that well. Trying new things, like try cycles on a slide, I used to do all the mad stuff."
Dhawan was born in Delhi to Mahendra Pal Dhawan and Sunaina Dhawan in 1985. He is a Punjabi Jatt. He was a lover of sports from very young - playing football, cricket, badminton, table tennis and everything he had the chance to play. Watching his cousin play cricket at the Sonnet Club, Dhawan was drawn towards the sport, and when his school, St. Marks Senior Secondary Public School, asked him to choose between cricket and football, because he was good at both and needed to focus on one, he picked the former.
To his neighbours' relief, his focus soon moved from 'mad stuff' to cricket.
"I feel that my love towards cricket was more and that influenced the decision. I always believed that whatever you want to do in life, you should love doing that. That is the main thing," he said.
"But when cricket came along, I became more focused. I was a good student. I always used to work hard. Then I got more serious."
Dhawan was enrolled at the Sonnet Club under the tutelage of Tarak Sinha. He would never miss a session, even forgoing tempting family vacations away from the searing Delhi heat to stay back and train multiple hours a day. "It was never because somebody told me to do it, it was always inside me."
The hard work paid off and Dhawan was picked in the Under-16 Delhi side in 1999. He got just one game, and scored a total of 11 runs. The year after, Dhawan came back stronger and hungrier. He finished with 755 runs and was rewarded with a call-up to the India Under-17 side.
And so it began.
***
"I didn't even know that I had scored the fastest century till I came out. When I was in the flow, I realised that I cannot stop myself. I wanted to slow down, but I couldn't."
In Mohali, Dhawan received his Test cap from, arguably, the greatest of all time. Sachin Tendulkar handed the cap to the left-hander and is said to have told him, "We know you are a gutsy player. Now, go out there, and show some guts."
He went and smacked 187 record-breaking runs, smashing the Australians to smithereens in the process. It's a knock that Dhawan feels was a God-send. He had played domestic cricket for nearly a decade prior to his Test debut, and the knock had ensured he had become a big part of the team from the outset.
"When I went into the side, the good thing was that I was playing domestic cricket for so long, I already knew all the players. It wasn't the story with me that I was very uncomfortable there. I was the way I was. I didn't have to groom myself as anyone (else) out there. I was open out there, and continued as a fun-loving person. I was enjoying cracking jokes with them from day one. I knew all of them."
He suffered a fractured finger and went on to miss the next Test. His next outing for India was in England in the Champions Trophy. Two more hundreds followed. He slapped his thigh and twirled his moustache in celebration. He scored more runs than anybody else in the tournament, and was named Man of the Tournament. Dhawan had arrived.
"I felt that I had come big in international cricket. It felt good and I wanted to do better. Things were going very good for me. We won the Champions Trophy and we won the tri-series, our ODI record was very good. The transition period when I came in, when Ajinkya [Rahane] came in, and Rohit Sharma started opening, we all went through the transition period quickly. We built up a very strong side."
***
"I'm quite patient, so even when things don't go well, I don't go very up and down emotionally," the Indian opener said. © Getty
Dhawan had a stellar Under-19 World Cup in 2004. It was a squad that also had the likes of Dinesh Karthik and RP Singh among others. The left-hander smashed 505 runs, a record that still stands for most runs in an Under-19 World Cup, and people started noticing Dhawan.
"It was the biggest thing back then, to play in the Under-19 World Cup," Dhawan said. "I did really well, I still hold the record and nobody has broken it. I still feel really good about it. I scored three hundreds and I think I scored 500-odd runs over there. That was a big achievement for me and because of that I got to play Ranji Trophy straightaway. Otherwise, it wasn't very easy to get into the side (Delhi Ranji team). And because of the Under-19 World Cup, I got into the Ranji Trophy side next year."
He made his debut against Andhra Pradesh in the 2004-05 season. He scored 49 runs at a quick pace in his first game. When he got out, at the other end, Akash Chopra was batting on four. Dhawan's aggressive batsmanship had everyone excited, and he was earmarked for big things. Although never too pleasing on the eye, he had a way of demolishing attacks in his own style. The call-up to the India side, however, still remained elusive.
It was not something that bothered the batsman. He knew he belonged here.
"Once I played Ranji, I never thought cricket was not my thing, or I cannot play for India. In my head, when Viru bhai and Gautam bhai were at their peak, it's their time, and my time will come. I used to enjoy my fitness. I used to get a lot of happiness from doing my fitness and playing cricket and it didn't matter to me. It wasn't like if I haven't played for India, I hadn't achieved anything. Still I was achieving a lot playing where I was. I was happy with the achievements."
"Rather than cribbing in life that I didn't get this or that. I don't believe in cribbing, with cribbing you don't achieve anything. I feel that cricket is a big thing in life, but at the same time, I take care of my responsibility of my happiness separately. My happiness is not only based on cricket, it's based on family and many other things," he said.
The attitude to take things as they come stems from his family. Dhawan's parents have always been pillars of support for him. They used to tell him he was a gifted person because he was already playing Ranji cricket. For so many it would be a dream to get even that far.
"I guess, it's from my family. Whenever something happened, or if things didn't go my way, my parents tell me that, don't worry, that's alright, if not this, something better will happen. That's how I grew up, and I always used to think that way," Dhawan added.
***
"I'm quite patient, so even when things don't go well, I don't go very up and down emotionally."
With rising success, came precipitous falls. Soon after, almost every Dhawan appearance came concatenated with questions about his place in the side. He was suddenly having as many lean patches as the good ones.
"Sometimes you go through a phase when things don't go your way. When I tried new things, even those didn't work. I made my return from my lean patch. Then again, there was another lean patch. In these three years, I have seen good things, bad things. It was important for me to go through all of them.
"Even when people talk that I had a lot of lean patches, how I see that is despite having so many lean patches, I still have so many records and my numbers are still good. I'm more mature as a person, more mature as a sportsman. That time has made me better. In my second phase now, I've seen everything and I know what suits me the best."
Dhawan has tried to alter his back-lift and his stance over time, but the changes are something "that a normal person can't see." Just before the West Indies series, Dhawan was in Bengaluru working on his back-lift, and what he called the basic structure of his technique. To a group of journalists sitting right behind the nets, he wasn't scared to admit that he was working on the basics again - basics of leaving the ball.
It's something Dhawan has become comfortable with. To try and dabble a bit with his technique to ensure he is in the right space at the right time. "Even now, after going through so many patches, I've realised what kind of strategy works the best for me. That's how I learnt."
Despite the pressure to perform on the field, Dhawan stays the way he is inside the dressing room. He loves making people laugh, even if that comes as a result of him making fun of himself. "I always like to make people laugh. I make myself the joke too. That's the kind of the energy I carry.
"When I was going through a bad run, I went quiet and all. I decided that I'm not going to laugh that much, but the change had an effect on the side. It's not fair on the team that when I'm doing well then I'll be happy and then when I'm in bad form, I'll be quiet. I am the way I am whether I'm doing well on the field or not," he added.
***
In Bengaluru, Dhawan was addressing a group of journalists. When one of them asked him what the difference between Murali Vijay's and Virender Sehwag's batting was, we expected an answer about calmness and aggressive batting, about technique and hand-eye co-ordination, about how both were great cricketers and friends.
Dhawan pushed back, and with a straight face said "Their face." It was a poor joke but it still made us chuckle, but Dhawan didn't care. That's the sort of person he is.
Players come into national sides dreaming of big things - to cement a spot; to captain the side; to be the best in the world; to take the world and the outer world, by storm. But Dhawan has a very straightforward goal.
"My happiness is not only based on cricket, it's based on family and many other things. It's not like if I'm not playing, I'll be sad. I'm happy having a great life with my family or my teammates, whoever I'm playing for. I always believe in that."
So what is the goal for the upcoming season?
"Be happy and enjoy each and every moment of my life."
© Cricbuzz |
The titanic gravy boat is a gravy boat shaped like the Titanic, as in it's a boat, so why not make it look like the titanic, and you know mashed potatoes, icebergs, and so on... Why not spice up your thanksgiving dinner this year with a gag item joking about a tragedy that killed 1,500 people, it's like giving your child Twin Tower Building Blocks and a model airplane for Christmas.
Update: This item is no longer available from the seller
The Titanic gravy boat pours gravy from the hull of the boat, is made of ceramic, holds up to 16 fluid oz. of that sweet sweet gravy, and measures 9 inches x 4.75 inches.
Check out the Titanic Gravy Boat in action via the video below. |
Running an NHL team can be an extremely thankless gig.
Sure, a multimillion-dollar paycheck should help soothe the stress of having your job security threatened and your competency questioned every day, but that doesn't change the fact that building a winning hockey club can be a grueling long-term project.
Few general managers know what that's like better than the much-maligned Kevin Cheveldayoff, who's watched his reputation get dragged through the mud over the course of his seven seasons in the Winnipeg Jets' front office.
Now, however, it's being rinsed clean, and the redemption of both Cheveldayoff and the team comes down to patience: his patience in waiting for the Jets' young guns to start performing, and the patience of ownership in allowing its GM to see out his plan.
Ask any NHL executive: Stanley Cup-winning teams are - ideally - built from within. Take, for example, the Chicago Blackhawks, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Los Angeles Kings - three teams that won their recent championships on the backs of talents they developed in-house.
Cheveldayoff is doing his best to put Winnipeg in the same position, and the team's lineup is stacked with players he had a direct hand in drafting.
Here's a list of the homegrown talent powering the Jets' assault on the top of the standings:
Player (position) Draft year Draft position Mark Scheifele (C) 2011 1st round/7th overall Adam Lowry (C) 2011 3rd round/67th overall Jacob Trouba (D) 2012 1st round/9th overall Connor Hellebuyck (G) 2012 5th round/130th overall Josh Morrissey (D) 2013 1st round/13th overall Andrew Copp (C) 2013 4th round/104th overall Nikolaj Ehlers (LW) 2014 1st round/9th overall Kyle Connor (LW) 2015 1st round/17th overall Patrik Laine (RW) 2016 1st round/2nd overall
After looking over this list, it's not so much of a surprise that Winnipeg's currently just one point adrift from a tie with the St. Louis Blues for first place in the Western Conference.
Of course, Cheveldayoff had the privilege of drafting six of those players in the first round, but that's no guarantee of overnight success, and Hellebuyck, Trouba, and Morrissey are just starting to hit their strides.
Since Cheveldayoff took the helm in 2011 - when True North Sports and Entertainment bought the team and moved it from Atlanta to Winnipeg - the Jets have qualified for the playoffs only once. It's understandable that fans in the Peg have taken turns calling for the firing of both the GM and head coach Paul Maurice.
(Photo courtesy: Action Images)
Repeat losing seasons usually lead a team to clean house or at least fire a coach. Ownership went in the opposite direction, though, awarding Maurice and Cheveldayoff multi-year contract extensions in September.
While many observers scratched their heads, that move is looking better with each Jets victory.
Cheveldayoff's patience is paying off with a young core that now includes the likes of Laine, Scheifele, and Ehlers - three players whose ability suggests they can carry the team deep into the postseason.
A stacked lineup of homegrown players is garnering Winnipeg serious Stanley Cup buzz for the first time in years, and Cheveldayoff deserves credit for his work in putting that star-studded group on the ice. |
The following strips were done from February 6, 2012 to April 27, 2012, and are a collection of memories I have regarding my childhood. While they are not all of the memories I have, they are the ones that have affected me the most. This is, in essence, a short story of the abuse I suffered at the hands of my mother. For discussion regarding these strips, please refer to here, which is the comment section for the last strip in this series.
February 6, 2012
Ohhhh-kay. So yeah, here goes. I will more than likely be locking comments on this run of strips, and then reopening them when I finish up what I want to share. Not sure how long this run will be, but I can’t see it lasting more than two weeks, and that is with me planning on an update every weekday. So here’s hoping I can keep up with the update schedule, and I’ll see everyone on the other side!
February 7, 2012
I’ve blocked a lot of my childhood out, and for the longest time this was THE first memory I had. Now that I have Nathan, I’ve slowly started to remember other things. I think it’s yet another reason why I’m wanting to do this, since I’m starting to remember other stuff I went through, and it’s all just been starting to weigh on me more and more.
I’ve cited this journal comic as a form of therapy for me on a few occasions, and I’m really hoping that in the end, I’ll be able to work through some of these things.
February 8, 2012
Yesterday’s and today’s strip took place at the same place. There’s a lot of bad memories in that old 2nd story apartment in LaVale, MD. I’m going to wrap up one or two more memories (that are important in regards to who I am today) in this apartment, then I’ll move on to a little bit later in my life.
February 10, 2012
Normally I’d write stuff down in here a bit more in depth, but I think I pretty much said it all up there in the comic. At least this one isn’t *too* bad.
I’ll continue on next week with a couple more things from when I lived in that apartment, and then start moving on to later stages in life. Eventually I will cover how I handled things as a teen and then how I’ve handled them as an adult. Memory Lane is looking like it’s longer than I originally thought.
One last thing I want to say before I wrap this post up is that I want to thank everyone for their support lately. The amount of support I have gotten after starting this up has been surprising to me, and it is very heart warming to see so many care. So thank you all for the emails, tweets and messages over facebook. It really does mean a lot to me, and hopefully with everyone’s help, I can deal with all of this a bit better once it’s all said and done. 🙂
February 20, 2012
I don’t remember this teacher’s name at all. What I do remember, is she was my Kindergarten teacher at Cash Valley Elementary in Cumberland, MD. I also remember telling my mother that my teacher had hit me, but I don’t remember if anything happened afterward. Just another one of those things that sticks out.
February 21, 2012
This will hopefully answer any questions or looks I get about my teeth EVER. I’ve been teased constantly about it my entire life. Even at my last job I got crap about it. I’m not proud of it, and I don’t know why some grown-ass adults can’t even bring themselves to not make fun of me for it. This accident knocked all of my front upper teeth out of alignment, and it’s something I’ve always wanted to get fixed, but growing up, we were too poor for dental care, and even as an adult, I still couldn’t afford it until now with the benefits I receive at my new job. I have actual dental insurance now, FINALLY. My teeth are something I hope can get on the road to being straightened out by the end of this year.
With all good luck, I’ll be 30 and wearing braces, and it will be awesome.
February 22, 2012
And let me tell you, I remember distinctly that those teeth were not loose at that point at all. They were simply turning this darker color (I guess the tooth was dying?? Can that even happen to baby teeth still in your head?), and my mother decided that instead of taking me to a dentist, she’d play the dentist, and decided that they needed to be ripped out.
That’s the way it was with the majority of my baby teeth, really. I only recall one that fell out naturally and painlessly. Otherwise, the rest were all yanked out of my head when they were just starting to loosen. So yeah, say what you will, but losing teeth was always pretty traumatic to me. :/
February 23, 2012
Yep. All that over sweat pants. Priorities, don’tcha know?
So in the time period between this comic and my last one, my parents had divorced, and I had moved twice. My father took off to I have no idea where. I didn’t hear from him again for years and years. In this strip here, I was in the 3rd grade, and in my 3rd different school.
The next few strips involve this specific incident, and then I’ll be moving on to something else.
February 28, 2012
I don’t really have much to say about this one, except that it’s a continuation of the previous one, and that this one was especially hard to do.
:/
March 1, 2012
Just a reminder: she is mad about me getting a hole in my sweat pants that were bought at K-Mart.
And about that first line, “You were stupid when you were born.” It was something said by my brother, who is two years younger than me (so at that time, he would have been in the 1st grade). Yeah, it’s definitely one of those dumb things little kids say to each other to try to hurt each others’ feelings, and it did when he said that to me, because heck, I was 7 or 8 at the time. Almost any insult would have. It made it that much more painful when my own mother said it to me.
Over some cheap clothes. It was worth holding a pair of scissors to my neck over CLOTHES.
March 15, 2012
Sure, there is color in this strip, but it’s not the end of my memory lane strips yet. Trust me on this. That phone call tied so much up together of my childhood, that it hit me like a ton of bricks when thinking about it after I got off the phone with her.
To be honest, I spent the next half hour after that phone call trying not to have an emotional breakdown while trying to do my job at work. I just don’t know. I’m still processing it. I’m sad, angry, confused, upset. I’m also just really upset that it made my grandmother upset, seeing as how she had heard things my brother told her about what she had done to him, but she was not aware at all that I had gone through the same stuff. So now here she is, reading my comics, and just now finding out what I went through. Even other relatives have let me know that they had no idea what was going on. Just thinking about it right now, about the manipulation. How well she was able to hide what she was doing to me and my brother, and honestly, just typing out my feelings in this blog post, has been enough to drive me to tears. Just that no one knew. No one could help. And we were too afraid to get help. I mean, she was already beating the crap out of us routinely, if we told anyone we were being abused, what would she have done to make it worse? Killed us? I lived with that fear my entire childhood.
Ugh. I’m freakin’ almost 30 years old here and still having emotional problems. Sigh. I probably always will, though.
But I am very happy she told me, as it answered a huge question I’ve always had. You’ll see. And Gramma, if you’re reading this, I love you very much.
March 27, 2012
Still not sure how I feel about this information. :/
April 4, 2012
That is my father sitting there in the last panel, just to clear up any confusion. And yes, I was cutting myself. I was about 17 at that time.
April 16, 2012
-no comment-
April 18, 2012
-no commment-
April 20, 2012
Seriously, who *hasn’t* done this?
I’m going to make a big effort to finish up this memory lane run of strips next week, just gotta get another late night in to get some work done on ‘em. I will say one thing, though, that doing this has helped me deal with all of this so much better, and I thank you all so much for being so supportive 🙂 I just have this one last big memory that I have to get off my chest before I can move on from it. I won’t say too much about it other than it’s the one that sticks out in my mind the most.
April 23, 2012
-no comment-
April 24, 2012
-no comment-
April 25, 2012
-no comment-
April 26, 2012
-no comment-
April 27, 2012
And with this strip, I’m bringing my Memory Lane series of strips to a close.
When I started this story line, I had the intention of just touching on things really quick that had happened to me. But what happened was as I was remembering it all over again, I started looking more in depth at what was going on, and what was said. And what ended up happening has really just… wore me out. There’s a reason I had tried to forget all this, to try to block it all out. I realized that as I was making these, it was seriously starting to affect me in my personal life as well. I started becoming unhappy, so much so that my wife was noticing and was beginning to worry. I would spend my days and evenings at work just thinking about what I had gone through, remembering the pain and all the tears I’ve shed. And I hadn’t even written about everything that I was going to. Because I’ve been through much much MUCH more than this at the hands of my mother. But to keep going would drive me further into a depression, which is something I am desperately trying to avoid.
There’s a band my wife introduced me to when we first started dating, called New Found Glory. They’ve got a song called Tell Tale Heart, and there’s a line from it that goes, ”I’ve learned that time can heal your wounds, but the reminder of a scar will stay.” I really don’t know if I can agree any more. While some terrible things have happened to me, I’ve been able to use those things to shape me into the person that I want to be. Those constant reminders of what I’ve been through, help me stay on that path. I firmly believe in treating people the way you want to be treated. I do my best each and every single day to be positive and upbeat, and to be there for anyone who wants to talk. I’m sure I probably come across as happy-go-lucky quite often, sometimes obnoxiously so, but I really can’t help it. In the face of everything I’ve gone through, if I chose to be a negative person, then I’ve essentially let my mother win. And I refuse to let that ever happen.
I’m sure a lot of you are wondering about my current relationship with my mother. Well, there really isn’t a relationship between me and her at all anymore. The last time we tried to talk was through email about 6 years ago. She had found me through classmates.com after not speaking for about 5-6 years prior to that, and we had started talking a bit. Well, I decided that the only way I was ever going to be on okay terms with her again, would be if I confronted her with what she had done to me. She denied it all, and said I was making it up. If anything, she said that I was jealous of my brother, of all things. I don’t even understand that part. But anyway, me being the hot-headed 24-year-old that I was back then, I snapped and blew up on her when I wrote her back. With my face full of tears, angry that I had let her hurt me one last time, I wrote back the nastiest thing I’ve ever written. Among other things, I told her that I wished death upon her. To be specific, I said “I hope you die in a fire” to my own mother. And at that time, I meant it.
I regret ever saying that to her, despite what she put me through. Because I do not EVER want to be that kind of person. It disgusts me that I ever wished death upon anyone.
I’ve not had any contact with her since, and I don’t plan on ever having any contact with her again. As far as I know, she has no knowledge about this comic, much less that I have a son now. I do not wish for this to change, as I am happy this way: with her out of my life. Anyone who says different is full of it. I’ve no wish to ever make amends with her. I tried once, and it bit me in the ass.
Anyway, enough about my whole mess.
The biggest thing I wanted to do with this Memory Lane story line, was I really wanted to try to reach out and connect with other people who may have gone through the same thing. One of the biggest things I’ve always felt with all of this was that I could never totally relate to someone because of it. I always felt alone, isolated. The freakin’ weirdo in the bunch. I was always afraid that if I did say anything, that it would chalked up to “Oh well, that’s childhood for ya” and that it would seem like I was complaining about nothing. But the outpouring of support from everyone has been tremendous. I’ve talked to people who’ve suffered verbal, physical, mental, and sexual abuse at the hands of people who were supposed to protect them, and my heart goes out to all of you, and know that you have a friend in me. I finally feel that I’m able to deal with my past better than I’ve ever been able to in my entire life now. And I can’t thank you all enough for all the support you have given me. Just thank you all so much for everything said to me in email, over Facebook, and over Twitter. If it wasn’t for all of you, I would have definitely never kept this story line going for as long as I did. So thank you all so much for your understanding, patience, and support through this. Thank you, thank you, thank you so much <3 Well, I guess that about wraps up everything I wanted to say. Comments are now open again, so that’s pretty cool, yeah? 🙂 I definitely want to hear from everyone and anyone who wants to share their story. I’m more than willing to listen, as you all have been so patient listening to me. Also to everyone who has submitted question to my Ask Christopher page: I will get to them soon!! Some of you are so goofy with the questions, and I much appreciate the laughs delivered to me that way 😀 Soooo yep. And one more thing: I’ve got an announcement to make next week (hopefully on Monday) and I think it’s pretty awesome!!! See you guys back here next week!! As always: Thank you all so much for reading <3 ”Even nerves of steel deserve a breather, weight wears down the infrastructure. Hearts of gold can still feel lonely if they don’t know they’re not the only ones.” – Everybody That Loves You by Bomb the Music Industry
For discussion regarding these strips, please refer to here, which is the comment section for the last strip in this series. |
Hillary Clinton unveils ambitious plan to massively boost renewables during first term
Updated
Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton has called for a dramatic national shift to energy sources such as solar and wind, setting the goal of generating enough clean renewable energy to power every US home within her first term in office.
Ms Clinton, the front-runner for her party's 2016 presidential nomination, also pledged to have more than half a billion solar panels installed nationwide within four years of taking office.
"I want more wind, more solar, more advanced bio-fuels, more energy efficiency," Ms Clinton said at a rally on Sunday in Ames, Iowa.
"And I've got to tell you, people who argue against this are just not paying attention."
I'm not a scientist ... I'm just a grandmother with two eyes and a brain and I know we're facing a huge problem Hillary Clinton, Democratic presidential hopeful and former secretary-of-state
The two goals were the first elements of what Ms Clinton said would be a comprehensive climate change agenda to be released over the next few months.
Ms Clinton's goals served as a response to Democratic presidential rival senator Bernie Sanders' calls for swift action on climate change, as well as environmental activists who are anxious to see Ms Clinton spell out details of a climate plan.
Her campaign said the goals would lead to a 700 per cent increase in the nation's installed solar capacity from current levels, and eventually could generate at least one-third of all electricity from renewable sources.
Ms Clinton's plans also call for extending federal clean energy tax incentives and making them more cost effective.
In Ames, Ms Clinton said she would continue the wind production tax credit and recalibrate other tax incentives that are "too heavily weighted ... toward fossil fuels".
Ms Clinton also said she would fight efforts to roll back president Barack Obama's executive actions to curb carbon emissions from power plants, and criticised Republicans who are reluctant to say climate change is a man-made phenomenon.
"They will answer any question about climate change by saying: 'I'm not a scientist'," she said.
"Well, I'm not a scientist either. I'm just a grandmother with two eyes and a brain and I know we're facing a huge problem."
Reuters
Topics: political-parties, world-politics, alternative-energy, solar-energy, wind-energy, united-states
First posted |
Eric Lindros was arguably the most recognizable figure in Philadelphia sports during the 1990’s. What comes with a lot of people knowing who you are? Endorsements and badly-acted commercials of course! As the off-season slowly creeps along, let us take a moment to look back upon the storied acting career of Eric Lindros.
Ellio’s Pizza (1992)
A commercial for the famous and not-so-good frozen pizza, Ellio’s features Lindros along with Pelle Eklund, Mark Recchi and Bobby Clarke. The commercial starts off with Lindros slapping the rear end of Recchi asking his team mates “Who wants some pizza?”. The trio cooks the pizza in a toaster oven talking about how great is. Bobby Clarke comes in at the end to take the last piece of pizza thanking the guys for it.
Tomatometer rating: 90%
Showcase Store (1992)
A funky beat plays while Eric is shown trying on various sports apparel from a Sixers jacket to a Toronto Blue Jays jersey. The commercial ends with two customers fighting over a Lindros jersey (with more visible in the background). Eric walks up and takes the jersey saying the line “Hey boys, easy. I’ve waited a long time for this jersey.”
Tomatometer rating: 82%
ESPN Sports Center (1993)
Back when hockey was actually featured on the “The Worldwide Leader In Sports” network ESPN, Lindros filmed this ad singing along to the very catchy Sports Center jingle.
Tomatometer rating: 68%
Modell's Sporting Goods (1995)
Gotta go to Mo’s! Yeah!
If you’ve ever wanted to see Eric Lindros in a full Phillies uniform, or Sixers uniform...well first of all, why? And second of all, look no further then this Modell’s commercial from 1995! At the beginning, Eric seems like he is trying to ask a store worker where to find hockey items, but she keeps telling him “Modell’s is more than hockey”. Which quite frankly is a very rude way to talk to Philadelphia’s biggest hockey player at the time. Anyhoo, Eric soon has an epiphany that Modell’s really is more than just hockey! He tries on various sports outfits from tennis to fishing to golf. The end brings our story full circle with the same store employee asking Eric about hockey, to which he responds “Modell’s is more than just hockey.”
Tomatometer rating: 95%
ESPN (1995)
In a short 15 second ad for a Flyers/Devils game, (which would have been not very good to watch considering it was 1995, mind you) Eric tells the audience (you) that he, John LeClair and Mikael Renberg do not like the nickname “Legion of Doom” and have changed the name to “The artists formally known as the Legion of Doom”. Which in my opinion is not as catchy, and does not roll off the tongue like the original name does. Their new name never seemed to catch on. Maybe they should’ve drawn a symbol?
Tomatometer rating: 42%
Bauer (1996)
Atmospheric violin music with beautiful narration can be heard while shots of a hockey rink are displayed. Eric does not appear until the very end where he walks out of the tunnel, having a staring contest with the camera. This was most defiantly not his best acting gig, but it is something.
Tomatometer rating: 20%
IBM (19??)
Don’t you hate it when you somehow stain a white jersey pink while washing it with other white jerseys? Well this equipment boy somehow did just that. After a game, the equipment boy is going around the Flyers locker room collecting jerseys, when Lindros hands him his jersey telling the boy “This is my lucky jersey, don’t mess it up.” FORESHADOWING.
The washing machine buzzer rings and the boy goes to remove Eric’s jersey. He finds the jersey has turned pink because it was also washed with Eric’s lucky sock.
Not so lucky anymore, are they Eric?
Tomatometer rating: 54%
“Rubbing Elbows with Eric Contest”
Do you know Eric’s favorite (music) video? Well if this was sometime in the mid 90’s you’d be in luck! Bauer and Cooper along with Much Music held a contest for fans to win tickets for themselves and three friends to see a Flyers/Leafs game in Maple Leaf Gardens as well as a pair of Bauer skates. Near the end of the video the words “Really Big Hint” flash on the screen, presumably to tell fans about a hint, that is really big. The intro to Van Halen’s “Right Now” starts to play, which we can only assume is that very big hint. Unfortunately, I was not able to find out who won this contest. But whomever you are, wherever you are, just know that you’re probably awesome.
Tomatometer rating: 66%
Interview on “Late Night with David Letterman” (1997)
David Letterman was one of the biggest names in late night television for decades. So Eric Lindros making an appearance on the Late Show is actually a huge deal. He comes out to Paul Shaffer’s band playing “Fly” by Sugar Ray. The interview features many basic hockey questions, but it does have some memorable moments such as Letterman asking Lindros if he is an enforcer. To which Eric laughed and says “No, that’s not me”. Letterman responds saying “You’re Zorro aren’t you?”
For an odd combination of funny late night television host and hockey player, the seven minute interview is defiantly worth the watch.
Tomatometer rating: 88%
Pond of Dreams (With Gretzky, Howe, Lemieux, Jagr, Kariya and Bure) (2000)
Hockey players are not good actors. This is pretty common knowledge. If you’d like to see sub-par acting from the best hockey players of all time, you’ve got the pond of dreams. Gordie Howe, Mario Lemieux, and Wayne Gretzky all walk towards a frozen lake where they meet Eric Lindros, Jaromir Jagr, Paul Kariya, and Pavel Bure. Lindros skates up to the old guys and asks, “You guys bring your gear?”
Triumphant trumpet music plays as the camera pans over all the players. Wayne Gretzky responds with, “No thanks boys, its your turn now.”
The trumpets get sadder as a chorus joins in. Howe, Lemieux, and Gretzky all start to walk away. Jagr calls over the three players on the ice, starting a stick tap as a sign of respect. Violins start to fade in as the camera pans away from the lake. Simply a masterpiece.
Tomatometer rating: 99% |
If you’re a woman and have ever stepped out in public in New York City, these are probably reactions you receive at least once a week, if not every day. The cornucopia of verbal abuse and violating gestures has no end. According to a study released by Stop Street Harassment earlier this year, some 65% of women in the United States have experienced something like this at least once.
But it’s hard to understand what that’s like if it never happens to you. That’s why anti-street harassment group Hollaback created a video of what happens to a young woman who has the gall to go outside and walk down the street. She’s wearing jeans and a t-shirt. (Not that it actually matters what a person wears.)
So watch what happens to her over the course of a mere 10 hours. It’s probably something everyone should see. |
Yeezy season is coming again! Get ready for the release of the Adidas Yeezy 350 Boost Beluga edition. The all white colorway of the popular Yeezy 350 Boost sneakers designed by Kanye West. Recently a lot of photos surfaced the internet showing Kanye wearing the Beluga Yeezy’s which started the rumors about a new colorway coming. Kim Kardashian also posted a photo on her Instagram showing off her Yeezy collection which also included a pair of the White Beluga edition.
Release Date & Price
The Adidas Yeezy 350 Boost Beluga’s are scheduled for a summer release. It’s not yet official but inside sources confirm that the Beluga’s will drop on August 15, 2016. The 8/15/2016 release date has been confirmed by several reputable sources. The suggested retail price for these sneakers is $200. Resell prices could be upwards of $1500.
How to Buy Yeezy 350 Boost Beluga’s
Buying a pair of Yeezy’s is not easy as it is probably the most sought after sneaker at the moment. Thousands of people are willing to pay ridiculous resell prices for these shoes so you can imagine that they will be sold out almost instantly when they are released. With this guide, you can greatly increase your chance of buying a pair of “Beluga” Yeezy Boost 350s.
Buy from reputable unknown sources
Your best bet is to buy the Yeezy 350 Boost Beluga’s from a source that not a lot of people are aware of. This will greatly increase your chance to get a pair because they aren’t sold out as quickly as the shops that everyone is rushing to get them. Below you will find a list of our favorite places to buy Yeezy’s, don’t tell anyone ;).
What a lot of people don’t know is that Amazon Fashion has an entire section dedicated to Yeezy’s. The section has several versions of the Yeezy 350 Boost sneakers like the “Oxford Tan”, “Pirate Black” and the original “Turtle Dove” colorway. As soon as the new White Beluga’s drop they will be up on that page linked to above, so definitely keep that one saved. You might get yourself a very good deal from a seller that doesn’t know the real value of the sneaker and sells it for a lot cheaper than it’s worth.
Our 2nd favorite place to cop Adidas Yeezy 350 Boost Beluga’s would be a nice little online store called Farfetch. They are very reputable in Europe, but they ship worldwide. During Yeezy launches, they always have a few hundred pairs in store. This is great news as not a lot of sneakerheads know about it because Farfetch doesn’t advertise it as much as other online stores do. They have been able to fly under the radar for quite a while so you should definitely keep that link saved as well.
The third option we could name you is to check out the official Adidas site. They have a retailer locator that shows all brick and mortar retailers that will be selling the Adidas Yeezy 350 Boost Beluga sneakers. You need to search for small stores nearby that are not as hyped up as the big retailers where everyone else goes to. As I said before, the less competition you have when buying Yeezy’s, the bigger chance you have of getting a pair.
Adidas Yeezy 350 Boost Beluga Raffles
Sometimes stores don’t want big lines in front of their store with sneakerheads looking to buy a pair of these sneakers. That’s why they have invented raffles. Enter a raffle with a retailer nearby you to get a chance to buy a pair of Adidas Yeezy 350 Boost Beluga sneakers. If you win a raffle you are guaranteed a pair, so you don’t have the stress of copping a pair quickly when they have dropped as you’re already assured of a pair. This is a great way to buy Yeezy’s, and we highly recommend you to sign-up to as many raffles as possible to maximize your winning chances. |
A New Zealand general has confirmed that the US-led coalition fighting in Mosul has used munitions loaded with white phosphorus. It comes amid mounting criticism over the use of the multipurpose weapon, which can be extremely dangerous to civilians.
Over the past few weeks an increasing number of claims have pointed to the use of white phosphorus munitions by the US-led coalition in Mosul, Iraq and Raqqa, Syria – the two strongholds of the terrorist group Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL). The use of the weapons in Mosul was confirmed by New Zealand’s Brig. Gen. Hugh McAslan.
“We have utilized white phosphorous to screen areas within west Mosul to get civilians out safely,” he told the US broadcaster NRP, in what appears to be the first confirmation of its kind. Previously the coalition reported using white phosphorous munitions in rural areas of Iraq, but not in densely populated cities.
US-led coalition use of white phosphorus in Syria & Iraq raises serious questions about the protection of civilians https://t.co/QqgHnCbZyI pic.twitter.com/v33z0jPSwG — Andrew Stroehlein (@astroehlein) June 14, 2017
The confirmation comes as Human Rights Watch (HRW) criticized the coalition on Wednesday for deploying the controversial type of munitions in the fight against IS.
“No matter how white phosphorus is used, it poses a high risk of horrific and long-lasting harm in crowded cities like Raqqa and Mosul and any other areas with concentrations of civilians,” said Steve Goose, arms director at HRW.
“US-led forces should take all feasible precautions to minimize civilian harm when using white phosphorus in Iraq and Syria.”
Read more
White phosphorus burns when it comes into contact with oxygen, producing high-temperature heat and characteristic white smoke. Munitions with the chemical can be used as incendiary weapons, to lay down smoke screens or as signals.
While deploying incendiary weapons against residential areas is banned under Protocol III of the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), the two other uses are not, which allows some nations, including the US, to keep such munitions in their arsenal.
Rights groups are critical of using such a loophole, saying that white phosphorus remains very dangerous even when not deliberately used to start fires. Submunitions can ignite days after deployment and remain a hazard for a city. Injuries caused by the chemical can burn to the bone and are prone to reigniting, if a piece of the phosphorous remaining in the wound is exposed to air when a dressing is changed.
“Horrific civilian harm from previous use of white phosphorus has generated public outrage and this latest use of white phosphorus underscores the urgent need for states to strengthen international law relating to incendiary weapons,” HRW’s Goose said.
