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Ed Reed could be playing in his final game with the Baltimore Ravens in Sunday's AFC Championship Game. But this might not be his last one in New England. Reed, a nine-time Pro Bowl safety, is an unrestricted free agent in March, and there have not been any contract talks with the Ravens since before the 2011 season. If Reed leaves the Ravens after this season, my money is going to be for New England. I can see Reed playing for the New England Patriots for two reasons: the Patriots need a playmaker in the back end of the defense after giving up the most passes over 20 yards in the NFL this season and coach Bill Belichick loves Reed. It's a full-blown man crush. A couple of years ago, Tom Brady joked that Belichick wanted to adopt Ed Reed and change his name to "Ed Belichick." Just listen to how Belichick talks about Reed: In January 2012, Belichick said Reed "probably covers more field back there as a single safety than most teams can cover with two." This week, Belichick sounded like he was gushing when talking about Reed's legacy, saying, "He just does things that nobody else at that position does or I don’t know if they’ve ever done it. He’s special. He's really special." Coming from Reed's vantage point, I can only see him going to a team with championship aspirations. Reed, who turns 35 at the start of the 2013 season, doesn't want to end his career on a rebuilding team. So, if Reed comes available, I would expect Belichick to personally make the call to Reed. Of course, this is assuming that Reed will be available in March. While I don't see the Ravens investing a long-term deal in Reed, the team could put the franchise tag on him if it can get a long-term deal reached with quarterback Joe Flacco. On Sunday, Reed is looking for his first trip to the Super Bowl when the Ravens play at New England. But his destination this offseason will also be a major storyline.
“You don’t eat to be “the best” taster the world, don’t take a stroll to be “the best” stroller in the world, don’t push buttons in an elevator to be the best button pusher in the world.” – Nassim Taleb One question which has always bothered me is the following: “Why are photographers so competitive?” Okay I get it– if you work as a commercial photographer you are competing against other photographers to obtain clients and make a living. However in the world of amateur photography (photography in which we do it for pure love, not profit) why does competition matter at all? The Sociology of Competition Let me try to break down the idea of competition explained by sociology. According to sociology, (especially in the west) we live in a hierarchical society in which rank is of upmost important. We want to show to others that we are powerful, important, and “successful” (via money and status). So how do we show our rank in society in general terms? Well, we buy designer goods (Louie Vuitton purses, Armani glasses, $200 jeans), expensive cars (BMW’s, Mercedes, Porsches), and own big homes. Either that (or in addition to) how much money we have in our bank account. The problem of ranking The problem of ranking ourselves to one another in society is that life isn’t a zero-sum game. Meaning, life isn’t a competition where there are distinct “winners” and “losers.” Life isn’t a sport where there is clear winner and loser. If the Chicago Bulls play the Miami Heat there is a clear winner or loser (by how many baskets each team makes). However in life, we could do “better” than others relatively speaking (in terms of monetary value, material objects, etc) but there are no winners or losers. Social media and competition Like I said earlier, I have found photographers to be incredibly competitive (even in the small world of street photography). Everyone wants to always out-do one another, get more followers, get more “likes”, more “favorites”– more affirmation by numbers. I know this from personal experience. I expand a bit on this idea in an article I wrote: “How Many Favorites or Likes is Enough?” in which I always thought once I got a 100 favorites on Flickr (for an individual photo) I would be happy for the rest of my life. Then once I got the 100 favorites, I now strove for 200 favorites. Then 300. The madness doesn’t end. Kind of like how no matter how much money you earn, you will always want more. Problems of striving for external recognition We as photographers want to show our prominence and importance in terms of rank in accordance to other photographers by how many followers we have, exhibitions we have done, books we have published, etc. But the problem of this approach is that you are never satisfied. Imagine lying on a table, where you are strapped down by your arms and legs– and there is a constant drip of water falling on your forehead– and you can’t move. Imagine that burning itch you want to get rid of, but you can’t. That is like the pursuit of wanting more. You will always have that constant bugging feeling that you aren’t doing enough, you aren’t “successful” enough, and that you aren’t popular enough. If you think about it, what is really the difference between 10 followers and 10,000 followers online? Numbers don’t mean anything. If you just had two people following your work (let’s say Josef Koudelka and Martin Parr I am sure you would be overjoyed (and wouldn’t worry about the numbers). That is just an extreme example– but just remember– it is the quality of your followers that counts over the number of followers you have. Quality over quantity. But imagine if you didn’t have any followers (let’s say maybe your mom). But even your mom didn’t like your work. Would you be upset? Sure you might be discouraged (after all, if you have a Mom that doesn’t support you that is the worst injustice) but remember the most important person to impress is yourself. Hypothetically you could be the most famous photographer in the world– but if you absolutely despised your work would you be satisfied or happy with yourself? From competition to collaboration What I encourage instead of trying to compete with one another to become the “best” photographer out there– that we should rather spend more energy in collaborating with one another. There are many great photography collectives out there which I follow in which their strength comes from numbers. This includes Burn My Eye, That’s Life, In-Public, strange.rs, Oculi, Observe, Stroma, and many others I can’t currently think off the top of my head. I love seeing how they collaborate in doing group edits (choosing a certain theme like let’s say “Home”) and each photographer contributes a photo to share in the collection. Let’s say you aren’t part of a collective. Well you can start off by starting your own local or online collective. And once again, street photography isn’t a competition. It doesn’t matter who has the most followers or who has the “best” photos. It is about connecting with like-minded individuals who share the same passion, and want to help one another out. If you don’t want to collaborate in a group– you can always connect with one another on the individual level. One of the problems when you upload photos to social media (Facebook, Flickr, Google+, etc) is that the comments you get are quite crappy like “Nice shot”, “Nice tones”, or “What camera did you use?” One of the lessons I learned from the Street Crit Flickr group when I was first starting off is the importance to give detailed, in-depth, critical, and honest feedback. I would rather have someone be offended by my feedback (that is genuine, critical, and honest) than leave a half-assed comment. Therefore now my personal rule I am striving towards is the following: Don’t leave a comment on a photo that is less than 4 sentences long (and that doesn’t point out the pros and the cons). Granted I don’t always follow this rule (I won’t give such a detailed critique for a person’s breakfast photo or dog) but it is something I try to give. And I find when I do give those in-depth comments, people appreciate them. I know personally on Flickr I might get 100 comments that all say “nice shot”– and the one person who gives me an in-depth critique is the one that stands out. Then I tend to check out that person’s work– might contact them and say thank you, and want to help reciprocate and give the other person some helpful and in-depth feedback in return. Pure giving (versus taking) One book I am currently reading is called: “Give and Take.” The book’s central thesis is that to be successful in life isn’t to take advantage of others– but rather to be a giver (and give until it hurts). The author talks about the difference between three types of people: Takers (people who want favors from you, but don’t give it back in return). Matchers (people who will do favors for you, but want a favor in return. Or if someone gives them a favor, they will return one because they feel obligated). Givers (people who give favors endlessly, without expecting anything in return). Believe it or not, some of the most successful people in the world are the givers. They open up new connections, promote a sense of giving in the community, and spread positivity and good will. So I advocate you to be a giver when it comes to photography. Always offer your help, your suggestions, your comments, critiques, insights into your craft, secrets behind your post-processing and editing, whatever. My experiences as a giver At heart I am a giver (I get it from my mom) and I have to say from personal experience: the more I give, the more I get in return. And not to say that I only give because I expect things in return. Rather, it just happens naturally. Even with this blog, I started it out of pure love and to share my experiences in street photography. After all, when I started shooting street photography there were very few or little resources on actually “how to shoot” street photography (or guides starting off). So I started the blog knowing that others out there might have the same problems. I never intended to make this a full-time living (I did it as a spare-time hobby) but through a series of unfortunate (but ultimately positive) events I made this a “career.” And if it weren’t for your help (the viewer) this blog wouldn’t be where it is today. I want to finish off this article with this quote from Nassim Taleb (author of Antifragile), one of my favorite authors/philosophers: “You don’t eat to be “the best” taster the world, don’t take a stroll to be “the best” stroller in the world, don’t push buttons in an elevator to be the best button pusher in the world. So if you use this marker to select your activities, you should feel liberated, extremely liberated: don’t write to be the best novelist in the world, don’t do math to be the best symplectic geometry, don’t earn to be the richest… ideally everything one does would escape this notion of rank, separated from sense of duty, of natural impulse. And the bonus is that when you will listen to those who talk about others in terms of rank, hierarchy of achievement, performance, league tables (“he is in the top 11 in bariatric surgery”), or, worst, precedence of discovery (“he invented the lateral stroller equation”), etc., these people will sound like lower forms of life. For both those who aim for rank and those who talk about it are lower form of life.” – Nassim Taleb (Link) So once again– aim to collaborate, not compete when it comes to photography (and life in general).
BOSTON (Reuters) - Security experts said on Monday a highly sophisticated computer virus is infecting computers in Iran and other Middle East countries and may have been deployed at least five years ago to engage in state-sponsored cyber espionage. A computer engineer checks equipment at an internet service provider in Tehran February 15, 2011. REUTERS/Caren Firouz Evidence suggest that the virus, dubbed Flame, may have been built on behalf of the same nation or nations that commissioned the Stuxnet worm that attacked Iran’s nuclear program in 2010, according to Kaspersky Lab, the Russian cyber security software maker that took credit for discovering the infections. Kaspersky researchers said they have yet to determine whether Flame had a specific mission like Stuxnet, and declined to say who they think built it. Iran has accused the United States and Israel of deploying Stuxnet. Cyber security experts said the discovery publicly demonstrates what experts privy to classified information have long known: that nations have been using pieces of malicious computer code as weapons to promote their security interests for several years. “This is one of many, many campaigns that happen all the time and never make it into the public domain,” said Alexander Klimburg, a cyber security expert at the Austrian Institute for International Affairs. A cyber security agency in Iran said on its English website that Flame bore a “close relation” to Stuxnet, the notorious computer worm that attacked that country’s nuclear program in 2010 and is the first publicly known example of a cyber weapon. Iran’s National Computer Emergency Response Team also said Flame might be linked to recent cyber attacks that officials in Tehran have said were responsible for massive data losses on some Iranian computer systems. Kaspersky Lab said it discovered Flame after a U.N. telecommunications agency asked it to analyze data on malicious software across the Middle East in search of the data-wiping virus reported by Iran. STUXNET CONNECTION Experts at Kaspersky Lab and Hungary’s Laboratory of Cryptography and System Security who have spent weeks studying Flame said they have yet to find any evidence that it can attack infrastructure, delete data or inflict other physical damage. Yet they said they are in the early stages of their investigations and that they may discover other purposes beyond data theft. It took researchers months to determine the key mysteries behind Stuxnet, including the purpose of modules used to attack a uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, Iran. If Kaspersky’s findings are validated, Flame could go down in history as the third major cyber weapon uncovered after Stuxnet and its data-stealing cousin Duqu, named after the Star Wars villain. The Moscow-based company is controlled by Russian malware researcher Eugene Kaspersky. It gained notoriety after solving several mysteries surrounding Stuxnet and Duqu. Officials with Symantec Corp and Intel Corp McAfee security division, the top 2 makers of anti-virus software, said they were studying Flame. “It seems to be more complex than Duqu but it’s too early to tell its place in history,” said Dave Marcus, director of advanced research and threat intelligence with McAfee. Symantec Security Response manager Vikram Thakur said that his company’s experts believed there was a “high” probability that Flame was among the most complex pieces of malicious software ever discovered. At least one rival of Kaspersky expressed skepticism. Privately held Webroot said its automatic virus-scanning engines detected Flame in December 2007, but that it did not pay much attention because the code was not particularly menacing. That is partly because it was easy to discover and remove, said Webroot Vice President Joe Jaroch. “There are many more dangerous threats out there today,” he said. MAPPING IT OUT Kaspersky’s research shows the largest number of infected machines are in Iran, followed by Israel and the Palestinian territories, then Sudan and Syria. The virus contains about 20 times as much code as Stuxnet, which caused centrifuges to fail at the Iranian enrichment facility it attacked. It has about 100 times as much code as a typical virus designed to steal financial information, said Kaspersky Lab senior researcher Roel Schouwenberg. Flame can gather data files, remotely change settings on computers, turn on PC microphones to record conversations, take screen shots and log instant messaging chats. Kaspersky Lab said Flame and Stuxnet appear to infect machines by exploiting the same flaw in the Windows operating system and that both viruses employ a similar way of spreading. That means the teams that built Stuxnet and Duqu might have had access to the same technology as the team that built Flame, Schouwenberg said. He said that a nation state would have the capability to build such a sophisticated tool, but declined to comment on which countries might do so. The question of who built flame is sure to become a hot topic in the security community as well as the diplomatic world. There is some controversy over who was behind Stuxnet and Duqu. Some experts suspect the United States and Israel, a view that was laid out in a January 2011 New York Times report that said it came from a joint program begun around 2004 to undermine what they say are Iran’s efforts to build a bomb. The U.S. Defense Department, CIA, State Department, National Security Agency, and U.S. Cyber Command declined to comment. Hungarian researcher Boldizsar Bencsath, whose Laboratory of Cryptography and Systems Security first discovered Duqu, said his analysis shows that Flame may have been active for at least five years and perhaps eight years or more. That implies it was active long before Stuxnet. “It’s huge and overly complex, which makes me think it’s a first-generation data gathering tool,” said Neil Fisher, vice president for global security solutions at Unisys Corp. “We are going to find more of these things over time.” Others said cyber weapons technology has inevitably advanced since Flame was built. “The scary thing for me is: if this is what they were capable of five years ago, I can only think what they are developing now,” Mohan Koo, managing director of British-based Dtex Systems cyber security company. Some experts speculated that the discovery of the virus may have dealt a psychological blow to its victims, on top of whatever damage Flame may have already inflicted to their computers. “If a government initiated the attack it might not care that the attack was discovered,” said Klimburg of the Austrian Institute for International Affairs. “The psychological effect of the penetration could be nearly as profitable as the intelligence gathered.”
First lady Melania Trump has announced that her son, Barron, will attend a private Episcopal school in Maryland beginning this fall. Eleven-year-old Barron is finishing the current school year at a private institution in New York. He has been living there with his mother since Donald Trump took office in January. The first lady announced Monday that -- beginning this fall -- Barron will become a student at the private St. Andrew's Episcopal School in Potomac, Maryland. She says St. Andrews is known for its diverse community and its commitment to academic excellence. Tuition ranges from more than $23,000 for pre-K to more than $40,000 for grades 9-12. President Donald Trump has said his wife and youngest child will relocate to the White House after the current school year.
by As the 50th anniversary of the 1963 march on Washington DC – the March for Jobs and Freedom immortalized by Martin Luther King’s iconic I Have a Dream speech – is celebrated and discussed around the country, it is important to note that though some gains have certainly been made over the past half-century toward a more inclusive, egalitarian society, in many respects – particularly in economic matters – there has been little or no progress whatsoever. Indeed, by certain measures equality has diminished considerably. Accompanying a minimum wage that, when adjusted for inflation, is lower than it was in 1968, and wages that – except for the wealthy – haven’t risen in decades, the economy has polarized wealth to a greater degree than ever, reducing the economic classes more and more to the two extremes of rich and poor, and squeezing the middle class into little more than a memory. This lack of change is observable in, among other places, the fact that it’s five decades later and people are still talking about jobs – coveting jobs as though jobs were those necessities and luxuries that work is obtained to secure. Notwithstanding this culture of work’s ideological claims to the contrary, however, jobs are less preconditions for freedom than impediments to freedom’s concrete realization. Beyond consuming most of workers’ waking hours (consuming that which constitutes the precondition for freedom – time), jobs also wreck people’s health, vitiating freedom in the sense of bodily movement as well. Moreover, that people are compelled to work a job – in spite of the job’s actual function – demonstrates the consanguinity of jobs and dependency, rather than in-dependency. Some may counter at this point that needing a job is just a natural, unavoidable fact – that people must work to live. But the inordinately excessive amount of time that people devote to work in the US is less a natural fact than a cultural one. Additionally, we shouldn’t neglect to consider the fact that when people talk about “good jobs” they are not necessarily discussing the correction of some pressing problem, or providing some truly desired service, or satisfying some actual need. When people discuss “good jobs” they are primarily discussing ways to make money. If one can turn a solid profit selling known carcinogens, such employment will count as a “good job” in spite of the fact that an enterprise like that wreaks more objective harm than good. Contrary to popular opinion, then, people don’t actually need jobs; we work jobs in order to acquire money. And money’s another thing we don’t in truth need – we need those things that this socioeconomic system only provides in exchange for money: food, housing, clothing, etc. Jobs are but a middleman – a means to acquire resources, not an end. Another thing that should be pointed out when discussing the relationship between jobs and freedom is that, though owners cannot function without workers’ cooperation, jobs are not extended to workers out of any generosity or concern from owners for their workers’ well-being. Unless the amount of money a worker’s work brings to the owner exceeds the amount of money the owner pays the worker, the owner won’t hire anyone. This simple, arithmetical fact is commonly referred to as “business sense.” For a hire to make “business sense,” an owner will only hire a worker if the value that that worker creates for the owner exceeds what s/he is paid by the owner. Another way of saying this is that jobs are exploitative. Workers provide more value to owners than they receive in return. As such, in asking for jobs, people are asking to be exploited – which, by definition, is the opposite of freedom. This is just the name of the proverbial game, however. And, as Dolly Parton informs us in her hit song 9 to 5, “it’s a rich man’s game, no matter what they call it – and you spend your life putting money in his wallet.” This exploitation, of course, is not limited to people. Even advocates of capitalist economics admit that capitalism functions by exploiting as much as it can: people, animals, plants, earth, water, etc. All are regarded as materials to be bought and sold, their value reduced to a price. So-called externalities – wholly preventable harms ranging from the ecological devastation caused by such practices as fracking, to preventable occupational and environmental diseases like cancer and asthma, among other concrete, systematic harms – are regarded as little more than inevitable, collateral damage. To the extent that it bears on the relationship between freedom and jobs, it is worthwhile to reflect on the political thought of Thomas Jefferson. It should be pointed out here that Thomas Jefferson’s thought is being cited not as an appeal to his authority, but to provide an example of mainstream, if not canonical (i.e., not alien) US political thought on the matter. As Michael Hardt informs us in his Jefferson and Democracy, Thomas Jefferson maintained that a society could not be truly free if its people were not economically independent. Economic independence for Jefferson, it should be stressed, did not mean possessing a job. Having a job simply meant that one was subject to the caprice of one’s employer – and, insofar as one is dependent on an employer, one is clearly not independent. In order to rectify the unequal conditions in his home state of Virginia, Jefferson advocated distributing land in such a manner that would allow people to not be dependent on others’ caprice. As Hardt informs us, in order to create a democratic society, Jefferson’s original draft of the Virginia state constitution included provisions bestowing 50 acres of land to all those who did not already have at least 50 acres. In other words, freedom required that people possess those resources necessary for economic independence; and land was fundamental to this end. Of course, people would still have to work the land. But such work is of a qualitatively different nature than the alienated labor of serving a master. Although Jefferson’s thought is marred by his racist perpetuation of slavery, his misogyny that relegates women to little more than servants and playthings, and his imperialism that seizes the land for his “democratic” distribution from the autochthonous people, one should not throw out all of Jefferson’s babies with his backwards bath water. For, in spite of his flaws, Jefferson still makes a vital point concerning the relationship between equality and independence. There is a crucial difference between being free, or independent, and having a job. Not only are these diametrically opposed, the above example also highlights the distinction between jobs that are exploitative and meaningful work. Not jobs, but access to resources, then, is what one needs to be free. And though one must work to some degree to maintain these resources, along with one’s standard of living, one should not work more than is necessary. Indeed, one would think that in a free society people would not work anymore than they would want to. And it is telling that the mechanization and the automation of agricultural and industrial work that has been developing for well over a century has not resulted in an overall diminution of work. One would imagine that a free society would employ these technologies in a manner that would create more free time. Indeed, in the 1930s people thought just that – that the mechanization of production would lead to a three day work week. This was the goal of the more critical factions of the labor movement: not jobs, but the elimination of jobs and the development of a just society. Needless to say, such has not transpired. People are working more than ever – producing, it should be added, largely toxic products (toxic, that is, for all but the bank accounts of the rich). Whether these are the toxic plastics that are polluting the world, or the toxic derivatives and other financial instruments that are further enriching the 1%, the toxic food industry, or the unnecessary advertisements inducing people to buy this garbage, people are working more “productively” than ever, while earning less and less. To be sure, not only are people less free to relax and rest these days, and less free from stress – among other occupational and environmental diseases – the pollution from our incessant work is increasingly destroying our natural environment as well. Every way you cut it, jobs do not bring freedom so much as they preclude it. As such, not only should jobs be recognized for what they are – a means to an end, and not the end itself – an emancipatory politics should advocate for fewer, not more, jobs. Though a free society necessitates creating certain social conditions – the conditions of health, for instance, and equality – we should work to create these directly. As they are rooted in exploitation and inextricable from the harms they spread, jobs for the sake of jobs are simply obstacles to conditions of equality, peace, and well-being. People may wonder just how people’s daily needs will be met if we transition to creating the conditions of well-being without creating the millions of jobs required to employ the unemployed and underemployed. Distributing 50 acres of land to every person, as Jefferson suggested, is just not practicable in our contemporary economic situation. A simple solution – one advocated, by the way, by Martin Luther King in his 1967 book Where Do We Go from Here – would be by adopting a basic income law. Such would allow for a transition from our present-day war economy to an actually just, economically democratic, peace economy. If we are to overcome our contemporary barbarism, we must recognize that our “job” requires creating these conditions of well-being directly – in many respects not by creating, but by eliminating, jobs. Elliot Sperber is a writer, attorney, and contributor to hygiecracy.blogspot.com He lives in New York City and can be reached at [email protected].
The world needs to be prepared for "unpredictable pandemics" from viruses making the leap from animals to people, scientists in Taiwan say. Their warning follows the first reported case of a common bird flu, H6N1, being detected in a woman, earlier this year. The patient recovered and no other cases have been detected. But the Lancet Respiratory Medicine report said "intensive" monitoring of bird flu was needed. In May 2013, the first human case of an H6N1 bird flu was detected in a woman in Taiwan. One of her neighbours bred ducks, geese and chickens - although the precise source of the infection has not been detected. Many sub-types of influenza, such as those that cause seasonal flu or the swine flu pandemic, are known to infect people, but H6N1 is not one of them. The report, by the Centres for Disease Control in Taiwan, said: "The occurrence of a human case of H6N1 infection shows the unpredictability of influenza viruses. "Our report highlights the need for influenza pandemic preparedness , including intensive surveillance for ever evolving avian influenza viruses." Prof Wendy Barclay, from Imperial College London, said these infections may have happened in the past but improved technology had meant this one had been discovered. She said: " Is this a truly new thing or are we now just better at seeing it?" She told the BBC she expected far more of these cases to be reported in the next few years as more hospitals were geared up to look for novel bird flus. Prof Barclay added: "This is a single case with no evidence of human transmission, but as always we should keep an eye on it and do studies to see how close it is to being able to spread between humans."
Pick a team or a specific author. Start there. Go to their site (we link to each author's sites here on the YA Scavenger Hunt website). Find their YA Scavenger Hunt post. It should be super easy to tell which one it is because it will have our graphic on it. Read their post which will include an author bio, book info, exclusive content, (not always but in most cases) a giveaway, and a link to another author's webpage. Look for a number on the post. This could be big and colored. It could be "you need to know..." It should be pretty easy to figure out which number you need to know. Write this number down on your answer sheet found on the STUCK page. Click the link at the bottom of the post so you can continue the hunt within that same team. Repeat steps 2-5 until you have visited all the authors for one team. Add up the numbers that you collected from all the authors of one team. Visit our ENTER HERE page, find the appropriate Rafflecopter, and submit your entry. Repeat for every team that you want. Optionally, watch your TO BE READ list grow and grow. Welcome! If you have never participated in a YA Scavenger Hunt before then this page is for you.We are so glad that you have joined us! Hunting is so much fun and I always discover new authors and their books. It's also fun to get to know each author and have access to the exclusive content that each author offers. Oh, and I can't neglect to mention all the amazing chances at prizes!The YA Scavenger Hunt is run twice a year. Once in April and once in October. It runs from Tuesday to Sunday. So you have five full days to participate.We open author registration 6-8 weeks before each hunt. If you have a favorite YA author, this is the best time to reach out to them through Twitter or Facebook or email and encourage them to sign up.Author registration closes and teams are announced 1-2 weeks before the hunt begins. This gives everyone enough time to get their posts together and we can hopefully work out any kinks beforehand.On Tuesday at noon (pacific time) all authors posts go live and the hunt can begin. Then this is the part where you come in.Here's a sample scenario.Let's say Colleen Houck, Tera Lynn Childs, and Beth Revis are all on Team Yellow. I choose to start with Colleen Houck and go to her page. Colleen Houck is hosting Tera Lynn Childs so on Colleen's page I will find information about Tera Lynn Childs, her book, and her exclusive content. The number I find is 7. The giveaway I will find is hosted by Colleen Houck though so if I enter the giveaway here, I'm entering to win a book from Colleen Houck.Colleen Houck links to Tera Lynn Childs so I head there next. Tera Lynn Childs is hosting Beth Revis so I get to read about Beth Revis, her book, and her exclusive content. The number I see is 23. If I see a giveaway, this is for something from Tera Lynn Childs.Tera Lynn Childs links to Beth Revis who is hosting Colleen Houck. I'll read about Colleen Houck, her book, and her exclusive content with a giveaway by Beth Revis. The number here is 3. The link at the end of the post will go back to Colleen Houck at which point I know I am done with Team Yellow.I take the three numbers I have collected (7, 23, and 3) and add them together (33). I head to the ENTER HERE page on YA Scavenger Hunt, find the rafflecopter for Team Yellow and enter the number 33 to be entered to win a book from all three authors on that team.Not all authors are going to host personal giveaways.If you can't find where you should be going, you can always visit our STUCK page for help.If you need help, you can leave a comment on this site, post on the YA Scavenger Hunt Facebook page , or tweet @YAScavengerHunt on twitter If you are still confused or have more questions, leave a comment! We want to provide a wonderful experience for everyone.
Similar to Valla, ETC, and other heroes with a trait or ability affecting their basic attacks, Soldier: 76 will have an indicator above his health bar to show how much accuracy he has.Baseline, it will show 100% accuracy under a picture of a crosshair.Once the 4th attack is fired, each attack afterwards will reduce the value of accuracy by 3%, unless it is on a target further than the standard range of a ranged hero (5.5), in which case it will reduce the value by 6%. If you took Burst Control at level 4, this starts after the sixth attack instead of the fourth, and builds at 2%/shot (close range) or 4%/shot (long range). Additionally, having Tactical Visor up will set the Accuracy value to 100% regardless of how much shooting is done.After not shooting for 0.5 seconds, the accuracy value will return to 100%.Whenever you do damage with a basic attack, the normal value of a basic attack will be multiplied by your current accuracy value, and that will be the damage dealt.E.g., at level 10, Soldier: 76 will have 73 damage/attack. If he attacks at 100% accuracy, it will be 73 damage (or, if Headshot is active, 91 damage). But if he attacks at 65% accuracy, he will do 47 damage/attack, and the damage will go down as he continues shooting without a break.
CHICAGO (Jan. 3, 2014) – U.S. Under-20 Men’s National Team head coach Tab Ramos named a 36-player roster for the team’s domestic training camp in Lakewood Ranch, Fla. The camp runs from Jan. 3-12. This is the team’s second camp of the new cycle and first domestic camp. The Florida camp will also feature two intrasquad scrimmages. Among those called in are University of Washington midfielder Cristian Roldan and Renton native defender Jalen Markey. The roster includes 28 players with ties to the Development Academy, including 12 players who are currently registered for Academy teams. The sessions coincide with a U-18 Men’s National Team camp headed by Javier Perez. For the U-20 group, Major League Soccer’s New York Red Bulls have the heaviest ties for one club, featuring three first-team signings (Santiago Castano, Matthew Miazga and Amando Moreno), one current Academy player (Arun Basuljevic) and two former Academy players coming off their freshman collegiate seasons (Alex Muyl of Georgetown and Adam Najem of Akron). The roster also includes goalkeeper Zack Steffen, who was a member of the U.S. U-20 MNT at the 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Turkey. Steffen also helped Maryland to a runner-up finish in the 2013 NCAA College Cup alongside fellow freshman teammate Suli Dainkeh. Other notable players include 2012 U.S. Soccer Young Male Athlete of the Year Rubio Rubin and 2012 Nike Chance Finalist Brian Iloski. Roster by Position: GOALKEEPERS (4): Jeff Caldwell (N.C. Fusion; Todd, N.C.), Santiago Castano (New York Red Bulls; Union City, N.J.), Ethan Horvath (Molde FK; Highlands Ranch, Colo.), Zack Steffen (Maryland; Downington, Pa.) DEFENDERS (10): Jordan Allen (Real Salt Lake; Rochester, N.Y.), Michael Amick (UCLA; Sunnyvale, Calif.), Sulaiman Dainkeh (Maryland; Reston, Va.), Conor Donovan (Capital Area RailHawks Academy; Fuquay Varina, N.C.), Trevor Haberkorn (Furman; Roanoke, Texas), Grant Lillard (Chicago Fire Academy; Hinsdale, Ill.), Jalen Markey (North Carolina; Renton, Wash.), Matthew Miazga (New York Red Bulls; Clifton, N.J.), Shaquell Moore (IMG Academy; Powder Springs, Ga.), John Requejo Jr. (Real So Cal; Carpinteria, Calif.) MIDFIELDERS (14): Corey Baird (Real Salt Lake AZ; Escondido, Calif.), Arun Basuljevic (New York Red Bulls; Mahopac, N.Y.), Marco Delgado (Chivas USA; Glendora, Calif.), Luis Felipe (Cruzeiro Esporte Clube; Ouro Branco, Minas Gerais), Ian Harkes (Wake Forest; Fairfax, Va.), Jacori Hayes (Wake Forest; Bowie, Md.), Brian Iloski (UCLA; Escondido, Calif.), Eric Lickert (SC Freiburg; Glotteral, Germany), Saalih Muhammad (Dinamo GNK), Adam Najem (Akron; Clifton, N.J.), Cristian Roldan (Washington; Pico Rivera, Calif.), Herbert Robinson (Club Santos Laguna; Monclova, Coahuila), Joel Sonora (Boca Juniors; Buenos Aires, Argentina), Omar Thompson (Unattached; Miami, Fla.) FORWARDS (8): Andrew Brody (Louisville; Orlando, Fla.), Benji Lopez (Real Salt Lake; San Diego, Calif.), Ricardo Lopez-Espin (Shattuck-St Mary’s; Miami, Fla.), Amando Moreno (NY Red Bulls; Morganville, N.J.), Alex Muyl (Georgetown; New York, N.Y.), Zach Pfeffer (Philadelphia Union; Dresher, Pa.), Rubio Rubin (Unattached; Beaverton, Ore.), Travis Wannemuehler (NC State; Evansville, Ind.) goalWA.net Local Soccer News is sponsored by Pro Roofing Northwest, Kirkland, Bellevue, Seattle, Redmond, Woodinville, Federal Way, Everett, Snohomish, Issaquah, Renton, Kent, Bothell, Edmonds Washington roofing company. Advertisements
Key Democratic players are worried that Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonSanders: 'I fully expect' fair treatment by DNC in 2020 after 'not quite even handed' 2016 primary Sanders: 'Damn right' I'll make the large corporations pay 'fair share of taxes' Former Sanders campaign spokesman: Clinton staff are 'biggest a--holes in American politics' MORE ally David Brock could be hurting her image and hampering her chances of winning the presidency. ADVERTISEMENT In interviews over the past month, Clinton donors, fundraisers and operatives have told The Hill that the concerns about Brock’s comments, particularly some of his attacks on Bernie Sanders Bernard (Bernie) SandersPush to end U.S. support for Saudi war hits Senate setback Sanders: 'I fully expect' fair treatment by DNC in 2020 after 'not quite even handed' 2016 primary Sanders: 'Damn right' I'll make the large corporations pay 'fair share of taxes' MORE, stretch all the way to the top of Clinton’s political machinery. A leading figure in the Democracy Alliance, the liberal equivalent of the conservative Koch brothers’ donor network, said donors he associates with would like to put Brock “back in the can.” “I have heard people express concern that what he does could be harmful generally” to the campaign, the donor said. Longtime Clinton fundraiser Bill Brandt, an Illinois-based businessman and personal friend of Bill Clinton, said of Brock, “David is well meaning but I think perhaps like a zealot. He should keep it in check a bit. I don’t think this needs to be about tearing Bernie down. … It’s getting nasty and it doesn’t need to be.” One Brock comment that drew backlash regarded his plans to raise questions about the 74-year-old Sanders’s health, seen by many as a low blow at the senator’s age and one that left Clinton vulnerable given attempts by conservatives to portray her as being in fragile health. After news reports emerged that Brock was going to raise the issue of Sanders not having released his health records, Clinton campaign chair John Podesta shot off an unusual tweet on Jan. 17 to Brock: “Chill out. We're fighting on who would make a better President, not on who has a better Physical Fitness Test.” Brock backed off from running a public campaign to pressure the Vermont senator to release his health records, but even talk of it was enough to exasperate Guy Cecil, who runs Priorities USA Action, the main super-PAC supporting the former secretary of State’s campaign on whose board Brock once sat. Asked about his private complaints about Brock, Cecil, through a spokesman, did not deny that he vented about Brock's comments, but he suggested it was water under the bridge. “Someone needs to find a new tree to bark up because Priorities has a great working relationship with American Bridge and David is a valued member of our Board,” Cecil said in the statement, referring to American Bridge 21st Century, a super-PAC founded by Brock in 2010. Another comment of Brock’s that was seen as unhelpful in Clinton’s donor network was when he said in late January that “it seems black lives don't matter much to Bernie Sanders” because the Sanders campaign had used mostly white talent in a commercial. Brock has long been a controversial figure in Washington. A right-wing operative in the 1990s and a tormentor of then-President Bill Clinton William (Bill) Jefferson ClintonInviting Kim Jong Un to Washington Howard Schultz must run as a Democrat for chance in 2020 Trump says he never told McCabe his wife was 'a loser' MORE, Brock did a public about-face, apologizing in 1998 to the Clintons for his dirt-shoveling. He has since become their fiercest defender, now running a menagerie of allied liberal groups including Correct the Record, which provides opposition research and rapid response. Clinton supporters are pleased about Brock’s conversion but worry that his hardball tactics risk doing more harm than good. Brandt, summing up the off-the-record views of a number of Democratic donors, told The Hill, “I think that there’s a pride on Hillary and Bill’s part in taking someone who was once their worst enemy and seeing him taking on the righteousness of their cause.” But, he added, “We just had a primary with the first Jewish candidate to win a race. … This is all good, and I think Bernie needs to be praised for having done it.” Clinton donors, allied strategists and fundraisers also concede that Brock’s volatility needs to be weighed against his value, which is considerable. Brock is known as a prolific fundraiser, skilled opposition researcher and a fearless counter-puncher. “He’s always been a controversial character and people grouse about him, but he produces great research, so there’s a balance," said Tony Podesta, the chairman of Podesta Group, a top lobbying firm he co-founded with his brother John, Clinton's campaign chair. “He’s very effective and he now and then swings and misses … so I mean he doesn’t hit a home run every time but that would be true of Babe Ruth.” Brock would agree. He thinks Democrats play too gently and cede the offensive too willingly to Republicans. He also freely admits that he says and does things that give some in Clintonland the jitters. “One of the roles of Correct the Record is to do things that the campaign shouldn’t do or won’t do or can’t do, and one of those things is being more out front with some of the more pointed criticisms of Sen. Sanders,” Brock said in an interview. “I understand that there are some people out there who are carping, but the reality is that in a campaign, and people around the campaign, there are always a range of views.” But some of Clinton’s major donors worry that Brock is giving the Sanders campaign an opening — which it gleefully took — to smear the candidate for her association to Brock and his super-PAC. This is a particular vulnerability given Sanders is running a populist campaign against Wall Street and what he claims is a corrupt campaign finance system. “[Clinton] should be ashamed of her association with Brock,” said Sanders’s campaign spokesman Michael Briggs. One of Clinton’s biggest super-PAC donors explained that because of his past associations, Brock will never gain the full trust of some within the Clinton camp, no matter how fiercely he advocates on Clinton’s behalf. The mega-donor believes that much of the sniping about Brock is due to personal hostility, which is inevitably exacerbated when campaigns hit rough waters, as the Clinton campaign is now after losing badly in New Hampshire. “He rubs people up the wrong way,” the mega-donor said of Brock. Asked whether the Clinton campaign worries that some of Brock's comments could hurt the campaign, deputy communications director Christina Reynolds said, “Throughout this campaign, Correct the Record has done a great job defending Hillary Clinton’s record and we are grateful for their tireless work defining the Republicans as extreme and out-of-date.” Unless a major controversy erupts, Brock will remain one of Clinton’s key allies in 2016. He has plenty of high-profile defenders, and even some major super-PAC donors who don’t like what he says concede that if it weren’t Brock then somebody else would have to play that role for Clinton. In the 24 hours after The Hill informed Brock about this story, three allies got in touch to say they had heard about the article and wanted to share their views. Clinton donors Michael Kempner and Kenneth Jarin both offered unsolicited praise for Brock, saying he was an essential countervailing force against brutal attacks on Clinton. “I think that the Sen. Sanders campaign is bringing up negative arguments, many of which I don’t think are accurate,” Jarin said. “I think David Brock can shed some light on some aspects of Sen. Sanders that will be good for voters to know.” And an unsolicited email arrived from James Carville, a longtime Clinton friend and operative. “Let me get this straight,” he wrote. “Folks are yapping about David Brock or Correct the Record being too aggressive. Give me a break. “We are in the midst of a spirited Democratic primary campaign and a Supreme Court nomination looms in the near future that will have a lifetime of importance. “It would seem to me we need to be very realistic about the stakes here in this election and bedwetting Democrats worried about surrogate intensity should simmer down just a tad.” Read more from The Hill: Brock: Sanders a 'typical politician'
June 18, 2013 THE FLATS — Wes Durham, the award-winning long time play by play voice of Georgia Tech’s football and men’s basketball teams, will no longer call Yellow Jacket games beginning this fall in order to pursue an opportunity in sports television play-by-play. Durham has been the popular play-by-play voice of the Yellow Jackets for 18 years on the Georgia Tech / IMG Sports Audio Network. He will remain as the radio play-by-play voice of the Atlanta Falcons, a position he has held for the past nine years. Durham says television work has been a longtime career goal. “After 18 years and more than 750 football and basketball broadcasts with Georgia Tech, I am excited about the next phase in the television industry.” Durham said. “I can’t begin to thank the Yellow Jacket fans, players, coaches and staff for their support of my work and the great memories I will carry forward in this new move.” Durham is an eight-time Georgia Sportscaster of the Year, including 2010 and 2012. He was the winner of the Furman Bisher Award, presented by the Atlanta Sports Council in 2006. In addition to his play-by-play duties at Tech, he also served as host of weekly call-in shows and television features for Jacket football and basketball. “This is a bittersweet day,” said Athletic Director Mike Bobinski. “While I am personally very happy for Wes and wish him great success in his new opportunity, it’s tough to say goodbye to someone who has been such an integral part of Georgia Tech Athletics for nearly two decades. “Wes Durham has been far more than the voice of Georgia Tech Athletics. He has been a great ambassador and friend to our program and everyone associated with it.” Georgia Tech Athletics and multi-media rights-holder IMG College will be working together closely to identify the next Voice of the Jackets. “There is a strong commitment going forward to continue to bring Georgia Tech fans award-winning broadcasts,” Bobinski said.
