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holding a piece of time in my hands... this was an amazing shot..i only how clear it was until after i downloaded the photos onto my computer. the timing was perfect and the sense of holding it in my hand was quite surreal.
i took several photos to get this one...some came close to this but not this clear. as the water fell from the roof, it formed a small pool of water in my hand and then one drop eventually hit it right in the middle, making this crown of water. it was quite simple actually. more a case of trial-and-error than anything else..and a moment's inspiration of sticking my hand out to let the water fall on it..
it was still drizzling, so the roof was dripping water at a regular interval. i timed the interval in my mind in synch with the shutter button and then voilá! . it was a mixture of luck and inspiration and a lot of errors...i must have taken 20 photos to get this one..but it's worth it. |
Abandoned e-waste acid stripping operation along waterway. Guiyu, China.
Guiyu (Chinese: 贵屿), in Guangdong Province, China, is widely perceived as the largest electronic waste (e-waste) site in the world.[1] In 2005, there were 60,000 e-waste workers in Guiyu who processed the more than 100 truckloads that were transported to the 52-square-kilometre area every day.[2] The constant movement into and processing of e-wastes in the area leading to the harmful and toxic environment and living conditions, coupled with inadequate facilities, have led to the Guiyu town being nicknamed the "electronic graveyard of the world".[3]
It is believed that much of the waste is imported from developed countries. The European Union has sanctions against exporting waste to developing countries, but those rules are aggressively ignored. Many waste goods are classed as “charitable donations” before they’re dumped on scrap heaps. Similarly, Agbogbloshie, in Ghana, is another example how thousands of tons of electronic waste from Europe is dumped in developing countries.[4]
Health impacts [ edit ]
Once a rice village,[5] the pollution has made Guiyu unable to produce crops for food and the water of the river is undrinkable. Many of the primitive recycling operations in Guiyu are toxic and dangerous to workers' health with 80% of children suffering from lead poisoning.[6] Above-average miscarriage rates are also reported in the region. Workers use their bare hands to crack open electronics to strip away any parts that can be reused—including chips and valuable metals, such as gold, silver, etc. Workers also "cook" circuit boards to remove chips and solders, burn wires and other plastics to liberate metals such as copper; use highly corrosive and dangerous acid baths along the riverbanks to extract gold from the microchips; and sweep printer toner out of cartridges. Children are exposed to the dioxin-laden ash as the smoke billows around Guiyu, and finally settles on the area. The soil surrounding these factories has been saturated with lead, chromium, tin, and other heavy metals.[citation needed] Discarded electronics lie in pools of toxins that leach into the groundwater, making the water undrinkable to the extent that water must be trucked in from elsewhere. Lead levels in the river sediment are double European safety levels, according to the Basel Action Network.[7] Lead in the blood of Guiyu's children is 54% higher on average than that of children in the nearby town of Chendian.[8] Piles of ash and plastic waste sit on the ground beside rice paddies and dikes holding in the Lianjiang River.
A 2008 study titled Heavy Metals Concentrations of Surface Dust from E-Waste Recycling and Its Human Health Implications in Southeast China[9] examined environmental and human health risks in Guiyu by collecting dust samples from workshops, roads, a schoolyard and an outdoor food market that sells fish, vegetables and meat. The study found that in the workshops, there were elevated levels of lead, copper and zinc; at a schoolyard, there were elevated levels of lead and copper. Other areas near the school also contained extremely high levels of nickel in areas where children often eat (and are therefore exposed to contaminated dust). In the food market, high levels of copper, nickel, lead and zinc were found. This was a concern because the food (often placed in plastic buckets on the ground) likely comes into contact with this contaminated dust. Lead and copper in road dust were 330 and 106, and 371 and 155 times higher, respectively, than non e-waste sites located 8 and 30 km away. High levels of toxic metals at the schoolyard and food market showed that public places were adversely impacted. Out of all the metals found, lead consistently had the greatest amounts present at all locations, with Copper being the second most-abundant. Levels of lead for a workshop employee exceeded the “safe” amount of oral lead ingestion by 50 times. Lead levels for the general public were 5 times lower than those for e-waste workers but was still higher than the "safe" amount. Children, who face great adverse effects from lead poisoning, face a potential health risk at all locations 8 times higher than adults.[citation needed] Studies done in 2009 have revealed that Guiyu has some of the highest levels of dioxin contamination in the world.[10]
Children under the age of 6 are especially vulnerable to lead poisoning, which can severely affect their mental and physical development or even be fatal. Lead can result in irreversible brain damage to their still developing brains. Some symptoms of lead poisoning in children include loss of appetite, weight loss, fatigue, stomach pain, vomiting, constipation and learning difficulties. Symptoms in adults include high blood pressure, decline in mental functioning, pain/numbness of extremities, muscle weakness, headache, stomach pain, memory loss, mood disorders and fertility problems including higher probability of miscarriages.[11] For both children and adults, lead poisoning can result in damage to the kidneys and nervous system.[12]
Economic rationale [ edit ]
The economic incentives created by strict domestic regulation, non-existent or unenforced regulations in developing countries, and the ease of free trade brought about by globalization, led recyclers to export e-waste. The value of parts in discarded electronics provides an incentive for poverty-stricken citizens to migrate to Guiyu from other provinces to work in processing it. Guiyu has 5,500 businesses, many of them family workshops, that dismantle old electronics to extract lead, gold, copper and other valuable metals. This industry employs tens of thousands of people and dismantles 1.5 million pounds of discarded computers, cell phones and other electronics each year. The average worker, adult or child, makes barely $1.50/day (or 17 cents/hour).[citation needed] The average workday is sixteen hours. This $1.50 is made by recovering the valuable metals and parts that are within the piles of discarded electronics. Even this relatively tiny profit is enough motivation for workers to risk their health.
Media coverage [ edit ]
Guiyu as an e-waste hub was first documented fully in December 2001 by the Basel Action Network, a non-profit organization which combats the practice of toxic waste export to developing countries in their report and documentary film entitled Exporting Harm.[7] The health and environmental issues exposed by this report and subsequent scientific studies[14] have greatly concerned international organizations such as the Basel Action Network and later Greenpeace and the United Nations Environment Programme and the Basel Convention. Media documentation of Guiyu is tightly regulated by the Chinese government, for fear of exposure or legal action.[citation needed] For example, a November 2008 news story by 60 Minutes, a popular US TV news program, documented the illegal shipments of electronic waste from recyclers in the US to Guiyu. While taping part of the story on-site at an illegal recycling dump in Guiyu, representatives of the Chinese recyclers attempted without success to confiscate the footage from the 60 Minutes TV crew.[15] Greenpeace has protested the environmental impacts of e-waste recycling in Guiyu using different methods to raise awareness such as building a statue using e-waste collected from a site in Guiyu, or delivering a truckload of e-waste dumped in Guiyu back to Hewlett Packard headquarters. Greenpeace has been lobbying large consumer electronics companies to stop using toxic substances in their products, with varying degrees of effectiveness.[16]
Cleanup efforts [ edit ]
Since 2007, conditions in Guiyu have changed little despite the efforts of the central government to crack down and enforce the long-standing e-waste import ban. However, because of the work of activist groups and increasing awareness of the situation, the local government has created steps to improve environmental conditions. "It can be done. Look at what happened with lead acid batteries. We discovered they were hazardous, new legislation enforced new ways of dealing with the batteries which led to an infrastructure being created. The key was making it easy for people and companies to participate. It took years to build. E-waste is going the same route. But attitudes have changed and we will get there," says Robert Houghton, president and founder of Redemtech, an asset management and recovery firm.[17] Zheng Songming, head of the Guiyu Township government has published a decree to ban burning electronics in fires and soaking them in sulfuric acid, and promises supervision and fines for violations. Over 800 coal-burning furnaces have been destroyed because of this ordinance, and most notably, air quality has returned to Level II, now technically acceptable for habitation.
In 2013, 《汕头市贵屿地区电子废物污染综合整治方案》(Comprehensive Scheme of Resolving Electronic Waste Pollution of Guiyu region of Shantou City) was approved by Guangdong Province government.[18] Part of this scheme involves building and relocating all the workshops into an industrial ecology park where the wastes can be properly treated and recycled.[19] In 2017, most workshops were merged into larger companies and moved to the National Circular Economy Pilot Industry Park.[20][21] However, many areas are still contaminated from the remnants of E-waste processing and have not been cleaned up.
See also [ edit ] |
This article is over 4 years old
Crews from across Norfolk and nearby Cambridgeshire called out to tackle fire at Downham Market
A fire station has been destroyed by a blaze.
Eight fire appliances were called from across Norfolk and Cambridgeshire after flames were spotted coming from the windows of the fire station in Downham Market, Norfolk, at about 12.30am.
The blaze started in a bay where the station's fire engine was housed. Nobody was injured.
Norfolk's deputy chief fire officer, Roy Harrold, told the BBC: "Normally we go to other people's fires, but tonight we had to go to our own."
Norfolk's chief fire officer, Nigel Williams, said: "Our priority today is to provide full fire cover for the people of Downham and I am pleased that this has been achieved very quickly." An investigation has been launched into the fire.
The town's fire crew has been provided with new equipment and a replacement fire engine, which is being kept at the nearby police station.
Dan Roper, Norfolk county council cabinet member for public protection, said: "Although incidents like this are very rare, we have contingency plans in place to deal with emergencies such as this.
"This event reminds us that nobody is immune when a fire breaks out." |
My mother and her 8 brothers and sisters grew up on the West side of Indianapolis, just a few blocks from the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway. From my grandmother’s porch, for one fantastic month every year, you can hear the undeniable hum of the IndyCars as they speed around the track. As kids, my uncles would spend the entire month of May working odd jobs at the track and doing anything they could to be around the Indy Racing League. Years later, my parents actually met at an Indy 500 when my mom’s father convinced his college roommate, my dad’s father, into loading his family into an RV and driving 400 miles down I-70 for his first Indy 500. The magic of the IRL is undeniable… and in a weird way, a big reason why I even exist.
I have an almost spiritual attraction to the IRL, and I can’t explain why. I’m not a car guy – my head doesn’t whip around when I see a Maserati drive down the street. I can change a flat and jump a dead battery but that’s about it, and if you pop the hood and have me take a look I’m more likely to point at something and call it the “flux capacitor” than actually provide any useful information. But for some reason, whenever I see the boys of the Indy circuit roaring around a turn at full speed, I still get goosebumps and the feeling that I could run through a brick wall.
This year, the IRL and I have moved out of the casual hookup stage and into a full blown relationship. Typically, I attend the Indy 500 and that’s it. This year, I have ventured to IRL races in Tampa, Los Angeles, and the roaring metropolis of Birmingham. Just like every girl’s Facebook from the ages of 14-18 always says, “If you can’t handle me at my worst, then you don’t deserve me at my best.” Well this season for me has been dedicated to experiencing the good, the bad, and the ugly of the IRL, and I am here to sing its praises to you.
You see folks, it’s May. It’s race month. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is open for practice all month. The jean shorts are being dusted off. Local Indy legend has it that if you pick up a crushed Natty Lite can and hold it to your ear in May, you can hear the sound of fresh mullets being cut all across the West side.
The first Indy 500 in my memory occurred in 1997. The 8-year-old version of me had selected Robby Gordon by chance in the family’s blind draw gambling pool, so I was in the grandstand cheering my heart out for the man in the purple Coors Light machine, not knowing how important his sponsor would later become in my life.
That year’s race was crazy. They ran for 15 laps that Sunday, but then the rain came and postponed the race indefinitely. For any other Sunday sporting event – baseball, badminton, Quidditch, you name it – getting postponed would have been a complete disaster. But for the Indy 500 it just added to the glory (thanks again to Robby Gordon’s sponsor). Postponing the Indy 500 to another day especially a school day for a child is the adult equivalent to your girlfriend mid-naughty saying, “hold on let me go get my friend.” It just drags on the excitement for a young boy because when the race resumed on Monday, guess what? NO SCHOOL – GONE RACIN’!
Robby Gordon got in a private jet after the delay and flew to Charlotte, where he also raced in a NASCAR event on Sunday. He wrecked his car on Lap 186. When the Indy 500 resumed on Monday, he blew his engine almost immediately. I can still remember the disappointment and awe as I watched his car come to a stop right in front of my seats and he came diving out. You can add “my spirits” to the long list of things that Robby Gordon broke that weekend, but even after that, I knew I was a race fan for life. Like the Phoenix (Robby Gordon) rises from the ashes, and pressure fortifies diamonds, my love for the Indy 500 only got stronger as time has run its course.
I have been to every Indy 500 since then, and each one has a life of its own. There was the year of the poo dollar (2007), the year I had to DD (2005), the year we set our tent on fire in the Coke Lot (2012), and the year one of my crew passed out during the race (2006-2014). I want to take a quick second to apologize to everyone for 2007. I think everyone owes me an apology for 2005.
But in the end, I believe props are in order here. Props to the IRL, props to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, props to Coors Light, and props to all of my race fan brethren out there. Let’s race some cars this May. And I guess while we’re at it, Robby Gordon can have some props too.
-Vincent Van Gogh-Kart |
Law firms are lucrative targets of cyberscams Cybercrime
Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Law firms are lucrative targets of cyberscams 1 / 1 Back to Gallery
Last spring, a Long Beach law firm received an e-mail from a Hong Kong businessman seeking help collecting debts from American customers. An attorney with the firm saw it as a great opportunity to reel in more business during the economic downturn and agreed to help.
After a month of signing paperwork and exchanging telephone calls with his client, the attorney received word from one debtor who sent a $200,000 cashier's check to pay off his balance. The attorney deposited it in his firm's account, subtracted his $10,000 fee and wired the remaining amount to his Hong Kong client.
An hour-and-a-half later, the attorney's bank called and told him the check bounced. Fortunately, the bank was able to prevent the wire transfer from reaching its destination. He almost had been duped out of $190,000.
"They send me a nice, big, worthless check," said the attorney, who asked to remain anonymous. "Needless to say that was not a fun day. They were the hardest 24 hours of my life."
The case is illustrative of the cyberthreats law firms face today and for them the threat is double-barreled.
Cyber-criminals see law firms as particularly lucrative targets that can earn them hundreds of thousands of dollars per heist. Cyberspies also attack attorney firms to steal client data that can be sold or used to learn the details of future litigation.
One day before Google revealed in January that it had been hit by an elaborate attack on its data and the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists, several partners at Los Angeles law firm Gipson Hoffman & Pancione, which had just begun a copyright infringement lawsuit against China, were hit by similar attempts to infiltrate their systems.
Although there is no firm data on cyberattacks on law firms, the FBI issued an alert in late January warning law firms about scammers purporting to need help collecting delinquent payments or divorce settlement money. The State Bar of California issued a similar warning in May.
Officials with City National Bank in Los Angeles, which serves more than 2,400 legal clients in California, Nevada and New York and helped the Long Beach attorney recover his money, said that in the past two years the institution has prevented the loss of about $2 million in counterfeit check schemes.
"The economy being down has increased the volume and level of sophistication" of these scams, said Joe Flueckiger, head of corporate security for the bank.
More scams
Attorneys say they are receiving these scams with increasing frequency.
"Six months ago I hadn't seen any of them," said Brian Hoffman, a San Francisco intellectual property attorney at the Mountain View firm Fenwick & West LLP. "A couple of months ago I started seeing them once a week. Now I see them once or twice a day."
Cyber-espionage is perhaps a more widespread and pressing concern that continues to fly largely undetected under the public radar, said Scott Blackmer, founding partner of high-tech law firm Information Law Group.
Expanding focus
A recent report by information security company Mandiant said that during the past five years criminals have expanded their focus from government and military targets to researchers, manufacturers, nonprofit agencies and law firms.
Security experts said criminals gain access into law firms' networks using highly tailored schemes to trick attorneys into downloading customized malware into their computers. It is not uncommon for them to remain undetected for long periods of time and come and go as they please, they said.
Losing private data
Stephen Surdu, Mandiant's vice president of professional services, said hacking, in addition to damaging a law firm's reputation, can result in the loss of confidential information belonging to corporate clients - trade secrets, intellectual property, source data, details on new patents and products - and have serious repercussions across industries.
"In those cases (criminals) are not trying to defraud the law firm; they're trying to get information from them so they can gain the market," Blackmer said.
Government backing
Experts say attacks are often orchestrated by overseas competitors with the support or endorsement of their governments. Scott Borg, director and chief economist at the nonprofit U.S. Cyber Consequences Unit, said criminals have been known to even sell information stolen by cyber exploits in the form of research to litigants.
"There have been cases where companies or countries that certain corporations were negotiating with were clearly handed confidential information," he said.
Attorneys at Los Angeles law firm Gipson Hoffman & Pancione were aware of a possible attack before it happened for similar reasons.
A week before they were attacked, the firm filed a $2.2 billion lawsuit against the Chinese government and several computer manufacturers on behalf of CYBERsitter, a Santa Barbara software-maker, claiming that China helped distribute copies of Green Dam, an Internet-censoring program with code allegedly stolen from the company.
Higher risk
The FBI is investigating the attack on the firm and it is still uncertain whether it was connected to the Google attack. But Alex Stamos, a founding partner at iSEC Partners, a San Francisco security consulting firm that recently published research identifying about 100 organizations hit by the attack, said that law firms are on the list of organizations most at risk of being targets in the future.
"Most law firms are going to be in trouble if this is the level of adversary they're going to deal with," he said. "It's impossible even for the largest law firms to have a dedicated security team that can hold their own against these people." |
Everton have stepped up their pursuit of Davy Klaassen, the Ajax midfielder, and are hoping for a positive answer from Sandro Ramírez, the Spanish striker, today as they look to launch their summer recruitment drive.
A £26 million fee for Klaassen, who disappointed in Ajax’s Europa League final defeat to Manchester United last month, has been mooted. Ajax are expecting the departure of Klaassen, whom Koeman believes can add to Everton’s productivity from midfield - something of a problem last season.
The move would add to the uncertainty over the future of Ross Barkley, who has turned down a new £100,000-a-week contract.
Sandro, the former Barcelona forward, would be available for £5.2m from Malaga due to a release clause in his contract Aitor Alcalde Colomer/Getty Images
Romelu Lukaku remains determined to return to Chelsea this summer, although Everton will not buckle on their £100 million valuation, and striking reinforcements… |
On this day in 1972, Alabama Gov. George Wallace was shot during an outdoor rally for his presidential campaign at a shopping center in Laurel, Md.
Wallace was permanently paralyzed from the waist down and three others were wounded in the shooting by 21-year-old Arthur Bremer, who later said he was motivated by a desire for fame.
Bremer was convicted of attempted murder and was released from prison in 2007.
The shooting ended Wallace's surging bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, later won by George McGovern. Lt. Gov. Jere Beasley assumed his gubernatorial duties in Montgomery for a month while Wallace recovered in a Maryland hospital.
Wallace served as governor from 1963–1967, 1971–1979 and 1983–1987. In the late 1970s, he announced that he was a born-again Christian and apologized to black civil rights leaders for his past actions as a segregationist.
Wallace announced in 1986 that he would not seek a fifth term as governor and that he was retiring from politics.
In 1992, when asked to comment on the 20th anniversary of his attempted assassination, Wallace replied, "I've had twenty years of pain."
Wallace died in 1998 at age 79. |
One powerful tool you can use to debug your server (particularly to test your parse function) is telnet . It will let you send good (and bad) requests to your server, to let you test your various error messages. Here's how.
In one terminal window, launch the staff's server program from the pset6 directory, as explained in the pset: ~cs50/pset6/server public
In a second terminal window, in the pset6 directory, run telnet localhost 8080 .
You will see something like
Trying ::1... Trying 127.0.0.1... Connected to localhost. Escape character is '^]'.
You can then send a request line, such as GET /cat.html HTTP/1.1 (be sure to press Return twice to send the /r/n/r/n expected). You should then see
HTTP/1.1 200 OK Content-Type: text/html <!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head> <title>Happy Cat</title> </head> <body> <img alt="Happy Cat" src="cat.jpg"/> </body> </html> Connection closed by foreign host.
If you want to see what error messages you might expect, try GET cat (return twice). Did you get a 400? |
If you want to find an expensive, exotic or luxurious car painted in an unusual color or finished in an interesting way, Abu Dhabi is always the place to look. There are some funky cars there. One of which is this BMW M760Li xDrive which has been painted in Rallye Green and its, uh….well, it’s interesting.
This specific green is actually the work of BMW’s Individual program, so it’s not some shoddy paint job or a wrap. It’s the real deal. While it may not be for you, as it isn’t necessarily for me, it’s certainly different and eye-catching. So if that’s what you’re after, check this car out. It does liven up a rather staid looking car, though, which is one of the good things about this Shrek-colored M760Li. With a 600 hp twin-turbo V12, it should look a bit exciting and the standard car is a bit “bleh”. So this makes it stand out a bit more.
if (pl_is_mobile()) { ? } ?
What’s even better is the fact that it’s been fitted with the front bumper and rear spoiler of an ALPINA B7, which actually looks really good. At first, I thought my eyes were tricking me. My eyes were telling me it was a B7 but I knew I read that it was an M760Li. After looking at it for awhile, I really like the way it looks and all 7 Series buyers should ALPINA-fy their car. It looks damn good.
Inside, it gets Ivory leather, which is a huge contrast to the bright green paint. However, aside from its retina-searing contrast, it’s a pretty standard 7 Series cabin. Still, it looks good and it’s lovely place to sit.
if (pl_is_mobile()) { ? } ?
Personally, I don’t like the color. It’s too…green. However, I do like that it’s different and weird because different and weird is good. It shakes up the BMW M760Li a bit, giving it more character. If this car is for you, you know where to find it.
[Source: Car Scoops |
I’ve got an oped in the Times today on the GOP meltdown over Obamacare.
While pundits and journalists focus on the problems of personality (Trump’s or the GOP’s as a whole) and policy (the Republican bill was a terrible bill, the assumption being that Republicans somehow never pass terrible bills), of timing (the GOP should have waited to do healthcare until after they dealt with taxes, an analysis that gets things backward) and tactics (Trump negotiated badly, Ryan led badly), the real story, I argue, is deeper and more structural:
Movements long ensconced and habituated to power — such that when their leaders are out of office, their ideas still dominate — get out of that practice. They lose touch with that external reality of their opponents. The impulsion outward disappears; they grow isolated and doctrinaire, more sectarian than evangelical. Arguments their predecessors had to sweat their way through soften into lazy nostrums or harden into rigid dogmas. The free-market ideal, Hayek says, “became stationary when it was most influential.” Now the movement’s problem is the opposite of when it was in its ascendancy. Its leaders may control all the elected branches of the federal government, as the Republicans do now and as the Democrats did under Jimmy Carter, and many of the state governments, but they no longer control or set the terms of political debate as much as they once did. Their power in government conceals their slipping hold on public legitimacy. It’s not that the character of the personnel has changed: The Tea Party supporter is no more zealous than Barry Goldwater, and on any given day, Ronald Reagan could be as fuzzy and foggy as Donald Trump. It’s the context that has changed. Yesterday’s conservative wrote and read his Bible in the crucible of defeat; today’s recites his catechism in a cathedral of success. It’s no surprise, then, that the Republican Party should now find itself uncertain about what to do. After 40 years in Zion, it has lost the will and clarity it acquired while wandering in the desert. The movement has lost the constraint of circumstance.
You can read more here.
Looking forward, there are two issues to consider.
First, taxes.
Now that the Republicans have been defeated on healthcare, or defeated themselves, I’m seeing on social media a fair amount of second-guessing and stealing victory from the jaws of defeat. Some analysts and partisans are now saying that Trump and Ryan and the Republicans didn’t really care about repealing Obamacare, that this was all kabuki theater orchestrated by Trump or Bannon or Ryan himself.
That’s, well, not true.
If you go back to the best reporting on this issue, it’s clear that repealing Obamacare was never, simply, about an ideological antipathy to government-provided or government-subsidized insurance—though that of course played a role. What really was driving the repeal—and why Ryan insisted it had to be done first (that was no duping of Trump, as some are claiming, nor was it Bannon setting up the Freedom Caucus, as some are even more fantastically claiming)—was the tax cuts: not only the massive tax cuts that the repeal contained within itself, but also, and more important, the permanent tax cuts that repeal would make possible down the road this year (in a way that George W. Bush’s tax cuts were not permanent, much to the chagrin of the right). There was, in other words, a very rational reason to take on healthcare first; in some ways, given the ultimate long-term goals of the GOP (where cutting taxes has always proven to be the most tried and true method for keeping entitlement spending under control), they had no choice but to move on healthcare first.
That was why, ultimately, I thought the repeal might pass: Ryan and Trump could make it clear to the Unfreedom Caucus that without repeal, they couldn’t get permanent tax cuts.
Now, if they want permanent tax cuts, they’re going to have eliminate the Senate filibuster because they’d have to eliminate the Byrd Rule. So there’s no way of slicing yesterday’s defeat as anything other than a massive defeat for Trump, Ryan, and the entire GOP: not only on political grounds (I think people really underestimate how bad it is for a president to lose like this this early on; again, this is partially why Bannon worked so hard to get this bill passed) but also on substantive policy grounds insofar as this messes up their plans on taxes.
Second, the debt.
I’ve been saying for months that the Republicans are facing a Bermuda Triangle around Obamacare, taxes, and the debt. As we get toward the April deadline on the debt ceiling, will the Republicans lift the debt ceiling or enact stopgap measures that will allow the federal government to spend in the coming months?
You’ll recall that this issue dogged Obama like the plague: whether you think it was the GOP that controlled him on this issue or he who allowed himself to be controlled by the GOP, it was a real constraint on his presidency from 2010 onward. So as soon as Trump was elected I began to wonder to myself whether this same GOP, and particularly these meshuga Tea Partiers, would allow Trump simply to increase the debt ceiling without exacting some sort of price from him, the way they did with Obama.
Under Obama, liberal journalists and partisan defenders of Obama had treated the GOP grandstanding on the debt as it if were all about race: these members of Congress simply refused to accept Obama’s legitimacy as a black president, so refused to increase the debt as a way of thumbing their nose at them. I always thought that explanation was wrong because it ignored how hardcore these people were on the tax/spending issue, and how their stance totally fit with Grover Norquist’s long-term strategy of divesting the government of tax money in order to force cuts in social spending (Norquist always being the best guide, when it comes to taxes and spending, to the reactionary mind).
Now we come to the Trump administration. Leftists alarmed by Trump tend to think the GOP will naturally fall in line with him and with Bannon’s vision of a different kind of GOP. So the debt ceiling from this perspective won’t even be an issue. I myself really didn’t know what would happen: would these Tea Party types really have the gumption to oppose Trump on the debt, to force him to come around to their priorities? I was dubious.
After what happened this past week, I’m no longer dubious. I still have no idea what the GOP will do, but I think it not impossible that the Unfreedom Caucus and their allies (a much wider group in the GOP) will replay with Trump what they did with Obama: demand concessions from Trump on taxes and spending in order to justify their voting to raise the debt ceiling. The difference this time around is that unlike Obama, Trump has far less room to maneuver: Obama had the entire Democratic Party vote and only needed a certain number of GOP votes; Trump has an uncertain number of GOP votes and will almost definitely have to reach out to the Democratic Party.
If the Democrats are smart and ready to play hardball, they could extract some concessions of their own—not necessarily on penny ante spending crap, which will never be enough to deal with the rot and which they can probably win anyway given GOP division on the budget, but maybe on some of the nastier parts of the Trump program. |
SublimeDebugger
This is a graphical debugger for Sublime Text 3.
Hire Me
The developer of this project needs a job. I can relocate anywhere in the world or work remotely. I have a degree in Mechanical Engineering. [email protected]
Features
Setting breakpoints, using either keyboard shortcuts or the console.
Local and Global Variables Inspector
Expression Watcher
Breakpoints Editor
Step, Continue, Next, Outer/Inner frame through the console
Languages Supported
Python 2
Python 3
How to add support to your favourite Language
You've got to write a backend for the debugger. They are located in the backends folder. Your backend should implement a class with the following members (Which will be called by the frontend):
set_break(filename, line, bpinfo)
Is called by the frontend to set a breakpoint. bppinfo is a dict containing info about the breakpoint (backend dependant).
clear_break(filename, line)
Is called by the frontend to clear a breakpoint.
toggle_break(filename, line)
Is called by the frontend to toggle a breakpoint.
tryeval(expr)
Is called by the frontend to evaluate an expression. It is needed to fill the Expression Watcher. Should return the result of the evaluated expression in the current context.
runscript(filename)
Is called by the frontend to start debugging a program.
breakpoints
A dict of breakpoints. The structure of the dict is the following:
{ filename1: { line1: bpinfo1, line2: bpinfo2, line3: bpinfo3, etc.. }, filename2: etc.. }
where each bpinfo is a dict with backend dependant content.
parent
An member that will be set by the frontend, it will have the methods mentioned next.
Additionally, the following methods of the frontend should be called by your backend when relevant (accessed through the parent member of your backend):
get_cmd(line, locals, globals, filename)
Request a command from the user.
set_break(filename, line, bpinfo)
Set a breakpoint in the Sublime GUI
clear_break(filename,line)
Clear a breakpoint of the Sublime GUI
toggle_break(filename,line)
Toggle a breakpoint in the Sublime GUI
show_help(help_str)
Show the help message help_str in Sublime
show_exception(message)
Show an exception message in Sublime
Then import the backend from mydebugger.py. Add your language to Main.sublime-menu and to languageCommand in mydebugger.py
The Python3 backend (dbPython3.py) is the simpler one, take a look at that for guidance. Also, contact me if you really mean to implement one, I'll help you so we can include it here afterwards. [email protected]
TODO |
NEW DELHI: The big media is circling around Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, even reporting at some length his visit to a police station, but the action in terms of fast implementation of promises is coming from Punjab. Here CM Amarinder Singh, offsetting past reputation of vacillation, is working over time to address the grievances of the people who have thrown out the BJP-Akali combine in the recent Assembly polls.
In fact Adityanath followed Singh who had already declared an end to what is referred to as VIP culture, directing ministers and others not to sport red beacons and jostle for special space on the roads. Alongside Singh has also tried to introduced measures to soften ‘Inspector raj’ although Adityanath has reinforced it by giving more powers to the police to harass young couples under his ‘romeo squads’ that are not detaining eve teasers, but interrogating young couples and preventing them from going out together even for a movie.
Drugs that has consumed a large percentage of the young population in Punjab was a major campaign issue and Singh, in a first decision, announced a major crackdown on the drug mafia. An important Confiscation of Drug Dealers Property Act is on the anvil, with Singh directing the Ministers to get cracking on this and other manifesto promises.
Benefits to Dalits, administrative and legal steps to protect Punjab’s water are two other farreaching measures that the state government has taken up almost immediately on coming to power. Interestingly in what is being seen as a bid to end corruption the government has abolished District Transport officers and given the powers to the SDM’s in the state.
The Punjab agenda remains of development with all the schemes announced so far relating to issues concerning all the people in the state with inclusiveness remaining a priority. Singh is an able administrator, knows the state well as he has had a long innings in Punjab.
Adityanath, however, is ruling by fear with the police crackdown on abattoris across Uttar Pradesh driving even small butchers indoors. Lucknows famous Tunda kabas is closed as mobs attacked meat shops in Hathras, and the UP police moved to seal not just all that they could amidst fear, and deep concern as the move will place thousands out of employment and a livelihood in the state.
The ‘romeo squad’s now formed with the police, and under the Inspector General of Police have already started striking fear, not in eve teasers but young boys and girls going for a movie, or walking together. Patterned on the ‘love jihad’ squads that had struck fear across western UP and other parts earlier, the Romeo Squads under the directions of Adityanath now consist of cops. In Meerut district of instance these squads have about four policemen each who roam around, picking up boys for questioning even if they were having a pan or a cigarette. A student told the local media that he was waiting to meet a friend and was accosted by the police who asked for his phone number, and said they wanted to speak to his parents. “They did not even know whether I was there to meet a boy or a girl , for them every boy is a majnu,” he said. He of course, did not give them the right number.
The squads are working outside campuses and schools and in Ghaziabad rounded up over 30 boys in one day. The reason: these boys were roaming outside girls colleges. This moral policing is creating major resentment across the state, with the students still digesting the impact of the move.
In Lucknow those who faced harassment included a young couple who were detained by a Romeo Squad, interrogated and let off with a warning. The girl was asked to go her own way, and not with her friend who later told reporters that they were going to meet other friends, and were celebrating his birthday. He was taken to the police station for further interrogation.
This is the first of its kind, and legitimises the kind of moral policing that was evident in Bengaluru where mobs attacked couples in pubs and public places. This had led to a major outcry. In UP now it is the police leading the charge against young students, striking terror as per the directions from the new CM who has made it clear to the cops that any let up will lead to serious action against them. The state has started feeling the impact as the police has scrambled to set up the squads in each police station. The harassment, a parent whose son was questioned told The Citizen, is “unbelievable.”
(Photograph in the Hindustan Times of a Romeo Squad at work) |
Asia Pacific countries have the world’s fastest average internet speeds and the highest penetration of broadband access.
In South Korea, 49 per cent of the population is connected to broadband at speeds faster than 10 megabits per second (Mbps) – that’s the highest percentage of any country in the world. Japan comes second, with 39 per cent and Hong Kong is third with 28 per cent. Australia is in 37th position at 3.8 per cent, according to the Akami State of the Internet report.
While there are substantial differences in the size and population density of Australia’s Asian neighbours, there is one factor that is the same: governments across the region are pursuing policies to deliver fibre broadband to people’s homes.
A recent study by Point Topic (subscriber-only) has found that fibre broadband is cheaper than both copper and cable connections for fast broadband. On a per megabit basis, the study found that the cost of a fibre service averages at US$1.14/Mbps. Cable came in at $1.53/Mbps and copper at US$5.57/Mbps.
The Asia Pacific region is so far ahead of the rest of the world in broadband services specifically because of government policy, according to telco regulatory specialist Rob Nicholls.
“The general approach of Asian governments has been to assume that ubiquitous access to fast broadband is good,” he says. Though it’s expensive, it’s all part of the cost of building a digital economy, which gives countries a comparative, if not an absolute, advantage.
“The Asian approach is: ‘Why wouldn’t you provide access to fast broadband?’ As opposed to ‘Why would you?’” says Nicholls.
“What characterises Asia is something that’s completely different to Europe or North America: there is a primary expectation of government involvement in broadband services.”
In South Korea and Japan, governments have encouraged the rollout of fibre people’s homes, and the expectation of fast broadband is reinforced by other policies.
“In Korea, it is a requirement of real estate agents, when they’re letting apartments, to specify what grade of broadband service you get,” says Nicholls.
“The rent reflects the quality of the broadband service. It’s a utility.”
The South Korean government offers programs to teach traditionally unconnected people how to use internet services and offers subsidies for low income families to connect. This enables the widespread adoption of online government services, such as e-learning and e-health, which require fast broadband. The average Korean can connect to fast broadband for under $30 a month.
“Japan had the world’s original optical fibre network. They’ve had dense fibre penetration for 10 to 15 years,” explains Ric Clark, an Alcatel-Lucent executive based in Shanghai. The national carrier, Nippon Telephone and Telegraph (NTT), led the charge to fibre, says Clark. In Japan today, there are several competitive carriers.
Households can already access fibre speeds of up to 2 gigabits per second (Gbps) in their homes for about $50 a month. More than 25 per cent of Japanese households are already connected to fast broadband via fibre, and access to 1Gbsp services is now common and relatively cheap.
But is this speed necessary? “This is a question that comes up every time I do an interview,” says Bernard Lee, a former Telekom Malaysia executive and board member of the FTTH Council. “I always use the Henry Ford quote: ‘If I had asked my customers what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse.’”
“High speed internet is not really about what we need,” says Lee, “it’s about opening up possibilities.”
“It’s with FTTH that you’re going to have 3D printing, 4G television, high speed teleconferencing, virtual presence and so on. It’s really not a question of what we need, but what we intend to do with it.”
In Singapore, which has an area of just 700 square kilometers, the government’s plan to deliver fibre optic cable to households has involved direct government investment as well as incentives for private investment.
The government has linked its investment in fibre to expected GDP growth outcomes, such as increases in productivity, tax revenues and exports. Subscriptions for residential broadband services offering 100Mbps grew steadily throughout 2012, while subscriptions accessing lower speeds have decreased in the same period. Household subscriptions for 100Mbps fibre broadband services start at $39 Singapore dollars (A$30) a month.
In China, the government has announced a plan to connect 100 million people to internet speeds of 100Mbps by 2015.
“China absolutely sees fibre as the way forward,” says Clark.
China Telecom, China Unicom and China Mobile are the three government-controlled carriers that are building the network. While some fibre-to-the-node is being built in large apartment buildings that have good existing copper networks, the government is concentrated on a fibre-to-the-home policy. It has already mandated that all new homes must be built with fibre-to-the-home connections where a public optical fibre network exists.
China Unicom, the second largest carrier, connected a massive 10 million Chinese households to high speed broadband via fibre-to-the-home technology in 2012.
The Fibre To The Home Council, which collects data on fast broadband services, predicts that by 2016, 145 million people in Asia Pacific countries will be subscribed to high speed internet via a fibre-to-the-home connection.
With most Asia Pacific governments now having a policy to deliver fast broadband via fibre-to-the-home, Bernard Lee has a final message, “Do not view FTTH as a product, but as an enabler that allows you to move forward, to be more competitive in the future, and on a global scale”. |
Belgian trade unions are calling for mass protests on Tuesday against the centre-right government's proposed work reforms as they plan rallies and strikes over the next few months.
The unions doubt the rally will draw as many as the more than 100,000 people who protested in November 2014 against the austerity policies of Prime Minister Charles Michel’s government, which had come to power a month earlier.
However, organisers expect tens of thousands of people to rally in the capital Brussels on Tuesday morning.
It is designed to pave the way for a mass public services rally and a rail strike on May 31, as well as general strikes on June 24, September 29 and October 7.
The FGTB, CSC and CGSLB unions oppose proposed reforms from Employment Minister Kris Peeters allowing employers to impose 45-hour work weeks.
“Everybody will be hurt very much by the abandonment of the 38-hour week, the increased recourse to temporary workers, the absence of coordination, the under-financing of (public services) or pensions,” FGTB official Michel Meyer told Le Soir newspaper.
A month after the mass anti-austerity protest in November 2014, trade unions brought Belgium to a standstill as the biggest general strike in years grounded flights, cut international rail links and shut ports.
There were sporadic incidents of violence during both events.
The latest union actions come two months after the March 22 Islamic State suicide bombings that killed a total of 32 people at Brussels airport and a metro station near the European Union headquarters.
The government has come under fire for alleged security lapses in those attacks as well as in the November 13 Islamic State gun attacks and suicide bombings that killed 130 people in Paris.
The government has also been unable to end a near month-long strike by prison staff and mobilised the army to fill the gaps. |
Do what she says, but not what she does: Hillary Clinton has repeatedly expressed criticism of “the endless flow of secret, unaccountable money” in politics—but she doesn’t seem to mind too much when it flows her way.
Priorities USA Action, a Clinton-backing super PAC, has accepted a $1 million donation from another super PAC called Fair Share Action, which in turn is funded by just two big contributor organizations, neither of which have revealed the source of their funding.
And while Priorities says it isn’t doing anything wrong, critics like Fred Wertheimer of Democracy 21, a nonprofit which opposes this sort of anonymous contribution, argue that it “appears to be an out-and-out laundering operation designed to keep secret from the public the original source of the funds given to the super PAC, which is required to disclose its contributors.”
Now, the question of whether anonymous, unlimited political donations should indeed be banned (as Clinton ostensibly supports and Democracy 21 actually advocates) is a tricky one. Personally, I tend to think both that we should be able to give however much money we want to whomever we want for whatever purpose we want and that there is way too much money involved in elections. (“Whoever can spend the most money wins” doesn’t seem like a great way to pick the top executive of the most indebted nation in the world.) In practice, I also suspect that efforts to demonetize politics through the force of law tend to produce more secrecy and corruption rather than less.
But regardless of where one falls on that issue, one thing is clear: Hillary Clinton is not a consistent voice for transparency, frugality, or free speech. |
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A new bar and restaurant serving Ramen, currently under construction, is adding a parklet to its East Side location.
A parklet is an extension of the sidewalk or pedestrian way created from a street’s parking lane. As cities like Milwaukee become more dense and pedestrian oriented, they are creating more parklets.
The East Side Architecture Review Board (ARB) approved a certificate of appropriateness Wednesday for the patio-like parklet outside of the future Yokohama 1910, the Ramen restaurant that will be located at 1932 E. Kenilworth Pl., near Prospect Avenue.
This new structure, designed by Rinka Chung Architecture, will join a growing number of parklets in Milwaukee. The parklet outside of Pub Club on 1103 N. Old World 3rd St. was designed by the same firm.
This parklet will sit on the north side of Kenilworth taking up two public parking spaces outside of the future restaurant. As Urban Milwaukee has reported , ownersand Andrei Primakow hoped to have the place running by last September, but the project has taken longer than expected.
The aesthetic and placement of the parklet were designed to marry the indoor and outdoor experience.
The developers are putting a garage door on the restaurant and are planning to have a lounge area that aligns with the parklet, says Buck Knitt, the designer from Rinka Chung Architecture, connecting it to the interior space.
The seating in the parklet will also be similar to the seating on the perimeter of the interior dining area, Knitt notes: “Effectively it carries the interior seating arrangement outside.”
The cedar paneling on Yokohama’s facade is the same material being used to construct the parklet, giving the outside seating an appearance reflecting the rest of the restaurant.
Right now the design does not feature any exterior lighting, aside from public streetlights, so members of the ARB suggested they put up some lights as the outdoor portion will be used at night.
The ARB wasn’t the last hurdle for the parklet. It will also have to apply for an extension of premise, noted board chair and Alderman Nik Kovac, as servers will have to cross the public sidewalk from the restaurant to the parklet when waiting on patrons.
Designs |
Correction to This Article
The article and graphic misstated the timing of last year's projections for the Social Security trust fund. The Congressional Budget Office made those projections in March, not August. Also, because of an error by the CBO, each of those projections was off by one year. A corrected chart appears below.
Recession Puts a Major Strain On Social Security Trust Fund
As Payroll Tax Revenue Falls, So Does Surplus
By Lori Montgomery
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
The U.S. recession is wreaking havoc on yet another front: the Social Security trust fund.
With unemployment rising, the payroll tax revenue that finances Social Security benefits for nearly 51 million retirees and other recipients is falling, according to a report from the Congressional Budget Office. As a result, the trust fund's annual surplus is forecast to all but vanish next year -- nearly a decade ahead of schedule -- and deprive the government of billions of dollars it had been counting on to help balance the nation's books.
While the new numbers will not affect payments to current Social Security recipients, experts say, the disappearing surplus could have considerable implications for the government's already grim financial situation.
The Treasury Department has for decades borrowed money from the Social Security trust fund to finance government operations. If it is no longer able to do so, it could be forced to borrow an additional $700 billion over the next decade from China, Japan and other investors. And at some point, perhaps as early as 2017, according to the CBO, the Treasury would have to start repaying the billions it has borrowed from the trust fund over the past 25 years, driving the nation further into debt or forcing Congress to raise taxes.
The new forecast is fueling calls for reform of the Social Security system from conservative analysts, who say it underscores the financial fragility of a system that provides a primary source of income for millions of Americans.
"It suggests we better get working on Social Security and stop burying our heads in the sand," said Sen. Judd Gregg (N.H.), the senior Republican on the Senate Budget Committee. "The Social Security trust fund, though technically in balance, is going to put huge pressures on taxpayers very soon."
Many liberal analysts reject the notion that Social Security needs fixing, arguing that the system is projected to fully support payments to beneficiaries through 2041 -- so long as the Treasury repays its debts. But they agree that the news is not good for the federal budget.
"This is not a problem for Social Security, it's a problem for fiscal responsibility," said Christian Waller, a public policy professor at the University of Massachusetts at Boston and a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. He said the new estimates would force President Obama and his budget director, Peter Orszag, "to stay on track in what they have set out to do, and that is rein in deficits."
The CBO, Congress's nonpartisan budget scorekeeper, released its most recent estimates for the Social Security trust fund last week as part of its final budget projections for the fiscal year that begins in October.
The trust fund has long taken in more in revenue from payroll taxes and other sources than it pays out in benefits. Last August, the CBO predicted that surplus would exceed $80 billion this year and next, then rise to around $90 billion before slowly evaporating by 2020. But the rapidly deteriorating economy -- particularly the loss of more than 4 million jobs -- has driven those numbers much lower much faster, with the surplus expected to hit $16 billion this year and only $3 billion next year, then vanish entirely by 2017.
CBO is not the official arbiter of the trust fund's health; that task falls to the Social Security trustees, a panel of Cabinet secretaries and others who are expected to issue a new report later this spring. In his budget, Obama predicted that the trust fund surplus would hit $30 billion this year, according to Mark Lassiter, a spokesman for the Social Security Administration.
But that number, too, is far less than the $80 billion the trustees had forecast for 2009. In addition to declining revenues, Lassiter said the system is likely to incur higher expenses due to big jumps in new retirement and disability claims. Both are expected to rise by at least 12 percent this year compared with 2008.
"There are some people who are, in fact, delaying retirement" because the plunging stock market took a huge bite out of their retirement accounts, Lassiter said. "But the stronger trend is that people who are losing a job are looking for other sources of income. And if you're of retirement age, you're going to go ahead and file for Social Security benefits."
Though Obama has pledged to address the precarious financial situation of Social Security, the administration currently has no plans to do so. Under pressure from congressional Democrats who argued that Social Security should not be at the top of the new administration's agenda, the White House last month dropped a proposal to name a task force to reexamine the program.
During the campaign, Obama proposed applying payroll taxes to annual earnings over $250,000 help fund Social Security after the surplus vanishes. With the new numbers, some analysts said, the president might be forced to step up the timetable.
"Over the past 25 years, the government has gotten used to the fact that Social Security is providing free money to make the rest of the deficit look smaller," said Andrew Biggs, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. "Now they've essentially got to pay their own way, at least a little more fully.
"Instead of Social Security subsidizing the rest of the budget," he said, "the rest of the budget will have to subsidize Social Security."
© 2009 The Washington Post Company |
As the Flyers prepare to take on an old rival for the second time this season, we briefly look back upon the long history of the Flyers-Devils rivalry.
***
It was spring of 1982. E.T. was only weeks away from becoming one of the biggest blockbusters of all time, Ronald Reagan was in the White House and New Jersey had just received a hockey team. But let us rewind a few years for a second.
Houston Astros owner John McMullen had purchased the struggling Colorado Rockies, who in their six years in Colorado qualified for the playoffs once. This is where our story begins, not in New Jersey with the current adaptation of the team but with the Wilf Paiement- and Pat Kelly-led Colorado team. As the 1977-78 NHL season came to a close, Colorado was neck-and-neck with the 1970 expansion franchise known as the Vancouver Canucks. The Rockies would make the playoffs, only to be eliminated by a team that called Broad Street home: the Philadelphia Flyers.
Eventually the team, now known as the ‘Devils’, re-located to East Rutherford, New Jersey, a place they called home all the way up until 2007. The early years in the Flyers-Devils rivalry were not good years for the Devils, as the Flyers dominated them, posting a 7-0 record against the team in the 1983-84 campaign.
While Lou Lamoriello was just getting his feet wet as the General Manager of the Devils. On the other side of the Delaware, the Flyers were coming off a heartbreaking Game 7 loss to the powerhouse Edmonton Oilers team. Flyers goalie (and current general manager) Ron Hextall was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy despite not being on the winning end of the ice.
Things were looking up in New Jersey as Lou had traded for Flyers goaltender Glenn Resch and had a team that featured key players such as Ken Daneyko, who would be a staple on the Devils blue line for the next 15 years. However, the situation in Philadelphia did not look as good, as the Flyers failed to make the playoffs in 1989-90. The Flyers were awarded the fourth overall selection in the 1990 NHL Entry Draft, where they selected Mike Ricci … and we would rather not talk about who was selected next by Pittsburgh (Jaromir Jagr). Trevor Kidd was the top goalie prospect coming into this draft, but the Devils and Lou had other plans. While they were pegged to select at number 11 overall, they traded down with Calgary to the 20th draft position, where they selected a goalie by the name of Martin Brodeur. Yep, could this draft have went any worse for the Flyers?
Let us fast-forward here to the 1995 Eastern Conference Finals. The Flyers, led by Eric Lindros and newly acquired players John LeClair and Éric Desjardins had finished 2nd in the Eastern Conference while the Devils finished 5th, led by now-emerging superstar Marty Brodeur and a forward core of Stephane Richer, Neal Broten and Claude Lemieux. The Devils took the first two games of the series in dominant fashion winning 4-1 and 5-2 in Games 1 and 2 respectively. Both losses were Philadelphia’s first home losses of the Playoffs. Philadelphia trailed 2-1 late in Game 3, when Rod Brind’Amour tied the game with only 6:00 left on the clock. Eric Lindros would eventually score the overtime winner, and just like that we had a series. The Flyers would capture the next game by a final score of 4-2 despite the Devils outshooting them 34-19. Back to the Spectrum we went with the series tied at two games a piece. Philadelphia found themselves trailing in the 3rd period again, in Game 5. Kevin Dineen would score however to tie the game with only 3:13 left in the third period. 44.2 seconds remained on the clock, the game tied. Claude Lemieux picked up the puck and ripped a slap shot from the line … which found its way past Ron Hextall.