Earlier, footage of several alleged instances of the use of white phosphorous munitions in Mosul and Raqqa was published online. One incident appears to have happened on June 8 in the Syrian city, days after the US-supported SDF militia announced that it had begun a siege of the IS stronghold. There were subsequent reports of the use of such munitions on the next day.
There is also footage of what appears to be white phosphorus deployed by artillery, reportedly shot in western Mosul on June 3. The Iraqi Security Forces later stated that the deployment was meant to provide cover for civilians trying to flee the IS-held part of the city. |
September 13, 2013
Firefox 22 is released, just in time to become the default browser in Ubuntu 13.10. The release contains many performance improvements and one big, major feature : a built-in version of adblock enabled by default.
In July, Ars Technica revealed that there was a major disagreement between Mozilla and Google. The search giant decided to stop funding Firefox, because of Chrome’s success and defending Chromium as the preferred alternative. Gossips said that Google was also angry about the performance of Google+ in Firefox, which was, according to a survey, one of the major complain for not switching to G+.
Tech blogs were happy to jump on that story, predicting Mozilla’s dead. A petition was even sent to Google, begging to keep Firefox alive.
But Mozilla had more power than everyone thought. They prove it now with Firefox 22.
It is often said that the default configuration is the most important. Most users don’t install extension or modify the settings. With Firefox 22, 30% of the web surfers will suddenly discover a new web : clean, usable, fast and consuming a lot less data while mobile surfing.
To avoid false positives, the filter is far from being aggressive. But it’s a win anyway : the most obvious, intrusive ads are removed. Including all the Adsense and Doubleclick ones. Reviewers are already praising this move: « It brings to the casual user what is usually referred as the usable web by the nerd-adblock-enabled elite » or « Despite all the debate, enabling by default a technology used for years by the vast majority of power users is a natural evolution ».
Firefox 22 also bring a small improvement : if you have enabled the Do Not Track feature, which is a default since Firefox 19, you will now block statistic tools, including Google Analytics…
All those changes are well explained in the Firefox start page the first time you start Firefox 22 (or after the upgrade). The user is explained how to consult the list of blocked website and how to whitelist some site. There’s also a prominent button called « Don’t block anything ». According to an early survey, very few users click on it.
A spokesman for a Fortune100 company using Firefox in all their workstations commented the move: « During their work time, we want our employees to be 100% concentrated on their task. Avoiding the distraction of ads will increase productivity and save us bandwidth. We also welcome the enhanced privacy. »
Professional bloggers and technical websites are calling for a boycott of Firefox. In lengthy articles, they explain how 50% of their visitors are using Firefox and how they will disappear. Arguments and tone are very similar to what we could read when the music industry complained about Napster condemning musical artists to starvation. Some take a more positive approach and try to convince their readers to whitelist them.
Nevertheless, Opera is rumored to follow in a upcoming release. And Canonical announced the same day that the first Ubuntu phone will be shipped in 2014Q1 with Firefox 22 as the default browser.
In the Mountain View building, it looks like 30% of the web suddenly disappeared. Statistics, ads revenues : they don’t exist anymore but still visit websites, consume resources. Googlers already call them « the ghost web ». Some says that the ongoing negotiations with a small Swedish company are not unrelated.
Will it kill the dream of a Google’s world? Will it fulfill Mozilla’s mission of « building a better web » or, on the opposite, kill the professional web?
Picture by Firefox Flicks
Je suis @ploum, conférencier et écrivain électronique déconnecté rémunérés en prix libre sur Tipeee, Patreon, Paypal, Liberapay ou en millibitcoins 34pp7LupBF7rkz797ovgBTbqcLevuze7LF. Vos soutiens, même symboliques, font une réelle différence pour moi. Merci !
Ce texte est publié sous la licence CC-By BE. |
Police intercepted a record amount of meth in Australia, estimating its worth at $440 million, the BBC reports.
Authorities said in a press conference video distributed by ITN that the 1,290 pounds of the drug were hidden in a shipment of cleaning chemicals from the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen. Officials believed it to be the most ever recovered Down Under.
The massive seizure and the arrests of three suspects -- from Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong -- would not have happened if not for a tip by the public, New South Wales Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione told reporters. Suspicious activity at a storage facility near Sydney sparked the four-month investigation, the commissioner said.
New Zealand news outlet Stuff.co.nz reported on the suspects' court appearance on Thursday, in which all were formally denied bail. The organization identified the trio as Kiwi-born Australian national Tony Ming Ly, 21, the alleged driver; Cheung Tuen, 51, of Hong Kong; and Boon Cheng Leow, 32, of Singapore.
According to CNN, the final stage of the arrest involved police secretly confiscating the methamphetamine (often made with ephedrine and pseudoephedrine as main ingredients) and replacing it with an "inert substance." When the traffickers came on Wednesday to take away their haul, police converged.
Meth has become a serious global problem. The Associated Press, citing the most recent data provided by the United Nations, reported that nearly 10,200 meth labs globally were shut down in 2009. "Nearly half of all people seeking drug treatment in East and Southeast Asia in 2009 were methamphetamine users," the AP writes.
Australia seems to be a popular destination for smugglers. In June, Australian authorities found 1,230 pounds of crystal meth and heroin hidden in terracotta pots. |
Onnanoko ga Shinu Hanashi Completed 4.77
Author: YANAMOTO Miharu
Drama Romance School Life Seinen Tragedy Slice of Life
Seto is special, not only because she has silver white hair but also because she is concealing a secret - she is dying. Within her final days, she experienced the most miraculous things in the world -...more
Seto is special, not only because she has silver white hair but also because she is concealing a secret - she is dying. Within her final days, she experienced the most miraculous things in the world - friendship and love - as she encounters a boyish girl from class, Chiho. The story sets readers on an emotional journey about what life truly entails and what death can leave behind for one’s beloved.
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The World Cup is set to be a major financial disappointment for the host nation South Africa, after it became clear that international fans have decided to stay away and their tickets are being sold cheaply to South Africans.
Less than three weeks before kick-off on 11 June, South Africa's revamped airports and spruced-up cities are staging an impressive show of readiness for the arrival of international fans – although now it seems there may be half a million fewer than expected.
Organisers have revised visitor estimates – and thus tourism income – down from an initial 750,000 to 200,000. Airlines, hotels and guesthouses are slashing their prices. On 15 April, hundreds of thousands of cut-price match tickets went on sale in South Africa, in a bid to fill 3.2m seats at 64 matches. At the taxpayers' expense, municipalities and state-owned companies such as Telkom have bought thousands of tickets to give away to employees or offer as prizes.
Local fans, however, are in festive mood. On Friday a street party hosted in Soweto by Winnie Madikizela-Mandela marked a move by the ruling ANC to secure support for the football spectacular in the country's impoverished and restive townships.
But the country remains divided between those who believe there should be no price tag on the nation-building potential of hosting the World Cup and others who say that the 33bn rand (£3bn) cost of preparing for the competition should have been spent on improving the lives of the poor. The amount is roughly equal to the loan the World Bank gave South Africa last month to revamp its failing electricity supply system.
Fifa, the world football body, has announced record prize money for the final and will make £2.3bn from television rights and sponsorship deals. Amid efforts by the organisers to promote hard-to-sell matches such as Australia-Serbia on 23 June in Nelspruit, gauging ticket sales has become almost impossible. Last week, despite an earlier announcement that the France-Uruguay match in Cape Town on 11 June was sold out, several hundred tickets for the game were suddenly released.
South Africa's organising committee chairman, Danny Jordaan, denied that the country's crime rate – 50 murders a day – had deterred international fans. "When I went to London in March, the only problem people kept mentioning was the recession,'' he said. He conceded that Fifa's rigid internet-based ticket sales system had been a handicap to fans in South Africa and, especially, to those on the rest of the continent. By early March, football-mad Nigeria had ordered only 700 tickets, prompting Jordaan's team to launch a ticket-in-hand roadshow in the five African countries (Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Algeria and Cameroon) that have qualified.
Fifa claims that African fans outside South Africa have bought 40,000 tickets. "If you look at where tickets have sold best [the United States, with 80,000 sales], this is also the place with the best internet penetration. This is a lesson for the future,'' said Jordaan.
Udesh Pillay, of the South African Human Sciences Research Council, said the World Cup would not be of economic benefit to the country where millions of people still do not have electricity or running water in their homes. "Although 150,000 jobs were created in the build-up to the event, they were temporary. It will not be possible to say that the event has reduced poverty. It will nevertheless contribute 0.2% to 0.5% to our growth," he said.
The much-vaunted African "feel'' of the World Cup is also in question. At Fifa's insistence, the 10 host cities introduced bylaws to protect their sponsors from "ambush marketing''. The laws will affect the informal sector – the biggest single part of South Africa's economy – as thousands of street vendors are banned from coming closer to stadiums than 800 metres. Next to Ellis Park in Johannesburg, chicken seller Regina Twala made headlines for refusing to budge, but eventually moved to a "demarcated selling area'' outside the perimeter, leaving the coast clear for KFC and McDonald's.
The government says its biggest worry is that the minibus taxi industry – which until now has held a virtual monopoly on public transport in cities – will make good on its threat to disrupt the World Cup. The industry feels threatened by the introduction of buses that are to be used to ferry fans before being redeployed as the main form of transport in and out of townships.
The so-called bus rapid transport system represents the main "legacy project'' of the World Cup for millions of South Africans. But in March members of the powerful and often violent taxi industry smashed up one of Johannesburg's new buses. Last month they marched in Pretoria, complaining of having been "left out'' of the World Cup and threatening to disrupt the event. On Friday, in a bid to reassure fans that the bus system will be safe, President Jacob Zuma travelled on the Rea Vaya system in Soweto.
Despite disappointment over the tourist income that the 64-match World Cup will generate for the country, Jordaan insists the event will be a long-term asset. "The new infrastructure, like the roads, the airport expansion programmes and the investment in telecoms, will be there after the World Cup and will help our economy to grow," he said.
Jordaan believes football fans can still save the day: "The global recession has played a part in the low sales of tickets, but I also think fans are influenced by whether their country has a chance. I think we will see an influx for the last 16 matches. When you have big teams going into the quarter-finals and semi-finals, fans just cannot keep away.'' |
The supreme court will hear a challenge by four offenders on Monday who allege that indeterminate sentences infringe the rights of prisoners if they are unable to get on to rehabilitative courses.
Britain has more prisoners serving life sentences than the rest of Europe put together, with more than 12,000 inmates on either life terms or indeterminate sentences.
The average length of time served by lifers and those given indeterminate prison terms is increasing rapidly, the latest Ministry of Justice (MoJ) figures reveal.
The rise comes amid mounting criticism from MPs and civil rights groups that inmates are finding it harder to enter rehabilitation courses that would pave the way to their release and ease prison overcrowding.
The MoJ's figures show average time served by those on mandatory life sentences has risen from 14 years in 2006 to 17 years in 2013. For other lifers, the average span doubled over the same period from seven years in 2006 to 14 years in 2013.
The average time spent in prison by those serving indeterminate terms for public protection has also gone up, from one year in 2006 – when the sentence came into effect – to six years in 2013.
Increase in sentence lengths is one of the main drivers of the expansion of the adult prison population. In a report last month, Managing the Prison Estate, the Commons public accounts committee said prison overcrowding could be reduced and savings made "if [the MoJ] provided more offender behaviour programmes to help prisoners serving indeterminate sentences to be released at the earliest opportunity".
In June 2013, the report noted, the prison population included thousands on indeterminate sentences who had already served the minimum period required by their sentence. It added: "They could be released if the Parole Board believed it was safe to do so. The Parole Board views offender behaviour programmes as very important to demonstrate progress, but the number of courses completed by prisoners has fallen."
The Howard League for Penal Reform and the Prisoners' Advice Service fear that the MoJ's decision to remove legal aid for inmates challenging the types of prisons in which they are being held may reinforce difficulties prisoners face in transferring to open prison and beginning the process of rehabilitation.
The proportion of inmates held on longer sentences has been rising steadily. By the end of last year there were, according to MoJ statistics, 7,463 people who had been given a life term and 5,335 on indeterminate sentences for public protection, a total of 12,798 inmates.
Frances Crook, chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: "We have sentence inflation. It's because politicians in the last two decades have sunk to the level of punitive competitiveness. But there's no evidence that it offers better public protection.
"We have more lifers than all the other countries in the Council of Europe together. This government came in with good intentions but there are still so many prisoners sitting around [awaiting rehabilitation courses]."
Those sentenced to life or indeterminate sentences "have no automatic right to be released", the MoJ stresses. "Release on expiry of the tariff period is not automatic. Release will only take place once [the tariff period] has been served and the Parole Board is satisfied that the risk of harm the prisoner poses to the public is acceptable."
Life sentences can be imposed for a wide range of offences. The maximum term for rape, arson, manslaughter, torture, hijacking, supplying class A drugs, robbery, aggravated burglary, carrying firearms, causing explosions and procuring a miscarriage is life imprisonment. A life sentence is mandatory for anyone aged over 21 who is convicted of murder.
Even among lifers there are multiple categories, reflecting a proliferation of sentencing regimes that have changed over time. There are prisoners serving automatic life sentences, discretionary life sentences, those held on detention during Her Majesty's pleasure, in custody for life – and other permutations.
The most notorious are the 55 inmates – such as Mark Bridger, who was sentenced for the murder of five-year-old April Jones, and Michael Adebolajo, the killer of Fusilier Lee Rigby – who are serving whole-life terms. They will never be released from jail.
Their status has caused friction with the European court of human rights in Strasbourg, which ruled that such sentences must be subject to review and therefore hold out the possibility of release. As they stand, the ECHR said, whole-life terms are inhuman and degrading – a judicial rebuff that the court of appeal has since, in effect, sidestepped.
The MoJ counts those on indeterminate sentences, who must satisfy the Parole Board before they can be freed, with lifers. That agglomeration of categories explains why research by the Howard League in 2009 first came up with the astonishing statistic that there are more people serving open-ended or life sentences in jails in England and Wales than in the whole of the rest of Europe.
The latest statistical report from the Council of Europe, assessing prison populations in mid-2012, confirms that disparity. There were more than 8,800 serving life terms in Britain compared with about 7,000 in the rest of Europe.
Other European states are, by comparison, reluctant to impose life sentences and generally reserve the term "life" for whole-life sentences. Several – Spain, Portugal, Norway, Croatia and Serbia – have even abolished what they call life terms.
Inmates aged more than 60 are the fastest growing section of the prison population. In September 2012, there were 3,333 older inmates. By December 2013, the figure had risen to 3,536 – of whom 99 were women. |
Real Madrid have completed the signing of Sao Paulo's attacking midfielder Augusto Galvan, according to Globoesporte. The player will not wear Madrid's shirt until next year and could spend a season with Castilla as he is just 17 years old.
Per As' report:
The media outlet says Sao Paulo will receive one million up front for Galvan, who is 18 in March, with the rest —3 million— paid depending on his fulfilment of a range of objectives.
Diario AS has spoken to the player's camp, who were able to "99.9%" confirm the transfer.
Real Madrid have completed some promising signings for the academy teams over the last few years, like Casemiro —who is now an undisputed starter for the first team—, Martin Odegaard, Mink Peeters or Sergio Diaz.
It's clear that Galvan's true potential is unknown, but he should be capable of helping Real Madrid Castilla next season until the coaches figure out whether he has the quality to play for the first team in the future. |
Why is English spelling so messed up? We get the same sounds spelled different ways (two, to, too), the same spellings pronounced different ways (chrome, machine, attach), and extra letters all over the place that don't even do anything (knee, gnu, pneumatic). There aren't always good reasons for these inconsistencies, but there are reasons. Here's a brief look at the history of English spelling told through 11 words.
1. THOUGHT
Way back in the 600s, Christian missionaries arrived in Anglo-Saxon England with their Roman alphabet and tried to make it fit the language they found there. They had to come up with ways to spell sounds like 'th' and /x/—a back of the throat consonant like the one in German "ach!" For a while they made use of runic characters (þ,?, ð) and various combinations of g, c, and h. Scribes eventually settled on 'th' and 'gh'. Some of the spellings "thought" has gone through include: þoht, ðoght, þou?te, thowgth, thouch, thotht, thoughte, and thowcht.
Later, English lost the /x/ sound, but only after the spelling conventions had been well established. Today, whenever you see one of those 'gh' spellings, say a little "ach!" in the memory of English /x/.
2. KNEAD
Two things happened in the early 1500s that really messed with English spelling. First, the new technology of the printing press meant publishers—rather than scribes—were in charge, and they started to standardize spelling. At the very same time, the Great Vowel Shift was underway. People were changing the way they pronounced vowels in vast groups of words, but the publishers weren't recognizing the changes yet. This is why we ended up with so much inconsistency: 'ea' sounds different in knead, bread, wear and great. Along with the vowel changes, English lost the /k/ sound from /kn/ words, the /w/ from /wr/ words, and the /g/ from gnat and gnaw. But by the time the change was complete, the writing habits had already been established.
3. WEDNESDAY
Woden was an Anglo-Saxon god associated with both fury and poetic inspiration. He also had a career in curing horses and carrying off the dead, and Wednesday is his day. Woden's day has gone through various spellings—wodnesdaeg, Weodnesdei, Wenysday, wonysday, Weddinsday—but even though Shakespeare tried to match pronunciation with his very reasonable "Wensday," it didn't stick. Woden got to keep his 'd' and his day.
4. JEOPARDY
The Romans helped get the Anglo-Saxon language into writing, but when the French arrived with William the Conqueror in 1066, they brought their own words with them. English vocabulary was never the same again. One of the expressions they brought was iu parti (jeu parti, "divided game") which became Iupartye, ieoperde, and yeopardie before settling into its current form. The 'eo' reflects the gist of the original French vowel (as it does in "people") and the location of the 'r' was already fixed in the spelling by the time it wandered over next to the 'p' in pronunciation. The roaming habits of the 'r' have gotten a lot of word spellings into trouble. See: different, temperate, separate.
5. FEBRUARY
Those sneaky 'r's also like to disappear completely, especially when there are two of them near each other (see: surprise, berserk, governor). February also came into English from French. The French feverier first became English feverere, or feverell. But in the 16th and 17th centuries, a craze for all things classical caused writers to start re-Latinizing their spelling—making words look more like their ancient language sources, whatever their current pronunciation. It was a way to make your documents look more intelligent and fancy. And so, in writing, they made February look more like Februarius.
6. RECEIPT
Receipt is also a victim of the Latinizing craze. When the word came into English from French it had no 'p', and no one pronounced it as if it did. Enthusiastic Latinizers later added the 'p' on analogy with the Latin receptus. This is also how debt and doubt got their 'b's, salmon and solder got their 'l's, and indict got its 'c.'
7. ISLAND
Most of the words that got Latinized did have some distant connection, through French, with the ancient Latin words that dictated their new spellings. However, sometimes a Latin-inspired letter got stuck into a word that hadn't even come through Latin. "Island" came from the Old English íglund, and was spelled illond, ylonde, or ilande until someone picked up the 's' from Latin insula and stuck it where it had never been meant to be.
8. ASTHMA
In addition to re-Latinizing, there was Greekification (not a technical term!). Asthma first showed up as asma or asmyes. But words associated with science and medicine were particularly susceptible to the urge to connect to the classics, so people started writing asthma instead of asma, diarrhea instead of diaria, phlegm instead of fleme…ok, I'll stop.
9. COLONEL
From the very beginning, when this word came into English in the 1500s, there were two spelling variants and two pronunciations. Coronel came through French and colonel through Italian. Colonel preserved the look of the related word "column," but coronel brought a nice, regal "crown" to mind (though it wasn't actually etymologically related). So it went back and forth until we settled into the 'l' spelling with the 'r' pronunciation. Yay compromise?
10. HORS D'OEUVRES
Another wave of French words came into English starting around 1700. They came from the high life, fashion, courtly manners, cuisine, and the arts. We got words like bouillon, casserole, vinaigrette, protégé, ballet, bouquet, boutique, silhouette, etiquette, and faux pas. These words have kept their French spellings, and we get as close as we can to their pronunciations. "Orderves" isn't bad for hors d'oeuvres. It's better than "horse dovers," in any case.
11. ZUCCHINI
That's how you spell it, and say it, in Italian. It's just one of the many words we've snatched up from whatever languages we've bumped up against in modern times. The borrowing has never stopped. And all languages are welcome. English says, "Come on in, and bring your crazy spelling with you!" We do our best with guerrilla, piñata, llama, angst, kitsch, fjord, Czech, gnocchi, and zucchini, even if we don't always remember exactly how to spell them.
This post was originally published in 2012. |
The current star of the Insurance Industry cabal is Shona Holmes, a whisky-voiced Toronto woman of ample aggregate and dubious honesty. See TV Spot Here.
According to Ms Holmes, she was diagnosed with a “brain tumor” sometime in 2005. In scores of interviews, she consistently claimed she could not receive timely treatment in Toronto and was forced to seek medical care at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona. Shona is a wannabe-be poster child for the Worldwide failings of government run Healthcare. She spins a shocking yarn, one that would make Socialists everywhere bow their Public Option heads in shame –
if only her story was true.
Over the 4 years since Ms Holmes’ cyst was removed from the ample cavity between her ears, her condition has worsened. Not her actual physical condition, but rather, the ubiquitously reheard and revised description of her medical odyssey.
Back in the Summer of 2007, the propaganda machine at the Mayo Clinic decided to print Ms Holme’s human interest story in an internal Clinic publication. Her healthcare horrors served nicely as a double-sided win for Mayo. On one side was the sweet story about the Clinic’s responsiveness to Ms Holme’s plight as well as the Clinic's ample expertise in repairing her medical problem. Secondly, it served as a bonus dig against the growing call for Public Healthcare in the U.S. by painting the Canadian system in a negative light. After all, the mere words "Public Healthcare" are the bane of the usury Private Insurance companies and Hospitals administrators alike. But more interesting was the Mayo Clinic’s choice to reprint
IMPORTANT UPDATE NOTE: THE "REPRINT" LINK IS NOW BROKEN - THE MAYO CLINIC REMOVED MS HOLMES' STORY (#39) FROM THEIR WEBSITE 2 DAYS AFTER THIS DIARY WAS PUBLISHED. STORY #s 38 & 40 ABOUT OTHER MC PATIENTS ARE STILL UP. THE MISSING HOLMES STORY MAY BE FOUND IN AN UPDATE #4, BELOW.
the story this Summer, and this time, afford it a prominent berth on their Web site – just in time for the Healthcare reform battle. Yet, the most fascinating information was to be found in the Mayo Clinic’s own description of Ms Holme’s medical condition.
Quoting the Clinic:
"Dr. Naresh Patel, neurosurgeon, diagnosed Holmes as having a Rathke's cleft cyst (RCC). The rare, fluid-filled sac grows near the pituitary gland at the base of the brain and eventually can cause hormone and vision problems. Dr. Patel joined forces with Drs. David W. Dodick, neurologist, and Michael D. Whitaker, endocrinologist, to work on Holmes' case."
Rathke’s Cleft Cyst can indeed cause more serious symptoms if left untreated, but it is generally very treatable through minimally invasive surgery and NOT a “brain tumor” as both Ms Holmes and Right wing hack writers contend. It's a fluid build-up and has nothing to do with cell division as occurs in Tumors.
Additionally, the direness in the retelling of Ms Holmes’ story grew progressively more horrifying after the Presidential election and as the Healthcare battle began to percolate.
Horror stories of waiting non-specific "months" for treatment in Canada soon gave way to claims of four to six month delays (an experience 180 degrees contrary to that of the scores of Canadians I've personally seen or heard quoted on the subject).
Here is a modest sampling of the plethora of Right Wing reportage on our Ms Holmes:
Sept 7, 2007
"In spite of these symptoms - and an MRI scan revealing the tumour causing them - Ontario's health system told Shona that she would have to wait four months to see a neurologist and six months to see an endocrinologist."
July 15, 2008
"Shona found out that the free health care she was promised came with life threatening strings. She was told that she could not see a specialist for at least six months...six months which, according to the Mayo Doctors, she didn't have the luxury of waiting for."
The tumor claim was no misquote, for on every occasion, Holmes didn’t hesitate to confirm this bogus diagnosis. Obviously, a tumor sounds bad –whereas a cyst, albeit a surgically complex one to excise, sounds like no more than a glorified pimple.
If you want sympathy, go with the tumor alibi. Here’s just one of many examples from Shona’s personal press tour that began anew just as the general election campaign was about to heat up.
July 19, 2008
“No one should be forced to travel thousands of miles to obtain accessible good care. Yet that is exactly what I was forced to do after being diagnosed with a brain tumor three years ago.”
By May of this year, Shona’s tall story was to take another turn for the worse - this time, courtesy of Fox News, and just in time for the shank of the Healthcare debate now raging on the Hill.
Shona had become the star of her own :30 second TV spot, engendered through the combined effort of Wingnut fantasy and Insurance Industry money. Now, Shona was to get her 15 minutes of fame on Fox News, dutifully and dramatically retelling her story for the umpteenth time – but this time with a twist that only Fox News could conjure. As Shona is introduced to Fox viewers, the Chyron reads:
"Cancer Patient Says Canadian Health Care Nearly Killed Her."
patient
It seems nothing short of “brain cancer” would be sufficient for "Faux News"..
Certainly, no one would confuse a "brain cancer" diagnosis with a pimple!
Poor Shona Holmes – at this rate of deterioration, she’ll be dead by…well…2005.
UPDATE Courtesy of Numinous:
"Her (Holmes) treatment at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona cost $100,000, and she and her husband put a second mortgage on their home and borrowed from family and friends to pay for it."
As Numinous commented, that fact alone proves the point that we need healthcare reform in this country.
UPDATE 2: For more information on the Americans for Prosperity Foundation, I recommend reading last month's DKos Diary by annie em. The Diary includes comments about the Group from Think Progress as well as some telling video from inside their front group, Patients United Now. Additionally, Media Matters debunks the PUN spot, HERE. Thanks annie for the heads-up!
UPDATE 3: And this Diary from June, written by SaraBeth, an American living in Canada. Thanks for your comment, and for pointing the way to your personal experience with a quality healthcare system.
UPDATE 4: Here is the copy from Shona Holmes' story as it appeared on the Mayo Clinic's Web site before the Clinic mysteriously shut it down:
Shona Holmes was in trouble: The list of her symptoms included headaches,
sleeplessness, dizziness, low libido and, worst of all, rapidly deteriorating vision. Her family
doctor in Canada ordered an MRI, and a brain tumor was detected. But it would take
months for her to get on the appointment calendar of a neurologist or endocrinologist in
Canada.
"I knew in my gut that I had to see someone and could not wait five to six months," she
says. So she called Mayo Clinic and got an appointment the same day.
For Holmes, a 31-year-old native of Waterdown, Ontario, traveling far from her husband,
other family members and friends was difficult. She knew there would be several
appointments and a battery of diagnostic tests. But she knew it had to be done. So, flying
solo, she headed for Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Once there, her fears were instantly calmed. "I received the most humane treatment of my
entire life," she says. "Everything was wonderful — the ambiance — from my treatments to
my first encounter at the check-in registration desk, every physician and nurse, was absolutely out of this world."
Dr. Naresh Patel, neurosurgeon, diagnosed Holmes as having a Rathke's cleft cyst (RCC). The rare, fluid-filled sac grows near the pituitary gland at the base of the brain and eventually can cause hormone and vision problems. Dr. Patel joined forces with Drs. David W. Dodick, neurologist, and Michael D. Whitaker, endocrinologist, to work on Holmes' case.
Their further tests revealed an increase in the size of her cyst over a short period of time as well as progressively worsening vision. "I was concerned that the pressure on Shona's nerves were causing her to become blind," says Dr. Patel. "We needed to remove the cyst to save her vision."
No time to waste
Within 10 days, Holmes returned to Canada with a confirmed diagnosis — and a growing sense of dread. She needed brain surgery immediately, and the thought of leaving home again was daunting: "Traveling so far from home and being far away from my family was a big deal for me, and then having them go into my brain — this was huge!"
Holmes returned to Mayo Clinic for several weeks of tests, and then got ready for the surgery. This time, her husband, David, was by her side.
By accessing Holmes' brain through her nose and sinuses, surgeons were able to remove
the cyst without a single incision on her face. Holmes was discharged from the hospital
four days later, cured of her disease.
"I've never been sorry for a second," says Holmes. "And how fortunate I was to have Dr. Patel as my surgeon." When she first saw Dr. Patel, Holmes had lost half the vision in her right eye and 25 percent in her left eye. After the surgery, her vision was 100 percent restored.
"Dr. Patel is my hero," she says. "We laughed, giggled and cried together." Holmes said she also was comforted by the fact that some of her doctors were Canadian. "It made me realize there really are no borders," she says. She's safely back in Canada now, reunited with family, friends and her golden retriever, Magnum. "It was a big deal leaving home for treatment, and not having that support with me in Arizona," she says. "But my husband was
determined to get me help — and I found it at Mayo."
xxx
A few comments from Canadians and U.S. Doctors concerning the lying liars who produced this spot: |
150th Motorized Rifle Division
The case of the 150th Division, demonstrates significant quantities of armored hardware, with insufficient staff numbers of soldiers and contract servicemen, recruitment of troops without adequate training or experience, lacking in motivation. With the size not as large as regular motorized rifle division, it is capable to provide greater firepower than the tank division.
In the initial stages of development, the Russian Ministry of Defense suggested that new divisions will be formed from contract based troops. To some extent this happened in practice, but under more detailed analysis the facts demonstrate a different profile of the Division staffing. Many contract servicemen of the Division consider they are treated unfairly. The major issue relates to the financial compensation for servicemen, that differs from the proposed amount of 35 thousand rubles (US$585) and actual paid 14800 (US$247).
The new 150th Motorized Rifle Division in the Rostov region will be fully developed by December 2016, in October it began to receive arms and military equipment. This was reported 21 September 2016 by a TASS source in the Russian Defense Ministry. "Already appointed commanders of its units and subunits is their acquisition of contract servicemen in the final stage is the construction of infrastructure facilities in the cantonments In October, the compound will begin receiving samples of modern weapons and equipment..", - Said the source. "There is no doubt that the division will be fully formed by 01 December 2016.
The source said that the division will have armed modernized tanks T-72B3, infantry fighting vehicles BMP-3, BTR-82A, self-propelled howitzers "Coalition-SV", anti-aircraft missile and gun complexes "Carapace-C." The interviewee said that in the new units will include three motorized rifle, tank and anti-aircraft missile regiment, as well as self-propelled artillery regiment. The number of divisions will be about 10 thousand people.
"Now, as it was in Soviet times, each tank division will have three tank regiments, motorized infantry regiment, self-propelled artillery regiment and anti-aircraft missile regiment, and each infantry division - three motorized infantry regiment, tank regiment, self-propelled artillery regiment and anti-aircraft missile regiment. In addition, he said, each division will receive intelligence units, communications, logistics, electronic warfare, radiological, chemical and biological protection, and so on.
The Headquarter (Administration, military unit 22179) is located in the Persianovka village of Rostov region. The structural composition of the Division is made of: two motorized rifle regiments 102nd Motorized Rifle Regiment (military unit 91706) and 103rd Motorized Rifle Regiment, with main armor (weapons arsenal) IFV-3; two tank regiments 68th tank regiment (military unit 91714) and 163rd tank regiment (military unit 84839) with main armor of tanks type T-72?3. The stationing locations are the village of Persianovka, and nearby training ranges Kuzminsky and Kadamovsky.
The newly formed 150th motorized rifle division received a unique maneuverability and firepower. The Ministry of Defense of Russia is completed the formation of the 150th Motorized Rifle Division (MSD). This military unit received a unique organizational and staff structure. In the conventional motorized rifle division there are three motorized rifle divisions (SMEs) and one tank regiment (TP). But in the 150th MSD, there are two tank and two motorized rifle regiments. Also, there are reinforced tank battalions in every SME. Thanks to this structure, the new division received a unique maneuverability and firepower, and the number of personnel and auxiliary equipment significantly decreased. At the military, the new military unit has already received the nickname "steel monster".
According to experts, the new division is an effective tool of modern high-tech maneuver warfare. Its regiments can equally effectively stop the enemy, break his defense, make breakthroughs and lead battles in his rear.
As "Izvestia" was told by the Southern Military District, the formation of the 150th MSD had already being completed by the end of 2016. In addition to the two motorized rifle and two tank regiments in its composition, artillery and anti-aircraft regiments, reconnaissance battalion, communication battalion and other units and subunits. Armored tank regiments of the new division will be upgraded tanks T-72B3 with additional protection.
The classic motorized rifle division is well suited for defending and breaking through enemy defenses. A tank is effective in maneuvering: encirclement, coverage, marches, "military expert Vladislav Shurygin told Izvestia. "But the new 150th division is a universal tool. It can effectively solve the problems of both conventional motorized rifle and tank divisions. The new connection is intended for a modern high-tech war. Its units and subunits will effectively operate under the conditions of the use of precision weapons and electronic jamming. It is not as big as a conventional motorized rifle, and superior to a tank division in terms of firepower.
According to the expert, the maneuverability and mobility of the division is determined by the number of personnel, as well as the technology of combat and rear units. The more of them, the less mobile the connection, but at the same time it has a great firepower. The new 150th MSD is a reasonable compromise.
The first experiments on the formation of universal divisions were made in the Soviet Army in the late 1980s. In 1989, three tank divisions deployed in the GDR were transferred to the new state (9th, 16th Guards and 90th Guards). But in the 1990s, after the withdrawal from Germany, one compound was disbanded, and the rest were transferred to the ordinary state.
The second attempt to form universal divisions was undertaken on the initiative of the former chief of the General Staff, General of the Army Yuri Baluyevsky. Three new units were transferred to the new state: the 10th Guards Tank, 3rd and 34th Motorized Rifle Divisions. It is noteworthy that the servicemen of the 3rd MSD called their union a "division of the XXI century". But during the reform of former defense minister Anatoly Serdyukov, they were disbanded.
Earlier it was reported that deployed in the Rostov region compound called in honor of the 150th Infantry Division, which took the Reichstag in 1945. Connection gets a number, the name of honor and combat award his illustrious predecessor and become the 150th Idritsa Berlin - Kutuzov Order of the Second Degree Motorized Rifle Division.
The Division was formed in September 1943, based on the 151-th separate infantry brigade, 127th cadet and 144th. Originally it included in the 34-th army . Then, as part of the 6th Guards Army and the 3rd Shock Army was fighting way from Nevel to Berlin. Order of the Supreme Commander of number 207 of July 23, 1944 for the liberation of the village Idritsa 150th Division was given the name "Idritsa". By Decree of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of April 26, 1945 for fight night at the lake Voshvanzee 150th Rifle Division was awarded the Order of Kutuzov of II degree.
On April 22, 1945 in the Berlin offensive division adopted by the Military Council of the 3rd Shock Army is one of the nine special banners, designed for hoisting over the Reichstag. During the battle for the Reichstag assault flag of the 150th Division, was installed above the main entrance to the building lieutenant Rakhimzhanov Koshkarbayev and ordinary Gregory Bulatov . Subsequently, these banners were installed in different parts of the building, including the Banner of Victory, hoisted on the dome of the Reichstag soldiers Infantry Regiment 756 Division: Alexei birch bark , Mikhail Yegorov and Meliton Kantaria . Short name of the division is indicated on the Banner of Victory. By Order of the Supreme Command of 11 June 1945, it was given the name "Berlin".
At the end of the Great Patriotic War, the division became part of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany. In December 1946, the division was disbanded.
For the distinction in combat, the division received the honorary names Idritskaya and Berlin, and was also awarded the Order of Kutuzov. But in 1946 the unit was disbanded, and rewards, battle flag and documents were put in the archive.
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early–mid 1978 | age 9–10 Han Luke and are cunningly disguised as Stormtroopers, but Chewie has no disguise. Anxious that they’re about to be rumbled—he takes the initiative and pretends to be a Pirate. The big furry spoofer!