What an interesting day we have had today! Today is the day that will go down in history for us – Today, we went viral. It all started with an innocent little engagement shoot in downtown Charleston with our lovely couple Ashley Donald & Erik Rogers. We were roaming the streets of downtown Charleston (the most romantic city in the country, btw) doing their engagement pictures… and most of the time when I have an attractive couple, you get to hear all sorts of noises around you – from whistles, to “you look hottttt” to “congratulations!” – I set the couple down on that little staircase to get ready for a shot and I hear people talking in the back and as I’m looking through the lens, the couple seems stunned and distracted… I think to myself – oh great, someone is bothering them – I turn around and I see Mr. Murray standing there with his shirt pulled up and belly proudly on display which he is patting pretty loudly in an attempt to make the couple laugh – Needless to say I was stunned and I invited Mr. Murray to join the couple for a quick shot – He obliged and congratulated them and went on his way… leaving behind an extremely happy couple and this photo that will be forever remembered by this couple (and us!!!). All in all, we ended up with this photo of the couple that has gone viral – The phone hasn’t stopped buzzing since we posted it on Twitter (@fiaforeverphoto) and Facebook this morning with emails and calls from news and media! We are just grateful to have been there when Mr. Murray decided to show up and mostly to our awesome couple… Congratulations Ashley & Erik! Read more about their story on Huffington Post, The Post and Courier, Gawker and many more! Here are some additional photographs from their engagement shoot that day…
BOSTON – There is nothing that can stop Rajon Rondo at this point of his career. Not any defense. Not any opposing player. Not even a sprained ankle. Rondo fought through all of those obstacles Saturday afternoon against the Raptors and all he did was accumulate 20 assists for the second time in nine games. His performance was mind-blowing at times, causing many to conjure up thoughts of a future Most Valuable Player. To be mentioned alongside those three sacred letters – MVP – is a compliment of the highest regard. If Rondo continues to play at the pace he’s playing at, he’ll garner much more than just a mention. Your browser does not support iframes. Like nearly all of the league’s past MVPs, Rondo can currently be placed in the category of ‘indefensible.’ He has always been an assist machine, but now he has added a consistent jump shot to his arsenal that is causing nightmares for opponents. Rondo is shooting 52.6 percent on mid-range jumpers this season, according to the NBA’s advanced statistics tool. That’s not just average; that’s great. Here’s how great that percentage is: it’s higher than the average mid-range percentage of Dirk Nowitzki, one of the greatest mid-range shooters of all time, over the past five seasons. Nowittzki’s average percentage over that time period is 49.7 percent. The league must now defend Rondo in a way opponents had always feared. They used to go “under” screens and dare Rondo to shoot. Now they’re being forced to respect his shot and go “over” screens, which opens up even more alleys for Rondo to pick the opposition apart. Doc Rivers explained this new phenomenon after Saturday’s win. “It’s hard because he’s so smart,” Rivers said as he began his explanation. “Now he’s making the shot (so) it’s a lot harder. That’s why the elbow action in the second half kept working, because they had to go over the top and with him. I mean, that gives him room.” Room to carve up opponents to the tune of 14.3 PPG and a league-leading 12.6 APG. Both of those numbers would set new career highs, and the assist average is nearly a full assist more than his 2011-12 number of 11.7 APG that won the assist crown by a landslide. One of Rondo’s newest teammates, Courtney Lee, is witnessing No. 9’s abilities on a nightly basis for the first time this season. Lee has already fallen in love with Rondo’s play and chose to compare his teammate to a player who has won multiple MVPs in another sport. “He’s Peyton Manning out there,” Lee said. “He’s picking the defense apart and he’s getting the ball to guys in the right position to score. He was actually mad about the 20 assists; he thought he could have gotten 30.” Thirty assists in an NBA game? That’s unheard of. Yet Rondo is realistically capable of reaching such video game numbers. Heck, he racked up 20 on Saturday and only played 96 seconds of the fourth quarter. If the NBA is an oyster, it may be sitting inside Rondo’s freakishly long hands. He has a floor game that is indefensible, and as Rivers noted Saturday afternoon, it’s indescribable, too. “I can’t (describe it),” Rivers said. “It’s an offense in itself.” That offense isn’t going anywhere soon. Most NBA players puff out their chests after 20-point games, but Rondo prefers to do so after double-digit assist performances. He has now reached that feat in 33 consecutive games, which is the third-longest streak in NBA history, and he doesn’t plan on stopping. “It’s something I look forward to every game,” Rondo said. “Just trying to make my teammates happy and somehow I keep getting to 10 (assists).” This streak, coupled with two 20-assist performances in his first nine games, is fueling the MVP fire right now. Rondo doesn’t seem to hate the chatter, as he admitted that he’d love to win the award someday. “Who wouldn’t?” he said. “That’s a dream.” That’s where Rondo is wrong. A dream is created by lucid thoughts. This, on the other hand, is much more of a reality. Rondo is an indefensible basketball player whom Rivers called “a rare bird.” Rare birds tend to win MVP awards in this league. You can do the math and figure out where this is might be heading. No obstacle has been able to stop Rondo yet this season. If the league’s other 29 teams don’t figure out how to stop him soon, this bird might be flying away with an MVP trophy at the end of the season.
< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 2 OF 2 · Later Kibitzing> Jul-22-16 erdogankilic : Rook " the untouchable " Jul-22-16 AlicesKnight : Too clever for me - I could see the rook/knight loading but not the way to exploit it. Jul-22-16 johnlspouge : Thanks for the interesting analysis, <YouRang> . Jul-22-16 drollere : the R at f8 is out of play, so black is effectively down a R and a piece. for the material he has dominance in space and threats around the white K: a queen fork by Ne2+, and Qg2#. Ra8 provides a double R exchange at a1 followed by Ne2+, but Qxa1 neutralizes. white can't capture the B at f3, because Nxe3+ leads to mate. the N at e3 appears pinned, because the Q at c3 is hanging. however Nd5 solves that problem, and the exchange down black would decline to exchange Q's. however the p's at f2 and h2, and the N at e3, restrict motion of the black Q. my solution would be: 31. ... Bxe4. then 32. Nxe4 Nf3+ and mate. if 32. Nd5 Qg4+ and mate. if 32. Ra1 Ra8 (not Rxa1 33. Qxa1). or if 32. Ra1, f5 has momentum and threatens to bring in the other black R. in the game 32. Rb2 is a blunder, as 32. ... Ra1 is decisive. at 34, the only capture is by either the R or N that are already tied to essential defensive roles. by the way, some folks here seem to count a "puzzle solution" as seeing moves all the way to the end. i score the puzzle as a "guess the move" problem and consider the position one move at a time. so long as i keep choosing the game move or find a better or equivalent move, i'm "winning". Jul-22-16 Jimfromprovidence : After 30....Bxf4, 31 Qc1 attacks the a3 rook, (in case white plays 31...Bxb1?), but this defense does not work. click for larger view Black has a forced mate here, for those interested in working it out. Jul-22-16 kevin86 : Strange position: white is virtually in zugzwang- with so many pieces immobilized by black's attacking forces. The back row turns into a disaster area. Jul-22-16 Patriot : The candidates I liked were: Bxf4, Rd8, and f5. I didn't know which was best... Jul-22-16 Patriot : Umm <YouRang> ? :-) Sorry, I use that phrase sometimes on the phone. Good ole Lurch. That is some nice analysis! 31.Qd3 is a very subtle move but as you calculated, white is in big trouble. Your line is very accurate. Jul-22-16 Patriot : Above, sorry I meant Bxe4 (not Bxf4), Rd8, and f5. Jul-22-16 psmith : Like some others my choice was 30...f5. in the game continuation, 30...Bxe4 31. Rb2 Ne2+! leads to mate. (Stockfish) Jul-22-16 morfishine : I have been on vacation and lost track of time somehow thinking this was Monday. After a few minutes pondering, I was musing "Wow, this is a really hard Monday problem". Once I gathered myself and realized what day it is, I then re-energized myself for a Friday level problem I still didn't get it but could care less, I'm sill on vacation Privacy Please ***** Jul-22-16 AylerKupp : <penguincw> Happy Pi Approximation Day (22/7).> That reminds me of a story. My 8th grade math teacher indicated that pi = 22/7, without the approximation caveat. Being the skeptic that I am even then, I told him that I didn't think so. Unfortunately for him he was so sure of himself that he went to the chalkboard and wrote 22/7 = 3.14285 ... oops! And he didn't have an answer as to why 22/7 was not = pi. I felt sorry for him since he was one of my all time favorite teachers. So, Mr. Triplett, if you're still around, I'm sorry for challenging you. But that's a good story to remember in the USA's presidential race. Challenge everything that both main candidates say. Jul-22-16 posoo : WAT ever hapnuned to DOZOKIEL??? Jul-22-16 Patriot : <morf> LOL! Yeah it's definitely not a Monday problem. <AylerKupp> Oooh I would feel bad about that also. Sometimes being right isn't the only thing important--it's a question of what it's worth. <posoo> I neva saw anyone by dat name. Jul-22-16 chrisowen : Ebb 4e it eddly am bruv as wand jam map off ja ford had bruv ogle it eddy am bruv as wand jump bask can nack koala vow rant it tar q hack bruv as h3 hack an f3 fall i vow many mate it etc an 8 avow am bruv by b2 bob as a1 an 2e it ebb mate it etc an 8 avow am bruv by q hogs off d4 dolly vow ma map pam apply ap pjs am jaffa fags had og go gas bask back can crank avow as nack an q v h3 hack an g2 agos am bon vam boddy vs vogue it tell urad bruv as now vs am f5 flashy ash and for won an doggas ash camp an it essay am bruv an cad doss bad donk q cas why as caddys an do cad fancys am b3 back among bruv go b2 bob ands and done it tell urad bruv an call ash e4 it eddly am bruv ha it tell avow as won bruv; Jul-22-16 chrisowen : 30...Bx4 31.Rb2 bob las ah abon avow as bag man cad x 31.Rbd1 f5 32.c5+ las ah callys lads avow and bad by 32...Rb3 33.Qc4+ mob calls off an bad man 33...Kh8 34.Qf1 Nf3+ fabs on ja have it jet it tell urad bruv am fall avow vs ash folly 35...Qxf3 36.Qg2 Rx3 37.Qxf3 Rxf3 fogs am foal it alve it tie bruv as won q an back call 30.Rb3 and back draw avow cor 30.Bb3 and back black avow and e4 it eddly am bruv an glad by 3 or vow as bad call and y 31...Ra1 as fad an van as and x 31...N2+ fad ie it ebb lane it eddly am bruv mate it etc an 8 dob and by 32.Rbb1 las ah by an by and fa do do 32.f3 N2+ doh hod carry man ash fab 33.Kf2 Qxh2+ aha die it eddly am bruv an go has an hob and glad 34.Ng2 Qg3+ v jog on it jet vs am bruv avow and jam an gabs and gall ash faggy 35.Kf1 h3 hack it eye it tell urad bruv call v ash as mate at etc an 8 and by 32...Rxb1 bo ba by doss hod carry am back an by ash ol 32...N2+ dynamo hogs any vs and as mate it etc an 7 do avow am bruv dog ash 33.Bd1 mob do by dynamo hogs any vs am rag off 33.f3 N2+ die it eddly am bruv by am mate it etc an 9 back avow am bruv ash dog 33...Rxd1 die it eddly am bruv do mate it etc an 8 do bass avow as wand doss f5 follys can go wand dross las avow as happy chomps wallow as lamb man pop low avow and bruv lag off an doss lawn black as cam pam con as h3 hack an f3 fall avow vogue it etc an as bruv avow ramp ash e4 it eddly am bruv plan back cas call 30.Rb3 and black draw avow as nah as h3 hack and as a3 ashy an a1 as b1 bob an d1 it da vow as an grab avow mate it etc an 8 as back pond vogue it etc am bruv cab call can afraid ash e4 it eddly am bruv cack paid pad pod gab as b2 an a1 as b1 by an d1 it da vow as bruv do bandly as mate it etc an e4 it eddly am bruv bam cabs wand by won bruv; Jul-22-16 greenfield67 : 31...Ne2+ is such a lost opportunity. After 32.Rxe2 Ra1+, White can interpose with any of his six pieces, and on any of the five intervening squares, but cannot escape mate. Jul-22-16 Virgil A : That Rook reminds me of that Super Mario game. Just gobbling up anything on the way. That may be a good pun. Super Mario Jul-22-16 Virgil A : Super Marc Jul-23-16 nalinw : Yes 31. .... ? would also be a great puzzle - perhaps for a Tuesday? Jul-23-16 Moszkowski012273 : Well played! Jul-23-16 Dirkster : Hey, <Patriot> - years before Lurch there was Maynard G. Krebs (played by Bob Denver) on "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis". He was the first TV character to use the phrase "You rang?" (Who knew Lurch was a Dobie Gillis fan?!?) Anyway, this is an awesome game - ya gotta love that Rat! Jul-24-16 posoo : PUTROOT, yes u HAVE. There was a man named DOZOKIEL who wod always com on da puzzul of da day. He wod lay out da problem and then TYPE IT IN to da kibbitzing and be very thoroo. I suspected dat he wod actually cheat somtimes becus he was usually RIGHT. His AVATAR was a picture of him looking VERY INTENSE at a pon. Jul-25-16 Patriot : <Dirkster> I didn't know that! I used to watch the Addams Family but never watched Dobie Gillis. <posoo> There was a <dzechiel> by your description, but I don't think he ever cheated. He was thorough and I always enjoyed the way he analyzed. He would pull up Word or Notepad and type everything he wanted to say and without changing anything, he would copy and paste it into a post on the game puzzle--very honest. Jul-26-16 posoo : yes DATS da man. OK maybe he WS NOT cheating but WHERE DID HE GO i liked him. search thread: < Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 2 OF 2 · Later Kibitzing>
The gap narrowed to just 20 votes separating the 7th through 10th place candidates (Kelley, Carlone, Mazen, vanBeuzekom) with only 6 votes separating the 9th place candidate (Nadeem Mazen) and the 10th place candidate (Minka vanBeuzekom) in the decisive 16th Count. There will be one last official count on Fri, Nov 15 that will include any overseas absentee ballots and provisional ballots. In some recent elections, due to the method of surplus distribution, the addition of just a few extra ballots has caused swings of 20 or more votes in the tabulation. In the Recount , neither the winners nor the quota (1775) nor the order of election changed, though the margins increased to 20 votes between 9th and 10th Place and 48 votes separating the 7th Place through 10th Place candidates in the deciding (17th) round. One minor candidate (Ron Peden) had in excess of 50 #1 votes in the Recount which added an additional transfer round. The original Final City Council results (Nov 15, 2013) had a a 14 vote margin between the 9th Place candidate (Dennis Carlone) and the 10th Place candidate (Minka vanBeuzekom) in the deciding 16th Round. The were also only 30 votes separating the 7th Place through 10th Place candidates (Craig Kelley, Nadeem Mazen, Dennis Carlone, Minka vanBeuzekom. This led to a petition for a recount by Minka vanBeuzekom which took 9 days starting on Mon, Dec 2 and finishing on Thurs, Dec 12, 2013. Cambridge Candidate Pages - 2013 2013 City Council Campaign Receipts Campaign Finance – 2013 Cambridge City Council candidates Cambridge School Committee 2013 Campaign Finance Summaries Preliminary 2013 Cambridge Election Results (Nov 5, 2013) City Council (in order of election): Leland Cheung, David Maher, Dennis Benzan, Tim Toomey, Denise Simmons, Marc McGovern, Craig Kelley, Dennis Carlone, Nadeem Mazen. [Detailed Report] Incumbents defeated : Ken Reeves, Minka vanBeuzekom School Committee (in order of election): Patty Nolan, Fred Fantini, Richard Harding, Kathleen Kelly, Fran Cronin, and Mervan Osborne. [Detailed Report] Incumbents defeated : None The preliminary City Council election quota was 1713 with 17,128 valid ballots counted. Only Leland Cheung exceeded quota with a surplus of 604 ballots. The preliminary School Committee election quota was 2292 with 16,040 valid ballots counted. Three candidates reached quota on the 1st Count: Patty Nolan with a huge surplus of 1502 ballots, Fred Fantini with a surplus of 493 ballots, and Richard Harding with 3 surplus ballots. There are an additional 710 additional City Council ballots that will be inspected and included on Wednesday. Many of these may be blank ballots, but most will likely contain valid choices. In the City Council race, in the deciding round the vote totals for the 7th through 10th place candidates were: Kelley 1517, Carlone 1510, Mazen 1481, and vanBeuzekom 1466. That's only a 15 vote margin between 9th and 10th place, so it's possible that the unofficial results on Wednesday could change. In the School Committee race, there are an additional 1,673 ballots to be inspected and counted on Wednesday. Most of these will likely be blank ballots without valid choices. However, even if there is a substantial number of valid ballots yet to be counted, the margins between candidates are such that it's essentially impossible for the results to change. Oct 30 - The "Random Draw of Precincts" took place recently at the Cambridge Election Commission. This determines the order in which ballots from precincts throughout the city are counted in the election. Though this has a relatively minor effect on the tabulation of the ballots (because of the "Cincinnati Method" used to transfer surplus ballots), it can potentially make a difference in a very close election. Here's the ordering determined by lottery (read down the columns): 4-3 2-3 5-2 11-3 5-1 9-1 1-2 9-3 4-1 1-3 9-2 8-3 2-2 2-1 7-1 5-3 8-1 3-2A 3-3 11-2 10-2 10-1 1-1 4-2 7-3 3-2 11-1 3-1 6-3 6-2 7-2 8-2 10-3 6-1 Official candidate list for 2013 Municipal Election (PDF) Polling Locations for the 2013 Cambridge Municipal Election 2013 Campaign Event Listings and Candidate Forums
Yesterday a South Carolina legislator tweaked anti-gun news outlets by proposing a bill that would require journalists operating in that state to register and be approved by the government. The scheme is, of course, blatantly unconstitutional, which is the point. Michael Pitts, a Republican who represents Greenwood and Laurens counties in the state House, told the Charleston Post and Courier his South Carolina Responsible Journalism Registry Law, which is modeled after the state law requiring a permit to carry a concealed weapon, is aimed at stimulating discussion about the constitutionality of gun controls widely supported by members of the press. "It strikes me as ironic that the first question is constitutionality from a press that has no problem demonizing firearms," Pitts said. "With this statement I'm talking primarily about printed press and TV. The TV stations, the six o’clock news and the printed press [have] no qualms demonizing gun owners and gun ownership." Although a Washington Post story about Pitts' bill links to the Post and Courier article, reporter Callum Borchers somehow missed the Second Amendment angle in his headlong rush to condemn Pitts' disrespect for the First: My visceral reaction isn't printable but can be summarized thusly: This is a naked attack on the First Amendment—you know, the one that says "Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech or of the press." I realize we're talking about a state legislature here, not Congress, but we're also talking about one of the nation’s founding principles. That aside, this kind of law would be completely unworkable. Look, there's plenty of media garbage out there, but everyone has a different definition of what garbage is. Does anyone want a bunch of self-interested government officials setting the standard? We register surgeons and pilots and teachers and people in many, many other professions. You can make a coherent case that journalism is a very important profession too, but there’s a reason why journalists have reputations, instead of licenses. They have a fundamental American right to share information, and their audiences have a right to decide whether to believe it or dismiss it. By contrast, no one is entitled to remove brain tumors, fly airplanes or teach third-graders. There's also a practical problem: How on Earth would South Carolina's secretary of state, charged with maintaining the registry, do its job here, anyway? Journalists can't even define who is a journalist anymore, what with all the bloggers and tweeters posting the kind of information and opinion that used to come only from a highly institutionalized press. Good luck to Pitts when it comes to crafting a legal definition of journalism. Come to think of it, that's really the great folly here. What Pitts is proposing isn't just wrong; it simply can’t be done. There's no stopping people from spreading the news in a digital society—certainly not with some outdated idea for a registry. Borchers is so intent on refuting Pitts' tongue-in-cheek argument for regulating the press that he completely overlooks the legislator's implicit argument against regulating guns. If requiring people to obtain a license before they exercise their First Amendment rights is so obviously unconstitutional, Pitts wants to know, why is requiring people to obtain a license before they exercise their Second Amendment rights OK? The analogy casts doubt on the constitutionality of any law requiring government permission to purchase, keep, or bear arms. There are various possible responses to Pitts' question, but the fact that Borchers does not even notice it reinforces the legislator's point about journalists' refusal to take the Second Amendment seriously. [Thanks to CharlesWT for the tip.]
Exclusive: Nolan says he's set to direct You may have guessed, you may have assumed it, but until now we hadn't had confirmation from the studio or the man himself that Christopher Nolan would be back to direct Batman 3 / The Dark Knight 2 (or whatever we're calling it). But our Dan Jolin talked to the man himself earlier today, and got it straight from Nolan himself. "It’s becoming inevitable, I’ll put it that way," says Nolan. "I feel myself falling into it, I guess. And getting it all figured out and I’m pretty excited about what we’re doing so… If I haven’t announced it, I think that people probably all know at this point that I’m doing it." Hang on, that's not 100% clear: so we can safely assume you're directing? "I think you can at this point, yes." So as of right now, Nolan will return. You may also have spotted the "getting it all figured out" there: when we asked Nolan what he was busy with as we called, the answer was that he's working on Jonathan Nolan's script for the film. In other words, there is a script! Things are slowly taking shape! Express your excitement below, and permit yourself a moment's indulgence in wildly speculating about villains and themes this time around. Just a moment, though: we don't want to get carried away.
Former trialist Florian Lechner appears set to sign for the Revs. (Photo Credit: Joshua Pearson) The New England Revolution may finally be getting some much needed help at fullback. German defender Florian Lechner is ready to sign for the Revolution according to a report on Kicker, Germany’s leading sports magazine. Lechner’s current contract with 2. Bundesliga (German 2nd division) club Karlsruher SC is through June 2013, according the report, but after a management changed at the club the 31-year-old was told he was no longer part of the team’s plans. Lechner, who trialed with the Revolution in Arizona, could provide competition for Chris Tierney at left back or depth for Kevin Alston at right back and serve as a mentor for rookie fullback Tyler Polak. Lechner generally plays right back, but looked comfortable on the left for the Revs in preseason action. The 5-foot-10 native of West Germany went through the youth system at VfB Stuttgart and played for Stuttgart’s reserves (2001-2004) before transferring to F.C. St. Pauli in 2004. Lechner played 10 games in the Bundesliga (first division) for St. Pauli in 2010/2011, before signing for Karlsruher in the summer of 2011. In total the German defender has played nearly 200 games in various German leagues, including 117 for St. Pauli. Should he sign, Lechner would be the 6th international (out of a possible 8 ) on the current Revs roster.
GOOD old-fashioned cash is to go down the electronic route, now that it is possible to stamp simple electronic circuits directly onto banknotes. Modern banknotes contain up to 50 anti-counterfeiting features, but adding electronic circuits programmed to confirm the note’s authenticity is perhaps the ultimate deterrent, and would also help to simplify banknote tracking. Silicon-based electronic circuits are clearly too thick to be incorporated into thin and fragile banknotes, but semiconducting organic molecules might be a viable alternative. A team of German and Japanese researchers created arrays of thin-film transistors (TFTs) by carefully depositing gold, aluminium oxide and organic molecules directly onto the notes through a patterned mask, building up the TFTs layer by layer. Advertisement All this is done “without aggressive chemicals or high temperatures, both of which might have damaged the surface of the banknotes”, says team member Ute Zschieschang from the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart, Germany. The result is an undamaged banknote containing around 100 organic TFTs, each of which is less than 250 nanometres thick and can be operated with voltages of just 3V. Such small voltages could be transmitted wirelessly by an external reader, such as the kind that communicates with the RFID tags found on many products (Advanced Materials; DOI: 10.1002/adma.201003374). The team’s technique has been tested on US dollars, Swiss francs, Japanese yen and Euro notes. Although the researchers have yet to work out how the organic electronics could be harnessed as an anti-counterfeit measure, the circuits are able to perform simple computing operations.
LONDON -- Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane has warned Tottenham that the Spanish giants will use the shock defeat to Girona as motivation in Wednesday's Champions League match. Catalan minnows Girona came from behind to beat the Spanish and European champions 2-1 on Sunday, leaving Zidane's side eights points adrift of leaders Barcelona in La Liga. Spurs and Real are level on seven points and with identical records at the top of their Champions League group ahead of their meeting at Wembley and Zidane is now under pressure to get a result. But the Frenchman says he actually enjoys the added pressure of big occasions. "After a defeat, of course people aren't happy but in some way I actually like this," Zidane told a news conference. "I like having the motivation of a big match so we can get back to winning ways. This is something that inspires me. When the going gets tough I think I work my best. Life is like this, there are always hard moments, but you have to trust in the way you work and come back stronger. "Perhaps some people are thinking from the outside that a defeat might leave us down in the dumps but that is not at all the case. We are good, we have a big match tomorrow. We are working well and are ready to perform well against great opposition in Tottenham Hotspur. "I don't think it [Girona] is my worst match [as a manager], this is football. We all know how football works, that sometimes you're going to lose matches and it's obviously frustrating particularly when you are 1-0 up and you need to push home that advantage. "The little moments in that match got away from us and we ended up losing. It is important we don't dwell on that, that we think about tomorrow, go again and give our all as we always do to get the right result. Nothing will change our approach when we prepare and are going out to win." Zidane is feeling the pressure after an indifferent start. It will Real Madrid's first visit to the new Wembley and the Zidane said that would be another motivation for his players, before praising opposite number Mauricio Pochettino. "It's a great stage for us to play on against really great opposition. This is something we like and a great arena in football. The players are very prepared for this match. It is not without its complications in the build-up but we are prepared to go out and do our job," he said. "I really think very highly of Mauricio Pochettino. I think he's doing a fantastic job at Tottenham. He is building a team and building a club that has high aspirations. You don't need to rely on what I say, the results speak for themselves." Real Madrid left-back Marcelo echoed his manager, saying Los Blancos can use the surprise defeat as added motivation against Spurs. "We can't think about that now, in fact we can use that as motivation to bounce back and end the stumbling run we've had. We know we didn't play well and now we have the chance to put that right tomorrow," the Brazilian said. Asked about the possibility of Harry Kane, who is a doubt with a slight hamstring strain, missing the match, Marcelo said: "It does not make, for me, a big difference. Harry Kane is a very important player but Tottenham are more than just one player. "I've seen many matches where Harry Kane does great things but I've also seen the team produce great things. It is important for us not to think just about Harry Kane, whether it is harder with him there or not. We have to consider the group and take on the team as a whole." Dan is ESPN FC's Tottenham correspondent. Follow him on Twitter: @Dan_KP.
Brad Treliving is playing his cards the same way as every general manager in every other sport. If he were a baseball man, he’d be talking about a “closer by committee” scenario, speaking convincingly about how having so many good arms is actually a blessing. Someone will evolve into the crucial role as the most important reliever in the bullpen. Has to happen, right? If he were a football man he would be effusing about how fortunate he is to have such “competition” for the starting quarterback role. Even in the face of that trusty old football adage, “If you’re telling me you have two No. 1 quarterbacks, that really means you don’t have any.” Treliving is, of course, the general manager of the National Hockey League’s Calgary Flames, and he has an abundance of goaltenders. He just doesn’t have a No. 1. The organizational pipeline is stocked with promise in 24-year-old Finn Joni Ortio, who is now waiver eligible and will stay with Calgary this season, college graduate Jon Gillies, slated to start at AHL Stockton this season, and junior Mason McDonald, a front runner to tend Canada’s nets at the World Juniors this Christmas. But who gets the start on Opening Night for Calgary, where Ortio joins the returning tandem of Jonas Hiller and Karri Ramo? “We’ll see how it all plays out,” a calm Treliving said Monday night in Edmonton, where he watched his Flames open their pre-season. “I’ve been in the other situation where you’re like, ‘Okay, who is going to stop the puck?’ “What I’ve found, the players usually sort it out,” he continued. “The good thing for us, to me, I think we’ve got depth at the position. Not only at this level, we’ve got a couple of kids coming.” The Flames goaltending depth is unquestionable. But after a 2014-15 season where Hiller and Ramo seamlessly picked each other up as the other’s game began to wane, it’s the “right now” that is in question. Hiller has the best pedigree, but it’s no secret the Flames are not enamoured with him as their No. 1. Hiller was being shopped at last year’s trade deadline, and then lost the nets to Ramo during the playoffs last season. So Treliving tried to trade him again at the draft. The book on Ramo goes like this: He’s a true battler with high character, but his style is the opposite of economical. It’s our understanding the Flames like Ramo ahead of Hiller, but he is all over the place some nights, a goaltending method that is less acceptable today than ever. Then there is Ortio. Calgary has waited a long time on the young Finn since drafting him in the sixth round of the 2009 draft. He played a five-game stretch last January for Calgary and won four of those games, allowing just five goals. But Ortio has just 15 NHL games on his resume. Ortio looked like a young Miikka Kiprusoff during that January run, and now that he is waiver eligible there is no chance he’d clear waivers. Hiller has one year left on his deal at $4.5 million, yet rather than simply go with Hiller and Ortio this season; Treliving renewed Ramo for one year at $3.8 million in the off-season. “If you look at it, they’re all in different stages,” Treliving said. “You have Hiller who has been a No. 1 in this league a long time. Rams has kind of made a name, he’s got some experience. And you’ve got the younger guy coming up. In a perfect world you want the big guy you can ride, but ultimately you want to have good goaltending on as many nights as you can get it. If it means it’s two guys, three guys… Whatever it is.” Having said all of that, Treliving admits he’d rather not begin the season with three goalies. “I’ve never seen three work. You keep three if you have to. I’d prefer not to.” So, what happens in Calgary’s nets over the next two weeks? Barring injury, here’s our take: Ortio stays — period. He wouldn’t pass through waivers. Ramo stays in Calgary as well. Head coach Bob Hartley prefers the elder Finn, and he’s likely a better stable mate and mentor for his young countryman Ortio, who still requires some grooming. And Hiller? He’ll be heavily shopped as Treliving watches for injuries among NHL starters. The Flames would eat salary — it’s preferable to sending all $4.5 million to the minors — but they won’t keep three healthy goalies in Calgary. Hiller can still play, but he’s overpriced at $4.5 million. If someone’s starter gets hurt, he’d be a nice fallback position at half the price.
Barack Obama For the lawyers, radio hosts, and denizens of the Internet who want Barack Obama to be disqualified from the presidency, it was Black Monday. The Supreme Court had finally read Donofrio v. Wells, the lawsuit that accuses both Obama and John McCain of lacking “natural born citizenship.” The court dismissed it. Its denial of cert was so curt—“The application for stay addressed to Justice Thomas and referred to court is denied”—that you might have thought the case had blown across a receptionist’s desk and been filed by accident. “Yes, they didn’t take it to the next level of full briefs and oral argument,” Donofrio wrote on his blog after the news came in. “But they certainly heard the case and read the issues. … Getting the case to the full Court for such consideration was my goal.” That was not what Donofrio’s supporters had wanted. On Friday, about two dozen of them gathered outside the Supreme Court to talk to reporters, wave flags, and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Some of them questioned whether they could prosecute Obama for spending “foreign money” they alleged had been donated to his campaign. One questioned whether Barack Hussein Obama Sr. was the president-elect’s real father or whether his real filial relationship to Frank Marshall Davis or Malcolm X had been covered up. “There aren’t a lot of people out here today,” admitted Steve Brindle, a Pennsylvanian huddling in the cold. “There are a lot of people talking about this back home. Really, everyone’s asking questions.” Robert Schulz, whose We the People Foundation had bought full-page newspaper ads questioning Obama’s citizenship, was ready for the high court outcome. On Monday afternoon he asked Donofrio and two other lawyers with outstanding suits about Obama to come to the National Press Club to discuss their next steps. Donofrio didn’t show, but Pennsylvania attorney (and occasional 9/11 skeptic) Philip J. Berg joined California attorney Orly Taitz at the podium of the club’s Murrow room. The room filled up early: About half of the small room’s overflow crowd consisted of worried Obama skeptics who gasped and nodded at the testimonies of the attorneys and their litanies of facts that the press had covered up. Most members of the media were, themselves, part of the Obama Truth squad. Shelli Baker, the host of AM radio’s Morning Song, spent five minutes unspooling a theory that tied Obama to Arab sheiks and world government. “I would be willing to testify,” said Baker, “that, indeed, the media has been corrupted by foreign oil money.” Thus corrupted, reporters spent two full hours listening to Schultz, Berg, and Taitz describe their allegations accusing Obama of document forgery, arrogance, radical ties, and “foreign allegiance” to Kenya. “This is the largest hoax in 200 years,” said Berg. “Obama knows where he was born. He knows he was adopted in Indonesia. Obama places our Constitution in a crisis situation, and Obama is in a situation where he can be blackmailed by leaders around the world who know he is not qualified.” Taitz, one of the lawyers representing Alan Keyes in his suit to stop California electors from voting for Obama next week, argued that her client had been injured by Obama’s hoax—he was on the ballot in California and had to compete against a fake candidate. (Keyes won 0.4 percent of the vote there.) “I was born in the former Soviet Union,” Taitz said. “I have to tell you, one of the reasons I am so up in arms about this case is that during this election, the media in the United States was worse than Communist Russia.” “You guys have been traveling with him for two years!” Berg said, white knuckles gripping his podium. “You guys have access. Someone could stand up and say where’s your birth certificate? What’s your status in Indonesia?” After the lawyers had their say, Schultz recognized Rev. James David Manning, the Harlem preacher who has called Obama a “long-legged mack daddy,” and a member (alongside Jeremiah Wright and Oprah Winfrey) of the “Trinity of Hell.” For some reason, Shultz gave Manning a microphone to talk about Obama’s parents. “It is common knowledge,” explained Manning, “that African men, coming from the continent of Africa—especially for the first time—do diligently seek out white women to have sexual intercourse with. Generally the most noble of white society choose not to intercourse sexually with these men. So it’s usually the trashier ones who make their determinations that they’re going to have sex.” Manning grew more intense as he went on. Berg and Taitz seemed to squirm in their chairs; Berg started taking quiet cell phone calls before Manning evoked the memories of Africans who lost their lives “packed like sardines” onto slave ships, now in “a watery grave.” “Do you think we want to wake those people up and tell them that the womb of a 16-year-old white girl has produced your redeemer? Has produced your savior? I don’t think they want to wake up to that. I think they want to keep sleeping in that grave until true justice might be given.” Every possible reason for disqualifying Obama was laid out, laboriously, if not exactly backed up with facts. After it was pointed out that the “forensic experts” who have accused Obama of forging the birth certification reproduced on FightTheSmears.com have not even revealed their names, Berg pointed out that the certification denoted the race of Obama’s father as “African.” “In 1961, no one talked ‘African.’ It was ‘Negro.’ I mean, that’s what shows how phony this document is.” “How about that?” murmured Shelli Baker. Still, none of the lawyers, nor Manning, could agree on a path forward for Obama birth certificate skeptics. Schulz proposed a citizens’ convention—”continental congress, We the People congress, call it what you like”—that could hash out the issues around Obama’s eligibility. Taitz was still working her cases and claimed that Obama could be held liable for an Illinois bar form on which he didn’t list any other names he’d gone by. Berg hinted at a secret lawsuit that he was participating in and couldn’t discuss, as well as information from an unnamed “barrister from England, who spoke to me on his nickel,” that the FBI and CIA had information proving Obama’s Kenyan birth. The press conference wrapped up with the lawyers meeting well-wishers and handing out documents, as the few reporters still in the room headed for the door. Ruth Mizell, the widow of former Rep. Wilmer Mizell and a volunteer for two of George H.W. Bush’s campaigns, idled in her chair for a little while longer. She was frustrated that the people she’d told about this story kept blowing her off. “I can’t stand to watch Obama,” Mizell said. “He looks so deceitful. I feel like it’s witchcraft going all over everybody, that he’s witchcrafting everybody. He doesn’t say anything. He uses a lot of good words.” Can we sue him for that?