Even twenty years ago, the Flyers were creative in the ways they found to lose games. The Flyers were not able to pull out the win the following game, falling in Game 6 with a final score of 4-2. The Devils would go on to win their first Stanley Cup in franchise history.
After missing the playoffs the following year the Devils became an Eastern Conference powerhouse. Philadelphia was doing just fine, finishing with the #1 seed in the 1999-00 season, the teams would meet again in the 2000 Eastern Conference Finals. The Flyers were without Eric Lindros, who took a hit which resulted in a concussion against the Boston Bruins during a game in March. The team doctors did not properly diagnose the injury. Eric spoke out against the team and the medical staff, which resulted in General Manager Bobby Clarke stripping him of his captaincy.
Philadelphia was riding high without their captain, though, as they held a 3-1 series lead against the Devils. New Jersey would end up taking Game 5 by a final score of 4-1. ‘The Big E’ would return for the Flyers in Game 6, as he would go on to score the only Flyers goal in a 2-1 loss, the series went back to Philadelphia for Game 7. At 8:50 of the first period, Eric Lindros picked up the puck after a turnover at center ice, he dangled his way over the blue line, right into Scott Stevens’ path. Stevens laid a punishing (and legal, at the time) hit on Lindros, knocking him out cold in his tracks.
Eric would never play another game in a Flyers uniform, and after sitting out the entire 2000-01 season he was traded to the New York Rangers.
The 2004 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals was our next battleground. The Devils fresh off their third Stanley Cup Championship finished one point behind the Flyers in the Atlantic Division. From the start of the 1993-94 season to the 2013-14 season, the Flyers or Devils won 15 of the 19 Atlantic Division titles. The Keith Primeau-led Flyers took Games 1 and 2 of the series both by a score of 3-2, Primeau scoring the game winning goal in game one and Mark Recchi scoring the game winner in game two. New Jersey would take Game 3 on home ice, but the Flyers, with 35 saves from goalie Robert Esche, would shut the Devils out in Game 4. The Flyers clinched the series at home in the newly-renamed Wachovia Center with a game winning goal from an unlikely goal scorer, defenseman Danny Markov, with only 5:23 remaining in the third period. Philadelphia would go on to lose in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the eventual Cup Champion Tampa Bay Lightning.
After squeaking into the 2010 playoffs by defeating the New York Rangers in the shootout in Game 82, the Flyers matched up against the number two seed Devils. Games 1 and 2 were split between the teams in New Jersey. The stage was set for Game 3 as the Flyers were looking to forget about an embarrassing loss to Pittsburgh at home in the playoffs the previous year. Regulation time was not enough for the teams however as the game went into overtime. With all the offensive firepower the Flyers had with Mike Richards, Daniel Briere and more they were a threat to score in overtime. So, naturally Dan Carcillo wins the game for the Flyers in overtime.
Philadelphia would go on to win Game 4 by a score of 4-1, and eventually take the series with a 3-0 Game 5 win, in which Ian Laperriere cemented himself in Philadelphia sports history by blocking a shot with his face to help preserve Brian Boucher’s shutout. The Flyers would end up going on a storybook run, coming back from a 3-0 series lead against Boston but just falling short in the Stanley Cup Finals against the Chicago Blackhawks. (Well, that is what the record book states, but if I remember correctly Game 6 and the rest of that series was cancelled ... oh well.)
The Devils were looking like a team on the decline as their reign over the Eastern Conference was coming to an end. The Flyers however were in the opposite position as they were a top team during the 2010-11 season.
After the Mike Richards and Jeff Carter trades and the signing of Jaromir Jagr, the Flyers were a new-look team going into the 2012 season. Philadelphia and New Jersey would once again match up in the 2012 Eastern Conference Semifinals, after the Flyers dismantled the Cup favorite Pittsburgh Penguins, in a series in which 56 goals were scored over the course of six games. The Flyers were the favorite to win this series as the Devils struggled to get past the Florida Panthers in first round. Game 1 was tied at three, and we needed extra playing time once again. Unfortunately Dan Carcillo was not the OT hero that night, as he had signed with the Chicago Blackhawks the year before. Mr. Playoffs, Danny Briere, took the spotlight as he gave Philadelphia the overtime winning goal.
Everything looked to be on the Flyers side, as they had dominated a heavily-favored Pittsburgh team and just taken Game 1 against New Jersey. While we’d like this to be the case, Game 1 would be the last game won by the Flyers in the 2011-12 season. Goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov fell apart, letting in four goals in three straight games, including one in which he fired a puck directly at Devils forward David Clarkson which bounced right back and into the net. The Devils would would go on to the Stanley Cup Finals where they would lose to the Los Angles Kings in six games.
2012 was the last time the two teams met in the playoffs, however with both teams in the middle of a re-tooling state it is very possible we see Flyers/Devils playoff hockey once again in the near future.
All-Time Series Statistics:
Flyers’ All-Time Record vs. Devils: 82-102-15
Home 50-40-9
Away 32-62-6
Post-Season Record: 16-14
Post-Season Series: 3-3
Statistics via flyershistory.com. |
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(Photo: Caroline Schiff Photography / Flickr)The notion of the “Deep State” as outlined by Mike Lofgren may be useful in pointing to a new configuration of power in the US in which corporate sovereignty replaces political sovereignty, but it is not enough to simply expose the hidden institutions and structures of power.
What we have in the US today is fundamentally a new mode of politics, one wedded to a notion of “power unaccompanied by accountability of any kind,” and this poses a deep and dire threat to democracy itself, because such power is difficult to understand, analyze and counter.
The biggest problem facing the US may not be its repressive institutions, modes of governance and the militarization of everyday life, but the interiority of neoliberal nihilism, the hatred of democratic relations and the embrace of a culture of cruelty.
I would suggest that what needs to be addressed is some sense of how this unique authoritarian conjuncture of power and politics came into place. More specifically, there is no mention by Lofgren of the collapse of the social state that began in the 1970s with the rise of neoliberal capitalism, a far more dangerous form of market fundamentalism than we had seen in the first Gilded Age. Nor is there a sustained analysis of what is new about this ideology.
How, for instance, are the wars abroad related increasingly to the diverse forms of domestic terrorism that have emerged at home? What is new and distinctive about a society marked by militaristic violence, exemplified by its war on youth, women, gays, public values, public education and any viable exhibition of dissent? Why at this particular moment in history is an aggressive war being waged on not only whistle blowers, but also journalists, students, artists, intellectuals and the institutions that support them?
What’s missing in Lofgren’s essay is any reference to the rise of the punishing state with its massive racially inflected incarceration system, which amounts to a war on poor minorities, especially black youth. Nor is anything said about the culture of fear that now rules American life and how it functions to redefine the notion of security, diverting it away from social considerations to narrow matters of personal safety.
Moreover, Lofgren needs to say more about a growing culture of cruelty brought about by the death of concessions in politics — a politics now governed by the ultra-rich and mega corporations that has no allegiance to local politics and produces a culture infused with a self-righteous coldness that takes delight in the suffering of others. Power is now separated from politics and floats, unchecked and uncaring.
Neoliberalism is a new form of hybrid global financial authoritarianism. It is connected to the Deep State and marked by its savage willingness in the name of accumulation, privatization, deregulation, dispossession and power to make disposable a wide range of groups extending from low income youth and poor minorities to elements of the middle class that have lost jobs, social protections and hope.
Then, there is the central question, how does the Deep State function to encourage particular types of individualistic, competitive, acquisitive and entrepreneurial behavior in its citizens?
The biggest problem facing the US may not be its repressive institutions, modes of governance and the militarization of everyday life, but the interiority of neoliberal nihilism, the hatred of democratic relations and the embrace of a culture of cruelty. The role of culture as an educative force, a new and powerful force in politics is central here and is vastly underplayed in the essay (which of course cannot include everything). For instance, in what ways does the Deep State use the major cultural apparatuses to convince people that there is no alternative to existing relations of power, that consumerism is the ultimate mark of citizenship and that making money is the essence of individual and social responsibility?
In other words, there is no theory of cultural domination here, no understanding of how identities, subjectivities and values are shaped in the narrow and selfish image of commerce, how exchange values are the only values. In my estimation, the Deep State is symptomatic of something more ominous, the rise of a new form of authoritarianism, a counter-revolution in which society is being restructured and advanced under what might be called the neoliberal revolution. This is a revolution in which the welfare state is being liquidated, along with the collective provisions that supported it. It is a revolution in which economics drives politics.
Regarding the question of resistance, I think this is the weakest part of the essay. I don’t believe the system is broken. I think it works well, but in the interest of very privileged and powerful elite economic and political interests that are aggressively waging a war on democracy itself. If there is to be any challenge to this system, it cannot be made within the discourse of liberal reform, which has largely served to maintain the system. Occupy and many other social movements recognize this. These groups have refused to be defined by the dominant media, the dictates of the security state, the financialization of everyday life and forms of representations that are utterly corrupt.
Hope and resistance will only come when the call for reform and working within the system gives way to imagining a very different understanding of what democracy means. The new authoritarianism with its diverse tentacles is the antithesis of democracy, and if we are going to change what Lofgren calls the Deep State, it is necessary to think in terms of an alternative that does not mimic its ideologies, institutions, governing structures and power relations.
Two things are essential for challenging the new authoritarianism. First, there needs to be a change in collective consciousness about what democracy really means and what it might look like. This is a pedagogical task whose aim is to create the formative culture that produces the agents necessary for challenging neoliberal rule. Secondly, there is a need for a massive social movement with distinct strategies, organizations and the will to address the roots of the problem and imagine a very different kind of society, one that requires genuine democratic socialism as its aim. Democracy is on life support in the US and working within the system to change it is a dead end, except for gaining short-term reforms. The struggle for a substantive democracy needs more, and the American people expect more. |
Donald Trump has described Roger Ailes' ousting from Fox News amid a sexual harassment scandal as 'so sad' because he is 'a very good person' - and slammed the accusers as ungrateful.
The Republican nominee for president continued to defend his long-time friend, calling him 'such a great guy' in an interview airing on Showtime series The Circus on Sunday night.
Ailes was forced out from his position as CEO of Fox News amid reports anchor Megyn Kelly has told investigators that the 76-year-old had made unwanted sexual advances toward her about 10 years ago when she was beginning at the network.
It came weeks after former 'Fox & Friends' co-host Gretchen Carlson sued Ailes, claiming he fired her when she refused his advances.
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Donald Trump (right) has described Roger Ailes' (left)ousting from Fox News amid a sexual harassment scandal as 'so sad'
Since then, 25 others have come forward with claims against Ailes, according to the Washington Post.
'I think it's so sad,' Trump told Bloomberg Politics' Mark Halperin in the interview.
'Roger is - I mean, what he's done on television, is in the history of television, he's gotta be placed in the top three, four or five. And that includes the founding of the major networks.
'So, it's too bad. I'm sure it was friendly. I know Rupert [Murdoch]. He's a great guy.'
In another interview, with NBC's Meet the Press, the billionaire businessman didn't deny rumors that Ailes was advising him for his election campaign.
'A lot of people think he's going to run my campaign,' Trump said. He didn't elaborate further, only saying: 'My campaign's doing pretty well.'
But he defended Ailes, telling NBC: 'Some of the women that are complaining, I know how much he's helped them. And even recently.
'And when they write books that are fairly recently released, and they say wonderful things about him.'
Trump added: 'Now, all of a sudden, they're saying these horrible things about him. It's very sad – because he's a very good person.'
Ailes was forced out from his position as CEO of Fox News amid reports anchor Megyn Kelly (above) has told investigators that the 76-year-old had made unwanted sexual advances toward her about 10 years ago
Actually, Carlson was the only accuser who wrote a book recently, which did include positive comments about Ailes.
At the time, she was still working for Fox and her representative said it was necessary to include the praise, according to CNN Money.
Ailes resigned under pressure as chief executive while fighting the workplace misconduct suit on Thursday.
His position for two decades is filled for now by Rupert Murdoch , 85, executive chairman of network parent 21st Century Fox.
Earlier this month, Gretchen Carlson (above) sued Ailes, claiming he fired her when she refused his sexual advances
Murdoch will also run Fox News and its sister Fox Business Network, which Ailes had also led, until a successor is found.
CNN have reported that Ailes is planning to write a book following his ousting.
Carlson's lawsuit alleges she was forced out by Ailes after she spurned his sexual advances. Ailes has denied the claims.
'We hope that all businesses now understand that women will no longer tolerate sexual harassment and reputable companies will no longer shield those who abuse women,' Carlson's lawyers Nancy Erika Smith and Martin Hyman said in a statement.
Within two weeks of the court filing, Carlson's lawyers also said more than 20 women had contacted the firm with stories of alleged harassment by Ailes either against themselves or someone they knew.
Murdoch and 21st Century Fox did not address the widening scandal in a statement announcing his department, but lauded Ailes for his contributions.
Details were not given on the settlement agreement for a contract that was supposed to run through 2018, but Ailes is expected to get a payment of at least $40 million.
Ailes will have no formal role in the company, but is expected to serve as an informal adviser to Murdoch, said a person familiar with the agreement who spoke on condition of anonymity because it is a personnel matter.
The deal is also said to have a standard no-compete clause.
Fox is heading into a general election campaign in its customary spot at the top of the ratings, but without the man who sets its editorial tone every day.
The announcement came on the day Trump accepted the GOP nomination for president, a speech likely to have been watched by more people on Fox than any other network.
Ailes' resignation came after reports Fox company heads Rupert Murdoch (center) and his sons, Lachlan (left) and James (right), had decided to remove him. Murdoch is now CEO until a successor is found
A TIMELINE OF EVENTS LEADING UP TO ROGER AILES' RESIGNATION Here are the key events leading up to Roger Ailes' resignation from Fox News Channel, the cable-news juggernaut he built from scratch two decades ago: June 23: Fox News Channel anchor and former 'Fox & Friends' co-host Gretchen Carlson is quietly let go after 11 years with the network upon the expiration of her contract. July 6: Carlson sues network chief executive Roger Ailes, claiming she was cut loose after she refused his sexual advances and complained about harassment in the workplace. Though the complaint is filed against Ailes, she also cites her former 'Fox & Friends' colleague Steve Doocy for alleged sexual harassment. Ailes, in a statement, denies the allegations and accuses Carlson of filing the lawsuit in retaliation for her contract not being renewed. Doocy doesn't respond. Parent company 21st Century Fox, while stating that 'we have full confidence in Mr. Ailes and Mr. Doocy,' it is launching an internal review. July 9: New York magazine publishes allegations of sexual misconduct by Ailes from six other women, two of whom speak on the record. July 12: Veteran Fox News Channel host Neil Cavuto publishes a defense of Ailes in the Business Insider website, describing the accusations against him as 'sick.' Cavuto joins a number of female Fox News on-air personalities including Martha MacCallum, Sandra Smith, Greta Van Susteren and Maria Bartiromo who publicly push back against Carlson's allegations. July 15: Ailes' lawyers declare they are seeking to move Carlson's harassment case against him from a New Jersey court to a closed arbitration panel in New York. Ailes claims Carlson's contract compels her to submit to arbitration for employment disputes. Carlson argues that the arbitration clause doesn't apply because she's suing Ailes personally, not Fox News Channel or its parent. July 18: A New York magazine story, citing anonymous sources, reports that company heads Rupert Murdoch and his sons, Lachlan and James, have decided to remove Ailes. The company states there has been no resolution to its probe into Ailes' conduct. 'This matter is not yet resolved and the review is not concluded,' the company states. July 19: New York magazine reports that Megyn Kelly, who is arguably Fox News' biggest star, has told investigators that Ailes made unwanted sexual advances toward her about 10 years ago when she was beginning at the network. The report also says that, the day before, the company gave Ailes a deadline of August 1 to resign or be fired for cause. July 21: Roger Ailes resigns, effective immediately. Rupert Murdoch takes over as acting CEO.
Ailes' downfall began with the July 6 lawsuit filing by Carlson, who claimed he sabotaged her career because she refused his suggestions for sex and had complained about a pervasive atmosphere of sexual harassment at Fox.
21st Century Fox hired a law firm to investigate.
Several Fox employees jumped to Ailes' defense, but notably Megyn Kelly, one of Fox's top personalities, did not.
In rapid succession, it was reported that Kelly was among other women who had told investigators about harassment - again denied by Ailes - and that corporate heads Murdoch and his sons, James and Lachlan, determined that Ailes had to go.
Host Bill O'Reilly has recently mused about retirement, and he and Sean Hannity reportedly have contract provisions that would allow them to leave if Ailes does.
Kelly's contract ends later this year and it would be a huge blow to the network if she left. |
In a tweet this morning, President Trump repeated that Obamacare “will explode.” We’re resurfacing this recent article, which explained that growing evidence suggests that the market is not near collapse — it won’t “explode” on its own.
If you listen to many Republicans in Washington, the Affordable Care Act’s insurance markets are in a “death spiral,” “imploding,” “collapsing” or “will fall of their own weight.” That’s part of the rationale behind the new House proposal to reshape the health care system.
On Monday night, House Speaker Paul Ryan repeated this line, even in the face of projections that his plan could lead to 24 million fewer Americans with health insurance in 10 years. “Put this against the backdrop that Obamacare is collapsing,” he said in interview with Fox News. “This, compared to the status quo, is far better.”
But the new estimates from the Congressional Budget Office contradict this long-held talking point. According to the budget office, the Obamacare markets will remain stable over the long run, if there are no significant changes. The House plan would cause near-term turmoil, it found, but the markets would eventually become stable. “The nongroup market would probably be stable in most areas under either current law or the legislation,” said the report, using the technical term for the market where people buy their own health insurance. |
ODB is dual-licensed under the GPL and a proprietary license (there is both a free and a commercial version of the latter). As discussed in the ODB Licensing FAQ this model caters fairly well to other open source projects that use the GPL (or a similar license), private closed source projects, as well as commercial closed source projects. However, there is a significant drawback in this dual-licensing model when it comes to other open source projects that use a more liberal (than the GPL) license. In this post I would like to discuss the nature of this problem in more detail as well as explain what we did to allow more liberally-licensed projects to still use and benefit from ODB.
In case you are not familiar with ODB, it is an object-relational mapping (ORM) system for C++. It allows you to persist C++ objects to a relational database without having to deal with tables, columns, or SQL, and manually writing any of the mapping code. ODB natively supports SQLite, PostgreSQL, MySQL, Oracle, and Microsoft SQL Server. Pre-built packages are available for GNU/Linux, Windows, Mac OS X, and Solaris and were tested with GNU g++, MS Visual C++, Sun CC, and Clang.
Before we go into the details of the ODB situation, let’s first get a quick overview of the state of the open source software licensing. All open source software licenses can be broadly divided into two categories, the so-called copyleft and non-copyleft licenses. Copyleft licenses give us the right to distribute copies and derivative works of software but require that the same rights be preserved in the derivative works. In other words, it is not possible to take a copyleft-licensed project, say a library, use it in our own project (thus forming a derivative work) and then release our project as closed source. In contrast, non-copyleft licenses allow us to base proprietary, closed source works on the non-copyleft software. The most popular copyleft license is the GNU General Public License (GPL). For non-copyleft, several licenses are widely used, including BSD, MIT, and the Apache License.
A quick note on the term derivative used in the preceding paragraph. Many people mistakenly assume it to mean only modifications to the original software. In reality, derivative work is a much broader concept. In our context, it is more useful to think of it as covering any functional dependency between two pieces of software. For example, if we use a GUI library in our application to display some information, then our application is a derivative work of that GUI library.
It is also useful to understand philosophical grounds of the copyleft vs non-copyleft debate. Proponents of the copyleft licenses want to preserve the freedom of every end-user to be able to distribute and modify the software. And if derivative works can be released closed source, then such a freedom would be denied. In contrast, the non-copyleft camp believes that the choice to release derivative works open or closed source is as essential a freedom as any other. There is also a third group, let’s call them the quid pro quo camp, which prefers the copyleft licenses because they ensure that those who benefit from their work are also required to give something back (i.e., make their work open source). Dual-licensing software under a copyleft license as well as a proprietary license on the commercial basis is then a natural extension of the quid pro quo idea. This way, companies that are unable or unwilling to make their derivative works open source have the option to instead pay a fee for a proprietary license. These fees can then be used to fund further development of the original project.
A copyleft project, say GPL-licensed, can normally use non-copyleft software, say BSD-licensed, without imposing any further restrictions on its users. This is not the case, however, in the other direction, for example, a BSD-licensed project using GPL-licensed software. While releasing the derivative work under BSD will satisfy the requirements of the GPL, the resulting whole now carries the restrictions of both BSD and the GPL. And that means that the users of the project no longer have the freedom to use it in proprietary derivative works.
If we are proponents of the copyleft licenses for the sake of preserving the end-user freedoms, then this outcome is exactly what we would want. However, if we use a copyleft license as a way to implement the quid pro quo principle, then this is not quite what we had in mind. After all, the author of the project is giving something back by releasing his software under an open source license. Further restricting what others can do with this software is not something that we should probably attempt.
And that’s exactly the problem that we faced with ODB. We are happy to let everyone use ODB in their projects as long as they make them open source under any open source license, copyleft or non-copyleft. However, as we have just discussed, the standard terms of the GPL make ODB really unattractive to non-copyleft projects.
So what we decided to do is to offer to grant a GPL license exception to any specific open source project that uses any of the common non-copyleft licenses (BSD, MIT, Apache License, etc). This exception would allow the project to use ODB without any of the GPL copyleft restrictions. Specifically, the users of such a project would still be able to use it in their closed source works even though the result would depend on ODB.
You may be wondering why didn’t we just grant a generic license exception that covers all the open source projects? Why do we need to issue exceptions on the project-by-project basis? The reason for this is because a simple generic exception would be easy to abuse. For example, a company wishing to use ODB in a closed source application could just package and release the generated database support code without any additional functionality as an open source project. It could then go ahead and use that code in a closed source application without any of the GPL restrictions. While it is possible to prevent such abuse using clever legal language, we found that a complex license exception text will only confuse things. Instead we decided to go with a very straightforward license exception text and to offer it to any open source project that looks legitimate.
In fact, the other day we granted our first exception. It was for the POLARIS Transportation Modelling Framework developed by Argonne National Laboratory (U.S. Department of Energy) and released under the BSD license.
So what do you need to do if you want an ODB license exception for your project? The process is actually very easy. Simply email us at [email protected] the following information about your project:
Project name Project URL License used (e.g., BSD, MIT, etc) Copyright holder(s)
Once we receive this, we will send you the license exception text that will be specific to your project. You can then add this text as a separate file to your source code distribution along with the LICENSE , COPYING , or a similar file. Or you can incorporate the exception text directly into one of these files. We also store each exception granted in our publicly-accessible ODB source code repository. |
Black Lives Matter Philadelphia, one of nearly 40 local chapters in the national Black Lives Matter Network, scheduled a meeting on April 15 to discuss projects and activities the group was planning for 2017. But despite labeling the gathering an "open" meeting, the group banned non-black people from attending.
BLM Philly posted a notice about the meeting on its Facebook page with information about the meeting's location and timing, as well as a notice that "BLM Philly is a Black only space." This prompted one Twitter user to ask the group if its meetings were black only or if all of its activities were as well. "Our meetings are black centered," the group's Twitter account replied. In response to another user who asked, "you mean only black people can come to the meeting?" BLM Philly answered simply: "Yes."
In response to critical tweets, including some pointing out Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. worked with whites, the group clarified its stance, although it did not back off the ban on all non-black attendees at the upcoming meeting.
Many Twitter users piled on BLM Philly for blocking people from their meetings based on racial grounds, but many others, including users who identified as white, came to the organization's defense. The conversation quickly turned to what it means to be an ally, and if white people attending meetings would derail the proceedings. One user who identified as white explained that white users would have a lot of questions at the meeting, and wouldn't be shy about asking them.
Other users suggested that interested white people should find and join a local Showing Up For Racial Justice group. SURJ is a nationwide organization that seeks to organize white people to fight against oppression of minority groups.
The existence of groups like SURJ is an acknowledgment by many social activists that racial tensions within activist groups can prevent progress. It also represents a shift in how the society at large thinks about race.
In previous generations, many of which saw state-sponsored segregation firsthand, the goal of social movements was often multicultural and multi-racial integration. But in recent years, temporary divisions along racial lines has increasingly been seen as a way to bolster the voices of oppressed groups and prevent privileged groups from dominating conversations.
In 2015, New York Magazine profiled a New York elementary school that went so far as to institute weekly meetings where students were segregated by race in order to discuss racial identity. The goal was to "initiate a cultural upheaval, one that would finally give students of color a sense of equal ownership in the community," the article pointed out.
While this view of racial identity has received growing acceptance in recent years, many white liberals questioned such a race-based approach to politics after the election of President Donald Trump. Many commentators argued Trump's election represented the triumph of "white identity politics," which was fostered by decades of identity politics that whites believed excluded them. In the days after the election, Columbia professor Mark Lilla, who is white, published a widely shared and critiqued essay in the New York Times that argued liberalism was failing because it had become fractured along the fault lines of identity.
"We need a post-identity liberalism," Lilla wrote. "Such a liberalism would concentrate on widening its base by appealing to Americans as Americans and emphasizing the issues that affect a vast majority of them."
Of course, minorities face vastly different issues than whites, which is presumably why BLM Philly wanted their planning meeting to be black only: so it could address the concerns of black people specifically.
BLM Philly did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Writing about the meeting controversy on Afropunk.com Tuesday, writer and editor Hari Ziyad argued getting angry about being told how to best help someone means you aren't really interested in helping them in the first place.
"If you claim to want to help someone, and they explain to you that your presence is unhelpful and there are better ways to assist, yet you insist on doing it your way, you're not truly interested in their cause at all," Ziyad wrote. "This just goes to show how necessary it is to have Black only spaces in the first place, as it is clear that many 'allies' cannot look past their own bubble far enough not to get in the way of what needs to be done." |
IT'S been almost five months since Adrian Hardman was done for drink driving and dramatically quit as Worcestershire County Council's leader, but the cops clearly haven't forgotten.
The police have pulled over County Hall Lib Dem Fran Oborski not once, but twice in recent days for "driving too slow" - embarrassingly choosing to breathalyse her on both occasions, which of course showed up clean.
Fearing an unwanted hat-trick, Councillor Oborski isn't taking this with too much humour on Twitter, telling her followers how "angry" she is over it.
Forget Operation Elveden, is this Operation Nick a Councillor?
NIGEL Farage was treated like a God in Worcester last week, enjoying the lavish attention of a packed 'anti-EU' audience at New Road cricket ground, but it's good to see those around him aren't getting carried away.
Peter Jewell, UKIP's police and crime commissioner candidate for West Mercia, introduced him by saying: "This man should be, at the very least, knighted for what has happened."
DAVID Cameron spent over £9 million on those leaflets shoved through every UK home about pro-EU propaganda, so what did Farage do with his?
"I went straight up Downing Street and posted it right back through his bloody front door," he tells us.
MIND you despite the worship-like attention he got in Worcester, Farage (after a pint) did also tell us his standing with some world media tycoons and politicians could be better.
"I've never been to any of Silvio Berlusconi's 'bunga bunga' parties, alright? But there's a reason for that - he never invited me."
A NEW police and crime commissioner is being announced today, but if Peter Jewell does pull off a UKIP miracle and wins, he better get a map pronto.
The ex-tribunal judge plastered glorious adverts all over a free weekly newspaper in Worcester last week - telling eager readers how he'd cut crime in Shropshire!
ON the subject of maps, it isn't only the odd would-be PCC in need of gentle steering in the right direction.
Former pub landlord Barry MacGabhann, trying to get elected to the Cathedral ward for the Tories, used his Worcester News election address to gush over the improvements to Gheluvelt Park as yet another reason to make the patch "an even better place in which to live".
Unless a volcano has struck, it sure as heck ain't in Cathedral.
AS we reveal today, Labour activist Ali Asghar has been spotted helping Worcester's Green Party in a hilarious bit of election plotting.
Can someone knit him a green and red stripey scarf? |
NEW DELHI, India — When news about an American company hiring Americans gets widespread coverage in India, there’s clearly something unusual going on.
So why would Indian newspapers, TV stations and financial websites be interested — arguably more interested than most US media — in the announcement by New Jersey-based IT firm Cognizant Technology Solutions that it will create 10,000 new American jobs?
The short answer is that most of Cognizant’s 166,400 staff are based in India. Only 29,000 work in the US, mostly at the firm’s headquarters in Teaneck, NJ.
Cognizant is a major player in the global outsourcing industry, and India is the world’s outsourcing hub. But most of its revenues come from the US.
In its most recent quarter, the company reported earning $1.78 billion in the US, boosted by “Obamacare.” Insurers and states hired Cognizant to help code online insurance exchanges.
For many Indian techies, working for a company like Cognizant is a chance for a US transfer and a slice of the American dream.
And those 10,000 new American jobs that got so much Indian media attention may mean 10,000 fewer jobs for them.
Outsourcing giants
The US Congress created the H-1B visa program to enable American companies to hire foreigners with exceptional skills. Instead, critics say, it is increasingly being used to find workers willing to accept lower salaries. The program allows up to 65,000 high-skilled foreign workers to work in the US for up to three years. Competition is intense: The visas are handed out on a first come, first served basis and it took just four days for the 2014 quota to be filled after it opened on April 1, 2013.
Most come from India — 64 percent of last year’s applicants, according to the White House. Four Indian firms — Cognizant, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services and Wipro — brought more than 26,000 Indians to work in the US in 2012 under the H-1B visa scheme, according to research by Professor Ron Hira, of the Rochester Institute of Technology.
Getting an H-1B visa has become a major career step for many IT graduates, and a major source of profit for the outsourcers.
For Indian workers, a job in the US means opportunities and money. For the outsourcing firms, the Indian IT workers are significantly cheaper than their American counterparts — by about 25 percent.
Tech companies have been lobbying to increase the cap — Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg set up pressure group FWD.us to campaign on immigration issues. Microsoft founder Bill Gates has been a long-time advocate of making it easier for foreign-born high-skilled workers to immigrate.
“Since these [outsourcing] companies depend on the program so heavily they flood in applications,” Professor Hira told GlobalPost.
“The firms ‘bank’ visas — keep people back in India on the bench and then utilize them when needed. Also, they rotate workers in the US to ensure they don't establish roots, and rotate them back and forth to India. These firms are growing so fast that they need a bank of visas to meet any new growth.”
Scammers abound
In the face of such intense competition, companies have been tempted to break the rules.
In October, Infosys paid a $34 million settlement to the Federal Government — a record for an immigration case — over allegations of “systematic visa fraud and abuse of immigration processes.”
Unable to get its cheaper Indian employees to the US to work on short term contracts, Infosys used a different visa — the B-1, normally given to foreign businessmen who need to travel to the US to complete deals.
According to an official from the Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service, special agents spent two and a half years examining the records of 6,500 foreign Infosys employees on B-1 visas.
“Instead of attending ‘business meetings and discussions’ … many of these individuals … were working for Infosys in the United States, in violation of the conditions of their B-1 visas,” the official told GlobalPost via email.
Infosys employees were even given lists of words and topics to avoid when applying for the B-1 visas, including “implementation, design & testing, consulting” and “work, activity.”
The official was unable to comment on “ongoing investigations” but said the department wanted to “raise awareness about how the visa process is being circumvented.”
There are several other recent cases.
In October, IBM, the seventh largest H-1B visa user, paid a $44,400 civil penalty for favoring foreign H-1B workers over US citizens.
In addition to these cases, which cost US workers' jobs, US officials have been forced to defend the foreign employees from exploitation by the outsourcing firms.
In February 2013, Mumbai-based Tata Consultancy Services paid a $30 million settlement over its practice of forcing employees to sign over their tax refund checks when they finished working in the US.
There is an ongoing case involving 18 American IT workers who claim they were laid off from their jobs at Molina healthcare in Long Beach, California, to be replaced by Indian workers hired by Cognizant.
American lose jobs and wages
Despite these abuses, the IT industry says too few graduates come out of American universities to meet demand for jobs.
President Obama backed a bill passed in the Senate in early December, which would increase the 65,000 cap on H-1B visas to 115,000.
Yet several researchers say their work contradicts the IT lobby.
Unemployment rates are high for information systems graduates, with 14.7 percent out of work.
The competition from foreign workers also depresses wages for Americans. The average hourly wage for computer and mathematics graduates was $37.27 in 2000, and $39.24 in 2011 — an average rise of less than 0.5 percent per year.
And research from the Economic Policy Institute contends that only half of American students who graduate with a degree in science, technology, engineering or maths ends up with a job in that field.
According to a paper by Professor Hal Salzman and other researchers, a third to half of new IT jobs go to foreign workers rather than graduates.
Based on figures from the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security and Current Population Survey data, they estimate that 160,755 foreign workers were given H-1B or other work visas for IT jobs in 2011, out of 483,692 jobs that went to candidates with a bachelor's or master's degree.
“It has nothing to do with any lack of American workers,” Professor Hira said. “It is simply that the foreign workers will work for less.”
Neither Mark Zuckerberg nor FWD.us responded to GlobalPost's requests for comment. |
Bernie Sanders, the iconoclastic independent senator from Vermont, was the first candidate from the left to officially challenge Hillary Clinton, with a low-key announcement outside the Capitol building in late April. He held a campaign kickoff in Burlington on Tuesday before heading to New Hampshire and Iowa later this week.
Sanders, a self-described Democratic socialist, has done relatively well with early fundraising efforts and will put pressure on Clinton with specific proposals on core progressive issues. Since his announcement late last month, he has already introduced legislation to break up so-called Too Big to Fail banks and to provide tuition-free public college. He has also been one of the Senate’s most vocal opponents of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and fast-track authority, which Clinton has not weighed in on.
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The campaign staff will continue to grow and likely won’t be fully set until early July. Here’s an early look at many of the key players in Sanders’ political orbit:
• Jeff Weaver is Sanders’ campaign manager. He served as the senator’s campaign manager during his successful Senate run in 2006 and served as chief of staff in Sanders’ House and Senate offices. He first began working for Sanders as a 20-year-old on his 1986 gubernatorial campaign.
• Phil Fiermonte, Sanders’ longtime state director, is the campaign’s field director. Fiermonte, who has worked for Sanders for 16 years, has long been in Sanders’ inner circle and helped manage his past campaigns. Most recently, he was heavily involved in coordinating the senator’s upcoming trip to Iowa. He was also previously listed as the treasurer of Sanders’ leadership PAC. In April, he joined Sanders, Sanders’ wife Jane and another adviser, Tad Devine, in Vermont for a planning weekend to discuss his bid. He’s a former member of the Burlington City Council and previously worked as executive director of the Vermont American Federation of Teachers. Both he and Weaver are Vermont natives.
• Tad Devine, a longtime Democratic strategist, has helped shepherd Sanders’ political efforts. Devine is a big name in Democratic politics: He has worked for several other presidential candidates, including John Kerry, Al Gore and Michael Dukakis. He also has a rapport with Washington reporters, giving Sanders’ early political efforts some cachet. His exact role with the campaign remains undetermined, but he has been an important veteran Democratic voice for Sanders, the longtime independent who has said he will run to win the party’s nomination.
• Mark Longabaugh, one of Devine’s business partners, has played a central role in helping to organize the early stages of Sanders’ campaign, serving as an unofficial campaign manager of sorts before Weaver signed on. He ran former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley’s 2000 presidential campaign operations in New Hampshire.
• Pete D’Alesandro is Sanders’ Iowa campaign coordinator. The Des Moines Democratic operative has worked on campaigns for two decades, including for former Govs. Chet Culver and Tom Vilsack.
• Kurt Ehrenberg is Sanders’ New Hampshire field director. He comes to the Vermont senator from “Run Warren Run,” the draft effort that was pushing Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) to run for president. He has also previously worked as a political and legislative director for the AFL-CIO’s New Hampshire branch.
• Digital firm Revolution Messaging runs Sanders’ online fundraising and social media efforts — big for a candidate who’ll rely on small-dollar contributions and benefits from a strong social-media presence. Four members of the team worked on Barack Obama’s insurgent 2008 campaign — Scott Goodstein, who ran Obama’s social media efforts; Shauna Daly, who was deputy research director for the campaign; Arun Chaudhary, who ultimately became the first official White House videographer; and Walker Hamilton, the site architect for Obama’s campaign. Kenneth Pennington, who ran Sanders’ Senate social media platform, and Keegan Goudiss, a Revolution Messaging partner who has worked for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, will also work on the digital team.
• Nick Carter, managing director of Sanders’ campaign committee, is working full time on Sanders’ presidential campaign, playing a role in fundraising and communications efforts. Other communications staffers in Sanders’ orbit include Jeff Frank, Sanders’ press secretary, and Michael Briggs, his communications director, who is handling most of the press for the campaign so far and may transition full-time.
See the power players for Hillary Clinton, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul and others. |
The Big 12 has seen true freshmen take the conference by storm over the past few years.
Karl Joseph earned a reputation as one of the Big 12’s best hitters during his first year at West Virginia in 2012. Andrew Billings began to make his mark at Baylor while starting the final two games for the Big 12 title-winning Bears in 2013. Samaje Perine transformed Oklahoma’s offense in 2014. KaVontae Turpin brought explosiveness to TCU’s offense in 2015.
Year in and year out, true freshmen step on campus and make an immediate impact. With that in mind, we’re going to take a team-by-team look at the most intriguing freshmen on each Big 12 roster.
Today, we continue the series with Texas:
Devin Duvernay arrives as the third-ranked wide receiver in the 2016 class. Mark LoMoglio/Icon Sportswire
WR Devin Duvernay: We know where Duvernay was heading had he played in Baylor’s offense. He would’ve immediately become one of the Big 12’s most exciting young receivers, a Christian Kirk-like force as a pass-catcher and returner who can score a lot of different ways.
What makes Duvernay’s decision to go to Texas so intriguing is, well, can he play up to that potential as a Longhorn? He’s enrolling next week to play in a Baylor-inspired offense led by first-year OC Sterlin Gilbert, one that needed a threat like Duvernay in the slot.
“He's one of the fastest sprinters in the nation, so you know he brings unbelievable speed and explosiveness to our team,” Texas coach Charlie Strong said when Duvernay committed.
Texas must find a way to put Duvernay’s 10.27-second 100-meter speed to good use, which shouldn’t be too complicated a proposition. He just needs a reliable quarterback who can get him the ball. Duvernay can get by without one, too, if you’ve seen the many direct snaps he turned into TDs on his Sachse (Texas) High highlight reel.
The Horns dedicated this offseason to repairing their offense and retraining their quarterbacks. The late addition of ESPN’s No. 3 ranked receiver recruit ought to help both efforts.
DE Andrew Fitzgerald: Texas loaded up on defensive linemen in the 2016 class, and pretty much all of them will have an opportunity to crack the two-deep and get on the field this fall. Only one of them – Fitzgerald – was named the dark horse of Texas’ entire recruiting class by his new head coach.
“When we turned the tape on, I said, ‘Oh god, I don't need to see anything else,’” Strong said on signing day. “‘If he's going to play like that, we have to have him.’”
It’s kind of hard to believe the 6-foot-5, 250-pound defensive end was only a three-star recruit. Fitzgerald racked up 20 sacks over the last two years at Flower Mound (Texas) Marcus, but what Strong and the Texas staff love about him is his non-stop motor.
Texas is in decent shape at strong-side defensive end with Bryce Cottrell and a bulked-up Charles Omenihu returning, but don’t be surprised if Fitzgerald rises up and becomes a valuable member of the rotation at that spot this season. |
New online currencies such as Bitcoin could be the answer to charities becoming more transparent over how they spend donations, says a report released today by the Charities Aid Foundation.
Because of the nature of the currency, each Bitcoin is unique and all transactions are traceable. It is therefore possible for donors to see exactly how their money is spent.
The report even explores the possibility of creating a purely social currency in the future which could only be spent on projects aiming to achieve social good.
'Giving a Bitcoin - Cryptocurrency and philanthropy', part of the Giving Thought series of discussion papers, looks into the possibilities and challenges facing charities as these currencies grow and develop.
It heralds the benefits of cryptocurrencies when it comes to international giving, as a means of cutting down significantly on the costs of currency exchange when transferring funds between countries.
It also highlights the potential for charities to tap into the growing wealthy group who have made their fortunes through these online sources.
However, it also cautions charities about becoming too transparent in this way as it could cause donors to make more demands and ultimately stifle the charity’s effectiveness.
Other challenges include the risky, unstable nature of these currencies as their value fluctuates unpredictably, as well as complications which may arise when the source of the money or donor is unknown.
Only a few charities currently accept Bitcoins as a method of donation. However, The Water Project in the US raised over $30,000 in this way and the RNLI raised £2000 in six months.
Rhodri Davies, leader of the Giving Thought policy programme at the Charities Aid Foundation and author of the report, said: “It’s clear that there are a lot of opportunities for charities when it comes to using cryptocurrencies, and some organisations have already begun to take advantage of them to raise money.
“The possibilities for charities really being able to tackle the age-old problem of transparency, helping donors see exactly how their money is being spent and the impact it’s making is profound.
“However, we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that these kinds of currencies are still in their infancy, and charities should be wary of the potential risks that may arise as they develop.”
Original Article |
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The passage of the Ryan-Murray budget plan in the House sends a strong signal that the Pentagon’s budget is basically untouchable. Under the deal, the military’s base budget (which doesn’t include supplemental funding for overseas operations and combat) will be restored to around $520 billion next year—more than it got in 2006 and 2007, when the United States was fighting in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
As Erika Eichelberger reports, the deal could spell the end of efforts to make the Pentagon budget more efficient, particularly in the realm of procurement and contracting. Exhibit A is the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the stealthy, high-tech fighter jets that are supposed to do everything from landing on aircraft carriers and taking off vertically to dogfighting and dropping bombs. Faced with sequestration cuts, the Air Force had considered delaying its purchases of the fighters, which are years behind schedule, hugely over budget, and plagued with problems. If the House budget plan becomes law and sequestration is eased for two years, those plans also may be shelved.
More on the pricey plane with a reputation as the biggest defense boondoggle in history:
Rolling out the F-35 originally was expected to cost $233 billion, but now it’s expected to cost nearly $400 billion. The time needed to develop the plane has gone from 10 years to 18.
The time needed to develop the plane has gone from 10 years to 18. Lockheed says the final cost per plane will be about $75 million. However, according to the Government Accountability Office, the actual cost has jumped to $137 million.
It was initially estimated that it could cost another $1 trillion or more to keep the new F-35s flying for 30 years. Pentagon officials called this “unaffordable”—and now say it will cost only $857 million. “This is no longer the trillion-dollar [aircraft],” boasts a Lockheed Martin executive.
to keep the new F-35s flying for 30 years. Pentagon officials called this “unaffordable”—and now say it will cost only $857 million. “This is no longer the trillion-dollar [aircraft],” boasts a Lockheed Martin executive. Planes started rolling off the assembly line before development and testing were finished, which could result in $8 billion worth of retrofits.
A 2013 report by the Pentagon inspector general identified 719 problems with the F-35 program. Some of the issues with the first batch of planes delivered to the Marines: Pilots are not allowed to fly these test planes at night, within 25 miles of lightning, faster than the speed of sound, or with real or simulated weapons. Pilots say cockpit visibility is worse than in existing fighters. Special high-tech helmets have “frequent problems” and are “badly performing.” Takeoffs may be postponed when the temperature is below 60°F.
with the F-35 program. Some of the issues with the first batch of planes delivered to the Marines: The F-35 program has 1,400 suppliers in 46 states. Lockheed Martin gave money to 425 members of Congress in 2012 and has spent $159 million on lobbying since 2000.
Lockheed Martin gave money to of Congress in 2012 and has spent on lobbying since 2000. Remember this bumper sticker?
And those are fancy, San Francisco foodie cupcakes.
We’ve got much more on the Pentagon budget here. |
Steve Bannon ratcheted up his populist rhetoric at the Values Voter Summit Saturday, calling out Senators Mitch McConnell and Bob Corker by name and vowing to defeat the Republican establishment in the 2018 midterm elections.
“This is not my war, this is our war,” the Breitbart CEO and former chief White House strategist told cheering attendees at the annual convention. “And you all didn’t start it, the establishment started it. I will tell you one thing — you all are gonna finish it.”
Noting that the group had a “lot of fights ahead,” Bannon said it was crucial to take on the GOP establishment before effectively turning their energy towards progressives, especially since the current crop of GOP lawmakers do not appreciate President Trump. This disrespect, Bannon said, was evidenced when Senator Bob Corker told the New York Times last week that Republican lawmakers were privately concerned about Trump’s ability to lead the country. Bannon seemed to insinuate that unless Republican lawmakers spoke out against Corker, they would face insurgent primary challenges.
“All you folks who are so concerned you are going to get primaried and defeated, there is time for a mea culpa,” he said of lawmakers.”You can come to a stick and condemn Senator Corker.”
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Bannon also derided Corker, who he called a “piece of work” for speaking negatively about Trump while soldiers were serving overseas. (Senator John McCain’s daughter Meghan quickly noted on Twitter that Trump had attacked her father for his service while her brothers were in the military).
He then pivoted to McConnell, saying the Senate majority leader was not only making his constituents unhappy, but Republican donors also aren’t pleased. “The donors are not happy. They’ve all left you. We’ve cut off your oxygen, Mitch. Money’s not courageous, but money is smart.”
But Bannon’s ire did not stop with Corker and McConnell. He also said that senators worried about their reelection prospects should refuse to vote for McConnell as majority leader, and should advocate against the use of a filibuster to ease the way for Trump’s legislative agenda.
“Now Senator [John] Barasso, Senator [Dean] Heller and Senator [Deb] Fischer and the other one of you folks, Senator [Orrin] Hatch, these are good folks, they may reconsider,” Bannon said, directly naming four of the eight Senators up for reelection in 2018. “But until that time, they’re coming for you.”
Write to Alana Abramson at [email protected]. |
Notable Quotes Audio Project This article is within the scope of the Notable Quotes Audio Project . This project is dedicated to uploading audio for notable quotes on character articles. For participation, please check the project page
For the character mentioned in Point Lookout, see Benny (Point Lookout).
“ yo back those titties up because the maestro is gonna show y'all how to do a proper ass spanking ”
Benny is a fashion designer of Goodsprings in 1986. He is the real deal behind a complex scheme to rob 1 ton of waffles from a waffle house in New Vegas that is owned by Charles barkley and serves a secondary antagonist in Barkley Shut Up and Jam!
Contents show]
Background
Benny was a member of the tribal gang called the Boot Lickers until he realized his tongue became weaker and softer than a boiled and mouldy carrot. A few years later, Benny sewed out some stylish clothes and kidnapped a few wastelanders. They were given suits and ties and renamed as "Mongos". Benny saw the potential of his minions, but the tribe's chief at the time, Azis, wanted to stay slick. Benny was challenged to a basketball tournament, the winner getting an Elvis themed suit, and Benny walked away after slamming Azis' body in the hoop and called him a "nobhead". Benny sometimes likes to eat sandwiches with tomatoes in them.
Benny's long-term goal is simple: swallow 90 eggs. The chances of such a thing happening seem very possible, but as Benny himself would say "HAHA fuck off". Benny was voted "Best Videogame Character of All time" back in 1998.
Benny can also speak Bulgarian, Dutch and a little bit of Egyptian.
Interactions with the player character
Interactions overview
General Services Quests Essential: Companion: Permanent
Perk: A hero ain't nothing but a sandwich Plays Caravan: Merchant: Caps: 6 Repairman: Doctor: Rents bed/room: Starts quests: Take it easy, Pete Involved in quests: Space Jam
Quests
Space Jam You have to help out retired basketball player Benny in a basketball match against the Monstars. If he loses, everybody in New Vegas will be enslaved and used as attractions on an alien planet. You MUST successfully complete this quest or else you won't be able to play this game ever.
Other interactions
If you make him nachos, he will say stuff like "shit homie this shit is off the hook" and "aight"
Inventory
Apparel Weapon Other items On death Chained prostitute outfit BB gun 2 caps
Notes
If you call him a nerd, he will cry. Please don't call him a nerd.
Appearances
Benny appears only in the PC videogame "Poker Night at the Inventory"
Behind the scenes
You do not exist
Bugs
If you make out with Benny when you finally find him, the game might melt from jealousy.
Gallery
References |
Back in 2006, developer G.rev released Under Defeat on the Dreamcast in Japan. Obviously this was well past the point where Dreamcast games were getting regular releases in North America, so the game stayed off shore at the time. I managed import the game and spent a lot of time with it. And now with this release, it's finally available for everyone.
The PS3 version is, as the name implies, a high-definition remake. The arcade mode is very similar to the Dreamcast version. There are a few minor changes here and there, so a purist may want to stick to the Dreamcast version, however it's close enough for most players. Also included is the New Order version that includes a modified play field suitable for widescreen displays. You can also choose to play with dual analog controls, optimized for modern controllers, or stick with the original arcade rotation scheme. So we get the best of both worlds: A reasonable approximation of the original game and controls, and a revamped version to take full advantage of modern setups.
Under Defeat is a shmup. You fly a helicopter, shoot stuff, grab powerups, and avoid bullets. The field of play is an overhead slightly angled view, similar to Raystorm.