“ARR!”
—Copyright: Star Wars age 9, 1978 😀
I think I heard years ago that “Let’s go” is the most frequently used line in movies. Amazing, when you consider how unnecessary it usually is. Sometimes I think scriptwriters are paid by the word.
(Quick) Art Note
I’m not sure I’ve noticed it so much before, but I think my earliest stuff sometimes tended to use less text and dialogue and communicated more visually. You can see it here. In panel 2, drawn in black biro, the trio originally walked off to the Detention Block, in silence. Sometime later, the rest of the page was drawn in blue biro–though the drawing doesn’t look any more advanced. Some dialogue was retrospectively added to panel 2 in blue biro. “This ‘ain’t gonna work kid!”— “Why didn’t you say so?” — “I think I did!” Which is somewhat similar to the movie dialogue.
More Spoofery: Overdubs
I love that “Where are you taking this… (eh) thing” line: so well delivered! I just found out who the actor was. He’s Malcolm Tierney. A Brit! He’s been in loads of British Television dramas over the years including Dr.Who. I might have recognised him if George Lucas hadn’t overdubbed his voice with an American one. Could it be that George was spot on that time? I don’t know what Tierney’s delivery was like but the one in the film is classic. (George intended to dub C-3PO as an American used-car salesman—but was made to see sense by one of the voice-over actors).
Hats off to Tierney. His attitude of nose-wrinkling disgust on seeing Chewie is pure racist Nazi–But funny.
My friend Rod Hannah, over at the—I’ll say it again—excellent Blue Milk Special Star Wars webcomic is a great fellow for highlighting the contributions of secondary actors and even extras. Recently he and I discussed the bartender in the cantina scene who, it turns out was an English actor. Rod said that like many of the British actors in the film, he was overdubbed in American. “Trust me… his acting was no where near as effective as it was with the American voice actor dubbed over.”
I’m glad that Don Henderson’s General Tagge wasn’t overdubbed, I love his guttural—almost Harold Wilson tones. A pipe would have perfected the character. It brings back fond memories of many 1970’s TV programmes!
Oh, bugger. I just found out that he passed away in 1997. That’s yet another one of the original cast—gone.
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Whenever I’ve written about Scotland I’ve been inundated by emails from readers there reminding me, quite rightly, that although that country appears to be a one-party state, the public are far from unanimous in support of Mrs Sturgeon. Twice in recent weeks that has been brought home. First, the Conservative Party in Scotland was so revived in the assembly elections in May that it is now the official opposition there, giving Scots a viable alternative for the first time in years. Previously, the choice had been between two sorts of Bolshevism – the SNP’s sort and Labour’s sort. Now, Scots can choose between Mrs Sturgeon’s Bolshevism, which she conducts with the honesty and realism one associates with hard-line Left-wing dictatorships, and a progressive, individualistic, free-market conservatism championed by Ruth Davidson. The first cracks in the one-party state have appeared.
Second, early briefings that 70 or 75 per cent of Scots would vote to stay in the EU proved wrong: the final vote was 62 to remain against 38 to leave. It was a good majority, but not the overwhelming vote of confidence nationalists had confidently predicted. It, too, shows how far Mrs Sturgeon’s writ actually runs, and is another reflection of how unimpressed the Scottish people are with the crisis-hit NHS and the under-performing education system over which she presides.
The type of nationalism she has developed is, as well as being rooted now in fantasy, deeply unpleasant. Intimidation was rife during the 2014 referendum. Xenophobia – targeted against England – is commonplace in the SNP’s ranks. It was unfortunate that as many as 45 per cent of Scots were taken in by this two years ago. It was even more unfortunate that they swallowed it without Alex Salmond, the then leader, being able to tell them what currency an independent Scotland would have, whether or not it would remain in the European Union, and how it would pay its way. |
Story highlights Senate also approves measure to repeal cuts to military pension benefits
12 Republicans join Democrats to defeat a filibuster bid by Sen. Ted Cruz
Under the measure, no debt ceiling showdown until 2015 at the earliest
Obama signals he'll sign bill, says he hopes it ends "politics by brinkmanship"
The Senate voted Wednesday to avert at least one chronic Washington political crisis for more than a year.
With a snowstorm bearing down on the capital, it approved a House-passed measure that allows the government to borrow more money to pay its bills through March 2015.
President Barack Obama signaled that he would sign the legislation, so the Senate vote was the last hurdle to resolving the debt ceiling issue until after the November congressional elections.
"I'm pleased that Republicans and Democrats in Congress have come together to pay for what they've already spent, and remove the threat of default from our economy once and for all," Obama said in a statement, adding that he hoped "this puts an end to politics by brinkmanship."
Wednesday's result was a blow to tea party conservatives who oppose any kind of increase in federal borrowing.
Filibuster denied
JUST WATCHED Sen. Heller: Ted Cruz is wrong to filibuster Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Sen. Heller: Ted Cruz is wrong to filibuster 02:54
Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, a leader of the GOP tea party wing, mounted a filibuster attempt to force a 60-vote threshold for proceeding on the debt ceiling measure.
However, a dozen Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, joined Democrats to overcome the filibuster on a 67-31 procedural vote that avoided another politically damaging legislative impasse over spending.
The Democratic-controlled Senate then gave final approval by a 55-43 margin on strict party lines, with McConnell and the other Republicans who helped overcome the filibuster voting against the measure to reduce their political risk.
"We got a good outcome," said GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, one of the 12 who helped defeat the filibuster but then opposed the measure on the final vote.
Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said last week the debt ceiling must be raised by February 27, or the nation would risk a technical default.
After Wednesday's Senate votes, Lew said the debt ceiling plan along with a recent budget agreement and spending bill "will provide certainty and stability to businesses and financial markets and should add momentum to the economic growth forecasted in 2014."
To Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, the defeat of the filibuster bid by Cruz signaled that "the American political world is moving in our direction."
"Republicans are trying to put tea party politics in the rear view mirror," he said.
After the House and Senate consideration of the politically charged matter, Obama added that the "full faith and credit of the United States is too important to use as leverage or a tool for extortion."
Cruz sticks to his guns
Cruz, however, was unapologetic.
"Today's vote is yet another example that establishment politicians from both parties are simply not listening to the American people," he said. "Outside the beltway, Americans of all political stripes understand that we cannot keep spending money we don't have."
With Congress on break next week for the President's Day holiday, failure to pass the debt ceiling measure Wednesday would have brought the nation close enough to the deadline to possibly shake financial markets.
On Tuesday, the GOP-controlled House passed the debt-ceiling measure on a 221-201 vote, with only 28 Republicans supporting it compared to the 199 who opposed it. Meanwhile, 193 Democrats backed the measure with only two voting "no."
The House vote followed an internal Republican fight over efforts to attach deficit reduction provisions to the debt-limit legislation.
Obama and Democrats rejected any attempt to negotiate on the issue, which previously led to political brinkmanship that caused the first-ever downgrade of the U.S. credit rating in 2011.
In the end, House Speaker John Boehner gave up efforts to link the measure to a provision repealing a cut in some military pension benefits. The Ohio Republican allowed a vote on a "clean" bill demanded by Democrats and despised by conservatives.
The shift by Boehner evoked rare praise for the speaker from the Senate's top Democrat.
"It is encouraging that some of my Republican colleagues seem to be regaining their grip on sanity this week," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Wednesday before the Senate vote.
GOP change in tactics
Until it happened, House Republicans insisted that any increase in the borrowing limit had to come attached to deficit-reduction provisions.
At a closed-door meeting on Monday, they discussed a plan to increase the debt ceiling until March 2015 -- past the upcoming congressional elections in November -- while also repealing cuts to military pensions that were part of the recently passed federal budget.
Less than 18 hours later, though, Boehner told reporters the GOP proposal couldn't pass because "we don't have 218 votes."
Some conservatives oppose raising the debt ceiling under any circumstance, while Democrats had made it clear they would unanimously reject any measure that tacked other provisions onto an increase in the borrowing limit.
Without a purely Republican majority, Boehner decided to split up the GOP plan by holding separate votes on repealing the military pension cuts and a clean debt ceiling increase.
The House easily passed the military pension measure earlier on Tuesday, then passed the clean debt ceiling legislation. Both Boehner and his top deputy -- House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia -- were among the 28 Republicans who supported the measure.
On Wednesday, the Senate also passed the military pension measure after the votes on the debt ceiling legislation.
Republicans facing pressure from conservatives ahead of the November vote were reluctant to back any kind of hike in the borrowing limit, a core issue for the political right because it represents rising federal debt.
Boehner blames Obama
Despite his support for the proposal, Boehner put the blame for needing a "clean" debt-ceiling bill with no deficit reduction provisions on Obama, saying the rising federal debt was his fault.
"It's the President driving up the debt and the President wanted to do nothing about the debt that's occurring, will not engage in our long-term spending problem," Boehner said. "And so, let his party give him the debt ceiling increase that he wants."
At the same time, Boehner declared himself disappointed about what he called a "lost opportunity" to address unsustainable federal spending.
Republicans across the ideological spectrum agree that another round of political brinkmanship could harm their party after it got blamed for October's federal government shutdown.
A recent CNN/ORC International poll found that 54% of respondents would blame congressional Republicans for a failure to raise the debt ceiling, while 29% would blame Obama and 12% would blame both. |
This is just a friendly reminder that Hillary Clinton once rebuked her Democratic primary opponent, Senator Barack Obama, for saying that the use of nuclear weapons was “not on the table” against Osama bin Laden. This 2007 Washington Post article features Clinton’s strange brain somehow finding a way to not only disagree with that extremely sane and obvious position, but to publicly admit it as though she wasn’t saying something horrifying and depraved.
I’m bringing this up because people seem to have forgotten about it. I mean, I’m assuming they have, because everyone still brings up Trump’s alleged “if we have nukes why can’t we use them” question as evidence that voters should support Hillary Clinton. That quote is no worse than Hillary’s admission right in front of members of the press that she’ll never take the nuclear option off the table even against terrorist organizations, and according to Snopes there isn’t any actual evidence that Trump even said it; it’s just one of those “yeah that seems like something he’d say” things that everyone decided to file under factual as a matter of cognitive convenience.
Even if he did say it, Hillary supporters can’t have it both ways; you can’t have it be a terrifying thing for the other guy to say and a normal thing for your candidate to say.
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So here we have what amounts to nothing more than a rumor, being used in as an argument in favor of a candidate who ridiculed the idea that the nuclear option should be taken off the table for use against a terrorist organization. And that’s not the worst of it.
The most disturbing thing is that this candidate, the candidate who’s told us all with her own mouth hole that she’ll always have her finger on the trigger for nuclear holocaust, is now giving every indication that she’s going to drag America into a war with Russia. She’s been saying since the beginning of her campaign that she plans to set up a no-fly zone in Syria, where Russian military planes are conducting operations against the Islamic State. That means American armed forces actively shooting down Russian planes, in case that isn’t clear. Here’s an MSNBC article from over a year ago about Hillary’s plans for the no-fly zone, already speaking about Russia with hostile rhetoric, and here’s a clip from the last debate where she tells us that she’s been pushing for a no-fly zone in Syria since she was Secretary of State, and still wants it to this day. This is remarkable consistency for a notorious flip-flopper.
And that’s not even the extent of her push; she’s also been calling for military strikes on Russia for reasons that have nothing to do with Syria. Watch this clip where she says the Russian “cyber attacks” (which as far as we know are also just another rumor) are the same as any other attack, and that America is going to be ready with serious “military responses” to them. This is even more chilling, because the only things that have been damaged by the leaked documents are her ego and the reputations of her and her political friends. You guys, our leading presidential candidate is telling us that she’s going to risk the total annihilation of all life on earth because Russia egoically inconvenienced her.
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To be clear, I’m not saying that Hillary Clinton is actively planning to wipe out all terrestrial organisms by way of nuclear holocaust. What I am saying is that she’s dead-set on bringing about the first ever full-scale war between two nuclear superpowers, and the deeper into that conflict we get, the greater the odds that the very worst thing that could possibly ever happen will come to pass. It goes without saying that war never goes as planned, since the path to victory always depends on strategizing in a way the enemy doesn’t expect; that’s the whole reason given for the tremendous government opacity we’re seeing in America right now. Any number of unforeseen responses to the chaos of war could lead to somebody deploying a nuclear warhead, and once one goes off, they all do. The deeper into conflict the U.S. and Russia get, the greater the odds of that happening.
And not only is Hillary dragging us kicking and screaming directly toward that terrifying situation, she’s also made it abundantly clear that she’s wide open to pulling the nuclear trigger if something goes wrong.
Is this what you want, America? Are you sure? If not, it may be time to seriously start re-thinking your options and start coming up with some other ideas. People are intelligent, creative and resourceful. We can overcome this if we want it urgently enough.
[Featured Image by Gregory Reed/Shutterstock] |
What Lies Beneath The Streets Of This Minnesota City Is Creepy Yet Amazing
Under the streets of Duluth, unbeknownst to many Minnesotans, you can find a web of hauntingly beautiful streams buried in tunnels of brick and stone. The solution during the development of the city was to take the dozens of local streams that wound their way to Lake Superior and simply redirect them underneath the infrastructure. It’s something that we see in many other locations, but never quite as spectacular as we see in Duluth.
Once in a while the drainage system is brought to our attention, usually following a massive flood (like in 1972 and 2012), but typically the massive tunnels are just serving their purpose, unnoticed by most, despite their epic proportions and in many cases, masterful stone-masonry. Exploring the depths of these tunnels is no doubt an amazing, albeit creepy experience.
Have you ever noticed all the streams that disappear below ground in Duluth before? Tell us if you would be scared to explore the tunnels in the comments. |
Like almost everything else about it, the release date of Sufjan Stevens’ Illinois is almost too perfect. It’s one thing to write an album about what it means to want to believe in your country during a time when many people struggled to believe in anything. It was something else to release that album on the Fourth of July, America’s birthday. But it’s not like Stevens has ever had much of a problem with gilding the lily.
Illinois (or Sufjan Stevens Invites You To: Come On Feel The Illinoise, if you simply must) was billed as a musical tribute to the grandeur of our 21st state, and yeah, it is that (Stevens famously researched the hell out of the state before recording; going on road trips, getting stories from the locals, and even looking up immigration records), but that’s ultimately just a feint. Really, Illinois is an album about America, and all of the myths, quiet heartbreaks, and indefatigable hopes a country can hold. And it turns 10 years old this weekend.
When looking back on Illinois, it’s worth keeping in mind two things about the time when the album was released, and if you don’t like it when entertainment publications get political, you may as well just skip this paragraph. The first is that in the wake of the success of the Arcade Fire, Bright Eyes, and, uh, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, there was a feeling in the air that the traditional paths to popularity were breaking down, and all an artist needed to conquer the world was talent and the support of the right blogs. It didn’t really work out that way in the long run, but it was an exciting moment, and every breathless Rolling Stone review and NPR profile indicated that the entire world was Sufjan’s for the taking if he wanted it. But more crucially, in the summer of 2005, young, left-leaning creative types — i.e., Stevens’ target demo — were still reeling from the re-election of George W. Bush. This was really what America wanted? It was a nasty time. Both sides dug their heels in throughout the year, ever more determined to have as little to do with the opposing team as possible.
And into this fray marched a skinny, effete Brooklyn hipster with a bunch of songs about the all-forgiving grace of the Great I Am and what a magical and weird place the Midwest is. Stevens, aware of this strife (“The Tallest Man, The Broadest Shoulders” might be about a frontier battle, but don’t think the line “What have we become America?” got there by accident) wanted us to see that God and country was for everyone, not just Them. And the godless blue state kids went nuts for it. Only in America!
I kid somewhat, but in era when irony was the default pose of the cool, and caring about things left you open to attack, Stevens’ sincerity felt heroic. We needed some damn catharsis. Of course, one of the reasons people like irony is that sincerity gets cloying if that’s all that’s being offered. Fortunately, Stevens also had songs. Good lord did he have songs.
Illinois is entirely too long, way too much and still just absolutely perfect. Stevens was on such a roll here that even the funky song about zombies worked. Until I began re-listening to the album in earnest for this piece, I hadn’t heard the last song “Out Of Egypt, Into The Great Laugh Of Mankind, And I Shake The Dirt From My Sandals As I Run” in years, and now I wonder why I deprived myself. Of course, it could have been even longer. The Avalanche: Outtakes And Extras From The Illinois Album was released the following year, and it makes the argument that this could have been a great double album, except that for once Stevens didn’t feel like showing off.
By the middle of the decade, the “Return of Rock” vogue was starting to wane, and artists were looking into other areas besides distorted guitar for inspiration. In Stevens’ case, that meant tapping into the chamber-pop template that Belle & Sebastian had established, as well as modernist composers such as Steve Reich and Igor Stravinsky. There are odd time-signatures, literal bells and whistles, wave after wave of overdubbed strings and choir vocals, banjo upon banjo, and all matter of quirky sonic beauty. The sheer sound of the thing is impressive, especially considering that Stevens recorded a lot of it on his own. But listening to the album now, what strikes me are the words. Stevens moved from Detroit to New York City to study writing at the New School For Social Research, and Illinois is as fine a short story collection as you could hope for.
While he’s one to Go For It musically, at least here, as a writer Stevens tends to give just enough information to fill in an entire world. We’re not quite certain what happens on “The Predatory Wasp Of The Palisades Is Out to Get Us!”, but we learn all we need to know about sexual awakenings, regret, and spending your life wondering if you moved too fast, or too slow. On “John Wayne Gacy, Jr.” a few lines about what lurked under the floorboards turned the notorious serial killer into almost an elemental evil (do you remember the first time you heard Stevens sing “oh my goooooddddddd?” Of course you do), a stand-in for the darkness at the core of all men and this country, a darkness that we must stand vigilant against. My friend and colleague Rob Harvilla once said that even just thinking about “Casimir Pulaski Day” was enough to make him cry, and that’s actually the only reasonable response to this delicately wrought story of the death of a childhood friend and perhaps the death of faith itself, complete with the saddest horn part since Nate Walcott helped Conor Oberst mourn America a few months previous on “Land Locked Blues.” There’s also a line about a cardinal that I can’t write out for fear that I’ll just lose it.
And then there is “Chicago.” Oh, how there is “Chicago.”
“Chicago” is easily one of the five best songs of this century and the song Stevens is best known for (partially due to its inclusion on Little Miss Sunshine). A road trip song par excellence about what seems to be an especially harrowing journey from Chicago to New York to adulthood, “Chicago” finds an entire army of backing vocalists and horns administering CPR to the last vestiges of the protagonist’s innocence, before they must accept the fact that things will never be the same again. But it’s too late. Too many mistakes have been made, too much has been said, and they’ll never be able to go where they were before the trip began. We don’t know what happened, and we don’t need to know. It’s not our business. We just know they’ll never be able to go back to Chicago. But at least they’ll have a good cry about it. (Stevens, or at least Stevens’ characters, admit to crying all the time on this album, because Stevens has no use for your suffocating masculine archetypes.) Listening to this album 10 years on — and this is corny but whatever — I hope the character realizes his traveling companions aren’t mad anymore, and probably weren’t as mad as he was making them out to be. We all make mistakes.
Illinois was rapturously received, but the backlash was almost immediate, which is as it should be. When it comes to an artist of substance, a backlash is nothing to worry about. It proves that you’re taking enough risks to piss people off, and you have the courage to commit to your affectations. Only cowards go halfway, out of fear of riling the commentators. And besides, complaints that Stevens is too delicate or twee is basically coded homophobia and misogyny from those who don’t like their traditional notions of masculinity toyed with in any way.
Part of the mythology of this album, which I’m addressing here toward the end because I feel it’s too prominent in the story of Illinois but I can’t ignore it and remain truthful, is that it was the second installment of a plan to write about the history of all 50 states. Look, artists spend a lot of time giving interviews, and sometimes they get bored, or they worry they’re coming off as boring, and they say outlandish things. It happens. We shouldn’t hold them to it for the rest of their careers; he later told The Guardian that “I have no qualms about admitting it was a promotional gimmick.”
After Illinois, it seemed like everything was on the table for Stevens. All he had to do was make an album that tightened up and refined his sound a bit, name it Missouri, maybe write a tearjerker based around a St. Louis riverboat casino, and he would know the glory of a Coachella headliner’s vegetable tray in perpetuity. Instead, he retreated. Perhaps the attention was too much for him. Perhaps he didn’t want to repeat himself or be turned into a caricature. Instead, he wrote a symphony about the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, and then made an elaborate electro-pop album and went on a tour that featured choreographed dancing inspired by Janet Jackson. (Always a smart guy, Stevens jumped on the poptimism train way ahead of schedule.) Earlier this year, Stevens released Carrie & Lowell, an album that put away all of his rhetorical and arrangement skill to simply tell the hard, honest truth about the mother he never knew. If you get tired this weekend and want the damn cookout to end already, throw on “Fourth Of July” and your guests won’t be able to slink out fast enough.
Stevens is a clever guy. “Decatur, Or, Round Of Applause For Your Stepmother!” is a series of ingenious rhymes and historical references that feel like a McSweeney’s submission put to jaunty folk-rock, and there are several other times on Illinois where Stevens goes right up the line of too arch, too maudlin, too much. But he always pulls back.
You can never really tell with him, but I like to think that Stevens is aware that someone with his level of talent can easily get lost in craft for craft’s sake, or come to believe that dazzling us with his skill is an end in and of itself, and that he must be on guard. On the title track, the third to appear on the album after a few preambles, a backing chorus asks, “Are you writing from the heart?” It’s a good question for any artist to ask themselves. The rest of Illinois was his reply. |
A police statement said those believed to have "planned, organised and executed the attack" were arrested in raids on six locations in Pristina (AFP Photo/Armend Nimani)
Pristina (AFP) - A shadowy activist group in Kosovo claimed responsibility Monday for an attack on the home of Kosovo's public broadcast chief, in protest over a controversial border deal.
"An explosive device was thrown into the backyard" of Mentor Shala, general director of Radio Television of Kosovo (RTK), late on Sunday, according to a police statement.
The incident in the capital Pristina came six days after another grenade was thrown in the courtyard of the RTK's headquarters, causing material damage.
Responsibility for both attacks was claimed by a group called "Rugovasit", a term for inhabitants of the Rugova mountains at the disputed border with Montenegro.
On Thursday, Kosovo's parliament is due to vote on a border demarcation deal with Montenegro, which opponents fear will see Kosovo lose thousands of hectares.
In an emailed statement to media, Rugovasit said the RTK under Shala had sided with the government and overlooked the opposition because it "speaks out against the demarcation".
The statement said the latest attack was "only a warning" and urged Shala to resign, otherwise "his life is in danger".
"We urge the government to take us seriously and not make the demarcation," Rugovasit said, adding there would be "victims" if their request was not met.
Police said Sunday's device, which caused no casualties, was likely a hand grenade and an investigation has been launched.
"The explosion was so powerful," Shala told reporters.
"The entire family was inside and luckily no one was hurt by this explosion."
A government press release described the incident as a "criminal act directed against media freedom in Kosovo", while the European Union office in Kosovo said it was "very concerned".
"We are worried about the cycle of violence in Kosovo becoming more and more serious," the EU statement said, calling on all political parties to work to diffuse tensions.
An agreement on the border is crucial to Kosovo's bid to win visa-free travel in the EU and further integration with the bloc.
But proposed deal has sparked tension and protests both in and outside parliament in recent months.
International press freedom watchdogs warn that journalists and media outlets in Kosovo are often threatened over their investigative reporting, but there have been no direct armed attacks against them before. |
Having built their doomsday bunker for when the big one hits, it appears the billionaire-class is growing more fearful of the rising populist backlash against their 'hard-earned' success. Seemingly ripped from the script of the latest 'Purge' movie, NYPost reports, the hottest new trend for the .01 percent? Luxury safe rooms, darling.
Despite their sponsorship of Hillary (and anything not-Trump), billionaires are worried enough about their personal safety that they are outfitting their abodes with ultra-luxe safe spaces that cost up to half a million dollars.
Town & Country notes that as fear escalates worldwide, foreign royals, cautious executives, and Gwyneth Paltrow are among those looking for spots to ride out anything from an ISIS attack to a natural disaster. Secure design has come? a long way since hedge fund titan Bruce Kovner outfitted his historic Manhattan townhouse with a lead-lined room, built to protect him from a dirty bomb, in 2002. These days safe rooms are more five-star retreat than cinder block fallout shelter. "They may want a facility that's nuclear-proof, but they also want it to look like a Ritz-Carlton," says Lana Corbi, who, with her husband Al, runs the security firm Strategically Armored & Fortified Environments. "In the high-end residential market, they don't expect to see a Jodie Foster–style safe room," he says. Instead, a bedroom is outfitted with bulletproof windows, ballistic fiberglass to secure doors against explosions, an air filtration unit to protect against a gas attack, and a panic button, all of which creates an area that's as impenetrable as a traditional safe room but considerably more comfortable.
Worse still, the elites are now bragging of their survivalist tendencies...
"It becomes a competition at dinner parties," says Jill Kargman, writer and star of TV's Odd Mom Out and an Upper East Side native. "Who has what state-of-the-art hazmat suits, and kits where you can drink your own pee, etcetera. When I saw Showtime's show 'Billions', I died laughing that they had millions in bearer bonds just as go money," she adds, referring to funds set aside for quick and possibly permanent evacuation. "People love to say how much 'go money' they have."
We have one quick question though - if everything is so awesome in the world, as Hillbama proclaim, why are her moneymen worried enough to be stacking bearer bonds and building panic rooms? Better safe than sorry, we presume... but do as you're told 'Everyday American' - spend without fear. |
Each country was given a health grade equal to its score across variables minus health risk penalties.
SINGAPORE: Singapore is the healthiest country in Asia and the fourth healthiest country in the world, according to a new Bloomberg index.
The country beat the likes of Australia (ranked fifth), Japan (seventh), New Zealand (19th) and the United States (34th), losing out only to Italy, Iceland and Switzerland in the Bloomberg 2017 Healthiest Country Index, released in a report on Monday (Mar 20).
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Based on information from the World Health Organization, United Nations and the World Bank, the index ranked 163 countries based on variables such as life expectancy, causes of death and health risks such as high blood pressure, tobacco use, malnutrition and the availability of clean water.
Each country was given a health grade equal to its score across these variables minus health risk penalties.
The top 50 ranking:
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Cincinnati's best dining destinations as selected by CityBeat staff.
BEST OTR SAUSAGE HOUSE GIVING SENATE A RUN FOR ITS MONEY
Krueger’s Tavern, a bar and eatery where Lavomatic once held forth. There you’ll find menu items like jagerwurst (“hunting sausage” with lean beef and pork, touches of pepper, garlic and mustard seed) and spicy reddish merguez (a Moroccan lamb sausage sparked up with cumin and chili peppers). Choose from a great selection of canned beers — they brag of 75 varieties — in buckets or in beer cocktails, which you can enjoy inside the eatery or on the rooftop patio come spring. Krueger’s is across the street from Senate, whose gourmet hot dogs must be feeling some friendly competitive heat. Krueger’s Tavern, 1211 Vine St., Over-the-Rhine, 513-834-8670, facebook.com/kruegerstavern. The go-to place in Over-the-Rhine for housemade sausage is, a bar and eatery where Lavomatic once held forth. There you’ll find menu items like jagerwurst (“hunting sausage” with lean beef and pork, touches of pepper, garlic and mustard seed) and spicy reddish merguez (a Moroccan lamb sausage sparked up with cumin and chili peppers). Choose from a great selection of canned beers — they brag of 75 varieties — in buckets or in beer cocktails, which you can enjoy inside the eatery or on the rooftop patio come spring. Krueger’s is across the street from Senate, whose gourmet hot dogs must be feeling some friendly competitive heat.
BEST PIZZA INSIDE AN OLD FIREHOUSE
Fireside Pizza has been able to attract a crowd to the up-and-coming East Walnut Hills neighborhood. With the family-friendly vibe, old school Ms. Pac-Man game and the fact that it’s located inside an actual historic firehouse, Fireside’s appeal transcends its nicely singed wood-fired pizzas. With more businesses following suit, East Walnut Hills has suddenly become a destination again. And for the area bars that don’t offer food, many allow you to bring in or order a Fireside pie — maybe a White Pie (olive oil, provolone, mozzarella, shaved Parm, rosemary and garlic)? Fireside Pizza, 773 E. McMillan St., East Walnut Hills, 513-751-FIRE, firesidepizzawalnuthills.com. Since opening a brick-and-mortar version of their popular wood-fired pizza cart last year,has been able to attract a crowd to the up-and-coming East Walnut Hills neighborhood. With the family-friendly vibe, old school Ms. Pac-Man game and the fact that it’s located inside an actual historic firehouse, Fireside’s appeal transcends its nicely singed wood-fired pizzas. With more businesses following suit, East Walnut Hills has suddenly become a destination again. And for the area bars that don’t offer food, many allow you to bring in or order a Fireside pie — maybe a White Pie (olive oil, provolone, mozzarella, shaved Parm, rosemary and garlic)?
Photo: Jesse Fox
BEST WAY TO AVOID SOLID FOODS
Off the Vine in Over-the-Rhine and The Weekly Juicery in Hyde Park, plus the longstanding Total Juice Plus downtown (in operation since 1997), you can get all the fresh-squeezed or cold-pressed, nutrient-dense juice you need without the hassle of cleaning up the annoying mess a home juicer makes. Order pre-planned cleansing programs from Off the Vine or The Weekly Juicery ($55-$65 per day), featuring homemade nut milks, citrus, root and green juices, and see if you can reset, restore and go three days without chewing. Off the Vine, 1218 Vine St., Over-the-Rhine, 513-305-6020, otvcincinnati.com; The Weekly Juicery, 2727 Erie Ave., Hyde Park, 513-321-0680, theweeklyjuicery.com; Total Juice Plus, 631 Vine St., Downtown, 513-784-1666, totaljuicecincy.com. The influx of juice bars in Cincinnati is making it easier to be health conscious while still maintaining a certain level of laziness. With the opening ofin Over-the-Rhine andin Hyde Park, plus the longstandingdowntown (in operation since 1997), you can get all the fresh-squeezed or cold-pressed, nutrient-dense juice you need without the hassle of cleaning up the annoying mess a home juicer makes. Order pre-planned cleansing programs from Off the Vine or The Weekly Juicery ($55-$65 per day), featuring homemade nut milks, citrus, root and green juices, and see if you can reset, restore and go three days without chewing.
BEST ROAD TRIP EVER
Cincy in NYC was a weeklong showcase of Cincinnati’s performing arts and culture in venues across the Big Apple: the Cincinnati Ballet danced at the Joyce Theater; CCM Jazz alumni performed at Lincoln Center; the Cincinnati Symphony and the May Festival Chorus took the stage at Carnegie Hall; and, of course, our talented chefs showed folks that Cincinnati food is about so much more than chili. cincyinnyc.com. Take six of the best chefs from Cincinnati — David Cook of Daveed’s NEXT, David Falk of Boca, Julie Francis of Nectar, Jose Salazar of Salazar, Jean Philippe Solnom of French Crust Café, and Stephen Williams of Bouquet Restaurant and Wine Bar — led by arguably the most recognizable chef in town, Jean-Robert de Cavel, plus a gaggle of sous chefs, photographers, PR people, food writers, family, etc., bring them all to New York City to cook at the world-renowned James Beard House and what do you have? Quite possibly the best damn road trip known to man. Last May’swas a weeklong showcase of Cincinnati’s performing arts and culture in venues across the Big Apple: the Cincinnati Ballet danced at the Joyce Theater; CCM Jazz alumni performed at Lincoln Center; the Cincinnati Symphony and the May Festival Chorus took the stage at Carnegie Hall; and, of course, our talented chefs showed folks that Cincinnati food is about so much more than chili.
BEST REASON TO SPEND CASH ON A COCKTAIL
The Littlefield made a smart move when they brought on former Honey chef Shoshannah Hafner to craft and cook their curated menu of savories and sweets to pair with their bourbon and beer. And while their bourbon selection, which features coveted brands and years like Old Rip Van Winkle’s 10 and 12 year, Old Forester’s vintage-dated Birthday Bourbon and Bulleit’s 10 year, is commendable, so is their effort to raise money for local causes. The bar creates a featured cocktail or flight of the month, with proceeds going to everything from arts organizations to community initiatives. The bar’s February cocktail — the Apple Street Cooptail, with brandy, cherry shrub, house lemonade and soda — benefitted ownership drive efforts for Northside’s Apple Street Market coop; for each drink sold, the bar donated $1. And if that’s not a reason to get drunk, their Mad Anthony (Four Roses with basil simple syrup, house ginger beer and balsamic vinegar) certainly is. The Littlefield, 3934 Spring Grove Ave., Northside, 513-386-7570, littlefieldns.com. Northside bourbon bar and kitchenmade a smart move when they brought on former Honey chef Shoshannah Hafner to craft and cook their curated menu of savories and sweets to pair with their bourbon and beer. And while their bourbon selection, which features coveted brands and years like Old Rip Van Winkle’s 10 and 12 year, Old Forester’s vintage-dated Birthday Bourbon and Bulleit’s 10 year, is commendable, so is their effort to raise money for local causes. The bar creates a featured cocktail or flight of the month, with proceeds going to everything from arts organizations to community initiatives. The bar’s February cocktail — the Apple Street Cooptail, with brandy, cherry shrub, house lemonade and soda — benefitted ownership drive efforts for Northside’s Apple Street Market coop; for each drink sold, the bar donated $1. And if that’s not a reason to get drunk, their Mad Anthony (Four Roses with basil simple syrup, house ginger beer and balsamic vinegar) certainly is.
BEST VEGETARIAN BARBECUE
Huit Craft BBQ hosted a dinner for Meat Week in January, the eight-day national holiday where a city’s restaurants celebrate barbecue with meat-based meals. And the French-Asian fusion Huit cooks up a fine, spicy tribute to the pig, the chicken and the cow. But their barbecue tofu helps keep those pesky vegetarians happy, and god knows we need joyful vegetarians. This energetic dining spot is bringing new life to Court Street, with good hours for residents, including evenings and Saturdays, and their ramen is a big fat bowl of heaven. And Huit is opening a second location in Corryville this spring. Huit Craft BBQ, 29 E. Court St., Downtown, 513-381-4848, facebook.com/huitasian. Don’t misunderstand:hosted a dinner for Meat Week in January, the eight-day national holiday where a city’s restaurants celebrate barbecue with meat-based meals. And the French-Asian fusion Huit cooks up a fine, spicy tribute to the pig, the chicken and the cow. But their barbecue tofu helps keep those pesky vegetarians happy, and god knows we need joyful vegetarians. This energetic dining spot is bringing new life to Court Street, with good hours for residents, including evenings and Saturdays, and their ramen is a big fat bowl of heaven. And Huit is opening a second location in Corryville this spring.