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Weed will be legal for adults to use as they please soon enough. (#weedlegalbysummer) One of the big fears I hear in the community is the “takeover of the cannabis market by big corporations.” There is usually a Monsanto reference or two in there, and usually the folks that are worried ponder if decriminalization is not a better option. So let me be clear on that point. It is not. Decriminalizing cannabis does nothing to return cannabis to its rightful place as a safe, enjoyable, and helpful plant in our society. Settling for a decriminalized model still means weedheads are lesser people in the community. It still means cops can harass you because they smell weed. It means fines and civil penalties (including asset forfeiture) for those who choose to participate in the trade. It means people still being drug tested and losing their jobs, or kids, or standing in the community. All of that is unacceptable; and for what? To keep some nostalgic and romantic version of the outlaw environment and culture, a little higher prices, and to not turn over control of the industry to some large corporation? For the record, there are some fairly large corporations that sell weed in the industry already. I mean, Harborside’s well-publicized $20 million plus a year in revenues and one hundred employees are hardly a mom and pop operation. Nor should they be. The reality is that in order to provide a large amount of goods to a growing population of people, it is going to take some big business know-how and fortitude to create and operate an infrastructure capable of providing good-old American grown weed products all over the globe. I do not think that the average weed grower and person who works in the industry understands the VAST untapped weed market that is currently being served by Mexican brick weed and the hay that gets shipped out of state. Here is one thing that a legalized weed market will change….YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO SELL BAD WEED FOR TOO MUCH MONEY ANYMORE. Sorry….you will have to step your game up to compete in the marketplace; but we already see these free market principles happening in states with robust cannabis markets (which is why the hay gets shipped out of state). Weed is like $20-$25 and eighth in Denver due to the saturated marketplace there. Yet because a lot of the product is vertical, meaning the manufacturer is also the retailer, the margins still exist to allow most dispensaries there to make a living. But stores have closed there who could not compete, and products that are no good do not get bought. Pretty simple…grow better weed, or find a new gig. The reality is that there will be large companies and corporations that enter the cannabis market. I do not see it being the end of the world. During the Prop. 19 debate I was chatting with Spearhead’s Michael Franti online about this issue, and he had some great insight. He stated that while there likely would be a corporatized cannabis market, that just like the foods he buys, there will also be organic small farmers, and small batch producers from which people can purchase their cannabis. He called it a personal choice issue, and one that we all face in almost every purchase of any commodity on the planet. There are cheaper, lower quality, mass produced options for nearly everything; and there are also higher quality, crafted, and independent choices available. There are evil corporations, and there are conscious corporations that are good stewards of their community. While corporate America leaves a lot to be desired on many fronts, there is a place for corporations in our society. I mean, I cannot make my own car. As much as I would like to think I can, it is just not feasible. Is it impossible? No. Is it likely that a car I tried to make myself would be terrible because I do not have the proper equipment, labor force, resources, or intellectual knowledge to do it correctly? Yup. My car would suck big time. So it is easy to see how in order to feed the demand for consumer products and commodities, it often takes a large corporation to provide the needed infrastructure and mechanism to get the products to market to meet the demand. Weed is not different. Let’s look at some numbers. It is estimated that about 9-10% of the population smokes weed regularly. That number is probably higher, since it is hard to get people to admit to criminal activity in polling, as well as the folks who may occasionally take a drag off their friend’s joint every once in a while, as well as the folks who may not consider themselves a “regular” user. Now the current market in states with medical cannabis access show that about 1-2% of the population qualify for medical cannabis in states where registration is mandatory. So what we can gather is that even in states with a great deal of medical cannabis access, there is still a HUGE untapped weed market. Only about one in five weedheads participate directly in the medical cannabis programs available. Obviously in states where there is no medical cannabis, or where the laws do not allow for dispensaries or access points, there is a much larger secondary black market that is fueling consumption. The point is that there are still A LOT of people in America getting their weed from less than stellar resources, and there is a lot of market potential for people who produce and sell weed. Add to that a percentage of the population will likely open up to using cannabis without the stigma or legal risks there are now, and you could see the market increase substantially. There is no shortage of potential. Then add to that the possibility of a global supply chain, where places like Northern California lead the charge in product reputation, and you could see an incredible market growth potential. Do you have any idea how popular Budweiser is in Ireland? I didn’t either. But it just shows that when you open up a legalized global cannabis market, there will always be room for growth and prosperity for people who grow good weed, likely in places none of us ever imagined selling weed. I like to compare the potential weed market to that of the wine industry, as it is easy to see how things correlate pretty easy. Now there are certainly big corporate wine making behemoths in the industry, and they provide products generally aimed at a lower price point, which lack in quality and taste. But the market is huge. There is a lot of money in the ghetto. Two-Buck Chuck is a staple in many middle-class and low income houses, as it is a decent bottle of wine for an incredible value. It is likely not handcrafted in seasoned Oak barrels, or aged for years; but it is a great product for a person on a budget. But when that same person wants to celebrate a little, they might splurge for the $20 bottle of Stag’s Leap, or they may even go out to a big dinner and drop $300 on a bottle of Opus One. Now neither of these are a bad option. They are just choices that people make based on what they can afford, and what their preference priorities are. There is no wrong or right choice. I am sure the folks who have a job at the Two-Buck Chuck factory are just as happy as the people pulling the grapes for Stag’s Leap. And the reality is that our society NEEDS Two-Buck Chuck, or a lot of folks would not be able to have a casual bottle of wine, now and again. So when I hear pot growers bellyache about their fears of being squeezed out of the market, I just do not get it. If you grow decent pot, and are not an asshole, you should be able to make a living in a legalized weed market. There will be more income to go around for everyone, and while prices will be lower for sure, it will be easier to grow and sell more to meet the difference. A lot of the major wine makers do not grow all of their own grapes. Often large corporate wine makers, like Mondavi, buy their grapes from a number of small batch grape farmers to make into products. This affords the farmer the ability to focus on his crop, rather than on trying to sell the crop in the marketplace. It is a symbiotic relationship that serves both purposes of filling the resources of the major corporation, while providing income to small batch independent farmers who are good at what they do. See how that could work? But the one thing about cannabis is the established culture that has evolved as a result of prohibition. It is understandable that folks who have risked their lives and freedom to grow and sell weed would feel threatened by the possibility of “outsiders coming in an taking over.” Although, most of us were outsiders in this industry at one time or another. But in all reality, a lot of the culture will remain, and the folks who developed and created the beauty of that culture will likely be at the forefront of the evolution into a legalized and ordinary cannabis market. There will be winners and losers, and some folks will not make the cut; but overall, I firmly believe that those who have paid their dues will be rewarded in a legalized adult use cannabis market, and will be able to expand their horizons beyond their wildest dreams. It is easy to imagine a possible disaster, but can you imagine awesome success? If not, you should try to. There is no reason that a corporate cannabis environment cannot possess and represent the morals, values, and conscious behavior that many see as synonymous with the cannabis movement. There are actually a lot of good corporations in the world that have found a way to balance the demands of the corporate shareholder needs and the moral and ethical values that we expect of our fellow humans, and their businesses. This is our market to win or lose, and believe that we have the ability to shape how our society views cannabis as it re-enters the mainstream and legal market. It is up to us to demand that cannabis corporations provide a higher standard of quality, and that they are conscious capitalists operating sustainably, and ethically. We can decide who succeeds and who fails by who we support, promote, and believe in. We can demand the balance that we want, and we can be the change we want to see in the world. So put aside the boogie-man big bad wolf corporate Monsanto cannabis myth for a minute, and try to envision a legal cannabis market where we all do great, have awesome jobs, and nobody has to go to prison. If you can figure out what that looks like, we can figure out how to get there. But weed will be legal soon, so it would be smart to get a head of the curve, and not resist adult use legalization; but embrace it and figure out where your place is in that market….because it IS coming.
For more than a year now, we’ve shared updates on the New Fantasyland expansion at Magic Kingdom Park and we’re just as excited as you are to experience these magical new attractions for ourselves. Today we’re thrilled to announce that the grand opening of New Fantasyland will take place on December 6, 2012. Attractions included in this opening are Under the Sea ~ Journey of The Little Mermaid, Be Our Guest Restaurant, Enchanted Tales with Belle, Ariel’s Grotto, Gaston’s Tavern and Bonjour! Village Gifts. Previews of these attractions will begin November 19. As previously planned, the New Fantasyland expansion will continue with the opening of Princess Fairytale Hall in 2013 and the debut of a new Disney “mountain” in the form of the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train in 2014. The Storybook Circus section of the New Fantasyland expansion, which includes Barnstormer – Starring the Great Goofini, the Casey Jr. Splash & Soak Station, and Dumbo the Flying Elephant, opened to guests in July. How soon will you visit? And which New Fantasyland attraction are you most excited to experience? Keep an eye on the Disney Parks Blog and follow @WaltDisneyWorld on Twitter for the latest on the New Fantasyland expansion. While you’re on Twitter, join in the conversation by using the hashtag #NewFantasyland.
CLANCY OVERELL \| Editor \| CONTACT An out-of-control party being hosted by a 47-year-old South Australian by the name of Cory Bernardi, has drawn at least 500 wild members while his Liberal party leaders holidayed on the Gold Coast. The story was among the most-read on the BBC’s news website last night. Cory’s interview with Channel Nine’s A Current Affair, during which he comprehensively steam-rolled host Leila McKinnon (wife of Channel Nine chief David Gyngell), was uploaded to the YouTube website yesterday afternoon, further expanding his notoriety. Within minutes of going online, McKinnon’s stern interviewing method had backfired, transforming Cory, who was interviewed shirtless with his pierced nipple on show, from naughty conservative to international anti-gay rights hero. Cory’s neighbours and local Police would not have been amused, and nor would his mother and stepfather, who were on the Channel Seven show Today Tonight expressing their shame over his antics and their concern over a potential repercussions. Pursed-lipped McKinnon, clearly frustrated when Cory refused her repeated requests to remove his huge sunglasses and offer an apology for his party, lost her temper, adopting a school principal tone to suggest the boy: “Go away and take a good long hard look at yourself.” But before she could cut the link, the boy shot back: “I have, everyone has and they love it.”
CLOSE An expansive and controversial bill on its way to Gov. Mike Pence's desk seeks to set more restrictions on abortion in the state — already one of the most restrictive in the nation. Wochit Buy Photo Flags fly at half-mast outside the Indiana Statehouse for former state Rep. Bill Crawford, who served 40 years as a Democrat in the General Assembly, on Thursday, October 1, 2015. Crawford, of Indianapolis, who died Friday at age 79, retired in 2012. His body lies in state for a calling in the rotunda from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursday. (Photo: Charlie Nye/IndyStar 2015 file photo)Buy Photo The Indiana House voted Wednesday to send Gov. Mike Pence legislation that would make Indiana the second state to ban abortions sought because a fetus is diagnosed with Down syndrome or another disability. The controversial and potentially unconstitutional restrictions also would prohibit abortions when they are sought based on the gender or race of a fetus. The House passed the restrictions, contained in an expansive abortion-related bill, in a 60-40 vote. House Bill 1337 advanced even after several female Republican lawmakers, who generally oppose abortion, asked the House to vote against the measure. They argued the bill didn’t follow the normal legislative process, was poorly written and wouldn’t reduce abortions in the state. Rep. Cindy Kirchhofer, R-Beech Grove, recalled being a pregnant teenager and going to a Planned Parenthood clinic. Kirchhofer said she was thankful her boyfriend, who was against abortion, told her to keep the baby. Yet she said she couldn’t support the bill because she wasn't provided the opportunity to discuss the proposed abortion restrictions with her constituents. “I feel this is government overreaching. We haven’t done a proper process to vet this. I feel that I’m determining whose life has more importance here,” Kirchhofer said. The restrictions were added in the Senate to another bill dealing with the burial of fetal tissue, but the language didn’t go through the full legislative process in the House after a Republican committee chairman declined to give it a hearing. However, the bill’s author, Rep. Casey Cox, R-Fort Wayne, agreed with the Senate’s changes, setting the bill up for a final vote. House Speaker Brian Bosma, who voted for the bill, said the majority of House Republicans were in favor of moving the proposal forward. “I am strongly pro-life and understand the concerns of those both on the process and also the details of the Senate version. But as was stated here — if this can save a life, it was worth a vote,” said Bosma, R-Indianapolis. Bosma said: “We’re not making a determination about women’s health. We’re trying to protect the rights of the unborn, who cannot speak for themselves.” NEWSLETTERS Get the Breaking News newsletter delivered to your inbox We're sorry, but something went wrong Urgent developments you should know now, not later. Please try again soon, or contact Customer Service at 1-888-357-7827. Delivery: varies Invalid email address Thank you! You're almost signed up for Breaking News Keep an eye out for an email to confirm your newsletter registration. More newsletters But Rep. Sean Eberhart, R-Shelbyville, said the measure is an example of why the General Assembly needs more women members. “We just need to quit pretending we know what’s best for women and their health care needs,” Eberhart said. State law currently prohibits most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy – making the state among the most restrictive in the nation. But restrictions contained in the bill could bar the procedure earlier in a woman’s pregnancy and could prompt a court challenge, critics say. States face restrictions in barring abortions before a fetus could survive outside of the womb. Opponents have noted the U.S. Supreme Court has declined to consider overruling lower court decisions that found abortion restrictions earlier in a pregnancy were unconstitutional. Supporters of the restrictions say they would protect fetuses against discrimination. Cox said the bill gives the “most vulnerable” a chance at life. “For many of us, this is a human rights cause,” Cox said. But opponents have questioned how the state could enforce a law based on a woman’s motives. A woman would face the restrictions if her “sole reason” for seeking an abortion was because of fetal gender or a diagnosis – or potential diagnosis – of a disability. Even with the bill, a woman wouldn’t be required to give a reason for seeking an abortion. A woman also could still seek an abortion before 20 weeks of pregnancy if her baby is healthy, and she simply doesn’t want children. A physician who performs an abortion could face disciplinary actions or civil liability for wrongful death if he or she knows the procedure is being done in violation of gender or fetal disability restrictions. The bill also places restrictions on the handling of fetal tissue — a response to this summer’s controversial Planned Parenthood videos – and requires remains of aborted and miscarried fetuses to be interred or cremated. Rep. Wendy McNamara, R-Mount Vernon, said voting against the bill didn’t make her less pro-life. McNamara said the bill needed a greater examination, and she wasn’t presented data to merit passing the restrictions. “I don’t think the additions to this bill will end abortion,” McNamara said. Last year, the House derailed abortion restrictions based on fetal gender and disability. But this year, the restrictions survived after House members were heavily lobbied by conservative groups, including Indiana Right to Life and Indiana Family Institute. The bill now goes to Pence’s desk for his consideration. “As a strong supporter of the rights of the unborn, Governor Pence will give careful consideration to any bill that comes to his desk that defends the sanctity of human life,” a Pence spokeswoman said. North Dakota is the only state to ban abortions sought because of a fetal abnormality. Call IndyStar reporter Chelsea Schneider at (317) 444-6077. Follow her on Twitter: @indystarchelsea. Read or Share this story: http://indy.st/1ph4dAK
Honorary Yosemite National Park Ranger Gabriel Lavan-Ying poses with a plaque that was presented to him in Yosemite National Park, Calif. on March 24, 2015. Yosemite Superintendent Don Neubacher, with Honorary Ranger Gabriel on his shoulders, poses with a group of school children n Yosemite National Park, Calif. on March 24, 2015. A little boy dealing with a life-threatening illness helped Yosemite National Park begin a special celebration on Tuesday afternoon.Hundreds of people gathered at lower Yosemite Falls to kick off the park's 125th anniversary. The theme of the event was "Youth of Today: Park Stewards of Tomorrow." Ranger Gabriel Lavan-Ying from Gainesville, Florida served as the event's Honorary Chairmen. The 9-year-old has a connective tissue disorder. He first visited the park as an honorary ranger through the Make-A-Wish Foundation last June."It feels awesome because I never got to have this opportunity to be a chairman, and I'm a chairman in Yosemite, I just love that," Gabriel said.Park Superintendent Don Neubacher added, "The focus of today's celebration and next year's Centennial of the National Park Service is on young people. The students of today will be the park stewards of tomorrow and we are making every effort to connect young people to national parks, an integral part of America's heritage. We are so pleased that Ranger Gabriel was here to help us kick off the Anniversary. He is truly an inspiration to us all, and we're honored that he agreed to serve as the Honorary Chairman of the year-long Anniversary celebration."During Tuesday's ceremony, hundreds of students from the Yosemite region and Sacramento attended the event. Five students, from third-grade through the university level, also had a chance to read letters to the future stewards of Yosemite National Park.Organizers have many more events planned in the coming months. The park will commemorate the 125th anniversary of the park's establishment on Oct. 1, 2015. Click here for details on that event.
Today we chat with long time OpenStreetMap contributor Richard Weait about the upcoming OpenStreetMap Foundation Board elections. 1. Who are you and what do you do? What got you into OSM? Maps have interested me since childhood. I’ve been using Free Software / Libre Software, Open Source Software (F/LOSS) and advocating it for many years. When I discovered the intersection of maps and F/LOSS, I was hooked. I don’t recall exactly what it was that made me aware of OpenStreetMap for the first time. It may have been an article on Slashdot. That was in 2006. Since then I’ve been mapping my neighbourhood and spreading the word about OpenStreetMap. I hosted the first mapping parties in North America, and have spoken at events to raise awareness of OpenStreetMap. I’ve written some tutorials and articles about OpenStreetMap. 2. What is the OSMF, why (and how) should people join, what does the board do? The OSMF is the OpenStreetMap Foundation, the international not-for-profit, company that supports the OpenStreetMap project. The Foundation owns the key servers, and things like OpenStreetMap trade marks. It can be helpful for a project like OpenStreetMap to have a foundation hold these resources as a way to increase project stability over time. Individuals may join the OpenStreetMap Foundation as a way of showing their support of and interest in the OpenStreetMap project. Their membership fees help defray the expenses of the Foundation. Of course a company is nothing without people. The membership elect a Board of Directors to represent the membership and guide the Foundation in their support of the OpenStreetMap project. While the OpenStreetMap Foundation Board take a general oversight role, the Foundation also operate Working Groups that take a more-active role in supporting OpenStreetMap. Separate Working Groups address matters such as server maintenance, legal matters, conference planning, communications, and disputes. Like board members, Working Group members are volunteers. To sum up, the OpenStreetMap Foundation removes barriers to participating in and improving the OpenStreetMap project. 3. What’s the relationship between country orgs and the OSMF? There is a plan to create formal agreement of the relationship between local chapters and the OpenStreetMap Foundation. So far as I know, there is no formal relationship at this time. I’m generally not a fan of local chapters. I see a risk of needless duplication of effort for little benefit to the greater OpenStreetMap project. In the best case, a local chapter may divert volunteers who could serve the larger community by volunteering for the Foundation instead. I am a fan of local groups of OpenStreetMap enthusiasts. Local mappers who can meet regularly can serve as an in-person help desk for those curious about OpenStreetMap. Those groups are ubiquitous in Germany and I’d like to see them get traction in more North American cities and towns. 4. Why should someone run for the board? A person should present themselves as a candidate for the Board if they are passionate about improving OpenStreetMap on behalf of the wider OpenStreetMap community. They should be able to work with others, to improve OpenStreetMap, in a collective, institutional way. They should understand the basics of the most important aspects of OpenStreetMap, and bring important skills, perspectives and abilities to the board. 5. Any final thoughts on the board and the election process? Join the OpenStreetMap Foundation to show your support and participate in the election to the board. Hey make a nice donation to the Foundation as well. Put yourself forward as a candidate for the Board. The election to the Board will use STV, a form of ranked ballot, this year. I’m looking forward to learning more about that as I haven’t run into ranked ballots before. There may be some in the OpenStreetMap community who wish to serve the broader OpenStreetMap community but who are concerned about not having enough time to serve as a board member. Others might not relish the idea of having to stand for election and being rejected. I think that committee work, through the OpenStreetMap Foundation Working Groups, would be of interest to those people. 6. Our standard question: OSM recently celebrated it’s 10th birthday, where do you think the project will be in 10 year’s time? I’ve hosted local celebrations for the OpenStreetMap birthday for several years. I hope that in ten years I’ll have extended that streak. Where will the project be? It will be the best I can make it. It will be the best we all can make it. Thanks Richard, for you answers and all our work on OpenStreetMap over the years. For those who want to learn more about Richard and his projects around OSM, check out his personal site. And many thanks to everyone who has donated their time and efforts to the OSMF over the years. Hopefully we’ll have some great candidates to chose from for the election. You can see all the Open Geo interviews here. If you are or know of someone we should interview, please get in touch, we’re always looking to promote people doing interesting things with open geo data.
Imagine being able to eliminate cancer cells from a patient’s body altogether, or grooming bigger cows that give you double the meat (or milk). Imagine curing blindness. Thanks to the CRISPR revolution, all this and more, is now possible. CRISPR is a segment present in the genetic code of prokaryotic organisms. Humans have eukaryotic cells – so what’s the relevance here? CRISPR is deserving of all its hyped because it allows us to modify the genetic code of almost any organism. The first connection to what can be now termed and considered as CRISPR originated in Osaka University in Japan in 1987 and was a very fortunate accident. CRISPR was cloned accidentally with the iap gene. In 2007 the first experimental evidence was finally published and it was used medically, paving the way for what we now call a revolution. What is CRISPR? CRISPR is an acronym for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats, and is a genomic tool that has been discovered in it’s full potential not too long ago. Biotechnologists believe this tool could create a revolution on genetic modification and gene editing. Apart from its deep-based uses, it is also inexpensive, economic, brisk and not very difficult to use – allowing biotechnologists to simply ‘cut’ genes with very high precision. Result? We get to remove what we don’t like, and enhance what we do. Think designer babies. Also Read: The Social Impact of Genetic Manipulation Cas is an acronym for CRISPR Associated Sequence. These two areas are adjacent to each other on the genome. CRISPR and the Cas work together and are expressed together as well, due to their proximity on the physical level. The Cas proteins are numbered as Cas1, Cas2 and so on. Some of them have complex purposes – such as attacking the growing DNA to incorporate it into the CRISPR area. This regular incorporation helps curb bacterial cells and destroys them if they attempt to turn up recurring times. However, what we’re dealing with here is much more revolutionary and powerful than just a virus-wrecking structure. It is now predominantly used as a method for genetic editing. Why CRISPR? Due to it’s inexpensive and easy and quick to use nature, it is widely used by labs. It is a lot of power that has been bestowed on upon biologists. As Senior System Biologist of Stanford University, California has rightly said “The power is so easily accessible by labs – you don’t need a very expensive piece of equipment and people don’t need to get many years of training to do this. We should think carefully about how we are going to use this power”. For that matter, we have already rampantly started using this power given onto us. From 2011 onwards, interest in CRISPR has only been growing and as of 2014, a research revolution has engulfed this tool. With 1300+ Publications mentioning CRISPR/Cas, 150+ Patents mentioning CRISPR/Cas and 80+ focus projects with a funding of over 160 million dollars, clearly an unprecedented amount of potential has been seen in CRISPR. How does CRISPR work? The CRISPR/Cas9 System consists of two fundamental molecules that introduce the desired change into the DNA. The CRISPR sequences are rewritten onto a brief RNA sequence. They try to find out any matching sequences of the DNA. When finally a certain match on the DNA is found, Cas9, the enzyme produced by CRISPR binds itself to the DNA and chops the targeted DNA to introduce the new bits of DNA. Recently, researchers have begun using activated genes to study the gene’s function. We also have a guide RNA that has a 20 base long sequence located within the larger RNA area. This binds the RNA sequence to the DNA and is necessary to ensure that the cas9 enzyme cuts the genome at the right point. The guide RNA will only bind itself to the target sequence in the genome only. Related: Precision Medicine – The Ultimate Cure? Gene Hacks already carried out by CRISPR: Several Medical Breakthroughs have already been achieved through CRISPR and many more are still being tried and tested out with optimistic expectations. One such Achievement is the treating of muscular dystrophy. Muscular dystrophy refers to slow muscle degeneration that ultimately leads to fatal death. Researchers successfully treated muscular dystrophy in lab mice in January 2016, using CRISPR to cut and repair the dystrophin gene. We can also make buffed up goats and cows using the same technology. This offers wide ranging benefits to to cattlemen or people who engage in animal husbandry. Buffed up animals mean more meat from them and a greater amount of milk from the cows. Chinese scientists used it to delete the genes that stop their muscle and hair growth in goats. This has successfully expanded China’s commercial meat and wool industries alongside the livestock and agriculture industries The Harvard Medical School too recently decided to use this tool for a life saving experiment. The complex CRISPR model was used to edit 62 genes in a pig cell, making its organs suitable to human transplant. We’re also seeing applications on the treatment of HIV as well. CRISPR can get rid of the virus’ DNA from the patient’s genome. The biggest challenge for HIV patients however, has always been to locate HIV DNA in the dormant cells. Related: Liquid Biopsy to Improve Cancer Diagnosis & Prognosis With the onset of the CRISPR revolution, biologists have also come up with the idea and propagated the idea of super plants. Researchers have experimented to find a way to improve crop disease resistance and stress tolerance. A team of researchers from Rutgers University, New Jersey have found a way to genetically modify wine grapes and turf grass so that this can be implemented in a variety of other crops as well. The grapes will be modified so that they can withstand fluffy and feathery fungus. Scientist are working harder to provide new stronger and heartier crops to supplement the agricultural industry. CRISPR can even be used to treat and cure blindness. So far, the mutation has been tested on lab mice. Retinitis pigmentosa, a disease that ultimately leads to blindness was successfully removed from mice. A single injection of CRISPR gave their eyesight better clarity and view than a control group. Similar techniques on humans are in the pipeline. The Downsides CRISPR/Cas is the newest kid on the block, the revolutionary superpower, a tool every biologist is carefully treating as his own child. It is powerful, quick and not surprisingly, having to face resistance from quarters anxious about its potential. It’s ability to rewrite the helix and allow human species to make self directed genetic leaps has drawn a mix of confusion on the form of devotees and detractors. It’s true – CRISPR does not come without its share of downsides. A relatively small (but nonsignificant) portion of the time, the nucleotides that guide the CRISPR/Cas complex into position on the target DNA, end up binding to a sequence that they don’t actually complement. So you get an insertion at a place in the genome that you didn’t want. It’s rare enough so you can use it to make desired mutants from research animals, but it is also higher than our tolerance level when treating humans with it. You don’t want to edit a living person’s genome to cure a disease and cause something like cancer. Off target sequences caused during replacement sequences are possible and they may well cause an undesired effect. CRISPR is getting better and continues to evolve from its experimental stage – but that’s what it is right now – experimental. The same test on repetition may give different outcomes – so there’s still a good amount of research we need to conduct here. CRISPR has rapidly caught the attention of the global media and several corporate biotech firms. A major fear of most scientists is the industrialisation of the technique before we have a good and steady hold over it. Despite all the hesitation on CRISPR, the tool has been incredibly promising and research and applications regarding it have too been flourishing well. Multiple firms have already begun commercialization. Like it or not, CRISPR is going to enjoy celebrity status in the industry in the near future at the very least.
The murder of Kathy Wilson; she disappeared on May 18th. Kathy Wilson of Jamestown, NY disappeared on May 18th, 1988, twenty three years ago. She was a mother of three. She went to work, went to lunch and then never came back. A year and a half later, her skeletal remains were found by kids playing in the woods of Lander, Pennsylvania, twenty miles from her home. Two men were tried for her murder. William Jay Buckley was then 38 and Michael Brown was 17. The trial was based on her being abducted for the purpose of rape and theft; with the idea that she was murdered on the same day she disappeared. A jury found both men not guilty of any charges. A man saw Kathy Wilson alive in Lander a few days after May 18th. A recent statement brings new insight into what really happened. National TV reports had people looking for her across the nation- with no luck, no solid reports. Now, a Lander, man says he saw a woman he absolutely believes to have been Kathy Wilson, alive in Lander; a few days after her disappearance. She was at his neighbor's home. He says he stood three feet from her; says she was “beaten badly”. The neighbor was a man who later went to prison for drugs and homicide. The man who saw her was threatened not to talk; he feared for his family. Then, a year and a half later, Kathy Wilson's remains were found about a mile away from the trailer where he saw her. On that same day- he watched the neighbor burn everything he owned. The neighbor dragged every piece of furniture, every belonging out of the trailer, into the backyard and lit it up like a 'football field'. Then at 5:30 in the morning, the neighbor left and was gone for several years. After he left, this man went to authorities and told them what he saw. The authorities thought they already had their man; and didn't listen to him. Three sightings makes sense... all after May 18th. Now, his statement makes sense. There had been two other sightings of a woman, in a full sized van in Lander, trying to get the attention of passing cars, at about that same time. Those sightings were taken into the record at trial as sworn testimony. Attorney Barry Smith said the sightings didn't make sense- as he questioned the date of the sightings- as they may have been after May 18th. Barry Smith was right; the sightings WERE after May 18th. Now, those sightings make sense, too. Three sightings at the same time, of a woman in distress, and of a full-size van make a strong connection that she was in Lander; then; seen in the same area where her skeletal remains were later found. She was transported in a van and seen at the home of a murderer, a few days AFTER she disappeared. Barry Smith had to say the sightings were wrong; and showed they may have not been on May 18th; as rape and theft would have occurred on May 18th, the day Kathy Wilson disappeared. Rape and theft is shown to have NOT been the motive; and that Kathy Wilson's captors were more than Buckley and Brown. There were others. The Lies of young Michael Brown. The many testimonies of Michael Brown were used in order to arrest and attempt to convict William Jay Buckley for rape, theft and murder of Kathy Wilson. But Michael Brown cleverly lied under oath, 767 times. His testimonies could not be trusted. The case against Buckley shriveled and died; as the lies of Brown could not be separated from the truth. Michael Brown made many statements with gruesome clarity. One among those was that Buckley had, and used a camera. If everything Brown said was a lie, to incriminate Buckley of rape and theft; why would he mention a camera, as a camera makes sense for proof of abduction and then proof of death? The Bible says “The Devil mixes truth with lies.” It seems clear that truth was mixed with lies in the failed trial for the Wilson murder. Murder for hire; NOT rape and theft. The three sightings add up; and change the reason for her abduction and murder from “rape and theft”; to “murder for hire”. The difference is unquestionable. New questions for motive have to be considered. And new suspects- or, rather, OLD suspects must be brought into question. Chris T. Brunea was ordered to leave the Wilson home on May 17th; the day before Kathy Wilson disappeared. A man was thrown out of Kathy Wilson's home the day before she disappeared. Chris T. Brunea was the EX-best friend of Mark Wilson, Kathy Wilson's husband. At trial, Investigator Detective Welch testified that Mark Wilson ordered his ex-best friend, Chris to leave the Wilson home, on May 17th, 1988. Attorney Barry Smith: “...Mark Wilson kind of scared to let him in the house?...” Detective Welch: “They let him in, but Mark told Kathy … don't let him in when I'm not there ...”. Mark Wilson was seen angry at a baseball game on May 17th. Testimony of a husband and wife described Mark Wilson as “glaring” at his wife Kathy for 15 or 20 minutes straight, at a baseball game for their daughter, on May 17th, 1988. From the testimonies: “ ...It was a look that has haunted me since Kathy disappeared..” “...the coach... thought something was going to happen..”. Motive. If Kathy Wilson's murder was murder for hire; who had a motive? According to those testimonies at trial, Mark Wilson was angry at his wife Kathy, the day before she disappeared. The two people with possible motive are Kathy's husband, Mark Wilson, but even more so, Chris T. Brunea, the man who Mark ordered to leave the Wilson home; and who Mark told police investigators that he had warned Kathy “don't let him in when I'm not here.”. That event occurred the day before Kathy Wilson disappeared and was taken to the home of a convicted murderer. There's the point to begin. Not rape and theft; since no money was taken; and when she was seen alive, days after being abducted. Murder for hire makes sense. The Fight Or Run website exists for a reason. The fight or run website exists because of fraud brought upon my family, some twenty years after Kathy Wilson was murdered. That fraud against my family and I was created and perpetuated by the man who was the NUMBER ONE SUSPECT for the abduction and murder of Kathy Wilson. That man is Chris T. Brunea, Esq. Mr. Brunea is a lawyer in Western New York. Instead of being a suspect, investigators, who were his friends, called him a “self-proclaimed psychic, who knew a little too much”. Chris T. Brunea fell through the cracks in the investigation; he was never considered or mentioned in any part of the case. No prosecution ever occurred against Mr. Brunea. All these years have passed without attention being given to Mr. Brunea's pieces of the puzzle in the Kathy Wilson murder. We don't know whether what he presented to investigators was meant to help solve or to mislead the investigation, as obstruction of justice. It has been said that “a Zebra doesn't change its stripes”. Come forward, Mr. Brunea; tell us what you know. I am personally asking Mr. Brunea to go to police and “fill them in” with his views and knowledge of the Wilson murder. It is clear that with the new knowledge of Kathy being alive AFTER she disappeared, investigators can weigh Mr. Brunea's story with new relevance. I will personally listen very closely to Mr. Brunea's words. Relating Mr. Brunea then to Mr. Brunea NOW. Mr. Brunea may be a “self-proclaimed psychic'. Mr. Brunea's purposeful and intentional attacks on my integrity and reputation for five years have NEVER ONCE been perceived as writings of a “psychic”; Even though the frivolous suit he brought with nonsense of my purported theft of five million dollars that did not exist were quickly seen as folly by his peers. The lies my 92 year old, quadriplegic father was told, that were then supported by the psychic Mr. Brunea and written into orders of law have been in place for five years. Orders of protection written against me; assets taken from my family, my father taken from my mother; our home taken and sold illegally; were all based on the acts of Chris T. Brunea to put words into the mouth of a weak, dying man; who had already been evaluated as lacking mental capacity. My father was not legally able to sign any documents that Mr. Brunea put before him. Yet, the courts upheld all acts Mr. Brunea took as if they were not the sayings of a “self-proclaimed psychic”; but as if they were the words of an Officer of the Court; Approved to practice Law in the State of New York; With full support of his law-friends; Who all stood to gain from the attack Mr. Chris T. Brunea, Esq. made on the Maecker family. And; gain, they did; all at our loss. Purpose. That is my purpose here; my ONLY purpose. I do not personally care who physically killed Kathy Wilson. I do not personally care who hired her murder. I DO personally care that an Officer of the Court KNOWS what happened to Kathy Wilson; and that he has not come forward with that knowledge. And I care that that same man many years later brought havoc and disaster upon a hard-working middle class family who have long contributed to their community. I ask for YOUR HELP; In bringing the murderers of Kathy Wilson to justice; and for your help in finding Justice for my own family; as we have been caught in the web of fraud and lies that Mr. Brunea brought upon us. Those are my only interests. FIGHT; OR RUN. What I've said here and everywhere on the site is truth. Anyone who wants to silence that truth, I invite you to take me to court. I invite you to openly discuss the things I said here. I believe you WILL NOT. Because then you will be exposed for the very things I'm exposing here. So, Mister Brunea, Fight. or... run. The Maecker Story Despite my exposing the lies Mr. Brunea brought to the Courts about me, no investigation of his acts against my family have ever occurred either. What I have presented here is for the purpose of exposing fraud in the cases before our Courts, for my family. Mr. Brunea lied about me. He presented those lies to the Court, and, though his lies were shown to be lies, they have never been undone. All actions against my family and I have continued without regard for justice. The Court has reacted by supported all of the fraud against my family. A million dollars of waste has blown away everything my family has ever worked for; the ONLY ones who have benefitted from the waste is the crooked lawyers and Judges. What I have learned now, after five years of punishment for things I never did- is that this same course of events is happening all over our country. There are certain formulas that exist; Certain ways fraud occurs; Certain ways it is covered; and always the same outcomes; where families are torn apart by courts; by fraud and lies, showing the families as dysfunctional and 'bad'. Then lawyers swoop in and take what they want; which is almost always cash; liquidation for cash; and real estate and assets. This is real; not imagined; not the words of a 'complainer.' It is rampant and unjust. At the core are criminal lawyers (LawRats) with the protection of Judges who will support them at any cost. Chris T. Brunea destroyed me, destroyed our home; destroyed my family; my partnership with NASA;' my Bed and Breakfast; with the support of the Courts and his LawRat brethren. I am here to show you evidence that Mr. Chris T. Brunea was involved in some way with the disappearance and murder of Kathy Wilson. Mr. Brunea is an officer of the Court. His statements under oath should be listened to carefully; VERY carefully. Mr. Brunea is not a psychic; Mr. Brunea HAS knowledge. His connections to the Courts, Prosecutors and Investigators must be put aside, while we learn the truth of what happened on May 17th, 1988; in the Wilson home; the day before Kathy Wilson disappeared, and never saw her three children again. I ask for you attention to this. I am presenting in the best way I know how; with text here, to outline the story as it appears to be; and with movies on YouTube, and embedded into www.fightorrun.com The longer movies have facts, presented slowly. The faster movies present the concept to be addressed. It is my sincere hope that Mr. Brunea will come forward top the world, with his 'knowledge'; and fill us in on what really happened to Kathy Wilson. Then, it would bring me great pleasure to hear Mr. Brunea tell the world that he filled my dying father's head with lies about me; along with his clients, my estranged half brother I had nearly never met, and his agents, the business consultant and my own employee, as caregiver for my dying father. That's the goal; JUSTICE; brought about by facts; presented in a way that could have never happened even a year or two ago. Brought to you, the people; by the magic of cameras, computers and the internet. I hope you'll watch with interest as the story unfolds. And come to Fight Or Run dot com, to see the editing system the Courts have used at least twice in my family's case; in order to avoid Jury Trial; for my innocence; and to avoid exposure of thirteen crooked lawyers and four crooked judges. Am I perfect? ABSOLUTELY NOT. Am I telling the truth? ABSOLUTELY. Thanks for your interest; I hope you'll take up the torch- to make America the great place we were raised to believe it is. We can make it great again.! Sincerely, Bill Maecker GOD BLESS AMERICA!