The 'twist' to Under Defeat is that your helicoptor can rotate slightly to shoot at different angles. There are also two planes of play, with air targets and ground targets. Your helicoptor normally fires forward, however when a ground target comes into range your angle of fire changes to lock-on to them instead. Powerups consist of small pods that fire along side you, with missles, chainguns, etc. These are activated by pausing your fire to charge them up; thus you often have better firepower by not shooting all the time. Planning which powerups to use and when to activate them adds an additional layer of strategy, and is often more critical than it appears at first glance. This also lets you target multiple enemies at the same time, or concentrate fire on more sturdy enemies.
The level design is where Under Defeat truly shines. From assaulting enemy bases, to battling fleets of ships, to assisting allied tanks on the battlefield, everything is placed well and makes sense. Often when allies are on the screen, you can choose to attack enemies firing at you, or assist those allies against enemies that are targeting them so they can continue fighting. It's really slick design that helps the game feel more like a battlefield.
Boss fights are huge and intimidating, with multiple parts to destroy. This gives a lot of flexibility in how you want to approach them: You can concentrate fire and go straight for the kill, or pick them apart piece by piece.
Under Defeat is a difficult game. Don't let modern "bullet-hell" shmups fool you, more bullets does not always mean harder. I've gotten single credit clears on several modern and old arcade shmups, however this one gives me trouble from time to time. Still, the learning curve is very much worth it as each level just gets better than the last.
It's not every day a shmup gets a disc-based release on PS3, and this is one of the better ones on any console. With added features to take advantage of HD displays and modern controllers, and an original version for the arcade experinece, you really can't go wrong. And at the retail price, it's a steal compared to what the Dreamcast version goes for. |
Baltimore City Police are investigating a Thursday afternoon homicide.Officers responded Nov. 30 to a home in the 1800 block of East Pratt Street to check the well-being of the occupant, police say.According to police, upon arrival, officers entered the home and found a 31-year-old man suffering from a gunshot wound to the head. Medics pronounced the victim dead at the scene.Homicide detectives responded and assumed control of the investigation.Anyone with information regarding this murder is asked to call detectives at (410) 396-2100, call Metro Crime Stoppers at 1-866-7LOCKUP, or text a tip to (443) 902-4824.
Baltimore City Police are investigating a Thursday afternoon homicide.
Officers responded Nov. 30 to a home in the 1800 block of East Pratt Street to check the well-being of the occupant, police say.
Advertisement Related Content Family mourns volunteer firefighter found dead in shooting
According to police, upon arrival, officers entered the home and found a 31-year-old man suffering from a gunshot wound to the head.
Medics pronounced the victim dead at the scene.
Homicide detectives responded and assumed control of the investigation.
Anyone with information regarding this murder is asked to call detectives at (410) 396-2100, call Metro Crime Stoppers at 1-866-7LOCKUP, or text a tip to (443) 902-4824.
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Over the course of a few hundred years, much of Britain's land has been privatized — that is to say taken out of some form of collective ownership and management and handed over to individuals. Currently, in our "property-owning democracy", nearly half the country is owned by 40,000 land millionaires, or 0.06 per cent of the population,1 while most of the rest of us spend half our working lives paying off the debt on a patch of land barely large enough to accommodate a dwelling and a washing line.
There are many factors that have led to such extreme levels of land concentration, but the most blatant and the most contentious has been enclosure — the subdivision and fencing of common land into individual plots which were allocated to those people deemed to have held rights to the land enclosed. For over 500 years, pamphleteers, politicians and historians have argued about enclosure, those in favour (including the beneficiaries) insisting that it was necessary for economic development or "improvement", and those against (including the dispossessed) claiming that it deprived the poor of their livelihoods and led to rural depopulation. Reams of evidence derived from manorial rolls, tax returns, field orders and so on have been painstakingly unearthed to support either side. Anyone concocting a resumé of enclosure such as the one I present here cannot ignore E P Thompson's warning: "A novice in agricultural history caught loitering in those areas with intent would quickly be despatched."2
But over the last three decades, the enclosure debate has been swept up in a broader discourse on the nature of common property of any kind. The overgrazing of English common land has been held up as the archetypal example of the "tragedy of the commons" — the fatal deficiency that a neoliberal intelligentsia holds to be inherent in all forms of common property. Attitudes towards enclosures in the past were always ideologically charged, but now any stance taken towards them betrays a parallel approach to the crucial issues of our time: the management of global commons and the conflict between the global and the local, between development and diversity.
Those of us who have not spent a lifetime studying agricultural history should beware of leaping to convenient conclusions about the past, for nothing is quite what it seems. But no one who wishes to engage with the environmental politics of today can afford to plead agnostic on the dominant social conflict of our recent past. The account of enclosure that follows is offered with this in mind, and so I plead guilty to "loitering with intent".
The Tragedy of the Commons
In December 1968 Science magazine published a paper by Garrett Hardin entitled "The Tragedy of the Commons".3 How it came to be published in a serious academic journal is a mystery, since its central thesis, in the author's own words, is what "some would say is a platitude", while most of the paper consists of the sort of socio-babble that today can be found on the average blog. The conclusion, that "the alternative of the commons is too horrifying to contemplate," is about as far removed from a sober scientific judgment as one could imagine.
Yet "The Tragedy of the Commons" became one of the most cited academic papers ever published and its title a catch phrase. It has framed the debate about common property for the last 30 years, and has exerted a baleful influence upon international development and environmental policy, even after Hardin himself admitted that he had got it wrong, and rephrased his entire theory.
But Hardin did get one thing right, and that is the reason for the lasting influence of his paper. He recognized that the common ownership of land, and the history of its enclosure, provides a template for understanding the enclosure of other common resources, ranging from the atmosphere and the oceans to pollution sinks and intellectual property. The physical fences and hedges that staked out the privateownership of the fields of England, are shadowed by the metaphorical fences that now delineate more sophisticated forms of private property. That Hardin misinterpreted the reasons and motives for fencing off private property is regrettable, and the overview of land enclosure in Britain that follows is just one of many attempts to put the record straight. But Hardin must nonetheless be credited for steering the environmental debate towards the crucial question of who owns the global resources that are, undeniably, "a common treasury for all".
Hardin's basic argument (or "platitude") was that common property systems allow individuals to benefit at a cost to the community, and therefore are inherently prone to decay, ecological exhaustion and collapse. Hardin got the idea for his theory from the Oxford economist, the Rev William Forster Lloyd who in 1833 wrote:
"Why are the cattle on a common so puny and stunted? Why is the common itself so bareworn and cropped so differently from the adjoining enclosures? If a person puts more cattle into his own field, the amount of the subsistence which they consume is all deducted from that which was at the command of his original stock; and if, before, there was no more than a sufficiency of pasture, he reaps no benefit from the additional cattle, what is gained one way, being lost in another. But if he puts more cattle on a common, the food which they consume forms a deduction which is shared between all the cattle, as well that of others as his own, and only a small part of it is taken from his own cattle."5
This is a neat description, and anybody who has lived in a communal situation will recognize that, as an analogy of human behaviour, there is more than a grain of truth in it: individuals often seek to profit from communal largesse if they can get away with it. Or as John Hales put it in 1581, "that which is possessed of manie in common is neglected by all." Hardin, however, takes Lloyd's observation and transforms it by injecting the added ingredient of "tragic" inevitability:
"The rational herdsman concludes that the only sensible course for him to pursue is to add another animal to his herd. And another; and another . . . But this is the conclusion reached by each and every rational herdsman sharing a commons. Therein is the tragedy. Each man is locked into a system that compels him to increase his herd without limit — in a world that is limited. Ruin is the destination toward which all men rush, each pursuing his own best interest in a society that believes in the freedom of the commons. Freedom in a commons brings ruin to all."
Having established that "the inherent logic of the commons remorselessly generates tragedy", Hardin then proceeds to apply this tragedy to every kind of common property that he can think of. From fish populations to national parks and polluted streams to parking lots, wherever resources are held in common, there lies the path to over-exploitation and ruin, from which, he suggests, there is one preferred route of escape: "the Tragedy of the Commons, as a food basket, is averted by private property, or something formally like it."
Hardin continues:
"An alternative to the commons need not be perfectly just to be preferable. With real estate and other material goods, the alternative we have chosen is the institution of private property coupled with legal inheritance. Is this system perfectly just? . . . We must admit that our legal system of private property plus inheritance is unjust — but we put up with it because we are not convinced, at the moment, that anyone has invented a better system. The alternative of the commons is too horrifying to contemplate. Injustice is preferable to total ruin."
To be fair to Hardin, most of the above was incidental to his main point which was the need for population control. But it was music to the ears of free market economists who were convinced that private property rights were the solution to every social ill. A scientific, peer-reviewed, mathematical formula proving that common property led inexorably to ruin, and postulating that privatization, even unjust privatization, was the solution — and all encapsulated under the neat title of Tragedy of the Commons — what could be better? From the 1970s to the 1990s Hardin's Tragedy was picked up by right wing theorists and neo-colonial development agencies, to justify unjust and sometimes ruinous privatization schemes. In particular, it provided agencies such as the World Bank and marine economists with the rationale for the enclosure and privatization of fisheries through the creation, sale and trade of quotas.6
But as well as being one of the most cited papers, it was also one of the most heavily criticized, particularly by anthropologists and historians who cited innumerable instances where limited common resources were managed satisfactorily. What Hardin's theory overlooks, said E P Thompson "is that commoners were not without commonsense."7 The anthropologist Arthur McEvoy made the same point, arguing that the Tragedy "misrepresents the way common lands were used in the archetypal case" (ie England before enclosure):
"English farmers met twice a year at manor court to plan production for the coming months. On those occasions they certainly would have exchanged information about the state of their lands and sanctioned those who took more than their fair share from the common pool . . . The shortcoming of the tragic myth of the commons is its strangely unidimensional picture of human nature. The farmers on Hardin's pasture do not seem to talk to one another. As individuals, they are alienated, rational, utility-maximizing automatons and little else. The sum total of their social life is the grim, Hobbesian struggle of each against all, and all together against the pasture in which they are trapped."8
Faced with a barrage of similar evidence about both historical and existing commons, Hardin in the early 1990s, retracted his original thesis, conceding:
"The title of my 1968 paper should have been 'The Tragedy of the Unmanaged Commons' . . . Clearly the background of the resources discussed by Lloyd (and later by myself) was one of non-management of the commons under conditions of scarcity."9
In fact, this background wasn't clear at all, since it makes a nonsense of the idea of an inexorable tragedy. If degradation results from non-management and collapse can be averted by sound management, then there can be no "remorseless logic" leading to inevitable "ruin". Nor is there any reason why a private property regime (particularly an unjust one) should necessarily be preferable to the alternative of maintaining sound management of a commonly owned resource.
But even within the confined parameters of Hardin's "Hobbesian struggle of each against all", one wonders whether he has got it right. Is it really economically rational for a farmer to go on placing more and more stock on the pasture? If he does so, he will indeed obtain a higher return relative to his colleagues, but he will get a lower return relative to his capital investment in livestock; beyond a certain level of degradation he would be wiser to invest his money elsewhere. Besides — and this is a critical matter in pre-industrial farming systems — only a small number of wealthy farmers are likely to be able to keep sufficient stock through the winter to pursue this option. The most "rational" approach for powerful and unscrupulous actors is not to accrue vast herds of increasingly decrepit animals; it is to persuade everybody else that common ownership is inefficient (or even leads remorselessly to ruin) and therefore should be replaced with a private property system, of which they will be the beneficiaries. And of course the more stock they pile onto the commons, the more it appears that the system isn't working.10
The following account provides a generalized overview of the forces that led to inequitable reallocation of once communal resources. The over-exploitation of poorly regulated commons, as described by William Lloyd, certainly played a role at times, but there is no evidence, from Hardin or anyone else, that degradation of the land was inevitable or inexorable. At least as prominent in the story is the prolonged assault upon the commons by those who wanted to establish ownership for their own private gain — together with the ideological support from the likes of Lloyd and Hardin that has been used to clothe what otherwise often looks like naked acquisitiveness.
The Open Field System
Private ownership of land, and in particular absolute private ownership, is a modern idea, only a few hundred years old. "The idea that one man could possess all rights to one stretch of land to the exclusion of everybody else" was outside the comprehension of most tribespeople, or indeed of medieval peasants. The king, or the Lord of the Manor, might have owned an estate in one sense of the word, but the peasant enjoyed all sorts of so-called "usufructory" rights which enabled him, or her, to graze stock, cut wood or peat, draw water or grow crops, on various plots of land at specified times of year.
The open field system of farming, which dominated the flatter more arable central counties of England throughout the later medieval and into the modern period, is a classic common property system which can be seen in many parts of the world. The structure of the open fields system in Britain was influenced by the introduction of the caruca a large wheeled plough, developed by the Gauls, which was much more capable of dealing with heavy English clay soils than the lightweight Roman aratrum (Fr araire ). The caruca required a larger team of oxen to pull it —as many as eight on heavy soils — and was awkward to turn around, so very long strips were ideal. Most peasants could not afford a whole team of oxen, just one or two, so maintaining an ox team had to be a joint enterprise. Peasants would work strips of land, possibly proportionate to their investment in the ox team. The lands were farmed in either a two or three course rotation, with one year being fallow, so each peasant needed an equal number of strips in each section to maintain a constant crop year on year.
Furthermore, because the fields were grazed by the village herds when fallow, or after harvest, there was no possibility for the individual to change his style of farming: he had to do what the others were doing, when they did it, otherwise his crops would get grazed by everyone's animals. The livestock were also fed on hay from communal meadows (the distribution of hay was sometimes decided by an annual lottery for different portions of the field) and on communal pastures.
The open field system was fairly equitable, and from their analysis of the only remaining example of open field farming, at Laxton, Notts, the Orwins demonstrate that it was one where a lad with no capital or land to his name could gradually build up a larger holding in the communal land:
"A man may have no more than an acre or two, but he gets the full extent of them laid out in long "lands" for ploughing, with no hedgerows to reduce the effective area, and to occupy him in unprofitable labour. No sort of inclosure of the same size can be conceived which would give him equivalent facilities. Moreover he has his common rights which entitle him to graze his stock all over the 'lands' and these have a value, the equivalent of which in pasture fields would cost far more than he could afford to pay."11
In short, the common field system, rather ingeniously, made economies of scale, including use of a whopping great plough team, potentially accessible to small scale farmers. The downside was a sacrifice of freedom (or "choice" as it is now styled), but that is in the nature of economies of scale when they are equitably distributed — and when they are inequitably distributed some people have no choice at all. The open field system probably offered more independence to the peasant than a New World latifundia, or a fully collectivized communist farm. One irony of these economies of scale is that when large-scale machinery arrived, farmers who had enclosed open fields had to start ripping out their hedges again.
It is hard to see how Harding's Tragedy of the Commons has any bearing upon the rise and fall of this open field system. Far from collapsing as a result of increased population, the development of open field systems often occurred quite late in the Middle Ages, and may even have been a response to increasing population pressure, according to a paper by Joan Thirsk.12 When there was plenty of uncultivated land left to clear, people were able to stake out private plots of land without impinging too much upon others; when there was less land to go round, or when a single holding was divided amongst two or three heirs, there was pressure to divide arable land into strips and manage it semi-collectively.
The open fields were not restricted to any one kind of social structure or land tenure system. In England they evolved under Saxon rule and continued through the era of Norman serfdom. After the Black Death serfdom gave way to customary land tenure known as copyhold and as the moneyeconomy advanced this in turn gave way to leasehold. But none of these changes appeared to diminish the effectiveness of the open field system. On the other hand, in Celtic areas, and in other peripheral regions that were hilly or wooded, open fields were much less widespread, and enclosure of private fields occurred earlier (and probably more equitably) than it did in the central arable counties.
However, open fields were by no means restricted to England. Being a natural and reasonably equitable expression of a certain level of technology, the system was and still is found in many regions around the world. According to one French historian, "it must be emphasised that in France, open fields were the agricultural system of the most modernised regions, those which Quesnay cites as regions of 'high farming'."13 There are reports of similar systems of open field farming all over the world, for example in Anatolia, Turkey in the 1950s; and in Tigray, Ethiopia where the system is still widespread. In one area, in Tigray, Irob, "to avoid profiteering by ox owners of oxenless landowners, ox owners are obliged to first prepare the oxenless landowners' land and then his own. The oxenless landowners in return assist by supplying feed for the animals they use to plough the land."14
Sheep Devour People
However, as medieval England progressed to modernity, the open field system and the communal pastures came under attack from wealthy landowners who wanted to privatize their use. The first onslaught, during the 14th to 17th centuries, came from landowners who converted arable land over to sheep, with legal support from the Statute of Merton of 1235. Villages were depopulated and several hundred seem to have disappeared. The peasantry responded with a series of ill fated revolts. In the 1381 Peasants' Revolt, enclosure was an issue, albeit not the main one. In Jack Cade's rebellion of 1450 land rights were a prominent demand.15 By the time of Kett's rebellion of 1549 enclosure was a main issue, as it was in the Captain Pouch revolts of 1604-1607 when the terms "leveller" and "digger" appeared, referring to those who levelled the ditches and fences erected by enclosers.16
The first recorded written complaint against enclosure was made by a Warwickshire priest, John Rous, in his History of the Kings of England, published around 1459-86.17 The first complaint by a celebrity (and 500 years later it remains the most celebrated denounciation of enclosure) was by Thomas More in Utopia:
"Your shepe that were wont to be so meke and tame, and so smal eaters, now, as I heare saye, be become so great devowerers and so wylde, that they eate up and swallow down the very men them selfes. They consume, destroye, and devoure whole fields, howses and cities . . . Noble man andgentleman, yea and certeyn Abbottes leave no ground for tillage, thei inclose all into pastures; they throw down houses; they pluck down townes, and leave nothing standynge but only the churche to be made a shepehowse."18
Other big names of the time weighed in with similar views: Thomas Wolsey, Hugh Latimer, William Tyndale, Lord Somerset and Francis Bacon all agreed, and even though all of these were later executed, as were Cade, Kett and Pouch (they did Celebrity Big Brother properly in those days), the Tudor and Stuart monarchs took note and introduced a number of laws and commissions which managed to keep a check on the process of enclosure. One historian concludes from the number of anti-enclosure commissions set up by Charles I that he was "the one English monarch of outstanding importance as an agrarian reformer."19 But (as we shall see) Charles was not averse to carrying out enclosures of his own.
The Diggers
A somewhat different approach emerged during the English Revolution when Gerrard Winstanley and fellow diggers, in 1649, started cultivating land on St George's Hill, Surrey, and proclaimed a free Commonwealth. "The earth (which was made to be a Common Treasury of relief for all, both Beasts and Men)" state the Diggers in their first manifesto "was hedged into Inclosures by the teachers and rulers, and the others were made Servants and Slaves." The same pamphlet warned: "Take note that England is not a Free people, till the Poor that have no Land, have a free allowance to dig and labour the Commons, and so live as Comfortably as the Landlords that live in their Inclosures."20
The Diggers appear to be not so much a resistance movement of peasants in the course of being squeezed off the land, as an inspired attempt to reclaim the land by people whose historical ties may well have already been dissolved, some generations previously. Like many radicals Winstanley was a tradesman in the textile industry. William Everard, his most prominent colleague, was a cashiered army officer. It is tempting to see the Diggers as the original "back to the land" movement, a bunch of idealistic drop-outs.21 Winstanley wrote so many pamphlets in such a short time that one wonders whether he had time to wield anything heavier than a pen. Nevertheless during 1649 he was earning his money as a hired cowherd; and no doubt at least some of the diggers were from peasant backgrounds.
More to the point, the Diggers weren't trying to stop "inclosures"; they didn't go round tearing down fences and levelling ditches, like both earlier and later rebels. In a letter to the head of the army, Fairfax, Winstanley stated that if some wished to "call the Inclosures [their] own land . . . we are not against it," though this may have been just a diplomatic gesture. Instead they wanted to create their own alternative Inclosure which would be a "Common Treasury of All" and where commoners would have "the freedom of the land for their livelihood . . . as the Gentry hathe the benefit of their Inclosures". Winstanley sometimes speaks the same language of "improvement" as the enclosers, but wishes to see its benefits extended to the poor rather than reserved for wealthy: "If the wasteland of England were manured by her children it would become in a few years the richest, the strongest and the most flourishing land in the world".22 In some ways the Diggers foreshadow the smallholdings and allotments movements of the late 19th and 20th century and the partageux of the French revolution — poor peasants who favoured the enclosure of commons if it resulted in their distribution amongst the landless.
It is slightly surprising that the matter of 50 or so idealists planting carrots on a bit of wasteland and proclaiming that the earth was a "Common Treasury" should have attracted so much attention, both from the authorities at the time, and from subsequent historians and campaigners. 200 years before, at the head of his following of Kentish peasants (described by Shakespeare as "the filth and scum of Kent") Jack Cade persuaded the first army dispatched by the king to pack up and go home, skilfully evaded a second army of 15,000 men led by Henry VI himself, and then defeated a third army, killing two of the king's generals, before being finally apprehended and beheaded. Although pictured by the sycophantic author of Henry VI Part II as a brutal and blustering fool with pretensions above his station, Cade was reported by contemporaries to be "a young man of goodlie stature and right pregnant of wit".23 He is potentially good material for a romantic Hollywood blockbuster starring Johnny Depp, whereas Winstanley (who has had a film made about him), after the Digger episode, apparently settled into middle age as a Quaker, a church warden and finally a chief constable.24
The Blacks
Winstanley and associates were lucky not to die on the scaffold. The habit of executing celebrities was suspended during the Interregnum — after the beheading of Charles I, anyone else would have been an anticlimax. Executions were resumed (but mainly for plebs, not celebs) initially by Judge Jeffries in his Bloody Assizes in 1686 and subsequently some 70 years later with the introduction of the Black Acts.
The Black Acts were the vicious response of prime minister Walpole and his cronies to increasing resistance to the enclosure of woodlands. The rights of commoners to take firewood, timber and game from woodlands, and to graze pigs in them, had been progressively eroded for centuries: free use of forests and abolition of game laws was one of the demands that Richard II agreed to with his fingers crossed when he confronted Wat Tyler during the 1381 Peasants Revolt.25 But in the early 18th century the process accelerated as wealthy landowners enclosed forests for parks and hunting lodges, dammed rivers for fishponds, and allowed their deer to trash local farmer's crops.
Commoners responded by organizing vigilante bands which committed ever more brazen acts of resistance. One masked gang, whose leader styled himself King John, on one morning in 1721, killed 11 deer out of the Bishop's Park at Farnham and rode through Farnham market with them at 7 am in triumph. On another occasion when a certain Mr Wingfield started charging poor people for offcuts of felled timber which they had customarily had for free, King John and his merry men ring-barked a plantation belonging to Wingfield, leaving a note saying that if he didn't return the money to the peasants, more trees would be destroyed. Wingfield paid up. King John could come and go as he pleased because he had local support — on one occasion, to refute a charge of Jacobinism, he called the 18th century equivalent of a press-conference near an inn on Waltham Chase. He turned up with 15 of his followers, and with 300 of the public assembled, the authorities made no attempt to apprehend him. He was never caught, and for all we know also eventually became a chief constable.26
Gangs such as these, who sooted their faces, both as a disguise and so as not to be spotted at night, were known as "the blacks", and so the legislation introduced two years later in 1723 was known as the Black Act. Without doubt the most viciously repressive legislation enacted in Britain in the last 400 years, this act authorized the death penalty for more than 50 offences connected with poaching. The act stayed on the statute books for nearly a century, hundreds were hanged for the crime of feeding themselves with wild meat, and when the act was finally repealed, poachers were, instead, transported to the Antipodes for even minor offences.
This episode in English history lives on in folk songs, such as Geordie and Van Dieman's Land. The origins of the Black Act, and in particular the exceptional unpleasantness of prime minister Walpole, are superbly recounted in E P Thompson's Whigs and Hunters. Resistance to forest enclosure was by no means confined to England. In France there was mass resistance to the state's take-over of numerous communal forests: in the Ariège, the Guerre des Demoiselles involved attacks by 20 or 30, and on occasion even up to 800 peasants, disguised as women.23 In Austria, the "war of the mountains" between poachers and the gamekeepers of the Empire continued for centuries, the last poacher to be shot dead being Pius Walder in 1982.24
Draining the Fens
Another area which harboured remnants of a hunter gatherer economy was the fenland of Holland in south Lincolnshire, and the Isle of Axholme in the north of the county. Although the main earner was the summer grazing of rich common pastures with dairy cattle, horses and geese, in winter, when large tracts of the commons were inundated, fishing and fowling became an important source of income, and for those with no land to keep beasts on over winter it was probably a main source of income. During the Middle Ages, Holland was well off — its tax assessment per acre was the third highest in the kingdom in 1334 — and this wealth was relatively equitably distributed with "a higher proportion of small farmers and a lower proportion of very wealthy ones".29
In the early 1600s, the Stuart kings James I and Charles I, hard up for cash, embarked on a policy of draining the fenland commons to provide valuable arable land that would yield the crown a higher revenue. Dutch engineers, notably Cornelius Vermuyden, were employed to undertake comprehensive drainage schemes which cost the crown not a penny, because the developers were paid by being allocated a third of the land enclosed and drained.
The commoners' resistance to the drainage schemes was vigorous. A 1646 pamphlet with the title The Anti-Projector must be one of the earliesr grass roots denunciations of a capitalist development project, and makes exactly the same points that indigenous tribes today make when fighting corporate land grabs:
"The Undertakers have alwaies vilified the fens, and have misinformed many Parliament men, that all the fens is a meer quagmire, and that it is a level hurtfully surrounded and of little or no value: but those who live in the fens and are neighbours to it, know the contrary."
The anonymous author goes on to list the benefits of the fens including: the "serviceable horses", the "great dayeries which afford great store of butter and cheese", the flocks of sheep, the "osier, reed and sedge", and the "many thousand cottagers which live on our fens which must otherwise go a begging." And he continues by comparing these to the biofuels that the developers proposed to plant on the newly drained land:
"What is coleseed and rape, they are but Dutch commodities, and but trash and trumpery and pills land, in respect of the fore-recited commodities which are the rich oare of the Commonwealth."30
The commoners fought back by rioting, by levelling the dikes, and by taking the engineers to court. Their lawsuits were paid for "out of a common purse to which each villager contributed according to the size of the holding", though Charles I attempted to prevent them levying money for this purpose, and to prosecute the ringleaders. However, Charles' days were numbered, and when civil war broke out in the 1640s, the engineering project was shelved, and the commoners reclaimed all the fen from the developers. In 1642 Sir Anthony Thomas was driven out of East and West Fens and the Earl of Lyndsey was ejected from Lyndsey Level. In 1645 all the drainers' banks in Axholme were destroyed. And between 1642 and 1649 the Crown's share of fenland in numerous parishes was seized by the inhabitants, and returned to common.
Just over a century later, from 1760, the drainers struck again, and this time they were more successful. There was still resistance in the form of pamphlets, riots, rick-burning etc. But the high price of corn worked in favour of those who wanted to turn land over to arable. And there was less solidarity amongst commoners, because, according to Joan Thirsk, wealthy commoners who could afford to keep more animals over winter (presumably because of agricultural improvements) were overstocking the commons:
"The seemingly equitable system of sharing the commons among all commoners was proving far from equitable in practice . . . Mounting discontent with the existing unfair distribution of common rights weakened the opponents of drainage and strengthened its supporters."
Between 1760 and 1840 most of the fens were drained and enclosed by act of parliament. The project was not an instant success. As the land dried out it shrunk and lowered against the water table, and so became more vulnerable to flooding. Pumping stations had to be introduced, powered initially and unsuccessfully by windmills, then by steam engines, and now the entire area is kept dry thanks to diesel. Since drainage eventually created one of the most productive areas of arable farmland in Britain, it would be hard to argue that it was not an economic improvement; but the social and environmental consequences have been less happy. Much of the newly cultivated land lay at some distance from the villages and was taken over by large landowners; it was not unusual to find a 300 acre holding without a single labourers' cottage on it. Farmers therefore developed the gang-labour system of employment that exists to this day:
"The long walk to and from work . . . the rough conditions of labour out of doors in all weathers, the absence of shelter for eating, the absence of privacy for performing natural functions and the neglect of childrens' schooling, combined to bring up an unhappy, uncouth and demoralized generation."
The 1867 Gangs Act was introduced to prohibit the worst abuses; yet in 2004, when the Gangmasters Licensing Act was passed (in the wake of the Morecambe Bay cockle pickers tragedy), the government was still legislating against the evils of this system of employment. But even if large landowners were the main beneficiaries, many of the fenland smallholders managed to exact some compensation for the loss of their commons, and what they salvaged was productive land. The smallholder economy that characterized the area in medieval times survived, so that in 1870, and again in 1937, more than half of the agricultural holdings were less than 20 acres. In the 1930s the "quaint distribution of land among a multitude of small owners, contrary to expectations, had helped to mitigate the effects of the depression."
Scottish Clearances
By the end of the 18th century the incentive to convert tilled land in England over to pasture was dying away. There were a number of reasons for this. Firstly, the population was beginning to rise rapidly as people were displaced from the land and ushered into factory work in towns, and so more land was required for producing food. Secondly, cotton imported from the US and India, was beginning to replace English wool. And thirdly, Scotland had been united with England and its extensive pastures lay ready to be "devowered by shepe".
The fact that these lands were populated by Highland clansmen presented no obstacle. In a process that has become known as the Clearances, thousands of Highlanders were evicted from their holdings and shipped off to Canada, or carted off to Glasgow to make way for Cheviot sheep. Others were concentrated on the West coast to work picking kelp seaweed, then necessary for the soap and glass industry, and were later to form the nucleus of the crofting community. Some cottagers were literally burnt out of house and home by the agents of the Lairds. This is from the account of Betsy Mackay, who was sixteen when she was evicted from the Duke of Sutherland's estates:
"Our family was very reluctant to leave and stayed for some time, but the burning party came round and set fire to our house at both ends, reducing to ashes whatever remained within the walls. The people had to escape for their lives, some of them losing all their clothes except what they had on their back. The people were told they could go where they liked, provided they did not encumber the land that was by rights their own. The people were driven away like dogs."31
The clearances were so thorough that few people were even left to remember, and the entire process was suppressed from collective memory, until its history was retold, first by John Prebble in The Highland Clearances, and subsequently by James Hunter in The Making of the Crofting Community. When Prebble's book appeared, the Historiographer Royal for Scotland Professor Gordon Donaldson commented:
"I am sixty-eight now and until recently had hardly heard of the Highland Clearances. The thing has been blown out of proportion."32
But how else can one explain the underpopulation of the Highlands? The region's fate was poignantly described by Canadian Hugh Maclennan in an essay called "Scotchman's Return":
"The Highland emptiness only a few hundred miles above the massed population of England is a far different thing from the emptiness of our North West territories. Above the 60th parallel in Canada, you feel that nobody but God had ever been there before you. But in a deserted Highland glen, you feel that everyone who ever mattered is dead and gone."33
Parliamentary Enclosures
The final and most contentious wave of land enclosures in England occurred between about 1750 and 1850. Whereas the purpose of most previous enclosures had been to turn productive arable land into less productive (though more privately lucrative) sheep pasture, the colonization of Scotland for wool, and India and the Southern US states for cotton now prompted the advocates of enclosure to play a different set of cards: their aim was to turn open fields, pastures and wastelands — everything in fact — into more productive arable and mixed farm land. Their byword was "improvement". Their express aim was to increase efficiency and production and so both create and feed an increasingly large proletariat who would work either as wage labourers in the improved fields, or as machine minders in the factories.
There is, unfortunately, no book that takes for its sole focus of study the huge number of pamphlets, reports and diatribes — often with stirring titles like Inclosure thrown Open or Crying Sin of England in not Caring for the Poor — which were published by both supporters and critics of enclosure in the 17th, 18th and early 19th centuries.34
The main arguments of those in favour of enclosure were:
(i) that the open field system prevented "improvement", for example the introduction of clover, turnips and four course rotations, because individuals could not innovate;
(ii) that the waste lands and common pastures were "bare-worn" or full of scrub, and overstocked with half-starved beasts;
(iii) that those who survived on the commons were (a) lazy and (b) impoverished (in other words "not inclined to work for wages"), and that enclosure of the commons would force them into employment.
The main arguments of those against enclosure were:
(i) that the common pastures and waste lands were the mainstay of the independent poor; when they were overgrazed, that was often as a result of overstocking by the wealthiest commoners who were the people agitating for enclosure
(ii) that enclosure would engross already wealthy landowners, force poor people off the land and into urban slums, and result in depopulation.
The question of agricultural improvement has been exhaustively assessed with the benefit of hindsight, and this account will come back to it later. At the time the propaganda in favour of enclosure benefited considerably from state support. The loudest voice in support of improvement, former farmer Arthur Young (a classic example of the adage that those who can, do — those who can't become consultants) was made the first Secretary of Prime Minister William Pitt's new Board of Agriculture, which set about publishing, in 1793, a series of General Views on the Agriculture of all the shires of England. The Board "was not a Government department, like its modern namesake, but an association of gentlemen, chiefly landowners, for the advancement of agriculture, who received a grant from the government." Tate observes: "The ninety odd volumes are almost monotonous in their reiteration of the point that agricultural improvement has come through enclosure and that more enclosure must take place."35
Whilst the view that enclosure hastened improvement may well have been broadly correct, it is nonetheless fair to call these reports state propaganda. When Arthur Young changed his opinion, in 1801, and presented a report to the Board's Committee showing that enclosure had actually caused severe poverty in numerous villages, the committee (after sitting on the report for a month) "told me I might do what I pleased with it for myself, but not print it as a work for the Board. . . probably it will be printed without effect."36 Young was not the only advocate of enclosure to change his mind: John Howlett was another prominent advocate of enclosure who crossed the floor after seeing the misery it caused.
Between 1760 and 1870, about 7 million acres (about one sixth the area of England) were changed, by some 4,000 acts of parliament, from common land to enclosed land.37 However necessary this process might or might not have been for the improvement of the agricultural economy, it was downright theft. Millions of people had customary and legal access to lands and the basis of an independent livelihood was snatched away from them through what to them must have resembled a Kafkaesque tribunal carried out by members of the Hellfire Club. If you think this must be a colourful exaggeration, then read J L and Barbara Hammonds' accounts of Viscount "Bully" Bolingbroke's attempt to enclose Kings' Sedgmoor to pay off his gambling debts: "Bully," wrote the chairman of the committee assessing the proposal, "has a scheme of enclosure which if it succeeds, I am told will free him of all his difficulties"; or of the Spencer/Churchill's proposal, in the face of repeated popular opposition, to enclose the common at Abingdon (see box p 26).38 And if you suspect that the Hammond's accounts may be extreme examples (right wing historians are rather sniffy about the Hammonds)39 then look at the map provided by Tate showing the constituency of MPs who turned up to debate enclosure bills for Oxfordshire when they came up in parliament. There was no requirement, in the parliament of the day, to declare a "conflict of interest".
Out of 796 instances of MPs turning up for any of the Oxfordshire bills, 514 were Oxfordshire MPs, most of whom would have been landowners.40
To make a modern analogy, it was as if Berkeley Homes, had put in an application to build housing all over your local country park, and when you went along to the planning meeting to object, the committee consisted entirely of directors of Berkeley, Barretts and Bovis — and there was no right of appeal. However, in contrast to the modern rambler, the commoners lost not only their open space and their natural environment (the poems of John Clare remind us how significant that loss was); they also lost one of their principal means of making a living. The "democracy" of late 18th and early 19th century English parliament, at least on this issue, proved itself to be less answerable to the needs of the common man than the dictatorships of the Tudors and Stuarts. Kings are a bit more detached from local issues than landowners, and, with this in mind, it may not seem so surprising that popular resistance should often appeal to the King for justice. (A similar recourse can be seen in recent protests by Chinese peasants, who appeal to the upper echelons of the Communist Party for protection against the expropriation of collective land by corrupt local officials).
Allotments and Smallholdings
Arthur Young's 1801 report was called An Inquiry into the Propriety of Applying Wastes to the Maintenance and Support of the Poor. Young, Howlett, David Davies, and indeed most of those who were concerned for the future welfare of the dispossessed (whether or not they approved of enclosure), argued that those who lost commons rights should be compensated with small enclosures of their own.
The losers in the process of enclosure were of two kinds. First there were the landless, or nearly so, who had no ownership rights over the commons, but who gained a living from commons that were open access, or where a measure of informal use was tolerated. These people had few rights, appeared on no records, and received nothing in compensation for the livelihood they lost. But there was also a class of smallholders who did have legal rights, and hence were entitled to compensation. However, the amount of land they were allocated "was often so small, though in strict legal proportion to the amount of their claim, that it was of little use and speedily sold." Moreover, the considerable legal, surveying, hedging and fencing costs of enclosure were disproportionate for smaller holdings. And on top of that, under the "Speenhamland" system of poor relief, the taxes of the small landowner who worked his own land, went to subsidize the labour costs of the large farmers who employed the landless, adding to the pressure to sell up to aggrandizing landowners.41
Since it was generally acknowledged that a rural labourer's wages could not support his family, which therefore had to be supported by the poor rates, there were good arguments on all sides for providing the dispossessed with sufficient land to keep a cow and tend a garden. The land was available. It would have made very little impression upon the final settlement of most enclosure acts if areas of wasteland had been sectioned off and distributed as secure decent-sized allotments to those who had lost their common rights. In a number of cases where this happened (for example in the village of Dilhorn, or on Lord Winchelsea's estates), it was found that cottagers hardly ever needed to apply for poor relief. Moreover, it had been shown (by research conducted by the Society for Bettering the Condition of the Poor and the Labourer's Friends Society) that smallholdings cultivated by spade could be more productive than large farms cultivated by the plough.42
In the face of such a strong case for the provision of smallholdings, it took a political economist to come up with reasons for not providing them. Burke, Bentham and a host of lesser names, all of them fresh from reading Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, advised Pitt and subsequent prime ministers that there was no way in which the government could help the poor, or anybody else, except by increasing the nation's capital (or as we now say, its GDP). No kind of intervention on behalf of the landless poor should be allowed to disturb the "invisible hand" of economic self interest — even though the hand that had made them landless in the first place was by no means invisible, and was more like an iron fist. At the turn of the century, the Reverend Thomas Malthus waded in with his argument that helping the poor was a waste of time since it only served to increase the birth rate — a view which was lapped up by those Christians who had all along secretly believed that the rich should inherit the earth.
Ricardo's theory of rent was also pulled in to bolster the arguments against providing allotments. A common justification for enclosure and attraction for landowners had always been that rents rose — doubled very often — after enclosure. This was blithely attributed to improvement of the land, as though there could be no other cause. Few gave much thought to the possibility that an increase in rent would result from getting rid of encumbrances, such as commoners and their common rights (in much the same way, that nowadays, a property increases in value if sitting tenants can be persuaded to leave, or an agricultural tie is removed). Rent may show up on the GDP, but is an unreliable indicator of productivity, as contemporary writer Richard Bacon pointed out when he gave this explanation (paraphrased here by Brian Inglis) why landowners and economists were opposed to allotments:
"Suppose for argument's sake, 20 five-acre farms, cultivated by spade husbandry, together were more productive than a single 100-acre farm using machinery. This did not mean that the landowners would get more rent from them — far from it. As each 5 acre farm might support a farmer and his family, the surplus available for tenants to pay in rent would be small. The single tenant farmer, hiring labourers when he needed them, might have a lower yield, from his hundred acres, but he would have a larger net profit — and it was from net profit that rent was derived. That was why landlords preferred consolidation."43
Richard Bacon deserves applause for explaining very clearly why capitalism prefers big farms and forces people off the land. It is also worth noting that the increased rent after enclosure had to be subsidized by the poor rates — the taxes which landowners had to pay to support the poor who were forced into workhouses.
Corn Laws, Cotton and County Farms
In 1846, after a fierce debate, the tariffs on imported corn which helped maintain the price of British grown wheat were repealed. The widespread refusal to provide land for the dispossessed, and the emergence of an urban proletariat who didn't have the option of growing their own food, made it possible for proponents of the free market to paint their campaign for the repeal of the Corn Laws as a humanitarian gesture. Cheap bread from cheap imported corn was of interest to the economists and industrialists because it made wages cheaper; at the same time it was of benefit to the hungry landless poor (provided wages didn't decline correspondingly, which Malthus claimed was what would happen). The combined influence of all these forces was enough to get tariffs removed from imported corn and open up the UK market to the virgin lands of the New World.
The founders of the Anti Corn Law association were John Bright, a Manchester MP and son of a cotton mill owner, and Richard Cobden, MP for Stockport and subsequently Rochdale. Their main interest was in cheap corn in order to keep the price of factory labour down, (Bright was opposed to factory legislation and trade union rights); but their most powerful argument was that only a handful of landowners benefited from high prices. It was in a belated attempt to prove the contrary that in 1862 Lord Derby persuaded parliament to commission a land registry; but the publication in 1872 of the Return of Owners of Land, confirmed that Bright and Cobden were broadly right: 0.6 per cent of the population owned 98.5 per cent of the agricultural land.44
Had the labourers of Britain been rural smallholders, rather than city slumdwellers, then a high price for corn, and hence for agricultural products in general, might have been more in their interest, and it is less likely that the corn laws would have been repealed. If England had kept its peasantry (as most other European countries did) there would have been fewer landless labourers and abandoned children, wages for factory workers might have been higher, and the English cotton industry might not have been so well poised to undercut and then destroy thousands of local industries around the world which produced textiles of astonishing craftsmanship and beauty. By 1912 Britain, which couldn't even grow cotton, was exporting nearly seven billion yards of cotton cloth each year — enough to provide a suit of clothes for every man woman and child alive in the world at the time.45 Globalization was a dominant force by the end of the 19th century.
Ironically, it was the same breed of political economists who had previously advocated improvement that was now arguing for grain imports which would make these improvements utterly pointless. The repeal had a delayed effect because it was not until after the construction of the trans-continental American railways, in the 1870s, that cereals grown on low-rent land confiscated from native Americans could successfully undermine UK farming. By the 1880s the grain was also being imported in the form of thousands of tonnes of refrigerated beef which undercut home produced meat. There were even, until the late 1990s, cheaper transport rates within the UK for imported food than for home-grown food.46 The lucky farm workers who emigrated to the New World were writing back to their friends and family in words such as these:
"There is no difficulty of a man getting land here. Many will let a man have land with a few acres improvement and a house on it without any deposit"
"I am going to work on my own farm of 50 acres, which I bought at £55 and I have 5 years to pay it in. I have bought me a cow and 5 pigs. If I had stayed at Corsley I should ever have had nothing."47
Unable to compete with such low rents, England's agricultural economy went into a decline from which it never properly recovered. Conditions of life for the remaining landless agricultural workers deteriorated even further, while demand for factory workers in the cities was not expanding as it had done in the early 19th century. Of the 320,000 acres enclosed between 1845 and 1869, just 2,000 had been allocated for the benefit of labourers and cottagers.48
It was in this context that the call for smallholdings and allotments was revived. "Three Acres and A Cow" was the catch phrase coined by liberal MP Jesse Collings, whose programme is outlined in his book Land Reform. In 1913 the parliamentary Land Enquiry Committee issued its report The Land (no relation) which included copious first hand evidence of the demand for and the benefits of smallholdings. Both books focused on the enclosure of commons as the prime source of the problem.49 A series of parliamentary statutes, from the 1887 Allotments Act, the 1892 Smallholding Act, and the 1908 Smallholding and Allotments Act provided local authorities with the power to acquire the land which now still exists in the form of numerous municipal allotments and the County Smallholdings Estate.
The County Smallholdings, in particular, came under attack when a second wave of free market ideologues came into power in the 1980s and 1990s. The Conservative Party's 1995 Rural White Paper advocated selling off the County Farms, and since then about a third of the estate has been sold, though there are signs that the number of sales is declining.50
The End of Enclosure
The enclosure movement was brought to an end when it started to upset the middle classes. By the 1860s, influential city-dwellers noticed that areas for recreation were getting thin on the ground. In the annual enclosure bills for 1869, out of 6,916 acres of land scheduled for enclosure, just three acres were allocated for recreation, and six acres for allotments.51 A protection society was formed, the Commons Preservation Society, headed by Lord Eversley, which later went on to become the Open Spaces Society, and also spawned the National Trust. The Society was not afraid to support direct action tactics, such as the levelling of fences, and used them successfully, in the case of Epping Forest and Berkhampstead Common, to initiate court cases which drew attention to their cause.52 Within a few years the Society had strong support in parliament, and the 1876 Commons Act ruled that enclosure should only take place if there was some public benefit.
In any case, in the agricultural depression that by 1875 was well established, improvement was no longer a priority, and in the last 25 years of the 19th century only a handful of parliamentary enclosures took place. Since then, the greatest loss of commons has probably been as a result of failure to register under the 1965 Commons Registration Act.
In some case commons went on being used as such wellafter they had been legally enclosed, because in the agricultural slump of the late 19th century, landowners could see no profit in improvement. George Bourne describes how in his Surrey village, although the common had been enclosed in 1861, the local landless were able to continue using it informally until the early years of the 20th century. What eventually kicked them out was not agricultural improvement, but suburban development — but that is another story. Bourne comments:
"To the enclosure of the common more than to any other cause may be traced all the changes that have subsequently passed over the village. It was like knocking the keystone out of an arch. The keystone is not the arch; but once it is gone all sorts of forces previously resisted, begin to operate towards ruin."53
The Verdict of Modern Historians
The standard interpretation of enclosure, at least 18th-19th century enclosure, is that it was "a necessary evil, and there would have been less harm in it if the increased dividend of the agricultural world had been fairly distributed."54 Nearly all assessments are some kind of variation on this theme, with weight placed either upon the need for "agricultural improvement" or upon the social harm according to the ideological disposition of the writer. There is no defender of the commons who argues that enclosure did not provide, or at least hasten, some improvements in agriculture (the Hammonds ignore the issue and focus on the injustices); and there is no supporter of enclosure who does not concede that the process could have been carried out more equitably.
Opinion has shifted significantly in one or two respects. The classic agricultural writers of the 1920s, such as Lord Ernle, considered that agricultural improvements — the so-called agricultural revolution — had been developed by large-scale progressive farmers in the late 1800s and that enclosure was an indispensable element in allowing these innovators to come to the fore.47 In the last 30 years a number of historians have shown that innovation was occurring throughout the preceding centuries, and that it was by no means impossible, or even unusual, for four course rotations, and new crops to be introduced into the open field system. In Hunmanby in Yorkshire a six year system with a two year ley was introduced. At Barrowby, Lincs, in 1697 the commoners agreed to pool their common pastures and their open fields, both of which had become tired, and manage them on a twelve year cycle of four years arable and eight years ley. 55
Of course it might well take longer for a state-of-the-art farmer to persuade a majority of members of a common field system to switch over to experimental techniques, than it would to strike out on his own. One can understand an individual's frustration, but from the community's point of view, why the hurry? Overhasty introduction of technical improvements often leads to social disruption. In any case, if we compare the very minimal agricultural extension services provided for the improvement of open field agriculture to the loud voices in favour of enclosure, it is hard not to conclude that "improvement" served partly as a Trojan horse for those whose main interest was consolidation and engrossment of land.
A main area of contention has been the extent to which enclosure was directly responsible for rural depopulation and the decline of small farmers. A number of commentators (eg Gonner, Chambers and Minguay) have argued that these processes were happening anyway and often cannot be directly linked to enclosure. More recently Neeson has shown that in Northants, the disappearance of smallholders was directly linked to enclosure, and she has suggested that the smaller kinds of commoner, particularly landless and part-time farmers, were being defined out of the equation.56
But these disputes, like many others thrown up by the fact that every commons was different, miss the bigger picture. The fact is that England and Wales' rural population dived from 65 per cent of the population in 1801 to 23 per cent in 1901; while in France 59 per cent of the population remained rural in 1901, and even in 1982, 31 per cent were country dwellers. Between 1851 and 1901 England and Wales' rural population declined by 1.4 million, while total population rose by 14.5 million and the urban population nearly tripled.57 By 1935, there was one worker for every 12 hectares in the UK, compared to one worker for every 4.5 hectares in France, and one for every 3.4 hectares across the whole of Europe.58
Britain set out, more or less deliberately, to become a highly urbanized economy with a large urban proletariat dispossessed from the countryside, highly concentrated landownership, and farms far larger than any other country in Europe. Enclosure of the commons, more advanced in the UK than anywhere else in Europe, was not the only means of achieving this goal: free trade and the importing of food and fibre from the New World and the colonies played a part, and so did the English preference for primogeniture (bequeathing all your land to your eldest son). But enclosure of common land played a key role in Britain's industrialization, and was consciously seen to do so by its protagonists at the time.
The Tragedy
The above account of the enclosure of the English commons is given for its own sake; but also because the management of English common pasture is the starting point of Hardin's thesis, so it is against the tapestry of English commons rights and the tortuous process of their enclosure that Hardin's formulaic tragedy may initially be judged.
Hardin's theory springs from the observation that common pastures allowed individuals to benefit from overstocking at the community's expense, and therefore were inherently prone to ecological exhaustion and ultimately "ruin". Without doubt there were common pastures which matched the description given by William Lloyd, as amplified by Hardin. But the salient fact that emerges from the copious historical studies that have been compiled from local field orders, land tax returns, enclosure awards and so on, is that 18th century commons and common pastures were about as different, one from another, as farms are today. Many were managed according to very detailed rules set by the local manorial court regulating stocking levels (or "stints"), manuring, disease control and so forth; but these rules varied considerably from one village to another. In some places they were found to be more necessary, or were more scrupulously observed than they were in others.