BEST PASTRIES THAT LOOK GREAT BUT TASTE EVEN BETTER
Brown Bear Bakery goods at various locations throughout the city, including at Carabello Coffee and City Flea. Unlike a lot of commercial bakeries in the city, Blair uses all-natural ingredients (no food coloring or preservatives) to create so-beautiful-you-almost-feel-bad-about-eating-them desserts, such as vanilla bean scones, oat flour salty chocolate chip cookies, cacao nib rochers and brown butter cranberry almond streusel muffins. Just check out her Instagram feed (@brownbearbakery) and you’ll fall in love at first sight. Cincinnati pastry artist Blair Fornshell does not have her own storefront yet, so she’s relegated to selling hergoods at various locations throughout the city, including at Carabello Coffee and City Flea. Unlike a lot of commercial bakeries in the city, Blair uses all-natural ingredients (no food coloring or preservatives) to create so-beautiful-you-almost-feel-bad-about-eating-them desserts, such as vanilla bean scones, oat flour salty chocolate chip cookies, cacao nib rochers and brown butter cranberry almond streusel muffins. Just check out her Instagram feed (@brownbearbakery) and you’ll fall in love at first sight. brownbearbakes.com
BEST MARRIAGE OF LOCAL FOOD AND BREWS
MadTree Brewing recently formed a permanent relationship with food truck Catch-a-Fire Pizza in the form of a wood-fired in-taproom café, but luckily the brewery will continue to host its popular Hop Up Dinner Series. Hop Ups pair some of the city’s hippest chefs — like Hideki Harada from Kaze, Patrick Hague from Dutch’s and Jose Salazar from Salazar — with MadTree’s rotating 21 brews on draft for a casual dinner. Eat at your own pace, and fill a growler before you head home. (MadTree also offers homemade root beer on tap for the kids and teetotalers who still want good food sans brews.) MadTree Brewing, 5164 Kennedy Ave., Oakley, 513-836-8733, madtreebrewing.com. recently formed a permanent relationship with food truckin the form of a wood-fired in-taproom café, but luckily the brewery will continue to host its popular Hop Up Dinner Series. Hop Ups pair some of the city’s hippest chefs — like Hideki Harada from Kaze, Patrick Hague from Dutch’s and Jose Salazar from Salazar — with MadTree’s rotating 21 brews on draft for a casual dinner. Eat at your own pace, and fill a growler before you head home. (MadTree also offers homemade root beer on tap for the kids and teetotalers who still want good food sans brews.)
BEST URBAN COVINGTON FARM
Grow the COV takes a different approach to creating food access through not only growing food but also by giving people resources to grow their own and educating the community on where their food comes from. The goal of co-founders Lydia Cook and Gus Wolf is to “create enough noise” that the issue of access to fresh, healthy, affordable food gets heard by the demographic of folks who shop at corner markets and convenience stores. Their agrarian efforts include chicken coops on Orchard Street and goats who groom the hillside at Covington’s Goebel Park. growthecov.org. Grassroots cooperative gardening efforttakes a different approach to creating food access through not only growing food but also by giving people resources to grow their own and educating the community on where their food comes from. The goal of co-founders Lydia Cook and Gus Wolf is to “create enough noise” that the issue of access to fresh, healthy, affordable food gets heard by the demographic of folks who shop at corner markets and convenience stores. Their agrarian efforts include chicken coops on Orchard Street and goats who groom the hillside at Covington’s Goebel Park.
BEST SALAD WRAPPED IN MEAT
La Poste’s prosciutto salad is none of those things. This tasty plate includes pistachio relish, Stilton blue cheese, blackberry vinaigrette — and, yes, fresh spinach — and it all comes neatly enveloped in a dainty slice of the sweet and savory Italian ham. Be sure to ask for a wine pairing suggestion. La Poste, 3410 Telford St., Clifton, 513- 281-3663, laposteeatery.com. Salads tend to have a bad rap — their main ingredient is usually lettuce. Some call it rabbit food, a palate cleanser or a lean alternative to a hot (real) meal. Butis none of those things. This tasty plate includes pistachio relish, Stilton blue cheese, blackberry vinaigrette — and, yes, fresh spinach — and it all comes neatly enveloped in a dainty slice of the sweet and savory Italian ham. Be sure to ask for a wine pairing suggestion.
BEST CULINARY BLIND DATE
Vitor’s Bistro’s Chef’s Course Menu is a three-, four- or five-course surprise party for your mouth. Just give your food preferences/dietary constrictions (the fewer the better) and chef Vitor Abreu will whip up a memorable meal in an unsuspecting space tucked away in Cheviot. Each dish leaves you eager to see what Vitor will create next. Odds are you’ll find a new favorite dish you never would have ordered in the first place. Vitor’s Bistro, 3232 Harrison Ave., Cheviot, 513- 481-5333, vitorsbistro.net. Today, it’s not uncommon to walk into a restaurant ready to order. Diners can look up a restaurant’s menu online in advance, check out some Yelp reviews and scope out dishes on Instagram to figure out what they want to get. But if you can throw all order planning aside,is a three-, four- or five-course surprise party for your mouth. Just give your food preferences/dietary constrictions (the fewer the better) and chef Vitor Abreu will whip up a memorable meal in an unsuspecting space tucked away in Cheviot. Each dish leaves you eager to see what Vitor will create next. Odds are you’ll find a new favorite dish you never would have ordered in the first place.
BEST WEST SIDE BREWERY WITH A NAUGHTY-SOUNDING NAME
Tap & Screw, the West Side’s first microbrewery, refers to beer taps, wine corkscrews and the Cincinnati Screw and Tap Company of the 1800s. Another recent addition to the ever-growing list of local beer brewers, Tap & Screw offers its own beers — Irony Belgium, Dr. Kool IPA and Jacked Porter, among others — along with local favorites from Rhinegeist, MadTree, West Sixth and more. Come for drinks and apps with friends or stop by for a quick dinner and bring a growler home (for cheap!). Tap & Screw Brewery, 5060 Crookshank Road, Westwood, 513- 451-1763, tapandscrew.com. Get your mind out of the gutter!, the West Side’s first microbrewery, refers to beer taps, wine corkscrews and the Cincinnati Screw and Tap Company of the 1800s. Another recent addition to the ever-growing list of local beer brewers, Tap & Screw offers its own beers — Irony Belgium, Dr. Kool IPA and Jacked Porter, among others — along with local favorites from Rhinegeist, MadTree, West Sixth and more. Come for drinks and apps with friends or stop by for a quick dinner and bring a growler home (for cheap!).
BEST GUY FIERI QUOTE ABOUT CINCINNATI
Guy Fieri is no stranger to Cincinnati. The exuberantly bleached culinary hedgehog has taken his Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives Flavortown everywhere from Northside’s Melt to Corryville’s Island Fryday’s to the ’burbs’ Blue Ash Chili. He even went as far as to devote a show entirely to a single street — Vine Street in Over-the-Rhine — for the first time. The OTR “One Street Wonders” episode aired last year and featured Senate, Bakersfield and Taste of Belgium. All of which Fieri was super psyched on, as judged by his classic comments on Taste of Belgium (“This is the way to get your kid up in the morning on Sunday to have him mow the lawn and wax the car and shave the dog”) and Senate (“Hot Dogs are gangster”). Follow Fieri on Twitter for more gems: @guyfieri.
BEST WAY TO EAT A BANANA
Bananarama grilled cheese donut. More than a great ’80s Pop group, this sandwich will have you thinking differently about getting your vitamin B6 (bananas are full of it). Made with caramelized banana and smoked Gouda on a grilled glazed donut, it’s an amazingly delicious and slightly nutritious comfort food. Tom+Chee, multiple locations including 113 E. Court St., Downtown, tomandchee.com. So Tom+Chee is kind of a big deal. They’re always on TV, they’re expanding nationwide and their food — from their fancy grilled cheese, tomato soups and salads with grilled cheese croutons — is excellent … especially the. More than a great ’80s Pop group, this sandwich will have you thinking differently about getting your vitamin B6 (bananas are full of it). Made with caramelized banana and smoked Gouda on a grilled glazed donut, it’s an amazingly delicious and slightly nutritious comfort food.
Photo: Jesse Fox
BEST FRIED RICE FOR GAMERS
KungFood Chu’s AmerAsia brings the kitschy charm of New York City’s Chinatown to Covington, Ky., with hanging lanterns, subtitled Kung Fu movies playing on a TV behind the bar and Asian film posters hanging on the tiny dining room’s bright red walls. The food — like the tongue-in-cheekly named Fly Rice and super spicy Dragon’s Breath Wontons — is fresh, with classic Chinese take-out undertones, and their extensive beer list (more than 100 cans, bottles and drafts) is enough to set them apart. But what really takes AmerAsia to the next level are its game nights. The restaurant frequently hosts public video game tournaments in concert with brewing companies, like a 007 competition with Victory Brewing or Super Smash Brothers with Upland Brewing. And with the recent addition of their vintage NBA Jam game cabinet (plus the food, booze and bathroom), there’s really no reason to leave. KungFood Chu’s AmerAsia, 521 Madison Ave., Covington, Ky., 859-261-6121, facebook.com/kungfoodchu. brings the kitschy charm of New York City’s Chinatown to Covington, Ky., with hanging lanterns, subtitled Kung Fu movies playing on a TV behind the bar and Asian film posters hanging on the tiny dining room’s bright red walls. The food — like the tongue-in-cheekly named Fly Rice and super spicy Dragon’s Breath Wontons — is fresh, with classic Chinese take-out undertones, and their extensive beer list (more than 100 cans, bottles and drafts) is enough to set them apart. But what really takes AmerAsia to the next level are its game nights. The restaurant frequently hosts public video game tournaments in concert with brewing companies, like a 007 competition with Victory Brewing or Super Smash Brothers with Upland Brewing. And with the recent addition of their vintage NBA Jam game cabinet (plus the food, booze and bathroom), there’s really no reason to leave.
BEST TEPEE TO EAT INSIDE
Cheapside Café, a breath of fresh air in the Eighth Street Design District. With a menu featuring kale salads, breakfast sandwiches with pimento cheese and modern espresso drinks (like the bubbly chinotto, with housemade tonic, espresso and soda), along with an interior decked out with a white floor, rustic wood seating and live plants, the ambiance feels decidedly West Coast — especially when you glance at the patio. The focal point of Cheapside’s al fresco seating is a large wooden tepee, constructed out of slatted cedar, in which you can sit at a bright red table while enjoying your smoked turkey on salted rye and locally foraged soda. Cheapside Café, 326 E. Eighth St., Downtown, 513-345-6618, cheapsidecafe.com. Eating lunch downtown during the workweek can become a bit rote — First Watch, Subway, Panera, repeat. Entera breath of fresh air in the Eighth Street Design District. With a menu featuring kale salads, breakfast sandwiches with pimento cheese and modern espresso drinks (like the bubbly chinotto, with housemade tonic, espresso and soda), along with an interior decked out with a white floor, rustic wood seating and live plants, the ambiance feels decidedly West Coast — especially when you glance at the patio. The focal point of Cheapside’s al fresco seating is a large wooden tepee, constructed out of slatted cedar, in which you can sit at a bright red table while enjoying your smoked turkey on salted rye and locally foraged soda.
BEST PLACE TO SHOW OFF YOUR MUSSELS
Zula Restaurant + Wine Bar, a place where you could dine every night for a week and sample a new pot of mussels from a different locale around the world each time. Preparations include classic French (white wine, shallots, garlic), Mediterranean (scallions, peppers, lemon and sundried tomatoes), Thai (coconut milk, lemon grass and ginger) and New Orleans (gumbo flavorings with shrimp and Andouille sausage), among others. But don’t get stuck on the mussels: You’ll miss out on a half-dozen flatbreads and great appetizers like eggplant fries dusted with confectioner’s sugar and a spicy-sour dipping sauce. With the hard-to-pick-just-one variety, this is the kind of place that invites multiple visits. Zula Restaurant + Wine Bar, 1400 Race St., Over-the-Rhine, 513-744-9852, zulabistro.com. On the northeast corner of OTR’s Washington Park you’ll find, a place where you could dine every night for a week and sample a new pot of mussels from a different locale around the world each time. Preparations include classic French (white wine, shallots, garlic), Mediterranean (scallions, peppers, lemon and sundried tomatoes), Thai (coconut milk, lemon grass and ginger) and New Orleans (gumbo flavorings with shrimp and Andouille sausage), among others. But don’t get stuck on the mussels: You’ll miss out on a half-dozen flatbreads and great appetizers like eggplant fries dusted with confectioner’s sugar and a spicy-sour dipping sauce. With the hard-to-pick-just-one variety, this is the kind of place that invites multiple visits.
BEST MULTI-TASKING COCKTAIL
Longshoreman’s Bloody Mary at The Anchor-OTR. Far from your ordinary brunch bevvy, this baby is a meal in a glass. A go-to rescue drink, it’s chock-full of everything, including the requisite vodka, tomato juice, pickled veggies and a big ol’ lobster claw (or shrimp or an oyster). It’s a one trick wonder and an excellent hangover cure. The Anchor-OTR, 1401 Race St., Over-the-Rhine, 513-421-8111, theanchor-otr.com. If you stayed up too late drinking, deciding what to eat for breakfast is really difficult. You need a bit of the hair of the dog, plus food, but having to choose what to ingest for those two separate components is far too taxing on brain cylinders that aren’t completely firing all at once. Enter the. Far from your ordinary brunch bevvy, this baby is a meal in a glass. A go-to rescue drink, it’s chock-full of everything, including the requisite vodka, tomato juice, pickled veggies and a big ol’ lobster claw (or shrimp or an oyster). It’s a one trick wonder and an excellent hangover cure.
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BEST HIGH-CALORIE CORNER
Holtman’s Donuts: the maple-glazed donut topped with bacon will get you every time. Then, next door at The Eagle OTR, there’s the best fried chicken on the planet. Hop across Vine to Graeter’s for some raspberry chip after that — or try the raspberry sorbet if you’re starting to feel a tad guilty. Then head west on 14th a few more steps to Brezel pretzel shop for numerous flavors in a twist — cinnamon sugar, dark chocolate chunk and salt, orange thyme, spinach asiago, chipotle cheddar, Italian Parmesan and many more. Because everything’s so delicious, you won’t feel bad about yourself until tomorrow — and maybe not even then; wandering several blocks to different eateries definitely burned off at least some of that donut. holmantsdonutshop.com; facebook.com/theeagleotr; graeters.com; brezelpower.com. No matter which way you turn at 14th and Vine streets in Over-the-Rhine, you’ll get caught. Let’s start with: the maple-glazed donut topped with bacon will get you every time. Then, next door at, there’s the best fried chicken on the planet. Hop across Vine tofor some raspberry chip after that — or try the raspberry sorbet if you’re starting to feel a tad guilty. Then head west on 14th a few more steps topretzel shop for numerous flavors in a twist — cinnamon sugar, dark chocolate chunk and salt, orange thyme, spinach asiago, chipotle cheddar, Italian Parmesan and many more. Because everything’s so delicious, you won’t feel bad about yourself until tomorrow — and maybe not even then; wandering several blocks to different eateries definitely burned off at least some of that donut.
BEST CHINESE RESTAURANT REVIVAL
Szechuan Garden Bistro in Park Hills, Ky., had become one of those restaurants you would drive past to get to someplace better, no matter how hungry you were. Not anymore. Veteran restaurateur Alex Chin has rescued the Garden, and you owe it to yourself to stop. It still doesn’t look too chic, but who cares when the food is completely fantastic. The standards are there, and they’re done very well, but the ante is upped by Hot Pots, duck dishes and shrimp with candied walnuts. There’s a vast gluten-free menu and vegetarian options like the Fresh Wild Mushroom Trio in Ginger White Wine Sauce, plus attentive service and a full bar. Szechuan Garden Bistro, 1504 Dixie Highway, Park Hills, Ky., 859-491-0505, szechuangardenbistro.com. in Park Hills, Ky., had become one of those restaurants you would drive past to get to someplace better, no matter how hungry you were. Not anymore. Veteran restaurateur Alex Chin has rescued the Garden, and you owe it to yourself to stop. It still doesn’t look too chic, but who cares when the food is completely fantastic. The standards are there, and they’re done very well, but the ante is upped by Hot Pots, duck dishes and shrimp with candied walnuts. There’s a vast gluten-free menu and vegetarian options like the Fresh Wild Mushroom Trio in Ginger White Wine Sauce, plus attentive service and a full bar.
BEST DINER FEATURING ELVIS PARAPHERNALIA
Rima’s Diner follows the latter logic — in a great way. Elvis paraphernalia exploded inside the restaurant, from knickknacks of Fat Elvis to ephemera of handsome younger Elvis to his vinyl record sleeves hanging on walls. To counterbalance the nostalgic Elvis tinsel, Rima’s threw in some Marilyn Monroe pictures, so you can fixate on both The King and Norma Jean while you stuff your face with pie. Rima’s Diner, 635 Madison Ave., Covington, Ky., 859-261-7800, facebook.com/rimasdiner. There are old school diners that try too hard to resurrect the past, and then there are diners that authentically live in the past to the point where you feel like everything is trapped in amber, including yourself. Covington, Ky.’sfollows the latter logic — in a great way. Elvis paraphernalia exploded inside the restaurant, from knickknacks of Fat Elvis to ephemera of handsome younger Elvis to his vinyl record sleeves hanging on walls. To counterbalance the nostalgic Elvis tinsel, Rima’s threw in some Marilyn Monroe pictures, so you can fixate on both The King and Norma Jean while you stuff your face with pie.
Photo: Jesse Fox
BEST NEW FAST FOOD
Sprout Market and Eatery in Mount Adams or Picnic and Pantry’s new Over-the-Rhine location, or a restaurant-cum-takeaway like Happy Belly in OTR (pictured), The Gruff in Covington and Fond: Lunch and Deli in Blue Ash, these stops are making it easier to eat fresh food without the hassle of cooking it yourself. Grab a ready-made, local and organically sourced meal at any of these locations for lunch or dinner. And with this many to choose from, it might even be more convenient than finding a McDonald’s.sproutmtadams.com; picnicandpantry.com; facebook.com/happybellyonvine; atthegruff.com; facebook.com/fondorganiclunchanddeli. Healthy grab-and-go takeaways are the new drive-thrus, and Cincinnati is full of ’em. Either with the meal-and-market concept likein Mount Adams or’s new Over-the-Rhine location, or a restaurant-cum-takeaway likein OTR (pictured),in Covington andin Blue Ash, these stops are making it easier to eat fresh food without the hassle of cooking it yourself. Grab a ready-made, local and organically sourced meal at any of these locations for lunch or dinner. And with this many to choose from, it might even be more convenient than finding a McDonald’s.
BEST REASON TO GET TO FINDLAY MARKET (OR JUNGLE JIM’S) EARLY
Blue Oven Bakery have a storefront? They should, but for now you can find them hawking their homemade breads year-round at Findlay Market, Jungle Jim’s and seasonally at various farmers markets. One caveat: You need to arrive to any and all locations early or risk leaving empty handed. Blue Oven frequently sells out of their stock by late morning/early afternoon and it’s easy to see why: Their hearth-baked bread is crusty and fluffy and their buttery English muffins are so good they put all other store brands to shame. Blue Oven Bakery, Findlay Market, 1801 Race St., Over-the-Rhine; Jungle Jim’s, 5440 Dixie Highway, Fairfield, blueovenbakery.com. Quick question: Why doesn’thave a storefront? They should, but for now you can find them hawking their homemade breads year-round at Findlay Market, Jungle Jim’s and seasonally at various farmers markets. One caveat: You need to arrive to any and all locations early or risk leaving empty handed. Blue Oven frequently sells out of their stock by late morning/early afternoon and it’s easy to see why: Their hearth-baked bread is crusty and fluffy and their buttery English muffins are so good they put all other store brands to shame.
BEST COFFEE SHOP INSIDE A BIKE SHOP
Trailhead. It’s currently the only place in town where you can get a whole bag or a cup of Portland-originated Stumptown Coffee, which is like the gold of coffees. Using rotating roasts and Brown Bear Bakery’s salty caramel syrup, they make a great somewhat-sweet drink called The Grizzly (try it). The best part of the shop? Their baristas are knowledgeable and not intimidating like those at some craft coffee joints. Come for the coffee, maybe buy a bike? Trailhead Coffee, 648 Monmouth St., Newport, Ky., 859-261-6187, reserbicycle.com/pages/trailheadcoffee. Newport, Ky.’s Reser Bicycle just doesn’t sell bikes — they also sell really good coffee drinks at their coffee outpost. It’s currently the only place in town where you can get a whole bag or a cup of Portland-originated Stumptown Coffee, which is like the gold of coffees. Using rotating roasts and Brown Bear Bakery’s salty caramel syrup, they make a great somewhat-sweet drink called The Grizzly (try it). The best part of the shop? Their baristas are knowledgeable and not intimidating like those at some craft coffee joints. Come for the coffee, maybe buy a bike?
BEST MODERN BANH MI
Quán Hapa in the heart of Over-the-Rhine (sister restaurant of Findlay Market’s popular bánh mì-serving Pho Lang Thang), where you can get these trendy sandwiches with a modern twist. Each filling has its own specially pickled accent and sauce: chicken with pickled cucumbers and adobo sauce; pork belly with pickled papaya and aioli; and cauliflower with red onions and cashew. They’re available during both lunch and dinner hours at the sleek diner, which offers a variety of Asian street fare and TV screens with anime features. They also now take reservations. Quán Hapa, 1331 Vine St. Over-the-Rhine, 513-421-7826, quanhapa.com. Years ago, as a result of Vietnam’s French colonial past, Vietnamese bakers transformed baguettes into an even more interesting bread and called it bánh mì, and shops using this thinner, airier baked bun are all the rage these days. Today the term bánh mì generally refers to a type of sandwich made with the bread and stuffed with pork or pate, cilantro and pickled veggies. The best place locally to try one on for size isin the heart of Over-the-Rhine (sister restaurant of Findlay Market’s popular bánh mì-serving Pho Lang Thang), where you can get these trendy sandwiches with a modern twist. Each filling has its own specially pickled accent and sauce: chicken with pickled cucumbers and adobo sauce; pork belly with pickled papaya and aioli; and cauliflower with red onions and cashew. They’re available during both lunch and dinner hours at the sleek diner, which offers a variety of Asian street fare and TV screens with anime features. They also now take reservations.
BEST HAPPY HOUR SNACK TRAY
The Presidents Room at The Phoenix separates itself from the mundane by turning average snack food on its head. The bar hosts a happy hour from 5-7 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday (weekend happy hour!) and offers something called a “snack tray” for $4.50. It’s comprised of housemade Cheese Nips (cheddar crisps), spicy pistachios, smoked olives and smoked almond brittle, and it fills you up. When’s the last time you had homemade Cheese Nips instead of store-bought ones? Um, yeah. (Also grab an order of their deep-fried biscuits with apple butter or the craft cocktail of the day — just $5 during happy hour.) The Presidents Room at the Phoenix, 812 Race St., Downtown, 513-721-2260, thepresidentsrm.com. Downtown happy hours are a dime a dozen, butseparates itself from the mundane by turning average snack food on its head. The bar hosts a happy hour from 5-7 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday (weekend happy hour!) and offers something called a “snack tray” for $4.50. It’s comprised of housemade Cheese Nips (cheddar crisps), spicy pistachios, smoked olives and smoked almond brittle, and it fills you up. When’s the last time you had homemade Cheese Nips instead of store-bought ones? Um, yeah. (Also grab an order of their deep-fried biscuits with apple butter or the craft cocktail of the day — just $5 during happy hour.)
BEST NORTHERN KENTUCKY FISHMONGER
Afishionados, which is situated inside The Friendly Market. John Lafontaine, the fishmonger, occasionally sells exotic and hard-to-find fish like tilefish, along with his daily staples of prepared foods, seafood dips, soups and Texas caviar (a black-eyed pea and black bean salad). His fish — try the Chilean sea bass and swordfish — is fresh, affordable and sustainable, and he buys a small amount of stock so he doesn’t waste much or sell gross leftovers. Lafontaine easily competes with the big boys at Findlay Market and Whole Foods. In fact, his fish is much better. Afishionados, 10050 Norbotten Drive, Florence, 859-869-4186, a-fish-ionados.com. The only place to get fresh fish in Northern Kentucky (Kroger does not count) is, which is situated inside The Friendly Market. John Lafontaine, the fishmonger, occasionally sells exotic and hard-to-find fish like tilefish, along with his daily staples of prepared foods, seafood dips, soups and Texas caviar (a black-eyed pea and black bean salad). His fish — try the Chilean sea bass and swordfish — is fresh, affordable and sustainable, and he buys a small amount of stock so he doesn’t waste much or sell gross leftovers. Lafontaine easily competes with the big boys at Findlay Market and Whole Foods. In fact, his fish is much better.
BEST $5 BITE AT A FANCY RESTAURANT
Salazar’s oyster slider tastes so good you’ll want more. They offer it on both their lunch and dinner menus but only as a bite-sized morsel. Considering it’s only $5 (all of their nibbles are priced between $5-$6), the oyster’s a good deal. What we wouldn’t give for an entire plate of these, but leaving customers wanting more is chef Salazar’s modus operandi. Salazar, 1401 Republic St., Over-the-Rhine, 513-621-7000, salazarcincinnati.com. It’s just a little fried oyster sandwich with kimchi, radish sprouts and garlic mayo, buttastes so good you’ll want more. They offer it on both their lunch and dinner menus but only as a bite-sized morsel. Considering it’s only $5 (all of their nibbles are priced between $5-$6), the oyster’s a good deal. What we wouldn’t give for an entire plate of these, but leaving customers wanting more is chef Salazar’s modus operandi.
BEST PLACE TO GET A CHICAGO-STYLE DOG THAT’S NOT CHICAGO
Wurst Bar in the Square offers the Abe Froman Special, a Chicago-style dog with a twist that will satisfy any sausage-lover’s tummy. The plump all-beef dog is topped with relish, spicy peppers, shaved onion, brown mustard, sauerkraut and fries. It’s a perfect hot mesh of Cincinnati and Windy City cuisine. And, as it’s named after the Sausage King of Chicago, how can you go wrong? Wurst Bar in the Square, 3204 Linwood Ave., Mount Lookout, 513-321-0615, wurstbarinthesquare.com. Chicago is well known for its “Red Hots,” or all-beef frankfurters on poppy seed buns. And as it should be, they’re delicious. But you don’t have to travel some 300 miles just to enjoy one: Mount Lookout’soffers the Abe Froman Special, a Chicago-style dog with a twist that will satisfy any sausage-lover’s tummy. The plump all-beef dog is topped with relish, spicy peppers, shaved onion, brown mustard, sauerkraut and fries. It’s a perfect hot mesh of Cincinnati and Windy City cuisine. And, as it’s named after the Sausage King of Chicago, how can you go wrong?
BEST EXCUSE FOR NOT LEAVING A TIP
Packhouse Meats received national attention last year when it started a policy that customers do not tip the waitstaff. Instead, waiters and waitresses get paid either $10 per hour or 20 percent of their food sales — whichever is higher. With all the controversy surrounding tipping these days — the U.S. has a higher suggested tipping percentage (15-20 percent) than any other country — it’s refreshing to know you don’t have to rate someone’s service with cash and that workers receive what’s considered a fair and decent wage regardless. And, oh yeah, their quinoa meatballs are quite good. Packhouse Meats, 1004 Monmouth St., Newport, Ky., 859-415-2312, packhousemeats.com. Newport, Ky.’sreceived national attention last year when it started a policy that customers do not tip the waitstaff. Instead, waiters and waitresses get paid either $10 per hour or 20 percent of their food sales — whichever is higher. With all the controversy surrounding tipping these days — the U.S. has a higher suggested tipping percentage (15-20 percent) than any other country — it’s refreshing to know you don’t have to rate someone’s service with cash and that workers receive what’s considered a fair and decent wage regardless. And, oh yeah, their quinoa meatballs are quite good.
BEST BEER FESTIVAL FOR HOP HEADS
Hopgeist double IPA festival was a religious experience. The November fest featured rare, hopped-up creations from more than 30 breweries, local and non, like MadTree, Listermann, Jackie O’s, Dogfish Head, Smuttynose and a ton more, plus brats and a special Rhinegeist double IPA homebrew collaboration called Homie. If you missed it last year, don’t worry — the first Hopgeist was super popular and it will be back again in 2015. Rhinegeist, 1910 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine, 513-381-1367, rhinegeist.com. If you lust after bitter, dankly aromatic pale ales and compulsively check your beer’s IBUs, chances are Rhinegeist’s firstdouble IPA festival was a religious experience. The November fest featured rare, hopped-up creations from more than 30 breweries, local and non, like MadTree, Listermann, Jackie O’s, Dogfish Head, Smuttynose and a ton more, plus brats and a special Rhinegeist double IPA homebrew collaboration called Homie. If you missed it last year, don’t worry — the first Hopgeist was super popular and it will be back again in 2015.
BEST REASON TO RESURRECT YOUR TOT POCKET
Poutine Supreme at The Rookwood (truffle tots with pork-cheek gravy, pecorino and shishitos) to the Tot Bowl at Lachey’s (pick one of three flavors of tots — jerked spice, garlic Parm or bacon and cheese — served with malt vinegar aioli, cheese sauce and homemade ketchup) to the drunk-food staple at Adriatico’s, where you can stuff your face with a basket of tots covered in cheese, bacon or pizza toppings. You gonna eat your tots? therookwood.com; lacheys.com; adriaticosuc.com. Things seem to come back in style more quickly these days, like how New Kids on the Block is currently on a North American tour with TLC and Nelly. So it makes sense that you’d need to dust off your Napoleon Dynamite impression because tater tots are back — not that they ever necessarily left. The fried potato cylinders are showing up on menus across the city, from the fancier(truffle tots with pork-cheek gravy, pecorino and shishitos) to the T(pick one of three flavors of tots — jerked spice, garlic Parm or bacon and cheese — served with malt vinegar aioli, cheese sauce and homemade ketchup) to the drunk-food staple at, where you can stuff your face with a basket of tots covered in cheese, bacon or pizza toppings. You gonna eat your tots?
BEST EPICUREAN BEER BREWER
Blank Slate Brewing Company. Scott LaFollette, the man behind the small-batch draft-only brewery, is no stranger to unique flavors. He incorporates ingredients designed for food pairings into his beers, like in his popular Shroominous brown ale, made with shiitake mushrooms. More recently, he collaborated on a Cincy 3-Way Porter with Colorado’s Oskar Blues Brewery to play on the flavor of Cincinnati chili (even going so far as to add a ceremonial can to the batch) and on an Opera Cream Stout with local bakery the BonBonerie. Skip lunch and try LaFollette’s latest creations in the freshly opened Blank Slate PourHouse taproom. Blank Slate Brewing Company, 4233 Airport Road, Unit C, East End, 513-979-4540, blankslatebeer.com. People often use “food” words to describe the taste of wine and beer — a jammy red wine, a bready lager — but few alcohol producers take the designation as literally as. Scott LaFollette, the man behind the small-batch draft-only brewery, is no stranger to unique flavors. He incorporates ingredients designed for food pairings into his beers, like in his popular Shroominous brown ale, made with shiitake mushrooms. More recently, he collaborated on a Cincy 3-Way Porter with Colorado’s Oskar Blues Brewery to play on the flavor of Cincinnati chili (even going so far as to add a ceremonial can to the batch) and on an Opera Cream Stout with local bakery the BonBonerie. Skip lunch and try LaFollette’s latest creations in the freshly opened Blank Slate PourHouse taproom.
BEST PLACE FOR A SUB NAMED AFTER A NEW YORK BOROUGH OR MONUMENT
New York NY Deli on Beechmont Avenue. The menu features delicious 6- or 12-inch subs made with New York-style recipes, and each sub features a Big Apple name, such as the Midtown Club, the Empire State or the Bronx Bomber. Lady Liberty, a chicken breast sub topped with bacon, Havarti cheese, ranch dressing, honey mustard, lettuce, tomato and onion is especially coma-inducing. In addition to its subs, the menu features breakfast items (including 10-inch breakfast burritos), gourmet sandwiches and housemade soups. New York NY Deli, 2210 Beechmont Ave., Mount Washington, 513-233-3354, nynydeli.com. If you want a taste of the Big Apple, travel no further than to Mount Washington, specifically to the family-ownedon Beechmont Avenue. The menu features delicious 6- or 12-inch subs made with New York-style recipes, and each sub features a Big Apple name, such as the Midtown Club, the Empire State or the Bronx Bomber. Lady Liberty, a chicken breast sub topped with bacon, Havarti cheese, ranch dressing, honey mustard, lettuce, tomato and onion is especially coma-inducing. In addition to its subs, the menu features breakfast items (including 10-inch breakfast burritos), gourmet sandwiches and housemade soups.
BEST STEAK FOR TWO — OR THREE OR FOUR
Bistecca Fiorentina. The huge 1-kilogram grilled Creekstone porterhouse steak comes sliced along the bone on a platter, with daily sides. For $85, it’s a dish to share con la famiglia — you just may have to fight over who gets to gnaw on the bone. Sotto, 118 E. Sixth St., Downtown, 513-977-6886, sottocincinnati.com. Downtown’s intimate underground trattoria Sotto is well known and well lauded for its collection of delicious housemade pasta (oh to be buried in a pile of their tonnarelli cacio e pepe). But they have an equally ravenous cult following for their meat dishes, including the. The huge 1-kilogram grilled Creekstone porterhouse steak comes sliced along the bone on a platter, with daily sides. For $85, it’s a dish to share con la famiglia — you just may have to fight over who gets to gnaw on the bone.
Photo: Jesse Fox
BEST SWEET AND SAVORY CHICKEN PIE
bastilla, a sweet and savory chicken pie layered with scrambled eggs, shredded chicken, caramelized onions, ground almonds, confectioners sugar and cinnamon. Don’t miss out on the Moroccan tea, a sweet green tea with fresh mint served with a kind hospitality you’d expect dining in someone’s home. Marrakech Moroccan Café and Grill, 341 Ludlow Ave., Clifton, 513-442-2233, marrakech1.com. Moroccan cuisine, a mix of Berber, Andalusian and Mediterranean influences, intersects with the idea of what Americans generally consider “Middle Eastern” food — falafel, hummus, gyros, baba ganoush, etc. Marrakech Moroccan Café and Grill in Clifton meets those preconceived notions and expands them with dishes you can’t find anywhere else in the city. The chefs, who hail from Marrakech, serve up Mediterranean staples, plus a variety of tajines, flavorful stews slow-cooked in a conical earthenware pot, and, a sweet and savory chicken pie layered with scrambled eggs, shredded chicken, caramelized onions, ground almonds, confectioners sugar and cinnamon. Don’t miss out on the Moroccan tea, a sweet green tea with fresh mint served with a kind hospitality you’d expect dining in someone’s home.
BEST MIDNIGHT SANDWICH DELIVERY (WITHIN A CERTAIN RADIUS OF DOWNTOWN AND CLIFTON)
Gilpin’s Steamed Grub recently jumped in on the post-dinner delivery action. If you really need a steamed sandwich — like their My Cousin Vinny, with pepperoni, ham, bacon, banana peppers, jalapeno, cheese and barbecue chips on a pretzel bun — a steamed burger or a really creative vegetarian snack (with a lot of cheese, cream cheese and avocado) at like 11 p.m. on a Sunday, they’ve got you covered. Alternately, if you can convince someone to drive you to either the Clifton or downtown location, which are open until 3 a.m. Thursday-Saturday, you can get the Doritos sandwich off the drunk menu, with turkey, cheese, lettuce, honey mustard, dressing and Doritos — nacho cheese or Cool Ranch. Gilpin’s Steamed Grub, 2504 W. Clifton Ave., Clifton; 37 E. Seventh St., Downtown, eatgilpins.com. There’s something to be said for late-night food delivery when you’re too drunk or too lazy to drive … obviously. Andrecently jumped in on the post-dinner delivery action. If you really need a steamed sandwich — like their My Cousin Vinny, with pepperoni, ham, bacon, banana peppers, jalapeno, cheese and barbecue chips on a pretzel bun — a steamed burger or a really creative vegetarian snack (with a lot of cheese, cream cheese and avocado) at like 11 p.m. on a Sunday, they’ve got you covered. Alternately, if you can convince someone to drive you to either the Clifton or downtown location, which are open until 3 a.m. Thursday-Saturday, you can get the Doritos sandwich off the drunk menu, with turkey, cheese, lettuce, honey mustard, dressing and Doritos — nacho cheese or Cool Ranch.