DENVER — Congress’ inaction on the $7.25 hourly minimum wage is again playing out on state ballots, with voters in four states considering an increase and another considering wages for the youngest workers, even though the states already exceed the federal. In some cases voters are also deciding whether to add sick-leave policies to help the working poor. The ballot proposals in Arizona, Colorado, Maine and Washington come two years after voters in five other states passed minimum-wage hikes. South Dakota voters are taking a second crack at wages, two years after raising them to $8.50 an hour. Is it a slam dunk that this year’s measures will pass, too? Maybe. Even the classic opponents to a higher minimum wage — restaurant associations and small-business groups — are running muted campaigns to oppose the wage measures. “It almost always passes when it gets on the ballot,” said Jerold Waltman, a political scientist at Baylor University who has written extensively about minimum wage and politics. “Most Americans have a fundamental sense of fairness, that if you work, you ought to make enough to make a living wage on. Democrats and Republicans seem to agree on this.” Four of the wage measures are only slightly different. Arizona, Colorado and Maine are considering phased-in $12 hourly minimum wages by 2020. In Washington state, where the minimum wage is $9.47 an hour, voters are considering a higher minimum wage, $13.50 an hour by 2020. The measures in Arizona and Washington also require employers to give paid sick leave. Voters in South Dakota are looking at the minimum wage for the second time in as many years. They will consider a so-called “referred law” to overturn a state law passed in reaction to a 2014 vote raising the minimum to $8.50, with the wage pegged to inflation. South Dakota lawmakers lowered the minimum wage to $7.50 for workers under 18, with no inflation adjustment for those youngest workers. The ballot measure asks voters to choose between keeping lawmakers’ approach to younger workers, or requiring higher wages for all working teens. The campaigns are talking about folks like Mayra Pride in Colorado, a 25-year old mother of three. Born and raised in Denver, Pride and her husband are considering moving after the birth of a fourth child because they can’t make ends meet on his pay for landscaping and construction jobs. “It’s not close to enough,” Pride said after a recent shopping trip to a discount store that sells cheap toiletries and paper goods. “We pay over $1,000 a month rent. That basically eats it all up. We can’t afford anything else sometimes.” Opponents of the wage campaigns are trying a nuanced approach, opposing not higher wages but how the measures are worded. In Colorado and Washington, for example, the opposing campaigns are arguing that minimum wages should be lower in rural, lower-cost areas. “It’s not the cities, the big businesses that are going to suffer,” said Tyler Sandberg of Colorado’s wage opposition campaign, called Keep Colorado Working. “A big corporation in Denver is going to be treated the same as a small mom-and-pop business” in a small town, he said. In Maine, opponents are also talking about a provision in that state related to restaurant servers and other tipped employees. The measure would gradually repeal a law permitting an employer to take a tip credit toward its minimum wage obligation for tipped employees. “We believe it is time the minimum wage in Maine does need to go up, but it needs to be something and more reasonable and sustainable for small employers,” said Peter Gore of the Maine State Chamber of Commerce, which says the wage should be $10 an hour, with a continued tip credit. Labor unions support the wage hikes and want South Dakota voters to reject the law lowering wages for workers under 18. In many states they have enlisted clergy members and other advocates for the poor to their side. “The ballot measures are part of a much bigger picture and a much larger message from workers that they can’t get by on the minimum wage,” said Laura Huizar, staff attorney for the National Employment Law Project, which favors raising the wages. What’s less clear is whether minimum-wage ballot measures raise voter turnout overall, or change the prospects for one party or another. “It certainly doesn’t hurt turnout, but if you take surveys, even a vast majority of Republicans support raising the minimum wage,” Waltman said. And the growing list of states that have raised wages from the $7.25 federal minimum, in effect since 2009, don’t translate into national change, he said. “If I’m a congressman from Alabama, what do I care that Colorado just raised the minimum wage? These state campaigns don’t have much influence on Congress,” Waltman said.
First Watch: Depeche Mode, 'Heaven' The English rock group Depeche Mode owned a chunk of the '80s and '90s with glossy electro-rock hits like "People Are People" and "Personal Jesus." These days the band doesn't have much to prove, and its members, who appear in this new video for the song "Heaven," seem to find themselves at peace, bathed in the radiant glow of light and love. There's an almost-tender vulnerability revealed in this live performance, directed by Timothy Saccenti, perhaps because Depeche Mode's members are a little older now, captured in an intimate studio setting in black and white, without the sheen afforded by multiple layers of glitzy post production. But they also seem a little wiser, more reflective and comfortable in their skin. It's the perfect tone for a song about finding joy in our own mortality. "I will end up dust," sings frontman Dave Gahan. But, "I'm in heaven." "Heaven" was written by Depeche Mode guitarist Martin Gore and is the first single from the band's upcoming album Delta Machine. Gahan tells us via email that the song is one of the reasons he still makes music. "It feels like putting on a pair of boots that I've worn for years, that I love. As soon as Martin played me the demo, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it. It was one of those songs that I heard and I immediately knew that I wanted to perform it live in the studio. I could hear the sort of gospel backing that Martin ended up actually doing himself. With a song like 'Heaven,' we were very conscious about not over-working the musical elements so they distracted from the vocal, and the strength of the vocal and the vocal melodies." Delta Machine is Depeche Mode's 13th full-length studio release. It's due out March 26.
The belief that a person’s weight is mainly linked to genetics and beyond individual control is a dangerous perspective, say researchers. Experts explain that while the perception that DNA determines weight is highly debated, it appears to be shaping people’s lives. In a new study, investigators discovered that those who believe that weight is outside of their control have a less healthy body mass index (BMI), make poorer food choices, and report lower levels of personal well-being than those who don’t. The study findings appear in Health Education and Behavior, a Society for Public Health Education journal. “If an individual believes weight to be outside of the influence of diet and exercise, she or he may engage in more behaviors that are rewarding in the short term, such as eating unhealthful foods and avoiding exercise, rather than healthful behaviors with more long-term benefits for weight management,” wrote study authors Drs. Mike C. Parent and Jessica L. Alquist. “By fighting the perception that weight is unchangeable, health care providers may be able to increase healthful behaviors among their patients.” Analyzing data from both medical and self-reported health measurements of 4,166 men and 4,655 women, the study authors found the following: As people get older, the belief that weight is unchangeable and determined by DNA is associated with less healthy eating behavior. For example, as people age, they are less likely to examine food nutrition labels and to make fruits and vegetables available at home. As people get older, the belief that weight is unchangeable is associated with less exercise. As people get older, the belief that weight is unchangeable is associated with eating more frozen meals (e.g., pizza), restaurant meals, and “ready-to-eat foods” (e.g., deli foods). “Although previous research has found gender differences in weight as a motivation for exercise and healthful eating, we did not find evidence that gender affected the relationship between health beliefs and physical activity or healthful eating,” wrote the study authors. “However, we found evidence that the relationship between belief in weight changeability and exercise, healthful eating, and unhealthful eating differs by age.” Thus, the belief that weight cannot be influenced by diet or exercise or any other behavior become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Source: Sage Publications/EurekAlert Overweight person sitting on steps photo by shutterstock. Preconception of Body Shape is Unhealthy
Government Blows Up Mannequins In Annual Plea For Fireworks Safety U.S. CPSC YouTube Independence Day is dedicated to patriotism, but celebrated with beer and explosives. So it might not be a shock that every Fourth of July, America sees a massive spike in fireworks injuries — especially among children and young men. And every year, the Consumer Product Safety Commission engages in a noble, quixotic quest to persuade Americans to set off explosives more responsibly. CPSC does that by blowing up mannequins on the National Mall. The demonstration emphasizes that fireworks are dangerous. Seriously dangerous. Blast-your-hand-off dangerous. Bottle-rocket-in-the-eye dangerous. Where'd-that-mannequin's-head-go dangerous. The point, of course, is not that fireworks should be forbidden. The CPSC is striving to suggest that if you're using fireworks, you should try to be smart and safe — and not emulate the dummies on the Mall. Acting chair of the CPSC Ann Marie Buerkle kicked off this year's demonstration, reminding Americans to keep a bucket of water or a hose handy any time they want to use fireworks. And never, ever let children set off an explosion, she said. Her other key points might seem self-evident, but get even-more-evident with an assist from an exploding mannequin. They include (we're paraphrasing): Don't point fireworks toward other people. If a firework fails to go off, don't try to relight it. And definitely don't crawl over for a closer look at what's wrong. Don't try to make your own fireworks. Professional fireworks are very powerful, which makes them very dangerous, which means they can very much kill you. "Leave the professional fireworks to the professionals," Buerkle said, noting that they are illegal for consumers to use. And, of course, the CPSC notes that you should follow local laws about where consumer-grade fireworks are permitted. Fireworks will be off-limits in more places than usual this year, reports NPR's Howard Berkes: Federal fire managers have banned fireworks on public lands, citing a worse-than-usual wildfire season. "The wildfire season doesn't usually kick into high gear until July," he says. "But the month began with 8,000 firefighters already deployed, close to 30,000 wildfires reported, and more than 2.7 million acres scorched." Does watching dummy-demolition make you long for more fireworks videos? Check out two new videos from Skunk Bear — NPR's science video series — about how exactly fireworks, well, work.
Former Orca Trainer For SeaWorld Condemns Its Practices Enlarge this image toggle caption Courtesy of Palgrave Macmillan Trade Courtesy of Palgrave Macmillan Trade Last year 4 million people visited SeaWorld's theme parks, where the top shows feature orcas, also known as killer whales. For years, activists have charged that keeping orcas in captivity is harmful to the animals and risky for the trainers who work with them, a case that gained urgency in 2010 when Dawn Brancheau, a veteran orca trainer, was dragged into the water and killed by a whale at the SeaWorld Park in Orlando, Fla. When Brancheau died, there was some dispute as to whether the whale's intent was aggressive and whose fault the incident was. John Hargrove, who spent 14 years as an orca trainer, mostly at SeaWorld, says there was no doubt that the whale was aggressive. And the reason for whales' aggression, he says, is that they're held captive. Hargrove eventually became disillusioned with SeaWorld's treatment of orcas and left the company. "As I became higher-ranked, I saw the devastating effects of captivity on these whales and it just really became a moral and ethical issue," Hargrove tells Fresh Air's Dave Davies in an interview about the book. "When you first start to see it, you first try to say, 'OK, well, I love these animals; I'm going to take care of them.' ... You think, 'I can change things.' And then all these things, of course, never improve and then you start ... seeing mothers separated from their calves; you start seeing trainers being killed, and then they blame [the trainers] for their own deaths." He said his "final straw" was when SeaWorld publicly testified that "they had no knowledge we had a dangerous job." The documentary Blackfish, released in 2013, covers Brancheau's death and an incident two months earlier at a theme park in Spain when an orca killed a trainer named Alexis Martinez. The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigated Brancheau's death and concluded SeaWorld had exposed trainers to hazardous conditions; it fined the corporation. In its order, later upheld on appeal, OSHA also banned SeaWorld from permitting its personnel to enter the tanks to train and perform with orcas, a practice known as water work. Now Hargrove has a new book, called Beneath the Surface. He is one of seven former trainers who criticized the company in Blackfish. Fresh Air's Davies also spoke with representatives of SeaWorld in a separate interview. The company denies that it treats its whales poorly. "There's a theme and maybe a bit of exaggeration about each of these processes as described in the film [Blackfish], which I'm certainly familiar with, that really sensationalizes what we're doing, in those stories that are told from the standpoint of those who are criticizing us," says SeaWorld's vice president of veterinary services, Christopher Dold. "That sensationalism is unfounded. Every decision we make around a social setting for the whales [and] around moving a whale from one park to another one is founded in respect for the animals." Enlarge this image toggle caption Mike Aguilera/Getty Images Mike Aguilera/Getty Images What's more, SeaWorld says, it doesn't take calves away from their mothers. "We don't put any animal in any stressful situation," says SeaWorld's curator of zoological operations, Chuck Tompkins. Interview Highlights John Hargrove, former SeaWorld trainer who wrote Beneath The Surface On a time when Hargrove felt in danger while training the whale named Freya in France As soon as I dove into her pool — I had another trainer throw me some fish — Freya came at me and I offered the fish to her, [but] she refused the fish and she immediately started pushing me with a closed mouth. [She pushed] into my chest, pushing me into the middle of the pool. ... I was trying to deflect off her, best I could, but those animals are so incredibly agile, there's no way, so she just stayed on me. ... She had me right in the middle of the pool. They do that because you're farthest away from safety, you're farthest away from land, you're farthest away from the other trainers. And then she [dragged] the entire length of the side of her body down my body, making contact. ... I didn't know if she was going to hit me in the head with her [tail], which would've easily broken my neck. She did not do that, thankfully and obviously, but then she went under. And she ultimately sank down below me, she turned sideways, she opened her mouth and she put the entire width of my body in her mouth — right as I called out to the trainer that was closest to me to get ready to call paramedics. She pulled me under as soon as I said that last word. ... I had seen trainers be pulled under by whales before and I had been pulled under by whales before, but I had never seen a whale grab a trainer by their torso before. So to feel her entire jaws — and she's 7,000 pounds — around my hip bones, I mean ... looking her in the eye during the entire incident ... I knew she wasn't going to let me swim out. On the first time he saw a show at SeaWorld when he was 6 years old It was 1980; it was the first time I ever went to SeaWorld. I was with my mother and my stepfather and it was the first Shamu stadium show that I saw. And I just remember being so seduced and mesmerized by it, just seeing this large stadium and 5,000 people and these incredible animals and seeing people in the water with these animals. And, of course, I was already an animal lover, but I had never seen anything the size and [with] the magnificence of a killer whale. ... It hit me at a cellular level and never left me. I obsessively pursued it from that point forward. What the killer whale show is like at SeaWorld and how big the animals are We would try to show the smaller water-work behaviors that would really show off our relationship with the animals. We would call them "playtimes" — that's our lingo for setting up the show. Ultimately we'd work our way up to the more dramatic behaviors, the hydro-hops, the rocket-hops, where you see the whales throwing us through the air and we're diving off the whales, surf rides [you stand on the whale's back and surf on them]. ... So we would like to show both — the smaller behaviors [that] show the relationship, and then get into the big, dramatic stuff that you can't do off a dolphin, but you can do off of an 8,000-pound killer whale, just because of the sheer size and strength of the animal. The largest female in the world — actually the first killer whale I ever swam with, Corky — she's in California. She's still alive; she's 8,200 pounds. Tilikum, who killed Dawn, is 12,000 pounds. Ulises in California, he's an adult male; he's 10,000 pounds now — so you can see the radical difference in size. ... Even the smallest behaviors we do on the animals, people don't realize the force that that creates on our body and the compression on our joints when you're having an 8,000-pound animal push you around the pool. You're not effortlessly gliding through the water like most people think. It's like having two SUVs pushing you around and you're just on one foot. On separating calves from their mothers This is one of the most infuriating things to me because I can tell you — my own personal knowledge, [so] this is a conservative number — I know of 19 calves we have taken from their mothers. ... This is where SeaWorld tries to be clever and tries to get people with semantics. What they've tried to do is redefine the word "calf" by saying a calf is no longer a calf once they're not nursing with their mother anymore, and that's simply not true. A calf is always a calf. For example, Kasatka and Takara, when they were separated when Takara was 12, Takara is still Kasatka's calf and they would remain together for life in the wild. ... SeaWorld has separated mothers from their calves before they had stopped nursing. They took Keet away from Kalina, and he was only 20 months old and he was still nursing. On the process of separating the whales We trick the whales when ... there's a separation like that. ... The whales are so smart they know that even if they hear the cranes coming up the pathway [to lift them out of the pool] or certainly if they see them, they won't separate, they won't allow it to happen because they know the possibility ... that one of the members of their family or their social group could be taken away from them. ... You'll [hear] extremely upset vocalizations from whales that are ... being taken away, and then the whales that they're being taken away from. In fact, [when calf Takara was taken from Kasatka], she was emitting vocalizations that had never been heard before ever by anyone. They brought in one of their own SeaWorld researchers ... she analyzed those vocals and determined that they were long-range vocals and ... because obviously Takara was gone and [Kasatka] was trying anything she could to try to locate and communicate with Takara, which is absolutely heartbreaking. Those vocalizations continued on for a long time. ... This information was communicated to me by a senior manager from Shamu Stadium at SeaWorld of California, so obviously that was their determination of their vocalizations, which was communicated to me, rightfully so, so there's no real gray area for any misinterpretation of what those vocalizations might have meant. Everyone clearly understood that it was an extremely traumatic event for both Kasatka and Takara. On SeaWorld saying it pays a lot of attention to social groups If they paid such careful attention to that they wouldn't have taken Kohana from Takara. Kohana was only 3 years old. ... Ironically up on SeaWorld's page, "The Truth About [The Movie] Blackfish," they have a picture of Takara with her calf Kohana, and they say that "we do not separate mothers from their calves." OK, right now Takara is at SeaWorld of Texas and Kohana is in Spain. So they are separated and they actually took Kohana away from Takara when she was only 3 years old and that put Kohana in a social situation where she had no mother, at the age of 3, and no other adult female. So what happened was she was inbred with her uncle, Keto. He inbred her twice, she had the calf, and because she was just a baby, really, she had no other whale to learn from, no mother to learn from, she rejected both of her calves and the second calf died within its first year. On the death of SeaWorld trainer Brancheau Dawn was very experienced. She was working with Tilikum during a [Shamu performance]. ... She was working with Tilikum the way she was allowed to work with Tilikum. She wasn't breaking any rules or protocols; she wasn't swimming with him. And he made the choice to grab her and pull her into the pool. We will never know why Tilikum made that choice and we will never know for sure if Tilikum intended to kill her or if he was just in such a rage, but what we do know, without question, even though SeaWorld denies it now publicly (but internally we never denied it, and we always discussed it as so), was that it was an aggressive event. So even in court in the OSHA hearings, SeaWorld attempted ... to say it was not aggressive behavior. But I can tell you [that at] all of our senior-level internal meetings, we always discussed it as what it was, which was a highly aggressive event. He didn't just drown Dawn; he dismembered her. On aggressive behavior at SeaWorld I think [it's] extremely rare when [trainers] are killed and they're dismembered like with Alexis [Martinez] and Dawn. But aggression towards trainers is not extremely rare. And, in fact, we just keep that from the public. If it doesn't happen in the media, if the media doesn't get a hold of it, then you guys never hear about it. On his injuries from being a trainer I've had major sinus surgery here in New York, where they had to cut out scar tissue in all four compartments of my sinuses and saw away bone because so many years of being exposed to the cold water had caused my bones to thicken in my skull. I have major cartilage destruction in both of my knees and in my back. I've lacerated my face to the skull — 17 stitches to close up. I've broken my foot; I've broken toes; I've broken fingers; I've broken my ribs two times. I've been treated for thoracic strain ... but I have a laundry list of injuries and they're only going to get worse. I'm 41 years old now, and I have these injuries. Christopher Dold, SeaWorld's vice president of veterinary services, and Chuck Tompkins, SeaWorld's curator of zoological operations On separating calves from their mothers Chuck Tompkins: We've never moved a calf from a mom. ... A calf is an animal young enough who is still dependent on the mom, still nursing with the mom, and still requires the mom's leadership. ... You can't put it in human years; you've got to put it in killer whale years. We think they're probably dependent [at] 4 to 5 years. After that, they start to gain their independence. ... For the animals we have moved, we obviously are aware of what we're doing and what we're about to do, and we prepare those animals for that move. ... We've trained them to be relaxed during that move. To say that they're uncomfortable or stressed, that's just not the way we do our business at SeaWorld. On the process of separating the whales Tompkins: [Hargrove's] interpretation of the environment is completely different from mine or any other trainer that was there. These animals are very vocal and anytime you're doing something different in the environment, these animals can become vocal. Never during these situations have we heard those types of vocals that would indicate stress ... or anything of that nature, or we wouldn't continue with the process. Christopher Dold: The way we manage our whales, as close as we are with the whales that we care for in our parks, it is very different than what a wild killer whale experiences. Remember, 80 percent of our whales or more now were born at a park at SeaWorld. So one of the fundamental differences between a wild killer whale and the killer whales that live at our parks is they have humans working with them every day. Human beings are a part of their lives. So, when we move a killer whale away from killer whales [that] it has been living with for a long time — and that may be a mother killer whale or another sibling — some of that social group still goes with that whale. If it isn't a couple of the whales already that it grew up with moving with it, it's the trainers that that whale knows, as well as the other whales in its environment. On the death of SeaWorld trainer Brancheau Tompkins: I was actually the company spokesman during that time and, to be clear, I worked with Dawn her entire career. ... That was a terrible, emotional time for a lot of people. We knew the facts; and as much as we could at the time, we knew that her hair was grabbed, but that was not blaming anybody. We never, never publicly came out and blamed Dawn for anything. I think our company was absolutely stellar in taking the approach that we would find out all the information. And to this day, we still have not blamed Dawn for anything that happened.
Paul Souders / Corbis A chimp sits in a tree in Kibale National Park in Uganda Correction Appended: June 22, 2010 It's obvious that humans are fundamentally different from other animal species. It's not so easy, though, to identify the traits that make Homo sapiens so special. Scientists realized long ago that other animals make tools, play jokes and even have a sense of justice and altruism all things we once thought were unique to our species. Now a paper in the journal Current Biology has added another behavior to the list of what other animals share with us and this one isn't quite so charming. After years of field observations in Uganda's Kibale National Park, John Mitani of the University of Michigan and several colleagues have concluded that chimps wage war to conquer new territory. (See pictures of animal attacks on humans.) "We already knew that chimps kill each other," says Mitani. "We've known this for a long time." What scientists didn't know for sure, at least in cases in which groups of chimps banded together to kill others, was why. One hypothesis, advanced more than a decade ago by anthropologist Richard Wrangham, was the idea of territorial conquest; circumstantial evidence from both Gombe and Mahale national parks in Tanzania bolstered the theory. In Mahale, for example, male members of one group mysteriously vanished, and another group then expanded into what had been their land suggestive but not conclusive. In Gombe, an existing group dissolved into civil war, resulting in killings and land takeovers. But it's hard to say what the casus belli was and thus impossible to know if territorial combat was a key motivator. Mitani, for the first time, has gathered direct evidence of deliberate warfare. From 1999 to 2008, he and his colleagues observed 18 chimp-on-chimp killings, 13 of which took place in the homeland of a single neighboring group. Then last year, says Mitani, "all of a sudden [the aggressors] made this big land grab," moving into the territory where the 13 victims had lived. "It isn't rocket science," he says. "We put two and two together and got four." (Watch TIME's video "Chimps and People: Dangerous Bedfellows.") What's especially chilling about the observation is that the murder rate appears to be so high. The anthropologists couldn't be certain of how big a band the victims belonged to because, unlike the aggressors, they weren't used to a human presence and thus couldn't be accurately counted. But even a conservative estimate suggests that the death rate is significantly higher than you would see in war between human hunter-gatherer groups. Mitani isn't oblivious to the lesson some people might draw from the study. "Invariably, some will take this as evidence that the roots of aggression run very deep," he says, and therefore conclude that war is our evolutionary destiny. "Even if that were true," says Mitani, "we operate by a moral code that chimps don't have." (See the top 10 scientific discoveries of 2009.) Besides, he points out, the Pan troglodytes chimps he studies are one of two subspecies. The other is called Pan paniscus, also known as bonobos, and, says Mitani, "the latter, as far as we know, aren't nearly as aggressive with respect to intergroup relations. Yet they're equally close to us." That means that if we're wired for warfare, we're wired for peace too. Ultimately, the route we choose is still up to us. Lemonick is the senior science writer for Climate Central. The original version of this article mistakenly stated that John Mitani was affiliated with Michigan State University. He is in fact affiliated with the University of Michigan. See the top 10 new species of 2009.
Dying Stars Write Their Own Swan Songs Dying Stars Write Their Own Swan Songs Listen · 3:55 3:55 Hide caption When stars explode, they release many different types of light. This image of the Crab Nebula combines X-rays data in (blue), optical images from Hubble (red and yellow) and infrared data (purple). Previous Next NASA Hide caption As a star's shell explodes outward, its core squeezes inward. The result can be a black hole or neutron star. This highly distorted supernova remnant, called W49B, may contain the most recent black hole formed in the Milky Way galaxy. Previous Next NASA Hide caption A sphere of gas floats in the depths of space. Called SNR 0509-67.5, the bubble is the visible remains of a powerful stellar explosion in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small galaxy about 160,000 light-years from Earth. Previous Next NASA Hide caption This supernova remnant, known as N49, is also located in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The star that created it exploded some 5,000 years ago. Previous Next NASA Hide caption This composite image shows new details of the aftermath of a massive star that exploded. The explosion itself would have been visible from Earth over 1,000 years ago. Previous Next Chandra X-ray Observatory Center/NASA 1 of 5 i View slideshow Alicia Soderberg studies the death of stars. Often, these final moments come as violent explosions known as supernovae. They're spectacular events, but catching one as it unfolds can be tricky. "You have to be in the right place at the right time, and often we're not," says the professor in Harvard's astronomy department. "So all you can do is do a stellar autopsy and go back and try to pick up the pieces and try to figure out what happened." Soderberg's autopsy involves collecting every signal her team can from the explosions: radio waves, light, X-rays. They try to put this information together in a way that makes sense. And often that's hard to do. "The data analysis itself is very detailed," she says A few years ago, Soderberg met a graduate student named Wanda Diaz-Merced. Diaz-Merced lost her eyesight years ago, so she studies astronomy not with sight, but with sound. "I have been able to listen to meteors passing through the atmosphere, solar storms, that is just to give you a gist," she says. The data from stars, comets and planets all sound different. "Every sound I listen from the skies, it has its own voice." Soderberg and her team worked with Diaz to turn the deaths of stars into songs. Each signal collected in the autopsy gets its own part in the orchestra: "The Radio gets the drums, the X-ray gets the harpsichord, and everything in between gets a different instrument, like a violin or a flute," Soderberg says. She presented the first of these songs this week at the American Astronomical Society annual meeting in National Harbor, Md. When Soderberg listens to these songs, she started to hear things. Things she hadn't noticed when she looked at the data. Each supernova sounds different, because each star dies in a different way. "Stars can [die] by running into each other for example, like a car crash, or they can die by just running out of fuel," she says. "A lot of stars will do interesting things before they die like pulsate or spin or get overheated." The songs map the story of the star as it explodes and expands and cools into a cloud of gas and dust. But these aren't only deaths. These supernova explosions release enormous quantities of elements like carbon, oxygen, nitrogen. Elements we need; elements we're made of. "I mean, supernovae fertilize the universe," Soderberg says. "We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for supernovae."
Senior Congress leader and Finance Minister P. Chidambaram today said BJP may not continue UPA's rural employment scheme if it was voted to power at the Centre and urged the electorate to vote for his party to derive benefits of welfare schemes. "No senior BJP leader has said that they would continue the National Rural Employment Gurantee Scheme if voted to power," Chidambaram said addressing a series of meetings at villages, including Pazhaiyanur and Maranadu near here, introducing his party candidate and son Karti to the electorate. Terming BJP as a party of "Hindi chauvinists, Hindu fundamentalists and big businessmen representing only the elite of the society," he said Congress stood for the common man and the marginalised sections of the society. Engaging the people, he wanted to know from them why BJP did not launch welfare schemes like rural employment, farm loan waiver, and educational loans while it was in power. Stating that both AIADMK and DMK's influence was confined to only Tamil Nadu, he said these parties could not do anything in Delhi in terms of government formation or decision-making as the Lok Sabha had 543 members. "At best, the ten to fifteen DMK and ten to fifteen AIADMK members can fight there (Delhi) amongst themeselves", he said. Criticising Chief Minister Jayalalithaa for using helicopters to reach the venues of election meetings, he said "if you look from above, from the skies, road or rails will not be visible." Outlining the development work done in his constituency, he said ground realities could be understood if a person visited villages and travelled by road like Congress icon and freedom fighter K Kamaraj.
I’ve previously mentioned the taxpayer-funded race hustler Dr Caprice Hollins, whose efforts to empower black Seattle school pupils included dismissing grammar and foresight as “white values” and expectations thereof as “cultural racism.” Rather than encouraging “students of colour” to articulate their thoughts, to be responsible and plan ahead, like everyone else, we must, said Dr Hollins, see people as “racial beings” and “teach [children] to view the world through a racial lens.” But we mustn’t correct their grammar and spelling, or expect them to turn up on time. Similar sentiments were voiced, in a somewhat boggling way, by Dr Riyad A Shahjahan, a professional educator at Michigan State University and a “social justice theorist,” who wants us to believe that people with brown skin are mystical and exotic, akin to leprechauns, and, unlike white people, “inhabit [their] bodies fully.” Dr Shahjahan also denounces expectations of attentiveness and academic competence, and even punctuality, as racist and oppressive. We should, he says, embrace “embodied pedagogy” and “disrupt Eurocentric notions of time.” With such deep and incontestable thinking in mind, it may not be surprising to learn that the Writing Centre at the University of Washington, Tacoma is exploring similar avenues. The Centre, the stated goal of which is to “help writers write and succeed in a racist society,” aims to improve the life chances of brown-skinned students by encouraging them to give employers the impression that they’re incapable of mastering even rudimentary grammar: An “antiracist” poster in a college writing centre insists American grammar is “racist” and an “unjust language structure,” promising to prioritise rhetoric over “grammatical ‘correctness.’” The poster, written by the director, staff, and tutors of the Writing Centre, states, “racism is the normal condition of things,” declaring that it permeates rules, systems, expectations, in courses, school and society… The Centre pledges to “listen and look carefully and compassionately for ways we may unintentionally perpetuate racism or social injustice, actively engaging in antiracist practices.” “We promise to emphasise the importance of rhetorical situations… in the production of texts,” announces the poster. “We promise to challenge conventional word choices and writing explanations.” The Writing Centre press release - which, according to one of its authors, Dr Asao Inoue, took “over a year” to write, despite its brevity – tells us that language is “constantly changing” and it is therefore, allegedly, “difficult to justify placing people in hierarchies or restricting opportunities and privileges because of the way people communicate.” Instead of becoming proficient in the structure and expressive possibilities of the national tongue, students – brown ones – should “become more critical” of “unjust language structures.” Apparently, the way for minority students to flourish as writers is to dismiss any criticism of their prose, and any attempt to improve it, as a racially motivated “microaggression” and an “oppressive practice,” and thus proof of “an inherently racist society.” In short, then, students with brown skin needn’t be articulate, verbally self-possessed, or precise in their thoughts. And that ungrammatical job application, the one enlivened with incomprehensible sentences and lots of inventive spelling, will do just fine. And by the time the real-world consequences of this “social justice” posturing become difficult to avoid, Dr Inoue will have been paid - and be merrily exploiting the next batch of suckers. Thank goodness these enlightened people are here to help.
“Beehive Records” — a poem by Michael Yellin Nick Brignola, Beehive Records recording artist, 1977 – 1979 _____ Beehive Records Tonight I’m spinning the ugly, unhip jazzmen of Beehive records, sweating in their transition shades, mustaches sincere and wide, collared tapestry shirts, hair erupting from ears and noses and they’re killing— bellicose ogre grunts from the bari sax; tasty sweet tenors tiptoeing along a melody like morning hikers traversing a high ridge; pianos flexing interstitial muscles in and around solid bone themes. These men resembling sad middle school music teachers are atavists of an acoustic age, their flatted fifths broken apart by the gleaming precision of bright sized fusion. They’re not cool like Miles, spiritual like Coltrane, brilliant like Monk, so their legacy wanes. But the unhip hear their voices coming through: geeky technicians keeping the analog grooves humming. _____ Michael Yellin lives in Merrimack, NH with his wife, two beautiful daughters, and a little black dog. A relic who is not on Facebook and who still collects CDs, Michael is an English and writing teacher at Making Community Connections charter school in Manchester, NH, and he holds a Ph.D in English from Lehigh University. Some Beehive Records recordings: “Billie’s Bounce,” by Nick Brignola, from Baritone Madness (1977) “Darn That Dream,” by Sal Salvador from Starfingers (1978) “But Not For Me,” by Dick Katz from In High Profile (1984) The Beehive Records page at Wikipedia
Oct. 16, 2013 UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - With 25 Nittany Lions on National Football League rosters, Penn State is well represented in the professional ranks. Each week throughout the year, www.GoPSUsports.com will provide updates on the exploits of these former Nittany Lion greats. A top performance from week six of the 2013 season included Paul Posluszny's 59-yard interception return for a touchdown. Navorro Bowman (2007-09), LB, San Francisco 49ers San Francisco 32, Arizona 20 Bowman recorded four tackles (two solo) and one interception during the 49ers' victory. Levi Brown (2003-06), OT, Pittsburg Steelers Pittsburgh 19, New York Jets 6 Brown was placed on the reserve/injured list Oct. 15. Dan Connor (2004-07), LB, New York Giants Chicago 27, New York Giants 21 Connor is on the team's reserve/injured list. Jack Crawford (2008-11), DE, Oakland Raiders Kansas City 24, Oakland 7 Crawford saw action against the Chiefs. Robbie Gould (2001-04), K, Chicago Bears Chicago 27, New York Giants 21 Gould connected on both of his field-goal attempts (40 and 52 yards) and went 3-for-3 on extra points. Tamba Hali (2002-05), LB, Kansas City Chiefs Kansas City 24, Oakland 7 Hali made four tackles (one solo) and 3.5 sacks against the Raiders. Jordan Hill (2009-12), DT, Seattle Seahawks Seattle 20, Tennessee 13 (OT) Hill made three tackles (one solo) during the Seahawks' victory. Gerald Hodges (2009-12), LB, Minnesota Vikings Carolina 35, Minnesota 10 Hodges was inactive against the Panthers. Sean Lee (2005-07, 2009), LB, Dallas Cowboys Dallas 31, Washington 16 Lee had a team-high 10 tackles (six solo) in Dallas' victory against the Redskins. Michael Mauti (2008, 2010-12), LB, Minnesota Vikings Carolina 35, Minnesota 10 Mauti saw action against the Panthers. Matt McGloin (2010-12), QB, Oakland Raiders Kansas City 24, Oakland McGloin dressed as the Raiders' backup quarterback. Derek Moye (2008-11), WR, Pittsburgh Steelers Pittsburgh 19, New York Jets 6 Moye saw action against the Jets. Jared Odrick (2006-09), DE, Miami Dolphins BYE Odrick has recorded 16 tackles in 2013. Rich Ohrnberger (2006-08), OL, San Diego Chargers San Diego 19, Indianapolis 9 Ohrnberger started at right guard and helped San Diego out gain Indianapolis by a 374-267 margin. Paul Posluszny (2003-06), LB, Jacksonville Jaguars Denver 35, Jacksonville 19 Posluszny had seven solo tackles and one interception that led to a touchdown for the Jaguars. Andrew Quarless (2006-09), TE, Green Bay Packers Green Bay 19, Baltimore 17 Quarless saw action against the Ravens. Evan Royster (2007-10), RB, Washington Redskins Dallas 31, Washington 16 Royster saw action against the Cowboys. A.Q. Shipley (2005-08), C, Baltimore Ravens Green Bay 19, Baltimore 17 Shipley saw action against the Ravens. Mickey Shuler (2007-09), TE, Atlanta Falcons BYE Shuler is a member of the Falcons' practice squad. Devon Still (2009-11), DT, Cincinnati Bengals Cincinnati 27, Buffalo 24 Still made one tackle against the Bills. Nate Stupar (2008-11), LB, San Francisco 49ers San Francisco 32, Arizona 20 Stupar saw action against the Cardinals. Andrew Szczerba (2008-09), TE, Atlanta Falcons BYE Szczerba is on the team's reserved/injured list. Johnnie Troutman (2009-11), OG, San Diego Chargers San Diego 19, Indianapolis 9 Troutman started at left guard and helped San Diego out gain the Colts by a 374-267 margin. Cameron Wake (2000, 02-04), DE, Miami Dolphins BYE Wake has a total of five tackles, two of which are solo. Stefan Wisniewski (2007-10), OL, Oakland Raiders Kansas City 24, Oakland 7 Wisniewski was inactive against the Chiefs.
The deal, worth £350,000 at ratecard, will run during Euro 2004 within supplements in publications including the Manchester Evening News, West Midlands Express and Star and Shropshire Star. prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"? It will place advertising within a specially created four-page betting pull-out being produced by the Racing Post as part of the supplement. Sponsorship of a daily betting column, strips in the Euro 2004’s sports pages and ads on the days prefix="st1" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"? England plays, the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final, are also included. Additionally, Totesport will be the main sponsor of the Manchester Evening News Euro 2004 supplement. It is estimated that Totesport will reach over three million readers through the entire deal. Gary McNish, Amra managing director, said: “High-profile events such as Euro 2004 really capture the imagination of the entire nation. “This deal highlights the creativity and flexibility of the regional press and demonstrates how it can work with national advertisers to help them achieve impact.” By Sally Avery.