There were indeed "unstinted" commons where there was little control upon the number of animals, though this did not invariably result in impoverishment (see box p26); and there were others where stints were not applied properly, or commoners took advantage of lax or corrupt management to place as many animals on the common as they could at the common expense. Where there was overstocking, according to Gonner, this was "largely to the advantage of rich commoners or the Lord of the manor, who got together large flocks and herds and pastured them in the common lands to the detriment of the poorer commoners . . . The rich crowded their beasts on, and literally eat out the poor." Time and again historians on both sides of the ideological divide come up with instances where overstocking was carried out by one or two wealthy farmers at the expense of the poorer commoners, who could not overstock, even if they wanted to, because they had not the means to keep large numbers of animals over winter.59 Even advocates of enclosure conceded that it was the wealthy farmers who were causing the problems, as when Fitzherbert observed:
"Every cottage shall have his porcyon [portion, ie plot of land] assigned to him according to his rent, and then shall not the riche man oppress the poore man with his catell, and every man shall eate his owne close at his pleasure."60
This comes as no great surprise, but the presence of powerful interest groups, possibly in a position to pervert the management regime, suggests a different scenario from that given by Hardin of "rational herdsmen" each seeking to maximise their individual gain. Hardin's construct is like the Chinese game of go where each counter has the same value; real life is more like chess, where a knight or a bishop can outclass a pawn.
Perhaps there were instances where a profusion of unregulated, "rational" yet unco-operative paupers overburdened the commons with an ever-increasing population of half-starved animals, in line with Lloyd's scenario. But even when there are reports from observers to this effect we have to be careful, for one man's puny and stunted beast is another man's hardy breed. Stunting is another way of stinting. Lloyd was writing at a time when stockbreeders were obsessed with producing prize specimens that to our modern eye appear grotesquely obese. In 1800, the celebrated Durham Ox, weighing nearly 3000 pounds, made a triumphal tour of Britain, and two years later about 2,000 people paid half a guinea for an engraving of the same beast.61 To these connoisseurs of fatstock, the commoners' house cow must have appeared as skeletal as do the zebu cattle of India and Africa in comparison to our Belgian Blues and cloned Holsteins. Yet the zebus provide a livelihood for hundreds of millions of third world farmers, are well adapted to producing milk, offspring, dung and traction from sparse and erratic dryland pastures and poor quality crop residues, and in terms of energy and protein are more efficient at doing so.
Much the same may have been true of the commoners' cows. According to J M Neeson a poor cow providing a gallon of milk per day in season brought in half the equivalent of a labourer's annual wage. Geese at Otmoor could bring in the equivalent of a full time wage (see box p26). Commoners sheep were smaller, but hardier, easier to lamb and with higher quality wool, just like present day Shetlands, which are described by their breed society as "primitive and unimproved". An acre of gorse — derided as worthless scrub by advocates of improved pasture — was worth 45s 6d as fuel for bakers or lime kilns at a time when labourers' wages were a shilling a day.62 On top of that, the scrub or marsh yielded innumerable other goods, including reed for thatch, rushes for light, firewood, peat, sand, plastering material, herbs, medicines, nuts, berries, an adventure playground for kids and more besides. No wonder the commoners were "idle" and unwilling to take on paid employment. "Those who are so eager for the new inclosure," William Cobbett wrote,
"seem to argue as if the wasteland in its present state produced nothing at all. But is this the fact? Can anyone point out a single inch of it which does not produce something and the produce of which is made use of? It goes to the feeding of sheep, of cows of all descriptions . . . and it helps to rear, in health and vigour, numerous families of the children of the labourers, which children, were it not for these wastes, must be crammed into the stinking suburbs of towns?"63
While the dynamic identified by Lloyd clearly exists and may sometimes dominate, it represents just one factor of many in a social system founded on access to common property. Hardin's Tragedy bears very little relationship to the management of open fields, to the making of hay from the meadows, or to various other common rights such as gleaning, none of which are vulnerable to the dynamic of competitive overstocking. The only aspect of the entire common land system where the tragedy has any relevance at all is in the management of pasture and wasteland; and here it is acknowledged by almost all historians that commons managers were only too aware of the problem, and had plenty of mechanisms for dealing with it, even if they didn't always put them into force. The instances in which unstinted access to common pastures led to overstocking no doubt played a role in hastening eventual enclosure. But to attribute the disappearance of the English commons to the "remorseless workings" of a trite formula is a travesty of historical interpretation, carried out by a theorist with a pet idea, who knew little about the subject he was writing about.
Private Interest and Common Sense
Any well-structured economy will allocate resources communally or privately according to the different functions they perform. The main advantage of common ownership is equity, particularly in respect of activities where there are economies of scale; the main advantage of private ownership is freedom, since the use of goods can be more directly tailored to the needs of the individual.
The open field system of agriculture, which until recently was the dominant arable farming system throughout much of Europe, provided each family with its own plot of land, within a communally managed ecosystem. In villages where dairy was prominent, management could shift back and forth between individual and communal several times throughout the course of the day. The system described below was outlined by Daniel Defoe in his observations on the Somerset town of Cheddar4, but elements of it can be found throughout Europe.
PRIVATE In such a system cows are owned and lodged by individual families, who milk them in the morning, and provide whatever medicinal care they see fit. There are no economies of scale to be derived from milking centrally, and the milk is accessible to consumers, fresh from the udder, providing a substantial economy of distribution. Each family also gets its share of the manure.
PUBLIC At an appointed time in the morning, a communally appointed cowherd passes through the village and the cows file out to make their way to the common pasture. There are clear economies of scale to be gained from grazing all the cows together.
PRIVATE In the evening the herd returns and cows peel off one by one to their individual sheds, where they are again milked. Their owners can calibrate the amount of extra feed cows are given to the amount of milk they require.
PUBLIC Milk surplus to domestic requirements is taken to the creamery and made into cheese, another process which benefits from economies of scale.
PRIVATE At Cheddar, families were paid with entire cheeses, weighing a hundredweight or more, which they could consume or market as they saw fit. Unfortunately Defoe does not tell us what happens to the whey from the creamery, which presumably was given to pigs.
This elegant system paid scant allegiance to ideology — it evolved from the dialogue between private interest and common sense.
Otmoor Forever
Otmoor Common near Oxford, a wetland that some viewed as a "a dreary waste", was a "public common without stint . . . from remote antiquity" — in other words local people could put as many livestock as they wanted on it. Even so, summer grazing there for a cow was estimated to be worth 20 shillings; and a contemporary observer reported a cottager could sometimes clear £20 a year from running geese there — more than the seven shillings a week they might expect as a labourer. On the other hand, an advocate of enclosure, writing in the local paper, claimed of the commoners :
"In looking after a brood of goslings, a few rotten sheep, a skeleton of a cow or a mangy horse, they lost more than they might have gained by their day's work, and acquired habits of idleness and dissipation, and a dislike to honest labour, which has rendered them the riotous and lawless set of men that they have now shown themselves to be."
The "riotousness" is a reference to the resistance put up by the commoners to the theft of their land. The first proposal to drain and enclose the land in 1801, by the Spencer/Churchill family, was staved off by armed mobs who appeared everytime the authorities tried to pin up enclosure notices. A second attempt in 1814 was again met with "large mobs armed with every description of offensive weapon".
The enclosure and drainage was eventually forced through over the next few year, but it failed to result in any immediate agricultural benefit. A writer in another local paper judged: "instead of expected improvement in the quality of the soil, it had been rendered almost totaly worthless . . . few crops yielding any more than barely sufficient to pay for labour and seed."
In 1830, 22 farmers were acquitted of destroying embankments associated with the drainage works, and a few weeks later, heartened by this result, a mob gathered and perambulated the entire commons pulling down all the fences. Lord Churchill arrived with a troop of yeomen, arrested 44 of the rioters and took them off to Oxford gaol in a paddy wagon.
"Now it happened to be the day of St Giles' fair, and the street of St Giles along which the yeomanry brought their prisoners, was crowded. The men in the wagons raised the cry 'Otmoor forever', the crowd took it up, and attacked the yeomen with great violence, hurling brickbats, stones and sticks at them from every side . . . and all 44 prisoners escaped."
Two years later Lord Melbourne observed: "All the towns in the neighbourhood of Otmoor are more or less infected with the feelings of the most violent, and cannot at all be depended upon." And, tellingly, magistrates in Oxford who had requested troops to suppress the outrages warned: "Any force which the Government may send down should not remain for a length of time together, but that to avoid the possibilty of an undue connexion between the people and the Military, a succession of troops should be observed."
REFERENCES
1. Kevin Cahill, Who Owns Britain, Canongate, 2001.
2. E P Thompson, Customs in Common, Penguin, 1993, p114.
3. Garrett Hardin, "The Tragedy of the Commons", Science, 13 December, 1968, pp1243-1248.
4. Daniel Defoe, A Tour Through England and Wales, Everyman, Vol 1, pp 277-8.
5. William F Lloyd, Two Lectures in the Checks to Population, Oxford University Press, 1833.
6. Eg, E A Loayza, A Strategy for Fisheries Development, World Bank Discussion Paper 135, 1992.
7. E P Thompson, Customs in Common, Penguin, 1993, p107.
8. Arthur McEvoy, "Towards and Interactive Theory of Nature and Culture, Environmental Review, 11, 1987, p 299.
9. Garrett Hardin, "The Tragedy of the 'Unmanaged' Commons", in R V Andelson, Commons Without Tragedy, Shepheard Walwyn, 1991.
10. The prospect of imminent enclosure provided wealthy commoners with a number of incentives for overstocking common pastures. See: JM Neeson, Commoners: Common Right, Enclosure and Social Change in England, 1700-1820, Cambridge, 1993, p156; and W H R Curtier, The Enclosure and Redistribution of Our Land, Elibron 2005 (Oxford 1920), p242.
11. CS and C S Orwin's The Open Fields, Oxford, 1938 is perhaps the most useful study of this system, not least because the Orwin's were farmers as well as academics.. See also J V Beckett, A History of Laxton: England's Last Open Fioeld Village, Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1989.
12. Joan Thirsk, "The Common Fields", Past and Present, 29, 1964.
13 J-C Asselain, Histoire Economique de la France, du 18th Siècle à nos Jours. 1. De l"Ancien Régime à la Première Guerre Mondiale, Editions du Seuil. 1984
14. Paul Stirling, "The Domestic Cycle and the Distribution of Power in Turkish Villages" in Julian Pitt-Rivers (Ed.) Mediterranean Countrymen, The Hague, Mouton: 1963; Hans U. Spiess, Report on Draught Animals under Drought Fonditions in Central, Eastern and Southern zones of Region 1 (Tigray), United Nations Development ProgrammeEmergencies Unit for Ethiopia, 1994, http://www.africa.upenn.edu/eue_web/Oxen94.htm
15. In 1381, the St Albans contingent, led by William Grindcobbe accused the Abbot of St Albans of (among other abuses) enclosing common land. Jesse Collings, Land Reform,: Occupying Ownership, Peasant Proprietary and Rural Education, Longmans Green and Co, p 120; and on Cade p138.
16. W E Tate, The English Village Community and the Enclosure Movements, Gollancz,1967, pp122-125;W H R Curteis, op cit 10, p132.
17. Ibid.
18. Thomas More, Utopia, Everyman, 1994.
19. Tate, op cit 17, pp 124-127.
20. William Everard et al, The True Levellers' Standard Advanced, 1649.
21. Early hippie organizations in California and the UK called themselves the San Francisco Diggers, and the Hyde Park Diggers respectively.
22. Jerrard Winstanley, A Letter to The Lord Fairfax and his Council of War, Giles Calvert, 1649.The quotation about manuring wasteland is cited by Christopher Hill, Gerard Winstanley: 17th Century Communiat at Kingston, Kingston Umiversity lecture, 24 Jan 1966, available at http://www.diggers.org/free_city.htm
23. Holinshed's Chronicles, Vol 3, p220. Fabyan's Chronicle states of Cade "They faude him right discrete in his answerys". Cited in Jesse Collings, op cit 15, p 139.
24. David Boulton, Gerrard Winstanley and the Republic of Heaven, Dales Historical Monographs, 1999, chapter XIII.
25. Barbara Tuchman, A Distant Mirror, Macmillan, 1978, pp375-6
26. E P Thompson, Whigs and Hunters, Allen Lane , 1985.
27. Guy Vassal, La Guerre des Demoiselles, Editions de Paris, 2009.
28. See the article in this magazine by Roland Girtler and Gerald Kohl.
29. All the information on the fens in this section is taken from Joan Thirsk, English Peasant Farming: The Agrarian History of Lincolnshire from Tudor to Recent Times, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1957.
30. Anon, The Anti-Projector; or the History of the Fen Project, 1646?, cited in Joan Thirsk, ibid, p30.
31. John Prebble, The Highland Clearances, 1963, p79.
32. Alastair McIntosh, "Wild Scots and Buffoon History", The Land 1, 2006.
33. Quoted in James Hunter, Skye, the Island, Mainstream, Edinburgh, 1986, p118.
34. One of best short accounts is in pp1-52 of Neeson, op cit 9, though there is also useful material in Tate, op cit 17, pp63-90.
35 Curtier, op cit 10; Tate op cit 17. A pro-enclosure summary of the General Views can be found on pp224-252 of Lord Ernle, English Farming Past and Present, 1912.
36. Arthur Young, Autobiography, 1898, republished AM Kelley, 1967.
37. G Slater, "Historical Outline of Land Ownership in England", in The Land , The Report of the Land Enquiry Committee, Hodder and Stoughton, 1913.
38. J L and Barbara Hammond, The Village Labourer, Guild, 1948 (1911) p60.
39 Thompson mentions the "long historiographical reaction against those fine historians, Barbara and JL Hammomd." Thompson, op cit 2, p115.
40. Tate, op cit 17, p97.
41. Curteis, op cit 10, p241.
42. Brian Inglis, Poverty and the Industrial Revolution, 1971, pp89-90, and p385.
43.Ibid, p386.
44 Kevin Cahill, op cit 1, p30.
45. David Landes, The Unbound Prometheus, Cambridge, 1969. p452.
46. Thirsk, op cit 29, p311.
47. Letters from America, cited by KDM Snell, Annals of the Labouring Poor, Cambridge 1985.
48. Tate op cit 15, p138. These figures are challenged by Curtier, whose The Enclosure and Redistribution of Our Land, op cit 10, is an apology for the landowning class. Curtier, an advocate of smallholdings maintained that thanks to landowners' generosity "there were a considerable number of small holdings in existence" and that "the lamentation over the landlessness of the poorer classes has been overdone". Yet he admits that "the total number of those having allotments and smallholdings bears a very small proportion to the total of the poorer classes." Curtier has a useful account of the effects of the various smallholding and allotment acts (pp278-301).
49. Collings, op cit 15; and Slater, op cit 37.
50. S Fairlie, "Farm Squat", The Land 2, Summer 2006.
51. Tate, op cit 15, p136.
52. Lord Eversley, English Commons and Forests, 1894.
53. George Bourne, Change in the Village, Penguin 1984 (1912), pp 77-78.
54. G M Trevelyan, English Social History, Longmans, p379.
47. Lord Ernle, English Farming Past and Present, Longmans, 1912.
55. Humanby, see J A Yelling, Common Field and Enclosure in England 1450-1850, Macmillan, 1977; Barrowby, see Joan Thirsk, op cit 29. J V, Beckett, The Agricultural Revolution, Basil Blackwell, 1990 provides a summary of this change of approach.
56. J M Neeson, op cit 10 . Other key books covering this debate include E C K Gonner, Common Land and Enclosure, Macmillan, 1912; J D Mingay, The Agricultural Revolution 1750-1880, Batsford, 1970; J A Yelling, ibid.
57. Institut National D'Etudes Demographiques, Total Population (Urban and Rural) of metropolitan France and Population Density — censuses 1846 to 2004, INED website; UK figures: from Lawson 1967, cited at http://web.ukonline.co.uk/thursday.handleigh/demography/population-size/...
58. Doreen Warriner, Economics of Peasant Farming, Oxford, 1939, p3.
59.Gonner, op ci 56 p337 and p306; Neeson, op cit 10, pp86 and 156; Thirsk, op cit 29, pp38, 116 and 213.
60. Cited in Curtier, op cit 10.
61. Jeremy Rifkin, Beyond Beef, Dutton, 1992,p60.
62. Neeson, op cit 28 pp 165, 311 and passim.
63. William Cobbett, Selections from the Political Register, 1813, Vol IV. |
While the National Security Agency has gotten most of the recent flak for spying on people via the Internet and cell phone records, the Federal Bureau of Investigation appears to be doing some cyber spying of its own.
According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, the FBI has been allegedly developing surveillance tools that work much like what hackers use to collect information on suspects -- including Trojans, spyware, and malware. Supposedly, the FBI created some of these tools internally, while others were purchased.
The FBI "hires people who have hacking skill, and they purchase tools that are capable of doing these things," a former official in the agency's cyber division told the Journal. The official also said that these tools are only used when other surveillance methods won't work.
The most alarming technology mentioned by the Wall Street Journal is a tool that allegedly lets the FBI remotely activate the microphones in Android devices. Once activated, the bureau can record conversations without the device's owner knowing. Apparently this tool can do the same thing with laptop microphones.
According to the Journal, the FBI has been allegedly working on these hacking tools for more than 10 years. In fact, CNET reported on almost exactly the same tool in 2006. At that time, it was revealed that the FBI had begun using a form of electronic surveillance called a "roving bug," which also could remotely activate a mobile phone's microphone and use it to eavesdrop on nearby conversations.
The FBI actually has a long history of monitoring data and conversations on computers and mobile devices. In 2002, the bureau collaborated with police to wiretap mobile conversations, and in 2004 it renewed efforts to keep that program going. By 2007, the FBI was trying to secretly obtain U.S. citizen's telephone, Internet, and financial records.
Just last week it was revealed that the FBI and NSA were looking to escalate their electronic surveillance even more. On behalf of these agencies, the U.S. government attempted to obtain the master encryption keys that Internet companies use to shield millions of users' private Web communications from eavesdropping.
CNET contacted the FBI for comment. We'll update the story when we get more information. |
Related Headlines Severe storms likely Tuesday evening
North Texans got creative Tuesday to protect their cars with the threat of severe weather predicted.
Photos submitted to FOX 4 showed people using everything from pillows to mattresses to cardboard to wood to prevent their vehicles from being damaged by hail.
University of North Texas students are also finding creative ways to protect their vehicles.
When UNT runs out of parking pic.twitter.com/ZlZBtwW8qn — meg (@meganaleonard) April 27, 2016
UNT parking garages at full capacity once again. Students using anything and everything to cover their windshields. pic.twitter.com/Sm3Zjeqlcs — Blake Holland (@tblakeholland) April 26, 2016
There have already been several major hailstorms this season that have caused major damage to homes, schools and vehicles. The most recent hailstorm on April 11 hit Wylie hard and people are still working to repair the destruction.
A line of storms is predicted to sweep through North Texas late Tuesday evening and overnight. It could bring wind, hail and high winds and possibly some flooding. |
Bombings killed 8 and wounded 50 in Iraq on Tuesday. There were two bombings in eastern Shiite neighborhoods in the capital. A boy and two soldiers were wounded near Baqubah.
These attacks are likely to go on for a while. But despite what a lot of commentators imply, the recent bombings have almost nothing to do with the cessation of US patrols in the major cities.
As AFP lets slip, 437 Iraqis were killed by political violence in June, the last month of US military patrols, with 40 attacks per week.
In July, the first month in which there were no regular US patrols in the major cities, 275 Iraqis were killed in political violence and the number of attacks was 29 per week.
One month does not make a trend. The number of deaths in August could well be back up to the June level. But if deaths and attacks dropped by a third during the first month of no US patrols, it is not legitimate to suggest that the patrols need to start back up or their lack is the cause of increased violence!
Moreover, the bombing in Khazna north of Mosul would not have been in any way impeded by patrols of US troops in the big city of Mosul. Small villages have all along been vulnerable to attacks precisely because they are seldom garrisoned by US or Iraqi troops. In August of 2007, truck bombings of two Yazidi villages in the north killed an estimated 500 Iraqis. And that was at the height of the so-called ‘surge.’ US troops could not stop the hitting of a soft target like that 2 years ago, and Iraqi troops cannot stop it today. It is irrelevant to the question of the security fallout from the US withdrawal.
So, to repeat: Violence and monthly death tolls fell when the US troops stopped patrolling. And attacks like that at Khazna were happening when US troops had more security duties.
So whatever has been going on in Iraq during the past week is not an argument for the unwisdom of the troop drawdown. The journalists who are playing up this angle are just not doing the math.
End/ (Not Continued) |
OVI, Monticello Boulevard: At 9:55 p.m. June 8, police were called to the intersection of Monticello Boulevard and Cambridge Road where a car was in the street, disabled. The driver told police that his car was out of gas, though it was still running. The officer observed that a front tire was almost completely off its rim and a rear tire was flat.
As the officer spoke to the driver, his father arrived on the scene. The driver appeared drunk and went on to perform poorly on field sobriety tests. The driver used vulgar language when speaking to police and, once inside the back seat of a cruiser, he bashed his head against the cage in the car, opening a wound.
The driver was placed on a stretcher as his father tried to calm him. While on the stretcher, he vomited on himself.
Police charged the driver with OVI, failure to control and for not wearing his seat belt.
Theft, Yellowstone Road: At 3:40 p.m. June 8, police were called to a home where a woman informed an officer that four boxes containing cables and computer routers were taken from her front porch. The woman and her family had just moved into the home and left the boxes on the porch.
A man driving a truck that read Purple Heart Foundation was seen parked in front of the house at the time of the theft. The driver waved at the woman as he drove away.
The foundation told police that there was no scheduled pick up for that area on June 8.
Aggravated menacing, Colonial Drive: At 2:45 p.m. June 13, a man was working at his rental property when a car drove up. In the car was a former renter the man knew from past dealings.
The man who arrived in the car brandished a handgun and threatened to kill the property manager. The property manager called 911 and the man with the gun fled.
Police are looking for the gunman, who faces a charge of aggravated menacing.
At 8:10 a.m. June 6, police were called to a Mayfield Road address by a woman, 34, who stated that she had been hit by her boyfriend, who then drove from the scene.
The woman said that the couple was in bed when they argued about his cheating with another woman. The man, 25, became upset and choked the woman, then put his hand in her mouth and held it open. When the woman struggled free, she went downstairs and held her baby son. She told the boyfriend several times to leave. He replied that he would leave when he was ready to do so.
As he did depart, the woman walked to the door to lock it behind him and the man pushed on the door. While she held the baby, the man pushed her and then took her cell phone and stomped on it.
Police located the man's vehicle a short time later and conducted a traffic stop. He did not have a driver's license as he had his driving privileges revoked due to a past incident.
The man was arrested on charges of domestic violence, assault and child endangerment, as well as DUS and driving with a cracked windshield.
Menacing, Desota Avenue: At 8:45 p.m. June 8, a woman went to the police station to report that she has been involved in an ongoing issue with another woman over a boy who is the father of children by both women.
The woman filing the complaint said that the two have gone back and forth at each other on social media. She also said that the other women took a picture of her home's front door and added a caption under the photo on social media that she was going to beat her.
The complainant was advised to go to Cleveland's Justice Center and seek a restraining order.
Menacing, Mayfield Road: At 11:40 a.m. June 10, a man reported that the night before, while he was at Helen's Game Time bar, 3962 Mayfield Road, he encountered his former girlfriend. The woman told him to "watch (his) back" then shaped her fingers into that of a gun. The woman then left the bar.
The man said he filed a report because the two have had incidents involving violence between them in the past.
Assault, Cumberland Road: At 2:30 a.m. June 14, a woman went to the police station to report that she had been assaulted with a lawn chair by her female cousin, 28, while at a family gathering. The lawn chair struck the woman in the face and she had a swollen lip.
At 4 p.m. June 16, the 28-year-old cousin went to the police station and said she was assaulted by the original complainant. She said both cousins were drunk at the time and that when she returned home that night, she received several text messages and calls of harassment.
The second cousin told Cleveland Heights police that she filed a harassment report with police in the city she lives, Euclid.
If you would like to discuss the police blotter, please visit our crime and courts comments page. |
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull must use May's 50th anniversary of the referendum recognising Australian Aborigines to finally deliver the promises that have been broken by governments since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.
This was the call of Robert Tickner, the Keating government's minister for Aboriginal affairs, who was in charge of implementing the royal commission's 339 recommendations.
"These are fixable social problems, but things won't change and won't be prioritised much unless our current and future prime ministers seize the agenda and become its champion in the same way Paul Keating did for Mabo," Mr Tickner said when addressing a National Archives of Australia media conference on the release of selected cabinet records for 1992 and 1993.
"I think Malcolm Turnbull is a good and decent person who wants to do the right thing in Aboriginal Affairs, but expressed good intentions are not enough without the necessary leadership to generate real change, and I desperately hope he seizes the moment on this. |
Cloverfield 3: J.J. Abrams-Produced God Particle is Actually the Next Sequel
Cloverfield 3: J.J. Abrams-Produced God Particle is Actually the Next Sequel
Share. Surprise! Surprise!
The J.J. Abrams-produced sci fi flick 'God Particle' actually takes place within the Cloverfield universe, a new report claims.
A source close to The Wrap says that the movie will be next year's Cloverfield entry (after this year's 10 Cloverfield Lane), with a new one expected to be released annually.
Bad Robot and Paramount's God Particle was first announced in 2012, but went into limbo for several years after Paramount's independent arm InSurge went under. It's now back on track with a February 24, 2017 release date. Here's the description of God Particle from our original 2012 article:
"After a physics experiment with a large hadron accelerator causes the Earth to seemingly vanish completely, the terrified crew of an orbiting American space station is left floating in the middle of now-even-more-empty space. When a European spacecraft appears on their radar, the Americans must determine whether it’s their salvation, or a harbinger of doom."
God Particle is directed by Julis Onah, and stars David Oyelowo, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Ziyi Zhang, Elizabeth Debicki,Daniel Brühl and Chris O’Dowd.
Exit Theatre Mode
Lucy O'Brien is an editor at IGN’s Sydney office. Follow her ramblings on Twitter. |
Emily Lakdawalla • July 5, 2016
Juno has arrived!
For a second time, NASA has placed a spacecraft into orbit at Jupiter. The spacecraft operated exactly according to plan, and Juno successfully entered orbit at 02:50 today, July 5, 2016, UTC; a further 15 minutes of engine firing beyond that placed Juno into its desired orbit. The actual burn time of 2102 seconds was only 1 second off of the predicted value.
As of the moment I'm writing this, they hadn't yet downlinked telemetry (or if they did, they haven't told the media); they only received tones from the spacecraft's low- and medium-gain antennae that give the most basic information on spacecraft health. But so far, so good, for everything, and it was a pretty euphoric team at the post-orbit-insertion briefing.
Below is the JunoCam approach movie, 17 days and about 1500 images covering an entire Callisto orbit. There is a soundtrack (by Vangelis), so mute your computer if you're at work before you play it! I'm told there will be a version without all the extra produced padding posted at some point this evening, but it's getting late and I have to drive home...
Please accept marketing-cookies to watch this video.
There are several things to notice in this video. You can see Io, Europa, and Ganymede turning off and back on again as they pass into Jupiter's shadow. You can see belts and zones begin to come into focus as Juno approaches. Sometimes, if you squint, you can spot the red spot. You can see Jupiter's belts fall to a steeper angle as Juno begins to rise in latitude. Some of the moons, especially Callisto, look kind of blinky -- this has to do with the way that the JunoCam instrument works. It's designed for extended targets (things that fill many pixels), not point targets. Scott Bolton said on the press panel this evening that at this phase angle, Callisto was dimmer than predicted. Its dim light, combined with the sharpness of the JunoCam optics, meant that its light was focused into a very small area on the detector. On the JunoCam detector, not all of the area is active, meaning that photons can fall in between pixels, or at least in between areas where they would be detected. When Callisto's light fell into those areas, it seemed to dim in the movie.
Juno principal investigator Scott Bolton was repeatedly asked about plans to release the raw images. During the morning press briefing he said that their release "depends on what we see [in them] and how interesting it is," but by the evening he was saying that the mission intends to release them within a few weeks, though he wasn't specific as to the timeline, citing "technical issues." You can bet I'll keep asking!
Emily Lakdawalla Senior Editor and Planetary Evangelist for The Planetary Society
Read more articles by Emily Lakdawalla |
India is undertaking exploration of rare earth element (REE) monazite, an essential source of nuclear fuel, and has already set up a plant in Odisha for processing the mineral, Parliament was informed today.
Monazite is an atomic mineral and contains thorium an essential nuclear fuel.
Minister of state for Steel and Mines Vishnu Deo Sai in a written reply to Lok Sabha said, "Exploration and exploitation of rare earth elements are being undertaken. Monazite is a mineral of Thorium and REE and the only commercial source of REE in the country."
He added, "Recently, Indian Rare Earth Ltd (IREL) has set up a plant at Orissa Sand Complex to process 10,000 tonnes of Monazite per annum."
IREL processes monazite to produce rare earth compounds.
The company, under the Department of Atomic Energy, has also set up a facility at its Rare Earth Division in Kerala to produce separated high purity rare earth utilising mixed rare earth chloride produced in the Odisha plant.
India has the highest monazite reserve in the world with 11.39 million tonnes but stopped production since 2004 after cheap monazite became available from China.
The Minister said Geological Survey of India is also carrying out exploration in different parts of the country for other sources of REE. |
The red carpet will be all-black at the 2018 Golden Globes.
Multiple sources confirm to PEOPLE that many major actresses — including presenters and nominees (Jessica Chastain, Meryl Streep, and Emma Stone are among those nominated) — are planning to wear all-black looks as a symbol of protest against harassment in Hollywood. Sources say that this will start at the Golden Globes on Jan. 7, though it may extend throughout award season. Claudia and Jackie Oshry confirmed it on their show The Morning Breath as well.
“All female actresses attending the Globes are protesting by just wearing black gowns,” a source tells PEOPLE.
Many Hollywood actresses have been vocal in rallying against sexual harassment since The New York Times broke the story about allegations against famed producer Harvey Weinstein. Dozens have spoken out against the once-powerful movie mogul, including Lupita Nyong’o, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Julia Roberts as well as Salma Hayek, who wrote an op-ed in the Times Wednesday calling Weinstein “a monster.”
Weinstein is not the only Hollywood person accused. Since his allegations came to light, Kevin Spacey, filmmaker Brett Ratner, comedian Louis C.K., music producer Russell Simmons, actor Geoffrey Rush, director James Toback, actor Jeffrey Tambor, and agent Adam Venit have all faced allegations from women who have come forward.
Though many stars have worn pins and accessories to express support for causes including the ACLU, the safety pin movement to support marginalized populations, the Charlie Hebdo attacks and more, this is the first time that actresses have banded together in a full show of sartorial solidarity.
Following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center, many stars attended the twice-postponed Nov. 4 Emmys in black or pantsuits to reflect the solemnity of the national mood, but it was not a coordinated effort between stars and their stylists, as this #metoo movement appears to be.
When we caught up with stylist Leslie Fremar, who styles Kate Winslet and Charlize Theron, to talk about her goals next year, she told us: “Next year I hope to create something or be a part of something that has an impact beyond the obvious.”
This could be just that. |
1. Chicago Blackhawks
Record Goal Differential Corsi For% Previous Rank 28-13-2 +39 54.4% 1
The Blackhawks are firmly ensconced at the top of our rankings. We've given them a defined role, and are reluctant to bounce them around our lineup.
Joel Quenneville should try this with Teuvo Teravainen.
2. Tampa Bay Lightning
Record Goal Differential Corsi For% Previous Rank 27-12-4 +29 55% 4
If you knew back in September that Tyler Johnson would be the other Lightning representative at the 2015 NHL All-Star game then you should stop lying.
3. New York Islanders
Record Goal Differential Corsi For% Previous Rank 26-12-1 +12 53.2% 2
Eight months ago, everyone would have thought Aaron Rodgers was referring to Garth Snow. Not anymore.
4. Los Angeles Kings
Record Goal Differential Corsi For% Previous Rank 19-13-10 +7 54.7% 3
Are we sure that this man:
Meets the NHL's minimum age requirements? Because ...
Tyler Toffoli has mono? Is he ACTUALLY thirteen? — Toni McIntyre (@ToniMacAttack) January 11, 2015
You have to ask the question.
5. Nashville Predators
Record Goal Differential Corsi For% Previous Rank 28-9-4 +32 52.4% 6
In this week's edition of Too Many Cookes, Shea Weber plays the role of Smarf.
Smarf Weber has joined Evander Kane in a select class of the most heroic defenders of broth.
6. Pittsburgh Penguins
Record Goal Differential Corsi For% Previous Rank 25-10-6 +24 51.5% 5
Sidney Crosby got kicked in the groin Saturday night and thankfully wasn't injured.
His reaction, though, was priceless:
(Courtesy: Sportsnet)
Usually, the Penguins don't receive a swift kick in the nether regions until playoff time.
7. St. Louis Blues
Record Goal Differential Corsi For% Previous Rank 26-13-3 +31 51% 9
The Ken Hitchcock-coached Blues have scored more than five goals in each of their past four games. Perhaps the definition of Hitchcock hockey isn't so much evolving as it is mutating in the radioactive muck. Like Blinky.
8. Winnipeg Jets
Record Goal Differential Corsi For% Previous Rank 21-14-8 +4 51.9% 10
Everyone is happy to see the Jets succeeding. Well, everyone except Ondrej Pavelec ...
(Courtesy: Reddit)
9. Anaheim Ducks
Record Goal Differential Corsi For% Previous Rank 27-10-6 +3 51% 7
Teemu Selanne snubbed NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman on a hug attempt during his jersey retirement ceremony Sunday. It was glorious:
(Courtesy: Reddit)
Tough to beat Bettman's Pavelec face:
10. New York Rangers
Record Goal Differential Corsi For% Previous Rank 24-11-4 +29 50.2% 13
The Rangers' dominance of the three Californian kaiju this week was overshadowed by the fact that, really? This is a real thing?
Tanner Glass has a fan club at the game tonight? @TheBroadwayHat pic.twitter.com/8PtakKhZmr — Neil B. (@neilbode) January 11, 2015
11. Montreal Canadiens
Record Goal Differential Corsi For% Previous Rank 26-12-3 +16 48.7% 8
If P.K. Subban isn't an All-Star, what exactly is the point?
12. Washington Capitals
Record Goal Differential Corsi For% Previous Rank 22-11-8 +18 50.6% 11
Barry Trotz got cut when Capitals center Marcus Johansson grazed his face with his stick during a loss to the Flyers this past Thursday:
(Courtesy: CSN)
Quipped Trotz about his temporarily disfigured visage:
Trotz on his forehead cut and shiner: "HD's not doing me any favors right now." — Alex Prewitt (@alex_prewitt) January 11, 2015
Also not doing Trotz any favors: the coaching job being done by current Jack Adams front runner Peter Laviolette.
13. Detroit Red Wings
Record Goal Differential Corsi For% Previous Rank 22-11-9 +11 54.1% 12
The Red Wings are the NHL's third-best puck possession team by score-adjusted Corsi For percentage. Now imagine what they could do with more than one bona fide top-pairing defenseman on the roster.
14. Florida Panthers
Record Goal Differential Corsi For% Previous Rank 20-11-9 -5 52.1% 15
Among NHL goaltenders who have started at least 30 games this season, Roberto Luongo ranks third in save percentage - behind only Pekka Rinne and Carey Price. If he keeps that up, and the cats can make the playoffs, he'll be deserving of Vezina consideration.
15. San Jose Sharks
Record Goal Differential Corsi For% Previous Rank 22-16-5 -2 51.3% 14
That Brent Burns is an All-Star defenseman is impressive. It's even more impressive that he's still more valuable playing forward.
16. Boston Bruins
Record Goal Differential Corsi For% Previous Rank 22-15-6 +2 52.2% 18
This week Brad Marchand and Torey Krug got into a scuffle at Bruins practice when one of them (probably Marchand) made fun of the other for being short.
Marchand and Krug got into a fight at practice over a height joke So much for the "big bad Bruins" — Scott Matla (@scottmatla) January 7, 2015
Yeah, now they're just the Bad Bruins.
17. Dallas Stars
Record Goal Differential Corsi For% Previous Rank 18-16-7 -9 51% 16
The Dallas Stars briefly shot themselves back into a playoff spot in December, but have now lost four games in a row while giving up three or more goals against in each of those contests.
18. Minnesota Wild
Record Goal Differential Corsi For% Previous Rank 18-18-5 -10 52.4% 17
Not only has Minnesota's goaltending been putrid, but their initially-improved puck possession game has fallen off in a major way over the past six weeks:
(Courtesy: War-on-Ice)
Sadly, Wild fans have seen this film before...
19. Vancouver Canucks
Record Goal Differential Corsi For% Previous Rank 23-14-3 +9 49.4% 19
Only seven NHL teams have been outscored by a wider margin at 5-on-5 than the Canucks have so far this season.
20. Toronto Maple Leafs
Record Goal Differential Corsi For% Previous Rank 22-17-3 +7 44.9% 20
Randy Carlyle was fired because the Maple Leafs felt they were trending in the wrong direction. That's a polite way of putting it:
Leafs cumulative Corsi under Randy Carlyle. pic.twitter.com/uUnMt4B1a6 — Travis Yost (@TravisHeHateMe) January 6, 2015
Is that the Maple Leafs' shot differential or the television ratings for a Phil Kessel-hosted roast of Toronto Star reporter Dave Feschuk?
21. Calgary Flames
Record Goal Differential Corsi For% Previous Rank 22-18-3 +9 44.1% 21
Johnny Hockey delivers the goods. Jiri Hudler? He delivers the pizza:
(Courtesy: reddit)
22. Ottawa Senators
Record Goal Differential Corsi For% Previous Rank 17-16-8 -3 48.9% 23
The Senators appear to be playing a bit better since Dave Cameron took over, but they'll really take off when and if they decide to sign Todd Bertuzzi to a full NHL deal.
The fans, let us assure you, are excited:
23. Colorado Avalanche
Record Goal Differential Corsi For% Previous Rank 18-16-8 -10 44.3% 27
Injuries and brutal shooting luck have conspired to make Nathan MacKinnon look decidedly average in the first half of his sophomore season. Until this week, that is:
(Courtesy: NHL.com)
24. Columbus Blue Jackets
Record Goal Differential Corsi For% Previous Rank 18-19-3 -27 46% 24
The Blue Jackets have the 24th-best record in hockey and are due to miss the postseason for the 12th time in their 14 seasons. Three All-Stars, though!
25. Philadelphia Flyers
Record Goal Differential Corsi For% Previous Rank 16-19-7 -14 48.5% 22
The Flyers will turn to journeyman goalie Rob Zepp in Steve Mason's absence. The quality of their goaltending will be unchanged.
26. Arizona Coyotes
Record Goal Differential Corsi For% Previous Rank 16-21-4 -39 48.9% 25
Here are the five least valuable goaltenders in fantasy hockey this season (in a Yahoo league that counts wins, goals against average and save percentage):
(Courtesy: Yahoo Fantasy Hockey)
That's 1,852 out of 1,852 total players currently listed on Yahoo.
Mike Smith's contract carries a $5.66-million cap hit through 2019 ...
27. New Jersey Devils
Record Goal Differential Corsi For% Previous Rank 15-21-8 -28 48.9% 26
Patrik Elias doesn't think he deserved to be named an NHL All-Star ...
Elias said he feels bad for players from other teams who deserve to be all-stars and aren't "because of a slug like me." — Tom Gulitti (@TGfireandice) January 11, 2015
If it makes him feel any better, he should consider it as recognition for a great career. Like when Al Pacino won his first best actor Oscar for "Scent of a Woman." Or when Martin Scorcese won his first best director Oscar for "The Departed."
28. Carolina Hurricanes
Record Goal Differential Corsi For% Previous Rank 13-24-5 -24 51.3% 28
Eric Staal quietly has six goals in his last seven games. His recent hot streak has moved him past Justin Faulk for the Hurricanes' scoring lead!
Yeah, brutal. This is why you can't really blame Hurricanes fans for staying home ...
(Courtesy: @theScore)
29. Edmonton Oilers
Record Goal Differential Corsi For% Previous Rank 10-24-9 -48 49.4% 29
The Oilers could have moved past the Buffalo Sabres with a victory over the Panthers on Sunday night. It didn't happen, but Connor McDavid will breathe a sigh of relief when it does.
Congrats to the Canadian juniors, except for the poor bastards who will become Edmonton Oilers. — Chris Jones (@MySecondEmpire) January 6, 2015
30. Buffalo Sabres
Record Goal Differential Corsi For% Previous Rank 14-26-3 -66 37.4% 30
Mired in a fully-expected 1-10-1 downturn, Sabres fans should do as Tim Murray does and console themselves with dreams of Reinhart. |
CURRENT BACKERS: Do not use the pre-order link on our website. In a few weeks, you will get further instructions via email from us where you can enter your delivery address and order more Odins if you'd like. Our timeline below is still accurate and we will send updates as we head towards production. The above link is for people who did not back our Kickstarter only.
We're funded!
Thank you, Kickstarter! Please follow us on Facebook, Twitter or by email:
Website http://www.updogtoys.com
Facebook http://facebook.com/UpDogToys
Twitter http://twitter.com/UpDogToys
Email Newsletter http://eepurl.com/ZVnBH
Dogs don't care how their toys look, they just want to play. So why not make a beautiful dog toy, something that complements your home? With this in mind and other ideas on improving our dog's favorite toys, we created The Odin, a puzzle treat toy that is beautiful for your home and fun for your dog.
The Odin is the first in a series of toys we hope to make to keep your dog happy and your home looking great.
The Odin engages dogs on multiple levels, giving them mental stimulation and physical activity. It's a type of toy that dogs are always interested in. If your dog enjoys food, they will enjoy The Odin. Simply place treats inside The Odin and, as your dog plays, treats will fall out.
Dogs of all shapes and sizes can play with The Odin. We've seen dogs pick it up and drop it, use their nose to push it around and knock it around with their paws. Whether they are tall or short, have a big nose or small nose, all dogs have found a way to get the treats out.
Watch the famous French Bulldog, Sir Charles Barkley, play with the Odin for the first time:
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Minimal, modern design inspired by geometric shapes and art combining aesthetics and functionality. After many drawings, CADs, paper and 3D printed prototypes we created a durable and beautiful shape, exceeding even our expectations of not compromising on any aspect of the toy.
Connect multiple toys to add variation and increase difficulty to make play time longer. With two or more connected, the toy will not roll as easily, there are less holes for treats to come out of and the treats are in different compartments. Also, more treats in total can be put into multiple balls versus just one so you don't need to refill as often. Connect more toys or change treats to make the toy new again for your dog.
Flaps allow treats to easily be placed in but not fall out and four differently sized holes allow treats to spill out at varying rates. This gives your dog the option to lick the treats through the flaps or roll it. Change the size of the dog treats you place inside to make it easier or harder on your dog based on their personality and ability.
All dog toys spend a lot of time in their mouths and so we took great care in choosing a material that is tough, food safe, latex free and phthalates free. We chose a more expensive material to give you a better quality product that will last longer and is even dishwasher safe. You should always supervise your dog when playing with any toy though. They like the attention!
Safe for dogs big and small. We made sure it wasn't too small or weak to be easily broken by a big dog but not too heavy for small dogs either.
Dimensions: 3.6in x 3.3in x 3.8in. Holds 1 cup of food.
Since we're a dog toy company we are focusing on primarily offering our toy with discounts in lieu of stickers and t-shirts. We do have some special awards for higher level backers but our focus is on giving you the best deal possible, especially on 2+ toys since we designed The Odin to be used in groups of 2 and 3 and plan to have our next toy connect to The Odin as well.
We are prioritizing delivery of orders $35 or more, so if you want your toy faster then please consider a higher tier/getting more toys. The dynamics of the toy truly change when going from 1 Odin to 2+ Odin's. We've seen dogs play with the toy differently based on how many Odin's are connected. Otherwise, an extra Odin will be a great gift to other dogs in your life.
All Backer amounts include shipping inside the U.S. For international shipping, select the reward and your location to get the shipping cost.
Your pledges go towards our goal of $25,000. This is the bare minimum to cover $9000 in tooling costs, $10,000 in manufacturing and freight and the other $6,000 covers packing supplies, storage, shipping the product to you and Kickstarter and credit card fees.
We are only offering one color but would like to produce multiple colors of The Odin. Right now we are only offering slate but we'd also like to produce coral and black. If we reach $35,000 we will offer another color. Unless stated otherwise, you will receive a slate color toy.
All photos and videos shown are the final prototype. We will be making the actual product through a process called injection molding. While we may make small adjustments for manufacturing, we do not plan on making any major changes to the aesthetics of the toy.
Thank you to everyone who helped us make this happen, especially:
Industrial Design: Scott Tsukamaki (LinkedIn)
Branding: Katrina Mendoza (Web, Dribbble)
Video: Pao Sanchez (Vimeo, Instagram)
Certified Dog Trainer: Sarah Keck (Website, Facebook)
Dogs: Odin (Pembroke Welsh Corgi), Hunter (Basenji), Parker (Yorkshire Terrier & Chinese Crested Powderpuff mix), Ciara (Chesapeake Bay Retriever), Sir Charles Barkley (French Bulldog)
Music: "Something Elated" by Broke For Free
Sound: KeyCrusher (CC) |
The Live Music Project turns three! Join us as we celebrate with an evening of improvisation – in space, and on the stage.
Former NASA astronaut Heidemarie Martha Stefanyshyn-Piper has flown on two Space Shuttle missions, STS-115 and STS-126, and has logged more than 30 hours in spacewalks. What happens when things don't go according to plan in space? We'll find out!
Then, in Flights of Fancy, Aaron Grad takes the stage with six beers, fourteen strings, and no idea what he's going to play. Taste along with Aaron as each Naked City brew launches a fresh improvisation on his trusty electric theorbo, an instrument he designed and built himself (with inspiration from an oversized lute).
Come early to hang out and grab a drink, dinner, and a table.
Tickets $15 online or $20 at the door (limited availability).
Approximate schedule
6:30pm-7:00pm – Food, drink, mingling
7:00pm-7:45pm – Astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper: When plans go awry
7:45pm-8:00pm – Celebratory surprise!
8:00pm-8:45pm – Aaron Grad & his electric theorbo: Flights of Fancy
HEIDEMARIE STEFANYSHYN-PIPER
Heidemarie Martha Stefanyshyn-Piper is an American Naval officer and a former NASA astronaut. She has achieved the rank of Captain in the United States Navy. She is also a qualified and experienced salvage officer. Her major salvage projects include de-stranding the tanker Exxon Houston off the coast of Barbers Point, on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, and developing the plan for the Peruvian Navy salvage of the Peruvian submarine Pacocha.
Stefanyshyn-Piper has received numerous honors and awards, such as the Meritorious Service Medal, two Navy Commendation Medals, and two Navy Achievement Medals. She has flown on two Space Shuttle missions, STS-115 and STS-126, during which she completed five spacewalks totaling 33 hours and 42 minutes. (Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heidemarie_Stefanyshyn-Piper)
AARON GRAD
Composer and guitarist Aaron Grad merges his rock and jazz roots with his classical training to create music that The Washington Post has described as “inventive and notably attractive.” For his evening-length song cycle with countertenor, Old-Fashioned Love Songs, Aaron created the world's only electric theorbo in 2012. Next season the instrument will be featured in Strange Seasons, a concerto commissioned by the Seattle Baroque Orchestra. In his other life, Aaron writes program notes for the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, New World Symphony, Seattle Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and many other ensembles. (http://www.aarongrad.com/)
Photo: Astronauts Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper (top) and Shane Kimbrough, both STS-126 mission specialists, participate in the mission's second scheduled session of extravehicular activity as construction and maintenance continue on the International Space Station. During the six-hour, 45-minute spacewalk, Piper and Kimbrough continued the process of removing debris and applying lubrication around the starboard Solar Alpha Rotary Joint, replaced four more of the SARJ's 12 trundle bearing assemblies, relocated two equipment carts and applied lubrication to the station's robotic Canadarm2. (2008) (Source) |
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Corporations are Alien Life Forms
Corporations are Alien Life Forms
You think I'm kidding. Or maybe you think I'm exaggerating. "Corporations are Alien Life Forms. Yeah, right! Tell me another one."
No, really. I mean it. Let's take the two notions -- "alien" and "life form" -- separately. Let's start with "life form".
You've probably heard of "Brown v. Board of Education" or maybe "Roe v. Wade". Know what they are? They're famous Supreme Court cases.
Brown v. Board was a 1954 landmark decision that ultimately led to the current Weiner Nation phenomenon. Michael Weiner is an angry Jewish fellow who calls himself Michael "Savage" on a reactionary AM talk radio program called "The Savage Nation". As far as anyone can tell, part of Mr. Weiner's anger dates back to the 1970s when he found himself on the short end of the affirmative action stick in his fruitless search for a job as a college professor. Mr. Weiner is the champion of all who have tried and lost, and need someone, anyone, other than themselves to blame.
How about "Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company". Ring a bell? Need some time to think it over? OK, cue the Jeopardy music ... doo-doo-doo-doo, doo-doo-doo-doo, ... bzzzzzz. Time's up!
The question is: Which Supreme Court case declared Corporations to be "persons"? [1/26/06 Note: Actually, the situation is a bit trickier than that.] Don't feel bad. Even Ken Jennings would have flubbed this one too.