Photos: Provided
BEST BUFFET TO CARBO-LOAD ON INJERA AND NAAN
Elephant Walk Injera & Curry House boasts a large, double-sided menu — Northern Indian on one side, traditional Ethiopian on the other. The Indian side has your standards, plus wraps — chicken tikka, spiced lamb or paneer, cauliflower and potatoes wrapped in wheat roti. And the Ethiopian side — which is all-gluten free, and the veggie choices are also all vegan — covers all the bases and has a nice selection of combo platters for meat eaters, vegetarians and omnivores. But what’s really awesome (besides the 3-7 p.m. daily half-price bottles of wine, which includes organic Ethiopian wine) is the 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. daily lunch buffet. It has both Ethiopian and Indian dishes, so you can sample all you can eat of both country’s cuisines and gorge yourself o Elephant Walk Injera & Curry House, 170 W. McMillan, Clifton, 513-526-1555, elephantwalkcincy.com. n naan and injera. One genius way to set yourself apart in Cincinnati’s sea of Indian restaurants is by serving Ethiopian food.boasts a large, double-sided menu — Northern Indian on one side, traditional Ethiopian on the other. The Indian side has your standards, plus wraps — chicken tikka, spiced lamb or paneer, cauliflower and potatoes wrapped in wheat roti. And the Ethiopian side — which is all-gluten free, and the veggie choices are also all vegan — covers all the bases and has a nice selection of combo platters for meat eaters, vegetarians and omnivores. But what’s really awesome (besides the 3-7 p.m. daily half-price bottles of wine, which includes organic Ethiopian wine) is the 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. daily lunch buffet. It has both Ethiopian and Indian dishes, so you can sample all you can eat of both country’s cuisines and gorge yourself o
BEST SOFT PRETZELS THE SIZE OF YOUR HEAD
Wunderbar! in Covington, Ky., is one of those restaurants that’s considered a “hidden gem.” It’s a tiny watering hole located a little off the beaten path (on the corner of Lee and 12th streets), so you wouldn’t necessarily stumble by while wandering the more mainstream MainStrasse. But it’s worth the trek. The authentic German-inspired menu features housemade wursts with locally sourced meats, like the restaurant’s super popular Currywurst — a peculiar invention of post-World War II Germany. It’s a spiced sausage served with a ketchup-Worcestershire-curry sauce. The rotating sausage menu is written on a blackboard behind the bar, but a must-try is the Riesen Brezel, a gigantic, plate-sized pretzel that easily complements any of the bar’s more than 35 beers. The pretzel comes served with a choice of five different nose-tickling house mustards or beer cheese. (And if you’re a true Teutophile who craves some authentic street meats, they also serve up a version of the ubiquitous European Doner Kebabs.) Wunderbar, 1132 Lee St., Covington, Ky., 859-815-8027, facebook.com/wunderbar.covington.3. in Covington, Ky., is one of those restaurants that’s considered a “hidden gem.” It’s a tiny watering hole located a little off the beaten path (on the corner of Lee and 12th streets), so you wouldn’t necessarily stumble by while wandering the more mainstream MainStrasse. But it’s worth the trek. The authentic German-inspired menu features housemade wursts with locally sourced meats, like the restaurant’s super popular Currywurst — a peculiar invention of post-World War II Germany. It’s a spiced sausage served with a ketchup-Worcestershire-curry sauce. The rotating sausage menu is written on a blackboard behind the bar, but a must-try is the Riesen Brezel, a gigantic, plate-sized pretzel that easily complements any of the bar’s more than 35 beers. The pretzel comes served with a choice of five different nose-tickling house mustards or beer cheese. (And if you’re a true Teutophile who craves some authentic street meats, they also serve up a version of the ubiquitous European Doner Kebabs.)
BEST EGGLESS EGG SALAD
Fresh Table at Findlay Market is well known for their grab-and-go local, sustainable and organic prepared “green” dishes. Owners Meredith Trombly and Louis Snowden create seasonal, fresh entrees, soups and salads daily to sell from their stand, about a third of which are vegetarian. And one of their greatest vegetarian creations is the eggless egg salad. Made with tofu, vegan mayonnaise and other secret ingredients, it looks a tiny bit like scrambled eggs and is worth taking home by the pound in one of their compostable containers to enjoy on a sandwich. Or just eat it straight out of the box. Fresh Table, Findlay Market, Stand 102, 1801 Race St., Over-the-Rhine, 513-381-3774, freshtable.biz. is well known for their grab-and-go local, sustainable and organic prepared “green” dishes. Owners Meredith Trombly and Louis Snowden create seasonal, fresh entrees, soups and salads daily to sell from their stand, about a third of which are vegetarian. And one of their greatest vegetarian creations is the eggless egg salad. Made with tofu, vegan mayonnaise and other secret ingredients, it looks a tiny bit like scrambled eggs and is worth taking home by the pound in one of their compostable containers to enjoy on a sandwich. Or just eat it straight out of the box.
BEST HAMBURGER FOR RICH PEOPLE
Boca Burger ($16) is one of three “meat” choices on the menu — along with a filet with king crab and beef short rib pot roast with foie gras — and is anything but plebeian. The Pat LaFrieda beef patty is topped with sauce maison, cheese, red onion, house pickles and tomato and served on a brioche bun. A perfect pairing with their puffy pommes soufflées and indulgent Béarnaise sauce. Boca, 114 E. Sixth St., Downtown, 513-542-2022, bocacincinnati.com. When you enter through the bright red door into the hallowed space that what once was the five-star Maisonette, you’re anticipating a fine dining experience. And with their well-curated menu, extensive wine book, attentive service and bohème décor, Boca delivers. What you’re not expecting is an excellent burger. Their namesake($16) is one of three “meat” choices on the menu — along with a filet with king crab and beef short rib pot roast with foie gras — and is anything but plebeian. The Pat LaFrieda beef patty is topped with sauce maison, cheese, red onion, house pickles and tomato and served on a brioche bun. A perfect pairing with their puffy pommes soufflées and indulgent Béarnaise sauce.
BEST DAMN FINE CUP OF COFFEE & CHERRY PIE
Twin Peaks’ Agent Dale Cooper was onto something with his interest in pairing a cup of coffee with a slice of pie. And at Bluebird Bakery in historic Glendale’s quaint village square, their from-scratch seasonal pies, made with farm fresh eggs, sweet butter and real garden-fresh fruit, are as authentic as it gets. Open since 1996, the menu features said pies, other desserts, breakfast, quiche and lunch. So you can in fact replicate Cooper’s lunch — a tuna fish sandwich on whole wheat, a slice of cherry pie and a cup of coffee, black as midnight on a moonless night — in one fell swoop. Definitely something to write Diane about. Bluebird Bakery, 29 Village Square, Glendale, 513-772-5633, bluebirdbakery.com. ’ Agent Dale Cooper was onto something with his interest in pairing a cup of coffee with a slice of pie. And atin historic Glendale’s quaint village square, their from-scratch seasonal pies, made with farm fresh eggs, sweet butter and real garden-fresh fruit, are as authentic as it gets. Open since 1996, the menu features said pies, other desserts, breakfast, quiche and lunch. So you can in fact replicate Cooper’s lunch — a tuna fish sandwich on whole wheat, a slice of cherry pie and a cup of coffee, black as midnight on a moonless night — in one fell swoop. Definitely something to write Diane about.
BEST WALTER WHITE-STYLE BREWED COFFEE
Nuvo cook their coffee tableside, before or after your meal, in a contraption that looks like a double-bulbed chemistry set attached to a Bunsen burner. If you don’t want to indulge in one of chef Mark Bodenstein’s multi-course tasting menus, you can also order the coffee upstairs at their à la carte bar. Nuvo’s contraption might look like a meth lab, but it creates a more flavorful cup of coffee than your average joe, plus siphon coffee makes you feel edgy and cool, just like Heisenberg. Nuvo, 308 Greenup St., Covington, Ky., 859-415-1308, nuvoatgreenup.com. From pour over to French press, there are many ways to make coffee, including via siphon. Siphoning coffee is a vacuum-based technique in which water is heated and forced up to meet the coffee grounds instead of having water rush over them, as in drip coffee. The owners ofcook their coffee tableside, before or after your meal, in a contraption that looks like a double-bulbed chemistry set attached to a Bunsen burner. If you don’t want to indulge in one of chef Mark Bodenstein’s multi-course tasting menus, you can also order the coffee upstairs at their à la carte bar. Nuvo’s contraption might look like a meth lab, but it creates a more flavorful cup of coffee than your average joe, plus siphon coffee makes you feel edgy and cool, just like Heisenberg.
BEST SUNDAY BRUNCH HANGOVER CURE
Incline Public House specializes in a handful of things — seasonal scratch-made food on the West Side, a great view and a big ass craft beer menu — but they also have the perfect concoction for people who partied too hard on Saturday night: the appropriately named “The Hangover Cure,” which is a mash up of all the best morning-after foods on one plate. Biscuits, fried potatoes, bacon, sausage gravy, cheddar cheese, fried egg and arugula are smashed together in one dish. Incline also has great booze for those who like the hair of the dog, including mimosas, an ultimate bloody mary (with bacon, olive, pickles, celery, cherry tomato and shrimp) and espresso-tini — which is both coffee and booze for a double buzz. Incline Public House, 2601 W. Eighth St., Price Hill, 513-251-3000, inclinepublichouse.com. Thespecializes in a handful of things — seasonal scratch-made food on the West Side, a great view and a big ass craft beer menu — but they also have the perfect concoction for people who partied too hard on Saturday night: the appropriately named “The Hangover Cure,” which is a mash up of all the best morning-after foods on one plate. Biscuits, fried potatoes, bacon, sausage gravy, cheddar cheese, fried egg and arugula are smashed together in one dish. Incline also has great booze for those who like the hair of the dog, including mimosas, an ultimate bloody mary (with bacon, olive, pickles, celery, cherry tomato and shrimp) and espresso-tini — which is both coffee and booze for a double buzz.
BEST SEAFOOD PLACE YOU’VE MAYBE NEVER HEARD OF
Pelican’s Reef has been serving up super fresh seafood in Anderson. Now, if you aren’t from Cincinnati’s very inland East Side, you’ve probably never heard of the Buffet-esque Reef. But rest assured the fish, prepared by chef John Broshar (a former regular who bought the restaurant is 2012), is worth the drive. While much of the expansive menu features breaded and fried items with plenty of tartar sauce — choices like fried oyster po’boys or broiled grouper stuffed with crab meat, wild rice and cornbread stuffing — none of the restaurant’s diehard fans are complaining. Rotating seasonal seafood specials come in daily from places like Hawaii, Alaska, Florida and Maryland. And there are plenty of choices for diners who don’t want breading, like seafood stew, grilled mahi mahi and nine different Caesar salads topped with various sea creatures. Pelican’s Reef, 7261 Beechmont Ave., Anderson, 513-232-2526, thepelicansreef.com. For 20 years the laid-back island oasishas been serving up super fresh seafood in Anderson. Now, if you aren’t from Cincinnati’s very inland East Side, you’ve probably never heard of the Buffet-esque Reef. But rest assured the fish, prepared by chef John Broshar (a former regular who bought the restaurant is 2012), is worth the drive. While much of the expansive menu features breaded and fried items with plenty of tartar sauce — choices like fried oyster po’boys or broiled grouper stuffed with crab meat, wild rice and cornbread stuffing — none of the restaurant’s diehard fans are complaining. Rotating seasonal seafood specials come in daily from places like Hawaii, Alaska, Florida and Maryland. And there are plenty of choices for diners who don’t want breading, like seafood stew, grilled mahi mahi and nine different Caesar salads topped with various sea creatures.
BEST KICKSTARTER WIN
Ryan Santos has become known in Cincinnati’s au courant gastronomy circle for his pop-up dinners with his mobile culinary institution Please. He and his team have done farm-to-table terroir meals with foraged finds everywhere from West End apartments to Carriage House Farm in North Bend to Cheapside Café downtown. Santos is now moving forward with plans to open brick-and-mortar Please, thanks to funding assistance from Kickstarter. With more than 300 backers, Please reached its funding goal in February, raising more than $38,000 to begin planning a permanent location. Santos, who began cooking fresh meals for himself to help manage Crohn’s Disease, has now trained with chefs all over the globe, and his dream is to open a clean modern-yet-cozy space to serve between 30 and 50 guests a night by early 2016. Follow Please’s progress at pleasecincinnati.com. Local chefhas become known in Cincinnati’s au courant gastronomy circle for his pop-up dinners with his mobile culinary institution Please. He and his team have done farm-to-table terroir meals with foraged finds everywhere from West End apartments to Carriage House Farm in North Bend to Cheapside Café downtown. Santos is now moving forward with plans to open brick-and-mortar Please, thanks to funding assistance from Kickstarter. With more than 300 backers, Please reached its funding goal in February, raising more than $38,000 to begin planning a permanent location. Santos, who began cooking fresh meals for himself to help manage Crohn’s Disease, has now trained with chefs all over the globe, and his dream is to open a clean modern-yet-cozy space to serve between 30 and 50 guests a night by early 2016.
BEST HOMEMADE POTATO CHIPS
Hen of the Woods plans to open a restaurant/market on Main Street in Over-the-Rhine, but in the meantime his homemade potato chips can be found at Halfcut in OTR, Cheapside Café downtown and Sprout Market and Eatery in Mount Adams. Marckwald’s chips, which come in unique flavors such as pink peppercorn and buttermilk, are the crack of the snack world and we’d happily eat a giant barrel of them. And they’re not cooked in trans fat, so we wouldn’t even feel guilty about it. facebook.com/undergroundcincy. Chef Nick Marckwald ofplans to open a restaurant/market on Main Street in Over-the-Rhine, but in the meantime his homemade potato chips can be found at Halfcut in OTR, Cheapside Café downtown and Sprout Market and Eatery in Mount Adams. Marckwald’s chips, which come in unique flavors such as pink peppercorn and buttermilk, are the crack of the snack world and we’d happily eat a giant barrel of them. And they’re not cooked in trans fat, so we wouldn’t even feel guilty about it.
BEST LUNCH DEAL (STILL)
Jean-Robert’s Table for best lunch deal. The eatery’s French Lunch Tray, served literally on a tray, all at once, is offered expressly at the bar and features four courses: a soup, salad, savory and sweet for $15.50. Previous iterations have included romaine with radishes, cauliflower, red onion, blue cheese and champagne vinaigrette; soup du jour; red snapper with potatoes and mushrooms, haricot vert amandine and buerre blanc; and frozen fruit mousse. Pair that with a glass of wine or espresso and your day just got so much better. Bon appetit. Jean-Robert’s Table, 713 Vine St., Downtown, 513-621-4777, jrtable.com. It’s going to be hard to ever beat the lunch tray at restaurantfor best lunch deal. The eatery’s French Lunch Tray, served literally on a tray, all at once, is offered expressly at the bar and features four courses: a soup, salad, savory and sweet for $15.50. Previous iterations have included romaine with radishes, cauliflower, red onion, blue cheese and champagne vinaigrette; soup du jour; red snapper with potatoes and mushrooms, haricot vert amandine and buerre blanc; and frozen fruit mousse. Pair that with a glass of wine or espresso and your day just got so much better. Bon appetit
Photo: Khoi Nguyen
BEST ’TIL IT’S GONE CAJUN
Mardis Gras on Madison, a café in East Walnut Hills featuring classic Cajun and Creole dishes. Foster invents the menu each morning, serving up items like catfish tacos, black beans and rice, fried okra and shrimp po’ boys from opening until they’re gone. And because they’re a “homearaunt” and not a restaurant, it’s always wise to make sure they’re open — and still have some food — by calling before you head out. Mardi Gras on Madison, 1524 Madison Road, East Walnut Hills, 513-873-9041, facebook.com/mardigrasmad. Latoya Foster and her husband Randy, originally from Algiers Point, Louisiana, were among the first pioneers to establish a foothold in the Cincinnati food truck movement with their popular New Orleans to Go eatery. Now they’ve parlayed their mobile success into, a café in East Walnut Hills featuring classic Cajun and Creole dishes. Foster invents the menu each morning, serving up items like catfish tacos, black beans and rice, fried okra and shrimp po’ boys from opening until they’re gone. And because they’re a “homearaunt” and not a restaurant, it’s always wise to make sure they’re open — and still have some food — by calling before you head out.
Photo: Khoi Nguyen
BEST HIGH-CLASS HILLBILLY FOOD
Pontiac takes low-class grub to a self-aware, higher level. Along with their smoked pulled pork, they make the kind of food and drink usually seen in trailer parks — their Purple Drink cocktail is made with grape slushie and moonshine — Super Bowl parties and 7-Elevens, but admitting that some trashy food can be good and served in a restaurant not located in the sticks, well, that’s a beautiful thing. Pontiac Bourbon & BBQ, 1403 Vine St., Over-the-Rhine, 513-579-8500, pontiacbbq.com. With pimento dip served with Ritz crackers, Slush Puppies, Cheerwine (delicious, sugary, artificially flavored cherry soda) and Red Neck Frito pie, Over-the-Rhine’s barbecue palacetakes low-class grub to a self-aware, higher level. Along with their smoked pulled pork, they make the kind of food and drink usually seen in trailer parks — their Purple Drink cocktail is made with grape slushie and moonshine — Super Bowl parties and 7-Elevens, but admitting that some trashy food can be good and served in a restaurant not located in the sticks, well, that’s a beautiful thing.
Photo: Jesse Fox
BEST CUP-PIES
O Pie O’s hand pies. These tiny pies come in super seasonal flavors with a ridiculously flaky crust (apple with rosemary caramel, honey vinegar, bourbon pecan), just like their medium-sized pie, which is meant to serve four … although people have been known to down whole pies by themselves during Netflix marathons. O Pie O’s bakery and café is set to open sometime next month in East Walnut Hills, but until then, you can get your fix at Findlay Market and various retail locations. 513-274-3238, opieo.com. If you grew up at a dinner table where food was passed family style and if you didn’t grab what you wanted quickly, you would miss out, you probably relished single-serving dishes that were made just for you, like TV dinners. Flash forward a few decades to another specialized individual treat,’s hand pies. These tiny pies come in super seasonal flavors with a ridiculously flaky crust (apple with rosemary caramel, honey vinegar, bourbon pecan), just like their medium-sized pie, which is meant to serve four … although people have been known to down whole pies by themselves during Netflix marathons. O Pie O’s bakery and café is set to open sometime next month in East Walnut Hills, but until then, you can get your fix at Findlay Market and various retail locations.
BEST (ONLY?) GOETTA CROISSANT
Newberry Bros. Coffee roasts small batches of beans sourced from family farms in Sumatra, Peru, Guatemala and more several times a week next to the café’s front window, so the smell of roasting coffee wafts onto the street. And if that’s not enough to get you in the door, their from-scratch daily pastries, deli sandwiches, more than 60 wines by the glass and 500 different bourbons and whiskies should be. One of their stand out and extremely locals-only type homemade croissants is their goetta and cheddar; literally goetta and cheddar stuffed inside a pastry. Newberry Bros. Coffee, 530 Washington Ave., Newport, Ky., 859-261-9463, newberrybroscoffee.com. What started as a fair-trade organic coffee roaster and coffee shop in the Mansion Hill neighborhood of Newport has become a full-fledged café and wine bar (with an awesome patio).roasts small batches of beans sourced from family farms in Sumatra, Peru, Guatemala and more several times a week next to the café’s front window, so the smell of roasting coffee wafts onto the street. And if that’s not enough to get you in the door, their from-scratch daily pastries, deli sandwiches, more than 60 wines by the glass and 500 different bourbons and whiskies should be. One of their stand out and extremely locals-only type homemade croissants is their goetta and cheddar; literally goetta and cheddar stuffed inside a pastry.
BEST VISIT TO A NOSTALGIC CHILDHOOD CHARM
Patty’s Old Fashioned Popcorn in Hyde Park is as quaint as quaint can be — they even have a carousel horse in the window. What’s not quaint is their food-forward and creative flavors of popcorn. While they serve up traditional pops like caramel, cheese and kettle corn, they also have Cookies ’n Cream, with Oreos and caramel corn; Cincinnati Style, with white cheddar cheese and caramel corn; and Italian Black Truffle, with truffle seasoning and sea salt. Pat and Randy, who run the shop, have been making creative corns with family recipes since the ’80s, but the shop also features old-fashioned candy, shaved ice and caramel apples so you can soothe a nostalgic sweet tooth in one stop. Patty’s Old Fashioned Pop Corn, 3437 Michigan Ave., Hyde Park Square, 513-533-2676, pattyspopcorn.com. Celebrity chef Alton Brown paid a visit when he was in town to grab some chop suey — caramel corn, redskin peanuts and ribbon coconut; seems wise if you would do the same.in Hyde Park is as quaint as quaint can be — they even have a carousel horse in the window. What’s not quaint is their food-forward and creative flavors of popcorn. While they serve up traditional pops like caramel, cheese and kettle corn, they also have Cookies ’n Cream, with Oreos and caramel corn; Cincinnati Style, with white cheddar cheese and caramel corn; and Italian Black Truffle, with truffle seasoning and sea salt. Pat and Randy, who run the shop, have been making creative corns with family recipes since the ’80s, but the shop also features old-fashioned candy, shaved ice and caramel apples so you can soothe a nostalgic sweet tooth in one stop.
Photo: Henry Severding
BEST BEAN-TO-BAR CHOCOLATIER
Maverick is one of only two bean-to-bar chocolate shops in Ohio, and co-owners Paul and Marlene Picton bring a very serious craft chocolate contender to the game. Their Fahrenheit 513 bar, made with 70 percent Peruvian cocoa and a blend of cinnamon, star anise and hot peppers, even won a 2015 national Good Food Award, which recognizes American food producers who push their industries toward craftsmanship and sustainability. Maverick Chocolate, Findlay Market, 129 W. Elder St., Cincinnati, 513-381-0561, maverickchocolate.com. While many food movements — meatballs, deviled eggs, craft coffee bars, et al. — are making their way to the streets of Cincinnati, perhaps none are as tasty as the goods offered by Maverick Chocolate Company. Located in Findlay Market,is one of only two bean-to-bar chocolate shops in Ohio, and co-owners Paul and Marlene Picton bring a very serious craft chocolate contender to the game. Their Fahrenheit 513 bar, made with 70 percent Peruvian cocoa and a blend of cinnamon, star anise and hot peppers, even won a 2015 national Good Food Award, which recognizes American food producers who push their industries toward craftsmanship and sustainability.
BEST VARIED VEGETARIAN SOUPS AFTER THE DEMISE OF MYRA’S
La Soupe has stepped in to fill the void. Run by former La Petite Pierre owner/chef Suzy Deyoung, the “French roadside soup shack” serves therapeutic broths, pot-friendly entrees and seasonal specialties. For every quart of soup sold — from flavors as varied as truffled mushroom, beef and asparagus chowder to broccoli and pistachio to fennel-roasted cauliflower — Deyoung donates a bowl to a hungry person. With a second carry-out location open in Madeira, her soup for the soul dining experience seems to be really taking off. La Soupe, 4150 Round Bottom Road, Newtown; 7701 Railroad Ave., Madeira, 513-271-0100, lasoupecincinnati.com. When Clifton staple Myra’s Dionysus closed in August of last year after nearly four decades (Myra wanted to retire), we shed a tear. Not only because we would miss seeing Myra wandering around the eclectic café, but also because we’d miss the soup. Myra’s creative soups — for vegetarians and meat-eaters — were legendary and served at several other eateries around town (Coffee Emporium, Iris Book Café, etc.). Thankfully, Newtown’shas stepped in to fill the void. Run by former La Petite Pierre owner/chef Suzy Deyoung, the “French roadside soup shack” serves therapeutic broths, pot-friendly entrees and seasonal specialties. For every quart of soup sold — from flavors as varied as truffled mushroom, beef and asparagus chowder to broccoli and pistachio to fennel-roasted cauliflower — Deyoung donates a bowl to a hungry person. With a second carry-out location open in Madeira, her soup for the soul dining experience seems to be really taking off.
Photo: Jesse Fox
BEST INDIAN RETURN
Swad Indian Restaurant in May of last year in North College Hill. The restaurant’s North Indian menu features a wider variety than your average Indian joint — more than 25 vegetarian choices alone — plus an expansive lunch buffet. Swad Indian, 1810 W. Galbraith Road, North College Hill, 513-522-5900, swadtasty.com. The former owners of Dusmesh Indian restaurant in Clifton had a cult following, and not just for their food. The family who ran the restaurant — the hardworking and kind father-son-daughter Dhillon team — had a following of their own. With warm and welcoming personalities, they always remembered your name, or at least your face. After selling the restaurant to take a much-needed extended vacation, the trio couldn’t stay away from the biz; they openedin May of last year in North College Hill. The restaurant’s North Indian menu features a wider variety than your average Indian joint — more than 25 vegetarian choices alone — plus an expansive lunch buffet.
Photo: Emily Schmidt
BEST ONE-TWO PUNCH
Gomez Salsa. Open until 3 a.m. on Friday and Saturday, Gomez’s walk-up taco window has it all: mahi-mahi tacos with slaw and Baja sauce, chips with pineapple salsa, taco salad bowls and owner Andrew Gomez’s greatest invention, the Turtle Shell. Take a tortilla, stuff it with rice, beans, sour cream, lettuce, salsa, meat, veggies and cheese, layer in a tostado for crunch, put some cheese on the top and then brown it. It’s a fat little crunchy burrito envelope, a walking taco. And the Turtle tastes even better if you stumble over after imbibing at the adjacent HalfCut, a craft beer café of sorts. Walk up to HalfCut’s counter, pick a beer or wine to enjoy there in pints, samplers and bottles, or grab a growler to go. With more than a dozen beers on tap, nearly 20 in bottles and cans and a respectable eight wines, it’s easy to spend a few hours sampling some suds ... until the munchies set in. Gomez Salsa, 107 E. 12th St., Over-the-Rhine, 513-381-1596, gomezsalsa.com; HalfCut, 1126 Walnut St., Over-the-Rhine, 513-381-1952, halfcut.com. It’s easy to get drunk in OTR. There are a ton of great bars and restaurants that serve plentiful artisan cocktails. There are also plenty of places to get a post-sober snack — Lucy Blue, Bakersfield, Goodfella’s. But one of the best spots is. Open until 3 a.m. on Friday and Saturday, Gomez’s walk-up taco window has it all: mahi-mahi tacos with slaw and Baja sauce, chips with pineapple salsa, taco salad bowls and owner Andrew Gomez’s greatest invention, the Turtle Shell. Take a tortilla, stuff it with rice, beans, sour cream, lettuce, salsa, meat, veggies and cheese, layer in a tostado for crunch, put some cheese on the top and then brown it. It’s a fat little crunchy burrito envelope, a walking taco. And the Turtle tastes even better if you stumble over after imbibing at the adjacent, a craft beer café of sorts. Walk up to HalfCut’s counter, pick a beer or wine to enjoy there in pints, samplers and bottles, or grab a growler to go. With more than a dozen beers on tap, nearly 20 in bottles and cans and a respectable eight wines, it’s easy to spend a few hours sampling some suds ... until the munchies set in.
BEST TASTE OF PARIS ON MAIN
Macaron Bar, thanks to Nathan Sivitz, who studied the art of making macarons at The Gourmandise School in Santa Monica, Calif., and Ecole Lenôtre in Paris, and Patrick Moloughney, a former P&G executive. Macaron Bar, the only local bakery and coffee shop specializing in the brightly colored French pastry, offers traditional and seasonal macarons, with flavors like salted caramel, Earl Grey tea and pistachio. Sivitz even teaches a macaron-making class for those ready to get more serious about macarons. Macaron Bar, 1206 Main St., Over-the-Rhine, macaron-bar.com. In the past, the closest thing Cincinnati had to Paris was the Eiffel Tower replica at Kings Island. Now we have, thanks to Nathan Sivitz, who studied the art of making macarons at The Gourmandise School in Santa Monica, Calif., and Ecole Lenôtre in Paris, and Patrick Moloughney, a former P&G executive. Macaron Bar, the only local bakery and coffee shop specializing in the brightly colored French pastry, offers traditional and seasonal macarons, with flavors like salted caramel, Earl Grey tea and pistachio. Sivitz even teaches a macaron-making class for those ready to get more serious about macarons.
BEST POZOLE
Mazunte is like a soft kiss of authenticity from Oaxaca, Mexico. Owner Josh Wamsley wanted to create a dining experience to match those he had as a hungry English professor in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, a place he calls the “unofficial mecca of Mexican cuisine.” During his tenure, he culled together recipes from “old grandmothers,” who no doubt are among those carrying on the region’s reputation as the “land of the seven moles,” richly complex, chocolaty, spicy sauces that take a day (or more) to prepare. It’s a refreshing and authentic culinary surprise, considering the restaurant’s location in a Madisonville strip mall. Mazunte, 5207 Madison Road, Suite 100, Madisonville, 513-785-0000, mazuntetacos.com. Pozole is a traditional Mexican soup with pork, chicken, hominy, red radish, onions, avocados, cilantro, limes, Mexican oregano and tostadas. And a steamy bowl of pozole fromis like a soft kiss of authenticity from Oaxaca, Mexico. Owner Josh Wamsley wanted to create a dining experience to match those he had as a hungry English professor in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, a place he calls the “unofficial mecca of Mexican cuisine.” During his tenure, he culled together recipes from “old grandmothers,” who no doubt are among those carrying on the region’s reputation as the “land of the seven moles,” richly complex, chocolaty, spicy sauces that take a day (or more) to prepare. It’s a refreshing and authentic culinary surprise, considering the restaurant’s location in a Madisonville strip mall.
BEST COFFEE SHOP IN WHICH TO LEARN MANDOLIN |
There are many Americans who truly believe the media is the opposition party to the Trump administration.
If another example is needed to make that point, look no further than the shameful/shameless coverage of President Trump Donald John TrumpHouse committee believes it has evidence Trump requested putting ally in charge of Cohen probe: report Vietnamese airline takes steps to open flights to US on sidelines of Trump-Kim summit Manafort's attorneys say he should get less than 10 years in prison MORE's Civil War controversy on Monday.
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First, a quick review: Trump sat down with the Washington Examiner's Selena Zito for an interview airing on Sirius XM on Monday afternoon.
At one point, the discussion turns to the Civil War, with the exact exchange looking like this after Zito broached Trump's recent visit to the Hermitage, the home of late President Andrew Jackson in Tennessee.
"I mean had Andrew Jackson been a little bit later [Jackson was the president from 1828-1837 while the Civil War began in 1861], you wouldn't have had the Civil War. He was a very tough person, but he had a big heart," Trump said. "He was really angry that he saw what was happening with regard to the Civil War, he said, 'there's no reason for this.'
"People don't realize, you know, the Civil War, if you think about it, why?" Trump asked. "People don't ask that question, but why was there the Civil War? Why could that one not have been worked out?"
Now, one can easily argue against Trump's point that Jackson, a slave owner, could have somehow been able to convince the South to end slavery through negotiation instead of a war.
But as usual, the media's eyes are bigger than its stomach when it comes to twisting narratives around Trump with a reflex to the extreme negative.
As a result, we get these kind of headlines:
USA Today: Note to President Trump: Andrew Jackson wasn't alive for the Civil War.
Salon: Donald Trump doesn't understand why the Civil War couldn't have been worked out.
Slate: Trump wishes a slaveholder could've come in and resolved the whole civil war thing before it started.
CNN: Donald Trump just gave two incredibly bizarre (and fact-free) interviews.
Twitter's "Moments" description: Trump proposes an alternate history where Civil War was avoided.
One part of Trump's "alternate history" that is being mocked the most is the fact that Jackson died in 1845 and the war didn't begin until 1861. Therefore, how could Jackson be "really angry" about a war that was 16 years away?
But as historians will tell you, there had been perpetual tension between the North and South over slavery since the nation was founded in 1776. The Civil War just didn't happen overnight. Several compromises were made on the way to 1861, most notably the Missouri Compromise in 1820 and The Compromise of 1850.
Per the online Civil War Academy:
"Blood was on the minds of many of the citizens of America over the entire slave issue. On March 3rd, 1820, both Missouri and the free state of Maine were admitted into the Union. The balance was kept with one being free and one being slave. The writing was on of the wall with the inevitability of the war."
Context is everything. Without it, it's a lie. — SalenaZito (@SalenaZito) May 1, 2017 And then there's the 2003 book, "This Terrible War: the Civil War and its Aftermath," written by three university history professors who concluded the Civil war was not inevitable.
Dale Bright, a Yale History Professor and the Director of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery and Abolition, wrote this in a Washington Post op-ed titled "Could the war have been prevented?" in 2010:
"In the early to mid-20th century a generation or two of American historians argued that the Civil War was avoidable, indeed a "needless war" wrought by mere "politics" and the "unctuous fury" of power-hungry politicians," Bright wrote. "But that was before, in the wake of World War II, that a new generation of scholars came to see just how fundamental slavery and race were in the story of the 1850s and in the decisions that led to the firing on Fort Sumter in April, 1861. In the abstract we might never stop wondering about how the war could have been avoided, as we also must explain why it was not."
Following Trump's comments, the And then there's the 2003 book, "This Terrible War: the Civil War and its Aftermath," written by three university history professors who concluded the Civil war was not inevitable.Dale Bright, a Yale History Professor and the Director of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery and Abolition, wrote this in a Washington Post op-ed titled "Could the war have been prevented?" in 2010:"In the early to mid-20th century a generation or two of American historians argued that the Civil War was avoidable, indeed a "needless war" wrought by mere "politics" and the "unctuous fury" of power-hungry politicians," Bright wrote. "But that was before, in the wake of World War II, that a new generation of scholars came to see just how fundamental slavery and race were in the story of the 1850s and in the decisions that led to the firing on Fort Sumter in April, 1861. In the abstract we might never stop wondering about how the war could have been avoided, as we also must explain why it was not."Following Trump's comments, the New York Times decided to fact-check the president with the help of widely-respected historian Jon Meachem. |
As US public policy debates over the dangers and benefits of fracking for shale gas persist, a new report has emerged showing that the practice generated 280 billion gallons of toxic waste last year - containing cancer-causing and radioactive substances.
Fracking a single well can use between two and nine million gallons of water combined with sand and chemicals. Much of the fresh water used returns to the earth’s surface, but contains radium and bromides.
“When bromide in the wastewater mixes with chlorine (often used at drinking water treatment plants), it produces trihalomethanes, chemicals that cause cancer and increase the risk of reproductive or developmental health problems,” the report notes. It also found that 450,000 tons of air pollutants can potentially be produced in one year by the practice.
Environment America, who published the report on Thursday, called fracking “highly polluting” and noted increasing numbers of documented cases of illness as a result of the practice. In addition to cancer, toxic substances from fracking chemicals and waste water can cause endocrine disruption, neurological problems and immune system problems.
“The numbers don't lie — fracking has taken a dirty and destructive toll on our environment. If this dirty drilling continues unchecked, these numbers will only get worse,” John Rumpler, a senior attorney for Environment America said in a news release after publication of the report.
Fracking is the extraction of oil and gas by injecting water to break rock formations deep underground. Use of the process has increased rapidly in the US in recent years, despite warnings from scientists who have studied it, illustrating the climate-damaging methane emissions and radioactive effects that come with the operation.
Over 80,000 wells nationwide have been drilled or endorsed across 17 different states since 2005, and the report measured that around 360,000 acres of land have been damaged as a result – the highest being in Texas where around 130,000 acres of land were calculated to have been damaged.
While this figure included land cleared for roads, well sites and pipelines, among other technical processes, the report states that “the total amount of habitat and landscape affected by fracking is much greater.”
The report was hot on the heels of the publication of research from Duke University, released on Wednesday in the Environmental Science and Technology journal.
The team analyzed water and sediment samples from the Josephine Brine Treatment Facility in Indiana County, Pennsylvania, finding radium levels 200 times greater than samples taken upstream from the plant, and far higher than permissible under the Clean Water Act.
Radium is a radioactive metal that can cause diseases like leukemia and other ill-health effects, if one is exposed to large amounts over time.