WATCH Fev & Byron Go For A NUDE Hike I Fifi, Dave, Fev & Byron This probably won't make a lot of sense, but let's try to explain this as simple as we can. Last Friday was Nude Hiking Day. Dave suggested Fev and Byron go for a nude hike. Fev was very enthusiastic. Byron was reluctant. That one little idea has since turned into the cinematic masterpiece you can watch above. ————— Subscribe NOW to Hit Network: https://bit.ly/2KWOK4o Listen to Fifi, Fev & Byron 6-9am weekdays on Fox FM Get more at: https://www.hit.com.au/shows/fifi-fev-byron Download the App - For Apple: https://apple.co/2f28Qvq For Android: https://bit.ly/2gLlCzn Follow: @fififevbyron Like: https://www.facebook.com/fififevandbyron/ Get more Hit Network: Hit YouTube: https://bit.ly/2KWOK4o Like Hit Network: http://bit.ly/HitNetworkFB Follow Hit Network: http://bit.ly/HitNetworkIG In 2018 Fifi, Fev & Byron kick-start your Melbourne morning. We’ll dish the latest celebrity goss, as well as interviews with the stars, all of the hottest hit music and great giveaways and competitions! #hitnetwork #FifiFevByron
Asteroids are one of the most hazardous objects in the solar system. The NASA keeps close eye on potentially hazardous objects and allows us to know about asteroids coming towards Earth. This time, asteroid named as 2004 BL86, will be safely pass Earth on 26 January, 2015. The size of the asteroid is estimated to be around 650 m by studying reflected brightness of the asteroid. The asteroid of this size is categorized as Potentially Hazardous Asteroid. The asteroid of size larger than 35 meters across can pose a threat to a town or city. The asteroid of diameter 100 to 150 m is big enough to cause regional devastation to human settlements unprecedented in human history in the case of a land impact, or a major tsunami in the case of an ocean impact. Such events occur on an average once per 10000 year. Although it is potentially hazardous asteroid but you don’t need to worry as this will pass Earth safely. The closest distance between the asteroid and the Earth will around 1.2 million km (745,000 miles) on 26 January which is about 3.1 times the distance between moon and Earth. It will be the closest known asteroid this large to pass near Earth until 2027, that’s when an asteroid called 1999 AN10 flies by us. “Monday, January 26 will be the closest asteroid 2004 BL86 will get to Earth for at least the next 200 years,” said Don Yeomans, who is retiring as manager of NASA’s Near Earth Object Program Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, after 16 years in the position. “And while it poses no threat to Earth for the foreseeable future, it’s a relatively close approach by a relatively large asteroid, so it provides us a unique opportunity to observe and learn more.” The scientists at NASA are planning to observe this asteroid with microwave. NASA’s Deep Space Network antenna at Goldstone, California, and the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico will try to obtain the scientific data and radar generated image of the asteroid 2004 BL86. “When we get our radar data back the day after the flyby, we will have the first detailed images,” said radar astronomer Lance Benner of JPL, the principal investigator for the Goldstone radar observations of the asteroid. “At present, we know almost nothing about the asteroid, so there is bound to be surprises.” The asteroid was discovered by a telescope of the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) survey in White Sands, New Mexico in January 2004. The brightness of the asteroid 2004 BL86 will be around magnitude 9.5 so it can be easily viewed by the small telescopes and binoculars. So this will be good opportunity for amateur astronomers to enjoy the view of large asteroid from such a close distance. “I may grab my favorite binoculars and give it a shot myself,” said Yeomans. “Asteroids are something special. Not only did asteroids provide Earth with the building blocks of life and much of its water, but in the future, they will become valuable resources for mineral ores and other vital natural resources. They will also become the fuelling stops for humanity as we continue to explore our solar system. There is something about asteroids that makes me want to look up.” If you don’t have telescope or binocular then don’t be upset. You can watch the closest approach of asteroid online on “The Virtual Telescope Project 2.0”. This will provide the live images of closest approach of asteroid 2004 BL86 with live commentary by their scientific staff. NASA detects tracks and categorizes asteroids and comets using their Earth based and satellite telescope. The Near Earth Object Program, often referred as “safeguard”, tries to identify the asteroids which could be potentially Hazardous to our planet. The asteroid hit in Siberia in 2013 clearly proves the requirement of this type of programs to save us from the Potentially Hazardous Objects. By 2014, NASA has listed 1458 known Potentially Hazardous Asteroids which are studied by various means including optical, radar and infrared to determine various characteristics of asteroid like size, composition, rotation rate and to more accurately determine its orbit. Both professional and amateur astronomers participate in detection of Potentially Hazardous Asteroids. Reference: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2015-015
Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2006 September 15 11 Hour Star Trails Credit & Copyright: Josch Hambsch Explanation: Fix your camera to a tripod, lock the shutter open, and you can make an image of star trails - graceful concentric arcs traced by the stars as planet Earth rotates on its axis. Of course, the length of the star trails will depend on the exposure time. While exposures lasting just five minutes produce a significant arc, in about 12 hours a given star would trace out half a circle. But in any long exposure, the background glow from light-polluted skies can build up to wash out the trails. Still, astronomer Josch Hambsch produced this stunning composite of star trails around the South Celestial Pole with an effective "all night" exposure time of almost 11 hours. To do it, he combined 128 consecutive five minute long digital exposures recorded in very dark night skies above Namibia. In his final image, the background glow on the right is due in part to the faint, arcing Milky Way.
How to Avoid This Big Voiceover Mistake Like most small business owners just starting out, budding voice talent tend to severely undervalue themselves out of desperation and fear they may lose the job. Insert your own twisted rationale here (“But, I’m just getting started!” “I’m happy to get paid at all.” “It’s just for this one job.” “It’s for a friend/neighbor/relative/friend of a friend”) but fast forward a year or two, and you’re still committed to doing three or more projects a week for the same vendor to whom you undersold yourself. Only you’re not just doing the voiceover, you’re also handling all of the production—and not getting paid for it. To make matters worse, you’re locked into that $50-per-job rate you quoted them from the start. You’d make more money walking dogs or babysitting. Now you’re overwhelmed, when all you wanted to do was get your voiceover career started. You didn’t think the first couple of clients would snowball into this. Yet here you are, spending more time and effort recording and editing than actually voicing anything. The phrase “cheap is very expensive” comes to mind. READ: Unlock the Voiceover Success With Expert Advice This is the greatest obstacle voice talent face today. Here’s why: Doing something for nothing or near nothing (say, under $200) sets a poor precedent in this or any business, because clients come to rely on the rate you quoted them initially for all future projects. When a client asks, “What’s your rate?” they already want to hire you! They wouldn’t be asking otherwise; they simply don’t know what they’re getting for their money. You may be new to this field and have very little production experience, but guess what? That corporate client who wants to hire you to do the video narration probably has even less than you! Especially if you’re trained, and you’ve spent some time and attention producing a professional voiceover demo you can be proud of. So when they ask if the production is included, they’re asking because they honestly don’t know it isn’t! (Nor should it be.) So if you’re worried you’ll lose the gig should you not agree to deliver services well beyond your actual production capabilities—relax. And inform your potential client your fee is solely for your voiceover performance skills. Truly professional voice talent aren't producers, casting directors, and talent agents all rolled into one. And while you may have skills in any or all of these areas as well, it doesn’t mean you’re required to multi-purpose and thereby lessen the quality of the final product. If you do, it’s more than likely you’ll find yourself facing chronically complaining clients. Mass media alone contributes to clients’ unrealistic expectations of what they’ll get for their promotional dollar. They’ll expect production values that parallel the NBC Nightly News, which you couldn’t possibly deliver on your own. Learn to leave it to the professionals. Even voice talent with some semblance of production acumen are generally out of their depth when they attempt to deliver much beyond recording and uploading raw audio files to the production client’s cloud simply because they aren’t getting paid for it. Precious few voiceover talents effectively estimate the true value of their voiceovers, and the media in which their performance may be used (or reused). This is precisely why producers and talent agents exist, and why traditionally those services are wholly separate professions. Other than that, take the rate sheet from just about any Pay-to-Play site, and add—yes, add—20–30 percent to determine your rate as a nonunion voiceover. Be bold. Be confident. But stand firm. You’re in a poker game, my friend. Rest assured, the rates on these sites are far too low in the first place, and that’s a perfect jumping off point to establish yourself as a professional. Plus, you’ll account for various unforeseen costs that will inevitably arise and allow room for growth and negotiation with your newly forged client. Now take a look at our voiceover audition listings! The views expressed in this article are solely that of the individual(s) providing them, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Backstage or its staff.
Ben & Jerry's Co-Founder Ben Cohen sat down with HuffPost Live on Thursday, expressing how perplexed he was by Vermont's recent campaign finance bill. The Burlington (Vt.) Free Press detailed the miscue on Monday, explaining how the January bill removed the state's prior campaign contribution limits, without setting new ones in place for 2014. That meant zero limits were on the table for the midterm election year, and lawmakers are working toward a fix. "I can't understand it," Cohen told HuffPost Live. "Vermont had this great campaign finance law that was limiting big money, and then it got overturned by Citizens United. And then somehow or other, this bill that was talked about as being something that would solve the problem just got snuck through the legislature and it makes it even worse." Cohen has been a leading advocate against eliminating money from politics. His work includes founding the StampStampede.org initiative, which aims for constitutional change to achieve that goal. In a Tuesday CNN op-ed co-authored with Communication Workers For America President Larry Cohen, Ben stresses his belief that dark money is creating a darker political picture.
The Miami Dolphins signed Knowshon Moreno to upgrade a rushing attack that ranked 26th in the NFL with Lamar Miller and Daniel Thomas last season. It's not a great sign, then, that Moreno has spent the past few weeks behind Miller and Thomas in the pecking order. Miller has received the bulk of the starter's reps since offseason practices began while an out-of-shape Moreno works with the third- and fourth-team offense. Coach Joe Philbin downplayed the importance of the June depth chart, but acknowledged the improvements made by a bigger, shiftier Miller. "He's had a very good camp," Philbin said of Miller, per ESPN.com. "This is the time as a third-year player that you're ready to make a big contribution." Moreno understood upon signing that he would have to outplay Miller and Thomas to nail down the starting job. Power was one element noticeably missing from the speedy Miller's game last season. If he has bulked up -- as Philbin suggested -- Moreno likely is to open the season as a change-of-pace or third-down back. The latest "Around The League Podcast" picks the best receiver group in the NFL, and goes deep previewing the season with Bucky Brooks.
It’s been GSoC season for over a month now and I haven’t blogged, so now I’m going to try to fix that. After last year’s Multilevel playlist sorting project, one of my proposals has been accepted again for GSoC 2010: I’m going to implement on-the-fly transcoding in Amarok. Amarok is a music player and manager built around very general concepts of tracks and media sources. The collection tries to decouple the format from the data itself and presents the music as tracks (with metadata) rather than files. In other cases, music isn’t even stored in local files. These concepts, and others, allow one to truly rediscover music through seamless internet sources and media devices integration, and the user in fact doesn’t have to care where the actual data comes from. The many sources at one’s fingertips are accessible in a consistent way and playable from the playlist. However, even in this day and age of stuff in the cloud, there are situations in which the user still has to worry about media formats, e.g. when acquiring new music, or copying existing music from one collection to another or from the collection to a portable music player. That’s where transcoding kicks in. For example, one might have a quantity of Windows Media Audio files that should be transcoded to a more Free format in order to be usable in the future, or a quantity of Monkey’s Audio files, which, while lossless, are not well supported everywhere, especially in PMPs. And then of course, even if someone has a collection full of FLAC files, which is a reliable and Free codec, a conversion into a lossy format such as Ogg Vorbis or MP3 might be necessary for use with a PMP simply for reasons of storage capacity. So my idea is this: whenever the user can copy files, give him or her the choice to either just copy, just transcode or transcode with custom options. That way, we cover both of the following use cases: “I’m running late for a 4 hour train ride and I haven’t updated the music collection on my portable player, I need to quickly copy over my tunes while making sure they will compatible with the portable player” “if I tweak the quality rating of the Vorbis encoder exactly the way I want it I’m going to save 1% of the space on my portable music player and still get the audio quality my sensitive ears deserve”. The current situation is that the transcoding operation (in the strictest possible sense) works, so the next thing I have to do is integrate it nicely with Amarok’s existing collections framework. The current implementation uses FFmpeg, but I’ve placed FFmpeg-specific stuff in a wrapper class so something else could quite easily be used in the future if need arises. The following screenshot represents the current state of the still quite unfinished transcoding GUI. On a somewhat unrelated note, I’ve been to the KDE Multimedia+Edu sprint in Randa, Switzerland. It was a lot of fun and very productive too. I wish to thank the whole organizers team. Special thanks go to Mario Fux for his mad organizational skills, to the cooking team which I had the pleasure to share the kitchen with while preparing vegan stuff and to Knut Yrvin for arranging a much needed meeting with the Brisbane office of Nokia, Qt Development Frameworks regarding QtMultimedia and the future of Phonon. Finally, thanks Anne-Marie Mahfouf for a gift she gave me which allowed me to taste again something I like very much but haven’t been able to eat because of nickel allergy. Advertisements
Content delivery network and web security provider CloudFlare has introduced a new feature that allows customers to take advantage of the company's solutions without ever having to hand over their private SSL keys. Private SSL keys are highly sensitive because they can be leveraged by a malicious actor to spoof an organization's identity and intercept traffic. That is why, over the past two years, CloudFlare has been working on introducing keyless SSL. The idea emerged after CloudFlare had a meeting in the fall of 2012 with representatives of a major bank, which at the time was targeted with distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks by alleged Iranian hackers of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Cyber Fighters group. "The bankers all acknowledged what they needed was a cloud-based solution that could scale to meet the challenges they faced. Unfortunately, since they needed to support encrypted connections, that meant the cloud-based solution needed to terminate SSL connections," Matthew Prince, the CEO and co-founder of CloudFlare, wrote in a blog post. Losing an SSL key is considered a critical security event which, as Prince describes it, could turn into a "nightmare," and financial institutions can't afford to take such risk. CloudFlare has been working since the 2012 meeting with the bank representatives on finding a practical way of helping organizations benefit from the cloud without the need to take possession of their SSL keys. One of CloudFlare's engineers came up with a solution by the next day, but it took two years to perfect the solution and make it secure, fast and scalable. "To make it work, we needed to hold connections open between CloudFlare's network and agents running on our customers' infrastructure. Moreover, we needed to share data about crytographic sessions setup for a visitor between all the machines that could serve that visitor," Prince explained. "Making it work was one thing, making it fast was another. And, today, Keyless SSL clients are experiencing 3x+ faster SSL termination globally using the service than they were when they were relying only on on-premise solutions." On Friday, CloudFlare security engineer Nick Sullivan published a blog post providing technical details on how they've managed to achieve keyless SSL. "We’ve seen how private keys can be stolen, and investing in techniques to limit their exposure makes the Internet a safer place. Our review of Keyless SSL indicates the keys themselves do not leave your infrastructure, and a secure channel with CloudFlare both protects the communication and reduces the attack surface for your key," a spokesperson from NCC Group’s Cryptography Services group commented. "One of the core principles of computer security is to limit access to cryptographic keys to as few parties as possible, ideally only the endpoints. Application such as PGP, Silent Circle, and now Keyless SSL implement this principle and are correspondingly more secure," Jon Callas and Phil Zimmermann of encrypted communications firm Silent Circle said in a joint statement.
“It’s hitting a bullet with a bullet,” Vice Admiral James Syrian told Fox News, but the missile defense system has succeeded at it. According to a Pentagon statement earlier, a ground-based missile interceptor destroyed a test intercontinental ballistic missile on a track to target the US. The successful missile shield test is the first in almost three years, and sends a clear message to at least one nation rushing to build its own ICBM platform: Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com The U.S. military successfully shot down a mock nuclear warhead simulating the speed and range of a potential North Korean intercontinental ballistic missile, the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency said Tuesday. In a statement, the agency said an unarmed rocket launched from the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean was “destroyed” by a ground-based interceptor launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in Southern California as it traveled outside Earth’s atmosphere. The successful test was the first of its kind in nearly three years. It came two days after North Korea tested a SCUD-type ballistic missile that landed in Japan’s maritime economic zone in the Sea of Japan. “This system is vitally important to the defense of our homeland, and this test demonstrates that we have a capable, credible deterrent against a very real threat,” said MDA Director Vice Admiral Jim Syring. “I am incredibly proud of the warfighters who executed this test and who operate this system every day.” The Pentagon downplayed any specificity about the intended purpose of this test, in terms of adversaries. Rather, the spokesman told the press, the US just wants to make sure everyone understands that we are prepared for any threat: The test is the first of the ground-based, mid-course defense system against an ICBM-class target, Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis told reporters at the Pentagon ahead of the test. … “Obviously, North Korea is one of the reasons why we have this capability,” Davis said. “But North Korea is not the only reason why we have this capability and why we test this capability. Iran also continues to develop more sophisticated missiles and improve the range and accuracy of current missile systems.” The interceptor tested Tuesday is just one element of a broader strategy to protect the country from incoming missiles. “We improve and learn from each test, regardless of the outcome. That’s the reason we conduct them,” Davis said. “Our goal is to continue to be able to tell you with confidence that we have the ability to defend the homeland.” It’s not Miller Time just yet, warned Rep. Adam Smith. The ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee noted that the US needs more testing to ensure reliability, and seemed to take a swipe at the Pentagon for the lack of practice: Washington Rep. Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, congratulated the Missile Defense Agency for a successful test but sounded a note of caution that “much work remains to be done to ensure we have a reliable and effective system.” “After an investment of more than $40 billion since 2002, it’s good that the Missile Defense Agency is finally doing a missile defense test against an ICBM target, some 13 years after the first Ground-Based Interceptor system’s deployment,” Smith told CNN. “Flight intercept testing, particularly against realistic targets, remains a key element of the program to assess the effectiveness of our deployed missile defense system, as well as to demonstrate the capability and continue the development of such a system,” he added. Well, whose fault was the delay? Over the previous eight years, Barack Obama was commander in chief, and he didn’t exactly put a premium on missile defense. For that matter, Democrats have consistently either opposed it altogether or limited funds for development of ICBM interceptor systems, preferring to emphasize strategic limitation treaties instead. Obama canceled a ground-based missile-defense system in eastern Europe to appease Russia in his first year in office, a system that certainly could have helped push the technology forward as well as ensured a tougher stand vis-a-vis Moscow and NATO. Smith’s correct, of course, that we need more practice. Before we get that, though, we needed an administration who took missile defense more seriously. Perhaps we’ll make our capabilities even more plain over the next few months, and convince Pyongyang that they’re barking up the wrong tree.
About Continuing our series of Deluxe Editions of our Star Trek releases and celebrating the 50th anniversary of the entire Star Trek universe, we are excited to present Michael Giacchino’s epic STAR TREK BEYOND – now expanded for this 2-CD set Deluxe Edition. Featuring over two hours of music, this is the one everybody has been waiting for. "Star Trek Beyond," the highly anticipated next installment in the globally popular Star Trek franchise, created by Gene Roddenberry and reintroduced by J.J. Abrams in 2009, returns with director Justin Lin (“The Fast and the Furious” franchise) at the helm of this epic voyage of the U.S.S. Enterprise and her intrepid crew. In “Beyond," the Enterprise crew explores the furthest reaches of uncharted space, where they encounter a mysterious new enemy who puts them and everything the Federation stands for to the test. It opened on July 22, 2016 and was immediately acclaimed as a thrilling action film. Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, John Cho and Anton Yelchin were all back. Luckily, so was Michael Giacchino! Idris Elba was a new addition as Krall. Limited Edition of 5000 copies
628 Bracketeers voted in Batch 211, and 6.87m votes have now been cast. Visual results are here and today’s results are: Aven Brigadier defeats Silent Artisan with 94.22% of the vote Reiver Demon defeats Russet Wolves with 93.73% of the vote Eldritch Evolution defeats Marker Beetles with 90.11% of the vote Night’s Whisper defeats Touch of Invisibility with 89.82% of the vote Windreaver defeats Flow of Maggots with 88.74% of the vote Damia, Sage of Stone defeats Mogg Raider with 87.50% of the vote Sensei’s Divining Top defeats Alabaster Wall with 85.92% of the vote Azorius Guildmage defeats Homarid Warrior with 84.15% of the vote Biting Rain defeats Torment with 82.76% of the vote Avacyn, Guardian Angel defeats Painful Memories with 80.89% of the vote Victim of Night defeats Stensia Masquerade with 77.47% of the vote Pure Reflection defeats Primal Frenzy with 77.42% of the vote Snapback defeats Vector Asp with 76.77% of the vote Awaken the Ancient defeats Phantatog with 75.46% of the vote Hull Breach defeats _____ with 70.87% of the vote Necromaster Dragon defeats Traveling Plague with 69.75% of the vote Assassin’s Strike defeats Tel-Jilad Exile with 68.20% of the vote Molten Sentry defeats Whalebone Glider with 67.68% of the vote Joraga Warcaller defeats Planar Birth with 67.33% of the vote Dragon’s Claw defeats Silk Net with 66.99% of the vote Zombie Brute defeats Kavu Recluse with 66.78% of the vote Steely Resolve defeats Jungle Lion with 65.02% of the vote Noble Benefactor defeats Hijack with 63.56% of the vote Wren’s Run Packmaster defeats Shizuko, Caller of Autumn with 62.24% of the vote Servant of the Conduit defeats Garruk’s Companion with 58.56% of the vote Bedlam defeats Shocker with 57.56% of the vote Ebon Dragon defeats Shimatsu the Bloodcloaked with 55.65% of the vote Sanitarium Skeleton defeats Monsoon with 53.95% of the vote Shield Sphere defeats Shuko with 53.85% of the vote Coalition Flag defeats Strategy, Schmategy with 53.53% of the vote Rugged Highlands defeats Renowned Weaver with 51.79% of the vote Nameless Race defeats Vedalken Mastermind with 50.16% of the vote Full results to date can be seen here.
An ad placed by the socially conservative group Government Is Not God in the Sarasota, Fla., Herald-Tribune and other newspapers in Florida and Ohio claims President Barack Obama will "force Christian schools to hire non-Christian teachers." Is that accurate? William Murray, the group’s chairman, said the ad was a prediction that states "what we believe Obama will do in a second term" based in part on his current policies. We are fact-checking the ad because it is a representation of Obama's actual policies and proposals. The ad even says its claims represent Obama's "true agenda." (The Sarasota newspaper has apologized for publishing the ad, saying it did not meet the paper's "standards for fairness and accuracy.") In the claim about hiring teachers, Murray offered two articles that indicated it was largely based on on a Supreme Court case, Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School vs. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The case involved a teacher at a Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod school named Cheryl Perich, a "called" teacher trained in theological requirements who taught mostly secular courses as well as some religious ones. In 2004 she developed narcolepsy and started the school year on leave with a disability. She wanted to return to the classroom in 2005, but the principal said the school had already filled the position for the year and had concerns about her illness. The congregation asked Perich to resign, offering her a "peaceful release" from her call. She wouldn’t, and eventually the church fired her for insubordination and also for threatening legal action against the church. She filed an EEOC complaint that asserted she lost her job in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The Supreme Court, in a 9-0 decision on Jan. 11, 2012, ruled that her lawsuit should have been dismissed under the First Amendment’s "ministerial exception" protection for religious organizations to make their own decisions about their leaders. "The church must be free to choose those who will guide it on its way," wrote Chief Justice John Roberts in the opinion. The federal government was a party to the case -- the solicitor general’s office filed a brief and made an oral argument on behalf of the losing side. And so the Government Is Not God PAC is relying on the government's arguments as evidence for the ad’s claim that Obama will "force Christian schools to hire non-Christian teachers." This raises two questions. First, if the solicitor general’s office makes an argument before the Supreme Court, does that mean that the arguments are those of Obama himself? And second, did the federal government actually argue in Hosanna-Tabor that the government has the right to "force Christian schools to hire non-Christian teachers"? We’ll take these two issues in order. Does Obama "own" the Supreme Court arguments made by federal officials? Experts told us this is a bit of a gray area. On the one hand, "the solicitor general is tasked with representing the United States and not solely the president of the United States," said Douglas W. Kmiec, a constitutional law professor at Pepperdine University and a former Justice Department official in the Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations. "It is therefore erroneous to ascribe the views of the solicitor general to those of the administration." There is a strong tradition, he said, "for the solicitor general to give an objective reading of the law." In addition, this case involved a federal statute and a federal agency, which gives a strong presumption that the federal government -- regardless of who occupied the White House -- would get involved, said Douglas Laycock, a law professor at the University of Virginia who argued against the government’s position at the Supreme Court oral argument for Hosanna-Tabor. "The federal agency had won the case in the court of appeals, and the solicitor general pretty much had to defend that win," Laycock said. "This was not an administration decision. … Occasionally, in very high-profile litigation, the White House gets involved and tells the solicitor general what to argue. But that is a rare event, and I don’t believe it happened here." That said, some legal experts said that the administration can’t fully disown what the solicitor general’s office was arguing. For one thing, it is not unprecedented for an administration to decline to defend a federal law (the Obama administration has already taken that course with the Defense of Marriage Act). It did not do so in this case. And even if the solicitor general’s office didn’t have much choice about taking the case, it would have had some latitude in the specific arguments it would make. "The solicitor general has some discretion in terms of the position to take," said Kermit Roosevelt, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania. Did the government argue that it had the right to "force Christian schools to hire non-Christian teachers"? There’s some nuance here, too. On the one hand, the administration took a more aggressive stance on behalf of government prerogatives in church-related conflicts than some legal observers had expected. Indeed, it was a view that was so aggressive that it was rejected by a unanimous court, including two appointees of Obama himself. Richard W. Garnett, a University of Notre Dame law professor who wrote a brief countering the government’s view in Hosanna-Tabor, calls the solicitor general’s arguments in the brief and oral argument "extreme and misguided." The solicitor general’s argument, he said, was that the plaintiffs should be able to use federal discrimination laws to challenge employment decisions by Christian schools regarding teachers, and that the First Amendment’s religion clauses do not provide any shield against government second-guessing of such decisions. "At oral argument, ‘liberal’ and ‘conservative’ justices alike were surprised" at the reach of the government’s argument, Garnett said. That said, Garnett said it’s a stretch to say the solicitor general argued that the government should be able to "force Christian schools to hire non-Christian teachers." He and other experts said that the question of religious institutions being able to hire people of certain religions is settled law and an issue that the government did not quarrel with. "It’s not so much that the administration would come in and say to a Christian school, ‘You must hire a non-Christian teacher,’" Garnett said. "It’s that, if a teacher were fired by a Christian school, then that teacher’s employment-discrimination lawsuit should be able to go forward as if the Christian school were any other (non-religious) association." Roosevelt makes an even more forceful case. Basing the ad on the argument in Hosanna-Tabor, he said, is "totally false." "That’s not what the case was about, the solicitor general never suggested it, and the law clearly allows Christian schools to hire Christian teachers," he said. Even Laycock, who faced off against the solicitor general at the oral argument, said the ad is misconstruing the solicitor general’s argument. The solicitor general "never implied or said that Christian schools would have to hire non-Christian teachers," Laycock said. "The statute is absolutely clear that religious institutions can discriminate on the basis of religion, and of course they never questioned that. The issue was whether religion teachers could sue their churches alleging other kinds of discrimination – disability in this case. We said no, the solicitor general said sometimes yes, when the case could be decided without interfering in the church’s religious mission. We didn’t think that was a workable standard. The disagreement about disability discrimination would have applied to sex discrimination and age discrimination as well, but it clearly did not apply to religious discrimination -- that was common ground." Murray also cited an article about Chai Feldblum, a Georgetown University law professor appointed by President Obama to serve on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, that said she has written that society should "not tolerate" any "private beliefs," including religious beliefs, that may negatively affect homosexual "equality." But Murray did not provide any evidence that her actions at the EEOC would force Christian schools to hire non-Christian teachers. Our ruling The ad claims that Obama will "force Christian schools to hire non-Christian teachers." But he has not sought to do that himself and the only evidence is a weak link to the solicitor general's argument in the Hosanna-Tabor case. The case did address the proper balance between the government and religious institutions in personnel decisions, but even participants in the case say the government did not say what the ad claims. On balance, we rate the claim False.
DePaul University officials are still targeting a winter groundbreaking for a planned $173 million McCormick Place arena and new home for Blue Demons basketball. Site clearing is underway and infrastructure work will follow for the arena and a planned hotel on Cermak Road west of the exposition complex. “The coach house on the property has been moved, the (landmarked Harriet F.) Rees mansion is going to be moved in November and the bank that’s owned by the Cacciatore family is being reconstructed at 14th and Michigan,” Jean Lenti Ponsetto, DePaul’s athletic director, said during a pre-season basketball event this week. “They’re still saying first quarter of 2015 there will be a shovel in the ground.” The project is expected to take around 22 months to complete. The 10,000-seat near-South Side arena would bring DePaul basketball back to the city after a run of more than three decades at Allstate Arena (originally the Rosemont Horizon). The new site is three miles south of DePaul’s downtown center and seven miles from the main Lincoln Park campus. The Blue Demon men’s current Rosemont home court is 15 mile northwest. “We’re still feeling like -- worst case -- (opening) in time for the Big East season in 2017,” Lenti Ponsetto said. "(But) 2016-017 was what we were always shooting for. We were hoping for November (2016) but it could be that it’s later.” Prior to moving to the Rosemont Horizon (now Allstate Arena) in 1980, the Blue Demons played at Alumni Hall, demolished in 2000 and replaced by a student center. Lenti Ponsetto said the university recently extended its agreement with Allstate Arena through the 2016 season with some flexibility beyond. “We haven’t talked about that because I don’t really know what the exact timetable is going to be,” she said. Formally called the McCormick Place Events Center, the arena will be owned by the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority (McPier) and leased by DePaul for men’s and women’s basketball. Use for conventions, meetings, concerts and other events are also envisioned. McPier and DePaul are each contributing around $70 million towards arena construction, according to reports published earlier this year.
Property of materials that causes them to change their shape during magnetization Magnetostriction (cf. electrostriction) is a property of ferromagnetic materials that causes them to change their shape or dimensions during the process of magnetization. The variation of materials' magnetization due to the applied magnetic field changes the magnetostrictive strain until reaching its saturation value, λ. The effect was first identified in 1842 by James Joule when observing a sample of iron.[1] This effect causes energy loss due to frictional heating in susceptible ferromagnetic cores. The effect is also responsible for the low-pitched humming sound that can be heard coming from transformers, where oscillating AC currents produce a changing magnetic field.[2] Explanation [ edit ] Internally, ferromagnetic materials have a structure that is divided into domains, each of which is a region of uniform magnetic polarization. When a magnetic field is applied, the boundaries between the domains shift and the domains rotate; both of these effects cause a change in the material's dimensions. The reason that a change in the magnetic domains of a material results in a change in the materials dimensions is a consequence of magnetocrystalline anisotropy, that it takes more energy to magnetize a crystalline material in one direction than another. If a magnetic field is applied to the material at an angle to an easy axis of magnetization, the material will tend to rearrange its structure so that an easy axis is aligned with the field to minimize the free energy of the system. Since different crystal directions are associated with different lengths this effect induces a strain in the material.[3] The reciprocal effect, the change of the magnetic susceptibility (response to an applied field) of a material when subjected to a mechanical stress, is called the Villari effect. Two other effects are thus related to magnetostriction: the Matteucci effect is the creation of a helical anisotropy of the susceptibility of a magnetostrictive material when subjected to a torque and the Wiedemann effect is the twisting of these materials when a helical magnetic field is applied to them. The Villari reversal is the change in sign of the magnetostriction of iron from positive to negative when exposed to magnetic fields of approximately 40 kA/m. On magnetization, a magnetic material undergoes changes in volume which are small: of the order 10−6. Magnetostrictive hysteresis loop [ edit ] Magnetostrictive hysteresis loop of Mn-Zn ferrite for power applications measured by semiconductor strain gauges Like flux density, the magnetostriction also exhibit hysteresis versus strength of magnetizing field. The shape of this hysteresis loop (called "dragonfly loop") can be reproduced using the Jiles-Atherton model.[4] Magnetostrictive materials [ edit ] Cut-away of a transducer comprising: magnetostrictive material (inside), magnetising coil, and magnetic enclosure completing the magnetic circuit (outside) Magnetostrictive materials can convert magnetic energy into kinetic energy, or the reverse, and are used to build actuators and sensors. The property can be quantified by the magnetostrictive coefficient, Λ, which may be positive or negative and is defined as the fractional change in length as the magnetization of the material increases from zero to the saturation value. The effect is responsible for the familiar "electric hum" ( (help·info) ) which can be heard near transformers and high power electrical devices. Cobalt exhibits the largest room-temperature magnetostriction of a pure element at 60 microstrains. Among alloys, the highest known magnetostriction is exhibited by Terfenol-D, (Ter for terbium, Fe for iron, NOL for Naval Ordnance Laboratory, and D for dysprosium). Terfenol-D, Tb x Dy 1−x Fe 2 , exhibits about 2,000 microstrains in a field of 160 kA/m (2 kOe) at room temperature and is the most commonly used engineering magnetostrictive material.[5] Galfenol, Fe x Ga 1-x , and Alfenol, Fe x Al 1-x , are newer alloys that exhibit 200-400 microstrains at lower applied fields (~200 Oe) and have enhanced mechanical properties from brittle Terfenol-D. Both of these alloys have <100> easy axes for magnetostriction and demonstrate sufficient ductility for sensor and actuator applications.[6] Schematic of a whisker flow sensor developed using thin-sheet magnetostrictive alloys. Another very common magnetostrictive composite is the amorphous alloy Fe 81 Si 3.5 B 13.5 C 2 with its trade name Metglas 2605SC. Favourable properties of this material are its high saturation-magnetostriction constant, λ, of about 20 microstrains and more, coupled with a low magnetic-anisotropy field strength, H A , of less than 1 kA/m (to reach magnetic saturation). Metglas 2605SC also exhibits a very strong ΔE-effect with reductions in the effective Young's modulus up to about 80% in bulk. This helps build energy-efficient magnetic MEMS.[citation needed] Cobalt ferrite, CoFe 2 O 4 (CoO·Fe 2 O 3 ), is also mainly used for its magnetostrictive applications like sensors and actuators thanks to its high saturation magnetostriction (~200 parts per million).[7] Having no rare-earth elements, it is a good substitute for Terfenol-D.[8] Moreover, its magnetostrictive properties can be tuned by inducing a magnetic uniaxial anisotropy.[9] This can be done by magnetic annealing,[10] magnetic field assisted compaction,[11] or reaction under uniaxial pressure.[12] This last solution has the advantage of being ultrafast (20 min) thanks to the use of spark plasma sintering. In early sonar transducers, during World War II, nickel was used as a magnetostrictive material. To alleviate the shortage of nickel, the Japanese navy used an iron-aluminium alloy from the Alperm family. Mechanical behaviors of magnetostrictive alloys [ edit ] Effect of microstructure on elastic strain [ edit ] Single crystal alloys exhibit superior microstrain, but are vulnerable to yielding due to the anisotropic mechanical properties of most metals. It has been observed that for polycrystalline alloys with a high area coverage of preferential grains for microstrain, the mechanical properties (ductility) of magnetostrictive alloys can be significantly improved. Targeted metallurgical processing steps promote abnormal grain growth of {011} grains in Galfenol and Alfenol thin sheets, which contain two easy axes for magnetic domain alignment during magnetostriction. This can be accomplished by adding particles such as boride species [13] and niobium carbide (NbC) [14] during initial chill casting of the ingot. For a polycrystalline alloy, an established formula for the magnetostriction λ from known directional microstrain measurements is:[15] λ s = 1/5(2λ 100 +3λ 111 ) Magnetostrictive alloy deformed to fracture. During subsequent hot rolling and recrystallization steps, particle strengthening occurs in which the particles introduce a “pinning” force at grain boundaries that hinders normal (stochastic) grain growth in an annealing step assisted by a H 2 S atmosphere. Thus, single-crystal-like texture (~90% {011} grain coverage) is attainable, reducing the interference with magnetic domain alignment and increasing microstrain attainable for polycrystalline alloys as measured by semiconducting strain gauges.[16] These surface textures can be visualized using electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) or related diffraction techniques. Compressive stress to induce domain alignment [ edit ] For actuator applications, maximum rotation of magnetic moments leads to the highest possible magnetostriction output. This can be achieved by processing techniques such as stress annealing and field annealing. However, mechanical pre-stresses can also be applied to thin sheets to induce alignment perpendicular to actuation as long as the stress is below the buckling limit. For example, it has been demonstrated that applied compressive pre-stress of up to ~50 MPa can result in an increase of magnetostriction by ~90%. This is hypothesized to be due to a “jump” in initial alignment of domains perpendicular to applied stress and improved final alignment parallel to applied stress.[17] See also [ edit ]
Russia’s seizure of Crimea has led to speculation that a major motivating factor was to acquire potentially vast energy resources in the Black and Azov Seas. I wrote back in March on the eve of the Crimean vote to secede from Ukraine about reports that Russia was eyeing the oil and gas reserves off the coast of Crimea. But taking control of territory rich in oil and gas is different from being able to successfully pull those energy resources from the ground. The New York Times published an article on May 17 that suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin quietly achieved a massive windfall – acquiring “rights to underwater resources potentially worth trillions of dollars.” The Black and Azov Seas could certainly hold a huge bounty, potentially up to almost 10 billion barrels of oil and 3.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. The most promising field is the Skifska field just southwest of the Crimean coastline. Early estimates suggest that Skifska holds 200 to 250 billion cubic meters of natural gas. However, just because Russia now controls this territory does not mean they will be able to take advantage of it, at least not anytime soon. Although there are rough estimates of significant reserves of oil and gas, the area is still relatively unexplored. Ukraine had trouble attracting any bidders for two of its four blocks off the coast of Crimea, despite heavy salesmanship by the government in Kiev. Related Article: Russia’s Weakened Hand Could Pay Off For Beijing In Major Gas Deal Also, Russian energy companies still do not have a thorough understanding of the geology in Crimean waters. LUKoil, one of Russia’s largest oil companies, was outbid in an auction for the Skifska field by an international consortium led by ExxonMobil. The consortium had been in talks with the Ukrainian government under Viktor Yanukovych over a deal for the Skifska field right up until the annexation of Crimea. The oil companies had plans to spend $735 million to drill two wells. The deal was never finalized and ExxonMobil and its partners obviously shelved those plans when things took a turn for the worse a few months ago. Presumably, with Russia now moving in, Russian companies will have to redo some of the preliminary exploratory work that the private consortium had already done. But, more importantly, offshore oil drilling is highly technical, and requires enormous upfront capital. Russia has often teamed up with international oil companies – like ExxonMobil, BP and Royal Dutch Shell -- to tackle some of the extraordinarily difficult-to-reach oil fields, as Russia’s companies can’t always do it on their own. That’s why Russia has sought partners for offshore oil drilling in the Arctic, constructing LNG terminals in Sakhalin, and for tight oil drilling in Western Siberia. But in Crimea – which much of the world does not recognize as Russian territory – finding international partners, should Russia need them, will be extremely difficult to do. For example, on April 30, Shell’s Chief Financial Officer Simon Henry ruled out new Russian ventures for the foreseeable future. “I don't think we'll be jumping into new investments (in Russia) anytime soon,” he said. With Crimea in international legal limbo, other companies won’t invest, either. Related Article: Russia Showing Interest In Natural Gas Investment In Turkey Even if Russia can go it alone in the Black Sea – and since the waters are shallower and less remote than some of its other major new projects, they probably will try to – it will take years before any oil and gas will come online. In the meantime, Russia is paying the price for its international isolation. The economy will probably enter recession in the second quarter, according to Russia’s economy minister. Capital flight from Russia reached $63.7 billion in the first three months of this year, exceeding last year’s total. The ruble is also down 6 percent against the dollar so far this year, pushing up inflation, which hit an annual rate of 7.2 percent. Moreover, in the long-term, Russia may have severely damaged its reputation as a place for doing business. That will hurt the economy for years to come and is much harder to rectify than playing with interest rates or money supply, which can be used for short-term fixes. The darkening economic climate is inflicting real costs on Russia, and that flies in the face of headlines describing Russia’s takeover of Crimea’s oil and gas reserves as a major strategic triumph. By Nick Cunningham of Oilprice.com
The A-League is full of players who left Australia early to try their luck in Europe, didn't get the breaks or failed to make it there, and returned home to reboot their careers. Some make a go of it and are successful enough to return to major leagues in Europe. Others make good careers in the A-League. Adelaide United feature Jake Barker-Daish on their roster. Credit:Getty Images The National Premier Leagues across Australia play a similar role at the next level down. They are full of clubs boasting players who have been in the A-League and have come down one tier to rebuild their career before trying to get back into the top division. They are also full of young up and coming players who may have been missed by the scouting system first time round but who are hoping to catch the eye in senior competition just below the top level.