This is because this 1886 case is highly obscure. Although obscure, it is, if the thesis of this blog is anywhere near correct, among the most important Supreme Court decisions in the history of the United States. This is because what that case held was that, as far the U.S. Constitution is concerned, Corporations are People too.
For example, you probably know that the First Amendment says "Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances". See that part about "the people peaceably ... petition[ing] the Government"? In your wildest dreams, did you ever imagine that that language means Corporate lobbyists who stick Congressmen in their back pockets are simply exercising the First Amendment rights of their employers? Bet you didn't learn that one in your civics class back at Jefferson High.
So there you have it. According to the U.S. Constitution, you, a Person, are recognized as a particular life form protected by the terms of that document. But in 1886, the Supreme Court said that we are not the only life form protected by that document. In the United States, since 1886, Corporations are People too.
The U.S. Declaration of Independence contains these famous words: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Although the Declaration is not the Constitution, it did precede the Constitution, and it gives the flavor of what the guys who started up this country had in mind.
One thing they seemed to have had in mind is that, well, it's a man's world, baby! In 1776, these fellows said "all men", not all "men and women" nor "all people". It would take another 200 years for women to join men in exercising the Constitutional rights of contracting and spreading venereal disease, racking up debilitating consumer debt, and getting fat, sick, and outsourced. Welcome to America, gals! I've got your R-E-S-P-E-C-T right here.
While it took women 200 years to crash the party, Corporations made The Leap in little more than a 100 years. But there's something weird about that. I mean, women can experience life and liberty, and, praise be to Prozac, they can even pursue happiness too. But what about Corporations?
There's a reasonable argument that Corporations can experience life and liberty. Incorporation is sort of like birth. And Corporate dissolution is sort of like death. Moreover, during their lives, Corporations in this country seem quite at liberty to foment all forms of chaos and despair. So it's fair to say that Corporations are indeed a "life form".
But what about "the pursuit of happiness"? Can a Corporation be happy? I don't think even the reactionary Supreme Court of 1886 would have said that. They didn't need to, of course. All they said was that the Fourteenth Amendment, passed in 1868, amended the Constitution to make Corporations People too.
The fact that Corporations can't experience happiness brings us to the second major topic of this posting. That topic concerns "aliens".
The definition of "alien" I am thinking of here is the following: "A person who is not included in a group; an outsider." Yes, Corporations are People too. But they're not included in "our" group. Those Corporate People are "them". We human People are "us".
The key difference between us and them is the critical resource that keeps us alive. What is that resource for humans? It is food? Nope. Humans can go on hunger strikes and live for weeks and even months without food. (Given the size of some People I saw last week at Costco -- a.k.a. The Land of the Fat People -- we might have to amend this to "years".)
Is it water? Nope. Humans can go for days, maybe even weeks, without water.
What it is is oxygen. Try killing yourself by holding your breath. It doesn't matter if you're on the most wicked suicidal Prozac relapse. Your body won't let you die this way. Automatic reflexes kick in to force us to gulp some air. There are no analogous reflexes for food or water.
Humans would last only a few minutes without oxygen. Oxygen is the critical resource that keeps us alive. When we go into diabetic shock from consuming our fifteenth Snickers bar, and they put us on life support, that mask they strap on our face is giving us the oxygen we need to stay alive.
It's not just us. Most non-plant life forms also need oxygen to survive. That includes your cat and your goldfish. Plants are symbiotic with us. While we breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide, plants "breathe in" carbon dioxide and "breathe out" oxygen. It's a wonderful ecosystem, full of all manner of teeming life forms exchanging oxygen and carbon dioxide. Its kind of like the EBay ecosystem in which EBay addicts endlessly circulate the refuse of postmodern consumerism.
But some forms of life are not part of this great EBay cycle of oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange. These are the anaerobic life forms. "Anaerobic" organisms are ones that don't require oxygen to survive. Examples of anaerobic organisms include certain kinds of bacteria and, to the extent they can be considered "life forms", viruses.
Another example of an anaerobic organism is Corporations. Like certain bacteria and viruses, Corporations don't require oxygen to survive and prosper. But the big difference between bacteria and viruses, and Corporations, is that the latter are Constitutionally protected, while the former couldn't even get into court. At least not through a summons.
But if Corporations don't require oxygen to survive, what do they require? In a word, it's "money". Upon incorporation -- Corporate birth -- the parents of the infant must pay a registration fee, and they must declare the shares that define the infant. The shares represent the financial assets (i.e. money) that comprise the infant. So at birth, a Corporation is just an embryonic puddle of money.
During its life, a Corporation breathes in money in the form of sales revenue, equity issuance, debt issuance, and so on. Corporations breathe out money through costs of labor, costs of capital, costs of sales and marketing, costs of lobbyists, and so on. If the Corporation runs out of money, or threatens to do so, it goes on life support. In the Corporate world, this is called "bankruptcy". The whole point of bankruptcy is to stem the outflow of money that is draining the life from the ailing Corporation.
Finally, when even bankruptcy can't save it, the Corporation dies. This is called "dissolution". In dissolution, the carcass of the dead Corporation -- a carcass consisting purely of money -- is picked clean by vultures known as "Corporate lawyers".
Whereas we oxygen-breathing humans can live at most 80-110 years or so, those money-breathing Corporations can live for centuries. In fact, the very first modern Corporation -- the British East India Company -- lived a full 284 years. This is 3-4 full human life spans.
Summing up, Corporations are alien life forms that can live for centuries, and that breathe money, not oxygen. In fact oxygen, happiness, love, anger, food -- all the things that make us humans human -- mean nothing to Corporations. They breathe in money. They breathe out money. Oxygen, happiness, love, anger, and food have meaning to Corporations only insofar as they can be exchanged for money.
Put this together with the conclusion of the previous posting. That posting concluded that the People who act on behalf of Corporations comprise mobs the members of whom bear no personal responsibility for these acts.
So a Corporation is a Constitutionally protected irresponsible anaerobic organism that feeds on money. If that's not an alien life form, I don't know what is.
The next few sections address the "crimes" of the Corporations. They talk about the Corporations "lying", "cheating", "stealing", and "killing". But I want to caution that these are just human notions. They mean nothing to Corporations. As I said, Corporations are simply irresponsible anaerobic organisms that feed on money. Crime, lying, cheating, stealing, and killing are concepts that have no meaning for such organisms.
So as you read the next few sections, try not to get mad at the Corporations. They're just doing what they were born to do. It's like an avian influenza virus that mutates to become transmittable among humans, and leaves behind an indiscriminate swath of human misery and death. The virus wasn't "thinking" about any of that. The little bugger was just doing what its RNA programmed it to do. It was nothing personal. The same goes for Corporations, and the "depraved behaviors" you will be reading about in the next few sections.
But before we wade into the swamp of these depraved behaviors, one further issue remains: Why would Corporations engage in depraved behaviors?
[posted: 12/23/04]
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SF's Twitter tax-break plan spurs political fight S.F. POLITICS Clash pits progressives against moderate supes who favor plan, lead board
Twitter CEO Evan Williams left jokes with co-founder Biz Stone as they invalid the newly revamped Twitter website on Tuesday September 14, 2010 at Twitter headquarters in San Francisco, California. Twitter launched a new version of the popular social media site in hopes it will be more user friendly less Twitter CEO Evan Williams left jokes with co-founder Biz Stone as they invalid the newly revamped Twitter website on Tuesday September 14, 2010 at Twitter headquarters in San Francisco, California. Twitter ... more Photo: Lance Iversen, The Chronicle Photo: Lance Iversen, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 10 Caption Close SF's Twitter tax-break plan spurs political fight 1 / 10 Back to Gallery
A year ago, the idea of extending a local tax break to Twitter, the San Francisco-based microblogging company whose estimated value is $3.7 billion, would have been a tough sell because the left-leaning progressives held a majority on the Board of Supervisors.
The progressive supervisors who dominated the board for the past decade have traditionally seen corporate tax breaks as welfare for the wealthy. But they are now firmly in the minority at City Hall after four new supervisors were elected in November and board President David Chiu moved closer to the center.
"The political ground has shifted," said Corey Cook, a political scientist at the University of San Francisco.
Chiu and new Supervisor Jane Kim came up through the progressive ranks but have shown a willingness to reach across the proverbial aisle to form a new majority. Their support of the tax break for Twitter means the company will probably stay in San Francisco.
"There are now progressives who are willing to be more pragmatic, who are willing to compromise, to negotiate, to bargain. That wasn't the case before," Cook said.
The new dynamic kept Chiu in the board presidency's seat after he lost the backing of the key progressive core and elevated longtime City Administrator Ed Lee into the mayor's office to replace Gavin Newsom, who exited City Hall a year early to become lieutenant governor.
The Twitter tax break, as it has become known, is the latest fissure.
The legislation would give companies in the economically depressed Mid-Market and Tenderloin neighborhoods a pass on paying the payroll tax for new employees. The exemption would be good for six years and would not apply to workers already on the payroll.
It also would exempt companies from paying payroll taxes on employee stock options should they go public during the exemption period, which could lead to major savings for the affected businesses.
The board's Budget and Finance Committee will hear the legislation Wednesday, before it goes to the full board. Passage is expected, but opponents are considering putting the issue before voters in the November election. That could be done with a signature-gathering drive or by getting at least four of the 11 supervisors to sponsor a ballot measure.
If a repeal effort does land on the ballot, it would be decided as voters pick a mayor and could turn into a wedge issue.
Chiu, who is running for mayor, said that when it comes to trying to deal with unemployment and blight - two problems supporters hope the tax plan would address - "I don't think we can defend the status quo."
However, termed-out supervisor Chris Daly, who was replaced by Kim in January after 10 years in office, has not given up pushing the progressive agenda. He has turned his bar, Buck Tavern, into a gathering place for opponents of the tax break.
Joining the cause has been the Service Employees Union Local 1021, the largest city employees' union, whose leadership has tied the payroll tax legislation to the larger budget debate. They argue that a tax break is the last thing the city needs because some city officials are pushing for service cuts and pension reform to balance the books.
Now headquartered in the South of Market, Twitter is eyeing a move to Brisbane. Twitter CFO Ali Rowghani informed city officials last week that if the proposed tax exemption were approved, the company would move into the vacant Furniture Mart on Market Street just east of Ninth Street. It projects growing its current workforce of 350 to 3,000 by 2013.
Legislation backers, led by Kim and Chiu on the board and with strong support from the mayor, say the tax incentive would spark an economic revitalization and keep growing companies, such as Twitter, in San Francisco.
Daly, who testified against the legislation at City Hall last week, argues that this isn't good policy for the city.
"We're here talking about giving away, or foregoing, up to $22 million (in tax revenue) to a corporation valued in the billions." Daly said. "Someone needs to stand up again to the corporate threats and do the people's work."
Daniel Hurtado, executive director of the Central Market Community Benefit District, sees it differently.
"After decades of neglect, the time is now to attract new businesses to our empty office buildings and vacant storefronts," he said.
Kim, who represents the district eyed for the temporary payroll-tax exemption, said she has not supported corporate tax breaks in the past but sponsored this legislation because she thinks it's worth trying.
"This is an issue that has fired up a lot of passions and a lot of opinions in terms of what is the right thing to do," Kim said. "Most of us agree on the outcomes that we want to see but may disagree on the tools that will take us there." |
Talking Strine
Lyrics of the song ‘With air chew’ (translation below) (NAA: A1336, 66765) Lyrics of the song ‘With air chew’ (translation below) (NAA: A1336, 66765)
In 1965 Afferbeck Lauder – a pseudonym of the Australian author, graphic designer and abstract painter Alistair Morrison – applied for copyright of the lyrics of a song which he called ‘With air chew’, Strine for ‘Without you’.
The application and registration is held in the National Archives of Australia.
Morrison was inspired to invent ‘Strine’ by a report in a Sydney newspaper in 1964. A customer at a book signing by a visiting British novelist had pushed a copy of her book towards her. ‘Emma chisit?’ the customer asked. Mistaking an inquiry about the price of the book for the customer’s name, the unsuspecting author wrote ‘To Emma Chisit’ and signed the book!
Afferbeck Lauder (say it quickly and run the words together) was ‘Professor of Strine Studies at the University of Sinny’. In 1965 he compiled a handy Strine-English phrase book, Let Stalk Strine. By 1979 the book was into its sixteenth impression and had sold over 140,000 copies.
Let Stalk Strine was followed by other Strine phrase books – Nose Tone Unturned, Fraffly Well Spoken and Fraffly Suite. Morrison also illustrated the books, under the pseudonym Al Terego.
Born in 1911, Alistair Morrison established an international reputation as an artist, typographer and designer. His work was published widely in art catalogues and journals.
He was chairman of the Currency Note Design Group, the committee that advised on the design of Australia’s first decimal currency banknotes in 1966.
With air chew (Without you)
A translation for non-Strine speakers
Without you, without you,
I can hardly live without you,
And I dream about your kisses night and day.
If only we could be alone,
Just you and me and on our own,
And we'd dream about the moon up in the sky.
Without you, without you,
How am I gonna live without you?
While you're only in my dreams I'm always cryin'.
And as true as heaven above
You must know I need your love
'Cause without you in my arms it's no use tryin'. |
S
Ingredients
Method
trawberry yogurt with strawberry and yogurt as main ingredients is a healthy dessert in summers. Yogurt being an excellent source of protein, calcium, riboflavin and vitamin B 12 and strawberry being rich in folic acid and numerous other minerals. Hence, both form an excellent healthy combination.2 cup yogurt1/2 cup strawberry chopped1/2 cup milk1 tbsp custard powder (vanilla or strawberry)3 tbsp sugar/sweetener1 tbsp honeyfew fresh strawberries* Take 2 tbsp of milk and dissolve custard powder in it* In a pan add remaining milk, sugar and the already made custard powder* On a low flame cook while stirring continuously till the custard thickens and becomes creamy* Let it cool for 10 minutes* In a blender blend chopped strawberries, then add yogurt, honey and custard and again blend for a minute* Pour in chilled bowls and let it cool in a refrigerator for half an hour* Serve chilled, garnishing with fresh strawberries |
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The countdown to Euro 2016 is well and truly underway.
All 24 nations will soon be travelling to France as the four-week feast of football gets underway.
While England's provisional squad continues to be the topic of discussion, each and every country is naming the contingent they hope can lead them to glory.
The deadline for team's to announce their final 23-man squads passed on Tuesday evening and each nation has made their choices.
See exactly who has made the cut here.
Group A
Albania
(Image: David Rogers)
Goalkeepers: Etrit Berisha (Lazio), Alban Hoxha (Partizani), Orges Shehi (Skenderbeu).
Defenders: Elseid Hysaj (Napoli), Lorik Cana (Nantes), Arlind Ajeti (Frosinone), Mergim Mavraj (Koeln), Naser Aliji (Basel), Ansi Agolli (Karabag), Frederik Veseli (Lugano).
Midfielders: Ermir Lenjani (Nantes), Andi Lila (Giannina), Migjen Basha (Como), Ledian Memushaj (Pescara), Burim Kukeli (Zurich), Taulant Xhaka (Basel), Ergys Kace (Paok), Amir Abrashi (Freiburg), Odise Roshi (Rijeka).
Forwards: Bekim Balaj (Rijeka), Sokol Cikalleshi (Medipol Basaksehir), Armando Sadiku (Vaduz), Shkelzen Gashi (Colorado Rapids).
France
(Image: AFP/Getty)
Goalkeepers: Benoit Costil (Rennes), Hugo Lloris (Tottenham), Steve Mandanda (Marseille).
Defenders: Lucas Digne (Roma), Patrice Evra (Juventus), Christophe Jallet (Lyon), Laurent Koscielny (Arsenal), Eliaquim Mangala (Manchester City), Adil Rami (Sevilla), Bacary Sagna (Manchester City), Samuel Umtiti (Lyon).
Midfielders: Yohan Cabaye (Crystal Palace), Morgan Schneiderlin (Manchester United), N'Golo Kante (Leicester), Blaise Matuidi (Paris Saint-Germain), Paul Pogba (Juventus), Moussa Sissoko (Newcastle).
Forwards: Kingsley Coman (Bayern Munich), Andre-Pierre Gignac (Tigres), Olivier Giroud (Arsenal), Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid), Anthony Martial (Manchester United), Dimitri Payet (West Ham).
Romania
(Image: AFP)
Goalkeepers: Ciprian Tatarusanu (Fiorentina), Costel Pantilimon (Watford), Silviu Lung (Astra)
Defenders: Cristian Sapunaru (Pandurii Targu-Jiu), Alexandru Matel (Dinamo Zagreb), Vlad Chiriches (Napoli), Valerica Gaman (Astra), Dragos Grigore (Al Sailiya), Cosmin Moti (Ludogorets), Razvan Rat (Rayo Vallecano), Steliano Filip (Dinamo Bucharest)
Midfielders: Mihai Pintilii (Steaua Bucharest), Ovidiu Hoban (Hapoel Be'er Sheva), Andrei Prepelita (Ludogorets), Adrian Popa (Steaua Bucharest), Gabriel Torje (Osmanlispor), Alexandru Chipciu (Steaua Bucharest), Nicolae Stanciu (Steaua Bucharest), Lucian Sanmartean (Al Ittihad)
Forwards: Claudiu Keseru (Ludogorets), Bogdan Stancu (Genclerbirligi), Florin Andone (Cordoba), Denis Alibec (Astra)
Switzerland
(Image: Laurence Griffiths)
Goalkeepers : Roman Buerki (Borussia Dortmund), Marwin Hitz (Augsburg), Yann Sommer (Borussia Moenchengladbach).
Defenders: Johan Djourou (Hamburg SV), Nico Elvedi (Borussia Moenchengladbach), Michael Lang (FC Basel), Stephan Lichtsteiner (Juventus), Francois Moubandje (Toulouse), Ricardo Rodriguez (VfL Wolfsburg), Fabian Schaer (Hoffenheim), Steve Von Bergen (Young Boys)
Midfielders: Valon Behrami (Watford), Blerim Dzemaili (Genoa), Gelson Fernandes (Rennes), Fabian Frei (Mainz 05), Xherdan Shaqiri (Stoke City), Granit Xhaka (Borussia Moenchengladbach), Denis Zakaria (Young Boys)
Forwards: Eren Derdiyok (Kasimpasa), Breel Embolo (FC Basel), Admir Mehmedi (Bayer Leverkusen), Haris Seferovic (Eintracht Frankfurt), Shani Tarashaj (Grasshoppers)
Group B
England
(Image: Reuters)
Goalkeepers: Fraser Forster (Southampton), Joe Hart (Manchester City), Tom Heaton (Burnley)
Defenders: Ryan Betrand (Southampton), Gary Cahill (Chelsea), Nathaniel Clyne (Liverpool), Danny Rose (Tottenham), Chris Smalling (Manchester United), John Stones (Everton), Kyle Walker (Tottenham)
Midfielders: Dele Alli (Tottenham), Ross Barkley (Everton), Eric Dier (Tottenham), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool), Adam Lallana (Liverpool), James Milner (Liverpool), Raheem Sterling (Manchester City), Jack Wilshere (Arsenal).
Forwards: Harry Kane (Tottenham), Marcus Rashford (Manchester United), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Daniel Sturridge (Liverpool), Jamie Vardy (Leicester)
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Russia
(Image: Dean Mouhtaropoulos)
Goalkeepers: Igor Akinfeev (CSKA Moscow), Guilherme (Lokomotiv Moscow), Yuri Lodygin (Zenit St. Petersburg)
Defenders: Alexei Berezutsky (CSKA Moscow), Vasily Berezutsky (CSKA Moscow), Sergei Ignashevich (CSKA Moscow), Dmitry Kombarov (Spartak Moscow), Roman Neustadter (Schalke), Georgy Shchennikov (CSKA Moscow), Roman Shishkin (Lokomotiv Moscow), Igor Smolnikov (Zenit St Petersburg)
Midfielders: Igor Denisov (Dynamo Moscow), Denis Glushakov (Spartak Moscow), Alexander Golovin (CSKA Moscow), Oleg Ivanov (Terek Grozny), Pavel Mamaev (Krasnodar), Alexander Samedov (Lokomotiv Moscow), Oleg Shatov (Zenit St Petersburg), Roman Shirokov (CSKA Moscow), Dmitri Torbinski (Krasnodar)
Forwards: Artyom Dzyuba (Zenit St Petersburg), Alexander Kokorin (Zenit St Petersburg), Fyodor Smolov (Krasnodar)
Slovakia
(Image: Reuters)
Goalkeepers: Matúš Kozáčik (Viktoria Plzeň), Ján Mucha (Slovan Bratislava), Ján Novota (Rapid Wien).
Defenders: Peter Pekarík (Hertha Berlin), Milan Škriniar (Sampdoria), Martin Škrtel (Liverpool), Norbert Gyömbér (Roma), Ján Ďurica (Lokomotiv Moskva), Kornel Saláta (Slovan Bratislava), Tomáš Hubočan (Dinamo Moskva), Dušan Švento (Köln).
Midfielders: Marek Hamšík (Napoli), Juraj Kucka (AC Milan), Miroslav Stoch (Bursaspor), Vladimír Weiss (Al-Gharafa), Róbert Mak (PAOK), Patrik Hrošovský (Viktoria Plzeň), Ján Greguš (Jablonec), Viktor Pečovský (Žilina), Stanislav Šesták (Ferencváros), Ondrej Duda (Legia Warszawa).
Forwards: Michal Ďuriš (Viktoria Plzeň), Adam Nemec (Willem II).
Wales
(Image: Getty)
Goalkeepers : Wayne Hennessey (Crystal Palace), Danny Ward (Liverpool), Owain Fon Williams (Inverness).
Defenders: Ben Davies (Tottenham), Neil Taylor (Swansea), Chris Gunter (Reading), Ashley Williams (Swansea), James Chester (West Brom), Ashley Richards (Fulham), James Collins (West Ham).
Midfielders: Aaron Ramsey (Arsenal), Joe Ledley (Crystal Palace), David Vaughan (Nottingham Forest), Joe Allen (Liverpool), David Cotterill (Birmingham), Jonathan Williams (Crystal Palace), George Williams (Fulham), Andy King (Leicester), Dave Edwards (Wolves).
Forwards: Gareth Bale (Real Madrid), Hal Robson-Kanu (Reading), Sam Vokes (Burnley), Simon Church (Nottingham Forest).
Group C
Germany
(Image: AFP)
Goalkeepers: Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich), Bernd Leno (Bayer Leverkusen), Marc-Andre ter Stegen (Barcelona)
Defenders: Jerome Boateng (Bayern Munich), Emre Can (Liverpool), Jonas Hector (Cologne), Benedikt Hoewedes (Schalke 04), Mats Hummels (Borussia Dortmund), Shkodran Mustafi (Valencia), Jonathan Tah (Bayer Leverkusen)
Midfielders: Julian Draxler (VfL Wolfsburg), Sami Khedira (Juventus), Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich), Toni Kroos (Real Madrid), Thomas Mueller (Bayern Munich), Mesut Ozil (Arsenal), Lukas Podolski (Galatasaray), Andre Schuerrle (VfL Wolfsburg), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Manchester United), Julian Weigl (Borussia Dortmund)
Forwards: Mario Gomez (Besiktas), Mario Goetze (Bayern Munich), Leroy Sane (Schalke 04)
Northern Ireland
(Image: Charles McQuillan)
Goalkeepers: Roy Carroll (Notts County), Michael McGovern (Hamilton), Alan McManus (St Johnstone)
Defenders: Craig Cathcart (Watford), Jonny Evans (West Brom), Gareth McAuley (West Brom), Luke McCullough (Doncaster), Conor McLaughlin (Fleetwood), Aaron Hughes (Melbourne City), Lee Hodson (MK Dons), Chris Baird (Derby County), Paddy McNair (Manchester United.
Midfielders: Steven Davis (Southampton), Oliver Norwood (Reading), Corry Evans (Blackburn), Jamie Ward (Nottingham Forest), Stuart Dallas (Leeds), Niall McGinn (Aberdeen), Shane Ferguson (Millwall)
Forwards: Will Grigg (Wigan), Kyle Lafferty (Birmingham), Conor Washington (QPR), Josh Magennis (Kilmarnock)
Poland
(Image: JANEK SKARZYNSKI/AFP/Getty Images)
Goalkeepers: Łukasz Fabiański (Swansea), Wojciech Szczęsny (Roma), Artur Boruc (Bournemouth).
Defenders: Thiago Cionek (Palermo), Kamil Glik (Torino), Artur Jędrzejczyk (Legia), Michał Pazdan (Legia), Łukasz Piszczek (Dortmund), Bartosz Salamon (Cagliari), Jakub Wawrzyniak (Lechia Gdańsk).
Midfielders: Jakub Błaszczykowski (Fiorentina), Kamil Grosicki (Rennes), Tomasz Jodłowiec (Legia), Bartosz Kapustka (Cracovia), Grzegorz Krychowiak (Sevilla), Karol Linetty (Lech Poznań), Krzysztof Mączyński (Wisła), Sławomir Peszko (Lechia Gdańsk), Filip Starzyński (Zagłębie Lubin), Piotr Zieliński (Empoli).
Forwards: Arkadiusz Milik (Ajax), Robert Lewandowski (Bayern), Mariusz Stępiński (Ruch Chorzów)
Ukraine
(Image: Getty)
Goalkeepers: Andriy Pyatov (Shakhtar Donetsk), Denys Boyko (Besiktas), Mykyta Shevchenko (Zorya)
Defenders: Artem Fedetskiy (Dnipro), Mykyta Kamenyuka (Zorya), Vyacheslav Shevchuk (Shakhtar Donetsk), Oleksandr Kucher (Shakhtar Donetsk), Yaroslav Rakytskyi (Shakhtar Donetsk), Yevhen Khacheridi (Dynamo Kiev)
Midfielders: Anatoliy Tymoschuk (Kairat Almaty), Oleksandr Karavaev (Zorya), Andriy Yarmolenko (Dynamo Kiev), Denys Garmash (Dynamo Kiev), Serhiy Sydorchuk (Dyamo Kiev), Serhiy Rybalka (Dynamo Kiev), Taras Stepanenko (Shakhtar Donetsk), Viktor Kovalenko (Shakhtar Donetsk), Ruslan Rotan (Dnipro), Yevhen Konoplyanka (Sevilla).
Forwards: Pylyp Budkovskyi (Zorya), Roman Zozulya (Dnipro), Yevhen Seleznyov (Shakhtar Donetsk)
Group D
Croatia
(Image: Epsilon)
Goalkeepers: Danijel Subasic (Monaco), Lovre Kalinic (Hajduk Split), Ivan Vargic (Rijeka)
Defenders: Vedran Corluka (Lokomotiv Moscow), Darijo Srna (Shakhtar Donetsk), Domagoj Vida (Dynamo Kiev), Sime Vrsaljko (Sassuolo), Gordon Schildenfeld (Dinamo Zagreb), Ivan Strinic (Napoli), Tin Jedvaj (Bayer Leverkusen)
Midfielders: Luka Modric, Mateo Kovacic (both Real Madrid), Ivan Rakitic (Barcelona), Marcelo Brozovic, Ivan Perisic (both Inter Milan), Milan Badelj (Fiorentina), Marko Rog, Ante Coric (both Dinamo Zagreb)
Forwards: Mario Mandzukic (Juventus), Nikola Kalinic (Fiorentina), Marko Pjaca, Duje Cop (both Dinamo Zagreb), Andrej Kramaric (Hoffenheim)
Czech Republic
(Image: Christof Koepsel)
Goalkeepers: Petr Cech (Arsenal), Tomas Koubek (Slovan Liberec) and Tomas Vaclik (Basel)
Defenders: Theodor Gebre Selassie (Werder Bremen), Roman Hubnik (Viktoria Plzen), Pavel Kaderabek (Hoffenheim), Michal Kadlec (Fenerbahce), David Limbersky (Viktoria Plzen), Daniel Pudil (Sheffield Wednesday), Tomas Sivok (Bursaspor), Marek Suchy (Basel)
Midfielders: Vladimir Darida (Hertha Berlin), Borek Dockal (Sparta Prague), Daniel Kolar (Viktoria Plzen), Ladislav Krejci (Sparta Prague), David Pavelka (Kasimpasa), Jaroslav Plasil (Girondins Bordeaux), Tomas Rosicky (Arsenal), Jiri Skalak (Brighton and Hove Albion), Josef Sural (Sparta Prague)
Forwards: David Lafata (Sparta Prague), Tomas Necid (Bursaspor), Milan Skoda (Slavia Prague)
Spain
(Image: Reuters)
Goalkeepers: Iker Casillas (Porto), David De Gea (Manchester United), Sergio Rico (Sevilla)
Defenders: Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Gerard Pique (Barcelona), Dani Carvajal (Real Madrid), Jordi Alba (Barcelona), Marc Bartra (Barcelona), Cesar Azpilicueta (Chelsea), Mikel San Jose (Athletic Bilbao), Juanfran (Atletico Madrid).
Midfielders: Bruno (Villarreal), Sergio Busquets (Barcelona), Koke (Atletico Madrid), Thiago (Bayern Munich), Andres Iniesta (Barcelona), David Silva (Man City), Pedro (Chelsea), Cesc Fabregas (Chelsea)
Forwards: Aritz Aduriz (Athletic Bilbao), Nolito (Celta Vigo), Alvaro Morata (Juventus), Lucas Vasquez (Real Madrid)
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Turkey
(Image: REUTERS)
Goalkeepers: Harun Tekin (Bursaspor), Onur Kıvrak (Trabzonspor), Volkan Babacan (İstanbul Başakşehir).
Defenders: Gökhan Gönül (Fenerbahçe), Şener Özbayraklı (Fenerbahçe), Ahmet Çalık (Gençlerbirliği), Hakan Balta (Galatasaray), Mehmet Topal (Fenerbahçe), Semih Kaya (Galatasaray), Caner Erkin (Fenerbahçe), İsmail Köybaşı (Beşiktaş).
Midfielders: Emre Mor (Nordsjælland), Volkan Şen (Fenerbahçe), Hakan Çalhanoğu (Bayer Leverkusen), Nuri Şahin (Borussia Dortmund), Oğuzhan Özyakup (Beşiktaş), Ozan Tufan (Fenerbahçe), Selçuk İnan (Galatasaray), Arda Turan (Barcelona), Olcay Şahan (Beşiktaş).
Forwards: Burak Yılmaz (Beijing Guoan), Cenk Tosun (Beşiktaş), Yunus Mallı (Mainz).
Group E
Belgium
(Image: AFP/Getty)
Goalkeepers: Thibaut Courtois (Chelsea), Simon Mignolet (Liverpool), Jean-Francois Gillet (Mechelen).
Defenders: Toby Alderweireld (Tottenham), Jan Vertonghen (Tottenham, Thomas Vermaelen (Barcelona), Jason Denayer (Galatasaray), Jordan Lukaku (Oostende), Thomas Meunier (Club Brugges), Laurent Ciman (Montreal Impact), Christian Kabasele (Genk).
Midfielders: Moussa Dembele (Tottenham), Radja Nainggolan (Roma), Marouane Fellaini (Manchester United), Axel Witsel (Zenit St Petersburg), Eden Hazard (Chelsea), Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City), Dries Mertens (Napoli), Yannick Carrasco (Atletico Madrid).
Forwards: Mitchy Batshuayi (Marseille), Romelu Lukaku (Everton), Christian Benteke (Liverpool), Divock Origi (Liverpool).
Italy
(Image: Maurizio Lagana/Getty)
Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Federico Marchetti (Lazio), Salvatore Sirigu (PSG)
Defenders: Mattia De Sciglio (Milan), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Matteo Darmian (Manchester United), Angelo Ogbonna (West Ham United), Andrea Barzagli (Juventus), Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus)
Midfielders: Antonio Candreva (Lazio), Alessandro Florenzi (Roma), Tiago Motta (PSG), Stefano Sturaro (Juventus), Daniele De Rossi (Roma), Marco Parolo (Lazio), Federico Bernadeschi (Fiorentina), Stephan El Shaarwy (Roma), Emanuele Giaccherini (Bologna)
Forwards: Simone Zaza (Juventus), Graziano Pelle (Southampton), Ciro Immobile (Torino), Eder (Internazionale), Lorenzo Insigne (Napoli)
Republic of Ireland
(Image: Action Images via Reuters)
Goalkeepers: Shay Given (Stoke), Darren Randolph (West Ham), Keiren Westwood (Sheffield Wednesday).
Defenders: Seamus Coleman (Everton), Cyrus Christie (Derby), Ciaran Clark (Aston Villa), Richard Keogh (Derby), John O'Shea (Sunderland), Shane Duffy (Blackburn), Stephen Ward (Burnley)
Midfielders: Aiden McGeady (Everton), James McClean (West Brom), Glenn Whelan (Stoke), James McCarthy (Everton), Jeff Hendrick (Derby), David Meyler (Hull), Stephen Quinn (Reading), Wes Hoolahan (Norwich), Robbie Brady (Norwich), Jonathan Walters (Stoke)
Forwards: Robbie Keane (LA Galaxy), Shane Long (Southampton), Daryl Murphy (Ipswich)
Sweden
(Image: Marcus Ericsson/Ombrello)
Goalkeepers: Andreas Isaksson (Kasimpasa), Robin Olsen (Copenhagen), Patrik Carlgren (AIK).
Defenders: Ludwig Augustinsson (Copenhagen), Erik Johansson (Copenhagen), Pontus Jansson (Torino), Victor Lindelof (Benfica) Andreas Granqvist (Krasnodar), Mikael Lustig (Celtic), Martin Olsson (Norwich).
Midfielders: Jimmy Durmaz (Olympiakos), Albin Ekdal (Hamburg), Oscar Hiljemark (Palermo), Sebastian Larsson (Sunderland), Pontus Wernbloom (CSKA Moscow), Erkan Zengin (Trabzonspor), Oscar Lewicki (Malmo), Emil Forsberg (Leipzig), Kim Kallstrom (Grasshoppers).
Forwards: Marcus Berg (Panathinaikos), John Guidetti (Celta Vigo), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Paris), Emir Kujovic (Norrkoping).
Group F
Austria
(Image: Reuters)
Goalkeepers: Robert Almer (Austria Vienna), Heinz Lindner (Eintracht Frankfurt), Ramazan Ozcan (Ingolstadt).
Defenders: Aleksandar Dragovic (Dinamo Kiev), Christian Fuchs (Leicester City), Gyorgy Garics (Darmstadt), Martin Hinteregger (Borussia Monchengladbach), Florian Klein (Stuttgart), Sebastian Prodl (Watford), Markus Suttner (Ingolstadt), Kevin Wimmer (Tottenham Hotspur).
Midfielders : David Alaba (Bayern Munich), Marko Arnautovic (Stoke City), Julian Baumgartlinger (Mainz), Martin Harnik (Stuttgart), Stefan Ilsanker (Leipzig), Jakob Jantscher (Luzern), Zlatko Junuzovic (Werder Bremen), Marcel Sabitzer (Leipzig), Alessandro Schopf (Schalke)
Forwards: Lukas Hinterseer (Ingolstadt), Rubin Okotie (1860 Munich), Marc Janko (Basel).
Hungary
(Image: Getty)
Goalkeepers: Gabor Kiraly (Haladas), Denes Dibusz (Ferencvaros), Peter Gulacsi (Leipzig).
Defenders: Attila Fiola (Puskas Akademia), Barnabas Bese (MTK), Richard Guzmics (Wisla Krakow), Roland Juhasz (Videoton), Adam Lang (Videoton), Tamas Kadar (Lech Poznan), Mihaly Korhut (Debrecen).
Midfielders: Akos Elek (Diosgyori), Adam Pinter (Ferencvaros), Zoltan Gera (Ferencvaros), Adam Nagy (Ferencvaros), Laszlo Kleinheisler (Werder Bremen), Gergo Lovrencsics (Lech Poznan), Zoltan Stieber (Nurnberg).
Forwards: Balazs Dzsudzsak (Bursaspor), Adám Szalai (Hannover), Krisztian Nemeth (al-Gharafa), Nemanja Nikolic (Legia Warsaw), Tamas Priskin (Slovan Bratislava), Daniel Bode (Ferencvaros).
Read more: Euro 2016 fixtures and dates
Iceland
Goalkeepers: Hannes Halldorsson (Bodo/Glimt), Ogmundur Kristinsson (Hammarby), Ingvar Jonsson (Sandefjord).
Defenders: Ari Skulason (OB), Hordur Magnusson (Cesena), Hjortur Hermannsson (PSV Eindhoven), Ragnar Sigurdsson (Krasnodar), Kari Arnason (Malmo), Sverrir Ingi Ingason (Lokeren), Birkir Sævarsson (Hammarby), Haukur Heidar Hauksson (AIK).
Midfielders: Emil Hallfredsson (Udinese), Gylfi Sigurdsson (Swansea), Aron Gunnarsson (Cardiff), Theodor Elmar Bjarnason (AGF), Arnor Ingvi Traustason (Norrkoping), Birkir Bjarnason (Basel), Johann Gudmundsson (Charlton), Eidur Gudjohnsen (Molde), Runar Mar Sigurjonsson (Sundsvall).
Forwards : Kolbeinn Sigthorsson (Nantes), Alfred Finnbogason (Augsburg), Jon Dadi Bodvarsson (Kaiserslautern).
Portugal
(Image: Getty)
Goalkeepers: Rui Patrício (Sporting CP), Anthony Lopes (Lyon), Eduardo (Dínamo Zagreb).
Defenders: Vieirinha (Wolfsburg), Cédric (Southampton), Pepe (Real Madrid), Ricardo Carvalho (Monaco), Bruno Alves (Fenerbahçe), José Fonte (Southampton), Eliseu (Benfica), Raphael Guerreiro (Lorient).
Midfielders: William Carvalho (Sporting CP), Danilo Pereira (Porto), João Moutinho (Monaco), Renato Sanches (Benfica), Adrien Silva (Sporting CP), André Gomes (Valencia), João Mário (Sporting CP).
Forwards: Rafa Silva (Braga), Ricardo Quaresma (Beşiktaş), Nani (Fenerbahçe), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Éder (Lille). |
North Korean authorities have ceased distributing regular food rations outside Pyongyang – despite promises that supplies would "return to normal", Daily NK has learned. While last year saw provincial urban centres receive rations from the state's stockpiled war-time reserves, this year there has been very little distribution on offer for those beyond the walls of the "revolutionary capital".
A Pyongyang-based source said residents of the capital had continued to receive steady food rations after the initial post-harvest influx in October. "They gave us enough for two weeks at the beginning of this month and another two weeks on the 16th."
“There is talk going round that the marshal [Kim Jong-un] has taken great interest in food distribution and is giving direct orders on the matter. Even those who were initially skeptical at party promises of regular distribution are happy with the comparatively plentiful rations,” the source said.
Kim Jong-un visits a Korean People's Army base in Pyongyang in this official photo released in 2011. Photograph: KCNA/Reuters
But in the rest of the country, the food situation remains tenuous. A second source from Hyesan said: "In January, housewives were given two kilos of mixed rice and corn and households received 10 days of rations on top of that. But there has been nothing since then, and there is no word from the Upper (the authorities) about rations now in April, even though food tends to be scarce for us at this time.”
A third source from North Hwanghae Province added: “Last year the authorities released the 'No.2 war-time rice reserves' but there have been no special directives this year. Even though the rice we ended up getting was spoiled and full of bugs, a lot of people are upset that they won't even get that this time around.”
After receiving word from the centre last year, plenty of cadres boasted that the distribution system would soon return to normal. For most, however, the reality is quite different as "some wonder if there is any rice left at all now that they've released the wartime reserves".
In North Hamkyung, too, there are rumours that even the regional military bases have nothing to eat. “Discontent is there, and talk in the markets centres around distribution and how promises from the authorities cannot be trusted ,” the source continued.
“Rice supply is still not a serious issue because farms are bringing stored reserves to market in order to purchase diesel to prepare the fields for planting. But the barley won't arrive until June, and if the current situation continues there are sure to be households who will struggle this spring.”
Read more from DailyNK's Inside North Korea series |
Posted on by alskamom
Well, I did it again… I made way too many brownies for Super Bowl Sunday last week. I really don’t mind though – it gave me a great excuse to transform some of them into these Raspberry Brownie Truffles.
These truffles are really rich and chocolaty, which I absolutely love. I also really enjoy the flavor combination of chocolate and raspberry, but you could also use cherry, strawberry, or any flavor jam you prefer. Just keep in mind that whatever flavor jam you use, it should pair well with chocolate.
Truffles are so delicious, but I find that I don’t make them very often. It’s probably because I know if I do, I’ll end up eating them all in one sitting – if given the chance. I’ve already had way more than my share of these little tasty delights, and I’m using every ounce of self control right now to keep myself from going to the fridge for more. 🙂
~Enjoy~
Raspberry Brownie Truffles
1 pan (13×9) brownies, baked and cooled
1/2 cup raspberry jam
1 (12 ounce) package chocolate chips
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions:
Crumble brownies into a large bowl until they are in small pieces. Add raspberry jam and stir with a spoon until it is well-mixed and the brownie dough is smooth. If dough is too dry, add a little more jam until the texture is smooth and holds together when you squeeze it into a ball.
Shape brownie dough into 1-inch balls and place on a baking sheet covered with parchment or waxed paper. Freeze the balls for 30 minutes, or until firm.
Place chocolate chips, butter, corn syrup and vanilla extract in the top of a double boiler. Melt over simmering water until smooth and combined. Let cool slightly.
Dip brownie balls into melted chocolate. Place on parchment or waxed paper lined baking sheet. Place in the refrigerator to fully set the chocolate – about 20 minutes. Store truffles in refrigerator.
Makes approximately 5 dozen truffles.
Filed under: Recipes, Truffles | Tagged: Alaska, Baking, blog, brownie, chocolate, Dessert, food, photo, raspberry, Recipe, Truffles, wordpress | |
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Game Name: Senran Kagura 2: Deep Crimson
Platform(s): Nintendo 3DS
Publisher(s): Marvelous Interactive
Developer(s): Tamsoft
Release Date:9/15/2015
Price:$49.99 (physical), $39.99 (digital)
It seems like nowadays, sensitivity to suggestive themes is at an uncontrollable high. Make no mistake; everyone has a right to their own opinions and tastes, but there is a line between themes like extreme violence and sexuality acting as a crutch for a poor game and those same themes working in unison with the game to create a unique experience. Think of it as slathering a burnt steak in sauce as opposed to cooking a well-marinated steak to perfection; one uses the extra element to cover inherent flaw in the core product where the other takes the extra ingredient and uses it to intentionally shape the final experience. With that, I introduce you to Senran Kagura 2: Deep Crimson.
Throughout its existence, Senran Kagura has been about two things: Ninjas and T&A; combining fast-paced combat in the style of the Dynasty Warriors titles with the sensibilities of an ecchi anime. Naturally, this combination is hit or miss in the extreme. However, the series is not meant to be a wide-reaching blockbuster. It serves as an honest artistic expression; for better or for worse.
As was stated, the gameplay is at its core similar to games in the Dynasty Warriors style; with the player controlling individual characters against hordes of enemies that are typically much weaker than the player on their own, but are made more challenging by attacking in numbers. This particular gameplay style is rather polarizing as players can get by with pressing the basic attack button repeatedly until they win, which some would understandably see as monotonous, but with such a system, the player gets back what they put into it. In reality, the combat system is quite deep; offering two base types of attacks which branch into each other for varied potential combos across all characters. In addition, each character has two forms: Standard and Shinobi. Typically, the standard form has a weaker combo string, whereas Shinobi form usually has better combos in addition to granting the player access to super attacks known as “Secret Ninja arts”. It would stand to reason that one would want to transform as soon as possible to gain access to better tools, but transforming in itself regenerates all lost health, meaning that in difficult fights, it would be far more prudent to put up with the reduced potential of the character’s standard form until the health regeneration will be of real use.
Even the Secret Ninja Arts have their own depth, with each character having three distinct options and serving different purposes. At first, I thought it was broken up into three universal categories, each costing one more scroll (combat resource) than the last: Crowd control attacks, high-damage single-target attacks, and high-damage area attacks. That proved to be more or less true, but they also correspond to the game’s clothing system. In fights, major characters can lose clothes by taking damage. Some may see it as shameless fan service, and they would not be wrong to say that, but it also serves a purpose in that a character’s current amount of clothing is directly proportional to that character’s defense; meaning the more a character is stripped, the more damage they will take. With that said, the three types of Secret Ninja Arts damage the bottom half of an outfit, the top half of an outfit, and both respectively; meaning that a player must find ideal ways to use those attacks to make the fight easier for themselves. There are also Secret Ninja Arts that can only be performed in Co-op for the cost of three scrolls from each girl, and though they did not seem to have any special clothing-based effects tied to them, they are guaranteed to damage every enemy currently in the field of play.
For all the explanation the gameplay requires, these sequences do not last very long. Across the board, story missions take around two to five minutes to complete, meaning a lot of time will be spent on watching the characters interact. Not only that, but this time with the characters plays out like a comedy/action anime, which brings us to an important distinction: though Senran Kagura is very action-based, it is also very much a visual novel in the vein of Phoenix Wright or even the later Mortal Kombat games; where rather than being in control of the experience through and through, the player only plays out key moments of interest and ultimately is just along for the ride.
Visually speaking, Deep Crimson is a marvel for its platform. The framerate is consistent, the models are of good quality, and certain *cough* extremities *coughcough* have mind-bogglingly good physics. However, it can be rather hard to appreciate enemies as most of them are too small on the screen to get a good look at. Other than that, even though the 3D anime style makes some characters look like half-monkey precious moments figurines from certain angles, they all look good for the most part.
The sound is quite good as well, with all the sound effects and voices being crisp and distinct, though with so many enemies to dispatch, the hit sounds may become somewhat annoying after a while. Beyond that, the OST is amazing, and is available through two CDs that come with the physical version; blending classic kung-fu flick tunes with heavy metal jams to get the blood pumping during intense fights.
In the end, however, the value is entirely based on the sensibilities of the person playing the game. Fans of anime (and especially ecchi) will be able to squeeze much more out of this game than most, as they are more likely to enjoy the anime-like format of the narrative (this goes double if you have a concept of “best girl” [spoilers: it’s Daidoji]). Furthermore, the difficulty seems to be a bit skewed; the missions all ramp up in difficulty, but the game functions on a leveling system across 10 characters with no more than two being in use at any given time. Because of this, certain girls will become under-leveled between the levels where they are needed. This means that grinding in past story missions or the game’s challenge mode is all but necessary, which can break up the enjoyment and flow of the story.
However, between the available challenge modes, the ability to play co-op locally or online, and obscene levels of customization across the girls; Senran Kagura 2: Deep Crimson reaches out perfectly to its target audience. |
Dozens of House Republicans on Friday voted down language that would have imposed a 1 percent cut on funding for the Department of the Interior, forcing the proposal to fail.
Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., offered up the language as part of a giant spending bill that combines four of the 12 annual appropriations bills. Blackburn often proposes amendment make a small overall cut to various agencies in order to tackle the $20 trillion national debt.But Republican opposition prevented its passage.
But Republican opposition prevented its passage.
In a Friday morning vote, 68 Republicans opposed it, prompting it to fail 156-248. In the final vote, 154 Republicans supported Blackburn's plan.
Blackburn was one of several Republicans who backed a Thursday letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., asking him to take up several possible ideas to cut spending.
That letter, from the Republican Study Committee, warned Ryan that the group was not a fan of the deal struck this week to extend federal spending and borrowing authority into December since that deal did nothing to curb spending.
Several Republicans also noted, however, that the deal Trump reached with Democrats was slightly better than the original plan, which was to suspend the debt ceiling past the 2018 midterm elections. |
Fuel cell manufacturers and OEMs continue to benefit from an increased military emphasis on energy security and logistical efficiency associated with the complex and challenging operational conditions being encountered in remote wartime environments such as Afghanistan. Reducing the strategic and tactical vulnerabilities associated with powering military equipment and remote installations has emerged as a leading priority for U.S. military leadership.
Fuel cells complement this mission in many ways offering significantly longer runtimes and significant savings in terms of weight and volume when compared to conventional military power sources such as the BA-5590 batteries and diesel generators. Fuel cell generators also offer tactical advantages by achieving significant reductions in the amount of noise, heat, and emissions associated with conventional diesel generators.
At the same time, logistical concerns regarding fuel availability for fuel cells represents one of the key challenges facing the fuel cell industry. The U.S. Department of Defense currently lacks an effective distribution system for conventional fuel cell fuels such as methanol and propane. Instead, the DOD has emphasized the need for achieving fuel compatibility with specialty military fuels where distribution networks already exist.
These specialty fuels are prominent across a wide spread of military applications. For example, JP?8, a fuel that is similar to commercial diesel and aviation fuel, is considered the most prominent fuel on the battlefield powering everything from tactical generators and unmanned vehicles to the military’s mine resistant ambush protected (MRAP) vehicles, helicopters, and fighter aircraft.
The difficulties associated with engineering fuel cells that can run off these fuels are primarily associated with their high sulfur content. The sulfur content of these fuels is extremely high; up to around 3,000 ppmv S for jet fuels (JP-8, JP-5) and 10,000 ppmv S for naval distillate (NATO F-76). By comparison, commercial gasoline contains 30 ppmv S, while diesel power has around 15 ppmv.
The high sulfur content is poisonous to the reformer and electrode catalysts found in a fuel cell stack. Sulfur compounds in the liquid hydrocarbons must be subsequently reduced to less than 0.1 ppmw for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) and at least less than 30 ppmw for the solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC).