As a result of uncertainty over the implications of fracking and its negative health impact, house prices have seen a noticeable decline. The report cites a Texas study which found that homes worth $250,000, located within 1,000 feet of a well site lost between three and fourteen percent of their value.
Another possible reason for the decline in property value is the threat to public safety because of the increased likelihood of earthquakes. Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, Ohio and Colorado have all experienced earthquakes sparked by injection well wastewater disposal.
Environment America’s research expressed concern that the damage resulting from fracking was on a scale “unimagined” only a few years ago, and went on to recommend that “banning fracking is the prudent and necessary course to protect the environment and public health.” The report strong advises that states take the initiative to ban the practice. |
After debuting a different Starting XI on Wednesday against Sporting Kansas City, the New York Red Bulls have shuffled their lineup against Philadelphia.
The lineup includes six changes. Bradley Wright-Phillips, Sacha Kljestan, Tyler Adams, Daniel Royer, Kemar Lawrence and Damien Perrinelle will all start after serving as substitutes in Kansas City.
Michael Amir Murillo will start his second-consecutive game at right back, his second overall MLS appearance.
Luis Robles will start his 151st consecutive MLS regular season game. Felipe, Alex Muyl and Aaron Long will also start against the Union.
Mike Grella will serve as a substitute for the Red Bulls in his first appearance in the 18-man lineup since March 19 versus Seattle Sounders FC.
Ryan Meara, Sal Zizzo, Hassan Ndam, Sean Davis, Derrick Etienne Jr. and Fredrik Gulbrandsen will also serve as subs.
Connor Lade did not travel (coaches decision) to Philadelphia with the team. |
Peter the Great is one of Russia's most prestigious warships The Russian navy has announced that some of its ships will visit Venezuela in November and may hold joint exercises in its territorial waters. A senior Venezuelan naval official said earlier there were plans to hold exercises involving four Russian warships and 1,000 Russian troops. Confirming a visit would be made, Russia said its ships would include the heavy cruiser Peter the Great. Anti-submarine planes would also be sent to Venezuela temporarily, it said. Correspondents say the move is likely to raise concern in the US, whose relations with Russia have been soured by Moscow's recent conflict in Georgia. Washington already has rocky relations with Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez. Mr Chavez welcomed news of the Russian naval visit in his weekly broadcast. Referring to possible US concerns, he was quoted by the Associated Press as saying: "Go ahead and squeal, Yankees." In July, he called for a strategic alliance with Russia to protect Venezuela from the US. Caracas and Moscow agreed to extend bilateral co-operation on energy, with three Russian energy companies to be allowed to operate in Venezuela. 'Great importance' Confirming plans for the visit in November, Russian foreign ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said it was not aimed against any third country. Nor, he added, had it any connection to events in Georgia. As well as the nuclear-powered Peter the Great, the Russian ships will include the anti-submarine ship Admiral Chabanenko. On Saturday, Venezuelan Rear Admiral Salbatore Cammarata Bastidas said Venezuelan aircraft and submarines would be involved in exercises with the Russians. "This is of great importance because it is the first time it is being done [in the Americas]," he said in a statement quoted by the AFP news agency and local media. President Chavez supported Russia's intervention in Georgia last month and has accused Washington of being scared of Moscow's "new world potential". In his weekly broadcast, Mr Chavez said: "Russia's naval fleet is welcome here. If it's possible, we'll stage an exercise in our Caribbean waters."
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Dallas Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett was expecting a little better of a performance out of his team on Sunday.
The Cowboys lost to the San Francisco 49ers, 23-6, in somewhat of a dismal effort. Garrett hammered his team during the postgame, via the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
“It wasn’t very good on offense," Garrett said. "It wasn’t very good on defense. It wasn’t very good kicking game. It wasn’t good early, middle or late. It wasn't a very good performance at all.”
Not many of the starters played in the contest. In fact, the offensive line was without three key starters which could partially explain the lackluster offensive performance.
“No excuses. We’re going to evaluate the game,” Garrett said. “We’re going to evaluate the guys who played in the game and from my vantage point, we didn’t play very well. We’ll watch the tape and try to find some of the positive things and build on those and address the negative things. When you’re out there you have a responsibility to play to a certain level. Period. The standard we set is high and we’re looking for guys to play to that standard. We didn’t get enough of that tonight.”
Running back Joseph Randle averaged 4.3 yards per carry on seven attempts which wasn't bad at all. And running back Gus Johnson chipped in 24 rushing yards in the fourth quarter. But other than that, the rushing attack was underwhelming along with some other areas from the game.
“We didn’t run the ball very well, obviously,” Garrett said. “First series wasn’t very good. Second, third and fourth series weren’t very good. Obviously, we were trying to control the line of scrimmage and didn’t do a very good job of that. It’s hard for me to make specific assessments, I have a bad angle on the sideline, but we obviously weren’t successful running the football, moving the football, making first down. We turned the ball over on offense, we didn’t get any takeaways. Got a punt blocked. Weren’t consistent in our execution in any of the three phases. Just really didn’t play well.”
There were still a few bright spots for the Cowboys. Most notably, the defensive line was excellent as the unit collected five tackles for losses and three sacks.
Related: Quick hits from Dallas Cowboys' second preseason game
The Cowboys are off on Monday and hit the practice field on Tuesday. They'll have three more days of training camp left before they depart back for the Dallas-Fort Worth area. |
Hoffman's portrayal of a middle-aged savant's complex interaction with the world through astonishing mental facilities and childlike emotions earned him an Oscar for best actor. But it was Peek, who suffered from Agenesis of Corpus Callosum (a condition similar to autism), whom Hoffman and Barry Morrow – Rain Man 's writer, who also won an Oscar – acknowledged as the inspiration behind the performance.
When Hoffman thanked Peek in his Oscar acceptance speech, media interest in Peek's highly unusual abilities was immediate. This prompted Kim and his father, Fran, an advertising executive, to embark on a series of speaking tours throughout America, spreading awareness and acceptance of the "different" and the disabled. The public exposure, in turn, led to pioneering scientific research.
Kim Peek was born on November 11 1951 in Salt Lake City, Utah – both his parents were Mormons. Despite his mother's uneventful pregnancy, Kim's head was 30 per cent larger than normal at birth. He was a sluggish baby who cried frequently, and doctors soon discovered that he had a blister inside his skull that had damaged the left hemisphere of his brain, which controls language and motor skills.
By the time he was nine months old he was expected to be mentally impaired for life. His parents were advised to place him in an institution, but they dismissed the idea, deciding to bring him up normally alongside their other son and daughter.
They were soon astounded by his progress. At the age of 16 months Kim taught himself to read children's books. When he was three he consulted a dictionary to clarify the meaning of the word "confidential"; it was then that his parents realised that he could also read newspapers. Yet for all his brilliance, his oversized head required physical support because of its weight; and, unusually, he was unable to walk until he was four.
When Kim was six, a visit to Utah by the renowned brain surgeon Peter Lindstrom resulted in his being offered a lobotomy. His parents declined, and Kim went on to memorise the entire Bible before his seventh birthday.
At this point he was sent to a local school, but was expelled on his first day for being disruptive. The lack of provision in America in the 1950s for special needs children meant that his father had to have him tutored at home by a series of retired teachers. By the time he was 14, Kim had completed the high school curriculum, though the local authorities would not recognise the achievement and refused to award him a certificate.
Before the release of Rain Man – by which time he was 37 – Peek had an insular existence, knowing only about 20 people. Unable to describe his condition, or to dress himself, cook, shave or brush his teeth without help, he was looked after by his mother, Jeanne, until 1981, when his parents divorced. Thereafter his father provided the supervision he required.
At 18 he had been given a job working in the accounts department of a community centre. Spare time was devoted to absorbing literature. He read and immediately memorised thousands of texts, including the complete works of Shakespeare and every story in every volume of the condensed Reader's Digest books.
He used telephone directories for exercises in mental arithmetic, adding each column of seven-digit numbers together in his head until he reached figures in the trillions.
On a rare excursion away from home in 1984, he attended the national conference of the Association of Retarded Citizens in Arlington, Texas, and it was there that he was "discovered" by Barry Morrow. After spending four hours with Peek, the screenwriter approached Fran Peek, asking him if he realised that his son knew every postcode, area code, and road number in every state across America. He urged Fran to share his son with the world.
Not wishing Kim to become part of a freak show, Fran ignored the request. Two years later, however, Morrow contacted him to explain that a film studio had just bought a script he had written.
The story of a selfish yuppie who discovers that an autistic brother he never knew existed has inherited their father's fortune outright, Rain Man put Dustin Hoffman's acting skills to the test in the lead role. To prepare for it he spent time with three autism sufferers, including six hours in the company of Peek. It was Peek's rapid monotone, rocking motions, ability to count cards and childlike emotions that Hoffman copied for the part.
The resemblances between Peek and Raymond Babbitt ended there, however, for Peek was many times more complex and prodigious than his fictional alter ego, despite having the mental reasoning of a child of five. A scene in the film in which Raymond is taken to a casino and beats the house with his astounding skills in mental arithmetic never took place – despite the best efforts of Morrow, who asked Peek to read a book about gambling before taking him to a casino to try the experiment. Peek refused to enter the casino, saying he thought it unethical.
The success of the film had some beneficial effects on Peek's life. He made many friends, and was awarded the high school certificate he had been denied more than 20 years earlier.
Neuroscientists who conducted tests discovered that he had no corpus callosum, the membrane that separates the two hemispheres of the brain and filters information. This meant that Peek's brain was effectively the equivalent of a giant databank, giving him his photographic memory. He was also the only savant known to science who could read two pages of a book simultaneously – one with each eye, regardless of whether it was upside down or sideways on. His ability to retain 98 per cent of the information he absorbed led to his designation "mega-savant"'.
After the release of Rain Man Peek and his father embarked on a series of public lecture tours, informing students, prisoners, pensioners and politicians of the need to treat all people equally. "Learning to recognise and to respect differences in others and treating them like you want them to treat you will bring the joy we all hope for", read the card that was handed out at each talk. Fran Peek estimated that his son addressed more than two million people.
Wishing to avoid accusations that he was taking advantage of his son's condition, Fran Peek never accepted money for these engagements. The talks were also a chance for Kim to demonstrate his extraordinary memory, including his faultless knowledge of the calendar stretching back 2,000 years.
The five universities which studied him in his adult life decided that he was a genius in at least 15 subjects, including music, geography, history and mathematics. Most savants reach a similar level in one or two subjects. Even more remarkably, doctors found that his powers increased as he aged.
In 2004 a Californian hospital which works closely with Nasa persuaded Peek to undergo brain scans in the hope that a detailed map of his mind might allow them to understand more about many disorders, among them vertigo and motion sickness. By tracking the electrical impulses of Peek's brain, they were hoping to discover how people adapt to forces such as acceleration and gravity.
In 1996 Fran Peek published a book about his son, The Real Rain Man: Kim Peek.
Never having any romantic inclinations, Kim Peek did not marry and had no children. His favourite possession was the Oscar which Morrow won for writing the Best Screenplay at the 1989 Oscars. Morrow gave it to Peek, who took it with him whenever he travelled.
Kim Peek died of a heart attack. His father survives him. |
The Mole was second-guessing himself over the holiday season. Was it The Fear? Partially. It was also the feeling that he can be a little bit too harsh on certain elements of the Munster set-up.
Provincial fans can be prickly with regards to defending their team’s players. It would seem from some fairly frank conversations over the last couple of weeks [and especially in light of the recent interpros] that it’s entirely possible to hold two valuations of the same player in the same mind: one that is voiced in the company of your own fans, and one that is voiced in the company of other fans.
A Tale Of Two Cities
This was considered with particular reference to the recent travails of Duncan Williams, and indeed to the fascinatingly varied make up of the Munster scrum-half corps. Williams had a tough day at the office against Ulster in Ravenhill, but every player has tough days. What was interesting was the divergent responses which his performance generated from Munster fans.
For some, Williams is still a young player that demands sympathetic handling. For others, he’s a guy that simply hasn’t made the grade. Of course, there are always going to be differing opinions on players amongst any fanbase, but something that continually piques the Mole’s interest is Irish rugby fans’ attitude to age in the game.
Williams was born in April 1986; he’ll turn 26 before the season ends. Tom Gleeson, another starter for Munster last Friday, was born in September 1985 – 26 already. Between them, the two lads have made just 19 starts for Munster over three seasons. Given that there’s about 30 games every season, that’s 19 starts from 180+ opportunities. Even allowing for injury, that’s a fairly startling level of inactivity.
It’s not like we’re examining the learning curve years [say 19-22, the typical academy age-group]: we’re looking at guys who should be entering the prime of their careers. That they’re not doing so is highly suggestive that there’s not really going to be a prime for them.
That’s a harsh judgment, and who knows, maybe a run of games will see them make the breakthrough. However, on examining the evidence you’d have to say that this ‘run of games’ isn’t going to be forthcoming.
There are a couple of other players who fall into the Williams/Gleeson bracket: Darragh Hurley [October 1985] and Billy Holland [August 1985]. Hurley debuted for Munster as a 20 year old back in September 2006 and even played some Heineken Cup rugby that season, but his career has been badly damaged by injury after injury and seems to have stalled beyond recovery: he’s started just five games in the last five seasons. You look at that and have to think that maybe he’s just not cut out for professional rugby, because that’s half your career right there.
Holland at least plays a bit, but in the middle of the fifth season of his professional career is no closer to Heineken Cup rugby than he was in his first or second. With 23 starts in four and a half seasons under his belt, he’s averaging about 5 starts in the Pro12/ML per season. He hasn’t been massively hamstrung with injury, he’s just a guy who doesn’t get selected very much.
Peter Borlase [May 1985] is in the middle of his second season with Munster, having arrived from Canterbury at the start of the 2010-11 season. He has made just four starts since he arrived, none of them this season. Now, Richardt Strauss [another project player] didn’t make a huge impact when he arrived in Leinster, but that was largely because Michael Cheika refused to pick him; when Joe Schmidt came in as coach, Strauss earned a place as one of the first names down on the team sheet.
Borlase has seen Fisher replaced as Munster forwards’ coach by Foley, and still hasn’t seen much action. Maybe he’ll start proving his worth as an IRFU special project once he returns to full fitness, but the jury is out … a long way out. When players don’t have a specific long term injury keeping them off the pitch and yet miss a lot of games, then there’s usually something afoot either form or behavior-wise.
Mondale To Hart: Where’s The Beef?
This is where the second-guessing comes in. There are a whole range of issues that crop up when discussing the careers of players like the five outlined above.
The first is to compare them with their contemporaries and see how they relate in terms of their standing in the squad.
While the progress of Devin Toner [June 1986] hasn’t always been smooth, he has racked up 82 appearances for Leinster since he first donned the blue as a gangly 19 year old back in January 2006. It seems incredible now that Cheika would put him in that position, because it’s obvious to most half-intelligent rugby fans that Dev was always going to be a guy who would take considerable time to grow into his height.
His early debut is something that the Mole sees as going against him in journalists’ appraisals: everyone seems to think he should be ‘further on’, but he’s not much more than 25 years old, which isn’t particularly old for a second row. His best years are clearly ahead of him, and it’s not at all unlikely that he could still be playing for Leinster in nine or ten years’ time. After all, Mal O’Kelly only retired at 35, and Leo Cullen is still kicking within days of his 34th birthday.
Rob Kearney [March 1986] has made 111 appearances – Nelson! – for Leinster, as well as 33 for Ireland and 3 more for the Lions; all this despite the fact that he missed almost the entire 2010/11 season with a serious knee injury. Fergus McFadden [June 1986] has made 61 appearances for Leinster [somewhat surprisingly, the vast majority of them – 46 – being starts], despite having to share the same positions as Gordon D’Arcy, Brian O’Driscoll and Felipe Contepomi.
Fionn Carr [Dec 1985] moved back to Leinster after racking up 73 games [and 34 tries] for Connacht, and has managed 3 tries in 9 starts since he returned to the blue. Sean Cronin [May 1986] is another fresh arrival from Connacht, where he put in a 65 game stint after arriving from Munster. He’s up against fierce competition in Richardt Strauss [Jan 1986], who qualifies for Ireland in September 2012 and has already made a significant mark on Leinster rugby in his 51 games.
Jonny Sexton [July 1985] has made 64 starts in his 83 appearances; this is the seventh season he has taken the pitch for Leinster.
You look at this group of Leinster players [Sexton, Carr, Strauss, Kearney, Cronin, McFadden, Toner], all of whom were born within a 12-month period from June 1985 [Sexton] to June 1986 [McFadden & Toner], and a couple of things stand out. Five of the seven are capped internationals – the exceptions being Carr and Strauss – and all of them have played more than 50 games for their province/s.
There couldn’t be a stronger contrast with their Munster contemporaries, none of whom have come anywhere near a cap, nor even particularly close to starting some games in the Heineken Cup, the typical stepping stone to international rugby.
The Fear Factor
The second step is to consider their motivations in staying put in a situation where progress – if any – is measured in increments so small as to appear farcical.
This is a surprisingly sensitive issue. Suggesting that players are happy in a comfort zone where they are called upon very infrequently to actually play matches can be taken as questioning their competitive will, and yet it’s an eminently reasonable viewpoint. If these guys aren’t happy to be playing second fiddle, why don’t they back their talent and try to make something of a career for themselves somewhere else?
Do they just enjoy walking around Limerick/Cork kitted up to the nines in Munster gear? Is it that simple?
Or is it that the loyalty to Munster runs so deep that they’re willing to put aside the obvious fact that they are spending a significant portion of a short career doing little else but holding pads?
Is it that there is some lack of self-confidence? Munster players used to leave the province to try their luck elsewhere if they didn’t feel that they were making progress: Mick O’Driscoll headed off to Perpignan from 03-05 at 24 years old when it became clear to him that he had lost out to Donncha O’Callaghan in the bid to replace Mick Galway. Micko won 21 of his 23 Irish caps after his return to Munster.
Stephen Keogh left Munster at 24 years old to move to Leinster for the 06-07 season; Trev Hogan [26 at the time] did the same. Both had more than 50 Munster caps at that stage of their careers, but could see that they weren’t likely to pass the players ahead of them in the pecking order.
Eoin Reddan left Munster at the end of the 04-05 season [again at 24 years old] for what turned out to be four seasons at Wasps, having spent a couple of seasons behind Peter Stringer. Mike Ross headed off to Harlequins in 2006 [aged 26] for three seasons, and returned to Ireland a much in-demand player.
Look at those players and the ages at which they left Munster: all five of them between 24 and 26. Fringe Munster players used to want to play rugby, get ahead and make something of themselves. Now it seems that they are all too ready just to play games against Newport Gwent Dragons, Aironi and Connacht and hold the bags for the rest of the season.
The Queue Is More Important Than The Talent
The third element is to wonder whether there are two different but equally effective ways of managing players’ careers.
Munster have got two and a half excellent seasons out of James ‘Germany’ Coughlan after first giving him a development contract back in 2006 as a late-blooming 25 year old. Coughlan had earned his spurs with Dolphin but was essentially a bit-part player for his first three seasons with Munster, only starting 8 games in that period. His first big season for Munster was 09-10 as a 28/29 year old, but it was his cracking 10-11 season that earned him his Munster Player of the Season award. Now, there’s always a bit of a lean towards players who are trojans of the Pro 12/Celtic League ahead of those who spend more time with the international team – and rightly so, from the Mole’s point of view – but to come away ahead of the likes of 14-try Doug Howlett, Ronan O’Gara on a points-scoring career high [260 for the season] and perennial match-winner David Wallace is still a huge accomplishment.
Donnacha Ryan is another example. He was first capped by Declan Kidney for Ireland in November 2008 against Australia, but it wasn’t until almost two years later that he started his first HEC match for Munster [after which he was promptly dropped, unfortunately]. He turned 28 in December 2011, and it took him the guts of seven seasons to become a regular name on the team sheet for Munster’s HEC games.
One of the more cutting – and pithy – criticisms the Mole has heard applied to Munster over the last couple of years states that “the queue is more important than the talent”. Donncha O’Callaghan put it a little differently in his recent book, saying that Mick Galway didn’t hand over the jersey to him, but instead he had to reef it off him; anybody looking to take the No4 jersey away from O’Callaghan will have to do the same.
Saying that is all well and good, but living it out is another question entirely. In theory, it’s entirely plausible that a player could start every game of the season if he remained uninjured. In practice, he’d be a wreck by about February or March, just when the real business end kicks off. You need depth in every position, and you need guys who can step up to the plate if the man in possession loses form or fitness. The IRFU’s player management program does kickback to players competing for positions by taking the internationals out of the equation for parts of the season [and this allowing the competing players more gametime in the league], but when it comes to cup rugby, all too often the safety first approach to selection wins out.
There’s always an excuse to take a conservative outlook in selection [the ‘we need to win this one’ outlook] but a good coach balances that with the realization that you need depth, you need to not be utterly reliant on a single player in a position – at least where you can avoid it – and you need to take the occasional chance on younger players.
On the other hand, maybe Munster are better served by the older mindset of having to take the jersey away from the man in possession when his powers are fading.
Goodbye Sabermetrics, Hello Bludgeonmetrics
While that’s one way of looking at it, there’s a deeper reaching series of consequences to these C86 players not getting selected that often.
The first [and perhaps most obvious] one is that they’re taking a wage from Munster, money that could be used somewhere else. Munster have an enormous, 48-strong squad which – from the Mole’s point of view – carries a number of passengers. In a collision sport like rugby, the benefits of having a large squad are obvious: you will inevitably pick up injuries over the season, and it’s better to have experienced cover available than be left digging into the academy.
However, there has to be a play-off between the number of players you can contract and the number of players you should contract. Munster have found themselves in a situation where they have too many players who make three or four starts and a similar number of runs off the bench every season in the Pro 12 while never threatening a Heineken Cup squad.
For every game these guys get, there’s the suspicion that they are merely filling a space. There’s a negative pay-off further down the line, if you will. They’re taking odd minutes of gametime away from younger players who could prove to be an awful lot better than them.
The other viewpoint [and one mentioned very briefly above] is that no player thrives on patchy gametime – a game here, another one a month later, another after Christmas. These players aren’t really getting a fair crack of the whip to show what they can do, be it for better or worse. Obviously a coach isn’t single-mindedly focused on proving or disproving which of his players is good enough to make the grade – he’s got bigger things to worry about, like results – but the idea of giving a middle of the road player a significant run of games to prove whether he’s worth further investment shouldn’t be wholly disregarded.
The Final Straw That Broke The Camel’s Back And Gave Him A Kick In The Hole
Holland, Williams, Gleeson and Borlase have all been conclusively leapfrogged by younger colleagues.
Peter O’Mahony [September 89] has started three of Munster’s four HEC games on the blindside ahead of Denis Leamy, never mind Billy Holland;
Conor Murray [April 89] has become Ireland’s first-choice scrum-half, and skipped both Peter Stringer and Tomás O’Leary in the rankings, leaving Duncan Williams a long way back in the dust;
Danny Barnes [October 89] made more starts in 2011 than Gleeson has in his entire Munster career to date; and
Stephen Archer [January 88] is, with John Hayes’ re-retirement now behind us, Munster’s second-choice tighthead.
When The Hurley Burley’s Done, When The Battle’s Lost And Won
The only one who hasn’t been conclusively outstripped is Darragh Hurley, which is a pretty stunning indictment of Munster’s situation at loosehead. They’ve got a hard-working NIQ in Wian du Preez who’s miles ahead of anyone else on the depth chart, an undeniably past-it 34 year old Marcus Horan in second place, perennial sicknote Hurley in third, and 23-year old academy player Dave Kilcoyne in fourth place.
Owing to injury, illness and selection, Hurley is still a largely inexperienced prop. The fact that this is his sixth season contracted to Munster is somewhat irrelevant: he’s played about as many matches in that time [36, with 14 starts] as a fit and able prop would manage in a season and a half. Obviously there’s more to progression than gametime alone, but to say it plays anything other than a significant part is simply obtuse.
Hurley might be well tuned in to how Munster do things, but injury hasn’t just kept him from playing games, it has kept him off the training pitch. There’s considerable ground to be made up there and, in all probability, somebody so injury prone for such long periods of his career isn’t going to come in and all of a sudden be able to play a number of 20-22 game seasons in a row, which shouldn’t be beyond the compass of any prop not subject to the IRFU player management program.
It has been apparent in recent times that Munster have no problem with flogging a dead horse when it comes to eeking out the careers of Generation Ligind players: Alan Quinlan played out a patchy and injured-afflicted last season up until two months away from his 37th birthday, and John Hayes was dragged out of retirement to pass his 38th birthday with Munster. On the other hand, Marcus Horan is simply not the physical specimen that either of these two players were, and the law of diminishing returns has been evident in his performances for three seasons. Munster are between a rock and a hard place at loosehead, which possibly explains the persistence with a player as injury-prone as Hurley.
Rugby is an extremely position-specific sport, and there are a number of limits imposed on the provincial teams by the IRFU with regards to recruitment. With the limit on NIQ players and the contractural veto held by the PCRG [Professional Contracts Review Group], it’s not really an open market when it comes to sourcing players. Munster have invested an awful lot of coaching, time and money in Hurley; unfortunately, there’s very little to show for their investment. In a different business, a line would be drawn under his contract and they’d move on. However, there’s no thriving market in Irish props; they can’t just cut their losses with him and go out an get another loosehead.
With that in mind, Munster don’t have a wide range of options to choose from with regards to how they proceed. The one that leaps out [and which they will likely pursue] is to make a move for Connacht’s Brett Wilkinson, a 28 year old South African-born loosehead who became qualified for Ireland through the three year residency rule. Wilkinson has appeared for the Wolfhounds for a number of seasons and was included in Declan Kidney’s training squad for RWC11 before a hamstring injury ruled him out of contention. A move to Munster would catapult him into immediate international contention, and also likely earn him a significant increase in salary.
Another move – or rather lack of a move – is simply to persist with the same personnel, and hope that Hurley can return from his current back injury before the end of this season to get himself some gametime. With a good pre-season behind him, he could then look to push himself ahead of Marcus Horan in the depth chart before Christmas 2012, with Dave Kilcoyne being exposed to more rugby as Horan turns 35. Wian du Preez would still play a major role as first choice, but then that’s why the provinces pay NIQ players.
The third idea is a little more left-field. Denis Fogarty is a talented front-rower, but has serious issues with a major part of the hooker’s position, namely throwing the ball into the line out. Even without Jerry Flannery, Munster are pretty well-stocked at No2 with Varley, Sherry, Fogarty and Sean Henry. Despite his recent injury, Sherry looks to be the coming man, which would see Fogarty squeezed out of the picture on his return.
Essentially, the Mole’s idea would be that Fogs Jnr tries his hand at loosehead. At 28 years old, he’s in his eighth season with Munster, but is light on miles: he’s played 84 games for the provinces, but less than half of these [41, to be precise] have been starts. With Best, Cronin, Varley – and Richardt Strauss come September of this year, when he qualifies for Ireland – all ahead of him, his international hopes are numbered as a hooker. Putting his career with Munster first and making the most of it should be his priority, and improving his versatility to give himself a better chance of selection for more games is one way of going about it.
Obviously it’s a gambit that might not necessarily pay off, because scrummaging at professional level is a highly specialized subject. Still, Fogs isn’t exactly a front-row neophyte: he has played there at a high level for his entire career. With a lot of experience of hooker in the bank, it’s not as though he’s a total greenhorn when it comes to scrummaging. A summer spent learning the tricks of the trade with Paul McCarthy and BJ Botha would be time well spent, in the Mole’s opinion. He wouldn’t have to entirely throw in his hand at hooker; with so much time spent there, some of it [throwing aside, unfortunately] must be hardwired into him. Obviously, horning in on the loosehead racket would get up Horan’s nose, but what harm? He’s an irritable old sod and he’s on the way out anyway!
Punxutawney Phil
Winding up – finally! – brings us back to Williams, Gleeson, Holland and Hurley. Look at the dates involved. The players in question were born in 1985-86, meaning that they would have been between 19-20 when Declan Kidney resumed as Munster coach at the start of the 2005-06 season, and 22-23 when he left at the end of the 07-08 season. Dave Ryan [April 86] was another from that era, although he has mercifully been cut after just two starts in three seasons.
Added to the 85-86 crowd, there’s just one 1984-born graduate from the Munster Academy still contracted to the province, winger/fullback Denis Hurley. The Mole actually has quite a bit of time for Hurley, but it’s fair to say that his one test cap was of the softest of soft variety, coming as it did on a tour to the States in 2009 when the great majority of Ireland’s internationals were away in South Africa with the Lions.
Those birth dates [1984-86] neatly bracket the age-group overseen by the academy structures during Kidney’s second stint.
The Mole has no idea how interested Kidney was in the academy. He might have been hugely involved; after all, he had been a schoolteacher for many years and was a very successful underage coach. However, the evidence strongly points to the fact that during his Second Republic, the Munster Academy simply turned out a bunch of duds.
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Liberalism is visibly under retreat as a global phenomenon. Donald Trump’s surprise victory, based on a shrill attack on such cherished liberal ideas like a human face to immigration, multi-culturalism and pluralism, and his counter espousal of a more insular white-centric political and economic ideology, shocked liberal ideologues. Following Brexit, a swing to the illiberal right is simmering in Europe too. Are we seeing a similar trend in India, and if so why?
Undoubtedly, a definitive shift in India to the right is being raised to a new crescendo after the BJP came to power in 2014. This may not be a permanent trend, but the new rightist upsurge should prompt liberals to seriously introspect about what has gone wrong. Could it be that, cocooned in the self-righteous certitudes of what should be, liberal opinion has overstated certain assumptions, and understated others, leading to a cumulative backlash against a more inclusive, tolerant and broad-minded society?
In response to this question, three aspects come to mind. Firstly, while it is true that we have evolved to become a ganga-jamuni, multi-cultural and plural tehzeeb – and that is the only way we can survive as a nation – certain liberal assumptions of how this has happened are an intellectual gloss and a distortion of historical facts.
Jawaharlal Nehru, in his well intentioned magnum opus The Discovery of India, writes that it is “wrong and misleading to talk of a Muslim invasion of India … Islam did not invade India; it had come to India some centuries earlier”. While it is, indeed, true that Muslim traders from the Arab countries practised their faith undisturbed in Kerala more than a thousand years ago, it is wrong to believe that the Turkish, Afghani or Mughal invaders who came later did not come as Islamic invaders and proselytisers.
Thousands of temples were destroyed and mosques built in their place by them, often with the debris of the demolished temples. Where temples survived, mosques were built in deliberately close proximity. The destruction was devastating, obliterating or mutilating a huge chunk of ancient India’s architectural heritage. The loss was irreparable. It is said that when in 1200 CE Bakhtiar Khilji destroyed Nalanda, the Harvard of Asia, the library continued to burn for months.
The gradual and enriching synthesis that occurred between Hinduism and Islam happened in spite of this wanton destruction, and not because it did not happen. The purpose here is not to revive history to ignite acrimony, but merely to state that historical misrepresentation often serves to provoke dormant memories, thereby creating avoidable backlash.
Secondly, liberal India has continued to believe that any reference to the achievements of Hindu India is almost tantamount to communalising the historical narrative. Frankly, this is political correctness taken to a ridiculous extent. Ancient India saw a remarkable level of refinement and excellence in philosophy, science, literature, culture and the arts. To equate an acknowledgement of this contribution to non-secular obscurantism is a travesty of history.
Somehow, there is a reticence in ‘progressive’ historical writing to give space to the Hindu imagination. For instance, the great kingdom of Vijayanagar with beautiful Hampi as its capital, flourished for two and a half centuries from 1336 to 1565 CE as the last Hindu bastion against Muslim invasion, but has hardly received its due in our historical memory. At its apogee Vijayanagar comprised a vast territory from the river Krishna to the Indian Ocean. But it merits but one paragraph in The Discovery of India, and no one has thought it worthy to name at least one road in New Delhi after the Vijayanagar king Krishnadevaraya, perhaps one of the greatest rulers in Indian history.
Thirdly, there is a need to revisit the ‘s’ word: secularism. Religious faith is a dynamic conditioning factor for the vast majority of Indians. To understand this, and to cull from this the need to respect all religions, is one thing. To repeat the mantra of secularism without even a knowledge of such basics as the meaning of important religious festivals, is quite another.
Gandhiji was a convincing spokesman for communal harmony because he was thoroughly familiar with his own religion, the essential tenets of other religions, and the substance of his own culture. However, for much of the anglicised elite, secularism has often become a stance to be invoked, almost as a reflex, every time there is the slightest whiff of religion. For some of its members, faith is tantamount to medievalism, and all religious practice the equivalent of ritual and superstition.
Such an attitude of disdainful dismissal would still be valid if it was not rooted in a nondescript cosmopolitanism, mistaken for too long as modernity. The crisis of liberalism is that the entirely valid concept of secularism is tending to maroon itself in a ‘progressive’ island of its own, cut off from the religio-cultural impulses that continue to animate the vast majority of Indians.
Ultimately, the biggest challenge before the liberal project in India is how to reiterate its valid beliefs while being rooted in the cultural ethos of the country. It is unlikely that those who see modernity only in Western categories, and know more about Shakespeare than Kalidasa, can become authentic spokesmen for this cause. |
Labour’s summer leadership election has entered its final month; ballot papers go out to members and registered supporters from August 14th. The latest polling by YouGov suggests that—even under the party’s fiddly, multi-stage electoral system—the far-left candidate, Jeremy Corbyn, is on track to win. Where is his support coming from? Party members, after all, voted for the moderate David Miliband in 2010 (over his more left-wing brother, Ed, who won thanks to union votes). The poll sheds some light on the mystery: although the party’s membership as a whole supports Mr Corbyn, different generations vary starkly. Those who joined before Mr Miliband became leader would back Yvette Cooper, a relative centrist. Those who signed up under his leadership prefer Mr Corbyn; those who have arrived since the election on May 7th even more so. In other words, the Labour Party is tilting to the left. That should worry moderate MPs, who are already plotting to overthrow their hard-left comrade if he wins on September 12th. They can oust him fairly easily. Less so the membership that elected him. |
The choice facing the Labour Party in this leadership election is not between principle and electability. This image of the contest is essentially wrong. The party does not face a choice between the pursuit of electoral success through political pragmatism and leadership under Jeremy Corbyn, whose principles will land the party on the electoral rocks. The alternative pragmatism spells electoral failure too, even if in a less spectacular form. History will see this leadership contest marking the end of Blairism.
This is the reason why the Labour establishment is finding it so hard to come to terms with the support Corbyn has gathered. The party is now in unchartered territory in which the map that has guided Labour politics since the early Nineties shows no clear direction for the party to follow.
Corbyn’s surge of support challenges what would have been a natural succession of power within the Labour Party. Yet however much Yvette Cooper, Andy Burnham and Liz Kendall claim to be rightful heirs, their kind of Blairism appears to a growing number of Labour members as thin political gruel.
That leaves Corbyn storming ahead. But his political ideas have really been too little challenged. It seems accepted even by his supporters that they could not form the basis of an effective opposition, let alone a programme for government.
There are, of course, aspects of his policies which raise activists’ spirits: the abolition of Trident; his emphasis on youth employment. His message on the need to build homes overwhelms any caution people might feel about his demand for rent controls.
It is the dearth of political ideas on the part of the other candidates that has allowed Corbyn to command the soft Left of the party — where its heart has always been. One only has to read the findings of Jon Cruddas’s research on the movement of voters away from Labour at the election to realise that Corbyn will be leading Labour into a political cul-de-sac. His analysis presents voters as polarising into three broad, sometimes overlapping, groups. The first, about a third of the electorate and the largest among party members, are socially liberal, altruistic, at home with the modernity of city life, better off than most voters.
The priority of the second group, 37 per cent of voters, is to improve their income and social status. The third group is socially conservative with values centring around the home, the family and national security. They tend to be found among older voters and make up 29 per cent.