BEIRUT – A Jordanian-backed tribal coalition in Daraa has provided military support to a new offensive by the Free Syrian Army-aligned Southern Front outside Sanamayn, one of the regime’s major lines of defense on the road linking the southern province to Damascus. A collection of 12 rebel factions in southern Syria announced Thursday the beginning of a joint-operation to capture the artillery base in Jidyah, from which government forces regularly shell rebel positions outside Sanamayn. As the rebels launched their attack, a faction of the Army of Free Tribes announced that it was fighting outside Sanamayn, where the regime has deployed its 7th as well as 9th Armored divisions. “Very fierce clashes are taking place between the members of the battalion and the forces of the criminal regime on the outskirts of Sanamayn,” the Al-Badiya Hawks Battalion—which is part of the Amman-financed tribal coalition—said in a Facebook post. The commander of the Al-Badiya Hawks went into more detail on the fighting in comments carried by the pro-rebel All4Syria outlet, saying that “his battalion had busied regime forces on the 9th Division Base front and targeted reinforcement that were leaving the town to support the Jidyah battle.” Fighting around the Jidyah base so far has not gone favorably for the Southern Front, with the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reporting Friday morning that the rebels had suffered at least 12 casualties. The Army of Free Tribes support serves as a potential boon for the Southern Front, which in recent months has been hit by a number of setbacks. The FSA-linked alliance’s mid-summer offensive to seize Daraa city ground to a halt while reports emerged that it has lost support from foreign states that previously backed it. On September 6, Al-Quds al-Arabi said that the US-run Military Operation Center (MOC) based in Jordan had “stopped all financial assistance to the Southern Front for the moment after it failed to take control of Daraa.” The MOC, which is said to be directed by the CIA and a number of Washington’s allies in the region, had been supporting and supervising the FSA-affiliated Southern Front’s campaign in the Daraa province, according to reports. Jordanian backing of Army of Free Tribes The Army of Free Tribes—a collection of fighters are from tribes in Suweida, Daraa, Quneitra and southern rural Damascus—has publicly touted its links to Jordan. In an interview Wednesday, the coalition’s leader, Rakkan al-Khdeir said that “Jordan has a big role” in supporting his group. “It’s a neighboring, brotherly country and it has not been lacking with us,” he told Orient TV. Three months ago, the spokesperson for the group—which was then named the Collective of Free Southern Tribesmen—said that it was “coordinating with neighboring states, especially Jordan, to confront ISIS.” “[It] is funded by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,” Mohammad Adan told Dubai-based Alaan. He also said that the group was deployed in the Al-Lajat area along the eastern Syrian-Jordanian border, where it was fighting ISIS. Meanwhile, the UAE-based AE24 online outlet on Friday cited sources in the Jordanian government who “made no secret of their country’s support for the [the Army of Tribes], which is considered the greatest defensive line for the Jordanian border.” The sources said that Jordan has spoken many times about the necessity of supporting Syria’s tribes as they are “a great force in the confrontation with the terrorist organization ISIS.” In March, Jordan announced that it was preparing to train tribesmen and Syrian rebels to battle ISIS and has since made a number of overtures to tribal groups in southern Syria. On June 19, representatives of a number of tribal leaders in Syria officially rejected Jordan’s offer for support, however only a week later other tribal leaders voiced their acceptance of King Abdullah’s offer to arm and train tribal leaders. On July 8, British daily The Independent reported that a group of tribal chiefs in Syria had formed a new “Coalition of Syrian Tribes and Clans” that had held secret meetings with the General John Allen, the US point-man for the international coalition’s campaign against ISIS. Army of Free Tribes ties with Southern Front Although the Army of Free Tribes has fought alongside the Southern Front, the organizational and operational ties between the two rebel conglomerations remain murky. The leader of the Army of Free Tribes and an officer in a rebel faction within the Southern Front discussed ties between the coalitions during a Wednesday interview with Orient TV. “So far I believe that the Army of the Tribes [might be considered] part of the Southern Front,” Jaysh al-Yarmouk political bureau chief Bashar al-Zoabi told the rebel outlet. He added that they were a “combat faction” and “not an army that is independent from the Southern Front,” but did not elaborate on the exact relations between the two groups. However, the Army of Free Tribes president gave an even more vague answer, saying that “The Southern Front is part of the FSA and we are part of the FSA but the name has two aspects.” Rakkan al-Khdeir stressed though that his group has “fought alongside the Southern Front in all places.” “We have taken part in the liberation of Brigade 52, the battle of Suweida airport and the battle of Daraa,” he said in references to the coalition’s offensives in the summer. “We took part under our own name as the Gathering of the Tribes of the South. We and the Yarmouk Army were part of the same operations room.” “We are a faction from the factions of the Southern Front and whatever the Southern Front agrees, we agree with, in war and peace.”
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Cara Delevingne is a wedding belle in Chanel: Model rocks bridal gown - and trainers! - at haute couture show in Paris Supermodel, 21, walked in Chanel haute couture show in Paris Closed the show alongside creative director Karl Lagerfeld and his five-year-old godson Advertisement We are more accustomed to seeing her in baggy sweatpants and beanies but tomboy Cara Delevingne looked elegant and ethereal at the Chanel haute couture show in Paris this morning. The 21-year-old donned a sheer white bridal-style dress as she closed the hotly anticipated presentation alongside creative director and good friend Karl Lagerfeld. The gown was embellished with jewels and Cara completed the look with an extravagant feather headdress and lashings of silver eyeliner as she glided along the catwalk with a page boy in tow - none other than Karl's five-year-old godson. Scroll down for video A vision in white! Cara Delevingne walks the runway in a wedding dress style gown during the Chanel show at Paris Fashion Week Haute Couture SS14 But in classic Cara style, the supermodel shunned stilettos for some comfy trainers. Cara is a favourite of the luxurious French brand and walked alongside Miranda Kerr in its SS14 show last season. It's been a busy few weeks for the queen of the catwalk. Not only is she the star of Mulberry's new campaign, she has also been a regular fixture on the sideline of numerous basketball games in recent weeks joining the likes of Rihanna, Michelle Rodriguez and most recently, Ellie Goulding and Jourdan Dunn courtside. She's with the brand: Cara closed the show with a page boy and creative director Karl Lagerfeld today in the French capital Isn't she lovely: Cara shunned her trademark tomboy style for an elegantly flowing gown as she walked the runway for the French fashion giant
A newly discovered planet 4,000 light-years away is just too dense. Dubbed CoRoT-20b, the planet is thought to be a gas giant about four-fifths the size of Jupiter and orbits close to a sunlike star. Despite the new planet's relatively diminutive size, this world has four times Jupiter's mass, making CoRoT-20b one of the densest known planets, a new study says. (Related: "'Backward' Planet Has Density of Foam Coffee Cups.") That poses a problem for astronomers: If CoRoT-20b is structured like a traditional gas giant, with a solid core surrounded by a gassy atmosphere, the planet's core would have to make up 50 to 77 percent of the world's total mass. By contrast, Jupiter's core is thought to represent just 15 percent of that planet's mass. To have such a robust core, CoRoT-20b would defy current theories for how planets form. (Also see "New Model of Jupiter's Core Ignites Planet Birth Debate.") Astronomers think planets are born from disks of debris that surround newborn stars. In our solar system, the sun's so-called protoplanetary disk gave rise to several worlds and still had leftovers from planet formation—what we call asteroids and comets. However, the new study says that CoRoT-20b would have had to have sucked up every last atom of material heavier than helium from its star's protoplanetary disk to form the planet's massive core. "That is something difficult to understand, and to admit," said study leader Magali Deleuil, of the Laboratory of Astrophysics of Marseilles in France. Another possibility, Deleuil said, is that the planet's heavy elements are mixed throughout its atmosphere rather than embedded in a central core—but this would mean the world represents a completely new class of planet. Dense World Has Stellar Synchronicity? The ultradense planet was discovered last year by the European CoRoT mission, a space telescope that searches for the telltale dimming when a planet passes in front of its host star, as seen from Earth. The team followed up with measurements from the HARPS instrument in Chile, which watches for the gravitational "wobble" of a star due to the tug of an orbiting planet. The combined measurements allowed the astronomers to confirm the planet's size and mass as well as its orbital path—a highly elliptical one that brings the world a mere 8,366,029 miles (13,463,820 kilometers) from its host star at its farthest point. The team considered whether CoRoT-20b could have been much bigger originally, and perhaps its lighter elements had been stripped away by its parent star. But CoRoT-20b is in a fairly stable orbit that doesn't pass within the host star's Roche limit, the boundary beyond which a planet would be subjected to stellar stripping. "If the planet has lost part of its globe, it appears smaller than you would expect because of the loss. But that happens if your planet is entering the Roche limit, and that's not the case for this planet." In fact, Deleuil said, the planet is approaching what's known as Darwin stability—named not for the famed naturalist but for his son George, an astronomer. Darwin stability is when a planet and star have settled into a triple-synchronized state: The star's spin about its axis is equal to the planet's spin, which in turn is equal to the planet's orbital speed. Further planetary wobble measurements could reveal whether the CoRoT-20 system has more than one planet, which might offer new clues to the mystery. But for now, the high density of CoRoT-20b remains a puzzle.
Manitoba RCMP are treating the death of 11-year-old Teresa Robinson on the Garden Hill First Nation as a homicide. The girl's body was found on May 11 and community members said they believed she had been mauled by an animal, likely a bear. But RCMP said Friday they believe the girl was the victim of a homicide. An autopsy was performed on Wednesday, and some aspects of it are continuing. RCMP said they still have not been able to positively identify the body, though they believe it's Robinson's. RCMP said foul play is suspected in her death, and while her remains had been disturbed by animals, there's no evidence to suggest that animals played a part in her death. The girl was reported missing to police on May 11, but had disappeared after going to a birthday party in Garden Hill on May 5. A local search began days after she didn't return home. RCMP said no arrests have been made, and details on the timeline of her disappearance and killing will not be released because of "their relevance to this investigation." "We are all shocked over the news of hearing that a child, an 11-year-old child being murdered, and the fact it is the situation of her being found in the bush all by herself is even more tragic," said Diane Redsky, of the MaMawi in Winnipeg, who is an advocate for murdered and missing women. She said aboriginal and non-aboriginal leaders need to come together to find solutions to the epidemic of murdered and missing aboriginal women. "We have way too many incidents," she said. "Oftentimes, we find them very preventable, and in this situation, having a child as young as 11 now being found murdered deeply concerns our entire community." Not an isolated case, advocate says University of Winnipeg professor Leah Gazan said the community deserves answers. "The same level of intensity that's afforded to investigating disappearances of individuals should be afforded to indigenous women and girls," she said. "That is not happening in this city [and] country right now," said Gazan. "I have to question why an 11-year-old child goes missing, and it takes five days for people to start taking intense action." Gazan, a long-time advocate for murdered and missing indigenous women, said it's not an isolated case, and it happens in many families. "I think this is another example of the level of inaction that happens around indigenous women and girls go missing in this country," she said.
EXTRAITS CHOISIS ET COMMENTÉS DE " LA CAPITULATION" (1871) Que ce soit en abandonnant à l'Allemagne l'Alsace et la Lorraine leur importe peu. Au prix de quelques manipulations de vocabulaire - on parle d'armistice alors qu'il s'agit bel et bien d'une capitulation - et avec l'aide d'un état-major qui, dans sa plus grande partie, se veut plus garante de l'ordre social dominant que de l'intégrité du territoire national. Les tractations secrètes vont bon train avec l'envahisseur, tout surpris et heureux de trouver en face de lui des gens de si bonne compagnie qui lui offrent ce qu'il n'osait espérer en échange de l'appui qu'il pourrait leur apporter pour mater ces horribles ouvriers qui se mêlent de résister. L'ennui est que la victoire des Prussiens n'a rien de définitif : l'armée, malgré la reddition de Bazaine est encore en mesure d'infliger des revers à l'envahisseur et on peut, par une levée en masse, renverser la situation - Gambetta en est convaincu, qui a quitté Paris le 7 octobre 1870 et s'active, en province, à organiser la riposte. Le moins qu'on puisse dire est qu'il n'est guère aidé par le Gouvernement des Jules et par Trochu. On promet une sortie et rien ne vient que mal organisé ou stoppé alors qu’une issue favorable est tout à fait possible. La jonction avec l'armée de Tours, qui aurait permis de rompre l'encerclement de Paris et de repousser les troupes allemandes, n'aura jamais lieu. L'obstination à ne rien faire de la part de l'Etat-major est manifeste et ne s'explique que par la volonté de traiter avec l'Allemagne pour régler les problèmes de politique intérieure française. Blanqui en est parfaitement conscient qui, du fond de sa prison, parle de "l'ignoble comédie de vaillance" jouée depuis septembre. Paris assiégé est menacé d'une famine soigneusement entretenue - ce qui fait le bonheur des spéculateurs et n'empêche pas les riches de s'empifrer dans les restaurants des Grands Boulevards. Deux remarques essentielles de Guillemin : - sur l'équipe au pouvoir : "Ces hommes "de gauche", depuis qu'ils sont au pouvoir, passent leur temps à donner des gages à la droite. On les voit affamés d'obtenir la considération des milieux où ils se sentaient, jusqu'ici, méprisés. A se renier comme ils le font pour séduire la société élégante, ils ne gagnent rien, du reste. On les emploie, mais avec un sourire où la condescendance se mêle au dégoût."(p.90). Curieux comme ces phrases, si l'on y change quelques mots, résonnent étrangement dans la situation qui est la nôtre ! - sur le peuple de Paris : "Inouï, c'est vrai, à quel point ce peuple de Paris aura pu, durant tout le siège, se montrer docile et maniable tant il a la foi, tant il imagine peu - en dehors d'une poignée de "rouges" - son Gouvernement de la Défense Nationale autrement que sous les traits qu'il s'est faussement donnés, à savoir, un Pouvoir d'urgence et de salut public, uniquement soucieux de protéger la capitale contre l'envahisseur et de coordonner son action avec celle du pays pour rejeter l'ennemi hors de notre sol."(p.131/132) Pour conjurer le risque toujours redouté d'un succès de Gambetta et d'un soulèvement parisien, il faut manoeuvrer avec subtilité et l'aide de Bismarck - les Jules y parviendront, mais ils auront eu chaud. Du côté des Allemands, on redoute une guerre de partisans. Il faut à tout prix les rassurer. "Que les Allemands cessent de craindre" - écrit Guillemin "Si Trochu refuse de leur livrer Paris et si Gambetta leur fait peur, ils ont de sûrs auxiliaires qui vont arranger tout cela. Ils ont les généraux de Paris, et M. Favre, M. Picard, M. Ferry, M. Simon, grâce à qui Paris, attendant la fin de ses vivres, demeure «mort et muet devant nous ». Ils ont Bourbaki, qui a peur de vaincre et honte de se laisser vaincre, mais qui appartient à son clan avant d'appartenir à la France. Ils ont M. Thiers, qui, tremblant à l'idée de ce que Gambetta pourrait bien réussir avec son plan de rupture des communications allemandes, suivie d'une triple offensive par Troyes, par Chartres et par Saint-Quentin pour délivrer la capitale - puissante manoeuvre que les Allemands prient le ciel de leur épargner - explique à qui veut l'entendre que ce dessein de Gambetta est, militairement parlant, une aberration (...). Et ils ont encore et surtout la connivence des possédants, notables et leurs paysans, banquiers et leur clientèle, archevêques et leurs ouailles, toute la légion des amis de l'ordre, des Talhouêt aux Cumont, des Falloux aux Broglie, des Daru aux d'Haussonville, et de Mme Sand à Mgr de Bonnechose, de Renan à Louis Veuillot, tout ce "pays réel" qui exècre les résistants, dénonce les francs-tireurs, et travaille à noyer «sous une mer de cendres» (dixit Goltz) cette flamme qu'attise désespérément Gambetta."(p.206) Gambetta va céder, malheureusement devant la coalition de ceux qui ne veulent en aucun son succès, au grand soulagement de ceux qui n'ont cessé de le traiter de fou furieux. Des élections vont avoir lieu où la Province va pouvoir imposer sa loi à Paris - les grands propriétaires, le clergé y veilleront, les paysans voteront comme il faut. Le tour est joué, en janvier 1871. L'armistice est signé. C'est la capitulation. Les "honnêtes gens" peuvent respirer. Puis ce sera le refus de cette trahison des élites et l’instauration de la Commune. De façon claire et direct, Henri Guillemin va droit au but et met au premier plan ce qui devrait toujours l'être quand on travaille le champ historique, à savoir la vérité crue de ce que sont les rapport de classes Le colloque du 19 novembre prochain sur la Commune, permettra de découvrir toute l'importance que revêt aujourd'hui l'engagement d'Henri Guillemin en histoire politique. Patrick Rödel Association Les ami(e)s d'Henri Guillemin Pour s'inscrire au colloque "Henri Guillemin et la Commune" dès maintenant et connaître le programme, c'est sur www.henriguillemin.org. Toutes les informations sur le colloque sont en page d'accueil. .
The teenage driver of a car that crashed, killing two Wootton High School graduates, was enrolled in an alcohol education program for underage possession, according to reports. Samuel Joseph Ellis, 18, of North Potomac, has been released from the hospital following the June 25 crash that injured a 17-year-old. Killed in the collision were Alexander Murk, 18, of Potomac and Calvin Jia-Xing Li, 18, of Rockville; police say the foursome had attended an underage drinking party before the crash. SEE ALSO: Ellis' car left the road, struck a tree and flipped over in North Potomac. Montgomery County Police said they are investigating whether speed, alcohol use and a lack of seatbelt use were factors in the deadly crash. No charges have been filed. Michael McAuliffe, the attorney for Ellis, told WTOP that the teen and his family "are in agony" over the deaths of Murk and Li. Montgomery County Police Capt. Thomas Didone said at a news conference that cold beer in plastic cups was found inside Ellis' car. The investigation into the party continues, and police issued citations at that scene, although Didone would not specify what tickets were issued or how many. In March, Ellis was cited for possession of alcohol under the legal age, and the charges were to be dropped pending his completion of an alcohol education program, WTOP reports. The Montgomery County State's Attorney's office says Ellis had not completed the program to date. Maryland online court records show Ellis is supposed to appear in court in Ocean City July 9 on a charge of affray, which is similar to disorderly conduct. His attorney is seeking to postpone that appearance, saying Ellis is in no condition to travel. »PHOTO: Wootton High School students gather at the scene of a fatal crash last month, courtesy Montgomery Community Media
Do women in India vote according to the wishes of their husbands? Do Muslims vote as a community? Political scientist Yogendra Yadav examines six myths surrounding the Indian elections. Women voters outnumber men in many states A myth is a story or trend that a culture believes to be true. But it has also taken on the meaning of a popular conception that may have become exaggerated if not downright false. The reason why there is so much myth making around politics and elections in India is partly because Indians are passionate about politics. It is also because there is very little hard evidence on political behaviour. When it comes to politics, anything goes. Here are the six most popular myths about Indian politics and elections: WOMEN VOTE ACCORDING TO THE WISHES OF THEIR HUSBANDS It is true that in India, like many democracies, the levels of interest and involvement of women in politics is lower than that of men. Obviously, if you are less interested in something, you tend you go by somebody else's advice - in the case of women in India it may be the advice of men in their family. But we cannot conclude that all - or almost all - women go by whatever their husbands ask them to do and so therefore are not really an independent factor in politics. For one, the level of involvement of women in politics has risen sharply in the past two decades or so: the turnout of women during polling used to be a good 10 percentage points below the turnout of men; and now, the gap is barely two to three. Today, more women turn out to vote than men in many states. The level of involvement of women in politics has risen sharply Second, if it were true that all women were to follow their men in their voting preference, we would not find any difference in the level of support for different parties among men and women. But surveys over the past 40 years have consistently shown a difference in levels of support for major political parties among men and women. Congress, for example, has always got more votes from women than from men since the days of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi or even earlier. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) in Bengal, the regional Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in Bihar, and the AIADMK party in Tamil Nadu led by former actress Jayalalitha, are some of the parties who get more votes from women than from men. Since the early 1970s, researchers from Delhi's Centre for Developing Societies have asked women voters whose advise they seek while casting their ballots. The evidence shows that fewer than 50% of women today go by the advice of their husband or any men in their family. MUSLIMS VOTE HEAVILY AND AS A BLOC We simply have no good evidence to prove that Muslims vote more than the majority Hindus. This perception comes from seeing long queues at polling stations in some Muslim majority urban areas where community voters, especially the poor and women, tend to be very visible. Research shows that in most elections after 1996, the turnout of Muslim voters has actually been a little lower than that of Hindus. The other perception about Muslims voting en bloc has an element of truth. The perception that Muslims vote en bloc has an element of truth Any minority community tends to flock together, consult among themselves, and has a great sense of community. This applies to Muslims as much as it applies to Sikhs in Delhi, Hindu pundits in Indian-administered Kashmir and to Bengalis in north-eastern India. But it is simply not true that there is anything like a Muslim bloc at national level. If there is one striking thing about Indian Muslims, it is the fact that unlike most minorities in most democracies around the world, Indian Muslims have not voted for Muslim parties. They have had their preferred political parties - Congress used to be one of those parties, and now there are many. Also, Muslims in India do not vote en bloc like, say, the black vote in the US for the Democratic Party or the UK's ethnic minorities who largely vote for the Labour Party. Politically speaking, there is no single unified Muslim community in India. Muslims are fragmented along the lines of religion, sect, caste and community. In the past two decades, Muslim voters have chosen different parties in different states: the CPI(M) in Bengal, the RJD in Bihar, the regional Samajwadi Party (SP) in Uttar Pradesh, the DMK party in Tamil Nadu and the Congress in other parts of the country. In other words, it is an exaggeration to say there is one unified Muslim vote in the country. THE YOUNG VOTE DISTINCTLY AND INDEPENDENTLY There is a perception that youth constitute a distinct political bloc with unique and independent political preferences and views. Two-thirds of Indians are below the age of 35. The young are no more politically active than others That itself is no basis for concluding that the young are distinct and different from the rest of the population in terms of their political opinions, attitudes and behaviour. I guess we tend to talk about "youth voters" because we import our vocabulary of political analysis from Europe where the generational divide is a significant political cleavage of that society. Where a party like the Greens primarily rides on the divide of the young versus the old. This myth also feeds on a perception that youth are supposed to be carriers of change and transformation. The evidence in India, however, does not confirm any of these beliefs. There is no evidence to suggest that the young are politically more active than others. If anything, they are less politically active - obviously they have other anxieties in life, like preparing for a professional career. Indians allow their image of the young to be dominated by the image of the city-bred English-speaking youth, which is very different from the rest of the country. But we forget that this is a tiny slice of Indian youth. There is no systematic difference between the manner in which the young and the not-so-young vote. It is true that in many states political parties that are relatively more recent or young tend to get more votes from young people. But that is only a function of political socialisation: simply because the young were more exposed to that party than people of an older generation who had not even heard its name. Even in terms of opinions, we have simply not found anything like a generational cleavage in Indian politics. The young support democracy in much the same way as the old do. The young are about as traditional and conservative as the old. Even on questions like inter-caste marriage, the opinions of the young are not actually very different from the rest of the population. HIGH TURNOUT LEADS TO DEFEAT FOR THE RULING PARTY It is simply a coincidence that the era which has witnessed higher voter turnout at the federal and state level is also the era which has witnessed a higher level of volatility - a tendency for voters to switch from one party to another, leading to ruling governments or incumbent representatives losing the election. Turnout in village council elections is more than 80% But there is little evidence to suggest that there is a linkage between the two. It is simply not true that elections that witness high turnout lead to a loss for the ruling party. Take the latest case of Madhya Pradesh. In the state elections last year there was a record turnout. Some analysts saw it as evidence of the ruling BJP being thrown out. The BJP won the polls again. High voter turnout can be a function of many different things - a spontaneous outpouring of the voters, of intensity of political competition, of greater mobilisation and resources put in by political parties or of greater interest on the part of the voter. So depending on what led to the higher turnout, you would have different consequences of it. THERE IS WIDESPREAD APATHY TOWARDS POLITICS This is one myth that comes close to being totally false. The fact is that while in many other democracies in the world, voter turnouts have declined, in India turnouts have either remained stable or have gone up. If we look at political associations, Indians have an amazingly intense attachment to politics. The proportion of people attached to one party, who feel close to a party, is much higher in India than in many other democracies. The proportion of people who are members of a political party is much higher in India than in the US and most European democracies. There has been a participatory upsurge for democracy in India The proportion of voters who report that they took some part in electoral activity - going to meetings or campaigning - is quite robust. And the number of people who report that someone came to their house to canvass for votes is very high. In advanced democracies, as you come down the various tiers - from national to local elections - the turnout of voters goes down. In India, it is exactly the opposite: the turnout in federal elections tends to be around 60%, in the state elections it is around 70% and when it comes to village council elections it is anything upwards of 80%. Most important, our democracy defies what was once considered a law of political participation in the world: the higher up you are in the socio-economic hierarchy, the more you participate in politics and voting. In India, evidence shows that the poor "untouchables" vote more than upper castes. The poor vote as much, if not more, than the urban middle classes. Rural areas vote more than urban areas. Women vote almost as much as men do. In other words there is no connection between social hierarchy and participation in politics. Rather than voter apathy and indifference, there has been a participatory upsurge for democracy in India. INDIANS DON'T CAST THEIR VOTE, THEY VOTE THEIR CASTE It is true that caste is one of the major determinants of voting behaviour in India. In certain situations when voters are extremely polarised, it appears to be to the sole consideration. But the fact is that caste is not quite the sole consideration. It is certainly untrue that defeat and victory for political parties in elections can be explained by a few caste or community groups switching sides from one party to another. The turnout among untouchables is high The reason many feel that caste is powerful is because we use the phrase "caste based vote bank" to mean many things. In Delhi's politics, the expression "Punjabi" (literally, residents of Punjab or people who speak the Punjabi language) is used as if it is a caste. Actually, it is a linguistic group. People use the word "Bihari" (literally, residents of Bihar) as if it is a caste group. Actually, it is a regional affiliation, or a moniker for poor migrants. A caste vote can also be a vote against a candidate of a voter's own caste in favour of a party considered closer to their caste. So if a person belonging to the Yadav caste in Bihar votes for a Congress party candidate because the candidate is a Yadav himself, it is an example of caste voting. If the same person were to vote for a candidate belonging to the Bhumihar caste put up by the regional Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) - which largely represents the Yadav caste - it would be also an example of caste voting. The evidence on caste voting suggests that caste tends to be a major determinant, specially among the large, visible and powerful caste groups. The caste-vote trend is towards voting for a party that is considered to be close to their caste or community group. But the fact remains that most voters in most constituencies in India do not have a simple option of voting along caste lines. Either they have more than one candidate from their own caste or they have none. They simply cannot vote according to their caste. There has to be a consideration other than caste for almost three-quarters of the voters. Caste provides us with good information on the initial affiliations of social groups. But across two elections, the increasing votes for one party or defeat of another is not explained by castes changing sides. When a party goes up in popularity or declines in popularity, it usually wins and loses votes across castes. Yogendra Yadav designed and co-ordinated the largest ever series of academic surveys of the Indian electorate for the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies. Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable version
Along one of Ranelagh’s leafier secluded roads, beyond the railings of a modest semi-detached house lies a virtual Aladdin’s Cave of art and sculpture. It’s the lifelong collection of John Cunningham, a businessman and patron of contemporary art in Ireland, who together with his wife Audrey, have made their home a gallery of delights. The outside world falls away, and the usual domestic layout is transformed by a panoply of art and sculpture on every wall and surface. Cunningham is clearly proud of the collection, as though he has lined up all his children for introduction to a visiting aunt. What’s most endearing is that he is bursting to show off each piece – and when you point to a new one he beams with delight that you’ve spotted that one, so he doesn’t have to. Meath-based sculptor and friend Orla de Brí is a clear favourite. A bare fibreglass tree in the garden with a typical de Brí female bronze figure perched on the branch is playfully referred to as “the bitch in the birch”. In the corner, another de Brí figure sits comfortably in a very sizeable apple. Slightly obscured under a willow is a small bird atop a giant egg, Waiting in anticipation, by Ian Pollock. Back inside, a visitor could happily spend hours pouring over the fine mix of art and sculpture that Cunningham has accumulated over the years. Though much of it is Irish and contemporary, there are paintings from Haiti, Cuba, Burma, Austria and Russia. The Irish works include Francis Tansey, Ken Browne, Graham Knuttel, Marie Theresa Keown, Nicole Etienne, and the late Joe Sweeney, a retired teacher who Cunningham first discovered many years ago when he paid just IR£60 for one of his works. A later painting, Coralea Road, Roscommon, shows clearly the artist’s growth. “I buy with my eye. I have never tried to put together a collection as such. I have stuff from the railings on Stephen’s Green and from the best galleries in town. It’s about throwing things together and seeing how they work.” Cunningham clearly has a knack for making disparate pieces work together, and knows how to hang art without making the house resemble a huckster shop. Above all, he’s passionate about the democratisation of art – if you love a piece, then it’s right for your home. ‘Mental-health benefit’ Cunningham is now spearheading a campaign with IMMA to raise substantial private funding for contemporary artists in Ireland. Having been an individual member of IMMA for years, in 2014 he attended a Business Arts presentation in RTÉ where Sarah Glennie, director of IMMA, clearly outlined the implications of gradual dramatic cuts to their funding. The key message was that for every € 100,000 taken out of the arts funding budget, it has a direct impact on the artists. And the likelihood would be that artists could no longer live and work in Ireland. Distressed at the prospect of losing a generation of Irish artists and the impact on our contemporary culture, Cunningham suggested a solution whereby 1,000 people would be asked to give € 1,000 each to create a € 1 million fund to directly support contemporary art and artists here. The money will go directly towards funding residencies at IMMA, individual exhibitions and acquisitions for permanent collections. The IMMA 1000 fund was launched in early April with a fund of € 60,000 raised from founding donors, including Cunningham, and sponsor Goodbody. PAYE employees can donate € 690 to achieve a donation of € 1,000 through tax relief. The aim is to raise € 250,000 by the end of 2018. Cunningham’s greatest concern is that we might lose that connection with the arts that was once simply inherent in our culture. He feels strongly that Ireland and the Irish are culturally better endowed than other nations. “We certainly punch above our weight, and that tradition of storytelling and singing resonates with visitors all the time. The essence of us as Irish people is ingrained in the arts. How we value art and artists is a demonstration of how sophisticated we are as a race. We don’t want to lose a generation of artists through neglect.” CJ Haughey It is hoped IMMA 1000 will not only raise substantial funding for living artists but also inspire more people to engage with the arts. “It’s easy, don’t be intimidated. Google the top five galleries in Dublin, put your name on their exhibition list and get invitations to launches and openings. Go along. You’ll come away somehow cheered and inspired. The Lucien Freud exhibition is coming to IMMA in the autumn. How often on a Sunday do you wonder what to do? Get on the bus, bring a picnic, it’s free.” And what about the argument that the enjoyment of art is a luxury only afforded by the privileged classes. “Art is not a luxury. For € 100 you can pick up something you adore on a park railing. Many galleries will allow you buy in instalments. If people can spend several hundred euro on a dress or a bag – and they do – art is accessible for anyone, and the joy you get from it is for life.” ‘Far from arty’ “In the context of art and learning, art plays a huge role in informing who we are, where we are and potentially where we are going. It creates an opening of the mind, giving a sense of the wider world, and that there’s more than yourself.” John and Audrey continue to explore new places and discover new art, and have always encouraged their children to engage with it too. One neat trick Cunningham advises when visiting a vast museum with a young child is to invite them to take a quick look around and pick out a favourite piece. “You could spend 20 minutes with a child talking about one image once they love it. It’s much better than dragging them reluctantly around the entire space.” In his day job, Cunningham loosely describes himself as working in financial services, but it’s a blanket term for numerous pursuits. After more then 20 years in marketing and business development with Irish Permanent and Friends First, two years ago he joined global human resources consultancy, Alexander Mann Solutions in the UK. He is also a founding shareholder and director of CheckRisk, an online risk analysis programme for financial services. Somewhere along the way Cunningham also committed to setting aside time and applying skills to helping others. He is chair of the Immigrant Council of Ireland and behind the ‘Turn off the red light’ campaign which seeks to criminalise patrons instead of sex workers themselves. He sits on the board of the Irish Youth Foundation, and was the progenitor of Brand Haiti Project on foot of an event organised by Denis O’Brien a few months after the massive earthquake in 2010. ‘Big inspiration’
With Game of Thrones season 7 on the air, you’d think that creators and showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss would have their hands full talking about that. But when HBO announced that the pair were set to write and produce a new series to air after Thrones is over, the news quickly caught fire on account of the subject matter. Called Confederate, the show will explore an alternate timeline where the Confederate States of America won the Civil War, and takes place in a world where slavery is a “modern institution.” Many took offense at the idea that two white men would be telling such a racially charged story. "HBO's new series CONFEDERATE is-" Nope. Nope. Nope. Whole lotta nope. Noppity Nil. Leslie Knope. Nah. pic.twitter.com/2FzsAI2DBd — Alan Sizzler Kistler (@SizzlerKistler) July 19, 2017 WHY DO SOME WHITE PEOPLE LOVE ROMANTICIZING SLAVERY?? https://t.co/ItiCxH7sUO — Dr. Harleen Quinzel (@McLovinGod) July 21, 2017 Like even if Confederate is critical of current day racism, do we need another series about the suffering of POC, written by white men? — o, limp dicks (@kamilumin) July 19, 2017 David Benioff and Dan Weiss put unnecessary rape scenes in #GameOfThrones. I'm already sick thinking of what they'll do in "Confederate". — Genie Lauren (@MoreAndAgain) July 19, 2017 And so on. Benioff and Weiss will write and executive produce Confederate alongside Nichelle Tramble Spellman (Justified, The Good Wife) and Malcolm Spellman (Empire), both of whom are black. In the wake of the backlash, the four of them talked to Vulture about what they were going for with the show. First, Benioff clarified that the idea for Confederate was something that he and Weiss had kicked around for years and originally envisioned as a feature film, but after working on Game of Thrones, they thought it might work better on TV, particularly with a story of this breadth — they’re picturing Confederate as having dozens of characters and multiple plotlines, not unlike GoT in the abstract. As for brining in the Spellmans, Benioff joked that it was because he and Weiss were “lazy” and didn’t want to do all the work themselves. “And they’re two great writers. We’ve known Malcolm and Nichelle a long time, socially, and always talked about doing something together at some point. And this felt like a good thing. Now we’re bonding under fire.” Malcolm Spellman expanded on that, saying that Benioff and Weiss approached himself and Nichelle in part because “they knew they needed black voices on it.” For me and Nichelle, it’s deeply personal because we are the offspring of this history. We deal with it directly, and have for our entire lives. We deal with it in Hollywood, we deal with it in the real world when we’re dealing with friends and family members. And I think Nichelle and I both felt a sense of urgency in trying to find a way to support a discussion that is percolating but isn’t happening enough. As people of color and minorities in general are starting to get a voice, I think there’s a duty to force this discussion. From there, the writers started exchanging ideas, and things snowballed. “And immediately what the conversation turned into is how we could draw parallels between what has been described as America’s original sin to a present-day conversation,” Nichelle Spellman said. “I think what was interesting to all of us was that we were going to handle this show, and handle the content of the show, without using typical antebellum imagery…This is present day, or close to present day, and how the world would have evolved if the South had been successful seceding from the Union.” So what drove Benioff and Weiss to think of this story in the first place? According to Benioff, it stems in large part from the two of them being big history dorks (that would certainly fit with their interest in Game of Thrones). Weiss addressed part of the reason why they were interested in this part of history specifically. [I]t goes without saying slavery is the worst thing that ever happened in American history. It’s our original sin as a nation. And history doesn’t disappear. That sin is still with us in many ways. Confederate, in all of our minds, will be an alternative history show. It’s a science-fiction show. One of the strengths of science fiction is that it can show us how this history is still with us in a way no strictly realistic drama ever could, whether it were a historical drama or a contemporary drama. It’s an ugly and a painful history, but we all think this is a reason to talk about it, not a reason to run from it. And this feels like a potentially valuable way to talk about it. Malcolm Spellman clarified the concept. “This is not a world in which the entire country is enslaved,” he said. “Slavery is in one half of the country. And the North is the North. As Nichelle was saying, the imagery should be no whips and no plantations.” But even with ideas like this in place, everyone was quick to point out that the show is still in the planning stages — there’s no script. There’s not even an outline or any character names. At this point, the four writers are still developing the alternate history. Given how embryonic the show is, Weiss was surprised at the degree of the backlash (both Nichelle and Malcolm Spellman have deleted their Twitter accounts since the announcement was made, incidentally), although they all expected to get some. “I guess that’s what was a little bit surprising about some of the outrage,” Weiss said. “It’s just a little premature. You know, we might fuck it up. But we haven’t yet.” Addressing the Twitter backlash specifically, Nichelle Spellman wishes some critics had reserved judgment until they’d seen the final product, while Malcolm wondered if social media was the best place to handle this debate. You cannot litigate this on Twitter. It’s not possible. There’s a new emerging group of black filmmakers, right? And we have a good standing there with our peers. But there’s no connective tissue between us and what’s coming out in the media. I don’t know that we can change anyone’s mind… but what people have to understand is, and what we are obligated to repeat in every interview is: We’ve got black aunties. We’ve got black nephews, uncles. Black parents and black grandparents. We deal with them every single day. We deal with the struggle every single day. And people don’t have to get on board with what we’re doing based on a press release. But when they’re writing about us, and commenting about us, they should be mindful of the fact that there are no sell-outs involved in this show. Me and Nichelle are not props being used to protect someone else. We are people who feel a need to address issues the same way they do, and they should at least humanize the other end of those tweets and articles. You know what I’m saying? Benioff also clarified that, whatever accusations to the contrary, the Spellmans will be equal partners with himself and Weiss when it comes to running the series. “[A]nyone who thinks that Malcolm and Nichelle are props have never met Malcolm and Nichelle,” he said. “[W]hen we sit down and map out this show, and the season, and the characters, it’ll be the four of us arguing about everything. There is no precedent who gets to rule by decree. And people can believe that or not, but it’s the truth, and they’re not in the room, so they don’t know.” Benioff and Weiss are perfectly aware that the success of Game of Thrones has given them additional leverage when pitching a new show, and chose to go with Confederate specifically because it involved difficult, challenging material. And it goes without saying that they’re going to approach this material different than they approached Thrones. “We were very hyper-aware of the difference between a show with a fictional history and a fictional world, and a show that’s an alternate history of this world,” Weiss said. Malcolm Spellman, responding to the idea that Confederate could potentially be “pornography or wish-fulfillment” for white supremacists, got the last word. What people need to recognize is, and it makes me really want to get into the show: The shit is alive and real today. I think people have got to stop pretending that slavery was something that happened and went away. The shit is affecting people in the present day. And it’s easy for folks to hide from it, because sometimes you’re not able to map it out, especially with how insidious racism has become. But everyone knows that with Trump coming into power, a bunch of shit that had always been there got resurfaced. So the idea that this would be pornography goes back to people imagining whips and plantations. What they need to be imagining is how fucked up things are today, and a story that allows us to now dramatize it in a more tangible matter. To read the full interview, which is terrific, head to Vulture. And for Game of Thrones, tune in to HBO this Sunday. Watch Game of Thrones for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels.
UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley will open as a betting underdog in his first title defense. Woodley (16-3) has been pegged a slight, plus-120 underdog in his scheduled title fight against Stephen Thompson (13-1) at UFC 205 on Nov. 12 in New York. Thompson is listed a minus-150 favorite. Betting lines were provided by Nick Kalikas of MMAOddsBreaker.com. Fighting out of St. Louis, Woodley, 34, won the title in a first-round knockout over Robbie Lawler at UFC 201. He has opened a betting underdog in six consecutive fights. He is 5-1 in those bouts. "Tyron Woodley is a deserving and dangerous champion, but he may have his hands full in Stephen Thompson," Kalikas told ESPN.com. "Thompson has proven himself as the best striker at 170 pounds. Woodley has explosive power and excellent wrestling, but he has had difficulty against technical strikers with excellent takedown defense. "Thompson uses distance expertly and recently proved he can push a solid pace for five rounds. I'm opening the title challenger Thompson as a favorite because I feel as long as he survives Woodley in the first round and settles in, he'll be able to control almost every dynamic of the fight." Thompson, who fights out of Simpsonville, South Carolina, is a former professional kickboxer with seven career MMA wins via knockout. His only loss came via decision to Matt Brown in April 2012.
Arrangements between big businesses to pre-install software on our devices is nothing new: bloat dates back far before this mobile-centric age in which we find ourselves now, after years of bogging-down new PC installs. It’s such that any time we find ourselves hearing about a new deal it’s all we can do to not immediately go on the defensive. But there’s a whole spectrum of software out there that we might find pre-installed on new hardware, ranging from the annoying, to the innocuous, to the legitimately useful. And when we heard earlier this spring that Microsoft was hooking up with Samsung and other OEMs to pre-install things like Office and OneDrive, we could imagine many users placing this software in some of those latter categories – it certainty wasn’t the worst pre-install deal we ever saw. Now Microsoft is back with some more partners lined up, making similar arrangements with some other big Android manufacturers. While the full list is quite long, there are a couple names that immediately jump out: LG and Sony. Both companies will start selling their Android tablets (this deal doesn’t appear to affect phone software) with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, OneDrive and Skype. For Sony, that means outfitting newly sold Xperia Z4 Tablet models with that suite within the next few months. For LG, it means that a still-upcoming tablet will be available with the apps from day one. None of this is likely to sway the decisions of tablet-buyers one way or the other, but it’s the latest step in a broader plan of Microsoft’s to make its mobile ecosystem felt across platforms. More so than Apple, and arguably even Google, Microsoft doesn’t want you to have any excuse for not using its software and services – no matter which hardware you choose. Source: Microsoft
A shelf on my bookshelf Bookshelves and Sentimentality My efforts to remove Elias Froehlich Blocked Unblock Follow Following Sep 29, 2013 The final frontier. What do you think about when I say that? Most of you will probably say space, or Alaska, or maybe even the oceans. If you ask me, I think about my bookshelf. I’ve been going through the process of minimizing my things for about a year now. At this point I’ve managed to get my number of possessions pretty low, although I still have one untouched area, my bookshelf. Over the course of this past year I’ve been getting rid of clothing, furniture, unneeded papers from middle school, backpacks, little bits and pieces of things I’ve forgotten but clung to just in case. Little by little I’ve minimized my possessions, and I feel great. I’m more organized, my grades are better, I never have to clean, save for a little vacuuming here and there. Minimalism has made my life more enjoyable. But still there lurks a final foe. My bookshelf, a vault of nostalgia. I haven’t been able to break into its shelves and get rid of a single book, until a few days ago. As of yesterday I have finally removed the last unwanted book. The process was arduous, of course, and I cannot say I didn’t stop to sit and reminisce about a particular volume before tossing it into a pile of books destined for a second hand shop. As I went, slowly cleaning the shelves, I realized something: The ultimate enemy of the minimalist is the side of sentimentality that exists within us all. Sentimentality holds us back while we do our Spring cleaning, it tells us to keep the pile of magazines — there could be something to clip in there and our dream board is seemingly skimpy; The New Yorker from 2008 has to stay. Minimalist thought puts a hand on our shoulder and tells us that we’re never going to look at that magazine again. It’s time to recycle it. This is not to say that minimalism demands we go forth into our homes and throw away anything unneeded with a cold heart. Minimalism says to stop and think before we keep something, think whether this adds value to life, or is this dusty magazine with outdated comics and a torn binding going to sit in a pile with more disused items until our homes contain ceiling-scrapers of decrepit periodicals? This brings us back to my bookshelf, which now sits with much less weight on its shelves. Every book is something I would read and do read in cycles. I even instituted a rule to keep my net accumulation of books at zero. For every book I bring home, one must leave my shelf. The only remaining step, should I choose to follow it, is digitization, though I still prefer the feel of paper and ink to glass.
Following the 4-3 shootout loss that capped another failing season for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Brendan Shanahan announced the firing of general manager Dave Nonis and interim head coach Peter Horachek, along with numerous other members of the Leafs coaching and management staff. Leafs announce firing of Nonis, Horacek, Spott, Dennis and St Croix. Staios remains. As per release. — Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) April 12, 2015 Ownership spent no time cleaning house, as along with Nonis and Horachek, assistant coaches Steve Spott and Chris Dennis, as well as goaltending coach Rick St. Croix, were all relieved of their duties. The firings have left the Toronto Maple Leafs without a coaching staff, allowing Brendan Shanahan and management to weigh their options in the summer and decide who shall lead their team heading into the 2015-16 season. Nonis has been with the Maple Leafs since 2008, starting off as senior vice-president and director of hockey operations under Brian Burke, marking the third time Burke and Nonis would work together. Five years later, Nonis was named the new general manager of the Leafs, following the firing of Burke. In his first season as GM the Leafs made their only post-season appearance since 2004.ToThey would drop out in the first round against the Boston Bruins, in seven games. Peter Horachek was named the interim head coach following the firing of Randy Carlyle, mid-season. Under Horachek’s coaching, the Leafs posted a 9-25-8 record, and fell to a 15th place finish in the Eastern conference. Toronto placed in fourth-to-last place in the entire league, earning them a top-5 draft pick in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, however it will not be Nonis who speaks with the scouting staff, nor will Horachek be his coach. Assistant coaches Chris Dennis and Steve Spott both stood behind the bench with both Carlyle and Horachek, serving just one season before their release. Rick St. Croix joined the Maple Leafs in 2012, following the resignation of Francois Allaire and worked with James Reimer and Jonathan Bernier. St. Croix was formerly the goaltending coach in Dallas, when the Stars won their Stanley Cup in 1999. Steve Staios, who retired following the 2011-12 regular season, will remain on board with Toronto as a player development adviser. The bloodletting didn’t stop at coaching though as the Leafs relieved multiple scouts from their duties. They will head into the 2015 NHL draft and off-season with Mark Hunter, Kyle Dubas, Brandan Shannahan and a whole new group of talent evaluators.
Are you a gamer? Do you like free things? Of course you do! We here at the Tech Deck are just like you: poor gamers looking for cheap entertainment. And nothing's cheaper than cost-free gaming. Each week, we'll bring you a title (or two or three) you can legally play at home without plopping down a single dollar. If you see games you think we should be featuring on the blog, email us at [email protected] or [email protected]. This week, the Tech Deck heads back to the heady days of the point-and-click adventure with 1994's "Beneath a Steel Sky," featuring the artwork of comic book legend Dave Gibbons. Click here to download 'Beneath a Steel Sky' free from Great Old Games. Go inside the blog to learn more about the development of the game and leave your favorite point-and-click memories in the comment thread. UPDATE: Some folks have been mentioning in the comments they're having difficulty downloading the title. I feel for you, I had some trouble figuring out gog.com's wonky download system. Here's some step-by-step instructions: 1. Visit the website above by clicking on the image or the link below the image. 2. Click the green "Add to Cart" button. You will not be charged anything, nor will you need to provide a credit card. 3. Click the green "Checkout Now" button that appears in the upper right corner of the screen. Again, you will not be charged anything and you will not have to enter a credit card. 4. If you already have a Great Old Games account, you can skip this step. Otherwise, you'll be prompted to create an account. All the site will ask for is a username, password and email account. If you don't want to get email updates from the website (though they do have some GREAT deals on classic titles), you can opt out of email newsletters. 5. Log in using your username and password. 6. The game will be added to your library, which can be accessed under the "Account" heading at the top of the page. 7. Select 'Beneath A Steel Sky' and which installer you want, either Windows or Mac. The game will then download automatically and can be opened as any other application on your computer. If you have any additional questions the Great Old Games' FAQ can't answer, feel free to email me at [email protected] and I'll give you a hand. The cyberpunk adventure stars Robert Foster (named after a beer can) as an outcast whose origins are a mystery. When the police force of a dystopian city in Australia arrive and take him from his adopted clan, liquidating them in the process, it's up to you to guide him through the mystery of his past and correcting the wrongs of Union City. The game is introduced by the comic stylings of Dave Gibbons, known for his frequent collaborations with writer Alan Moore on the Watchmen series and other DC books like the brilliant "For the Man Who Has Everything" one-off. Beneath a Steel Sky was the brainchild of Charles Cecil, who is the chief executive officer of British developer Revolution Games. The team would go on to develop the wildly popular Broken Sword series and remains in existence today, with Cecil at the helm. Beneath a Steel Sky was released as freeware for the PC in 2003 and is offered as a free download from greatoldgames.com. Do you have a favorite point-and-click adventure series or game? I'm partial to the Monkey Island games - and really anything by Tim Schafer. Make sure you look into Grim Fandango Remastered, releasing for the PS4 and PC this week, if you're a fan. Otherwise, enjoy this title from the genre's high water mark in the early 1990s and let us know what you think in the comments below. Happy gaming!
A giant asteroid impact in the dwarf planet’s past offers new insights into the possibility of an ocean beneath its surface. PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] —Ever since NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft flew by Pluto last year, evidence has been mounting that the dwarf planet may have a liquid ocean beneath its icy shell. Now, by modeling the impact dynamics that created a massive crater on Pluto’s surface, a team of researchers has made a new estimate of how thick that liquid layer might be. The study, led by Brown University geologist Brandon Johnson and published in Geophysical Research Letters, finds a high likelihood that there’s more than 100 kilometers of liquid water beneath Pluto’s surface. The research also offers a clue about the composition of that ocean, suggesting that it likely has a salt content similar to that of the Dead Sea. “Thermal models of Pluto’s interior and tectonic evidence found on the surface suggest that an ocean may exist, but it’s not easy to infer its size or anything else about it,” said Johnson, who is an assistant professor in Brown’s Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences. “We’ve been able to put some constraints on its thickness and get some clues about composition.” The research focused on Sputnik Planum, a basin 900 kilometers across that makes up the western lobe the famous heart-shaped feature revealed during the New Horizons flyby. The basin appears to have been created by an impact, likely by an object 200 kilometers across or larger. The story of how the basin relates to Pluto’s putative ocean starts with its position on the planet relative to Pluto’s largest moon, Charon. Pluto and Charon are tidally locked with each other, meaning they always show each other the same face as they rotate. Sputnik Planum sits directly on the tidal axis linking the two worlds. That position suggests that the basin has what’s called a positive mass anomaly — it has more mass than average for Pluto’s icy crust. As Charon’s gravity pulls on Pluto, it would pull proportionally more on areas of higher mass, which would tilt the planet until Sputnik Planum became aligned with the tidal axis. But a positive mass anomaly would make Sputnik Planum a bit of an odd duck as craters go. “An impact crater is basically a hole in the ground,” Johnson said. “You’re taking a bunch of material and blasting it out, so you expect it to have negative mass anomaly, but that’s not what we see with Sputnik Planum. That got people thinking about how you could get this positive mass anomaly.” Part of the answer is that, after it formed, the basin has been partially filled in by nitrogen ice. That ice layer adds some mass to the basin, but it isn’t thick enough on its own to make Sputnik Planum have positive mass, Johnson says. The rest of that mass may be generated by a liquid lurking beneath the surface. Like a bowling ball dropped on a trampoline, a large impact creates a dent on a planet’s surface, followed by a rebound. That rebound pulls material upward from deep in the planet’s interior. If that upwelled material is denser than what was blasted away by the impact, the crater ends up with the same mass as it had before the impact happened. This is a phenomenon geologists refer to as isostatic compensation. Water is denser than ice. So if there were a layer of liquid water beneath Pluto’s ice shell, it may have welled up following the Sputnik Planum impact, evening out the crater’s mass. If the basin started out with neutral mass, then the nitrogen layer deposited later would be enough to create a positive mass anomaly. “This scenario requires a liquid ocean,” Johnson said. “We wanted to run computer models of the impact to see if this is something that would actually happen. What we found is that the production of a positive mass anomaly is actually quite sensitive to how thick the ocean layer is. It’s also sensitive to how salty the ocean is, because the salt content affects the density of the water.” The models simulated the impact of an object large enough to create a basin of Sputnik Planum’s size hitting Pluto at a speed expected for that part in the solar system. The simulation assumed various thicknesses of the water layer beneath the crust, from no water at all to a layer 200 kilometers thick. The scenario that best reconstructed Sputnik Planum’s observed size depth, while also producing a crater with compensated mass, was one in which Pluto has an ocean layer more than 100 kilometers thick, with a salinity of around 30 percent. “What this tells us is that if Sputnik Planum is indeed a positive mass anomaly —and it appears as though it is — this ocean layer of at least 100 kilometers has to be there,” Johnson said. “It’s pretty amazing to me that you have this body so far out in the solar system that still may have liquid water.” As researchers continue to look at the data sent by New Horizons, Johnson is hopeful that a clearer picture of Pluto’s possible ocean will emerge. Johnson’s co-authors on the paper were Timothy Bowling of the University of Chicago and Alexander Trowbridge and Andrew Freed from Purdue University.
I do not own Frozen or any of the associated characters, obviously... Anna stared impatiently at the large clock that hung on the wall. Four minutes until the work day ended. "Come on, come on, come oonnn," the redhead whispered to herself, willing the hands of the clock to move faster. Quitting time - Anna's favorite part of the day. It was not because she disliked her job. On the contrary, she loved her job. She had a great boss as well. Good money, excellent benefits. No complaints. Even still, Anna stared longingly at the clock every afternoon waiting for her work to end and the best 45 seconds of her day to begin. Two minutes thirty seconds later, Anna's desk was cleared and her bag packed. Only a minute and a half to go. Her best friend, Kristoff, stopped by to wish Anna a good evening, though the girl barely registered his presence, she was so focused on the clock. The large man rolled his eyes. He should have known better by now. This had been Anna's normal afternoon ritual for more than two months. He watched his friend for a moment, waiting for her to acknowledge him, then chuckled quietly and ruffled her hair, finally getting her attention, "Ack! What the hell, Kristoff?!" Kristoff just laughed, "I said, 'Have a good night,'" he began, "You know, you really need to make a move before you drive yourself crazy...uh, crazier," he concluded, still smiling. Anna turned briefly to face him, "Today is the day. I feel it. I'm going to...to, um, do...something?" she floundered, "Anyway, I have plenty of time to figure it out. I'll be fine...absolutely." "Oh yeah, twenty or thirty whole seconds?! This plan can't miss," Kristoff laughed. The blonde man clapped her the back a little more roughly than he had intended, "Go get 'em, Tiger," he teased good naturedly before walking back toward his own desk to gather his things. The redhead watched him walk away and scooped up her bag, holding it tightly in her hand. She stood from her desk, mentally counting down the last ten seconds as she made her way to the door and disappeared through it right on time. Anna hurried down the hall. She passed the bank of elevators closest to her office (the south elevators), heading instead to the second (north) set on the other side of the building. She had to hurry. Finally, panting, she rounded the corner and arrived at the other elevators. She pressed the button and waited, trying to calm her breathing. The elevator doors opened and Anna glanced inside. There were two middle-aged women dressed very well and a portly man with a pompous air about him. No one else was in the car. "Plenty of room, deary," one of the ladies commented, gesturing for Anna to join them. "Thank you, no," Anna smiled apologetically, "I'm waiting for someone. I'll take the next one." The pompous man grumbled something about 'time-wasters' as he pressed the door close button with a fat thumb. Anna did not care. She looked at her watch. Maybe she was too late. Maybe she had missed it. She had missed it many times before. The girl kicked at an imaginary rock on the floor, disappointed. She pressed the down button again, hoping that the next car would be the one. Anna stood with her fingers crossed as the north elevator's doors once again slid open revealing only one occupant. The girl in the elevator was slightly taller than Anna, with bright blue eyes, and long, very light-colored hair drawn back into a meticulous braid. Her pale complexion was dusted with the faintest hint of freckles. Anna almost lost her composure, but held it together long enough to step into the elevator and press the already lit ground floor button. The blonde's eyes met Anna's just for a moment before moving to politely stare straight ahead, as is common elevator etiquette. Anna smiled in return, causing the corners of the other girl's mouth to twitch upward ever so slightly, to the redhead's absolute delight. Anna could scarcely keep her grin from stretching wide across her face. She had made it. Now for the best part of her day - riding in the elevator with the girl if her dreams. Never mind that neither girl ever spoke...that was irrelevant. Anna was in love; from the first moment she set eyes on the blonde three months earlier when the south side elevators had broken down and were closed. The building was old and, among other issues, one or the other of the elevator banks was almost always in need of repair. This particular day it was the redhead's elevators that required attention. Anna had since insisted that it was the best day of her life...so far. At the time she had been very annoyed at having to walk all the way to the far side of the building to catch the north elevator. However, her unhappy mood disappeared in the instant she saw the blue-eyed beauty standing in the already crowded elevator car. Actually, it was pretty awkward as first meetings go. Anna was so busy staring that she forgot to step into the elevator. She stood in the open doorway gawking obliviously until an impatient attorney finally snapped her back to reality, "In or out, lady. Some of us have places to go," he said angrily. Anna had been so embarrassed that she muttered a quick apology and walked away, blushing crimson. She took the stairs that day. The next day, and every other since, Anna made an end-of-the-day pilgrimage to the north elevators in hopes of riding with, and maybe even speaking to the object of her desire. So far, though, she had managed to catch the right car only a handful of times; braving nothing more than a few casual glances and shy smiles. The ride down to the ground floor lasted only about 45 seconds before the elevator doors slid open once more and the pair stepped out into the world, parting ways. Hoping that her still present grin was not coming across as creepy, Anna stood in her normal position near the back of the elevator car such that she could get a better view of the girl. Today was the day, she thought. Today was the day she would finally speak to the blonde, maybe even ask her if she'd like to get coffee sometime. All she needed to do was start the conversational ball rolling, but how? Anna's eyes flitted hurriedly over the blond, looking for an ice breaker, eventually settling on complimenting her hair. Anna took a deep breath, "I LIKE YOUR HAIR," she blurted out inelegantly. Oh my god, Anna thought to herself, I sounded like a creep AND a moron! Great! Well maybe she didn't hear me...she hasn't responded yet. Anna's hopes were immediately dashed as the blonde turned slightly toward her, face slightly pink, and muttered a quick, 'thank you' before once again facing front. Anna slumped. Way to be creepy, Anna. The redhead decided to try again. She had at least 25 more seconds and she absolutely had to fix what was threatening to become a disaster. "I mean," she tried, "you look like you're ready for a photoshoot or something! And it's the end of the day! I just think you're amazing...your hair, that is. Your hair is amazing..." Jesus, Anna, stop talking. The blonde turned, an amused look on her face, "Thanks." Anna smiled broadly, "You're totally welcome!" 'Totally?' Oh good...because I didn't already sound like an idiot. Ok, Anna, just be quiet. Don't say another word. Tomorrow is another day. As Anna continued to berate herself, there was a crashing sound. The elevator suddenly gave a lurch and stopped, knocking both of its occupants off-balance. "Uh...that didn't sound good," Anna noted uneasily, "Shit! I think we're stuck." Stuck in an elevator? Bad. Stuck in an elevator with the girl of your dreams? Good. Maybe? As always - suggestions, questions, comments, and rude remarks are welcomed and encouraged. Reviews are welcomed, encouraged, and GREATLY appreciated. :) Til next time...
We’ve kicked around the East Baton Rouge Parish Council On Aging scandal for a couple of weeks, and particularly this week after the Legislative Auditor’s office came back with a scathing review of the COA’s practices in advocating for the passage of $8 million in property tax increases last year. But up until now, nobody knew just how noxious those practices were. We made an interesting discovery about the East Baton Rouge Parish Council On Aging’s cozy relationship with a political action committee its director Tasha Clark Amar put together in support of that tax, and the genesis of that discovery was a mistake we made. Your author mistakenly searching campaign finance records for the Save Our Seniors PAC, when the organization was actually called the Support Our Seniors PAC. And when we corrected that mistake and found the PAC’s campaign finance records, we uncovered that John Delgado, the Republican former Metro Council member and mayoral candidate last year, was listed as a $250 donor last year. That led to a Facebook exchange yesterday. Which occasioned the usual round of guffaws and scolding from the peanut gallery, but Delgado didn’t just play along… …he actively got curious. Because John Delgado, while he did vote on the Metro Council to put that tax on the ballot, was vocally and publicly opposed to its passage. He really would not have thought it a good idea to donate money for that cause. And Delgado then looked up the check he’d written online, and discovered something sinister… Here’s what bugged him – he said he wrote the check to the Council On Aging for a charity event they were putting on. And instead, he paid the PAC. And he didn’t write the PAC down as a payee. Somebody else did that. “I know my handwriting,” he said. “That’s not mine.” So what it appears is Delgado may have been defrauded by Tasha Clark Amar or her people. And our question is whether he’s the only one. It’s one thing to use Council On Aging monies to pay for flyers and postage in order to engage in prohibited electoral activity. We already know that was done, thanks to the legislative audit. It’s another thing to dragoon East Baton Rouge Council On Aging event patrons into financial servitude of its PAC. Maybe it’s time for East Baton Rouge Parish district attorney Hillar Moore or Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry to pay these people the attention they fairly richly deserve. UPDATE: We should add something to this post, namely that Delgado’s campaign finance report lists a contribution to the Council On Aging and NOT its PAC, which is an indication he didn’t have an intention to donate money to a cause he publicly opposed. On page 15 of the 90-day campaign report that you can find at this link, you’ll see it… And he told us the check was actually for tickets to the COA’s Taste Of Baton Rouge event last November; he had finally gotten around to paying them for the tickets in June… So hopefully next week we’ll see a fresh bit of investigation into the crooks at the East Baton Rouge Council On Aging, and perhaps a prosecution. We’re willing to be Delgado isn’t the only person to see a check written to the COA get “repurposed” to that PAC, just like Helen Plummer’s probably wasn’t the first person whose will Tasha Clark wrote herself into. It’s quite likely both were a pattern, and this kind of behavior won’t stop until somebody goes to jail.
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - The state attorney general's office is investigating whether Mylan Pharmaceuticals unfairly limited competition for its emergency allergy treatment EpiPen, which has been criticized for steep price increases. A preliminary review showed the company "may have inserted potentially anticompetitive terms" into sales contracts with many school systems, Democratic Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said Tuesday. "If Mylan engaged in anti-competitive business practices, or violated antitrust laws with the intent and effect of limiting lower cost competition, we will hold them accountable," Schneiderman said. "Allergy sufferers have enough concerns to worry about. The availability of life-saving medical treatment should not be one of them." Subpoenas for company information were issued last week. EpiPens are used in emergencies to treat severe allergic reactions to insect bites and foods including nuts that can lead to anaphylactic shock. They are auto-injectors, or spring-loaded syringes that provide single doses of the drug epinephrine, and can be administered by patients themselves or by untrained people. The price has grown to $608 for a two-pack, up more than 500 percent since 2007. The drugmaker has announced it will launch a generic version that will cost $300 in the next several weeks. Canonsburg, Pennsylvania-based Mylan N.V. said Tuesday that more than 700,000 free EpiPens have been distributed to 65,000 schools and it has dropped a previous purchase restriction for schools that wanted more at discounts. "The program continues to adhere to all applicable laws and regulations," Mylan spokeswoman Nina Devlin said. "There are no purchase requirements for participation in the program, nor have there ever been to receive free EpiPen auto-injectors." Meanwhile, a New York legislator introduced a bill to authorize pharmacists to dispense little-known and cheaper generic epinephrine auto-injectors under a brand-specific prescription without having to get a new prescription from the doctor. "Mylan has spent billions of dollars making EpiPen a household name synonymous with epinephrine, but there are lesser-known products such as generic Adrenaclick, which can be purchased for approximately $140 for a two-pack," said Senate Health Committee Chairman Kemp Hannon, a Long Island Republican. He noted that the essential difference is that the Adrenaclicks injector, by Horsham, Pennsylvania-based Amedra Pharmaceuticals, has two caps instead of one. Democratic Missouri U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill said she expects Congress to hold hearings on the EpiPen price increases. Asked if legislators will invite Mylan CEO Heather Bresch, she said "of course." McCaskill is the top Democrat on the Senate Special Committee on Aging. She and the committee's Republican chairwoman, Maine U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, have written Mylan asking for a briefing on the price increases. Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The more recent a draft, the better it tends to look. After all, it’s a lot easier to get excited about the raw potential of the picks your team of choice selects right after they make them, rather than hope they’re able to carry the potential that saw them get drafted through season after season, particularly when they don’t make the NHL. Look at the 2015 NHL draft: five players were selected, and two have made their NHL debuts, while one is gone from the organization already. The Oliver Kylington hype has died off rather naturally, while the Rasmus Andersson and Andrew Mangiapane hype seems to be thriving. Pavel Karnaukhov is an afterthought, more likely to join Riley Bruce in no longer being relevant. Compare that to the 2016 NHL draft. The Flames had the benefit of way more picks in this one – including a sixth overall – but there is still more excitement for more prospects. Matthew Tkachuk has already made it. Tyler Parsons, one year after being drafted, seems to have already taken the top goalie prospect spot, ahead of 2013 third round pick Jon Gillies, who only just completed his first professional season. Dillon Dube is intriguing, but Adam Fox was downright electrifying in his freshman year. Linus Lindstrom is more difficult to follow, and Mitchell Mattson has a ways to go, but Eetu Tuulola and Matthew Phillips have remained in the spotlight, and Stepan Falkovsky drew a lot of attention with a 21-goal season. Three of five 2015 picks look like they could still be high level, or at least NHLers. Three or four 2016 picks look like they could be high level, while the rest still look to have a decent shot at making the show. This number will decrease with time. It decreases so much that eventually, prospects are found to simply not have what it takes, and they fall by the wayside. This happens more often than not. But it’s much harder to swallow when those prospects don’t get a chance. Take Tyler Wotherspoon and Brett Kulak: two young defencemen called up throughout the seasons mostly to sit in the pressbox. Kulak has had it better than Wotherspoon, but watching young defencemen simply sit while guys like Corey Potter and Matt Bartkowski play in their stead is at best baffling, and at worst damaging. The Flames had a relatively healthy forward group in 2015-16, but what was Mark Jankowski supposed to do with a 10-minute twirl? Worse yet, how was Hunter Shinkaruk supposed to perform in his seven-game call-up when he was plunked on the fourth line and averaging 10:35 a game? And all of this is to say nothing about Rasmus Andersson being up on emergency recall, then regular recall, and only getting one game in out of all of that. Is it a sign of the Flames’ prospects not being ready? Not being good enough, period? Or are they getting the short end of the stick? Homegrown players The Flames have nine players, as things currently stand, who were either drafted by them or signed as an undrafted free agent. In other words, they didn’t have to pay to pick them up, and they graduated from the Flames’ farm team to make the NHL, or just made it right away. These are the unequivocally successful picks: Mark Giordano Mikael Backlund T.J. Brodie Lance Bouma Micheal Ferland Johnny Gaudreau Sean Monahan Sam Bennett Matthew Tkachuk Included on that list are four first round picks, one third rounder, two fourth rounders, a fifth rounder, and an undrafted free agent: a decent mix, skewed towards first round picks, which have the highest likelihood of success. The Flames have been able to find some gems in later rounds, but not a ton. The good news here is most of these homegrown players are core. Really, the only ones who are very clear steps below are Bouma and Ferland, and Ferland still has plenty of value – just not as much as the other seven guys. These nine rewarded the organization’s faith in them from the get-go. Fallen by the wayside Backlund was the only Flames pick from the 2007 NHL draft to make it to the show. After him, John Negrin and Keith Aulie played a combined 170 NHL games, 167 of them belonging to Aulie. It’s been years, and both players played in the AHL this past season. The Flames found success in 2008 with Bouma and Brodie. Their only other pick to play any NHL games? Greg Nemisz, with 15 – and even then, he retired from playing professional hockey in 2015. Probably the Flames’ most prolific 2009 pick to actually play for them was Joni Ortio, who managed to get 37 starts through his NHL career. Tim Erixon, who demanded a trade to the Rangers, hasn’t played an NHL game since 2015, so that’s unfortunate for him. Roman Horak, who the Flames got back in the trade, actually did make the Flames pretty much right away, but only got in one full season with them; he’s spent the past three seasons playing for Chekhov Vityaz in the KHL, putting up modest numbers. Max Reinhart was the Flames’ first pick in 2010, and after 23 NHL games, he’s now off in Germany. That’s about it, aside from two meaningless end of seasons games from John Ramage and Bill Arnold. Patrick Holland got five in, but for Montreal after he was part of a package traded for Mike Cammalleri and Karri Ramo. So from these draft years – the final Sutter years – it probably wasn’t a case of Flames prospects not being good enough as much as it was abysmal drafting. A number of them, such as Nemisz, Ryan Howse, and Arnold are done playing professionally already; Aulie had the most successful career, and he hasn’t played in the NHL since 2015. Still hope yet The 2011 draft was a great one for the Flames, and not just because they picked up Gaudreau. All five picks they made have gone on to play in the NHL, even if they aren’t all for the Flames. Sven Baertschi was both given a chance and the short end of the stick; he played a fair bit alongside Sean Monahan and Jiri Hudler, but a slump saw him demoted and that, combined with new management openly talking about disliking him to the press, spelled the end. Markus Granlund got more than his fair shot, though, while Laurent Brossoit was brushed aside in a trade all too quickly, Ortio essentially being chosen over him. Wotherspoon still remains, sputtering in and out of the NHL while inferior veterans played ahead of him. He has the most legitimate case to complain about how the pursuit of his NHL career has gone; however, he’s also gotten substantial AHL time, so it’s not as though he’s been totally wasting away. It’s probably now or never though. The 2012 draft is just now starting to graduate. Mark Jankowski has one professional year in him, and is looking to be a favourite to be a prospect to make the NHL this season, depending on spot availability. Kulak is right up there with him, only the Flames are out of excuses to not play him, unless he ends up in Vegas: there are too many spots open on defence and he’s spent too much time lingering around the NHL to not get a real chance. Jon Gillies is kind of up there too, but since he both lost a year to injury and is a goalie, there’s still a bit of time there yet. The 2013 draft, outside of the Flames’ three first round picks, is looking to be a lot less successful. At this point, the only ones worth keeping an eye on are Emile Poirier and Morgan Klimchuk. Poirier has played a couple of NHL games, but outside of a solid rookie pro season, he hasn’t really made much of a case for himself. Klimchuk has just one good professional year under him, as well. They weren’t drafted by the Flames, but Hunter Shinkaruk and Curtis Lazar, fellow 2013 first round picks, have shots, too – and Shinkaruk’s numbers are starting to indicate he’s approaching that now or never barrier. He’ll require waivers to be sent down this upcoming season. The same goes for Lazar. Are prospects really not getting a chance? Yes and no, really. You can make the argument a few are getting shafted, and if Kulak isn’t playing in the NHL this upcoming season, it’s probably fair to be angrier than normal. But historically – or at least through recent history? Not many Flames prospects have been given a chance, but not many have been deserving of one, either. The Flames still have to fill out their roster for 2017-18, but right now they’ve got 17 probable spots filled, and just over half of them are from players they themselves drafted and developed. That’s a pretty good track record, and that number could indeed go up. Recent perceptions from Feaster drafts onwards have made it appear as though the Flames aren’t trying to graduate their guys. The drafts seem to have gotten better from 2011 on, which places further pressure on giving prospects who actually look deserving of a shot, well, a shot. Horak may have had a premature dismissal. Baertschi was on too short a leash, but Granlund had sufficient time to make his case. Wotherspoon looks like he’s been done wrong, but the book is still out on him, and he’s already been passed by in Kulak. This could just be a case of the Flames taking the appropriate amount of time with their prospects, though. This upcoming season – and just how many prospects get the chance to play in the NHL – will go a long way towards seeing if that’s the case, or if there really is a problem.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Forward. Joel is a psychologist and neuroscientist, entrepreneur and writer, with diverse pursuits, ranging from crypto-currency to philosophy of mind and the relationship between technology, virtuality and the ethics of a self. twitter Share Pinterest Email At The Evergreen State College in Olympia Washington, an angry mob descended upon Bret Weinstein, a professor of biology and evolutionary studies. As Weinstein recounts: In a widely disseminated video of the first recent protest on May 23, an angry mob of about 50 students disrupted my class, called me a racist, and demanded that I resign. My “racist” offense? I had challenged coercive segregation by race. Specifically, I had objected to a planned “Day of Absence” in which white people were asked to leave campus on April 12. Share Pinterest Email On this Day of Absence, unlike in previous years where people of color removed themselves from campus to highlight the importance of their presence (“white” Jews like Weinstein having been conspicuously excluded from this tent), in 2016, organizers “invited” white persons to leave campus. Weinstein politely but cogently declined this directive via an email sent to the entire staff and student body of Evergreen. The result was an angry mob that forced the professor to hold his class in a nearby park off-campus. As the New York Times reported, “the final days of the term [at Evergreen] were marked by riot police officers, barricades and metal detectors.” On June 7, this letter was posted on Medium by an anonymous group of Jewish students at Evergreen. It accuses Weinstein, a progressive Jew, of “positioning himself as a Jew to invalidate the claims of racism being raised against him” and using his “invocation of his Judaism as a prop upon which his anti-black language and behavior has rested.” It also accuses Weinstein of using his Jewish identity to “support white supremacy.” How is it that Weinstein’s Jewish heritage, which he never explicitly invoked, now finds itself in the center of a conflict about privilege and mob mentality? For Jews, the Evergreen incident underlies a profound psychological anomaly that is at once new and ancient. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Jewish question in the age of identity politics. On college campuses, a spectre of hostility is raising its ugly visage between the proponents of identity politics, intersectional social justice and Jewish civilization. In identity politics, these attacks emerge thinly veiled under the new, Orwellian sheen of social justice on one side and the increasingly visible white nationalism at the other. At the speartip of those hostilities lies the reasoning of “privilege,” the thrust of which violently excludes both Jews and reason itself from the identity politics on the right and left.. Here, the safety of Jews to determine their own identity increasingly finds itself in a minefield of anti-Semitism, illegitimacy and resentment. This use of privilege, vis-a-vis Jews, relies on tropes so redundant and ancient you’d almost wish the anti-Semites would start finding new material. Claims of privilege and Jewish manipulation have provided the eternal weapon against the Jews; anti-Jewish antagonists weaponize privilege until Jewish ashes rise up from ovens. As Hitler, dispensing with reason and Jews together, best articulated: “the anti-Semitism of reason” must lead “to the systematic combating and elimination of Jewish privileges.” Through arguments of Jewish privilege, Nazis boycotted, divested from and sanctioned Jewish businesses — It was privilege that the Communist Russians decried as they murdered, deported and redistributed the wealth of “corrupt bourgeois (Jewish) capitalists” — claims of privilege allowed Iraqis to violently expel and appropriate the wealth of Iraqi Jews in an age where most of Iraq’s banks and transport companies relied upon them — it was privilege that the Spaniards reviled as The Church tortured and murdered Jews throughout the Inquisition. The church propagandist Andres Bernaldez put it best nearly half a millenia ago: “And in the time when this heretical iniquity flourished, many monasteries were violated by their [Jews] wealthy men and merchants.” ”And usually, for the most part, they were usurious people, of many wiles and deceits, for they all live by easy occupations and offices, and in buying and selling they have no conscience where Christians are concerned.” “ Many of them in these realms in a short time acquired very great fortunes and estates, since they had no conscience in their profits and usuries, saying that they only gained at the expense of their enemies” It is privilege which signalled the death knell for civilization and reason in all of these cases. The Jewish question disguises the human one — it is a microcosmic metaphor for civic life. Given all of this, how does it make sense to call Jewish accomplishment privilege, when “privilege” is weaponized against them for purposes of genocide and to deconstruct society? By no coincidence, in those moments, reason and the rule of law imploded and all rationality transformed into unrestrained hatred. Are we supposed to be grateful for the “privilege” of occasionally and temporarily passing as our persecutors until we are outed as Jews? When the value of Jewish resources exceeds the value of Jewish life, the tables have almost always turned toward genocide. The word “privilege” appears like a heralding angel to announce its arrival. What a privilege. What is eminently clear, given our history, is that projections of “privilege” historically constitute the exact mechanism to deprive Jews of needed protection. Furthermore, the mechanisms that historically deprive Jews of protection share hostility toward reason and civilization itself. From the standpoint of intersectional justice, the logic therefore follows exactly: The Jewish identity comprises the unique intersection for which the leveling of privilege itself underlies a genocidal form of oppression. The genocidal label of privilege follows all Jews, whatever their appearance and in every land they have lived and thus, this libel rests on their collective identity as Jews, as such… not on the color of their skin. This story "The Grave And Mortal Danger of Calling ‘White’ Jews Privileged" was written by Joel Finkelstein.