According to Xialiang Ma, Altex Technologies Corporation, the development of new deep desulfurization processes for liquid hydrogen fuels has subsequently become one of the major challenges in developing the hydrocarbon processor for military fuel cell applications. As a result, the DOD has been supporting efforts to engineer hydrocarbon compatible fuel cell processors. For example:
- Adaptive Materials Inc., has been heavily involved in developing technologies that enable the use of JP-5 and JP-8 in fuel cells
- Ceramatec has also shown promising results with its GlidArc plasma reformer successfully reforming JP-8 at the 5kW-10kW scale
- In March 2011, Lockheed Martin and Technology Management Inc. (TMI) operated a fuel cell for 1,000 hours using JP-8
These developments suggest a positive outlook for the integration of fuel cells across a wide range of military power generation applications.
Euan Sadden is a research analyst contributing to Pike Research’s fuel cells and smart energy practices. |
Last updated at 18:25 23 November 2006
A woman has been banned from owning horses for three years after she allowed one of her horse's hooves to overgrow by more than a metre, the RSPCA said.
Charlotte Kelway, 62, of Cottesmore, in Haverfordwest, west Wales, pleaded guilty at the town's magistrates' court to causing unnecessary suffering to the Welsh stallion by failing to trim its feet.
She was also fined £1,000 and ordered to pay £1,800 in court costs.
RSPCA inspector Julie Fadden visited Mount Pleasant, in Tangiers, Haverfordwest, where Kelway kept her horses, on May 15 this year.
She found the pony with very overgrown hooves and one of its fore hooves was spiralling. The longest hoof measured 1.1m.
She said: "These were the worst pony hooves I've ever seen. This poor creature was unable to move and must have been in great distress.
"This case is a salutary warning to all horse owners that they must act responsibly towards their animals and not neglect their needs."
She said the RSPCA called in local vet John Edwards to examine the pony and he stated it had been caused unnecessary suffering by the lack of any foot care or trimming for up to 10 years.
The pony was also taken to a boarding establishment and examined by Brian Griffin, a fellow of the Welsh Company of Farriers. Mr Griffin said that they were the worst horse feet he had seen in 40 years as a farrier.
In her defence, Kelway argued that she suffered from an autoimmune condition called Sjogren's syndrome. She claimed this had caused her to feel depressed, lethargic and unable to look after the pony. |
Foto: Royal Area
Royal Arena kritiseres for at opkræve meget høje priser for at give mobilselskaberne lov til at dække den nye koncerthal. Eneste korte kommentar fra arena-direktør Dan Hammer kommer i en mail. "Ærgerligt, at Dan Hammer ikke svarer på spørgsmål om problematikken," mener teledirektør.
Computerworlds spørgsmål til Dan Hammer - Telia og Telenor er utilfredse med den pris, som I forlanger for at de kan blive koblet på Royal Arenas anlæg. Kan du forstå, at de er utilfredse?
- Er det en urimelig eller rimelig kritik?
- Telia og Telenor siger, at Royal Arena forlanger en pris, der er 10 gange højere end markedsprisen. Er det rigtigt?
- Telia og Telenor siger, at de gerne give markedsprisen, men ikke mere. Hvad er dit svar til det?
- Telia og Telenor mener, at Royal Arena slår plat på behovet for mobildækning, da Royal Arena opkræver en høj pris for at få selskaberne til at dække et sort mobil-hul, som Royal Arena selv har skabt. Hvad siger du til det?
- Ser Royal Arena overhovedet et behov for at få Telia og Telenor ind på dækningen, eller er dækningen tilfredsstillende, som den er nu?
- En af Computerworlds læsere mener, at Royal Arena burde have kontaktet alle udbyderne i forbindelse med byggeriet, så de i fællesskab kunne have betalt pico-master, opsætning, udstyr og så videre. Har det været noget, som I har overvejet?
- Hvad ligger til grund for, at I vælger at opkræve leje af teleselskaberrne overhovedet?
- FCK og Telia tilbyder gratis Wifi i Parken. Har I planer i denne retning i Royal Arena?
- Hvor forventer du, at denne sag vil lande?
Royal Arena er udsat for hård kritik fra to af Danmarks største mobilselskaber, Telia og Telenor, som mener, at Københavns nye spillested med fuldt overlæg spekulerer i at malke dem for penge.Ifølge de to selskaber opkræver Royal Arena mere end 10 gange den i forvejen høje gennemsnitlige markedspris for masteleje i Københavns-området for adgang til koncerthallens dækningsanlæg.Adgangen er nødvendig for at sikre teleselskabernes kunder ordentligt mobildækning i hallen, som ifølge dem er blevet bygget som et slags selvskabt sort mobil-hul.Telia og Telenor mener, at Royal Arena forsøger at slå plat på, at teleselskabernes kunder forventer, at der er dækning i hallen.TDC og 3 har valgt at købe sig ind på dækningen i hallen på Royal Arenas vilkår.Dan Hammer, administrerende direktør i Royal Arena, vil trods kritikken ikke stille op til interview med Computerworld, der i flere dage har forsøgt at få ham til at udtale sig.Vi ville gerne blandt andet have spurgt direktøren om, hvordan forholder sig til kritikken, hvorfor Royal Arena opkræver en meget høj pris og hvordan Dan Hammer forholder sig til beskyldningerne om at slå plat på et selvskabt problem.Dan Hammer er imidlertid ikke vendt tilbage på vores henvendelser - hverken per telefon eller per mail.I stedet meddeler Royal Arenas presseansvarlige per mail følgende:"Hermed citat fra Dan Hammer, administrerende direktør. "Vi ønsker naturligvis, at alle gæster i Royal Arena har god mobildækning, og i samarbejde med YouSee og 3 har vi sikret, at de fleste gæster vil opleve en meget solid dækning. Samtidig er vi glade for, at TT-netværket har valgt at opsætte en mobil mast i nærheden, om end vi ikke kan vurdere kvaliteten af denne løsning. Det er alene op til Telenors og Telias kunder at gøre dette."I boksen her til højre kan du se de spørgsmål, som vi gerne vil have svar på fra Dan Hammer, men som han altså ikke vil svare på.Jakob Willer, direktør i telebranchens fælles organisation, Teleindustrien, finder det besynderligt, at Dan Hammer ikke vil stille op til interview:"Det er ærgerligt, at Dan Hammer ikke svarer på spørgsmålene om problematikken. Når man driver sådan et sted [som Royal Arena, red] må man have en kæmpeinteresse i at sikre, at der er mobildækning. Her burde Royal Arena tage det ansvar på sig og sørge for, at der er god mobildækning for alle og ikke tage det som en anledning til at forsøge at malke teleselskaberne," siger Jakob Willer til Computerworld.En række af Computerworlds læsere har i de seneste dage diskuteret problematikken.Her peges der blandt andet på, at det ofte er meget dyrt for mobiloperatøren i rå indkøb af udstyr at koble sig på et dækningsanlæg som det, Royal Arena anvender.Det kræver ifølge Computerworlds læsere ofte en investering i million-klassen alene i indkøb af basestationer og lignende. Og hertil kommer altså så den leje, som Royal Arena opkræver for adgangen."Står man som bygherre i en dårlig forhandlingsposition, kan mobiloperatørerne kræve betaling for at koble sig til dækningsanlægget. Og står man i en rigtig god forhandlingsposition, kan mobiloperatørerne være villig til at betale for adgang. Det er en forhandlings-situation, og den ene pris er ikke mere "moralsk rigtig" end den anden," fremfører Jan Stenmo i et debatindlæg.Den holdning er debattør Jens Jönsson ikke enig i."Det er jo helt sort. Hvorfor skal de [teleselskaberne, red] overhovedet betale? Havde Royal Arena kontaktet >alle< udbyderne, så kunne de jo have betalt pico-masterne, opsætning, udstyr osv. De ville garanteret også gerne betale strøm til udstyret. Jeg er sikker på at alle udbyderne gerne ville have spyttet i kassen til det. Nu skal Royal Arena slå plat på det og tjene penge," skriver han.Du kan se hele debatten her Teleindustrien oplever, at Royal Arenas fremgangsmåde er typisk i forbindelser med nybyggerier i dag. Under opførelsen af lufthavne, storcentre, metro, sportsanlæg og lignende forsømmer bygherrerne i dag meget ofte at sørge for god adgang til mobilsignalerne.Istedet skabes der sorte mobilhuller i bygningerne, hvori der typisk opsættes egne dækningsanlæg, som teleselskaberne skal betale for at få adgang til."Og så tror man, at man kan få teleselskaberne til at betale vanvittigt høje priser for at få adgang til anlæggene. Det er en stor problemstilling for teleselskaberne for tiden," siger Jakob Willer.Telia og Telenor har vurderet, at op mod 40 procent af gæsterne i Royal Arena vil få problemer med mobildækningen, hvis ikke de to selskaber kobles på anlægget. |
Ben and Sharon Vogelenzang are awaiting trial accused of breaching public order by insulting a guest at their hotel in Aintree, Liverpool, about her religion.
The couple, who are members of an evangelical congregation, were arrested by police after getting into a discussion with the woman about the differences between Christianity and Islam earlier this year.
Mrs Vogelenzang, 54, is understood to have described Muslim dress as putting women into “bondage” while her husband, 53, allegedly described the Prophet Mohammed as a “warlord”.
The Christian Institute, which is finding the Vogelenzangs’ defence, said that the case showed that Christians are suffering growing “persecution” by officials who use the law to prevent them speaking about their faith.
It is understood that the couple’s business, the Bounty House Hotel in Aintree, has suffered a major drop in takings because of the case.
Friends said that they had seen bookings fall by up to 80 per cent after a local hospital stopped an arrangement in which it recommended the hotel to people attending courses there after hearing that the owners were facing criminal charges.
Although the couple have told friends that they understood the hospital’s position, they fear they could end up losing their business.
“It is just a consequence of the case that not only are they worrying about criminal charges but they may also lose their business,” said Mike Judge, a spokesman for the institute.
It is understood that the argument happened on the last day of the woman’s stay at the hotel in March when she appeared in Muslim dress.
The woman, who has not been named, is said to have told them that Jesus is considered a “minor prophet” in Islam while the debate also touched on the status of Mohammed.
The guest complained to Merseyside Police who called the couple in for an interview. They were questioned twice before being charged with a religiously aggravated public order offence.
They appeared before magistrates last week where they denied the charges and are due to go on trial later this year. If found guilty they face a fine and a criminal record.
Mr Vogelenzang denies calling the Prophet Mohammed a “warlord”. It is understood that his wife accepts that she used the word “bondage” about Islamic dress but denies deliberately causing offence.
“Even if the court accepts that these things were said, I have read this sort of thing in many western criticisms of Islam,” said Mr Judge.
“If we are really saying that someone can’t express that without having their collar felt by the police I think we are in a very worrying situation for freedom of speech.”
He added: “There is a persecution of Christians and I think public officials are misusing the law in that way.”
Merseyside Police confirmed that the couple have been charged with religiously a aggravated public order offence. |
Constance Hall thanks her childfree friends for spending time with her kids
When it comes to parenting, mom and author Constance Hall is a truth teller. Whether she’s being real about how hard it is to be a SAHM, reminding us to worship our mombods just as they are or talking about how motherhood is basically one big contradiction, Hall has no problem with being brutally honest about the hard parts of parenting. She’s at it again in her latest viral Facebook post, this time with a message for her friends that don’t have children:”Thanks for giving a fuck about my kids.”
“You come to my kids’ parties, not because your kids have dragged you there but because you actually want to come.”
It’s true. Half the time we don’t even want to be at a kids’ birthday party, and they’re our kids. Kids birthday parties are loud and hot and smell like feet. When our childfree friends show up — and with a gift, no less — we know it’s not for the cake. It’s because they really give a damn. We appreciate you taking the time, even if we don’t get the chance to say it because we’re too busy telling at a bunch of third graders to stop playing “human piñata.”
“You come to kid friendly restaurants and eat curly fucking chips while my arsehole children play on your phone and knock your drink over, when you could be at some opening of some cool place with the millions of cool people who invite you out.” |
This week, we stepped it up a notch. We went all out. We went to hard liquor.
I’m a Tito’s fan, through and through. It’s the only liquor I’ll drink, really. There are quite a few Texas vodkas out there, some from San Antonio and others from Austin, like my beloved Tito’s. So I decided to keep it as local as possible. Western Son Vodka is made right here in Carrollton, and Nue is crafted in Lewisville by two 20-something brothers. So they went in the basket. But those were the only two very local ones I saw, so I went with one I’d never heard of from Dripping Springs, west of Austin. It’s aptly called Dripping Springs Vodka, and according to its packaging, it won the IWSC Gold Best in Class award. So without further ado, here is our tipsy taste test.
THE CONTENDERS:
A: Dripping Springs, micro-distilled 20+x
B: Western Son, 10x distilled in copper, Carrollton
C: Nue – 6x distilled, Lewisville
THE TASTERS:
This was the fastest mad rush I’ve seen yet. Well, for 6 people. The rest of the office groaned and started mumbling about memories of bad decisions.
WHAT THEY SAID:
A: Dripping Springs
“NO. So bad. Tastes like college.”
“Rubbing alcohol, sharp, burns all the way down. I felt it behind my eyes.”
“Smells like a doctor’s office. This one made my eyes bug out. Nightmarish to sip.”
“I don’t know. Tastes like vodka. It stayed down. Isn’t that the goal?”
“This one is harsh. Ouch.”
“Harsher and more aggressive, yet still invited to the party.”
B: Western Son
“Fairly smooth. I think it’s my favorite?”
“Least painful of the three. Still vodka.”
“This one actually has a hint of sweetness on the back end.”
“Smells like a doctor’s office. Too drunk to judge.”
“Thick, pungent, too much burn for a straight drink but could work in a soda/tonic.”
“Rolling ever gracefully down. Is it possible to soar while falling? Give me a break. This is my 3rd shot.”
C: Nue
“A little sweet actually, and smooth.”
“Soapy, but smooth, no real burn.”
“Smells like a doctor’s office. Kinda sweet. Smoothish.”
“Smells like rubbing alcohol and tastes like slightly less strong rubbing alcohol.”
“Fairly smooth. Stings the tongue, goes down smooth. (In case whoever this is needs a freelance copywriter).”
“Smooth with a fairly gentle burn. An elegance as it descends, like a swan dive by a phoenix of gentle embers, as opposed to a full flame.”
THE TALLY:
A: Dripping Springs – 0 votes
B: Western Son – 4 votes
C: Nue – 2 votes
CONCLUSION:
I watched with glee as my officemates grimaced at sipping some of these. I offered an orange juice chaser, but they took it like champs.
My first point of interest here is that the winner of the ‘Purity Trophy’ and ‘Gold Best in Class’ awards got no votes from us. We actually strongly disliked it. “My throat burns!” I heard a miserable social media maven say after barely managing to keep it down.
The saleswoman in the store took great strides to convince me that I’d like Nue better than Tito’s. I will admit, it’s pretty great. As you can see, the commenters pretty much agreed that it’s quite smooth and a little sweet – definitely permissible. It’s been distilled 6 times like Tito’s, but I think I still prefer my trusty favorite more.
The winner of our blind test goes to Carrollton’s Western Son. It is column distilled 10 times, made from 100% yellow American corn. Whatever they’re doing over at Jem Beverage Co. is working. (Jem also makes Red River Whiskey, Brazos Gin, and other liquors.) We liked this one for it’s drinkability, its touch of sweetness, and the lack of that rough bite on the end. The vodka haters could even stomach it. And as one commenter said, isn’t keeping it down the goal? |
I took a week off from the milieu of political insanity to go out amongst the normals and chalk up another huge trial victory, and when I got back I was stunned - stunned! - to find that a consensus had formed that Nazis are bad. Beforehand, I had no idea where the establishment stood on Nazis, but now it's crystal clear. They hate Nazis because Nazis are bad. Everyone from CNN to Mitt Romney hates Nazis. I couldn't be prouder of an establishment that takes that kind of tough stand. They're going to hate Nazis, and they don't care whose jack-booted toes they step on!
I also learned that if you hate Nazis for being bad, you're not allowed to hate anybody else who’s also bad, because Nazis are so bad that you have to devote all your hating capacity to hating Nazis such that there's no room left to hate anybody else. Those hammer and sickle flag-carrying Communists? Well, you must love the Nazis if you hate them, because you have got to hate the Nazis with all your mind and all your heart since, as we learned this week, Nazis are bad. I'm so glad that our moral betters have this all figured out.
This new breed of Nazis - for whom breeding doesn't seem to be in the cards - is less menacing that the originals. Instead of schmeissers they pack Tiki torches - for reasons no one seems able to explain. The old Nazis invaded Poland and wouldn't leave; these invade their moms’ basements and will never leave. But apparently these 300 or so misfits and malcontents are a potent peril to our republic. I'm not sure if they themselves are a direct threat to anything besides the bottom line at a Golden Corral all-you-can-eat buffet unlucky enough to have them as patrons. The only thing scarier to its manager would be seeing Lena Dunham waddling in on a cheat day.
They are not utterly harmless; one of these cowardly morons ran over and murdered a woman, which fulfilled the media’s long-standing dream of being able to report on a terrorist who wasn't a radical Muslim, a Black Lives Matter fan, or a Bernie bro. But the fact remains that this scraggly collection of polo-shirted dinguses numbering in the dozens is less of a threat to our society than the gleeful attempt by the establishment and its media puppets to use the looming threat of the Third Helping Reich to crush all opposition to the status quo.
The establishment’s tactic is to paint anyone they dislike as Nazis and any ideas its members oppose as hate speech, all in support of a strategy of slamming shut the Overton Window on any kind of change. The media is running with it, and if you get on Twitter, anyone to the right of Maxine Waters is now a Nazi - especially if you dare observe that the fascist fatties are not the only scumbags out there.
Even after a week, CNN is still quivering and writhing in an earth-shattering Nazigasm. When it finally ends, I expect in the network to be cuddling and sharing a Virginia Slim with the New York Times. And everyone from Hollywood half-wits to the CEO of Starbucks are making clear that they disapprove of Nazis - and no one else.
It's also got the usual suspects of the wuss right activated. That's why you see needy Fredocons like Mitt Romney being retrieved from their well-deserved obscurity and sent out to dance eagerly for the nods and nickels tossed his way by the same media that said he gave people cancer. I don’t know, but assume the guys vying to replace John McCain as the leader of the Blue Falcon wing of the GOP, Jeff Flake and Ben Sasse, competed vigorously to see who could ignore violent leftists in order to signal the most solemn rejection of Nazis in a manner that validates the lying liberals’ premise that the Republican Party harbors Nazis. Of course, we saw another pathetic grasp at relevance in the form of finger-wagging by the has-beens at that failing cruise cabin sales organization,The Weekly Standard.
But this cheesy grab for short-term political advantage is much more dangerous than that motley collection of stormdoofuses. The Times is now running op-eds advocating the suppression of speech its coastal elite readership finds unappealing. Yeah, a newspaper advocating censorship seems like a smart long-term strategy. The ACLU has added an asterisk to its acronym that explains that the only civil liberties it's going to be protecting from now on are the ones exercised by people approved by its rich liberal donors. Yeah, abandoning the one thing that earned the ACLU grudging respect across the board, its free-speech absolutism, seems like another smart long-term strategy. Oh, and the tech twerps of Silicon Valley decided to take it upon themselves to decide what discourse may be discoursed. Yeah, that's a smart long-term strategy that couldn't possibly explode in their smug, goateed faces.
But what's the effect on normal people? Taking a break from Twitter and the media for a week to go be with normal people gave me an interesting perspective that I don't get when I'm surrounded by others invested in politics. None of them care. The exact number of times I heard normal people mention Nazis was zero. No one normal was talking about it, except on the occasional big screen I passed in my travels. No one normal was paying attention to the Wolf Blitzers or the Rachel Maddows. Everyone normal was living their lives, and this fake moral meltdown had no part in them. The fact that the whole thing is so ridiculous doesn't help it gain traction. Donald Trump is a lot of things, but a Nazi is not one of them.
And the idea that when there are two sets of idiots facing each other you can't point out that both sets of idiots are idiots just doesn't ring true. Normal people are blessedly free of the little taboos that the establishment seeks to impose, like the one that forbids pointing out that the alt left is just as scummy and slimy as the alt right. The general feeling among normals is “A pox on both your basements.”
The Great Nazi Panic of 2017 will fade away when its sponsors realize that it's not having the effect on the mass of the normal Americans they hoped for. But that doesn't mean it hasn't caused grave damage. The establishment has, in its desperation to return to unchallenged supremacy, eagerly jettisoned its dedication to the concept of free speech. It might not work out the way they hope once there is a national arbiter of what may and may not be thought or spoken. After all, as we found out last November, the person you think is going to be wielding the power isn't necessarily the person who you thought was going to be wielding the power. |
A modern sea kayak off west Wales
A sea kayak or touring kayak is a kayak developed for the sport of paddling on open waters of lakes, bays, and the ocean. Sea kayaks are seaworthy small boats with a covered deck and the ability to incorporate a spray deck. They trade off the maneuverability of whitewater kayaks for higher cruising speed, cargo capacity, ease of straight-line paddling, and comfort for long journeys.
Sea kayaks are used around the world for marine (sea) journeys from a few hours to many weeks, as they can accommodate one to three paddlers together with room for camping gear, food, water, and other supplies. A sea kayak usually ranges anywhere from 10–18 feet (3.0–5.5 meters) for solo craft, and up to 26 feet (7.9 meters) for tandem craft. Width may be as little as 21 in (53 cm), and may be up to 36 in (91 cm).
Origins [ edit ]
Inuit seal hunter in a kayak, armed with a harpoon.
Contemporary sea kayaks trace their origin to the native boats of Alaska, northern Canada, and Southwest Greenland. Eskimo hunters developed a fast seagoing craft to hunt seals and walrus.[1] The ancient Aleut name for a sea kayak is Iqyak,[2] and earliest models were constructed from a light wooden frame (tied together with sinew or baleen) and covered with sea mammal (sea lion or seal) hides. Archaeologists have found evidence indicating that kayaks are at least 4000 years old.[3] Wooden kayaks and fabric kayaks on wooden frames (such as the Klepper) dominated the market up until the 1950s, when fiberglass boats were introduced. Rotomolded plastic kayaks first appeared in 1984.
Design [ edit ]
Kayaking in a double on Lake Union in Seattle, USA
Modern sea kayaks come in a wide array of materials, designs, and sizes to suit a variety of intended uses. In sea kayaking, where the designs continue along primarily traditional lines, the primary distinction is between rigid kayaks and folding kayaks. Folding kayaks are in some ways more traditional boats, being similar in design to skin-on-frame kayaks used by native people. Modern folding kayaks use ash and birch or contemporary materials such as aluminum for the frame, and replace the sealskin covering with synthetic waterproof fabrics. Unlike native kayaks, folding kayaks can be easily disassembled and packed for transport. Many folding kayaks include inflatable sponsons that improve the secondary stability of the vessel, helping to prevent capsize. More recently, a class of inflatable folding kayaks has emerged, combining a more limited rigid frame with a tightly inflated skin to produce greater rigidity than an inflatable boat alone.
In recent years, there has been an increase in production of sit on top kayaks suitable for sea use. This has resulted in a new market for paddlers looking for the versatility of a sit on top, with seaworthy performance. Sit on top kayaks are a common choice for sea kayakers who prefer the sit on top versatility, but do not want to sacrifice performance.
Most rigid sea kayaks also derive from the external designs of native vessels, especially those from Greenland, but the strength of modern materials such as fiberglass, rotomolded plastic and carbon fiber eliminate the need for an internal frame, though significantly increasing weight. Modern skin-on-frame sea kayaks constructed with nylon skins represent an ultralight niche within the rigid sea kayak spectrum. Some recent design innovations include:
Recreational kayaks—shorter kayaks with wide beams and large cockpits intended for sheltered waters
Sit-on-top kayaks—boats without an enclosed cockpit, but with the basic hull shape of a kayak.
A different class of vessel emerged in the 1960s, the Surf ski, a long, narrow boat with low inherent stability that is intended for use in surf and following waves.
Size [ edit ]
Most production sea kayaks are between 12 and 24 feet (3.66 and 7.32 m) in length, the larger kayaks often built for two (or in rare cases, three) paddlers. The width (beam) of typical kayaks varies from 18 to 32 inches (457 to 813 mm), though specialized boats such as surf skis may be narrower. The length of a kayak affects not only its cargo capacity (for both gear and paddlers) but may also affect its "tracking" ability—the ease with which the boat travels in a straight line. While other design features also impact tracking, very long kayaks are easier to paddle straight (and harder to turn). The width of a kayak affects the cargo capacity, the maximum size of the cockpit (and thus the size of the paddler in that cockpit), and (to a degree that depends on the design of the hull) the stability.
Material [ edit ]
A sea kayak constructed from plywood, epoxy and fibreglass
Most rigid production kayaks are now made out of fiberglass, rotomolded polyethylene, thermoformed plastic, blow moulded polyethylene or carbon-kevlar. More exotic materials include carbon fiber and foam core. Some kayaks are hand-built from plywood or wood strips covered with fiberglass. Skin-on-frame kayaks are built on wood or aluminum frames covered in canvas, dacron, or other fabrics, and may include inflatable tubes called sponsons.
Marine Grade plywood available today provides a high strength to weight ratio for kayak construction.
Bow, stern, and deck [ edit ]
There are many design approaches for the bow, stern, and deck of kayaks. Some kayaks have upturned bows, which are meant to provide better performance when paddling into waves, as well as better wave-shedding ability. Other kayaks achieve this through increased buoyancy in the bow. Kayaks with unobstructed stern decks may ease certain types of self-rescue. Waterproof bulkheads in modern kayaks provide flotation in the event of capsize.
Sea kayak decks typically include one or more hatches for easy access to the interior storage space inside. Kayak decks often include attachment points for deck lines of various kinds, which are aids in self-rescue and attachment points for above-deck equipment.
Cockpits can be of several designs. They can be large or small. A large keyhole cockpit can give the advantages of both, and combine firm contact between paddler and boat, while offering relatively easier access.
Equipment [ edit ]
Sea kayaking is a popular way to explore Kealakekua Bay , Hawaii.
Sea Kayaks have a wide range of hull designs, which greatly expands their range of performance. Designs can accommodate a wide range of physical fitness, or usage. Boats come in many lengths, whereby shorter boats are generally more maneuverable, and longer boats generally travel straighter and faster. Width of beam can affect a boat's stability, speed, and ability to bring to an edge. The amount of rocker (the curve from bow to stern) can greatly affect the ability of a boat to turn.
Many have steering gear or tracking aids in the form of rudders or skegs. In most cases rudders are attached at the stern and operated by lines (wire or synthetics such as Spectra) from foot pedals in the cockpit. Rudders are typically retractable for beach landings. Skegs are typically retractable straight blades that drop from a well in the stern of the boat. Both devices assist in paddling when a strong wind or waves are coming from a direction other than directly in front.[4] Some Skegs may be more effective at countering pitch, roll and yaw.[5][6][7][8][9]
Paddles [ edit ]
Sea-kayak paddles, and the associated paddling styles, fall into three basic classifications:
European[ citation needed ]
two roughly spoon-shaped blades at either end of a cylindrical shaft. This paddle style was developed for fast acceleration and sudden maneuvering in Whitewater kayaking, and then back-ported to sea-kayaking. Euro[ citation needed ] paddles can be made of aluminum, plastic or even wood, but the best are usually formed of more expensive materials like carbon-fiber for lightness. Often the two blades are feathered, or set at an angle relative to each other (both for ergonomic efficiency, and so that as one blade moves backwards through the water, the opposite blade moving forward through the air presents its edge, rather than its face). This does make it less efficient with the wind on the side or behind.
Greenland
Relatively narrow blades which are rounded and full near the loom and blade roots, and becoming oval near the blade tips. Some paddles feature a "shoulder", or abrupt transition between the loom and blade roots. Greenland paddle blades are usually never feathered. Short Greenland paddles (generally one arm-span in length), called storm paddles, are used with a sliding stroke, where the hands are shifted along the blades for each stroke. Storm paddles are often used as spares and in very windy locations, as there is very little outboard blade to catch the wind.
A Greenland style kayak paddle
Wing
The blade of the paddle is shaped with a profile like a wing. When used with a special stroke, the blade actually produces lift as it moves through the water, enabling the kayaker to produce more forward motion than with any other kind of paddle. The paddling technique is different from the European style paddle though the same motion is how the Greenland paddle works with its narrow blade. It is most often used in racing, but also sees some limited use in recreational paddling such as touring.
Dimensions [ edit ]
True Sea kayaks, not to be mistaken for wider, more stable recreational kayaks, come in many designs. The length of a solo sea kayak can range anywhere from 14 to 20 feet (4.3 to 6.1 m) long, and tandem kayaks can range from 18 to 24 feet (5.5 to 7.3 m) long. Sea kayaks can range in width from 20 to 24 inches (510 to 610 mm) (57–76 cm or 22–30 in[clarification needed]). Wider touring kayaks of 23 to 24 inches (580 to 610 mm) (66–76 cm or 26–30 in[clarification needed]) are better for bigger paddlers, or small/average sized paddlers looking for more initial stability and maneuverability. Narrower beams of 20 to 23 inches (510 to 580 mm) (56–63.5 cm or 22.0–25.0 in[clarification needed]) are good for small-medium-sized paddlers who want more speed and less maneuverability. And lastly, kayak depth (or the height from the hull to the highest area of the deck) can range from 11 to 13 inches (280 to 330 mm) (33–40 cm or 13–16 in[clarification needed]) high.
This design is typical of modern sea kayaks and has a low rear deck for easy rolling, a white water cockpit, compartments that allow the kayaker to reach into them while at sea, and a sloping rear bulkhead that enables the kayak to be emptied by lifting the bow.
Safety [ edit ]
A sea kayak's primary safety device is its paddler. Although some kayakers consider a well-practised self-righting move such as an Eskimo roll to be essential in order to safe open-water kayaking, it is the technique of bracing that every well-trained, experienced kayaker practises in order to maintain an upright position in their kayak. Practice in bracing is often neglected by inexperienced kayakers once they have learned the Eskimo roll. However, the reality is that having to roll really means having to recover from a failed brace. Being in the capsized position in some environments due to missing a brace can put the paddler in danger of colliding with obstacles under the water. Staying upright in surf zones, rocky surf zones (informally known as rock gardens), and rivers is most important and is only accomplished through well-practised and successful bracing.
While there are a number of techniques for unassisted righting and re-entry of a kayak after a capsize and turtling, most paddlers consider it safest to paddle with one or more others, as assistance is useful if attempting to recover via rolling solo fails. Even if the assistance fails to successfully right the kayaker, it is much easier to climb back into a boat in the open sea if one has another boat and paddler to help and the swamped boat has been emptied of water first. Nonetheless, experienced paddlers do attempt open-water crossings unaccompanied, and many major long-distance kayak expeditions have been carried out solo.
The use of a Paddle float self-rescue device, generally consisting of foam or in the form of an inflatable bag, and attached to the end of a paddle when needed, allows the paddle to be used as an outrigger while climbing back into the cockpit. If an inflatable paddle float is chosen, it should be a dual-chambered model on account of the safety advantage (in the event of failure of one chamber) that is conferred by the redundancy. The kayaker is advised to train with only one chamber inflated. In many areas (Canada, for instance), a paddle float is a safety item required by the coast guard. Re-entry using a paddle float is a fairly reliable rescue technique that, if well practised, allows one to paddle with confidence when one is not equipped with a flawlessly honed rolling skill.
There is a strong culture of self-sufficiency amongst sea kayakers and extensive safety equipment such as compass, towing lines, manual pumps, repair kits including wet application repair tape, flares, paddle leash, spare paddles, and survival gear are routinely carried; along with supplies of food and a flask of hot beverage for non-emergency use. GPS, charts, lights, radios and cell phones, and radar reflectors are also sometimes carried.
Forms of sea kayaking [ edit ]
Kayak Sailing [ edit ]
Developed by kayak enthusiasts, Kayak sails can supplement or effectively eliminate the need for paddling. Using a sail can increase offshore range and allow longer expeditions. Use of a sail for touring has established a strong following with recreational sea kayakers, expedition paddlers, and adventure racers.
Sea Kayaking at Wilsons Promontory in Victoria, Australia
Expedition Trips [ edit ]
Weekend trips with overnight camping are popular among recreational kayakers and many combine kayaking with wildlife watching. Modern sea kayaks are designed to carry large amounts of equipment and unsupported expeditions of two weeks or more are conducted in environments ranging from the tropics to the Arctic. Expedition kayaks are designed to handle best when loaded, so it may be necessary to ballast them on shorter trips.
Surf Kayaking [ edit ]
Closely related to surf boards and requiring a mix of surfing and kayaking skills, a wide range of sea kayaks are specifically designed for the sport of wave surfing.
Sea Fishing [ edit ]
The sea kayak has long been a means of transportation and a means of accessing fishing grounds and kayak fishing has gained popularity due to the availability of purpose built stable designs. This technological development also solves some ergonomic problems that are associated with sitting for long hours without being able to change positions and special kayaks for fishing are accessorized for this sport, including specially-designed hatches, built-in rod holders, catch bags and equipment mounts.
Many of the techniques used in kayak fishing are the same as those used on other fishing boats. The difference is in the set-up, how each piece of equipment is fitted to the kayak, and how each activity is carried out on such a small craft. Contemporary kayaks can be equipped with fishing aids such as rod holders, electronic fish-finders and live-bait containers. Kayak anglers target highly prized bottom feeders like halibut and cod and also pelagics like amberjacks, tuna, sailfish, wahoo, and even marlin.
Pioneering sea kayak expeditions [ edit ]
Pre-1900
There is controversial evidence to suggest early trans-atlantic kayak journeys from Labrador or Greenland to Scotland by Inuit paddlers. Indeed, at the end of the 17th century there were at least three separate kayaks preserved in Scotland. One kayak, with associated equipment, is preserved in Aberdeen's Marischal Museum. It was found, with dying occupant, on a nearby shore. Some suggest the occupants were escaped Inuit from European ships, Inuit storm-driven from Greenland, or from a European source. Many suggest Inuit and their kayaks to be the origin of the Celtic Finn-men, or Selkie, legends.[10]
1920s
Franz Romer crossed the Atlantic Ocean solo in a kayak in 1928. His crossing from the Canary Islands and toward Puerto Rico took 58 days at sea but he was lost in a hurricane trying to get to New York[11][12]
Map of Oskar Speck journey (1932-1939) from Germany to Australia
1930s
Oskar Speck paddled from Germany to Australia between 1932 and 1939.
1950s
Hannes Lindemann sailed an Aerius II kayak from the Canary Islands to the Caribbean in 1956. Documented in the book "Alone at sea".[13]
1960s
Anne and Hamish Gow made the first kayak crossing from North Uist to St Kilda, Scotland in 1965. The Gows took film footage of the trip which was screened at the Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival in 2011.[14]
1970s
1980s
Paul Caffyn and Nigel Dennis were the first sea kayakers to circumnavigate Britain in 1980, a distance of 2,200 miles (3,500 km) in 85 days
Nigel Foster solo crossing of Hudson Strait from Baffin Island to Northern Labrador 1981
Paul Caffyn was the first person to circumnavigate Australia in 1981/2 covering a distance of 9,420 miles (15,160 km) He describes it in his book The Dreamtime Voyage .
. Laurie Ford solo across Bass Strait, (sail assisted) 1982.
David Taylor and James Moore were the first to circumnavigate The Faroe Islands (midway between Shetland and Iceland) in 1985.
Brian Wilson rounded Scotland's main coastline including the inner & outer Hebrideas on a solo trip over 4 months in 1985, described in his book 'Blazing Paddles'.
Earle Bloomfield, Larry Gray, Rob Casamento, and Graeme Joy northwards across Bass Strait (Note that the northward crossing is more difficult than the southward.) 1986.
Ed Gillet paddled from California to Hawaii in 1987.
Howard Rice first solo around Cape Horn in 1989.
1990s
Adventurer Chris Duff circumnavigated both Ireland in 1996 and New Zealand's South Island in 2000.
Trys Morris and Bob Timms have attempted to paddle from UK to Australia 1999 & 2000, abandoning the expedition in Athens, Greece due to lack of funds and visas for Arabian countries.
2000s
2010s
See also [ edit ] |
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An article on the nature of work by the nineteenth century libertarian socialist craftsman/artist and designer.
The above title may strike some of my readers as strange. It is assumed by most people nowadays that all work is useful, and by most well-to-do people that all work is desirable. Most people, well-to-do or not, believe that, even when a man is doing work which appears to be useless, he is earning his livelihood by it - he is "employed," as the phrase goes; and most of those who are well-to-do cheer on the happy worker with congratulations and praises, if he is only "industrious" enough and deprives himself of all pleasure and holidays in the sacred cause of labour. In short, it has become an article of the creed of modern morality that all labour is good in itself - a convenient belief to those who live on the labour of others. But as to those on whom they live, I recommend them not to take it on trust, but to look into the matter a little deeper.
Let us grant, first, that the race of man must either labour or perish. Nature does not give us our livelihood gratis; we must win it by toil of some sort of degree. Let us see, then, if she does not give us some compensation for this compulsion to labour, since certainly in other matters she takes care to make the acts necessary to the continuance of life in the individual and the race not only endurable, but even pleasurable.
You may be sure that she does so, that it is of the nature of man, when he is not diseased, to take pleasure in his work under certain conditions. And, yet, we must say in the teeth of the hypocritical praise of all labour, whatsoever it may be, of which I have made mention, that there is some labour which is so far from being a blessing that it is a curse; that it would be better for the community and for the worker if the latter were to fold his hands and refuse to work, and either die or let us pack him off to the workhouse or prison - which you will.
Here, you see, are two kinds of work - one good, the other bad; one not far removed from a blessing, a lightening of life; the other a mere curse, a burden to life.
What is the difference between them, then? This: one has hope in it, the other has not. It is manly to do the one kind of work, and manly also to refuse to do the other.
What is the nature of the hope which, when it is present in work, makes it worth doing?
It is threefold, I think - hope of rest, hope of product, hope of pleasure in the work itself; and hope of these also in some abundance and of good quality; rest enough and good enough to be worth having; product worth having by one who is neither a fool nor an ascetic; pleasure enough for all for us to be conscious of it while we are at work; not a mere habit, the loss of which we shall feel as a fidgety man feels the loss of the bit of string he fidgets with.
I have put the hope of rest first because it is the simplest and most natural part of our hope. Whatever pleasure there is in some work, there is certainly some pain in all work, the beast-like pain of stirring up our slumbering energies to action, the beast-like dread of change when things are pretty well with us; and the compensation for this animal pain is animal rest. We must feel while we are working that the time will come when we shall not have to work. Also the rest, when it comes, must be long enough to allow us to enjoy it; it must be longer than is merely necessary for us to recover the strength we have expended in working, and it must be animal rest also in this, that it must not be disturbed by anxiety, else we shall not be able to enjoy it. If we have this amount and kind of rest we shall, so far, be no worse off than the beasts.
As to the hope of product, I have said that Nature compels us to work for that. It remains for us to look to it that we do really produce something, and not nothing, or at least nothing that we want or are allowed to use. If we look to this and use our wills we shall, so far, be better than machines.
The hope of pleasure in the work itself: how strange that hope must seem to some of my readers - to most of them! Yet I think that to all living things there is a pleasure in the exercise of their energies, and that even beasts rejoice in being lithe and swift and strong. But a man at work, making something which he feels will exist because he is working at it and wills it, is exercising the energies of his mind and soul as well as of his body. Memory and imagination help him as he works. Not only his own thoughts, but the thoughts of the men of past ages guide his hands; and, as a part of the human race, he creates. If we work thus we shall be men, and our days will be happy and eventful.
Thus worthy work carries with it the hope of pleasure in rest, the hope of pleasure in our using what it makes, and the hope of pleasure in our daily creative skill.
All other work but this is worthless; it is slaves' work - mere toiling to live, that we may live to toil.
Therefore, since we have, as it were, a pair of scales in which to weigh the work now done in the world, let us use them. Let us estimate the worthiness of the work we do, after so many thousand years of toil, so many promises of hope deferred, such boundless exultation over the progress of civilization and the gain of liberty.
Now, the first thing as to the work done in civilization and the easiest to notice is that it is portioned out very unequally amongst the different classes of society. First, there are people - not a few - who do no work, and make no pretence of doing any. Next, there are people, and very many of them, who work fairly hard, though with abundant easements and holidays, claimed and allowed; and lastly, there are people who work so hard that they may be said to do nothing else than work, and are accordingly called "the working classes," as distinguished from the middle classes and the rich, or aristocracy, whom I have mentioned above.
It is clear that this inequality presses heavily upon the "working" class, and must visibly tend to destroy their hope of rest at least, and so, in that particular, make them worse off than mere beasts of the field; but that is not the sum and end of our folly of turning useful work into useless toil, but only the beginning of it.
For first, as to the class of rich people doing no work, we all know that they consume a great deal while they produce nothing. Therefore, clearly, they have to be kept at the expense of those who do work, just as paupers have, and are a mere burden on the community. In these days there are many who have learned to see this, though they can see no further into the evils of our present system, and have formed no idea of any scheme for getting rid of this burden; though perhaps they have a vague hope that changes in the system of voting for members of the House of Commons may, as if by magic, tend in that direction. With such hopes or superstitions we need not trouble ourselves. Moreover, this class, the aristocracy, once though most necessary to the State, is scant of numbers, and has now no power of its own, but depends on the support of the class next below it - the middle class. In fact, it is really composed either of the most successful men of that class, or of their immediate descendants.
As to the middle class, including the trading, manufacturing, and professional people of our society, they do, as a rule, seem to work quite hard enough, and so at first sight might be thought to help the community, and not burden it. But by far the greater part of them, though they work, do not produce, and even when they do produce, as in the case of those engaged (wastefully indeed) in the distribution of goods, or doctors, or (genuine) artists and literary men, they consume out of all proportion to their due share. The commercial and manufacturing part of them, the most powerful part, spent their lives and energies in fighting amongst themselves for their respective shares of the wealth which they force the genuine workers to provide for them; the others are almost wholly the hangers-on of these; they do not work for the public, but a privileged class: they are the parasites of property, sometimes, as in the case of lawyers, undisguisedly so; sometimes, as the doctors and others above mentioned, professing to be useful, but too often of no use save as supporters of the system of folly, fraud, and tyranny of which they form a part. And all these we must remember have, as a rule, one aim in view; not the production of utilities, but the gaining of a position either for themselves or their children in which they will not have to work at all. It is their ambition and the end of their whole lives to gain, if not for themselves yet at least for their children, the proud position of being obvious burdens on the community. For their work itself, in spite of the sham dignity with which they surround it, they care nothing: save a few enthusiasts, men of science, art, or letters, who, if they are not the salt of the earth, are at least (and oh, the pity of it!) the salt of the miserable system of which they are the slaves, which hinders and thwarts them at every turn, and even sometimes corrupts them.
Here then is another class, this time very numerous and all-powerful, which produces very little and consumes enormously, and is therefore in the main supported, as paupers are, by the real producers. The class that remains to be considered produces all that is produced, and supports both itself and the other classes, though it is placed in a position of inferiority to them; real inferiority, mind you, involving a degradation both of mind and body. But it is a necessary consequence of this tyranny and folly that again many of these workers are not producers. A vast number of them once more are merely parasites of property, some of them openly so, as the soldiers by land and sea who are kept on foot for the perpetuating of national rivalries and enmities, and for the purposes of the national struggle for the share of the product of unpaid labour. But besides this obvious burden on the producers and the scarcely less obvious one of domestic servants, there is first the army of clerks, shop-assistants, and so forth, who are engaged in the service of the private war for wealth, which, as above said, is the real occupation of the well-to-do middle class. This is a larger body of workers than might be supposed, for it includes amongst others all those engaged in what I should call competitive salesmanship, or, to use a less dignified word, the puffery of wares, which has now got to such a pitch that there are many things which cost far more to sell than they do to make.
Next there is the mass of people employed in making all those articles of folly and luxury, the demand for which is the outcome of the existence of the rich non-producing classes; things which people leading a manly and uncorrupted life would not ask for or dream of. These things, whoever may gainsay me, I will for ever refuse to call wealth: they are not wealth, but waste. Wealth is what Nature gives us and what a reasonable man can make out of the gifts of Nature for his reasonable use. The sunlight, the fresh air, the unspoiled face of the earth, food, raiment and housing necessary and decent; the storing up of knowledge of all kinds, and the power of disseminating it; means of free communication between man and man; works of art, the beauty which man creates when he is most a man, most aspiring and thoughtful - all things which serve the pleasure of people, free, manly, and uncorrupted. This is wealth. Nor can I think of anything worth having which does not come under one or other of these heads. But think, I beseech you, of the product of England, the workshop of the world, and will you not be bewildered, as I am, at the thought of the mass of things which no sane man could desire, but which our useless toil makes - and sells?
Now, further, there is even a sadder industry yet, which is forced on many, very many, of our workers - the making of wares which are necessary to them and their brethren, because they are an inferior class. For if many men live without producing, nay, must live lives so empty and foolish that they force a great part of the workers to produce wares which no one needs, not even the rich, it follows that most men must be poor; and, living as they do on wages from those whom they support, cannot get for their use the goods which men naturally desire, but must put up with miserable makeshifts for them, with coarse food that does not nourish, with rotten raiment which does not shelter, with wretched houses which may well make a town-dweller in civilization look back with regret to the tent of the nomad tribe, or the cave of the prehistoric savage. Nay, the workers must even lend a hand to the great industrial invention of the age - adulteration, and by its help produce for their own use shams and mockeries of the luxury of the rich; for the wage-earners must always live as the wage-payers bid them, and their very habits of life are forced on them by their masters.
But it is waste of time to try to express in words due contempt of the productions of the much-praised cheapness of our epoch. It must be enough to say that this cheapness is necessary to the system of exploiting on which modern manufacture rests. In other words, our society includes a great mass of slaves, who must be fed, clothed, housed and amused as slaves, and that their daily necessity compels them to make the slave-wares whose use is the perpetuation of their slavery.
To sum up, then, concerning the manner of work in civilized States, these States are composed of three classes - a class which does not even pretend to work, a class which pretends to works but which produces nothing, and a class which works, but is compelled by the other two classes to do work which is often unproductive.
Civilization therefore wastes its own resources, and will do so as long as the present system lasts. These are cold words with which to describe the tyranny under which we suffer; try then to consider what they mean.
There is a certain amount of natural material and of natural forces in the world, and a certain amount of labour-power inherent in the persons of the men that inhabit it. Men urged by their necessities and desires have laboured for many thousands of years at the task of subjugating the forces of Nature and of making the natural material useful to them. To our eyes, since we cannot see into the future, that struggle with Nature seems nearly over, and the victory of the human race over her nearly complete. And, looking backwards to the time when history first began, we note that the progress of that victory has been far swifter and more startling within the last two hundred years than ever before. Surely, therefore, we moderns ought to be in all ways vastly better off than any who have gone before us. Surely we ought, one and all of us, to be wealthy, to be well furnished with the good things which our victory over Nature has won for us.
But what is the real fact? Who will dare to deny that the great mass of civilized men are poor? So poor are they that it is mere childishness troubling ourselves to discuss whether perhaps they are in some ways a little better off than their forefathers. They are poor; nor can their poverty be measured by the poverty of a resourceless savage, for he knows of nothing else than his poverty; that he should be cold, hungry, houseless, dirty, ignorant, all that is to him as natural as that he should have a skin. But for us, for the most of us, civilization has bred desires which she forbids us to satisfy, and so is not merely a niggard but a torturer also.
Thus then have the fruits of our victory over Nature been stolen from us, thus has compulsion by Nature to labour in hope of rest, gain, and pleasure been turned into compulsion by man to labour in hope - of living to labour!
What shall we do then, can we mend it?
Well, remember once more that it is not our remote ancestors who achieved the victory over Nature, but our fathers, nay, our very selves. For us to sit hopeless and helpless then would be a strange folly indeed: be sure that we can amend it. What, then, is the first thing to be done?
We have seen that modern society is divided into two classes, one of which is privileged to be kept by the labour of the other - that is, it forces the other to work for it and takes from this inferior class everything that it can take from it, and uses the wealth so taken to keep its own members in a superior position, to make them beings of a higher order than the others: longer lived, more beautiful, more honourable, more refined than those of the other class. I do not say that it troubles itself about its members being positively long lived, beautiful or refined, but merely insists that they shall be so relatively to the inferior class. As also it cannot use the labour-power of the inferior class fairly in producing real wealth, it wastes it wholesale in the production of rubbish.
It is this robbery and waste on the part of the minority which keeps the majority poor; if it could be shown that it is necessary for the preservation of society that this should be submitted to, little more could be said on the matter, save that the despair of the oppressed majority would probably at some time or other destroy Society. But it has been shown, on the contrary, even by such incomplete experiments, for instance, as Co-operation (so-called), that the existence of a privileged class is by no means necessary to the production of wealth, but rather for the "government" of the producers of wealth, or, in other words, for the upholding of privilege.
The first step to be taken then is to abolish a class of men privileged to shirk their duties as men, thus forcing others to do the work which they refuse to do. All must work according to their ability, and so produce what they consume - that is, each man should work as well as he can for his own livelihood, and his livelihood should be assured to him; that is to say, all the advantages which society would provide for each and all of its members.