Labour in the election witnessed a collapse in its support among its previous bedrock vote in this third, traditionalist group. Some 24 per cent of the Ukip vote came from Labour’s social conservatives.
These voters are more likely than others to mention immigration, toughness on welfare, Europe, national security and fiscal responsibility as important. Any Labour recovery must be based on developing policies that win them back in a way that also appeals to other groups.
How might that be done? To begin spelling out that challenge suggests the impossibility Corbyn would have in leading the party to victory. George Osborne’s living wage initiative holds the promise of laying the foundations of a new welfare consensus, with a decisive turn against means testing. But can Corbyn support the policies to make this strategy a success? A living wage would be a disaster unless it becomes integral to a wider strategy of raising productivity.
But how do we do that in low-paying industries when we have open borders with the EU supplying endless numbers of workers keen to work, so that raising skill levels at home is a non-starter? Yet raising productivity in low-paying industries could start a wider transformative industrial policy. How can we do this if we continue the policy of open borders? Corbyn is never going to renounce this aspect of Blairism, dressed up as internationalism. But this is the beginning of post-Blairism.
Likewise with welfare. Our core working-class vote deeply resents our “open borders”-type welfare state. We run a National Health Service and a national welfare policy. The operative word here is “national”. Yet Labour is all too often found to be sounding as if it supports a health service and welfare state open to all-comers, as if it should be part of our enormous international aid budget. Who is going to begin the development of post-Blairism by arguing for a welfare state based on past contributions so welfare entitlements begin to define our borders?
Likewise with housing. The green belt has served developers and current owners all too well. It’s one reason why the cost of land has risen from 25 per cent to 50 per cent of the total cost of an average home. We must tackle the inviolability of the green belt if this is to change. But what is the point of building more houses if our borders are open and no one knows how many people will be seeking accommodation in 2020?
Likewise, if we believe the main basis of welfare is contributory, shouldn’t long-standing citizens be at the front of the queue for social housing and other areas of welfare? Corbyn again rejects an approach that holds out the possibility of building a wider coalition of voters prepared to give voice to the poor.
The polls show that a new coalition of voters is willing to sign up to this kind of programme on health, welfare, housing and immigration. They have already moved into post-Blair Britain. But all the leadership candidates are, like Lot’s wife, frozen, staring into the past.
Yet it is with post-Blair politics that Labour can begin to forge a coalition of voters whose sharp elbows will advance not only their own interests but those of the weakest. Here are the beginnings of a route back to power. But who will lead us? Will these potential voters have to wait for a leader to emerge only after the razzmatazz of this current contest is forgotten? |
The punch heard ’round the world has inspired video games, songs, and film festivals. What it’s also birthed, it seems, is a new movement: the #SwoleLeft, a group of weightlifters dedicated to intimidating right-wing bigots and white nationalists.
As this new piece from Mel Magazine details, the #SwoleLeft was initiated by Poncho Martinez, a 26-year-old New Yorker who now trains “30 politically active liberal men in powerlifting, so they can be strong enough to defend themselves against attacks by far-right extremists, and to intervene in potential hate crimes.”
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The movement is also a response to the alt-right’s stereotype of liberals as feeble “cucks” who are all talk and no action. In Martinez’s words:
Trump’s election made it clear that the Democrats are incompetent—that their power machinations are useless when confronted with a different fighting style, and that regular people need to get involved with politics on an individual level and on a daily basis.
That’s right. It’s not all about intimidation. Martinez also hopes to instill patience in his trainees so they’ll be capable of “standing around being bored and dealing with bureaucracy. And that’s what will help leftists more than combat ability.”
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If this all sounds a bit, well, much, there is a genuine sense of compassion lurking beneath all the hyper-masculinity. Ben, a friend and trainee of Martinez, breaks it down thusly:
I’m not under any delusion that if a bunch of leftists get swole, we’re going to suddenly go out and punch our way to victory. But I have a lot of friends who are women, trans, queer, and just plain smaller and gentler than I am, and I felt I had an obligation to protect people I love and care about if they find themselves in danger at a protest.
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The best part? They’re doing it without any of Alex Jones’ “supplements.”
You can read the whole thing over at Mel Magazine. |
Former tabloid editor failed to engage with his American audience and network will end his three-year run
CNN has confirmed it is pulling the plug on Piers Morgan, as falling ratings finally took their toll on a transatlantic talk show experiment that failed to connect with American primetime audiences.
Three years after the former Daily Mirror editor – famed in London for bouncing back from a series of scandals – took over from US broadcasting veteran Larry King, Morgan was told by CNN president Jeff Zucker it “was time for the show to end”.
A spokeswoman for the US network said recent disclosures that British police had interviewed Morgan over phone-hacking allegations were not a factor in his dismissal.
“The decision had nothing to do with the hacking interview – not at all,” said CNN’s Allison Gollust, who said the date of the final episode of Piers Morgan Live had yet to be determined.
Morgan, who lost his job at the Daily Mirror after publishing fake pictures of alleged British troop misconduct in Iraq, had built a reputation for campaigns on gun control while at CNN but was blamed for a steady slide in the show’s ratings since Larry King’s retirement.
“It’s been a painful period and lately we have taken a bath in the ratings,” Morgan told the New York Times, which first broke news of the CNN decision on Sunday.
“Look, I am a British guy debating American cultural issues, including guns, which has been very polarizing, and there is no doubt that there are many in the audience who are tired of me banging on about it.”
“That’s run its course and Jeff and I have been talking for some time about different ways of using me.”
Morgan has struggled to match the ratings regularly achieved by his predecessor and had recently started to suffer new lows in terms of audience figures. This month saw six of the show’s smallest 10 audiences since he took over in January 2011.
A broadcast on 18 February, which included coverage of Ukraine’s dramatic political crisis and an interview with the former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, drew its second smallest audience to date among adults aged 25-54 (50,000). Analysts Nielsen reported that the show also drew just 270,000 total viewers, its ninth smallest gathering at that time.
David Carr, the New York Times journalist who revealed that Piers Morgan Live would be ending, wrote that it had been “an unhappy collision between a British television personality who refuses to assimilate – the only football he cares about is round and his lectures on guns were rife with contempt – and a CNN audience that is intrinsically provincial”.
It emerged this month that Morgan had been questioned under caution by Scotland Yard detectives investigating phone-hacking.
In a statement to the Guardian through his spokesperson, Morgan said that he was asked to attend an interview in early November by officers from Operation Weeting when he was next in the UK.
“This was further to a full witness statement I had already freely provided. I attended that interview as requested on 6 December 2013.” |
I was interviewing the New York Democrat last week when he paused to take a call. It was about an event scheduled for the next day to highlight a new initiative tallying jobs "outsourced" overseas during the Trump presidency.
Schumer had one question: "Is Bernie coming?"
"He told me he'd come," Schumer continued. "Hold on, I'll call him right now." The party leader had his aides track down Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, the populist insurgent who nearly beat Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries. "Hey, Bernie, so can you come?" Schumer asked. "We'll do it at a time that's good for you, OK? ... Try to clear it. It's a good event. ... It's right up your alley and you can help us by coming. ... It complements what you're doing. ... We need you."
Schumer hung up. "OK, he'll come."
Sanders didn't come.
But the interruption said much about how Schumer will lead Democrats in the age of Donald Trump. Schumer, though close to Wall Street for much of his career, is wholeheartedly embracing the party's Sanders-Elizabeth Warren populism. This means Schumer, and the Democrats, are ready to fight.
Conventional wisdom says Schumer will be pulled in a moderate and conciliatory posture by the 10 Senate Democrats up for re-election in 2018 in states that Trump won (two of them, West Virginia's Joe Manchin and North Dakota's Heidi Heitkamp, have been wooed by Trump as possible Cabinet secretaries). He'll be pulled the other way by Warren and Sanders, who represent the party's energy.
But Schumer correctly views this as a false choice: The best way to protect endangered incumbents is to let the Warren wing lead.
Schumer's predecessor, outgoing Democratic leader Harry Reid, did his best both in the majority and the minority to protect vulnerable incumbents such as Mary Landrieu and Mark Begich, using parliamentary tactics to avoid tough votes. But a byproduct of this was that Democrats didn't articulate a clear agenda -- and Landrieu and Begich lost anyway.
If Democrats are to have any hope in 2018, they'll need to reclaim the populism Trump stole in 2016. Schumer embraces this. "If you want to appeal to the manufacturing worker in Scranton, the college student in Los Angeles and the single mom making minimum wage in Harlem, one economic message will work," he said. "We just didn't have it" this year.
Schumer pledges to keep his focus almost entirely on the economy. When Republicans hold votes on energy and social issues that divide Democrats, he figures he'll have enough votes to filibuster even if endangered incumbents split off. "We're going to have five, six sharp-edged [policies] that can be described in five words," Schumer said. "That economic message" -- college affordability, infrastructure spending, taxing the rich -- "unites our caucus."
This reflects a broader post-election debate among Democrats. Clinton ally David Brock last week blamed the loss on the party, saying it "faces a crisis of competence at all levels" and calling for a commission to investigate.
Nonsense, reply those in the Warren wing. They say Clinton's economic agenda was a muddled, build-on-success theme when people wanted change. They say Trump got to Democrats' left with working people, and the answer now is to unite behind specific legislation such as expanding Social Security, protecting Medicare from privatization, and raising taxes on the wealthy to pay for infrastructure spending.
If the new president comes Democrats' way, things will get done. If he takes a traditional Republican approach to the economy, Democrats will fight, and Trump's working-class backers will know they were had.
This doesn't mean a Mitch McConnell-style effort to oppose Trump reflexively -- something Schumer told Trump when the president-elect called him recently to discuss infrastructure. "I said to him it's got to be robust, it can't be just tax credits because nothing much will get built ... and it can't cut traditional programs" such as education and Medicare. "He didn't argue with me," Schumer recounted.
Conversely, when Trump contradicts his campaign themes -- a Wall Street banker as treasury secretary, a billionaire private-school devotee as education secretary and a health and human services secretary who wants to privatize Medicare -- he can expect a populist pushback from Democrats.
This, and not incumbent protection, is what will work for Democrats in 2018 and beyond. |
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Only in NASCAR can one championship winning organization suspend crew members from one of their chief rivals during a given season and it seem completely normal.
But that’s what happened on Wednesday when Joe Gibbs Racing suspended two tire changers from Furniture Row Racing’s No. 78 team over an altercation with Gibbs crew chief Adam Stevens on Sunday during the Brickyard 400.
Gibbs has the power to do so because it supplies personnel and equipment to Furniture Row as part of a technical alliance that began last season. But having the power to do so doesn’t imply the right to exercise it.
In fact, this decision completely reeks of Gibbs putting Furniture Row back in their place as No. 2 on the Toyota hierarchy.
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Joe Gibbs Racing suspends two Furniture Row crew members for Indy altercation Joe Gibbs Racing has suspended two crew members from the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing team.Front tire changer Chris Taylor and rear tire changer Lee Cunningham will each serve three race suspensions ...
The decision to suspend tire changers Chris Taylor and Lee Cunningham makes some degree of sense because they are technically Gibbs employees mouthing off in public to a senior Gibbs crew chief. However, Stevens escaping punishment very much seems like a political statement.
After all, Stevens escalated the confrontation by choosing to take a step into another team’s pit box and engage with its crew.
Was Taylor and Cunningham supposed to simply say, 'yes sir, sorry sir?'
Truex and his team is racing for a championship -- no different than Busch and Stevens. In fact, this looks even worse because Furniture Row has outperformed their Toyota partner. If you can't beat them, find a reason to penalize them, right?
You can make the argument that Stevens should have kept walking and handled the conflict in-house. If Taylor and Cunningham were culpable in the eyes of JGR, Stevens deserves every bit of the same blame for what happened.
If professionalism is the standard in question, then it needed to be enforced against both sides.
But again, this speaks to a larger issue.
Joe Gibbs Racing is treating Furniture Row like their B-team rather than an equal partner. What if this happens again during the playoffs?
What about Truex?
Is he supposed to race the four Gibbs cars more carefully now?
Based on the decision made on Wednesday, JGR has sent a reminder to Furniture Row that they are no better than a satellite program and ultimately answer to the decision-makers in Huntersville, North Carolina.
That shouldn’t go over well in Denver. |
Kyrie Irving is reaching into his pockets yet again to pay for another of Richard Jefferson‘s fines, this time for winking at Kevin Durant after a left-handed throwdown during the Cleveland Cavaliers 109-108 come-from-behind win over the Golden State Warriors.
The tech is likely to be rescinded by the league because of its preposterous nature, Jefferson was also ejected last Wednesday against the Milwaukee Bucks, tossing his jersey onto the crowd — incident which Irving also footed the bill for.
“Kyrie has been paying so much money for me, I don’t know,” Jefferson told ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. “He’s been paying all these fines. I’m going to see what I can do to try and get it negated. But that’s why you have good teammates.”
Head coach Tyronn Lue echoed Jefferson’s statement, sarcastically disagreeing with the sanction.
“You should get a tech if you wink,” Lue said following the post-game conference. “I’d rather he’d cussed him out or said something like that. If you wink, you should get a tech, yeah, for sure.”
While Jefferson’s $2.5 million salary is more than enough to cover his $2,000 fine for the technical — winks have definitely become a hot commodity in today’s NBA, but in case his eyelids decide to get wild again, there’s always an Uncle Drew willing to shell out a little money for his favorite nephew. |
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With technology rapidly evolving, social media and digital communications is home to some of the most technological breakthroughs to date. Jay-Z made digital history with the Samsung release of his Magna Carta Holy Grail, now MTV is preparing to carve its own nitch in digital history.
MTV is releasing the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards Video of the Year nominees Wednesday at 8 am via MTV's Instagram and Vine accounts. Check out the full list of nominees below.
CLICK THE LINK TO FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER AND INSTAGRAM: @MULTIMEDIADOM
Each hour after the Video of the Year reveal, MTV will post additional Instagram and Vine videos highlighting the nominees in other categories, according to MTV News. The 2013 MTV Video Music Awards are historic all the way around. The 30th annual awards show will be held August 25 at the Barclay's Center, making it first major annual awards show to take place in the borough.
The 2013 MTV Video Music Awards Nominees are:
Video Of The Year
Justin Timberlake - "Mirrors"
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat. Wanz - "Thrift Shop"
Bruno Mars - "Locked Out of Heaven"
Robin Thicke feat. T.I. and Pharrell - "Blurred Lines"
Taylor Swift - "I Knew You Were Trouble"
Best Hip-Hop Video
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat. Ray Dalton - "Can't Hold Us"
Drake - "Started From The Bottom"
Kendrick Lamar - "Swimming Pools"
A$AP Rocky feat. Drake, 2 Chainz & Kendrick Lamar - "F**kin Problems"
J. Cole feat. Miguel - "Power Trip"
CLICK THE LINK TO FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER AND INSTAGRAM: @MULTIMEDIADOM
Best Male Video
Justin Timberlake - "Mirrors"
Robin Thicke feat. T.I. and Pharrell - "Blurred Lines"
Bruno Mars - "Locked Out of Heaven"
Ed Sheeran - "Lego House"
Kendrick Lamar - "Swimming Pools"
CLICK THE LINK TO FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER AND INSTAGRAM: @MULTIMEDIADOM
Best Female Video
Rihanna feat. Mikky Ekko - "Stay"
Taylor Swift - "I Knew You Were Trouble"
Miley Cyrus - "We Can't Stop"
P!nk feat. Nate Ruess - "Just Give Me A Reason"
Demi Lovato - "Heart Attack"
Best Pop Video
Bruno Mars - "Locked Out of Heaven"
Justin Timberlake - "Mirrors"
fun. - "Carry On"
Miley Cyrus - "We Can't Stop"
Selena Gomez - "Come and Get It"
Artist To Watch Presented by Taco Bell®
Twenty One Pilots - "Holding On To You"
Zedd Feat. Foxes - "Clarity"
Austin Mahone - "What About Love"
The Weeknd - "Wicked Games"
Iggy Azalea - "Work"
Best Collaboration
Justin Timberlake feat. JAY Z -"Suit & Tie"
Pitbull feat. Christina Aguilera - "Feel This Moment"
Calvin Harris feat. Ellie Goulding - "I Need Your Love"
Robin Thicke feat. T.I. and Pharrell - "Blurred Lines"
P!nk feat. Nate Ruess - "Just Give Me A Reason"
Best Video With A Social Message
Kelly Clarkson - "People Like Us"
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis - "Same Love"
Snoop Lion - "No Guns Allowed"
Miguel - "Candles In The Sun"
Beyoncé - "I Was Here"
Best Rock Video
Imagine Dragons - "Radiocative"
Fall Out Boy Fall Out Boy - "My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light Em Up)"
Mumford & Sons Mumford & Sons - "I Will Wait"
30 Seconds To Mars Thirty Seconds to Mars - "Up In The Air"
Vampire Weekend - "Diane Young"
Best Art Direction
Capital Cities - "Safe and Sound"
Thirty Seconds To Mars - "Up In The Air"
Janelle Monae feat. Erykah Badu - "Q.U.E.E.N"
Lana Del Rey - "National Anthem"
Alt-J - "Tesselate"
CLICK THE LINK TO FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER AND INSTAGRAM: @MULTIMEDIADOM
Best Choreography
Chris Brown - "Fine China"
Ciara - "Body Party"
Jennifer Lopez feat. Pitbull - "Live It Up"
will.i.am feat. Justin Bieber - "#thatPOWER"
Bruno Mars - "Treasure"
Best Cinematography
Thirty Seconds To Mars - "Up In The Air"
Lana Del Rey - "Ride"
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Sacrilege"
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat. Ray Dalton - "Can't Hold Us"
A-Trak & Tommy Trash - "Tuna Melt"
CLICK THE LINK TO FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER AND INSTAGRAM: @MULTIMEDIADOM
Best Direction
Justin Timberlake feat. JAY-Z - "Suit & Tie"
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat. Ray Dalton - "Can't Hold Us"
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Sacrilege"
fun. - "Carry On"
Drake - "Started From The Bottom"
Best Editing
P!nk feat. Nate Ruess - "Just Give Me A Reason"
Calvin Harris feat. Florence Welch - "Sweet Nothing"
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat. Ray Dalton - "Can't Hold Us"
Justin Timberlake - "Mirrors"
Miley Cyrus - "We Can't Stop"
Best Visual Effects
Flying Lotus - "Tiny Tortures"
Skrillex feat. The Door - "Breakin' A Sweat"
The Weeknd - "Wicked Games"
Duck Sauce - "It's You"
Capital Cities - "Safe and Sound"
© 2019 Mstars News, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
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Christ cannot be psychoanalyzed because he is perfect. It would be like seeking flaws in pure crystal or long shadows at high noon. That is why he may seem from our fallen state in a singularly ill-contrived world as both severe and merciful, ethereal and common, rebellious and routine, rustic and royal, solitary and brotherly, young and ageless. His perfection is a stubborn enigma to the imperfect, but if there is to be one hint of the art that moves his mind, it will be in his pity. It will be in his pity for the whole world when he weeps over Jerusalem; but most wrenchingly it will be in his pity for each soul when he sees us scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd.
He warned about wolves in sheep’s clothing (Matt.7:15) and that disguise was the cunning deceit and dark tragedy of the modern age. The modern wolves, those seductive tyrants and demagogues, wandered freely and devoured as they did because they were given fertile pasture and friendly forests by a stranger creature in more subtle disguise. Churchill detected it when he called Clement Attlee a sheep in sheep’s clothing. Here is the moral weakling who thinks the wolf is a sheep because he sees no difference between the two and if he did, he could not care less. Malcolm Muggeridge wrote in “The Great Liberal Death Wish”:
Not Bolshevism, which Stalin liquidated along with all the old Bolsheviks; not Nazism, which perished along with Hitler in his Berlin bunker; not Fascism, which was left hanging upside down, along with Mussolini and his mistress, from a lamp-post—none of these, history will record, was responsible for bringing down the darkness on our civilization, but liberalism. A solvent rather than a precipitate, a sedative rather than a stimulant, a slough rather than a precipice, blurring the edges of truth, the definition of virtue, the shape of beauty; a cracked bell, a mist, a death wish.
Now that Planned Parenthood has been exposed for those who have willfully been blind during these years of its atrocities, all that its CEO could sheepishly manage to say of a Senior Director of Medical Services sipping wine as she cited prices for infants’ body parts, was that her “tone” was “inappropriate” and “unacceptable.” Cecile Richards, who employs Dr. Nucatola, draws a salary of half a million dollars from the $528 million dollars of taxpayers money which our government contributed last year to Planned Parenthood’s annual budget. That same week, 94-year-old Oskar Gröning, who had been a functionary in Auschwitz, was convicted by a German court on 300,000 counts of accessory to murder. He admitted knowing something was wrong when a camp guard grabbed a crying baby and smashed its head against a wall. With untutored diction and uncoordinated syntax, Dr. Nucatola blithely spoke of ways to crush a baby’s skull. Affecting Latinity with which we may assume she is otherwise unfamiliar, she called it a “calvarium.” Has anyone heard of Calvary? In terms of the number of inflicted deaths and consequent dismemberments and experiments, Dr. Nucatola makes Dr. Mengele seem like Florence Nightingale.
Yet Richards, a sheep in sheep’s clothing, could only manage to say that her “tone” was “inappropriate” and “unacceptable.” But the next day, Richards angrily backtracked and insisted that such horrific procedures promote scientific research. Benjamin Franklin said, “Never ruin an apology with an excuse.” Richards ruined it. Her words were a descant on those of the Nazi doctor Julius Hallerworden, trying to justify himself at the 1945 Nuremberg trials: “If you are going to kill all these people, at least take the brains out so that the material may be utilized.” A few days later, and awkwardly for Richards who insisted that the body parts were not being sold for profit, another “medical director,” the coarse Mary Gattner was filmed saying, “It’s been years since I’ve talked about compensation, so let me find out what others are getting, and if it’s in the ballpark then that’s fine. And if it’s still low, then we can bump it up—I want a Lamborghini,”
For several years, the Manhattan headquarters of Planned Parenthood have been directly across the street from my church and its school building, where children learn to read and write while smaller children are being dismembered in the opposite building. They have sold their 70,000 square feet of condominium space for $35 million and have moved downtown near the Church of Our Lady of Victory where I also once served. I thought of the dutiful exterminator—an indispensable figure in New York—who came with his fatal sprays on Memorial Day. I expressed surprise that he had come on a holiday, to which he replied, “Rev, roaches don’t take holidays.” True, they move from one place to another, always “roaming about” like Satan—and like abortionists.
At the time of the Planned Parenthood exposé, a young Muslim killed five armed forces personnel in Chatanooga and the White House issued no formal statement. During a conversation on other matters, President Obama managed sheepishly to say that it was a “heartbreaking circumstance” and then he issued a statement wishing Muslims “Eid Mubarak”—a blessed last day of Ramadan—and in New York, rather than dimming in grief, the Empire State Building was lit up in Islamic green lights. One remembered how Obama said in a United Nations speech in 2013: “The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam.” While he was quick to go into deep mourning for Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, and Freddie Gray, Obama neglected to grieve for Kathryn Steinle whose murder by an illegal immigrant was politically inconvenient. Only after several days did he yield to public pressure and lower the White House flag to half-staff for the soldiers.
In contrast, a mere few hours after the Supreme Court decision on same-sex unions, he had the White House, a national building, turned into a political billboard illuminated in rainbow colors. Obama’s “heartbreaking” epicene angst was another instance of a sheep in sheep’s clothing, and as the bodies of the soldiers were being prepared for burial, he attended a Broadway show and played a round of golf. The liberal death wish became raucous when CNN national security analyst Tom Fuentes said of the shooter Muhammad Youssed Abdulazeez, “I know what the name sounds like, but we don’t know it’s a Muslim name.” Now, the murderer was not Luther Abdulazeez, or Calvin Abdulazeez, or Wesley Abdulazeez. There are few Lutheran or Presbyterian or Methodist chaps baptized Muhammad.
In The Abolition of Man, C.S. Lewis called these sheep in sheep’s clothing “men without chests” because their perception of reality lacks objective moral reason. Consequently, they really have no heart, if the heart is the seat of a righteous will, and thus they are ruled by whim, incapable of courage. The eagle on the Great Seal of the United States has arrows and an olive branch, but the sheep in sheep’s clothing would carry a limp pre-Raphaelite lily. For them infanticide is no big matter provided it is described in gentle tones; and the shooting of unarmed soldiers (deprived of defensive weapons by the sheep in sheep’s clothing) is just “heartbreaking.” That is easy to say for men without true hearts, but it is not what men with chests would say. Varro did not wispily call the slaughter of his sixteen legions at Cannae “heartbreaking,” nor did Boudicca of her 80,000 lost men, nor did Lincoln when cannons fired on Fort Sumter, nor did Congress when Pearl Harbor was attacked. For that matter, Jesus did not say that the collapse of the tower of Siloam was heartbreaking. He said, Repent (Luke 13:4). And we know what he said about those who harm the least of these little ones. From the depths of the sea, they may find the “tone” of God’s judgment “inappropriate.” And they will learn that Obama’s blasphemous prayer in Washington on April 26, 2013, “God bless Planned Parenthood,” fell on deaf ears in the heavenly realms.
It is telling that Obama once masqueraded as an august moral paragon to define sin as “Being out of alignment with my values.” Thus speaks the sheep in sheep’s clothing. Thus speak men without chests. They are in our legislatures, and universities and corporate headquarters and sometimes sadly in our churches, for offensive to the Good Shepherd is a sheepish shepherd who has no chest on which to hang his pectoral cross. Their fabricated world is like the Ivor Novello song “The Land That Might Have Been” that dreams: “Somewhere there is another land / Different from this world.” In that other land, it is even considered courageous for those without chests to proclaim that men are women and women are men, and that marriage can be turned inside out by the opinion of a Supreme Court judge who lamely thinks that he is a philosopher by the merits of ingenious telepathy from Hell. But because “The Land that Might Have Been” is fantasy and not Heaven, it is devoid of all joy and soaked in perpetual melancholy.
General Patton was thought by some not to have much pity. But he had a chest. When he entered Ohrdruf, the sub-camp of Buchenwald, his reaction to the corpses and crematoria surprised his soldiers. He did not say the lurid scene was “inappropriate” or “unacceptable” or “heartbreaking.” He bent over and vomited. And the medals on his chest rattled. When the people who lived outside the camps protested that they did not know what had been going on, General Eisenhower ordered them to walk through the fetid buildings and look at the corpses. Perhaps there will be a day when remnants of our sheepish generation are dragged through the moral carnage of our land and feel some of the pity that Christ feels for us. |
It’s Wednesday morning as of writing this and though it feels like the derby just barely ended, we’re but two days away from NYCFC’s next nationally televised match. Coming to Yankee Stadium are the Chicago Fire, previous 1-0 winners of the opposite fixture of this match-up, and losers of two in a row. Not to be outdone, however, City comes into the match riding a four game losing streak and an eight game winless streak, whereas Chicago won three in a row prior to their mini-slump. The derby proved to be painful for the fans in blue, as the final whistle blew with the scoreline 2-1 in favor of the New Jersey Red Bulls despite City having been up a man for nearly an hour. The tension is rising within the fan-base as well as within the locker room, best evidenced by David Villa’s frustration both during the match and after being subbed out, and the team desperately needs a return to winning form.
With respect to City, there are several factors at work coming into the match. The first and foremost continues to be the health of their key players. With David Villa and Jason Hernandez now hopefully back for good, the next man waiting to come off the stretcher is Javier Calle, who had been a revelation at left back prior to his injury. With the back line floundering in recent matches, his return cannot come soon enough. New York fans should also be optimistic about the continued development of R.J. Allen. The rookie wide back fared admirably in his first career start on Sunday, largely keeping pace and pressuring the talented Lloyd Sam and providing a lovely assist on the Patrick Mullins goal late in the match. With his ability to get forward in the attack and still drop back to prevent counters, he plays much like New York fans had hoped Jeb Brovsky would. With the potential return of Calle and the definite return of Watson-Siriboe from suspension, New York’s depleted defense suddenly has some options. While Wingert is more comfortable inside, he has struggled in the center back role, and could potentially see himself out of the starting 11 as Kreis surely wants to change things around based on recent form. Also on the hot seat for a starting spot is Ned Grabavoy who, while always working hard, has struggled recently in the midfield. As this team finds itself and its preferred eleven and formation, some players may begin to see less time and some may begin to see more, but one thing is certain and that is that changes are coming to a largely dissatisfied team.
Chicago, while having struggled recently, finds themselves currently seated in the sixth and final playoff spot. In their last match against NYCFC, they pulled out a 1-0 win while being up a man for nearly 70 minutes, a fact that surely gives New York fans some hope. Worrying as always is the presence of David Accam, as the speedy forward gave City’s central defender fits with his well-timed runs and constant hustle. Accam isn’t the only danger however, as a total of six different players have scored goals for the Fire, led by two from Jeff Larentowicz. While both teams have scored the same amount of total goals on the season and Chicago has given up two less, the Fire have played two fewer games than New York, leading one to assume that their offense is slightly better and their defense probably right around par. For a New York team struggling to win, the combination of a strong performance while down a man last time the two played, the return of Calle to the defense, and the poor recent form of Chicago has to provide a reason to believe that this is the game to get back on track.
Looking at the injury and disciplinary reports, both teams will potentially be missing players. For New York it remains to be seen if Calle or Nemec will make their match-day returns and Chicago is waiting on a concussion to midfielder Matt Watson in their previous match. Also of note is the disciplinary issue of Kwame Watson-Siriboe who is a yellow card away from another one match suspension. As an additional piece of news to note: New York City FC has waived defender Andres Mendoza. The 25-year old had yet to make a first-team appearance and was let go Tuesday afternoon.
Projected Formation: 4-3-3
Projected Starting 11: Saunders, Calle, Wingert, Hernandez, Williams, Diskerud, Jacobson, Alvarez, Villa, Mullins, Shelton
Prediction: New York bounces back from recent form, the injury returns make an impact, and they give their home fans a show, taking the match 2-1.
Be sure to follow Andres at @TheAndresSoto and myself @Coltons13 on twitter for everything NYCFC Fan Podcast related and NYCFC related! If you enjoyed this, please check out my own blog, Great Balls of Fire, at gbofblog.wordpress.com! Let’s go, NYCFC! |
Fresh from establishing the first national regulatory standards for carbon emissions earlier this month, President Obama has now joined the debate over the utility business model and called for a distributed, clean energy revolution.
The president took his commitment to the fight against climate change to new ground in a keynote address at the eighth annual Clean Energy Summit in Las Vegas, Nevada. His bold words reinforced the message delivered earlier in the day by Senator Harry Reid (D-NV), who also showed an unflagging commitment to renewables and a reformation of the utility business model.
“Earlier this month I unveiled our Clean Power Plan,” the president told a packed house at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center. “It is the first set of nationwide standards to end the limitless dumping of carbon pollution from our power plants and it is the single most important step America has ever taken to combat climate change.”
He repeated his now-familiar belief that “no challenge poses a greater threat to our future than climate change.”
But his administration holds another belief as well, he added.
“We are deeply optimistic about American ingenuity. We think we can do good and do well. We believe we have the power, the dynamism, and the creativity to solve a big problem while keeping the engines of the American economy moving.”
The president talked about his administration’s crucial investments, beginning with the 2009 Recovery Act — which he called the biggest commitment to renewables ever made — and carrying through to a just-announced $1 billion Department of Energy (DOE) commitment to new loan guarantees for distributed generation technologies.
That loan program was just one of multiple executive orders the White House released Monday ahead of Obama's speech, all looking to stimulate the growth and technological progression of distributed resources.
In line with his executive orders, the president aggressively advocated for higher penetrations of renewables like solar and wind, and reiterated that government investments that are needed to help make it happen.
“If we keep investing in wind rather than making mindless cuts chasing shortsighted austerity, wind could provide as much as 35% of America’s electricity and supply renewable power in all 50 states by 2050,” Obama said, taking a swipe at fiscal conservatives on behalf of wind energy’s production tax credit.
“America generates 20 times as much solar as we did in 2008,” President Obama said. And with a new solar array connected every three minutes, the solar industry last year added jobs 10 times faster than the rest of the economy, he said.
“Now is not the time to insist on massive cuts to investments that have helped drive our economy, including the hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts that many Republicans want to take from successful job-creating clean energy programs,” Obama said, “investments that have finally, in some places, made clean power from the sun cheaper than conventional power from utilities.”
It had to be a hard-to-hear message for NV Energy CEO Paul Caudill, who spoke just ahead of the president. His utility is in a tense face-off with Nevada solar advocates over its proposal to reduce the nationally embattled net energy metering policy crucial to the rooftop solar value proposition.
“NV Energy needs to get real,” Senator Reid, whose age and health make a 2016 Senate run unlikely, warned in a private session earlier in the day. “It is not 1888. Customers want choice. If NV Energy continues on this path, they will lose on the battlefield of public opinion and the courts will also ultimately decide they are wrong.”
President Obama on the economics of renewables
It is impossible to overstate the significance of solar becoming price competitive with utility-provided electricity, the president said. “For decades we have been told it doesn’t make economic sense to switch to renewable energy. Today that is no longer true.”
He described big renewables buy-ins from major corporation such as Google, Apple, and Costco. “Walmart has the most installed onsite solar capacity of any company in America," he said. "They are not in the business of giving away money.”
The commitment of these companies should be cause for hope in the climate fight, he added, but to get to the renewables goals his administration has set, “we have to triple where we are today — so I am here to give you hope, but not complacency.”
He described a new initiative from DOE to fund the Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) program that will allow homeowners to obtain solar financing secured by their mortgages and repay the loan through their energy bill savings.
“It will allow more Americans to join this revolution with no money down,” Obama said. “You don’t have to share my passion for fighting climate change. Americans are going solar not because they are treehuggers, though trees are important, but because they are cost-cutters. Solar isn’t just for the green crowd anymore — it’s for the green eyeshade crowd, too.”
Resistance and change
Solar is less than 1% of the U.S. energy mix and wind is only about 5%, but together they were over half of the new generation capacity built in 2014, the president said. “We see the trend lines. We see where technology is taking us, we see where consumers want to go.”
But fossil fuel interests, formerly unrestrained advocates of a free market, are suddenly opposed to choice in the marketplace because “solar is what people want to buy,” he smiled. “That’s a problem.”
The president acknowledged Tea Party members who, in joining a Green Tea Alliance with environmentalists, stayed true to their free market ideology. “This is not and should not be a Republican versus Democratic issue,” he said. “If you care about the future of our children and grandchildren, you should care about it.”
For decades, he explained, “utilities generated power, usually by burning fossil fuels, they ran lines to homes and businesses, and we paid for it. It wasn’t exciting. There wasn’t a lot of innovation. And we didn’t think about much about it until the bill came. And the economy grew under that model."
But that has all changed, the president said. With smart technologies, customers can understand their energy use, change their habits, use energy more efficiently, and save without great sacrifice.
“That empowers us to generate our own energy or store it in battery packs or sell it to the grid," he said. "That is power. That is the future. It is happening now. It is like evolving from the telegraph to the smart phone in less than a decade.”
The president commended the utilities that are adapting their business models “to seize the opportunities of this emerging reality.” He called out CPS Energy of San Antonio for its rooftop solar program, Southern Company for its partnership with Nest and Tesla on energy storage, and Oklahoma Gas & Electric for its smart meter rollout.
The rapid change is also drawing protective resistance from “some fossil fuel interests” dedicated to an “outdated status quo,” he said. But utility CEOs may have found solace in the president’s call for addressing “legitimate issues around how a new distributed system can work and how to deal with the costs.”
There is no legitimacy, however, in “massive lobbying efforts backed by fossil fuel interests or conservative think tanks or the Koch brothers” against consumers’ rights to choose renewables, the president said. “That is not the American way. That is not progress. That is not innovation.”