Thus, at last, would true Society be founded. It would rest on equality of condition. No man would be tormented for the benefit of another - nay, no one man would be tormented for the benefit of Society. Nor, indeed, can that order be called Society which is not upheld for the benefit of every one of its members.
But since men live now, badly as they live, when so many people do not produce at all, and when so much work is wasted, it is clear that, under conditions where all produced and no work was wasted, not only would every one work with the certain hope of gaining a due share of wealth by his work, but also he could not miss his due share of rest. Here, then, are two out of the three kinds of hope mentioned above as an essential part of worthy work assured to the worker. When class-robbery is abolished, every man will reap the fruits of his labour, every man will have due rest - leisure, that is. Some Socialists might say we need not go any further than this; it is enough that the worker should get the full produce of his work, and that his rest should be abundant. But though the compulsion of man's tyranny is thus abolished, I yet demand compensation for the compulsion of Nature's necessity. As long as the work is repulsive it will still be a burden which must be taken up daily, and even so would mar our life, even though the hours of labour were short. What we want to do is to add to our wealth without diminishing our pleasure. Nature will not be finally conquered till our work becomes a part of the pleasure of our lives.
That first step of freeing people from the compulsion to labour needlessly will at least put us on the way towards this happy end; for we shall then have time and opportunities for bringing it about. As things are now, between the waste of labour-power in mere idleness and its waste in unproductive work, it is clear that the world of civilization is supported by a small part of its people; when all were working usefully for its support, the share of work which each would have to do would be but small, if our standard of life were about on the footing of what well-to-do and refined people now think desirable. We shall have labour-power to spare, and shall, in short, be as wealthy as we please. It will be easy to live. If we were to wake up some morning now, under our present system, and find it "easy to live," that system would force us to set to work at once and make it hard to live; we should call that "developing our resources," or some such fine name. The multiplication of labour has become a necessity for us, and as long as that goes on no ingenuity in the invention of machines will be of any real use to us. Each new machine will cause a certain amount of misery among the workers whose special industry it may disturb; so many of them will be reduced from skilled to unskilled workmen, and then gradually matters will slip into their due grooves, and all will work apparently smoothly again; and if it were not that all this is preparing revolution, things would be, for the greater part of men, just as they were before the new wonderful invention.
But when revolution has made it "easy to live," when all are working harmoniously together and there is no one to rob the worker of his time, that is to say, his life; in those coming days there will be no compulsion on us to go on producing things we do not want, no compulsion on us to labour for nothing; we shall be able calmly and thoughtfully to consider what we shall do with our wealth of labour-power. Now, for my part, I think the first use we ought to make of that wealth, of that freedom, should be to make all our labour, even the commonest and most necessary, pleasant to everybody; for thinking over the matter carefully I can see that the one course which will certainly make life happy in the face of all accidents and troubles is to take a pleasurable interest in all the details of life. And lest perchance you think that an assertion too universally accepted to be worth making, let me remind you how entirely modern civilization forbids it; with what sordid, and even terrible, details it surrounds the life of the poor, what a mechanical and empty life she forces on the rich; and how rare a holiday it is for any of us to feel ourselves a part of Nature, and unhurriedly, thoughtfully, and happily to note the course of our lives amidst all the little links of events which connect them with the lives of others, and build up the great whole of humanity.
But such a holiday our whole lives might be, if we were resolute to make all our labour reasonable and pleasant. But we must be resolute indeed; for no half measures will help us here. It has been said already that our present joyless labour, and our lives scared and anxious as the life of a hunted beast, are forced upon us by the present system of producing for the profit of the privileged classes. It is necessary to state what this means. Under the present system of wages and capital the "manufacturer" (most absurdly so called, since a manufacturer means a person who makes with his hands) having a monopoly of the means whereby the power to labour inherent in every man's body can be used for production, is the master of those who are not so privileged; he, and he alone, is able to make use of this labour-power, which, on the other hand, is the only commodity by means of which his "capital," that is to say, the accumulated product of past labour, can be made productive to him. He therefore buys the labour-power of those who are bare of capital and can only live by selling it to him; his purpose in this transaction is to increase his capital, to make it breed. It is clear that if he paid those with whom he makes his bargain the full value of their labour, that is to say, all that they produced, he would fail in his purpose. But since he is the monopolist of the means of productive labour, he can compel them to make a bargain better for him and worse for them than that; which bargain is that after they have earned their livelihood, estimated according to a standard high enough to ensure their peaceable submission to his mastership, the rest (and by far the larger part as a matter of fact) of what they produce shall belong to him, shall be his property to do as he likes with, to use or abuse at his pleasure; which property is, as we all know, jealously guarded by army and navy, police and prison; in short, by that huge mass of physical force which superstition, habit, fear of death by starvation - IGNORANCE, in one word, among the propertyless masses, enables the propertied classes to use for the subjection of - their slaves.
Now, at other times, other evils resulting from this system may be put forward. What I want to point out now is the impossibility of our attaining to attractive labour under this system, and to repeat that it is this robbery (there is no other word for it) which wastes the available labour-power of the civilized world, forcing many men to do nothing, and many, very many more to do nothing useful; and forcing those who carry on really useful labour to most burdensome over-work. For understand once for all that the "manufacturer" aims primarily at producing, by means of the labour he has stolen from others, not goods but profits, that is, the "wealth" that is produced over and above the livelihood of his workmen, and the wear and tear of his machinery. Whether that "wealth" is real or sham matters nothing to him. If it sells and yields him a "profit" it is all right. I have said that, owing to there being rich people who have more money than they can spend reasonably, and who therefore buy sham wealth, there is waste on that side; and also that, owing to there being poor people who cannot afford to buy things which are worth making, there is waste on that side. So that the "demand" which the capitalist "supplies" is a false demand. The market in which he sells is "rigged" by the miserable inequalities produced by the robbery of the system of Capital and Wages.
It is this system, therefore, which we must be resolute in getting rid of, if we are to attain to happy and useful work for all. The first step towards making labour attractive is to get the means of making labour fruitful, the Capital, including the land, machinery, factories, &c., into the hands of the community, to be used for the good of all alike, so that we might all work at "supplying" the real "demands" of each and all - that is to say, work for livelihood, instead of working to supply the demand of the profit market - instead of working for profit - i.e., the power of compelling other men to work against their will.
When this first step has been taken and men begin to understand that Nature wills all men either to work or starve, and when they are no longer such fools as to allow some the alternative of stealing, when this happy day is come, we shall then be relieved from the tax of waste, and consequently shall find that we have, as aforesaid, a mass of labour-power available, which will enable us to live as we please within reasonable limits. We shall no longer be hurried and driven by the fear of starvation, which at present presses no less on the greater part of men in civilized communities than it does on mere savages. The first and most obvious necessities will be so easily provided for in a community in which there is no waste of labour, that we shall have time to look round and consider what we really do want, that can be obtained without over-taxing our energies; for the often-expressed fear of mere idleness falling upon us when the force supplied by the present hierarchy of compulsion is withdrawn, is a fear which is but generated by the burden of excessive and repulsive labour, which we most of us have to bear at present.
I say once more that, in my belief, the first thing which we shall think so necessary as to be worth sacrificing some idle time for, will be the attractiveness of labour. No very heavy sacrifice will be required for attaining this object, but some will be required. For we may hope that men who have just waded through a period of strife and revolution will be the last to put up long with a life of mere utilitarianism, though Socialists are sometimes accused by ignorant persons of aiming at such a life. On the other hand, the ornamental part of modern life is already rotten to the core, and must be utterly swept away before the new order of things is realized. There is nothing of it - there is nothing which could come of it that could satisfy the aspirations of men set free from the tyranny of commercialism.
We must begin to build up the ornamental part of life - its pleasure, bodily and mental, scientific and artistic, social and individual - on the basis of work undertaken willingly and cheerfully, with the consciousness of benefiting ourselves and our neighbours by it. Such absolutely necessary work as we should have to do would in the first place take up but a small part of each day, and so far would not be burdensome; but it would be a task of daily recurrence, and therefore would spoil our day's pleasure unless it were made at least endurable while it lasted. In other words, all labour, even the commonest, must be made attractive.
How can this be done? - is the question the answer to which will take up the rest of this paper. In giving some hints on this question, I know that, while all Socialists will agree with many of the suggestions made, some of them may seem to some strange and venturesome. These must be considered as being given without any intention of dogmatizing, and as merely expressing my own personal opinion.
From all that has been said already it follows that labour, to be attractive, must be directed towards some obviously useful end, unless in cases where it is undertaken voluntarily by each individual as a pastime. This element of obvious usefulness is all the more to be counted on in sweetening tasks otherwise irksome, since social morality, the responsibility of man towards the life of man, will, in the new order of things, take the place of theological morality, or the responsibility of man to some abstract idea. Next, the day's work will be short. This need not be insisted on. It is clear that with work unwasted it can be short. It is clear also that much work which is now a torment, would be easily endurable if it were much shortened.
Variety of work is the next point, and a most important one. To compel a man to do day after day the same task, without any hope of escape or change, means nothing short of turning his life into a prison-torment. Nothing but the tyranny of profit-grinding makes this necessary. A man might easily learn and practise at least three crafts, varying sedentary occupation with outdoor - occupation calling for the exercise of strong bodily energy for work in which the mind had more to do. There are few men, for instance, who would not wish to spend part of their lives in the most necessary and pleasantest of all work - cultivating the earth. One thing which will make this variety of employment possible will be the form that education will take in a socially ordered community. At present all education is directed towards the end of fitting people to take their places in the hierarchy of commerce - these as masters, those as workmen. The education of the masters is more ornamental than that of the workmen, but it is commercial still; and even at the ancient universities learning is but little regarded, unless it can in the long run be made to pay. Due education is a totally different thing from this, and concerns itself in finding out what different people are fit for, and helping them along the road which they are inclined to take. In a duly ordered society, therefore, young people would be taught such handicrafts as they had a turn for as a part of their education, the discipline of their minds and bodies; and adults would also have opportunities of learning in the same schools, for the development of individual capacities would be of all things chiefly aimed at by education, instead, as now, the subordination of all capacities to the great end of "money-making" for oneself - or one's master. The amount of talent, and even genius, which the present system crushes, and which would be drawn out by such a system, would make our daily work easy and interesting.
Under this head of variety I will note one product of industry which has suffered so much from commercialism that it can scarcely be said to exist, and is, indeed, so foreign from our epoch that I fear there are some who will find it difficult to understand what I have to say on the subject, which I nevertheless must say, since it is really a most important one. I mean that side of art which is, or ought to be, done by the ordinary workman while he is about his ordinary work, and which has got to be called, very properly, Popular Art. This art, I repeat, no longer exists now, having been killed by commercialism. But from the beginning of man's contest with Nature till the rise of the present capitalistic system, it was alive, and generally flourished. While it lasted, everything that was made by man was adorned by man, just as everything made by Nature is adorned by her. The craftsman, as he fashioned the thing he had under his hand, ornamented it so naturally and so entirely without conscious effort, that it is often difficult to distinguish where the mere utilitarian part of his work ended and the ornamental began. Now the origin of this art was the necessity that the workman felt for variety in his work, and though the beauty produced by this desire was a great gift to the world, yet the obtaining variety and pleasure in the work by the workman was a matter of more importance still, for it stamped all labour with the impress of pleasure. All this has now quite disappeared from the work of civilization. If you wish to have ornament, you must pay specially for it, and the workman is compelled to produce ornament, as he is to produce other wares. He is compelled to pretend happiness in his work, so that the beauty produced by man's hand, which was once a solace to his labour, has now become an extra burden to him, and ornament is now but one of the follies of useless toil, and perhaps not the least irksome of its fetters.
Besides the short duration of labour, its conscious usefulness, and the variety which should go with it, there is another thing needed to make it attractive, and that is pleasant surroundings. The misery and squalor which we people of civilization bear with so much complacency as a necessary part of the manufacturing system, is just as necessary to the community at large as a proportionate amount of filth would be in the house of a private rich man. If such a man were to allow the cinders to be raked all over his drawing-room, and a privy to be established in each corner of his dining-room, if he habitually made a dust and refuse heap of his once beautiful garden, never washed his sheets or changed his tablecloth, and made his family sleep five in a bed, he would surely find himself in the claws of a commission de lunatico. But such acts of miserly folly are just what our present society is doing daily under the compulsion of a supposed necessity, which is nothing short of madness. I beg you to bring your commission of lunacy against civilization without more delay.
For all our crowded towns and bewildering factories are simply the outcome of the profit system. Capitalistic manufacture, capitalistic land-owning, and capitalistic exchange force men into big cities in order to manipulate them in the interests of capital; the same tyranny contracts the due space of the factory so much that (for instance) the interior of a great weaving-shed is almost as ridiculous a spectacle as it is a horrible one. There is no other necessity for all this, save the necessity for grinding profits out of men's lives, and of producing cheap goods for the use (and subjection) of the salves who grind. All labour is not yet driven into factories; often where it is there is no necessity for it, save again the profit-tyranny. People engaged in all such labour need by no means be compelled to pig together in close city quarters. There is no reason why they should not follow their occupations in quiet country homes, in industrial colleges, in small towns, or, in short, where they find it happiest for them to live.
As to that part of labour which must be associated on a large scale, this very factory system, under a reasonable order of things (though to my mind there might still be drawbacks to it), would at least offer opportunities for a full and eager social life surrounded by many pleasures. The factories might be centres of intellectual activity also, and work in them might well be varied very much: the tending of the necessary machinery might to each individual be but a short part of the day's work. The other work might vary from raising food from the surrounding country to the study and practice of art and science. It is a matter of course that people engaged in such work, and being the masters of their own lives, would not allow any hurry or want of foresight to force them into enduring dirt, disorder, or want of room. Science duly applied would enable them to get rid of refuse, to minimize, if not wholly to destroy, all the inconveniences which at present attend the use of elaborate machinery, such as smoke, stench, and noise; nor would they endure that the buildings in which they worked or lived should be ugly blots on the fair face of the earth. Beginning by making their factories, buildings, and sheds decent and convenient like their homes, they would infallibly go on to make them not merely negatively good, inoffensive merely, but even beautiful, so that the glorious art of architecture, now for some time slain by commercial greed, would be born again and flourish.
So, you see, I claim that work in a duly ordered community should be made attractive by the consciousness of usefulness, by its being carried on with intelligent interest, by variety, and by its being exercised amidst pleasurable surroundings. But I have also claimed, as we all do, that the day's work should not be wearisomely long. It may be said, "How can you make this last claim square with the others? If the work is to be so refined, will not the goods made by very expensive?"
I do admit, as I have said before, that some sacrifice will be necessary in order to make labour attractive. I mean that, if we could be contented in a free community to work in the same hurried, dirty, disorderly, heartless way as we do now, we might shorten our day's labour very much more than I suppose we shall do, taking all kinds of labour into account. But if we did, it would mean that our new-won freedom of condition would leave us listless and wretched, if not anxious, as we are now, which I hold is simply impossible. We should be contented to make the sacrifices necessary for raising our condition to the standard called out for as desirable by the whole community. Nor only so. We should, individually, be emulous to sacrifice quite freely still more of our time and our ease towards the raising of the standard of life. Persons, either by themselves or associated for such purposes, would freely, and for the love of the work and for its results - stimulated by the hope of the pleasure of creation - produce those ornaments of life for the service of all, which they are now bribed to produce (or pretend to produce) for the service of a few rich men. The experiment of a civilized community living wholly without art or literature has not yet been tried. The past degradation and corruption of civilization may force this denial of pleasure upon the society which will arise from its ashes. If that must be, we will accept the passing phase of utilitarianism as a foundation for the art which is to be. If the cripple and the starveling disappear from our streets, if the earth nourish us all alike, if the sun shines for all of us alike, if to one and all of us the glorious drama of the earth - day and night, summer and winter - can be presented as a thing to understand and love, we can afford to wait awhile till we are purified from the shame of the past corruption, and till art arises again amongst people freed from the terror of the slave and the shame of the robber.
Meantime, in any case, the refinement, thoughtfulness, and deliberation of labour must indeed be paid for, but not by compulsion to labour long hours. Our epoch has invented machines which would have appeared wild dreams to the men of past ages, and of those machines we have as yet made no use.
They are called "labour-saving" machines - a commonly used phrase which implies what we expect of them; but we do not get what we expect. What they really do is to reduce the skilled labourer to the ranks of the unskilled, to increase the number of the "reserve army of labour" - that is, to increase the precariousness of life among the workers and to intensify the labour of those who serve the machines (as slaves their masters). All this they do by the way, while the pile up the profits of the employers of labour, or force them to expend those profits in bitter commercial war with each other. In a true society these miracles of ingenuity would be for the first time used for minimizing the amount of time spent in unattractive labour, which by their means might be so reduced as to be but a very light burden on each individual. All the more as these machines would most certainly be very much improved when it was no longer a question as to whether their improvement would "pay" the individual, but rather whether it would benefit the community.
So much for the ordinary use of machinery, which would probably, after a time, be somewhat restricted when men found out that there was no need for anxiety as to mere subsistence, and learned to take an interest and pleasure in handiwork which, done deliberately and thoughtfully, could be made more attractive than machine work.
Again, as people freed from the daily terror of starvation find out what they really wanted, being no longer compelled by anything but their own needs, they would refuse to produce the mere inanities which are now called luxuries, or the poison and trash now called cheap wares. No one would make plush breeches when there were no flunkies to wear them, nor would anybody waste his time over making oleo-margarine when no one was compelled to abstain from real butter. Adulteration laws are only needed in a society of thieves - and in such a society they are a dead letter.
Socialists are often asked how work of the rougher and more repulsive kind could be carried out in the new condition of things. To attempt to answer such questions fully or authoritatively would be attempting the impossibility of constructing a scheme of a new society out of the materials of the old, before we knew which of those materials would disappear and which endure through the evolution which is leading us to the great change. Yet it is not difficult to conceive of some arrangement whereby those who did the roughest work should work for the shortest spells, And again, what is said above of the variety of work applies specially here. Once more I say, that for a man to be the whole of his life hopelessly engaged in performing one repulsive and never-ending task, is an arrangement fit enough for the hell imagined by theologians, but scarcely fit for any other form of society. Lastly, if this rougher work were of any special kind, we may suppose that special volunteers would be called on to perform it, who would surely be forthcoming, unless men in a state of freedom should lose the sparks of manliness which they possessed as slaves.
And yet if there be any work which cannot be made other than repulsive, either by the shortness of its duration or the intermittency of its recurrence, or by the sense of special and peculiar usefulness (and therefore honour) in the mind of the man who performs it freely - if there be any work which cannot be but a torment to the worker, what then? Well, then, let us see if the heavens will fall on us if we leave it undone, for it were better that they should. The produce of such work cannot be worth the price of it.
Now we have seen that the semi-theological dogma that all labour, under any circumstances, is a blessing to the labourer, is hypocritical and false; that, on the other hand, labour is good when due hope of rest and pleasure accompanies it. We have weighed the work of civilization in the balance and found it wanting, since hope is mostly lacking to it, and therefore we see that civilization has bred a dire curse for men. But we have seen also that the work of the world might be carried on in hope and with pleasure if it were not wasted by folly and tyranny, by the perpetual strife of opposing classes.
It is Peace, therefore, which we need in order that we may live and work in hope and with pleasure. Peace so much desired, if we may trust men's words, but which has been so continually and steadily rejected by them in deeds. But for us, let us set our hearts on it and win it at whatever cost.
What the cost may be, who can tell? Will it be possible to win peace peaceably? Alas, how can it be? We are so hemmed in by wrong and folly, that in one way or other we must always be fighting against them: our own lives may see no end to the struggle, perhaps no obvious hope of the end. It may be that the best we can hope to see is that struggle getting sharper and bitterer day by day, until it breaks out openly at last into the slaughter of men by actual warfare instead of by the slower and crueller methods of "peaceful" commerce. If we live to see that, we shall live to see much; for it will mean the rich classes grown conscious of their own wrong and robbery, and consciously defending them by open violence; and then the end will be drawing near.
But in any case, and whatever the nature of our strife for peace may be, if we only aim at it steadily and with singleness of heart, and ever keep it in view, a reflection from that peace of the future will illumine the turmoil and trouble of our lives, whether the trouble be seemingly petty, or obviously tragic; and we shall, in our hopes at least, live the lives of men: nor can the present times give us any reward greater than that.
Taken from www.marxists.org/archive/morris/works/1884/useful.htm |
Hillary Clinton is on week two of her What Happened book tour and most of the interview questions so far have been softballs from some of her favorite media outlets.
But during an interview with PBS' Judy Woodruff, Clinton was asked about the impact of Bill Clinton's secret June 2016 meeting with then Attorney General Loretta Lynch. To say the least, the former Secretary of State was not amused.
"To what extent did Loretta Lynch and President Clinton make a costly mistake?" Woodruff asked.
"Judy, I just don't by that. Honestly, I reject that premise," Clinton responded.
A refresher about that meeting:
Just one week before FBI Director James Comey announced the Bureau would not recommend charges be filed against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for storing and transferring top secret, classified information on multiple private, unsecured email servers, Attorney General Loretta Lynch had a private meeting with former President Bill Clinton on her private jet in Phoenix.
After being caught by a local reporter, Lynch claimed the email investigation wasn't discussed and that social topics like grandchildren and golf were the topics of the day. She said the same yesterday during congressional testimony.
According to FBI Director James Comey, he made a public statement about Clinton's criminal case in July 2016 because Lynch had breached the public's trust by meeting with former President Clinton. It was a clear conflict of interest.
Maybe we should believe Hillary on this one. Most of us don't buy Lynch and President Clinton simply talked about grandchildren and golf just days before the FBI announced DOJ would never prosecute Clinton's case and therefore she wasn't being referred for charges. Futher, lets not forget it was Lynch who instructed the FBI to call the criminal investigation into her mishandling of classified information a "matter."
H/T WFB |
Russia is against banning barrel bombs in Syria, as promoted by Spain, France and Britain. The Kremlin said it opposes the United Nations draft resolution regarding the same.
The draft resolution, in addition to the ban of barrel bombs, also proposes sanctions against the Syrian government. Syrian President Bashar Assad is accused of dropping crude explosives on civilians in the country, AFP reported.
According to Russia, the resolution has the potential to threaten peace efforts in the war-torn Middle Eastern country. Petr Iliichev, Russia’s deputy ambassador to the U.N., said it was not the ideal time to circulate the draft to the U.N. Security Council. “Especially at this very delicate moment we should not jeopardize the efforts that are being undertaken in Vienna," AP quoted Iliichev as telling reporters.
International leaders are scheduled to come together in Vienna. The leaders, scheduled to meet Thursday and Friday, will try to make an effort to end the Syria war which displaced more than 10 million and killed 250,000.
Matthew Rycroft, Britain’s ambassador to the U.N., said the draft would be circulated to all members of the UNSC in the coming days. "I think it's important to ensure that indiscriminate bombing is stopped because it kills so many people, it terrorizes so many people and it's one of the causes of the flood of refugees and migrants out of Syria," he said.
According to a resolution adopted by the UNSC in February 2014, no party is allowed to use barrel bombs in Syria. Francois Delattre, France’s ambassador to the U.N., earlier called barrel bombs as “weapons of terror.” The proposed draft, unlike the February resolution, is militarily enforceable. |
By G. Jeffrey MacDonald
[email protected]
When the Episcopal–United Methodist Dialogue resumes April 25 in Charlotte, North Carolina, delegates will have their eyes on both a prize and a date: full communion between the churches by 2021.
The possibility that General Convention could vote on this agreement in five years is real, said Margaret Rose, deputy for ecumenical and interfaith collaboration. The United Methodist Church could vote on it in 2020, when the denomination holds its quadrennial General Conference. Rose did not identify any other timetable as a consideration.
If full communion occurs in 2021, the partnership will mark the fruit of nearly two decades of concerted ecumenical effort. Distinguishing between apostolic succession and the historic episcopate has been important to the discussion, Rose said.
“Using those distinctions has allowed us to move closer to full communion,” she said.
First, though, the Episcopal–United Methodist Dialogue Committee on Full Communion needs to iron out the details. An agreement would need to honor both a grand vision for Christian unity and centuries of history as separate churches.
“We are working on various drafts that will eventually become resolutions in both of our general assemblies,” Rose said.
The Rt. Rev. C. Franklin Brookhart, Jr., Bishop of Montana, is co-chairman of the committee.
Bishop Mary Ann Swenson, ecumenical officer for the UMC’s Council of Bishops, did not respond to requests for comment on the status of talks between the churches.
In a full-communion agreement, the churches recognize in one another “the wholeness of the Church in doctrine, ministry and sacrament,” according to the Episcopal Church’s definition. In practice, it would provide for closer cooperation in areas from administration to mission, including ordained leaders.
Methodist clergy would be able to administer sacraments and otherwise lead Episcopal parishes, and vice versa. The Episcopal Church has full-communion partnerships with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Moravian Church, and the Philippine Independent Church.
In Charlotte, committee members are expected to build on the panel’s work from a year ago in Washington, D.C., where the committee received a full-communion proposal. It reaffirmed a predecessor committee’s assessment that “no church-dividing obstacles” stand in the way of full communion.
With no theological points to navigate, the committee will focus largely on what Rose calls “life and work” issues. Among the issues that could arise: what both churches need to do in healing wounds caused by racism in their respective histories.
“What we’re really trying to ensure, in the next few years, is that real partnership and ministry is taking place between our two churches,” Rose said.
This current round of talks aims to go beyond the Interim Eucharistic Sharing Agreement of 2006 [PDF], which capped four years of dialogue and remains in place today. It also builds on progress made during the 40-year Consultation on Church Union, which fell short of goals to forge a multilateral agreement among several denominations and dissolved in 2002, but nonetheless spawned bilateral efforts including this one between Methodists and Episcopalians.
“There have been many iterations of this work,” Rose said. “I don’t think there was a breakthrough. This is just a follow-through to all that we have done before.”
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Cheaper flights and scientific collaboration
Christian Catalini, Christian Fons-Rosen, Patrick Gaulé
Scientific research is increasingly the product of collaborations between researchers. One driver of this trend over the last half century has been falling communication costs. This column uses data on faculty members of chemistry departments in the US to explore whether the reduction in air travel costs over the last three decades has had a similar effect on scientific collaboration. The introduction of a low-cost carrier route is associated with a 50% increase in collaborations between researchers.
Scientific papers are increasingly the result of the work of teams of researchers. By 2000, more than 80% of science and engineering articles were coauthored, compared to 50% in 1960 (Wuchty et al. 2007). Scientific collaborations are also more likely to span geographically distant coauthors (Adams et al 2005). Similar patterns have been observed in economics research (Gaspar & Glaeser 1998, Hamermesh & Oster 2004, Rosenblatt & Mobius 2004).
One possible explanation for these findings is the dramatic reduction in communication costs brought about by the internet. Tools such as email, videoconferencing, file sharing and syncing greatly reduce coordination and collaboration costs over distance. Research by Agarwal & Goldarb (2008) shows how the adoption of bitnet, a predecessor of the internet, led to a rise in collaboration in the field of electric engineering between the universities involved. Interestingly, in their data the effect is stronger for co-located pairs, suggesting that communication technology may be a complement rather than a substitute to face-to-face interactions.
In a recent working paper, we investigate an alternative (though complementary) explanation for the rise in scientific collaboration over distance – the reduction in air travel costs (Catalini et al. 2016). Over the last 30 years, the cost per mile flown in the US dropped by more than 50% (Perry 2014). To the extent that face-to-face interactions are important to transmit complex knowledge and foster trust among scientific teams, cheaper air travel fares may have amplified the effect of cheap communication costs.
To explore the effect of air travel costs on scientific collaboration, we leverage the differential timing of entry of Southwest airlines, a low cost carrier, across different US cities. After Southwest Airlines enters a new route, not only do prices drop on average by 20%, but we also observe a 50% increase in scientific collaboration. The effect is present across different fields of science, and is stronger when weighting scientific output by its future impact – that is, the additional collaborations induced by the lower fares are not of marginal quality.
Using a fine-grained dataset on US faculty members in chemistry departments (1991-2012) and a differences-in-differences research design, we find that the timing of the effect is consistent with a causal interpretation.
Figure 1
The availability of low-cost flights had uneven effects across types of scientists – researchers that are younger, have less access to funding, and that are more productive than their department average seem to benefit the most from the lower fares.
Taken together, our results suggest that cheaper flights may have reduced the frictions normally associated with geography by potentially allowing for better matches over distance.
References
Adams, J D, G C Black, J R Clemmons and P E Stephan (2005) “Scientific teams and institutional collaborations: Evidence from US universities, 1981-1999”, Research Policy, 34(3): 259-285.
Agrawal, A and A Goldfarb (2008) “Restructuring research: Communication costs and the democratization of university innovation”, American Economic Review, 98(4): 1578-90.
Catalini, C, C Fons-Rosen and P Gaule (2016) “Did cheaper flights change the direction of science?” CEPR Discussion Paper 11252.
Gaspar, J and E L Glaeser (1998) “Information technology and the future of cities”, Journal of Urban Economics, 43(1): 136-156.
Hamermesh, D and S Oster (2002) "Tools or toys? The impact of high technology on scholarly productivity", Economic Inquiry, 40(4): 539-555.
Perry, M (2014) “The cost of air travel in the US has been remarkably stable for the last decade, and 17% cheaper than 20 years ago" Carpe Diem, Blog of American Entreprise Institute, Accessed 17 March.
Rosenblatt T and M Mobius (2004) “Getting closer or drifting apart?” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 119(3): 971-1009.
Wuchty, S, B F Jones and B Uzzi (2007) “The increasing dominance of teams in production of knowledge”, Science, 316(5827): 1036-1039. |
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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Albuquerque police are investigating allegations that members of the department improperly erased, altered or corrupted video footage taken by the lapel cameras worn by officers, top executives under Mayor Richard Berry say.
City Attorney Jessica Hernandez and Police Chief Gorden Eden told city councilors late Monday that they will get in touch with federal prosecutors today and cooperate if necessary. But they’re also starting their own investigation, they said.
The allegations – outlined in an affidavit by APD’s former records custodian, Reynaldo Chavez – shook City Hall as the Berry administration tries to build public confidence in the police department. A U.S. Department of Justice investigation in 2014 found that APD had a pattern of violating people’s rights through the use of force.
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“No matter how these allegations pan out,” said Councilor Pat Davis, a former police officer, “I think they have a big impact on public confidence and it also raises questions about APD’s process for evidence control.”
Hernandez and Eden assured councilors Monday that the original footage taken by officers’ body-worn cameras is retained by their record-keeping system, even if someone tries to redact material.
Eden said it takes time to blur someone’s face in video for privacy reasons, a cumbersome process for the department.
“We are not a television or movie production studio,” he said.
Hernandez said the computer system tracks all changes to the video, creating an audit trail that can be checked afterward.
“There has not been any evidence so far to substantiate these allegations,” she said, but the matter is still under investigation.
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The allegations surfaced Friday in an affidavit by Chavez, the former records custodian at APD. He was fired last year and is now suing the city.
In the nine-page document, Chavez said that, since 2013, APD has permitted training of certain police units and command staff on how to edit video, “meaning you could delete video and add images and blur video and/or corrupt the videos so that they were either not usable or altered.”
The motivation, he said, was that the “city wanted to appear to be following Chief Eden’s edict to record all encounters with civilians on the one hand, while, at the same time, preventing any damaging recordings from reaching the public.”
Video of police shootings, in some cases, showed signs of having been tampered with, he said.
Albuquerque city councilors – both Democrats and Republicans – said an investigation is appropriate.
“It’s troubling,” City Councilor Trudy Jones said in an interview, “but I think we should be very careful about not moving to a guilty verdict before we see what’s happened.”
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Councilor Ken Sanchez said he was pleased that District Attorney Kari Brandenburg had already contacted the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
“Allegations of this magnitude must be scrutinized (and) investigated with nothing left unturned,” Sanchez said.
In a written statement to the Journal, Berry spokeswoman Rhiannon Samuel raised questions about the credibility of Chavez.
“The mayor has been informed that APD has an ongoing investigation into these claims and that no evidence of wrongdoing has been found,” she said. “The mayor was also informed that although Mr. Chavez has submitted a previous affidavit on this topic with false information, the department takes any claims regarding the integrity of preservation of evidence very seriously.”
Samuel’s written statement didn’t go into detail about Chavez’s previous affidavit. |
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Starting off with the 3D printers, Polaroid is launching three models to choose from, varying in size but with each of the units manageable in a home or small office environment.
“Creativity has always been at the heart of our brand,” said Scott W. Hardy, President and CEO of Polaroid. “For 80 years, we have given consumers the ability to express themselves and explore their own creativity, with the medium of instant photography top of mind. We could not be more excited to now offer another dimension with our new line of 3D printers and pens. Whether it be artwork, prototypes, jewelry, or models, we’re eagerly awaiting what our customers will create and just where their imaginations will take them.”
The 3D pens are designed to allow users to design 3D models using ABS or PLA filament and both of these models come with 10m of starter filament to get the user started. The two pens are generally similar, but differ in two major ways, with the DRW100 3D being a wired pen, while the DRW101 3D is wireless and comes with an internal battery and charging stand to accommodate that technology.
The printers have an expected MSRP between $499 and $799 and the pens have an MSRP between $129 and $149. The 3D printers are expected to be available in July, with the pens and filament hitting the market in March. |
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You have already shown your skills and understanding as you have progressed in your field, so earning credit for your life experiences and prior learning allows you to gain the accreditation necessary to move to the next rung in your career ladder.
Competency-Based Degrees
Are you an independent self-starter who knows when to put their head down and work? Then a competency-based degree program might be an excellent fit for you!
A competency-based degree allows you to show mastery of a subject for college credit on a flexible timetable. Choosing a competency-based degree enables you to pursue a college education when it works for your schedule, instead of trying to fit your busy life around your college’s timetable. Working with a faculty member at an accredited university, you are able to skip the boring lectures and tedious homework, and show your competency through assessments, portfolios or a capstone. All competency units are graded in a pass/fail format, which equates to receiving a B or higher.
Completing a competency-based degree is not for the faint of heart, but the dividends are worth it! Discover whether a competency-based degree might be the right combination for your education needs!
Is College Worth it?
Perhaps you’re still sitting on the fence in your college career, unsure of whether or not to make the big leap and enroll into a degree program. Is a college degree really worth it?
While deciding to get a college degree is an intensely personal decision, it doesn’t have to be a decision made alone. There are many reasons why a college degree may be the right choice for you, including but not limited to an increased paycheck and job security. And we’re not talking about a few extra dollars every month. A worker with a Bachelor’s degree will make approximately $1 million more than a worker without a post-secondary degree!
Earn Your Degree Quickly
You are not someone who stands around idly, taking multiple “Am I ready for College?” quizzes, and wondering if a college degree is worth it?
You are committed to earning your college degree and are willing to put in the hard work necessary to get it down. But that doesn’t mean you want to spend the next 4 years in a degree program. On the contrary, you want to get your college degree quickly!
A large portion of our degree guides are devoted to helping you discover how to get college credits fast.
Online Associate’s Degrees
Have you decided that you want to get a college degree, but you are not in a place to upset your life and go to college for the next 2 years for your Associate’s degree?
An accelerated online associate’s degree can be the perfect solution for you. Many top universities across the nation offer accredited Associate’s degrees entirely online. You can have a complete college education, without ever leaving home. You could even go to class in your pajamas!
Online Bachelor’s Degrees
Potentially one of the most attractive online degrees, getting your Bachelor’s degree allows you to have the best of both worlds.
You can get a great college degree that prepares you for an exciting career while still working a 9 to 5 or maintaining your family commitments. Getting an accelerated bachelor’s degree online can give you flexibility and the opportunity to work at your own pace while still getting college credit from top American universities. And you’re not confined to a collection of useless degrees, but a variety of degrees in almost any subject!
And for those of you who want to get your bachelor’s degree in the fastest time possible, we walk you through the various ways you can get your degree faster with an in-depth look at 1 year degree programs, bachelor degree in 18 months, or 2 year bachelors degree programs.
Online Master’s Degrees
Most of the time, when you decide to pursue a Master’s degree it comes later in life after you’ve worked a job for a few years, maybe you met your significant other, had a baby (or two!) or bought a house. And then you decide to pursue your Master’s degree.
With a busy schedule and commitments at work and home, an accelerated online master’s degree from an accredited university can be a great fit. You can attend classes when it works for you, and complete your degree at a pace that works or you. Whether you want an online Master’s in Criminal Justice or an online MBA, top universities across the nation offer a wide-range of accredited online programs.
Online Doctorate Degrees
By the time you reach your doctoral studies, you’ve become a master at spinning plates and attending to your various responsibilities while working and studying. But that doesn’t mean its easy.
The level of care and attention that is needed for your doctoral degree is immense. But the payout is worth it as you showcase your academic study and research in the completion of a college degree. Many universities across America are able to partner with doctoral students such as yourself to enable you to complete your accelerated doctoral degree online.
What are the fastest degrees?
Are you curious about how to quickly complete your Associate’s or Bachelor’s degree so you can start climbing your career ladder and earning a better paycheck?
Consider an accelerated degree program that will allow you to receive your fast online degree in less time than a traditional 2 or 4-year degree program. Many colleges are jumping on the accelerated course train and providing courses that can be completed at an even faster rate.
You can get your degree faster through an accelerated degree program in several fields including business administration, finance, IT, education or even nursing!
Not sure what you want to study? Explore our list of easy college majors to see if something sparks your interest.
What are the easiest college majors?
In a perfect world, everyone would simply want to attend college for the sheer joy of learning. But that’s not always possible. Life happens. You have a full-time job, a family, and want to enjoy the little free time you have spending it with those you care about. So, you are looking for the easiest college majors that will allow you to get the best of both worlds.
For those of you who do want to get the greatest amount of challenge out of your college education, we also take a closer look at the hardest college majors.
Whether you decide to go with an easy college major or a hard college major – or somewhere in between – we can help you find a college that matches your goals, interests, and learning preferences, whether on a college campus or an online college.
Open Courses and MOOCs
What’s a MOOC? It’s a Massive Open Online Course, or simply put it’s like World of Warcraft for education. A MOOC allows you to participate in a college class with individuals across the globe, for free.
With the right university, you can even earn college credit for completing MOOCs! A MOOC can be the right fit for individuals who want the benefit of a college education, the freedom to collaborate online or want an alternative to expensive formal education. |
(CNN) The night before her daughter's first triathlon, Kate Parker could tell the child was nervous.
Ella and her younger sister, Alice, are athletic, loud, curious, wild-haired kids. They grew up watching their mother compete in races and Ella had asked to sign up for her own. Still, as they laid out everything she'd need the next day, Parker, a photographer, could tell she was afraid.
"Why don't we get a picture?" Parker asked Ella, now 9. "Show me your strongest face, show me your bravest face, even if you don't feel that way right now."
As she pulled the image up on her screen, she got chills from her daughter's direct stare. She looked, Parker said, like "a little badass."
"You're going to be totally fine," Parker showed her. "Look at how tough you are."
The next day, Ella participated in her race, and loved it. Looking back, "I wanted her to remember that she was scared and she went through with it, sort of as a memento of her conquering a fear, " said Parker, who lives near Atlanta. "As a mom, I really wanted to get a good picture of it, too."
The photo is one of Parker's favorites from her series, " Strong is the New Pretty ." It covers the last two years, but evolved from Parker's early days behind a camera, when she shot daily images of her girls to expand her knowledge of lighting and composition.
It seemed that most images of little girls showcased perfectly placed hair bows, forced smiles and Photoshop-smooth skin. Hers didn't.
"I didn't want to shoot pictures like that. I didn't want girls to think they had to look like that," said Parker, whose daughters are now 6 and 9. "Whoever they were, however they were, was worthy of an image. Whatever they were was good enough."
So, she shot her girls and their friends as they were -- freckled, muddy, screaming, laughing, jumping in the pool, collecting worms in the creek, barreling into the wilderness of early adolescence on skateboards and bicycles.
"I want to capture them before they lose that sense of 'I'm so awesome.' I wanted them to keep that as long as they could," Parker said. "I started to shoot with that in mind, but it was already there."
The girls pose for an occasional portrait, but most are kid-inspired moments, shaped by childish wonderment and energy. As parents, Parker and her husband encourage their girls to play outside, make new friends and try new things without worrying about grass-stained knees and knots in their hair, Parker said. Now, the girls have the confidence and curiosity to do it on their own.
"They're just being themselves, and I'm just recording it," Parker said.
Responses to the images are mostly positive, Parker said, but there's the occasional complaint that she's showing just one type of girl. It's true, Parker said: They're the ones she's raising, the only ones whose adventures she can document 24/7. She hopes the project inspires parents to find their own creative ways to capture their children's lives. More important, she wants kids to see they can be strong in whatever they are and whatever they hope to be.
Parker's own kids still surprise her.
"Alice is a beautiful singer. When I hear her sing, it makes me cry," Parker said. "Ella has this amazing, kind heart that cares more about the experience than the win. It's something that I did not teach her.
"Whatever it is, it's OK." |
IPG | MTR
There’s no update for players; no policy changed that affects them, though we’re officially taking a dim view of players who create a toxic play environment. Carry on being awesome at Magic tournaments and you don’t have anything new to worry about.
There are a few implementation changes to talk about, though, including three pieces we’ve rewritten to be clearer. Improper Drawing at Start of Game has always been a bit of a mishmash, with different approaches depending on whether the offender is the starting player and/or the game has begun. That was trying to be too precise and just ended up unnecessarily confusing. Now, it simply applies to any player who hasn’t taken another game action, and you shuffle an extra card back regardless of the situation.
The “joint responsibility” Game Rule Violation has been modified. It’s been made clearer that both players have to be actively involved in the error. For example, if I control a Grafdigger’s Cage and you reanimate a creature, it was previously ambiguous whether I controlled “the effect that caused the infraction,” and that was never the intent. It should only apply when one player performs a one-shot effect and the other player gets involved in completing it (subsequently making a mistake).
The final piece of clarification is in the new Decklist Error philosophy that allows a judge to treat an “obvious” decklist as the decklist, even if it isn’t technically correct. The idea here is simply that the decklist is a tool to record the contents of the deck, and as long as it is fulfilling that function, we’re not going to get hung up on the technical accuracy. Unfortunately, the first version used a couple of loaded phrases (notably “clerical error” and “potential for advantage”) that sent people in the wrong direction; those have been removed in favor of a more straightforward version. Also, since the Head Judge is asserting they they know what the decklist says, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to be issuing a penalty at all.
Finally, we have the substantial policy revision for this release. Unsporting Conduct – Major has been completely revamped and now focuses on players creating a toxic environment through their words and actions. The DCI has zero tolerance for threats, harassment and bullying and judges are expected to act swiftly to prevent a situation from escalating. This includes removing the player from any match in which they may have committed the offense, so the penalty has been upgraded to a match loss. Sean has written a bunch more about this – check it out!
Thanks to everyone who asked questions or sent in suggestions. In particular, shout-outs to Cristiana Dionisio, Tasha Hayashi and Sean Catanese for their work in pulling these updates together. Enjoy your M15 events, and hopefully I’ll see some of you at GP Portland! |
Police have arrested a Hamilton teen after a shooting inside a crowded Tim Hortons in central Hamilton this weekend.
Officers arrested the male, who Staff Sgt. Scott Balinson describes as being under the age of 16, shortly after the shooting near Tim Hortons Field stadium on Saturday.
Police were called to a Tim Hortons at Barton and Chapple Streets at 1:53 p.m., Balinson said.
Officers responded quickly and found the shooting victim — also a teenager — near the restaurant.
He had minor injuries from a single gun shot.
Balinson couldn't speak to the relationship between victim and culprit, only that the incident wasn't random. It occurred in a corridor away from the crowd, he said.
"Fortunately, in this circumstance, there was no threat to the patrons," he said.
The victim received minor injuries and cooperated with police, he said. Officers found the suspect at a home nearby not long after the shooting.
The Tim Hortons is a block away from Tim Hortons Field stadium, where crowds were arriving to watch a game between the Hamilton Ticats and Edmonton Eskimos.
The incident is just the latest in a rash of youth gun violence in Hamilton. Last month, 18-year-old Shariek Douse was killed in the North End.
That same week, a group of teens were charged with numerous offences in a gun bust in central Hamilton, including a 14-year-old charged with 22 crimes. |
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Introduction |
The kerbs at the track have been redone in order to more harshly penalise those going off-track and the change has now contributed to several incidents throughout the weekend.
After Max Verstappen crashed over the kerbs in FP1, three more drivers have had suspension failures on Saturday - Nico Rosberg in FP3 and Sergio Perez and Daniil Kvyat in Q1.
It was an especially worrying shunt for Kvyat, whose right-rear suspension gave out when he drove over the kerbs at Turn 8, with the Russian a passenger when the car went on to hit the inside barrier before coming to a stop in the gravel on the outside.
Hamilton, who took pole for the Austrian Grand Prix and had previously gone on record to say danger is a part of F1's appeal, insisted that the kerbs were a step too far.
"I can't speak on behalf of all the drivers but, for me looking at it, those yellow kerbs are quite dangerous, we've seen a couple of incidences already," Hamilton said.
"How many more is it going to take before a car ends up in the wall and someone gets hurt?
"[This is] something I am sure Charlie [Whiting] and the FIA are looking at, but that's definitely an area we can improve.
"The idea is good, they don’t want us to run wide and use outside of the circuit but, perhaps, another solution is going to be needed."
Don’t miss our Austrian GP video preview… |
Note: I'll be writing about each of the 49ers' positions groups as is typical before training camp. This year, however, there's a catch. I'll be ranking them in order of strongest to weakest. First up ...
Outside linebacker
Recap: This wasn't an impressive group last season. Aldon Smith was suspended for nine games. When he returned, he was a shadow of his former self, notching only two sacks -- both in the same contest -- in the final seven games. Ahmad Brooks had an opportunity to shine during Smith's absence. Instead, he was overweight and, his heroics at the end of the Saints game not withstanding, had a ho-hum season that ended with six sacks and two benchings. The lone bright spot was rookie Aaron Lynch, a fifth-round draft pick who played like a late first rounder. With so many suspensions, Lynch started three games, played nearly 50 percent of the defensive snaps and finished tied with Brooks for the team lead with six sacks. Dan Skuta started nine games at outside linebacker and finished with five sacks and three forced fumbles. He was signed by the Jaguars in free agency.
Outlook: At the risk of going hyperbolic, the 49ers never have been better -- or at least deeper -- at the position. For the first time since his rookie season, Smith has no legal matters hanging over him and, perhaps more significant, is heading into the final season of his contract. That is, he has a high level of motivation. Brooks, meanwhile, may have suspected he was on the trade block this offseason and also seems as motivated as he's been in quite some time. After ballooning into the high (high!) 200-lb. range last year, which drew public comments from then defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, he's back down to his ideal playing weight in the low 260s. They likely will start at their familiar positions with Smith on the right and Brooks on the left. Lynch and third-round draft pick Eli Harold will provide depth. Corey Lemonier, himself a third-round pick in 2013, is fighting for a roster spot after a sack-less season a year ago. Undrafted rookie Marcus Rush also will line up at outside linebacker. Free-agent pickup Nick Bellore played there in the spring but is more of a kickoff coverage specialist.
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Question marks: Smith will be without his partner in crime, Justin Smith, this season. The tandem worked extremely well together with Justin Smith's strength and veteran savvy providing pass-rush avenues for Aldon Smith. (Just ask Kevin Gilbride and Jeff Fisher). It remains to be seen whether Aldon Smith can develop the same chemistry with Glenn Dorsey and Tank Carradine, the two players he likely will spend the most time playing beside this season. ... The legal investigation regarding the incident at Ray McDonald's house last year is still open. The 49ers do not believe Brooks will be implicated, but until that investigation is closed it remains a distraction. ... Lynch did not take part in many spring sessions due to a hamstring injury.
Person of interest: It has to be Smith, who has put the franchise in terrible positions the previous two years but who now has an opportunity to cash in with a huge contract. Does this get done during the season? Does he shop himself on the open market in March? Does he give the 49ers a loyalty discount? One result from the 49ers' spate of retirements is that they now have more salary-cap space than they expected. That space will roll over to next season. Is it enough to sign Smith? His 2015 season -- on and off the field -- will provide the answers. |
Companies representing more than a third of the S&P 500’s market cap will report earnings in the coming week, with investors expected to focus on results for tech heavyweights Apple Inc. and Facebook Inc., as well as energy giants Exxon Mobil and Chevron.
U.S. stocks closed mostly higher for the week on Friday with the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.13% rising 0.6% and the S&P 500 index SPX, -0.08% advancing 0.5%. The Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, -0.07% however, shed 0.7% following a rough week for tech earnings.
Eight of the 30 components making up the Dow Jones Industrial Average are scheduled to report, including Apple AAPL, +0.06% and Exxon Mobil XOM, +0.20% Additionally, a third of the companies on the S&P 500, representing $6.8 trillion in market cap, report results. The largest non-blue-chip S&P 500 component to report on the week is Facebook FB, -0.30%
Apple and Facebook earnings will likely fall under closer-than-usual scrutiny given that the tech sector has been getting clobbered this season with disappointing results from Microsoft Corp. and Google parent Alphabet Inc., another revenue decline from IBM Corp., and announced layoffs at Intel Corp.
For its part, Apple is expected to report its first year-over-year decline in unit sales of the iPhone, the consumer tech company’s flagship product, and be the biggest drag on tech sector earnings this quarter.
Apple earnings expected to be rotten for tech sector.