Obama echoed Senator Reid’s earlier attack on NV Energy. “The utility business model made sense a long time ago,” Reid said. “But today consumers would rather pay to make their homes more efficient than for utility electricity.”
Utilities thinking of clean energy as a burden,” Reid said, makes as much sense as the Washington Nationals benching star player Bryce Harper. “Utilities must not have a stodgy commitment to the status quo. They must seize the clean energy opportunity or consumers will suffer.”
There is something big happening
President Obama framed the fight over energy as a question of whether the “big polluters” control the system or consumers have the “freedom to choose,” pitting “old ways” against new business models.
“This is about the past versus the future and America believes in the future," Obama said. "But to make that future real, we have to have everyone: Utilities, entrepreneurs, workers, businesses, consumers, energy regulators, treehuggers, Tea Partiers. Everybody has to seize the opportunities before us.”
Some utilties that have chose to disrupt themselves have already moved in the direction the president and Senator Reid described. In particular their comments fall in line with NRG Home’s organizing principle, as described recently to Utility Dive by CEO Steve McBee.
“The company’s strategy, value proposition, and value creation are aimed at figuring out what the customer wants,” McBee explained. Companies that don’t understand what is happening are struggling, while companies that are empowering consumers are seeing success.
“There is something big happening in America,” President Obama said. “For the first time we can actually see what our clean energy future looks like.” If the opposition claims it is a bad thing, “we have to be able to politely but firmly say ‘Sorry, we are moving forward.’”
It is “an age old debate in America between the folks who say ‘No we can’t’ and the folks who say ‘Yes we can,’” Obama said. “America always comes down on the side of the future. We have always been a people who reach, proudly and boldly and unafraid, to that more promising future. We refuse to surrender the hope of a clean energy future to those who fear it and fight it. And sometimes provide misinformation about it.”
They underestimate what the American people are capable of, the president said.
“This generation of Americans is hammering into place the high-tech foundations of a clean energy age. Like the Americans who harvested the power of the atom, they are harvesting the power of the sun. That is what Americans do. You,” he said to the clean energy advocates in the summit’s audience, “are doing it every day, and I am going to be right there beside you.” |
The wife of founding Eagles member Randy Meisner accidentally shot herself dead Sunday after a drunken domestic disturbance at the couple's California home, police said.
Lana Rae Meisner, 63, called the cops around 5:30 p.m. to report a drunken man in their Studio City house. Police took a domestic violence report and left without incident.
But Randy Meisner, 69, called police about 90 minutes later, saying his wife had been shot, police said.
EAGLES' RANDY MEISNER SHOCKED GLENN FREY DIED AT 67
His wife died in a closet after a rifle accidentally fired, hitting her in the face or head, a police source told the Daily News. She had tried lifting the gun from a case, but another item in the case hit the trigger and pulled it, police said.
“Based on the evidence at the scene, it appears to be a complete accident,” a police source told the Daily News.
“No foul play whatsoever. There is nothing indicative that it was a murder at all.”
Randy was in another part of the house when the gun went off, police said. The former Eagles bassist has not been charged for any crime.
Randy and Lana Rae Meisner.
He was not injured in the fatal accident, but was transported to an undisclosed hospital Monday morning, though his condition was not immediately clear, police said.
"The family is very concerned," a source closer to the Meisner clan said.
"They don't know where he is. He relied upon Lana for everything. It's too early to tell what will happen now."
The rock star has three adult children, all of whom live outside of California.
The details of the domestic disturbance are unknown. TMZ reported Randy was "acting erratically" and waving a BB gun, but police did not confirm those details.
The couple had faced bizarre turmoil in the past year. A conservatorship court battle in July revealed Randy Meisner had threatened murder-suicide with an AK-47 while staying at an Encino hospital earlier that year. But he did not have a weapon with him at the time.
The case alleged the one-time Eagle had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
Randy Meisner called police to say his wife had been shot in a closet. (Paul Natkin/WireImage)
One of his friends, James Newton, said in the case Meisner's wife ignored the star's health problems and battles with substance abuse. She allegedly kept her husband in a "state of near-constant inebriation" while wasting his royalties, according to TMZ.
Lana Meisner stormed out of the courtroom when a judge appointed a temporary guardian for her husband.
The rock star's lawyer said the reports of mental problems were "widely overblown," and Randy told TMZ the couple was "doing great."
Newton said in a statement Monday he "continues to be concerned about Randy," and is "focused on getting him the support he needs."
The shooting comes only weeks after fellow Eagles founder Glenn Frey died from complications of several illnesses.
Meisner told the Daily News Frey's death came as a "complete shock," and said he expected his bandmate to recover. Weeks later, when former Eagles honored Frey in a Grammys performance, Meisner wasn't there.
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Even those who think every move of Narendra Modi is linked to achieving narrow tactical goals should stop to think about the consistency with which he has pursued his objectives: a steady reduction in the black economy for gains that seem ephemeral and unsure.
Demonetisation is thus not about winning the Uttar Pradesh elections, though that would be a useful bonus. His political goals are, if anything, extraordinarily ambitious.
Consider his actions since May 2014. He appointed a Special Investigation Team to probe black money as soon as he took over in 2014; he launched the first voluntary disclosure scheme for foreign assets in 2015, which turned out to be a flop as it levied an extortionate 60 per cent tax. He learnt from that and launched the Income Disclosure Scheme (IDS) for domestic black money that closed in September, and managed to obtain Rs 67,382 crore – of which 45 per cent will be tax, payable in instalments.
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Then we had the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Act 2016 that was notified last month. It came just a few days before demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes on 8 November. And learning on the trot, when it seemed likely that people were depositing all their cash into bank accounts, the government passed the Taxation Laws (Second Amendment) Bill to ensure that voluntary disclosures of hidden incomes are taxed at 50 per cent, with another 25 per cent going into a zero-interest deposit for four years. Thus those who declared concealed incomes in IDS-1 will not be thinking they were chumps to do so. And just in case even this does not work, he has shifted the goalposts to a less cash, more digital economy.
The defining features of all these initiatives are the following: one, giving everybody at least one opportunity, if not two, to come clean; two, avoiding harassment of those who do so; and three, persisting with the idea even at the cost of angering the BJP’s own core support base among traders and the professional classes. This cannot make sense to any politician unless the gains expected are even more audacious.
Overall, the focus has been on bringing millions of people in the less formal sectors to the formal financial sector, where banks can lend money to them at lower rates. The Jan Dhan inclusive banking scheme, which has reached banking to almost every household, and the Mudra Bank, are the enabling features in this scenario. Digital payments will enable even distant hamlets to join the banking mainstream through mobiles.
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Having demonstrated his focus consistently, it would be a serious mistake to think Modi will not do anything about political funding reforms or corruption in real estate – the two big black elephants in the room. At the all-party meeting held in Delhi on 15 November, Modi suggested that parliament should discuss state-funding of elections. And the benami properties law notified in November is another pointer to who Modi plans to target next. His strong political backing for the Goods and Services Tax (GST), something he opposed when he was Gujarat chief minister, is one of a piece with this goal. It is about expanding the tax net like never before.
Perhaps nothing explains the deeper design behind these initiatives better than the Prime Minister’s recent address to party members on 16 December, where he said that bureaucrats had been instructed to avoid questioning people who reported sudden spikes in incomes or employees.
The Times of India quotes Modi as saying that the taxman should not conduct any “post-mortem” on businesses that disclose more since the idea is to encourage them to go legit. Thus businesses that show sudden jumps in turnover or an increase in the number of employees will not be subjected to excess scrutiny of their past.
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This is the quote attributed to him by the paper: “There will be no comparison with the past. Officials will not say `take out the old (accounts)'. I have told them no old post-mortem, otherwise no one will come into the mainstream... Yeh afsarshahi (bureaucratic way) nahin chalegi.”
Further, he said that he could visualise a time when a small trader would be able to obtain a bank loan in minutes, since he would have had a financial track record to back his request. “Now, no bank will give a loan to a dhobi as he has no record of income. If he does, he will get a loan quickly.”
The problem for Modi is not his intent, but the reality that the corrupt ecosystem will not change quietly and quickly, as we have seen in the recent tax raids where corrupt bank officials were seen to have colluded with those with hoards of black money, helping them to siphon off new notes in exchange for old.
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Modi’s grand scheme has sometimes floundered on poor conceptualisation and implementation (the foreign assets disclosure scheme and the continuing demonetisation glitches are two clear bits of evidence to prove this), but there is no doubt where he is heading: a more formalised economy, with efficiency and revenue gains.
No one should ever assume that Modi is plotting only tactical political moves. It is clear that his political ambitions are much larger than one has assumed, and this goal takes the possibility of good economic outcomes into its embrace.
In a few sentences, this appears to be the grand plan: shifting the BJP to the centre of the political spectrum by focusing on the empowerment of the less fortunate without expanding freebies excessively. He hopes to finance this by making the tax system more efficient and inclusive, making businesses embrace the straighter path while making life easier for them, and focusing on the elimination of wasteful subsidies, but not subsidies themselves. In terms of direct voter inducements, one can expect cash inflows into Jan Dhan and lower taxes for all due to a widening of the tax base.
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By doing this and all the connected reforms, Modi expects to make BJP the natural party of government, and give himself a second term, which is the timeframe needed to implement pro-poor reforms meaningfully.
Modi is looking to build a more honest nation out of us, but that is both the political selling point and the likely outcome of reducing the cash economy post-demonetisation. This is why we should see 8 November as a turning point in his first term ambitions that will – hopefully – clear the path to 2019 and beyond. |
DENVER | Most Colorado voters oppose recall efforts against two Democratic legislators who supported stricter gun laws, but a majority of voters disagree with the new legislation and don’t believe tougher restrictions would’ve prevented mass shootings, according to a poll released Thursday.
The Quinnipiac University poll showed that 54 percent of voters don’t think Senate President John Morse should be recalled, and 52 percent oppose the recall of Sen. Angela Giron. But the poll is statewide, not specific to their districts — Colorado Springs for Morse and Pueblo for Giron.
Colorado Democrats this session passed a package of new gun laws without Republican support, including limits on ammunition magazines and an expansion of background checks to include private and online firearm sales. The laws were a response to mass shootings last year.
By a margin of 54-40, Colorado voters opposed the new laws. However, registered Democrats were more supportive of the legislation than Republicans, the poll found. Seventy-eight percent of Democrats participating in the poll support the gun laws, while 89 percent of Republicans oppose them.
“Colorado voters oppose the state’s stricter new gun control laws, but they don’t want to recall State Senate President John Morse or Sen. Angela Giron because they supported these laws,” said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. “Philosophically, voters don’t want a recall election every time they disagree with a legislator.”
Most voters polled, 60 percent, said people should wait for regular elections to decide whether to retain a lawmaker they disagree with, instead of conducting a recall.
The poll of 1,184 registered voters was taken from Aug. 15-21 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points. The poll was conducted through live interviews by cellphones and land lines.
Voters were more supportive of the expansion of background checks, with 82 percent saying they were in favor. But the magazine limit was divisive, with 49 percent in support and 48 in opposition. Also, 53 percent of voters thought the new gun laws went too far.
Additionally, 68 percent of voters say they don’t think more background checks or magazine restrictions could have prevented the mass shootings at Columbine High School in 1999 and the suburban Denver movie theater shootings last summer.
County sheriffs are suing the state in an attempt to overturn the magazine limits and expansion of background checks.
The recall elections are set for Sept. 10.
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Read the poll: http://goo.gl/3vRtlt
Find Ivan Moreno on Twitter: http://twitter.com/IvanJourno |
Just when you thought the Texas State 2016 roster was set, the Bobcats go get another big time addition for the fall.
Hightower outside linebacker Clifton Lewis signed his Letter of Intent with Texas State today, officially making him a Bobcat. At 6’1, 200-lbs, Lewis is a 3-star player on all the big recruiting sites and had double digit offers from schools in the Big 12 and the SEC.
An admiration of Texas State’s campus and a close relationship with the Texas State coaches went a long way in him choosing the Bobcats. Associate head coach and linebackers coach John Wiley was his primary recruiter.
“The new coaching staff, they really wanted me. They were really recruiting me,” said Lewis. “ They are a great group of guys, real respectful. That’s the kind of coaches I like.”
Baylor, TCU, Missouri, Oklahoma State, Washington, Kansas, Kansas State, SMU, Houston, New Mexico and Louisiana Tech all offered Lewis along with Texas State. He went on visits to Baylor, TCU, SMU and Oklahoma State.
“I like the campus, the campus is one of the best I’ve ever seen,” said Lewis. “I visited Baylor, TCU, Oklahoma State and SMU. Texas State had the best campus of them all. I didn’t see Baylor’s campus but I did see their facilities.”
He committed to TCU in May of 2015 and stayed committed there until he announced his de-commitment on December 18. Lewis cited a coaching change at TCU for the reason he de-committed, as TCU’s co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach DeMontie Cross left the Horned Frogs to become the new defensive coordinator at Missouri.
Overwhelmed by the amount of offers he received after he de-committed, Lewis said he didn’t sign on National Signing Day in February because he needed time to process everything before picking a school, “I was just trying to figure out where I was going, it got wild after that de-commit,” said Lewis. “Needed some time to figure everything out after that. Staying in Texas was important to me.”
A versatile player, Lewis can be seen in his Hudl playing inside and outside linebacker, defensive end, full back and even special teams. At the 1:35 mark, he even throws a touchdown pass on a fake field goal. He seems like a natural fit at outside linebacker. With a reported 4.7 40 time, he thrives in pass coverage, picking off a few passes and demonstrating a knack for reading plays, in coverage and on run plays. There aren’t too many sacks in his video but there are plenty of busted run plays that he disrupted (speaking of, check out the 1:15 mark in the video to see a monster hit).
“I can play both (outside and inside linebacker) but I would say I’m a better outside linebacker,” said Lewis. “I think I’m better in space, better in the open field than most linebackers but I’m comfortable playing in any defense. ”
Lewis will join the team in August and is expected to play early. He fits in perfectly with the 3-4 base defense the Bobcats will be running this year, “They told me they expect me to play almost as soon as I get there,” said Lewis. “Once I learn the defense, I’ll be playing a lot.”
It has been an unorthodox 2016 class for the Bobcats, as they added four players in the offseason, two graduate transfers (quarterback Eddie Printz and wide receiver Marchie Murdock), a preferred walk-on (quarterback Tyler Ward) and now Lewis. Outside of Ward, those additions are expected to contribute this season, especially Murdock and Lewis. |
Years ago, I did a tiny, impromptu reading in Stevens Point. I announced it on facebook about 20 minutes before the fact, and there were only 6-7 people there.
When I asked for questions, (because I love doing Q&A) someone asked, “How does the currency system work? You’ve got pennies and jots and shims. How does it all fit together?”
“Oh,” I said, waving my hands. “It’s really complicated. You don’t want me to get started.”
“I’m really curious,” she said. “I’d love to hear the details.”
“There really isn’t a simple answer,” I said. “There are, like, six currency systems, and I’ve put a ridiculous amount of thought into how they work, where they come from. All that. It would take me half an hour to explain it all.”
“I’m fine with that,” she said.
“Well, fair enough,” I said. “You might be interested, and I might be interested. But the other folks here probably don’t want to sit through a spontaneous lecture about Four Corners economic history.”
“Actually, I’m really curious too,” one of the other audience members said.
“Okay,” I said, “How about this? If *everyone* here is curious, I’ll explain it.”
And, much to my surprise, everyone there *was* interested. So I sat down and talked about the currency systems. (It actually took closer to 40 minutes.)
Since then, I’ve probably had a hundred people ask me how money works in the Four Corners, both in person and in e-mail. But I’ve never really had the time and opportunity to give them a detailed answer.
But now, as a way of saying thanks for people chipping in to Worldbuilders, I’ve got a cool widget you can play with that will answer a lot of your questions about the different currency systems in my world.
It will also let you do conversions between the different currencies, with or without the Cealdim taking their cut.
What’s more, certain elements of it are clickable. So if you hunt around, you’ll be able to learn more about the history and the currencies themselves. Again, if you’re into that sort of thing. I’m a geek for this stuff. But I’m well aware that not everyone is. That’s why I’ve kept most of it out of the books.
When we re-design the website. The widget will probably have its own page where you can wander over and convert to your geeky heart’s content. But for now, you’ll have to click here to see it.
I’ll probably tweak it more in the future. Maybe get Brett or Nate to draw some of the coins so you can get a better idea of how some of them would look. Stuff like that.
Special thanks go to Jason “Kuma” Brinkerhoff without whom there would be no widget.
You know he’s one of us, because when I asked him for a picture he sent this one where he’s wearing, and I quote: “my Browncoat Ball finery.”
Jason, put up with my vaguely obsessive tendencies and long e-mail silences to put the widget together. Without him, the currency explanation would be nothing but a big texty mass and some ugly conversion tables. Instead, we have something fun we can actually play with.
As a gesture of gratitude, I offer him my heartfelt thanks, and have sent him a set of gold talent pipes. Because he’s awesome.
Lastly, just out of curiosity, if we were to make coins based on the currency in my world. Nice coins, not crappy cheap ones. Would y’all be interested in that?
It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a while, and I’d love to do it. But I’m not sure people would be interested in buying something like that from The Tinker’s Packs.
So… any interest?
pat |
2008 -- Georgia Tech 21, Clemson 17, Clemson, SC
Paul Johnson and Dabo Swinney were in their first season at the helms, though it should be noted that Swinney was in his first game in charge following the mid-season departure of Tommy Bowden. Georgia Tech took a 14-3 lead into halftime after Dominique Reese's pick-six and a Josh Nesbitt run from 5 yards out. The third quarter was not as amicable to the Jackets, with Clemson scoring twice on touchdown passes from Cullen Harper to Aaron Kelly. Down 17-14, Georgia Tech mounted a late comeback with a 24-yard touchdown pass from Nesbitt to Demaryius Thomas. Georgia Tech finished the game with 298 yards of offense and 207 rushing yards.
Georgia Tech would finish the season 9-4 after victories over Miami and uga and a loss to LSU in the Chik-fil-A Bowl, and Paul Johnson was named ACC Coach of the Year. Clemson would finish at 7-6 with wins over Boston College and South Carolina and a loss to Nebraska in the Gator Bowl. Their leading rushers on the season were "Thunder and Lightning", James Davis and C.J. Spiller.
2009 (Round 1) -- Georgia Tech 30, Clemson 27, Atlanta, GA
In Dabo Swinney's first full season as Clemson's head coach, things did not start out favorably for the Tigers on a Thursday night in Atlanta. Georgia Tech jumped out to a 24-0 lead on an 82-yard Anthony Allen touchdown, an 85-yard Jerrard Tarrant punt return for a touchdown, and a totally legal 34-yard pass to Demaryius Thomas from kicker Scott Blair on a fake field goal. The Tigers came storming back though with 27 straight points, to lead with 11:33 left in the game. Two late Scott Blair field goals would end up the deciding factor though, as the Yellow Jackets would take these teams' first battle of the season.
And who could forget the aftermath?
2009 (Round 2) -- Georgia Tech 39, Clemson 34, Tampa, FL
The two teams would come together for a second matchup, with much, much more on the line. The ACC Championship matchup featured these two rivals, and the game didn't turn out a whole lot different than before. The two teams traded blows, with Tech taking a 16-13 halftime lead. The third quarter saw the Yellow Jackets score 17 points, including a Josh Nesbitt run and a long, 70-yard pass to Demaryius Thomas. The 33-20 lead didn't last long, as Clemson scored 14 in the fourth to take a 34-33 lead. As before though, Tech benefitted from last-minute heroics as Jonathan Dwyer rumbled 15 yards for a touchdown with under a minute and a half to go.
Georgia Tech would go on to lose to Iowa in the Orange Bowl to finish with an 11-3 record, while Clemson beat Kentucky in the Music City Bowl to finish 9-5. The Yellow Jackets would later be forced to vacate the win due to NCAA sanctions...but we all know what we saw.
2010 -- Clemson 27, Georgia Tech 13, Clemson, SC
It was a major hangover year for the Yellow Jackets, but they came into this game 5-2. Clemson came in 3-3, but with losses at eventual national champion Auburn (in overtime) and against Coastal foes Miami and North Carolina -- all close games. The Tigers came out hot, taking a 17-0 lead before Georgia Tech got a field goal on the board just before halftime. Tech scored 10 in the third quarter, but never got closer than 24-13 as Clemson rolled to break a 4-game losing streak within the series. The Yellow Jackets ran for 242 yards and gave up over 400, with a Time of Possession deficit to boot.
The Yellow Jackets finished with an ugly 6-7 mark, losing down the stretch to Virginia Tech, Miami, uga, and in the Independence Bowl against Air Force. Clemson would finish with the same 6-7 mark, losing down the stretch to Boston College, Florida State, South Carolina, and South Florida in the Meineke Car Care Bowl. Really a bummer of a year for both teams.
2011 -- Georgia Tech 31, Clemson 17, Atlanta, GA
In one of the most memorable games from my time at school, Georgia Tech was fresh off of their first two losses of the season, while Clemson came in ranked #5 and undefeated at 8-0. Things looked bad for the Yellow Jackets, but it was an 8pm ESPN game and Homecoming, with the stadium rocking for the entire game. Clemson struck first with a field goal, but then Georgia Tech reeled off 24 straight points for a three-touchdown halftime lead. The second half was even more eventful, with a missed offsides call resulting in a Georgia Tech turnover on the goal line, a missed wide open Stephen Hill and poorly thrown pass to Orwin Smith resulting in an interception returned inside the ten yard line, and Jemea Thomas intercepting Tajh Boyd twice to shut the Tigers down. The Jackets would roll for 383 on the ground behind Tevin Washington, David Sims, and Roddy Jones.
Georgia Tech would finish at 8-5, with losses to Virginia Tech, uga, and a crushing loss to Utah in the Sun Bowl, while the loss would derail the Tigers into losing 3 of their last 5 to NC State, South Carolina, and West Virginia in an ugly Orange Bowl performance. However, they made it to the Orange Bowl on the heels of a 38-10 shallacking of Virginia Tech in the ACC Championship game.
2012 -- Clemson 47, Georgia Tech 31, Clemson, SC
Quite simply, Georgia Tech came into this game looking to play spoiler. They had started the season with crushing losses to Virginia Tech, Miami, and Middle Tennessee State (although whether that last one actually happened is up for debate), sporting a 2-3 record against Clemson's 4-1 record (with the 1 coming against Florida State in Tallahassee). Surprisingly, playing spoiler went really well for quite a while. Tech led 14-10 after the first quarter and was within striking distance at halftime, only trailing 27-21. The first 17 minutes of the second half saw Tech reach out and actually execute that strike, taking a 31-30 lead at the 13:00 mark left in the game. However, the Tigers reeled off 17 straight points to end the game, taking home a 47-31 win. It would be two days later when Defensive Coordinator Al Groh was fired from his position, in what would end up marking a huge turning point for the Yellow Jacket defense.
Clemson went on to win out, with the exception of South Carolina, including a Chik-fil-A Bowl win over #9 LSU. The Yellow Jackets would finish as the first team to ever reach a 7-7 mark (it was real weird), with losses to BYU, uga, and Florida State (in the ACC Championship Game), and a dominating win over USC in the Sun Bowl. Very much a noteworthy year for both programs.
2013 -- ??, Clemson, SC |
If you guys want to gift Vietnam to someone who picked up BC2 anywhere but steam (ea store, EB, FS, etc), it won't work.[QUOTE]You have bought the base game somewhere else, and someone has gifted you Vietnam on Steam - well... Long story. The gifting will succeed. Steam will know that you have Vietnam, but you will not see it in the Steam client because you do not have the base game. Therefore you will not be able to view the 16-digit code for Vietnam. Contact Steam support to resolve this.[/QUOTE]There's probably some assbackwards way of doing it on the EA store and giving your friend the CD key, but I don't know the specifics on that if the purchased key is tied to that particular email account. |
First-time selections David Fusitu’a and Solomone Kata are among six players from the Vodafone Warriors’ 2016 squad named today for the Kiwis’ coming Test against the Kangaroos in Perth and the following Four Nations tournament.
Fusitu’a and Kata join standoff Thomas Leuluai, halfback Shaun Johnson, back rower Simon Mannering and hooker Issac Luke.
Kata (21) has been outstanding in his first two seasons in the NRL, topping the team’s try-scoring list both years in totalling 27 tries in 45 appearances. He’s now in line for his Kiwi Test debut after previously playing at international level for Mate Ma’a Tonga.
Fusitu’a, 22 on October 16, also comes into the Kiwis after representing Tonga in this year’s Pacific Test against Toa Samoa. Fusitu’a, who made his NRL debut in 2014, had his most intensive campaign this year appearing in 18 matches and scoring 11 tries to lift his career tally to 20 in 33 matches. He also underlined his versatility by playing on the wing, in the centres and at fullback.
The Wigan-bound Leuluai, Johnson, Mannering and Luke are among the Kiwis’ most experienced internationals with a total of more than 120 Tests between them.
With long-serving Kiwi coach Stephen Kearney now joining the Vodafone Warriors, his successor David Kidwell today included three other newcomers in the touring squad - Penrith's Te Maire Martin and the Canberra duo Jordan Rapana and Joseph Tapine.
Kidwell also confirmed Melbourne's Jesse Bromwich as captain.
Recalled after a three-year absence is Sydney Roosters prop Jared Waerea-Hargreaves.
If selected to play on tour, one of the five newcomers has the opportunity to become Kiwi #800.
“All of these players have shown exciting form during the NRL season and have certainly earned their selection on merit,” says Kidwell.
“But we’re always looking one step ahead, whether that’s to next year’s World Cup or beyond, and we also think all these players can play a big part in keeping the Kiwis on top for many years to come.
“In picking this team, we’ve tried to achieve a balance between players who are proven at test level and those that are the future of the Kiwis' programme. Injuries play an unfortunate part in our game and some of these newcomers will get an immediate opportunity to show they’re ready for the next level.”
Players unavailable for the up-coming campaign include Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, Peta Hiku, Dean Whare, Kieran Foran, Ben Matulino, Alex Glenn and Kodi Nikorima.
Kidwell opted to retain Bromwich (Kiwi #775) as his captain, continuing the role he filled against Australia at Newcastle in May.
“Jesse did a great job leading the team earlier this year in Simon’s absence and, at this stage of his career, I think Simon is just as happy not having the weight of captaincy on him,” says Kidwell.
“But, ultimately, they will both be part of a strong leadership group that set a strong culture for this team.”
The Kiwis will assemble in Perth next weekend for the Test against Australia on October 15.
They open their Four Nations account against host England on Sunday, October 30 (NZ time) at Huddersfield, followed by Australia (November 6) and Scotland (November 12).
2016 KIWIS TO TOUR AUSTRALIA AND ENGLAND
Gerard Beale (Cronulla), 767, 8 Tests
Adam Blair (Brisbane), 732, 35 Tests
Jesse Bromwich (Melbourne), 775, 18 Tests
Lewis Brown (Manly), 762, 10 Tests
Greg Eastwood (Canterbury Bankstown), 737, 24 Tests
David Fusitu'a (Vodafone Warriors)
Tohu Harris (Melbourne), 778, 11 Tests
Shaun Johnson (Vodafone Warriors), 774, 15 Tests
Jordan Kahu (Brisbane), 790, 4 Tests
Solomone Kata (Vodafone Warriors)
Shaun Kenny-Dowall (Sydney Roosters), 746, 17 Tests
Thomas Leuluai (Vodafone Warriors), 704, 34 Tests
Issac Luke (Vodafone Warriors), 749, 36 Tests
Simon Mannering (Vodafone Warriors), 731, 41 Tests
Te Maire Martin (Penrith)
Manu Ma'u (Parramatta), 795, 1 Test
Jason Nightingale (St George Illawarra), 747, 29 Tests
Kevin Proctor (Melbourne), 771, 12 Tests
Jordan Rapana (Canberra)
Joseph Tapine (Canberra)
Jason Taumalolo (North Queensland), 786, 5 Tests
Martin Taupau (Manly), 785, 10 Tests
Jared Waerea-Hargreaves (Sydney Roosters), 755, 17 Tests
Dallin Watene-Zelezniak (Penrith), 794, 1 Test
2016 FOUR NATIONS | SCHEDULE
(GMT times listed)
October 28, 8.00pm | Australia v Scotland, KC Lightstream Stadium, Hull
October 29, 2.30pm | England v New Zealand, John Smith’s Stadium, Huddersfield
November 5, 5.30pm | England v Scotland, Ricoh Arena, Coventry
November 5, 8.00pm | New Zealand v Australia, Ricoh Arena, Coventry
November 11, 8.00pm | New Zealand v Scotland, Zebra Claims Stadium, Workington
November 13, 2.00pm | England v Australia, London Olympic Stadium, London
November 20, 2.30pm | Final, Anfield, Liverpool |
So I did another one of these.With the immense amount of Toads out there, I decided to keep only the main ones that has some sort of connection. Toadette being the sister of Toad rather than his GF is based upon this note from a prima guide for Mario Kart Wii. Note that all of these three groups are not distinctly related to each other, but belong to their own families respectively. Also, worth pointing out is that the Blue and Yellow Toad in the Toad Brigade is not the same as the ones seen in the NMSB series, given their distinctive personalities. The NSMB Toads are named Ala-Gold and Bucken-Berry as given by this developer interview , but note that it might not mirror canon, seeing as it they were only pre-production nicknames for the characters. That said, I do think it gives them more of a lively personality to them.Have I left any toad out you think I should include? Don't hesitate to point it out! |
CenterPoint Energy, the largest gas utility in Minnesota, this week filed for an across-the-board rate hike of 6.4 percent, or $56.5 million, money it expects to use for pipeline replacements and other projects.
CenterPoint’s proposal would lead to an increase of about $4.50 per month for the average residential customer, the company said in a filing with the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC). The current average monthly residential bill is $56.
The utility has asked the PUC for an interim rate increase of $51.2 million, or 5.8 percent, which would go into effect on or after Oct. 1. The PUC often grants interim rate increases. But if the commission’s final approved rate increase is less than the interim rate hike, customers get refunds with interest. The PUC’s final decision isn’t likely until fall 2018.
In June 2016, the PUC approved a rate increase of 3.5 percent or $27.5 million rate for CenterPoint — roughly half of what the utility had requested when it filed its last rate case in 2015. The PUC approved a 3.9 percent rate increase for CenterPoint in 2014.
CenterPoint, based in Houston, supplies gas to about 840,000 customers in Minnesota; around 90 percent of them are residential ratepayers.
The company serves a large part of the Twin Cities and portions of central and southern Minnesota. Minnesota is CenterPoint’s largest service territory outside of Texas.
CenterPoint says it needs the rate hike for capital investments, “such as our ongoing pipeline replacement programs, [which] maintain the safety and reliability of our natural gas system,” the company said in PUC filing. In particular, CenterPoint is “improving and modernizing gas pipelines and distribution mains throughout several neighborhoods in our service areas.”
Essentially, CenterPoint says it needs to more closely align rates with its own costs.
CenterPoint’s proposed rate increase would hike the basic fixed charge customers pay from $9.50 to $11 per month. It would also raise the gas delivery charge from 21 cents per therm to 25 cents. The delivery charge makes up about 40 percent of a customer’s bill.
The rate increase does not include adjustments for the cost of natural gas, which makes up 60 percent of the variable costs in a customer’s bill. |
Current trends in software and backend architecture have been evolving towards a more loosely coupled more granular design. I am sure most of you have heard of microservice based architectures. read more
The latest development on that front in the past couple of years has been the advent of serverless which allows you to run applications in very cost effective ephemeral services. This is why it is important to have a proper gateway for your API that is able to route all your requests to the designated endpoint.
GraphQL stands out in that respect as being a mature open sourced standard started at Facebook. We will first have a look at how we set up our own GraphQL server locally, then we will explore the Query language and schema definitions it provides which allows you essentially query your mesh of services from a single point of entry. The beauty of that is it will notify you early if any of your endpoints is misbehaving or the schemas are out of date by erroring out. Another advantage of this is that it allows for your API documentation to be a real time process and it will give you what one may call an API playground where you can query and explore your API.
After we explore our serverless API we will have a look at the more advanced features and standards around mutators and resolvers and then we will close by going all in, full serverless and deploy our graphql server to a function in the cloud. |
CLOSE On October 20th, 12-year-old Autumn Pasquale disappeared after riding her bike away from her Clayton home. Courier-Post
Buy Photo Anita Saunders (Photo: Denise Henhoeffer/Courier-Post)Buy Photo
The mother of Autumn Pasquale's killer may file a civil complaint against her jailed son and his father seeking to hold them responsible for damages if they lose a suit brought by the victim's father, a judge ruled this week.
Superior Court Judge David W. Morgan in Woodbury allowed Anita Saunders to file the complaint against her ex-husband, Alonzo Robinson, and her son, Justin Robinson.
If they lose a civil suit, Saunders wants her share of damages paid by Justin and his father, according to court papers.
"That's not surprising," said Doug Long, attorney for Autumn Pasquale's father, Anthony, who filed suit against Saunders and the Robinsons last year.
"What's surprising is she's trying to protect herself through indemnification if she ultimately loses."
Pasquale says Justin Robinson's parents should be held accountable for his daughter's 2012 murder. Justin, now 17, pleaded guilty last year to strangling Autumn inside Saunders' Clayton home and dumping her body in a trash can next door.
He was sentenced to 17 years in prison.
Pasquale says Justin Robinson's parents should have known their son "posed a risk to third parties" before Autumn's slaying and should have sought treatment for him after the teen allegedly witnessed his father attempting to strangle Saunders.
Autumn's father seeks restitution for pain and suffering and reimbursement of funeral expenses. His suit alleges several counts of negligence against Saunders and Alonzo Robinson and a count of wrongful death against their son.
Neither Saunders' attorney, Alfred J. Quasti, nor Justin Robinson's lawyer, Sharon King, returned calls for comment.
"Keep in mind, while there are other counts, the major count against Justin's mom is negligent supervision," Long said.
"I'm not sure a court would allow her to be indemnified by her son. ... A 16-year-old couldn't be negligent in supervising himself."
Reach Carly Q. Romalino at (856) 486-2476 and [email protected]
Read or Share this story: http://on.cpsj.com/1gYBEwB |
Police Patrol Vehicle Spotted Passing Stopped School Bus Letting Child Off Copyright 2019 Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Sheridan School District says they have reviewed surveillance footage which authorities say "very clearly" shows the patrol car was with LRPD. [ + - ] Copyright 2019 Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Cameras on the bus can capture the license plate of a car passing by. [ + - ] Video
EAST END, Ark. - A school bus driver has accused the driver of a police patrol vehicle of passing a stopped bus while a child tried to cross the street. The Little Rock Police Department (LRPD) says it was one of their marked cars.
The Sheridan School District has sent a report along with surveillance video to the Saline County Prosecutor's Office.
According to investigators the video "very clearly" shows the passing vehicle is a LRPD patrol car.
It happened in East End when a Sheridan school bus dropped off a student Tuesday (9/24) afternoon around 4 p.m.
"I had been noticing this car coming and from a distance. [It] even looked like a police black-and-white unit," said the bus driver, David Jeffrey. "I started getting on the bus horn."
He says the student got back on the side of the road out of the way but the car never stopped.
According to Sheridan's Director of Administrative Services, Mickey Siler, they have reviewed the video which shows the license plate number.
Siler said, "We take it very seriously because it's the safety of our kids."
According to LRPD the vehicle belongs to a patrol officer approved to take his car home. They have not released the officer's name but confirm there is an ongoing internal investigation in addition to the Prosecutor's criminal investigation.
The Saline County Prosecutors Office says it regularly prosecutes these cases as a misdemeanor.
If charged and convicted, it could result in fines and fees and having your license suspended for at least 21 days.
According to the Arkansas Division of Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation this very thing can happen hundreds of times statewide in one day.
Remember, passing a stopped school bus with its safety lights on is against the law. |
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