“If Apple reports actual EPS equal to or below the mean EPS estimate for the quarter, it will mark the first time Apple has been the largest detractor to earnings growth for the Information Technology sector since the calendar third quarter of 2013,” said John Butters, senior earnings analyst at FactSet, in a report.
Energy companies are going into the season with drastically reduced expectations, with those for the three biggest names reporting this week having plummeted over the first quarter.
Since the beginning of the first quarter, estimates for Exxon Mobil dropped to 31 cents a share from 75 cents a share, those for Chevron CVX, +0.27% swung to a 13-cents-a-share loss from a profit of 55 cents a share, and expectations for ConocoPhillips’s COP, -0.48% estimated per-share loss plunged to $1.05 from 19 cents, according to FactSet data.
Is this the energy sector’s turnaround point?
The energy sector, as a whole, is expected to turn in a year-over-year loss for the quarter, the first time any sector in the S&P 500 has reported an overall loss since the financials sector reported one in the fourth quarter of 2008, according to Butters.
The one upside to that, given the sharp rebound from sub-$30 a barrel oil prices seen in February, is that earnings declines in the sector will decrease moving forward, he said.
Notable earnings reports during peak week
Also, the Federal Reserve will conclude a two-day policy meeting on Wednesday, with zero expectations for a rate increase. According to CME Group’s 30-day Fed Fund data, market participants don’t see a rate rise as an even-money proposition until either the September or November policy meetings.
“One reason the Fed is expected to be cautious is Q1 real GDP, which is the second-most important event this week,” said Joseph LaVorgna, chief U.S. economist at Deutsche Bank, in a recent note.
First-quarter GDP is expected to rise 0.7%, according to economists surveyed by MarketWatch. LaVorgna expects a rise of 0.5%, noting that consensus estimates had been 2% to begin the quarter.
Providing critical information for the U.S. trading day. Subscribe to MarketWatch's free Need to Know newsletter. Sign up here. |
The Texas State Senate is currently trying to force through legislation that wants to limit transgender men and women from using the bathroom that matches his or her gender identity. But one teen is refusing to allow the government to legislate hate. In a video released by Athlete Ally, Mack Beggs, a transgender wrestler, tells his story about the new law will directly impact his life.
Beggs became nationwide news when he was told that he must compete with the girls team, despite transitioning to male and requesting to participate with his fellow boys.
“I’ll never forget the time I was able to use the locker room and restroom consistent with my gender identity. It was an acknowledgement of who I am, and made me feel like I belonged on my team and in my school,” Beggs says. “Transgender athletes aren’t cheating, we aren’t choosing, we belong. And now legislators are trying to take that from us, and strip us from legal protections,” he continues.
Watch the full thing below… |
0.3.3 released: Crash to desktop fixed, vehicle spawning fixed
The “Spawn new” Button works better now, just don’t press it too quickly, or this happens 😉
Changelog 0.3.2 > 0.3.3:
Fixed game crash (lua stackoverflow) when running the game for a bit longer
Fixed resource error when loading DRI
Fixed “spawn new vehicle” function: not spawning inside the other car anymore
Improved world editor: now using window resolution correctly: right windows will be correctly on the right side of the screen now (side effect: saves your windowed resolution)
Improved player spawning: thePlayer is now visible in the scene tree and will not be saved when saving the level
Fixed crash reporting up: updated crashreport tool, improved the way it works, fixed ability to use/run the game even if the system is missing
Fixed some app minimal size bugs on persistence saving
Fixed DirectX: proper offline installation now
Rewrote level saving a bit
Improved bananabech: improved output formatting, added RAM and OS info
Beam break debug working again: if in debug mode, broken beamns will print to the message app
Fixed part manager when no props are present
Lua instances have log names now. S0 = system lua, V0 = first vehicle lua, V1 = second vehicle, etc
Increased accuracy of friction
Improved tiremarks: now with better placement and sizing
Fixed bug in slidenodes: now resetting correctly
Added new lua function: setNodeMass(nodeid, mass)
New 3D feature: decal roads have fading now, reducing the visible tri count a lot
Fixed 3D feature: re-added mieScattering setting for scattersky
Improved 3D feature: decal sorting now faster using two lists: one sorted, one unsorted
New 3D feature: Add DecalRoad TS interface to get its nodes
Doubled vehicle render distance from 250m to 500m
How to update: Start menu > BeamNG > Update |
QPR manager Harry Redknapp with the Championship play-off trophy
Harry Redknapp has said he would have retired from management if QPR had failed to earn promotion to the Premier League last season.
The Hoops were widely tipped to win the Championship but had to battle through the play-offs to return to the top flight after relegation in 2013.
Redknapp, 67, said: "If we hadn't gone up, I would have turned it in.
"I wouldn't have gone back and done another year in the Championship, it didn't appeal to me any more."
Former West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur manager Redknapp took over at Loftus Road in November 2012 on a two-and-a-half-year contract but could not save QPR from the drop.
Bobby Zamora's late goal saw QPR beat Derby County in the Championship play-off final at Wembley
The Hoops secured an immediate return to the Premier League but only after edging past Derby 1-0 in the play-off final at Wembley in May 2014, courtesy of a late strike from Bobby Zamora.
Redknapp said: "With 10 minutes to go I was thinking 'which golf club should I join this year - should I play here or there?' Then, suddenly, Bobby ruined it all.
"Now I am excited again. To go to Anfield and Old Trafford is fantastic, I am so lucky to be able to do that."
QPR open their season at home against Hull on 16 August. |
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Skydiving instructor, Dave Hartsock is a hero. However he has paid dearly for his act of courage that saved another’s life.
In 2009, 54-year-old Shirley Dygert of Teague, Texas decided that she wanted to jump out of an airplane.
For her birthday that year, she treated herself to a tandem sky dive. Dave Hartsock was her instructor for the day.
As is the normal procedure for a tandem jump, Dygert was strapped to Hartsock and at altitude of 13,000 they leapt from the plane. What happened next would change both their lives forever.
At first the skydive was taking place just like any other routine dive. Dygert was enjoying an experience of a lifetime as the two fell in free-fall.
However, when Hartsock pulled the cord to release the parachute, it failed by not opening properly. Tumbling rapidly to the ground, the pair spiralled out of control with the chute flapping uselessly.
Dave grasped for the cord to expel the shoot but it was trapped between their bodies. As they plummeted, spinning to the ground, the centrifugal force made the cord impossible to reach.
“Our bodies were forced together so tight I couldn’t get anywhere near it,” he told CBS News. “Shirley asked me what was happening and I said ‘hold on, we’re in big trouble’.”
Hartsock was left with no choice but to open the reserve chute without releasing the first one. The chute instantly tangled and they continued to plunge, spinning horizontally to the ground.
Speaking soon after the incident, Dygert explains how at this point, she fully believed it was over for them. “And I thought, huh, this is how I’m going to die,” she said. “I thought God please help us, God please help Dave and we just continued to spiral.”
At 40 mph and 500 feet from the ground, Hartsock did what can only be described as the ultimate sacrifice.
Just before crashing to the ground, he told Shirley to lift up her feet. He then saved her life by pulling down the control toggles to rotate their position, placing his body beneath hers to act as a cushion on impact.
“I can’t hardly believe it,” Dygert said. “He broke my fall.”
Hartsock, did manage to survive the accident, however he is now paralysed from the neck down with just a little movement in his right arm.
“People keep telling me that it was a heroic thing to do,” Hartsock said.
“In my opinion it was just the right thing to do. I mean, I was the one who was completely responsible for her safety. What other choices were there?”
“You hear heroes say that, don’t you?” Dygert said. “It’s just because that’s the kind of person they are.”
Anyone would expect Hartsock to be extremely bitter about what happened. Such feelings would be completely justified, however it seems even with his life changed so dramatically, his spirits have remained high.
When Dygert came to visit him in the hospital to cheer him up, it turned out the other way around. Hartsock had her laughing, and even invited her skydiving again.
“We’re accident-proof now, baby. I mean what are the odds of something like that happening twice like that?”
Mrs Dygert said: “People use the word hero liberally these days but Dave is a hero in the truest sense. Without him I would not be here to see my grandkids grow up.”
[CBS News reported at the time that a donation fund to help cover Dave’s medical bills reached $40,000.]
Update: A petition and fund raising effort also took place at the end of 2014. Supporters of Dave Hartsock’s cause have been trying to gain the attention of Ellen DeGeneres in an attempt to get Dave on the show. (See video) |
A few months ago, Dave Brockie, the real life alter-ego of GWAR frontman Oderus Urungus revealed that the band does indeed have a new guitarist, and his name is Pustulus Maximus. Pustulus will go on to succeed Flattus Maximus. Flattus was of course played by Cory Smoot, who tragically passed away last year due to heart failure.
The character of Pustulus will be played by Cannabis Corpse guitarist Brent Purgason. You can read the character's backstory here. The press release touting his debut says not much is know about Pustulus except that he "has a skin condition where his face and feet are covered in painful pustules that can only be soothed by the application of savage metal, spoiled elephant semen or oral sex" Ole Pusty will make his debut on GWAR's upcoming Fate or Chaos tour with Devildriver. Here is Pustulus's first official statement about joining GWAR:
"At this point I have nothing to say to the press, even though I am talking to you. I will let my guitar speak for itself. But let me add that I am blood-sworn to honor the legacy of the great Flattus and indeed the whole Maximus tribe. I didn't come here to fuck around. HAIL FLATTUS!"
Never one to turn down the spotlight, GWAR frontman Oderus Urungus also chimed in about the new guitarist and how he came to be:
"Naturally we were devastated by the passing of Flattus. But we turned that grief into rage and set about the task of finding a new guitar player. The first thing we did was sound the mighty Horn of Hate, and alert all Scumdogs, scattered across the galaxy as they are, as to what had occurred. What people didn't know about Flattus was that was is part of a huge tribe of brutish warriors, The Maximus Clan. They are at the core of any Scumdog Legion worth its blood! Planet Maximus is just crawling with them!" Oderus farted, blowing a hole in the wall, and continued. "Many of the tribe had fought and even played in bands with Flattus, and we began to get messages from across the stars. The Scumdogs were coming! Coming to Earth to lay tracks on our new album, and pay tribute to the mighty Flattus. Soon the War-Barges of Maximus tribe members began to appear in Earth's orbit…and land outside our great temple! Bubonis, Infectitcus, Fartacus, and many more-all have participated in the creation of the songs that shall be on our new album, which will be out sometime next year. But it was not until the hulking form of Pustulus appeared at the studio door, bloody guitar in hand, that we knew we had our new member. Here was a being that was supposedly born with a guitar in his fist, which of course resulted in the death of his beloved mother, whose body he immediately devoured. If anyone can replace our beloved comrade, it is this foul creature. Because he can fucking shred."
We have heard rumors that an all-star lineup of guest guitarists will be appearing on the new album, with the story being that they are all from the Maximus clan. This may end up being GWAR's hugest album yet. But first, they have some touring to do!
(photo credit: Jamie Betts Photos)
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MUMBAI: Development of our nation depends on the policies and how they are implemented by our politicians, and there is a need for a college to educate future politicians—said Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy In a brief interaction with students of Vivekanand Education Society (VES) in Chembur, Murthy highlighted changes that our country needs to work on on various levels in order to ensure that India becomes a developed nation. "India is known for much development that has happened since our independence but at the same time, we have also failed on many levels. It is the responsibility of the future generation to ensure that all these failures are corrected and help create a civilised society with equal opportunities for one and all," said Murthy.Management of VES, who are celebrating their 50th anniversary, were more than happy to welcome this Padma Vibhushan awardee to interact with their students. While Murthy’s speech mainly focused on the qualities that one needs to succeed in life and in turn pay back to the society, he was also happy to answer any queries by students who took the opportunity to understand his views about the software industry in India. Students were even interested in knowing if Infosys was hiring to which Murthy said, "We have already started the hiring process for next year and have around 15-16,000 vacancies."One of the student asked if it is possible to set up a college to learn politics and Murthy was delighted with the idea. "I have spoken about this with many dignitaries and firmly believe that it’ll be a brilliant idea. I believe all universities should at least offer courses in politics and policy implementation," said Murthy. He also pointed that the Lokpal Bill was passed in the assembly because youngsters across the country demanded for the same from the government. "It is time to take more responsibility for the country and change the attitude of our country from a nation of words to a nation of action," he added.Among other things, Murthy also shared his vision for the IT industry in India and encouraged students to ensure that once they pass out of their institute, they should continue to contribute towards the betterment of their institute. "Make sure that the institution survives for many more years and imparts education to many more youngsters," he added. |
They might be a classic London icon, but red pay phone booths have been used so little in the last decade that British Telecom started basically giving them away in 2008–for £1, a local community can adopt a phone booth and turn it into something else, like a library or the world’s smallest pub .
Still, those projects are fairly rare, and many booths end up as neglected, unintentional urinals (possibly used by those staggering home from the phone box pub). Now, two entrepreneurs are starting to turn them into solar-powered charging stations instead.
“I lived outside a vandalized old phone box during my second year of university and thought, surely we can find a new use for these iconic, yet disrespected British structures,” says Harold Craston, a recent London School of Economics graduate who started the new project, called Solarbox, with classmate Kirsty Kenney. “The idea to make them free and solar powered was born out of our interest in the use of public space and London’s green agenda.”
Solarbox gives old phone booths a coat of new green paint, and installs a solar panel on the top. In a single day, the panel provides enough power to charge about 100 phones or tablets at maximum charging speed. A battery in the booth stores extra energy, so the charger keeps working even if at night or on one of the city’s many cloudy days.
The charging station is free to use, funded by ads from companies like Tinder and Uber, and the founders decided to also offer free ad space to promote local artists, musicians, and social enterprises.
Solarbox also wants the boxes to double as community space. “We used our first box as an ‘urban green space’ during our launch week,” says Craston. “We invited buskers along to perform, brought plants along and had a large piece of street art in place . . . we want every Solarbox and its immediate surroundings to be used as a positive public space.”
Although it’s unlikely that all of London’s public pay phones will completely disappear–British law still requires “reasonable public access to public call box services”–maybe the vast majority will end up being used for something like Solarbox. Two thirds of current phone booths, Craston says, are already commercially unviable. |
A plane carrying British holidaymakers to Sharm el-Sheikh came within 300 metres (1,000ft) of a missile as it neared the Egyptian airport in August, the government has confirmed.
A Thomson Airways flight from London Stansted to the Red Sea resort, carrying 189 passengers, took evasive action after the missile was spotted in its trajectory by the pilot. The crew of flight TOM 476 landed the plane safely and passengers were not advised of the incident, which occurred on 23 August.
The incident is not thought to be directly linked to Britain’s decision to curtail flights to Sharm el-Sheikh in the wake of the crash of the Russian Metrojet airliner, killing 224 people, last Saturday. However, it will underline fears that regional instability could threaten flights, as more countries joined Britain in restricting air travel and imposing tougher security measures.
The Department for Transport (DfT) confirmed that the incident took place but said it did not believe the missile was an attempt to target the British plane, instead ascribing the missile seen by the Thomson pilots to Egyptian military manoeuvres. Airlines are currently prohibited from flying below 26,000 feet over the Sinai peninsula due to fears that Islamic militants fighting the Egyptian government could have weapons capable of bringing down a plane.
The Manpads – portable anti-aircraft missile launchers, which intelligence agencies believe Isis-affiliated groups could possess – are capable of targeting planes only at low altitudes. A government spokesperson said: “We investigated the reported incident at the time and concluded that it was not a targeted attack and was likely to be connected to routine exercises being conducted by the Egyptian military in the area at the time.”
Thomson said that crew reported the missile near-miss to the DfT immediately after conducting an assessment upon landing in Sharm el-Sheikh, in line with established protocol.
A spokesperson said: “The DfT conducted a full investigation in conjunction with other UK government experts. After reviewing the details of the case, the investigation concluded that there was no cause for concern and that it was safe to continue our flying programme to Sharm el-Sheikh.” |
CHENNAI: Five men suspected to be behind two bank robberies in Chennai in the last one month were killed in a gunbattle with the city police at Velachery in the early hours of Thursday.
Police commissioner J K Tripathy said the gunbattle lasted for 15 minutes, from 1am to 1.15am, leaving two police inspectors injured and all the five suspects dead. The suspects were identified as Chandrika Rey from West Bengal, and Vinod Kumar, Vinay Prasad, Abhay Kumar and Harish Kumar from Bihar. Two of them are former students of an engineering college in the city suburbs. Police recovered five guns and bundles of cash from the suspects.
Two days after the gang struck a branch of Indian Overseas Bank in Keelkattalai on Monday, city police commissioner J K Tripathy had held a press conference on Wednesday to release a video of a suspect allegedly doing a recce at a nationalised bank. “With people’s cooperation, we will nab them soon,” he had said.
Chennai went to sleep with that reassurance, and woke up to the tale of a bloody encounter. Tripathy said on Thursday that his team got a tip-off around midnight about the suspects staying on the ground floor of a three-storey house on A L Mudali Street in Velachery. “We immediately sent a team of 14 led by deputy commissioner of police (Adyar) M Sudhakar and two assistant commissioners Kannan (Madipakkam) and Manickavel (Guindy)," the commissioner said.
The team surrounded the house and three police inspectors took position by the windows, while three other inspectors targeted the main door of the house. The commissioner said the suspects opened fire at the police team at 1am, injuring inspectors P Ravi (Teynampet) and Christian Jayasil (Thoraipakkam). The police team broke open the window and the door and opened fire at the suspects. The gun battle left the suspects badly injured. They were rushed to the Government General Hospital, where the doctors declared them dead on arrival. The injured inspectors were admitted to the Government Royapettah Hospital.
Police sources said they got information from a person, who didn't want to reveal his identity, about the robbers. "After seeing the suspect’s photograph released by the police commissioner on Wednesday, the informer claimed that the suspect was staying at his relative's house on A L Mudali Street, Nethaji Road near the Tamil Nadu Housing Board quarters in Velachery,” a source said.Police sources said the robbers stayed in the house since last December after paying an advance of Rs 20,000. Though the incident happened in a residential area, no one in the neighbourhood appeared to know what had happened. Reporters who reached the spot soon after the incident were kept at bay till 5.45am.Finally, when they were let in, the suspects’ ‘den’ turned out to be a 300 sqft portion of a house, with a bedroom, a hall, a bathroom and a kitchen. Among the blood-soaked belongings of the suspects was a red, black and white checked shirt one of the suspects was seen wearing in the video clip released by the police commissioner hardly 10 hours before the gun battle. The suspect, the police identified, was Vinod Kumar, doing a recce at a nationalised bank.Three more portions of the house were occupied by families. Police are questioning the house owners, brothers Deivendran and Murugan. As the court has directed a magistrate probe should be conducted in the police encounters, police have informed the chief metropolitan magistrate about the incident.About a month before the gang struck the IOB branch at Keelkattalai, a branch of Bank of Baroda was robbed on January 23 last. The robbers took away Rs 19 lakh from BoB and Rs 14 lakh from IOB in a swift operation by holding the bank staffs and customers at gunpoint. |
A man working for Democratic operative David Brock’s Shareblue Media was arrested at a parade in Annandale, Va., over the weekend after he argued with police about filming Republican gubernatorial candidate Ed Gillespie's campaign vehicle.
Video of the dispute and the subsequent arrest of Mike Stark show a police officer demanding that he stop filming the vehicle and move further away from the road. Stark can then be heard saying, "f--- this," before an officer pulls the man's arms behind his back to arrest him.
After a brief struggle, one officer is seen pulling Stark's leg out from under him, forcing him to the ground, where two officers attempt to pin him down and attempt to place his arms behind his back.
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"You have your weight on top of me," Stark can be heard saying, as four other officers run to the scene. "I cannot give you my hand."
The group of officers then corral Stark and attempt to handcuff him. Stark can be heard grunting and telling officers that he can't lift his hand from underneath him.
After Stark is placed in handcuffs, he is seen being turned over onto his side and told that he was arrested for using profanity, which one of the officers said was in violation of county code 511. According to Shareblue, Stark was ultimately charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. He was released on a $3,000 bond.
When reached for comment by The Hill on Tuesday, Gillespie’s campaign referred all questions on the arrest to the Fairfax County Police Department.
Shareblue is part of Brock’s network of websites and political organizations, including the liberal watchdog group Media Matters for America and the American Bridge super PAC.
Gillespie is set to face off in Virginia’s gubernatorial election next month against Democratic Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam. The race has drawn national attention, and is being closely watched as an indicator of President Trump’s popularity and its potential effect on the 2018 midterm elections.
Trump did not win Virginia in 2016, and most public polling data shows Northam leading Gillespie. |
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The data on worker deaths have been scrubbed from the OSHA website, as worker safety protections are under attack from the Trump administration.
Politico reported, “For the past several years, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration had maintained a running list of workers killed on the job — including the date, name and cause of death — near the top of its home page. The list included every worker death reported to OSHA, regardless of whether the company was issued a citation. On Friday, the box on the home page disappeared and was replaced with information on how companies can voluntarily cooperate with OSHA to reduce safety risks. That information was available before but is now displayed more prominently. The new fatality list, buried on an internal page of the website, does not include incidents where a worker was killed if the company was not cited for violations.”
The only reason to take this step is to make it easier for employers to create less safe working conditions. The Trump administration gave the green light to employers to create unsafe working conditions, and let them know that there will be no consequences from the federal government if workers are injured or die on the job.
The White House is hiding the number of workers in the United States who die on the job.
Donald Trump sold himself to voters as a billionaire pro-blue collar jobs president, but his main agenda has always been to lower wages while ending rules and protections for workers. The President is taking the country back to the days of the robber barons and Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle.
The great irony is that a president who is obsessed with putting people to work in coal mines doesn’t want the American people to know how many of their fellow citizens die due to workplace incidents.
Trump won’t be satisfied with undoing Obama’s legacy. He wants to undo all progress from the last 100 years.
America doesn’t have a president. They have a backward time machine in the Oval Office.
If you’re ready to read more from the unbossed and unbought Politicus team, sign up for our newsletter here! Email address: Leave this field empty if you're human: |
A $6 billion security system intended to keep hackers out of computers belonging to federal agencies isn't living up to expectations, an audit by the Government Accountability Office has found.
A public version of the secret audit — a secret version containing more sensitive findings was circulated to government agencies in November — released last week concerns the Einstein system, formally called the National Cybersecurity Protection System and operated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The GAO found that the system has limited capability to detect anomalies in network traffic that sometimes indicate attempts to attack a network. What it can do is scan for and detect attacks based on a list of known methods or signatures. Most of the signatures used to scan for the attacks are available in commercial-grade products, though a few were developed specially for the government.
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An organization representing top state election officials is complaining it's being kept in the dark by the federal government after a new report showed the Obama administration was quietly making extensive plans — including the possibility of deploying armed troops — in the case of an election day cyberattack or last-minute propaganda efforts from Russia.
Time Magazine reported on a document it obtained showing the administration's plans, which noted that state and local governments would have the primary jurisdiction, but called for the deployment of armed troops to counter a "significant incident."
The plan allowed for the deployment of "armed federal law enforcement agents" to polling places if hackers managed to halt voting. It also foresaw the deployment of "Active and Reserve" military forces and members of the National Guard "upon a request from a federal agency and the direction of the Secretary of Defense or the President."
The National Association of Secretaries of State, a nonpartisan group that encourages cooperation and information sharing between the top voting officials of the states, said they had no idea the administration was making such plans, which shows a continued lack of communication.
"Time and time again, state election officials who hold the constitutional authority to oversee the voting process have been left wondering why our federal leaders are being so opaque about their plans to help secure elections from foreign nation-state threats," said Kay Stimson, spokesperson for NASS.
"There won't be unlimited chances to get this right," Stimson added. "The feds don't even have authority to act without the consent of state and local officials. What is the point of gathering intelligence on foreign threats, only to withhold that information from the very people who can use it to bolster the defenses around our election systems?"
NASS feels particularly irked because it's been through the same issue this year with the Department of Homeland Security, after DHS gave the nation's voting systems a "critical infrastructure" designation. The full import of that designation is still unknown, as DHS hasn't delivered to state and local voting officials their parameters of what that designation would allow them to do.
NASS issued a resolution condemning the designation, which first happened in the last days of the Obama administration, but which has been continued under the Trump administration.
Secretaries of state were taken by surprise when the Intercept published a leaked document that showed federal officials were aware of numerous attempted cyberattacks prior to election day.
"When this leak happened, I know a lot of secretaries [of state] were alarmed, I was alarmed by it," Dunlap told the Washington Examiner in June, not long after the Intercept published their leak. "But what was alarming was not the idea that you've suffered a cyberattack — that's the reality in the digital world. But the thing that was alarming was they hadn't told anybody. And really had no plans to tell anybody." |
The Raiders are on their way to Seattle for their exhibition finale against the Seahawks on Thursday night.
While they’re relaxing, we’re crunching the numbers, breaking down the tape and making sense of everything we’ve seen during offseason workouts, training camp and the first three exhibition games.
So, what better time to take a sneak peek at how the Raiders 53-man roster shapes up for the 2012 season?
We will break down the roster into three categories: locks, on the bubble and long-shots.
Locks are players who are certain to make the roster as of now, barring injury, trade or an abysmal performance Thursday night.
On the bubble players have a decent shot of making the team but shouldn’t be tattooing the Raiders shield anywhere on their bodies just yet.
Long-shots is a sizable group of players unlikely to make the team as of now. For some of these players, their best shot of sticking around is in case of injury or by virtue of the practice squad.
Final roster cuts are Friday. Here’s our best educated guess:
LOCKS
QB — Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart and Terrelle Pryor
RB — Darren McFadden and Taiwan Jones
FB — Marcel Reece and Owen Schmitt
WR — Jacoby Ford, Darrius Heyward-Bey, Denarius Moore, Juron Criner, Rod Streater and Roscoe Parrish
TE — Brandon Myers, David Ausberry and Richard Gordon
OL — Jared Veldheer, Cooper Carlisle, Stefen Wisniewski, Mike Brisiel, Khalif Barnes, Joseph Barksdale, Alex Parsons and Tony Bergstrom
DL — Matt Shaughnessy, Lamarr Houston, Richard Seymour, Tommy Kelly, Desmond Bryant, Dave Tollefson and Christo Bilukidi
LB — Rolando McClain, Philip Wheeler and Miles Burris
CB — Ron Bartell and Shawntae Spencer
S — Michael Huff, Tyvon Branch, Mike Mitchell and Matt Giordano
K — Sebastian Janikowski
P — Shane Lechler
LS — Jon Condo
43 players are locks. That leaves 10 spots from the following players.
ON THE BUBBLE
QB — None
RB — Mike Goodson and Lonyae Miller
FB — None
WR — Travionte Session
TE — None
OL — None
DL — Jamie Cumbie, Jack Crawford and Dominique Hamilton
LB — Aaron Curry (likely to remain on the physically-unable-to-perform list because of sore knees), Travis Goethel and Carl Ihenacho
CB — DeMarcus Van Dyke, Chimdi Chekwa, Pat Lee and Bryan McCann
S — Brandon Underwood
K — None
P — None
LONG-SHOTS
QB — None
RB — None
FB — None
WR — Eddie McGee, Derek Carrier and Brandon Carswell
TE — Tory Humphrey and Kyle Efaw
OL — Dan Knapp, Kevin Haslam, Lucas Nix, Nick Howell and Colin Miller
DL — Hall Davis
LB — Kaelin Burnett, Chad Kilgore and Nathan Stupar
CB — Coye Francies
S — Curtis Taylor
K — Eddy Carmona
P — Marquette King
With that said, the odds-on candidates to capture the final 10 spots are: RB Mike Goodson, DLs Jamie Cumbie and Jack Crawford, LBs Travis Goethel and Carl Ihenacho, CBs DeMarcus Van Dyke, Chimdi Chekwa, Pat Lee and Bryan McCann and S Brandon Underwood.
This leaves the Raiders thin at linebacker, assuming Curry winds up on the PUP list. However, Tollefson is versatile enough to help out in a pinch, as he did with the New York Giants. Carrying six cornerbacks gives the Raiders better odds of finding one or two long-term keepers.
Also, carrying only eight offensive linemen isn’t exactly ideal. Yet, Bergstrom and Barksdale are versatile enough to play multiple positions, as well on both sides of the line. And, the Raiders won’t have any difficulty adding a player if the need arises.
It’s also important to remember that the Raiders cut Giordano last season in reaching 53 players, only to re-sign him a few days later. This is just the next phase of the building process. |
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard didn't give House leaders any warning that she was traveling to Syria. | Getty Gabbard won't disclose who's paying for secret trip to Syria
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard’s office won’t say who is paying for the Hawaii Democrat’s controversial trip to Syria and Lebanon this week.
Gabbard spokeswoman Emily Latimer said the trip wasn’t funded using taxpayer dollars and was approved by the House Ethics Committee but wouldn’t provide further information when pressed by POLITICO. The lawmaker is currently on the trip, though it's not clear exactly when she'll be returning.
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“For security reasons, we will not be releasing additional details or comments until she returns,” Latimer said in an email.
Congressional leaders were blindsided by Gabbard’s trip to war-ravaged Syria with staffers saying she didn’t give the customary advanced warning to Democratic or Republican leadership offices.
Latimer wouldn’t say whether Gabbard met with Syrian President Bashar Assad. Lebanese officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the trip.
Hill insiders say they believe the trip was paid for by a non-governmental organization (NGO) but aren’t sure which one or if it has ties to the Assad regime. The trip, which Latimer called a “fact-finding” mission, was first reported by Foreign Policy.
This isn’t the first time Gabbard has defied her party or conventional norms. She criticized the Obama administration's actions on Syria, endorsed Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary and was one of the first Democrats to meet with President-elect Donald Trump.
But this trip shocked congressional aides from both parties.
Gabbard, who sits on both the Armed Services and Foreign Affairs committees is opposed to U.S. military intervention in the war-ravaged country.
She has even accused the Obama administration of funding terrorist groups and introduced legislation in December that would prevent the administration from “directly or indirectly supporting” groups including ISIS and al Qaeda.
Gabbard brought up her concerns about U.S. interventionism during a November meeting with Trump. “I felt it is important to take the opportunity to meet the President-elect now before the drumbeats of war that neocons have been beating drag us into an escalation of the war to overthrow the Syrian government,” she said in a statement after the meeting.
In the past Gabbard, an Iraq War veteran, has condemned efforts to overthrow Assad, saying ousting the Syrian president would just create more instability in the already volatile region.
She also voted against a House resolution in 2016 condemning “war crimes and crimes against humanity” by the Syrian government.
“She felt it was important to meet with a number of individuals and groups including religious leaders, humanitarian workers, refugees and government and community leaders,” Latimer said. |
Department Of Energy / Time & Life Pictures / Getty Images The guts of the 12-foot-long B61 nuclear bomb
Weighing the utility of nuclear weapons has always been more theology than science. That was made clear again Tuesday when the House Armed Services Committee’s strategic forces subcommittee poked into the need to spend $10 billion or more improving the Pentagon’s existing arsenal of B61 nuclear bombs.
The advocates of a reliable, potent and fresh nuclear deterrent argue that investing in a retooled B61 is a good use of scarce taxpayer dollars. Those less inclined to spend money on nuclear weapons no one ever wants to see used suggest newer B83s can do the job for at least the next decade. They are the only two bomber-dropped gravity bombs left in the U.S. atomic arsenal.
Not surprisingly, the representatives from the Pentagon and the Department of Energy, which builds the nation’s nukes, support the modernization plan. “This B61 weapon arms the B-2,” Air Force General Robert Kehler, chief of the U.S. Strategic Command, said. “It will arm the future long-range strike platform. It arms the current dual-capable aircraft that are forward stationed in Europe as well as those of our NATO allies that maintain dual-capable aircraft. And it’s the candidate weapon to arm the F-35 in that dual-capable aircraft role.”
The B83 won’t do, Kehler said. It doesn’t work with as many kinds of aircraft, and frankly, it’s just too destructive.
“It has a very high yield,” he said, referring to the size of the explosion it would create. “And we are trying to pursue weapons that actually are reducing in yield because we’re concerned about maintaining weapons that would have less collateral effect if the President ever had to use them.”
Kehler acknowledged fretting about collateral damage in a nuclear war sounds strange. “However, there is a direct relationship between yield and collateral damage,” he added. “Without getting too Strangelovian here…the [B83] weapon is not as flexible as the B61…in terms of our ability to use various yields that would be matched to the targets.”
The B83, truth be told, is a city-destroyer. First detonated in 1984, its yield (adjustable, but about a megaton) is 75 times that of the “Little Boy” that destroyed Hiroshima. The B61 also sports an adjustable yield, but it ranges from a much more modest 0.3 to 340 kilotons, no more that a third of the B83’s punch. In the nuclear realm, that makes it more of a threat — because of its smaller yield, it is more likely to be used — and consequently generates more deterrence.
Kehler said the nation needs an improved B61 to bolster the chances that it will never be detonated. “The ultimate objective of the nuclear deterrent is to make sure that the weapons are never used. And yet, we use them every day to do that,” he said. “It’s almost counterintuitive from people who aren’t informed, but we use those weapons every single day.” |
1. Pulling her to the left Bernie Sanders speaks at the Iowa Democratic Party's Hall of Fame dinner. Credit:Reuters Clinton has already taken various positions on economic and social issues that are clearly a reaction to the Sanders' threat from the far left. In recent months, Clinton's political and rhetorical message has boiled down to an Old-Democrat, big-government, Pelosi-Reid-AFL-CIO-pleasing stew that a skillful Republican nominee could exploit, shoving Clinton out of the vital political middle in the general election. 2. Exposing her biggest weaknesses Even some of Clinton's staunchest backers will tell you she comes off to many voters as personally inauthentic and politically calculating, lacking a genuine, heartfelt message. Even some of Sanders' biggest detractors will tell you he is exactly the opposite. Sanders has become such a prodigious performer on the stump and in TV interviews in part because he gives Democrats an unvarnished and passionate view of his ideas, his soul, and himself. Recently, at a major gathering of Iowa Democratic activists, almost every Clinton supporter to whom I talked expressed admiration for Sanders' authenticity and policy agenda, and many said that if they followed their heart, they would vote for the underdog. If Clinton's main four-point agenda sounds like the product of extensive research by her polling and focus-group teams, well, that is because it is. A lot of voters grasp that calculation intuitively, and find it a turnoff. Clinton's perceived lack of personal and political sincerity might not cost her the nomination, but it won't help her image with general-election voters already sceptical about her character and relatability.
3. Forcing her to go negative Democratic presidential candidate and US senator Bernie Sanders speaks at a rally in Dallas. Credit:Reuters When front-runners are threatened, their usual move is to kneecap the opponent and, before too long, Clinton might feel she has no choice but attack Sanders. Such a move might be effective, but it would hold peril. First, as Sanders himself has eschewed negative politics throughout his career, potent political martyrdom could ensue. Second, Clinton could look like a hypocrite, since she has been regularly railing against negative attacks from the GOP. Third, it could unleash even more vigorous Republican assaults, with far less concern about public or media backlash. 4. Playing a losing expectations game Clinton faces a daunting expectations game. Even if she heads into Iowa and New Hampshire with solid polling leads, simply winning will not be enough. She has to finish far enough ahead of Sanders to prevent the media from treating a win like a loss. Between now and early February, polls will rise and fall, and what will constitute a win for Clinton will change. But rest assured, the media will give her zero benefit of the doubt in this regard. Even if Clinton wins Iowa, say, 66 per cent to 33 per cent in an historic landslide, some news organisations would likely headline their stories "One third of Iowa Democrats reject Clinton". Clinton will thus have to spend a great deal of time and money in the two early states (which demographically and ideologically are among Sanders' strongest), leaving her vulnerable in some of the later-voting states and hindering the timely formulation of a general-election strategy or message.
5. Beating her in early states If Sanders continues to build his momentum and cut into Clinton's lead, and she becomes sidetracked by controversy (typically a given, when a Clinton is on the ballot), it is not inconceivable Sanders could win one or both of the two first states. That would instantly throw the party into a second-guessing panic. Panic, needless to say, would not help Clinton look like a general-election juggernaut. 6. Forcing her to invest more in caucus states As a hedge against early losses, and with the memory of being outfoxed by Team Obama in 2008, Clinton's campaign is going to pour resources into the post-Iowa caucus states, where Sanders' grassroots enthusiasm allows him to compete fiercely. Caucuses and primaries are state-level elections to determine which candidates receive party support going into the national conventions. Once again, this dynamic means Clinton has to continue to take left-wing positions and to devote precious resources to targeting small numbers of activists, rather than building a general-election machine. 7. Forcing her into an extended nomination fight
If Sanders has early success, the media and the left (not to mention the GOP) will be eager to see how far he can go. That will mean the Clinton campaign will have to continue to allocate resources away from a general-election fight. The longer Sanders stays alive, the greater the aforementioned party panic would be. Bill Clinton dealt with this dynamic in 1992, when, amid scandal, he struggled to put away Paul Tsongas and Jerry Brown. As the conventional wisdom refrain declares, Hillary Clinton does not have her husband's political skills – it would be more difficult for her to quash a widespread party freakout. And it wasn't easy for Bill Clinton. Now, of course, these are mostly speculative scenarios. But none is impossible or even improbable. All derive directly from Sanders' manifest strengths, Clinton's manifest weaknesses, and the dynamics and realities of the Democratic Party's nomination process. Not long ago, few would have imagined Sanders could have posed any sort of threat to Clinton's political fortunes. Sanders might lose in the end, but his successes thus far and going forward make it more likely Clinton will lose in the end, too. Bloomberg Follow FairfaxForeign on Twitter Follow FairfaxForeign on Facebook |
The Nekroz Ritual Monsters have effects that can be used in the hand and on the field, which gives them a lot of versatility and combo potential. In addition, they have 3 different Ritual Spells with which to Ritual Summon their monsters, and while they’re all very powerful, they all function slightly differently. Today we’ll discuss those Spell Cards and learn how to make the most of each of them!
Since your entire offense in a Nekroz Deck comes from Ritual Monsters, you’ll need a constant supply of them. Thankfully, the “Nekroz” Ritual Spells can easily ensure you have one all the time! During your Main Phase, if one of them is in your Graveyard and you control no monsters, you can it along with a ”Nekroz” monster to add a “Nekroz” Spell Card from your Deck to your hand. This gives you an easy way to get back in the game, and recover after your field has been cleared. We already discussed Nekroz Cycle, so let’s move on to the 2 new Ritual Spells!
Nekroz Mirror is about as close to a “regular” Ritual Spell as the Nekroz get – you Tribute monsters from the field or your hand, and then Ritual Summon a “Nekroz” Ritual Monster from your hand with an equal level to those monsters. Unlike other Ritual Spells though, you can even banish “Nekroz” monsters from your Graveyard to fuel the Ritual Summon! While Nekroz strategies do have some Graveyard manipulation available, you won’t be getting every card out of your Graveyard, so Nekroz Mirror will definitely make some cheap Ritual Summons off of banishing cards.
It’s worth noting the text on Shurit, Strategist of the Nekroz as well – whenever you would Ritual Summon exactly 1 “Nekroz” Ritual Monster with a card effect that requires the use of monsters, you can use Shurit as the entire requirement. In the past, cards like this have only worked when they’re Tributed, but Shurit only cares about whether he is “used” for the Summon. This means that if you use Nekroz Mirror to Ritual Summon a “Nekroz”, you can banish Shurit from your Graveyard as the entire requirement! His second ability specifically requires him to be Tributed though, so don’t expect an extra search if you banish him from the Graveyard!
The second new “Nekroz” Ritual Spell is Nekroz Kaleidoscope, and this one’s a revolutionary new kind of Ritual Spell. With Kaleidoscope, you can Ritual Summon any number of “Nekroz” Ritual Monsters at the same time! The twist is that you can only Tribute 1 monster for the Summon and the total Levels of the monsters you Summon need to match the Tribute’s Level, which means you’ll need a huge monster if you want to Summon more than one monster at once. Fortunately, this card also has an alternative method of payment: instead of Tributing from your hand or field, you can send 1 monster from your Extra Deck to the Graveyard! This way, you don’t even need to have a big monster on hand to Tribute, and you can preload your Extra Deck with big monsters that add up to the Levels you plan on Summoning.
If you’re planning on Summoning multiple monsters, adding Level 10, 11, and 12 monsters (such as Shooting Star Dragon, Star Eater, and Shooting Quasar Dragon) to your Extra Deck will help you Ritual Summon different combinations of “Nekroz” Ritual Monsters!
With all this talk of having the right monsters at the right time to use with Nekroz Kaleidoscope, it would be handy if there was some way to pick and choose which “Nekroz” you’d like to Summon while leaving your Normal Summon open for Manju to grab a Spell.
You can Ritual Summon this card with any “Nekroz” Ritual Spell Card. Must be Ritual Summoned without using “Nekroz of Brionac”, and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. You can only use each of these effects of “Nekroz of Brionac” once per turn.
You can discard this card; add 1 “Nekroz” monster from your Deck to your hand, except “Nekroz of Brionac”.
You can target up to 2 face-up monsters on the field that were Special Summoned from the Extra Deck; shuffle them into the Deck.
Nekroz of Brionac shares a Level, Attribute, ATK and DEF with the currently Forbidden Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier. This version of Brionac won’t discard your other cards though – it will discard itself instead to search for any “Nekroz” monster in your Deck and add it to your hand! You can search for Shurit, Strategist of the Nekroz to make a free Ritual Summon with Nekroz Mirror, or you can search for a Ritual Monster you can bring out with Nekroz Kaleidoscope! With access to your entire Deck at your fingertips, Brionac can give you the exact monster you need.
If you do plan on Summoning Brionac, though, its on-field effect allows you to clear away monsters that were Special Summoned from the Extra Deck. This is particular powerful against Shaddolls and Burning Abyss, since they rely on having their monsters go to the Graveyard to retrieve the cards used to make them. Nekroz of Brionac can do that when you need it to, while also letting you get another monster when you need a different effect.
The Nekroz are poised to be extremely powerful, and with lots of different Ritual Spells and ways to get the cards they need they’ll definitely be a force to be reckoned with. If Ritual Summoning is your style or you just want to try a powerful new Deck, look no further than the Nekroz in The Secret Forces, which is released Friday 13th February! |
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton struck a deal with the State Department while serving in the Obama administration that allowed her to take ownership of records she did not want made public, according to recently released reports.
Clinton and her then-deputy chief of staff Huma Abedin were permitted to remove electronic and physical records under a claim they were "personal" materials and "unclassified, non-record materials."
Judicial Watch made the Judicial Watch made the revelation after filing a FOIA request with the State Department and obtaining a record of the agreement.
The newly released documents show the deal allowed Clinton and Abedin to remove documents related to particular calls and schedules, and the records would not be "released to the general public under FOIA." Abedin, for instance, was allowed to remove electronic records and five boxes of physical files, including files labeled "Muslim Engagement Documents."
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The released records included a list of designated materials that "would not be released to the general public under FOIA" and were to be released "to the Secretary with this understanding."
Electronic copy of "daily files" – which are word versions of public documents and non-records: speeches/press statements/photos from the website, a non-record copy of the schedule, a non record copy of the call log, press clips, and agenda of daily activities Electronic copy of a log of calls the Secretary made since 2004, it is a non-record, since her official calls are logged elsewhere (official schedule and official call log) Electronic copy of the Secretary’s "call grid" which is a running list of calls she wants to make (both personal and official) 16 boxes: Personal Schedules (1993 thru 2008-prior to the Secretary’s tenure at the Department of State. 29 boxes: Miscellaneous Public Schedules during her tenure as FLOTUS and Senator-prior to the Secretary’s tenure at the Department of State 1 box: Personal Reimbursable receipts (6/25/2009 thru 1/14/2013) 1 box: Personal Photos 1 box: Personal schedule (2009-2013)
A physical file of "the log of the Secretary’s gifts with pictures of gifts" was also handed over to Clinton. Gifts received by government employees is highly regulated, and often strictly limited. However, gifts that are "motivated by a family relationship or personal friendship" may be accepted without limitation.
Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton released a statement condemning the agreement between the government and Clinton.
"We already know the Obama State Department let Hillary Clinton steal and then delete her government emails, which included classified information. But these new records show that was only part of the scandal," Fitton said. "These new documents show the Obama State Department had a deal with Hillary Clinton to hide her calls logs and schedules, which would be contrary to FOIA and other laws."
"When are the American people going to get an honest investigation of the Clinton crimes?" he added. |
Citing Fraud Suspicions, Franchot Suspends Electronic Tax Filing From 7 Baltimore-Area Locations
Comptroller Peter Franchot on Wednesday said his office will suspend the processing of electronic tax returns from several Baltimore-area Liberty Tax Service locations, after a number of returns showed questionable information.
The affected locations are at 2400 E. Monument St. , 7730 Wise Ave. (in Dundalk), 1742 W. North Ave. , 2401 Liberty Heights Ave., 1808 Pennsylvania Ave., 3308 Greenmount Ave. and 503 W. Lexington St. All except the Wise Avenue location are in Baltimore.
All have been sent written notice of the decision, and Attorney General Brian Frosh, labor regulators and other tax agencies have been notified as well.
What was suspicious enough to cause Franchot to take this step? Taxpayers would report business income despite not owning a business. Refund amounts requested were much higher than previous years. Business expenses weren't documented. Dependents were claimed when the taxpayers didn't provide the required minimum 50 percent support. Some taxpayers would inflate wages and withhold income information.
Franchot's office advises taxpayers to review their returns and be suspicious if a tax preparer deducts fees from the refund to be deposited into the preparer's account; does not sign the return; or failes to include the preparer's taxpayer identification number. Anyone suspecting fraud is asked to report it to the comptroller at 1-800-MD-TAXES or 410-26-7980.
The Liberty Tax decision was one of the topics Comptroller Franchot addressed Wednesday during an interview with Mary Beth Marsden on Maryland's News Now. |
Opinions on the new pants are as varied as the sizes and shapes of the League's 60-plus goaltenders.
The new tighter, rounder, form-fitting goalie pants are here. By Saturday, every NHL goalie will have to wear the new pants, the latest step in streamlining equipment worn by goaltenders.
Washington Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby doesn't care that he is being forced to change his pants midseason. He was involved in the discussions about streamlining goalie equipment and knew changes were coming.
Holtby worried the new pants would limit his flexibility and, as a result, create a hole when he tried to play tight against the post and bend down onto one leg, a technique used by many goaltenders.
"If there is too tight equipment it doesn't allow you to bend the whole way so it leaves a hole," Holtby said last weekend in Los Angeles. "But we looked at it through video, slowed everything down and there were no holes, so it's fine. I didn't find much of a difference at all."
San Jose Sharks goaltender Martin Jones has been wearing the new pants in games for several weeks. He says his peers shouldn't find too much of a difference with the new pants.
Video: SJS@VAN: Jones denies Burrows twice on the doorstep
The new pants are the latest alteration in a suite of rules designed to streamline equipment used by goaltenders, approved by the Board of Governors in June.
Jones, Corey Crawford of the Chicago Blackhawks, Peter Budaj of the Los Angeles Kings, Sergei Bobrovsky of the Columbus Blue Jackets and Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning are among the many who have been wearing them in games. Many others, like Holtby, have been trying to break them in in practice.
Kay Whitmore, the NHL's senior director of hockey operations and goaltender equipment, said the new pants now have a defined thigh guard that has been reduced in width from 10 inches to nine inches. The new pant leg maintains a constant curve that wraps the leg and doesn't flare out, as it has in the past.
"Also, more sizes have been created to more closely align with the different waist sizes of today's goaltenders," Whitmore said. "In the past, companies basically fit every player in either a large or extra-large pant so the difference from the smallest to the biggest was negligible. We now have enough sizes to properly size all goalies no matter what size they need or company they choose to wear."
Crawford said he hasn't felt a big difference.
"Pants are probably one of the easiest pieces of equipment to [change]," Crawford said.
Not everyone is supportive of the change, especially the timing.
"I think to have an equipment change midseason, it's crazy, especially in the goaltending position," Arizona Coyotes goalie Mike Smith said. "It's nuts that it can't wait until the beginning of next season."
Whitmore said the League originally intended to implement the change prior to the start of the season, but there were safety concerns with the new pants that had to be addressed with the manufacturing companies, causing a delay. Nearly a quarter of the League's goalies already are wearing the new pants.
"We addressed the safety concerns and felt it was the right decision to implement as soon as possible, regardless of the fact that it was midway through the year," Whitmore said.
Whitmore stressed the League has been working hand in hand with the NHL Players' Association and has been transparent about the changes coming since the conclusion of the Competition Committee meeting in June 2015.
"Early on in the process, several goalies told us that it was not that big a deal to change a pair of pants," Whitmore said. "Obviously all the goalies don't agree, but when we have goalies that change pads 10-12 times a year, it's hard to believe a pant change isn't possible."
Video: CHI@ARI: Smith robs Hossa's breakaway attempt
Smith, who has tried the pants once and didn't like them, said he thinks the tighter fit will impact taller goalies like himself more than shorter goalies. Smith is 6-foot-4.
"I've been wearing pants like [the old ones] for my whole life, where you don't really feel them being a part of you," Smith said. "I tried [the new ones] on one time and they feel like they're really restrictive in your movements, so obviously it's a big change."
Jones, who also is s 6-foot-4, said the restrictive nature of the tighter pants was also his concern.
"The first probably three or four skates, just kind of working them in, they were snug," Jones said, "but you play around with them a little bit and get them to fit right." |
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