Get the biggest Liverpool FC stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email No fewer than 21 players were sent out on loan by Liverpool during the 2015-16 season. Some, such as Mario Balotelli, left because they were surplus to requirements at first-team level. Others, Luis Alberto or Andre Wisdom for example, went in order to keep their profile and value up ahead of likely permanent moves away from the club this summer. But for the most part, Liverpool’s use of the loan system was about one thing – giving young players experience of first-team football. Of those 21 players all bar one – Balotelli – are 23 or under. All bar four – Balotelli, Alberto, Wisdom and Lazar Markovic – have less than 50 senior games under their belt. Liverpool’s policy last season, then, was to get players out, get them experiencing the unforgiving world of competitive football. The loan system is one that is vital for English Football League clubs, who would find life far tougher without it. But it has its flaws too. After arriving at Anfield in October, Jurgen Klopp expressed his opinion on it. “I’m not sure in this moment it’s always best to give young players to other clubs,” he said. “I think it’s a kind of pressure you don’t need at that age. “You play together with experienced players every day and have to show you are better than them. Everyone at home is expecting you to take the next step. “Maybe we need to cool down the situation a little bit, hold on to these guys longer and let them play in our second team and develop as a team. We will see what we will do in the future. Sure enough, come January Liverpool, with their senior squad hit by injury, recalled the likes of Ilori, Sheyi Ojo, Ryan Kent, Danny Ward and Kevin Stewart – all of whom would feature for the first-team before the end of the season. All change? Next season, though, promises to be different. The scrapping of the ‘emergency loan’ system in the Football League – at Fifa’s request - means that loan deals will need to be done on a window-to-window basis - as opposed to the current system, which allows clubs to sign loan players month-to-month, and outside the transfer window. It means clubs bringing players in will need to make a longer-term commitment, while clubs loaning players out will be unable to recall players at short notice in the event of an injury crisis. They will also need to judge the benefits of a loan deal more carefully than ever, particularly with the lifespan of Football League managers getting shorter each season. It is not hard to imagine a situation whereby a young player is sent to, say, a Championship club in August, only for the manager who signed him to be sacked in September and replaced by someone who isn’t so keen. The idea of a player sitting in another club’s reserves for three months is not one that appeals to the likes of Klopp and Liverpool. A benefit or a hindrance? What, then, will the new rules mean for Liverpool next season? The hope is that the club’s decision to send so many players out on loan – and so many of them on first-time loans – will make Football League clubs less fearful of taking a punt on them next season. Clubs are known to be wary of taking on first-time loan players as it is – having to commit to them for three or four months at a time will only further complicate matters. The likes of Ryan Kent, for example, has now played 17 games in League One, while Sergi Canos has a standout season in the Championship behind him. Harry Wilson, Ryan Fulton, Will Marsh and Taiwo Awoniyi have all made their first steps into senior football this season and should therefore be more appealing. The Klopp effect Of course, the wishes of the manager must be respected. Klopp reiterated in January that “the best talents should be in their club so they can develop,” and stated his desire to see U21 players play together and “develop as a team.” Other solutions to the problem of developing players through these crucial years, though, could emerge. In March it was revealed that the Premier League were in negotiations to enter up to 16 ‘B’ teams into next season’s Johnstone’s Paint Trophy, as a means of giving academy-produced players a taste of real competitive football. That is yet to be finalised – and has understandable opposition in some quarters – though plenty of respected Premier League figures are keen to discuss the idea of B-teams being introduced into the League pyramid in the near future. Clubs have also discussed the prospect of a revamped ‘Premier League II’ for U21 players, with concerns over both the number of fixtures played currently as well as the standard of them. Whatever happens, keep a close eye on Liverpool’s young stars next season. With the likes of Ben Woodburn, Adam Phillips and Ovie Ejaria, Melwood staff reckon they’ve got some gems on their hands. It will be fascinating, then, to see how they develop – and where. Liverpool’s 21 loan stars in 2015/16 Danny Ward (Aberdeen) 29 appearances Luis Alberto (Deportivo La Coruna) 31 appearances Kevin Stewart (Swindon Town) 7 appearances Sheyi Ojo (Wolverhampton Wanderers) 19 appearances Ryan McLaughlin (Aberdeen) 5 appearances Samed Yesil (FC Luzern) 12 appearances Ryan Kent (Coventry City) 17 appearances Allan Rodrigues de Souza (SJK then Sint-Truidense) 17 appearances total Sergi Canos (Brentford) 39 appearances Harry Wilson (Crewe Alexandra) 7 appearances Lloyd Jones (Blackpool) 11 appearances Jordan Williams (Swindon Town) 10 appearances Andre Wisdom (Norwich City) 14 appearances Mario Balotelli (AC Milan) 22 appearances Lazar Markovic (Fenerbahce) 20 appearances Tiago Ilori (Aston Villa) 0 appearances Ryan Fulton (Portsmouth) 13 appearances Will Marsh (Sheffield Wednesday) 0 appearances Taiwo Awoniyi (FSV Frankfurt) 14 appearances Lawrence Vigouroux (Swindon Town) 36 appearances Marko Grujic (Red Star Belgrade) 7 appearances
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford told reporters Thursday he is "receiving support" from health-care professionals, and apologized for his lewd remarks earlier in the day. I am receiving support from a team of health-care professionals ... I am taking accountability and receiving advice from people with expertise," Ford, joined by his wife Renata, told a swarm of reporters at city hall shortly after noon, adding he did not wish to elaborate. Ford expressed regret over his remarks earlier in the day, in which he used a crude expression while denying allegations he had made sexual advances toward a former female staffer. The remarks drew vocal criticism from other city councillors. The allegations have "pushed me over the line," he said. "I acted on complete impulse in my remarks." "When you attack my integrity as a father and a husband, I see red," he added. He asked the media to respect his family's privacy. Ford left without taking questions but moments later made the unusual move of coming back through the news conference area, rather than leaving through a private exit. He and his wife forced their way through the crowd, with help from a staffer who roughly shoved one cameraman aside. Ford earlier in the day threatened legal action against former chief of staff Mark Towhey and others following the release of court documents quoting individuals alleging he has repeatedly used drugs and been seen with a woman who may have been a prostitute. "Unfortunately, I have to take legal action," Ford said. Ford also singled out his former press secretary, George Christopolous, former deputy press secretary Issac Ransom and a waiter at Toronto's Bier Markt, the downtown nightspot that allegedly was the scene of a much-discussed incident on St. Patrick's Day 2012. "I have to take legal action against the waiter that said I was doing lines [of cocaine] at the Bier Markt, that is outright lies. That is not true," he said. The documents include descriptions by former staff and others of Ford's alleged behaviour. Ford also denied that the blond woman described in the court documents is a prostitute. "She’s a friend and it makes me sick how people are saying this," he said. "I can’t put up with it anymore." Ford then shocked reporters when he went on to refute the alleged sexual advance. The woman "said I wanted to eat her p—y," Ford said before cameras. "I’ve never said that in my life to her. I would never do that. I'm happily married. I've got more than enough to eat at home." 'Might' have driven drunk Ford is also alleged to have driven while drunk, which he addressed, upon emerging from his office a few minutes later, saying: "I might have had some drinks and driven." He went on to remark he is "not perfect" and disappeared into an elevator. That admission drew a response from the Canadian branch of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, whose purpose is to stop impaired driving and to support victims. "Driving under the influence of alcohol is inexcusable behaviour for any individual, let alone an elected official who is held to a higher standard and expected to set an example for the community and constituents." Ford made the contentious remarks while wearing a Toronto Argonauts jersey, which prompted a rebuke from the CFL team. "These latest remarks, while wearing our team's jersey, are particularly disappointing given our organization's work in the community to help youth deal with issues of bullying prevention," the team said in a statement. The mayor is well known for his love of football. Another challenging day Ford's behaviour appeared to make it clearer still, despite continual allegations and public embarrassment, that he has no intentions of relinquishing his post. City council must decide how to continue operating after Wednesday's dramatic pleas from councillors for the mayor to seek treatment for alleged substance abuse. He faces yet another challenging day at Toronto City Hall on Thursday following the release of more police documents alleging disturbing details about the mayor's erratic behaviour. Meanwhile, City of Toronto spokeswoman Jackie DeSouza said Thursday that all school trips to city hall would be relocated for several days, citing the presence of large crowds of media and others that could create a potentially unsafe environment for children. School trips will instead be sent to the Toronto Archives due to "health concerns," DeSouza said. Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne also commented on the turmoil at city hall on Thursday, calling the situation with the mayor "disturbing" and saying she would consider intervening if the municipality came to the province seeking action. She added that she would be compelled first to consult with opposition party leaders before any intervention. Ford has repeatedly refused to step aside, even after admitting last week that he had smoked crack cocaine about a year ago possibly while drunk.. "I can't change the past," he said in council Wednesday. "All I can do is move on and that's what I'm doing." But apologies are not enough, according to Deputy Mayor Norm Kelly, who says Ford has lost the "moral authority" to lead. "It's not enough because it doesn't address the major issues in his life and the life of this council," Kelly said Thursday morning on CBC's Metro Morning. "He must take a leave of absence in order to rehabilitate himself." Ford has also repeatedly denied having a drug or alcohol problem. The latest allegations contained in the new parts of the police report released Wednesday have not been proven in court. They come from police interviews with Ford staffers that were blacked out when the Alexander Lisi search warrant information was first made public on Oct. 30. Lisi, also known as Sandro and Alessandro, is known as Ford's friend and occasional driver. He's now facing drug charges and an extortion charge. Special meeting set According to portions of the police report released Wednesday, the mayor was allegedly involved with a suspected prostitute and allegedly tussled physically with his staff. Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is threatening legal action against his former chief of staff and others following the release of court documents quoting individuals alleging he has repeatedly used drugs and been seen with a woman who may have been a prostitute. (Mark Blinch/Reuters) Ford still chairs the powerful executive committee, but a special meeting is set for Friday, in which his council colleagues will decide whether to strip Ford of his power to appoint and fire committee chairs. Coun. John Filion will also move to strip Ford of his emergency powers and pass them to the deputy mayor, Norm Kelly. "The mayor does not appear to be in a state to be able to deal with an emergency right now," Filion said. Even so, Ford will not be silenced nor will he be sidelined, pointed out Coun. Anthony Perruzza. "He continues to be the chief magistrate of the city; he continues to have signing powers," he said. Meanwhile, Ford is mostly isolated at city hall, as calls for his resignation continue to grow. Also on Thursday, 24-hour news channel Sun TV said it is putting Ford and his brother, Coun. Doug Ford, back on the air. The Fords will "pick up where they left off" after their call-in radio show recently ended its run on local radio station CFRB 1010, the channel said in a statement. The new show, Ford Nation, will debut on Monday.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. House subcommittee will vote on Wednesday on a sweeping proposal to allow automakers to deploy up to 100,000 self-driving vehicles without meeting existing auto safety standards and bar states from imposing driverless car rules. The measure, which would be the first significant federal legislation aimed at speeding self-driving cars to market, would require automakers to submit safety assessment reports to U.S. regulators, but would not require pre-market approval of advanced vehicle technologies. Automakers would have to show self-driving cars “function as intended and contain fail safe features” but the Transportation Department could not “condition deployment or testing of highly automated vehicles on review of safety assessment certifications,” the draft measure unveiled late Monday said. Last month, a U.S. House Energy and Commerce subcommittee held a hearing on a draft plan to allow U.S. regulators to exempt up to 100,000 vehicles a year per manufacturer from federal motor vehicle safety rules that prevent the sale of self-driving vehicles without human controls and bar states from setting rules that could block their use. Automakers must meet nearly 75 auto safety standards, many of which were written with the assumption that a licensed driver will be in control of the vehicle. The 30-page draft bill would also require the Transportation Department within two years to adopt rules requiring automakers to add a driver alert to check rear seating in an effort to prevent children from being left behind and consider setting performance standards for headlights. “This legislation puts important benchmarks into place that will prioritize consumer safety technologies and enhance mobility opportunities for people across the country,” said Republican U.S. Representative Robert Latta, who chairs the panel that will vote on the measure Wednesday. Democrats had sought a number of new safety requirements during negotiations over the measure. The bill also includes automakers to take steps to ensure the cybersecurity of self-driving cars. General Motors Co, Alphabet Inc, Tesla Inc and others have been lobbying Congress to pre-empt rules under consideration in California and other states that could limit self-driving vehicle deployment. States could still set rules on registration, licensing, liability, insurance and safety inspections, but could not set self-driving car performance standards, under the proposal. The administration of former Democratic President Barack Obama last year unveiled voluntary guidelines on self-driving cars that asked automakers to submit a 15-question safety assessment. President Donald Trump’s transportation secretary, Elaine Chao, said she plans to update those in the coming months. The issue has taken new urgency after U.S. road deaths rose 7.7 percent in 2015 over the previous year to 35,200, the highest annual jump since 1966. Traffic deaths climbed nearly 8 percent in the first nine months of 2016, government data shows. Automakers also say that without changes in regulations, U.S. self-driving car testing could move to Europe and elsewhere.
You must enter the characters with black color that stand out from the other characters Message: * A friend wanted you to see this item from WRAL.com: http://wr.al/tmrs — Cumberland County Schools leaders say they will work to develop a policy about how to accommodate students who identify as the opposite gender after parents say they were unaware that a first-grade student at Fayetteville's Howard Hall Elementary School started dressing and behaving in a manner commonly associated with girls. "Once the (school) board attorney confirms that we do have this particular student, that they are a student in the Cumberland County Schools, then (the attorney) is going to get the school board together and address the policy that needs to be in place," Cumberland County Schools school board member Michael Boose said Monday. "We're going to be in compliance with all federal and state laws and try to make the child as welcomed as we can under the circumstances," he added. The school system recently became aware of the matter after parents expressed concerns that they weren't notified that the child started wearing girl's clothes and going by a female name, painting her nails and going to girls' restrooms. Some parents, like Robin Campbell, say they were surprised when their children began coming home and asking questions. Campbell, who has a second-grader at Howard Hall, says she doesn’t mind that the school is accommodating the child but that she feels administrators could have done a better job informing parents. "It should have been brought up with the parents," Campbell said. "The parents should have been told so that we could answer questions our kids may have." Cumberland County Schools Superintendent Frank Till was out of town Monday and unavailable for comment. Pam Long, a friend of the child's family, said her parents allowed her to identify as a girl at the advice of their psychologist. So how should parents talk with their children about a person who dresses or acts in ways associated with the opposite gender – classified as gender dysphoria by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders? Local child psychologists advise parents to keep the conversation age-appropriate. A child might be too young to understand gender identity and sexuality, but they can grasp the concept of being different. Experts also recommend that parents focus conversation on how a child can accept someone's differences and advise parents to encourage their children to ask questions, even if they don't immediately have the answers. Psychologists recommend that parents work through their reaction to gender dysphoria separately from talking with their children. Experts say children might repeat something they hear out of context, which could have adverse effects on others. Gender dysphoria and how schools handle transgender students is something schools are coming to address more and more. In California, for example, a law went into effect this month requiring public schools to let children use sex-segregated facilities and participate in gender-specific activities of their choice. Proponents of the law – the nation's first – say it protects students from bullying and better protects their rights. Those opposed to the measure are trying to get the law repealed.
Hi Carl, During the Cold War, it was widely known that the Western forces, including NATO and the U.S. military and every military in Europe (except for the Swiss and Swedes who said they wouldn't participate) could hold the Warsaw Pact countries for only one week before they would need to 'go nuclear' against the invaders. No matter how bravely the Western European armies, air forces and navies fought and no matter how bravely the U.S. and Canadian forces fought, the numerical superiority of Warsaw Pact (tanks, troops and other war matériel) meant that they would completely overwhelm Western Europe in a week. Which is why the Western powers reserved the right to 'First Strike' capability -- the right to use nuclear weapons as the first option in any conflict against Warsaw Pact nations, especially in case of invasion of Western Europe. After the Cold War ended it was determined that the Warsaw Pact powers would have won the conventional war even more quickly than we had realized due to other factors that were unknown to us then. The West would've lost in 3 days and we would've been caught 'flat-footed' and completely overrun. Yes, a complete rout in the conventional war. If it really comes down to it, that same situation could still play out in Europe in our century as Russia still enjoys huge numerical superiority in tanks, military personnel, and other war-making abilities. In order to not lose all of Europe, we would need to go nuclear on Day 3 of a concerted attack, or we would lose the whole thing. Which would invite an overwhelming response, obviously. So, let's not pretend otherwise. There is no military solution in Ukraine. Anyone who thinks otherwise needs to go to War College for 10 years because they are not basing their decisions on the above reality. Which can bite you. The strongest defence against a Russian takeover of Europe is a strong and united society, one that is impenetrable and indivisible. And using soft power against Russia, which is OUR strongest suit. Best regards, JBS
Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said the press had a “lynch-mob mentality” regarding alleged wrongdoing by the Trump administration. Graham said, “No evidence yet that the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians. I don’t believe the president colluded with the Russians just because of the way he behaves. There is zero evidence President Trump did anything wrong with them. There is overwhelming evidence that Russia is trying to destroy Democracy here and abroad and if you forgive and forget with Putin you will get more of the same and entice Iran and China to come in in 2018 and 2020.” “So to any Republican that believes Russia didn’t do it you are wrong,” he continued. “To any Democratic who wants to impeach President Trump because of Russia you wrong. All I can say is there a is a lynch mob mentality about the Trump administration in the press. They are about as fair as a lynch mob. But these tweets he does feeds the lynch mob. You are your own worst enemy, Mr. President, knock it off.” Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
Your message has been sent successfully Put Wyoming in the victory column for Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. Sanders won the state's caucuses over Hillary Clinton, but the win isn't likely to help him make up much ground against in the delegate race that will decide the nomination. Advertisement: Sanders has won eight of the last nine contests, but still trails in the delegate count. Wyoming awards just 14 delegates overall, and he picked up at least seven delegates to Clinton's six. One delegate remains to be allocated, pending the final vote tally. Sanders has dominated in states where Democrats make their presidential preference choice in a caucus — but there are only a few caucuses left on the election calendar. Most of the states still to vote will hold primaries — contests where Clinton has generally performed better. He picked up at least seven delegates to Clinton's six. One delegate remains to be allocated, pending the final vote tally. That means little change to the overall delegate count, in which Clinton leads by a large margin. Advertisement: To date, Clinton has 1,286 delegates based on primaries and caucuses to Sanders' 1,037. When including superdelegates, or party officials who can back any candidate, Clinton has amassed even more delegates, 1,755 compared to 1,068 for Sanders. Sanders still needs to win 68 percent of the remaining delegates and uncommitted superdelegates if he hopes to take the Democratic nomination. It takes 2,383 to win.
Bank of England official said he expected further fall driven by referendum result and UK’s trade deficit with rest of world The pound endured another day of pressure from investors on Tuesday after continued jitters on the foreign exchange markets pushed it down more than two cents to $1.21. Sterling recorded its worst four-day performance since the Brexit vote as a Bank of England official said he expected the pound to fall further in the coming weeks, driven by the referendum result and the UK’s trade deficit with the rest of the world. The exchange rate with the US dollar stood at $1.30 last week when Theresa May opened the Conservative party conference and appeared to put regaining control of immigration above staying inside the EU’s single market free trade area. Investors took fright at the prospect of a hard Brexit and the currency has declined more than 6% against the dollar since then. A flash crash last Thursday, when the pound fell by 6% in 10 minutes, heightened concerns that investors had lost faith in sterling as a major currency. A year ago a pound bought $1.55. However, the pound’s decline had the opposite effect on the UK’s leading share index. The FTSE 100 touched a new intra-day record of 7,129.83 during afternoon trading, although it closed nearly 60 points lower after a late bout of selling, below the record closing figure of 7,104 reached last year. The driving force for the UK market’s recent surge has been the rapid decline in the pound, which has boosted the value of companies that earn much of their revenues in dollars. Michael Saunders, a former investment banker who joined the monetary policy committee (MPC) in August, said Britain’s large current account deficit was adding to the anxiety about the ability of the nation to pay its way once it quits the European Union. Saunders said the current account, which measures the balance of trade, cash transfers and investment income with other countries, was already undermining confidence in the UK’s ability to pay its way before the EU referendum. Speaking to MPs on the treasury select committee, Saunders warned it was now a major issue and compounding the already weak sentiment on currency markets towards sterling. “Given the scale and persistence of the UK’s current account deficit, I would not be surprised if sterling falls further, but I am fairly agnostic as to whether any further depreciation is likely,” Saunders told MPs on the treasury select committee. Saunders, who joined the MPC from the US investment bank Citi, where he was chief economist, said investors were weighing up the implications of Britain leaving the EU. “The work done by the International Monetary Fund and the OECD suggests that the long-run effects of the UK’s exit from the EU is that growth will be lower. If all we are doing is adjusting to a new equilibrium, that is not a concern,” he said. Only if the pound plummets or triggers falls in other markets would the Bank of England need to consider cutting rates to bolster confidence and growth, he added. “If such a scenario were to materialise then, provided inflation expectations and pay growth remain well contained, I would expect the MPC to largely look through any such direct effects on inflation of sterling weakness, even if they extend for several years.” But the lower pound, which reduces the cost of UK goods and services sold abroad, could boost exports and offset much of the anxiety caused by the Brexit vote. A fall in imports would also help to reduce the current account deficit, he said, adding that the government could take advantage of the current depressed situation to boost growth with extra spending. Several Tory MPs, including supporters of the leave campaign, have warned that leaving the single market will harm the economy and have demanded ministers make every effort to negotiate continued access. But the hardline taken by Downing Street and an equally robust response from European leaders, who have emphasised the free movement of labour as a pillar of the single market, have heightened concerns in the City that Britain will eventually leave all the EU’s major institutions. Kathleen Brooks, research director at financial betting firm City Index and Forex.com, says traders fear the UK could be dragged back by Brexit uncertainty. She told BBC News that: “The weakness in the pound is really a sign that investors don’t have confidence in a post-Brexit UK economic outlook. They think Brexit is going to be very negative for the UK economy, and UK GDP could contract going forward.”
Institute for the Study of War Research Director Jessica Lewis McFate on the Islamic State’s global ambitions. Photo credit: Getty Images. ISLAMIC State has released chilling video showing children as young as five being trained in a Syrian terror camp. Touted as the next generation of jihadist killers, the camouflage-clad boys participate in drills, recite verses from the Koran and receive weapons training. The nine-minute video, released on Monday, was apparently shot at the Al Farouk Institute for Cubs in Raqqa, Syria. The junior jihadis are reportedly the sons of foreign fighters who have fled to Iraq and Syria to join the terror organisation. DEATH CAMPS: Where are the British schoolgirls? GUIDEBOOK: The ISIS manifesto for girls An instructor in the video states in Arabic that most of the children are in the second phase of training and that they represent the “next generation” of IS. The IS indoctrination camps have been compared with the Hitler Youth camps of Nazi Germany. A UN Human Rights Council report last year found that IS “has established training camps to recruit children into armed roles under the guise of education.” “At the camps, the children recruited received weapons training and religious education,” the report stated. “The existence of such camps seems to indicate that ISIS systematically provides weapons training for children. Subsequently, they were deployed in active combat during military operations, including suicide-bombing missions.” Global terrorism expert Ryan Mauro said the troubling video is designed to send a message that IS is strong and growing. “If you believe the ISIS caliphate is the best place to be and Allah commands you to go there, you’d want your family there, too,” Mr Mauro, a national security analyst for the Clarion Project, told Fox News. “For ISIS supporters, this is like signing your kid up for the best private school. ISIS is emphasising its child recruits because it obviously makes for good footage but also to emphasise this is a generational struggle. You can kill off the current leaders and fighters, but their kids will fight on. It makes it harder to celebrate ISIS’ losses if you know their manpower will be replenished with brainwashed children.” IS has long been known to train child soldiers for use as human shields, suicide bombers and executioners. One father told the website Syria Deeply.org that his 13-year-old son was forced to attend a training camp and instructed to decapitate blonde, blue-eyed dolls — practice for beheading Westerners. Other images and video on social media shows foreign fighters with their children holding knives and severed heads. IS is known for recruiting disenchanted youth through social media, including three missing British schoolgirls believed to have fled to Syria to become jihadi brides.
In the fishbowl that is federal politics, how do two suspended Liberal MPs accused of unspecified personal misconduct get their shot at due process? This is the messy question causing angst within Liberal circles, a week after leader Justin Trudeau suspended Massimo Pacetti and Scott Andrews. Here's the problem: There is no process for dealing with complaints of harassment between MPs. Where a person accused in a corporate or public service workplace might have first gone through a confidential investigation or mediation process before being reprimanded, Pacetti and Andrews were outed and ousted right from the starting gate. Neither the details of the misconduct of which they are accused, nor the names of the alleged victims, have been released publicly. On Thursday, NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair wrote to Trudeau and Prime Minister Stephen Harper urging the parties to develop a sexual harassment code of conduct and appoint a third party to deal with complaints as they arise. "I know that we are all keenly aware of the responsibility we share in ensuring harassment free workplaces, both in our workplace here in Ottawa and in the wide variety of places of work across this country, and in showing leadership for addressing the issue in a respectful and lasting manner," Mulcair wrote. 'Urgent' decision needed The tri-partisan, closed-door board of internal economy had already moved up its scheduled meeting to Tuesday to deal with the allegations, which first surfaced last week. While Liberal MPs support Trudeau's action as the only one he could have taken under the political circumstances, some of them say the men now deserve to have the matter dealt with as quickly as possible. "There needs to be an urgent decision made by the (committee). They shouldn't have waited a whole week," said Liberal MP Hedy Fry. "They should have done it, met, as quickly as possible, and get a process in place so that everybody would be able to have an ability to tell their story in a safe and secure and confidential environment." "I think it's the same whether it's the College of Physicians or anything, you want to find out whether the complaints have any basis to them or not and to get it sorted out as quickly as possible," said Liberal MP Carolyn Bennett. "I think that's the kindest thing to do in any situation." Said colleague Rodger Cuzner: "It's in everyone's best interest to have this investigated and dealt with expeditiously. 'Glaring gap' to plug If the two NDP women choose not to pursue any complaint or mediation, Trudeau will face another political challenge — whether to reinstate the two or not. As it turns out, women parliamentarians from the different parties had been talking about developing a sexual harassment policy even before the Pacetti and Andrews cases emerged, but they had not yet come up with a formal proposal. An all-party women's caucus meeting had been discussing the matter following the release of a 2012 document by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) on "gender-sensitive Parliaments." The Library of Parliament had subsequently done an assessment of the issue in the Canadian context. "We met before the summer and we said, why don't we take this home to our caucuses and see which things we would like to work on," said Bennett. "This glaring gap, we should have plugged..."
[This article originally appeared at Yale Environment 360, a publication of the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies.] In Hawaii this summer, as corals engage in their once-a-year courtship ritual of releasing sperm and eggs into the water by moonlight, Ruth Gates will oversee a unique mating: the coming together of “super-corals” in her lab. Gates and her team at the Institute of Marine Biology in Kaneohe tagged corals in their local waters that thrived through a heinous hot spell last September. A few of those rugged specimens will be picked for arranged marriages this month, hopefully yielding some offspring even better suited to thriving in the warmer waters of the future. It will be, she thinks, the first selective mating of corals to try to help them thrive in the face of climate change. Gates and her colleague, Madeleine van Oppen at the Australian Institute of Marine Science, have been awarded $3.9 million from Paul G. Allen's philanthropic organization Vulcan Inc. for this and other work into the “assisted evolution” of corals — an attempt to intentionally beef up the genetic stock of reefs to survive the onslaught of climate change. “This idea of homing in on super-performers is a no-brainer,” says Gates. “We have been doing it in the food supply for millennia.” Take Action: Tackling the issues that most impact the environment today The work can be tricky — corals don’t like to be touched when breeding. And it’s controversial — some find the idea of active intervention in coral ecosystems disconcerting, since it turns a natural environment into a planned one that might be less biodiverse and less resilient to unexpected challenges like disease. The idea of tinkering with coral genetics is even touchier, even if current work focuses on simple selective breeding for the hardiest corals, rather than on the more controversial prospect of producing corals that have been genetically modified. But Gates thinks it’s necessary. Studies on the Great Barrier Reef and in the Red Sea have shown that the rate at which corals calcify their hard shells has declined by 15 to 30 percent since 1990 thanks to thermal stress; an influential 2008 report on global coral status showed that about 20 percent of global coral coverage has been lost since 1950. In August 2014, an unprecedented 20 species of coral were listed as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, bringing the total on the list to 22. The global culprit is climate change — which brings heat waves that devastate the symbiotic algae living within coral and bleaches the animals deathly white — along with rising acidity that literally dissolves coral bodies. Locally, reefs also face disease, fishing nets that scrape the ocean floor, water pollution, and hurricanes. “Coral reefs are astonishingly resilient and have survived devastating blows from natural disasters in the past,” writes evolutionary ecologist Les Kaufman of Boston University. But he adds that they have never faced all these challenges together. Take Action: Tackling the issues that most impact the environment today The usual plan for coral conservation is to create a marine protected area to limit the extra harms of fishing and pollution. But many think more proactive intervention is needed. “Corals grow so slowly they only need to reproduce once every 100 years,” says David Vaughan, executive director of the Mote Tropical Research Laboratory in the Florida Keys. “But now we’ve killed so many we don’t want to wait that long for them to do it themselves.” There is a shortcut available. In 1995, Baruch Rinkevich of Israel’s National Institute of Oceanography in Tel Aviv proposed that researchers start “gardening” coral reefs on a grand scale, actively restoring corals in the same way that silviculture manages forests. The idea is simple: take broken pieces of coral, grow them in a nursery under controlled conditions (as hobbyists have been doing for decades), and then replant them where needed. But this approach faces challenges: Replanted corals are often gobbled up by hungry parrotfish or wiped out by disease. And the scale is daunting. Some reef-building corals grow just a millimeter a year, and there are more than 110,000 square-miles of coral reef on the planet. Nursery projects have proven they can boost coral growth. Once planted in the ocean, some nursery corals are an order of magnitude more reproductive than their natural brethren, says Rinkevich. “They’ve had the best start in life,” he explains. In Florida, Vaughan has learned how to boost some particularly sluggish coral growth rates dramatically: His team surgically slices donor coral fragments into tiny pieces to promote faster regeneration. Doubling the size of a quarter-sized fragment used to take several years; now it takes months. Around the world to date, more than 100 species of coral have been successfully raised in nurseries. But such projects are still just a drop in the bucket. The largest efforts, from the Philippines to Florida, have replanted tens of thousands of corals and the total globally stands at about 100,000, altogether covering perhaps less than a square mile. Some are hoping to scale that up. “I have a personal challenge to not retire until I plant a million corals,” says the 61-year-old Vaughan. Rinkevich has also applied for funding for a one-million-coral project in Tanzania. At that scale they hope their ‘drop’ will start to have an ecological impact. “If we could plant 10 million staghorn corals we could de-list them,” estimates Vaughan. “So I need nine other crazy people like me,” he laughs — and, at a cost of about $1 to $10 per coral, a lot of funding, too. Regardless of scale, these efforts are useless if the corals die — which sometimes happens. In one project in Bolinao, the Philippines, replants were walloped by bad weather, including two super-typhoons and three regular typhoons. “We were unlucky. Many died,” says Rinkevich. To face those odds, conservationists need to be sure they’re planting not just a lot of corals, but the right corals. “We want to be sure we’re picking winners,” says Vaughan. This July, Vaughan switched on some adjustable tanks in his Florida lab that will let his group control the temperature and pH in which their baby corals are raised. In this way they can select the hardiest for future planting in the ocean. Likewise, van Oppen will be studying coral responses to stressful conditions in Australia’s massive National Sea Simulator, a facility with more than 900,000 gallons of seawater tanks. And Stephen Palumbi, a marine biologist at Stanford University in California, last year started to build his own ‘smart reef’ off Ofu Island in American Samoa, with the hardiest corals he could find. Palumbi’s experimental reefs were hit by warm waters and started bleaching in January; he and his team are just now looking to see if the transplanted corals from a warm-water-adapted pool fared better than other corals in the region. Researchers don’t need to know the specific genes involved to do selective breeding, but they do need to know that the traits are inheritable. Recent work suggests they are. Mikhail Matz at the University of Texas in Austin and colleagues crossed four coral colonies from two locations in the Great Barrier Reef off Australia to make 10 different offspring families, and tested their survival in hot waters of 35.5 degrees C, or 96 degrees F. They found that having a coral parent from the warmer location boosted survival odds up to five-fold. Matz argues that the best way to use these genes is to simply take some warm-water corals and move them, so they can spread their adaptive genes through natural breeding. This “assisted migration” might be cheaper and less risky than nursery-based projects. “Coral selection in captivity might be severely limiting genetic variation in what comes out of it,” he says. “I don’t think we understand enough about the genetic underpinnings of coral tolerance to actually be able to guide their evolution in any meaningful way.” Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, director of the Global Change Institute and professor of marine science at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, co-wrote a provocative policy piece in Science in 2008 supporting investigation into assisted migration for corals and other animals. But he describes himself as a pragmatist. “I believe some of these things might be useful on a local scale, perhaps to rebuild a reef for tourists to come and see — that makes economic sense,” he says. “But it’s a long way from starry-eyed ambitions to replant the world’s reefs.” The most important thing, he emphasizes, is to ensure the world community works together to stabilize carbon dioxide emissions and ocean temperatures: “Without that,” Hoegh-Guldberg says, “any attempt at restoration will be washed away by our rapidly changing climate.” Meanwhile, van Oppen, Gates, and others are trying to work out how best to get coral gardens to grow. Alongside selective breeding programs, they are also going to see how corals can best acclimatize to new conditions — there are hints that simply raising corals in challenging conditions can activate their latent ability to cope with those environments in a way that can be passed on to the next generation. They will also be working with zooxanthellae — the algae that live in symbiosis with corals and that sometimes flee when waters get too hot. They are trying to increase the rate at which the algae’s genes mutate — using chemical cocktails or radiation for example — hoping to stumble upon a new variant that helps with heat resistance. Van Oppen says they’re even “playing around a bit” with trying to intentionally splice in specific gene variants to make genetically modified (GM) corals designed to cope with heat or acid. “But,” she quickly adds, “that’s when you start to hear a lot of resistance. That’s not part of the Paul Allen grant for that reason.” Genetic modification for ecological preservation is very rare, but not unprecedented: Researchers have made GM American chestnut trees to resist fungal blight, although they don’t yet have permission to plant them. Van Oppen predicts that resistance to these projects will fade as time passes and the plight of corals gets worse. Get the Monitor Stories you care about delivered to your inbox. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy “I presented these ideas to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority late last year,” says van Oppen. “They were quite excited about developing these technologies ‘just in case’.” • Nicola Jones is a freelance journalist based in Pemberton, British Columbia. With a background in chemistry and oceanography, she writes primarily about the physical sciences. She has written for Scientific American, Globe and Mail, New Scientist, and the journal Nature.
An American Hockey League coach’s main task is to develop players for the NHL. Blue-chip prospects dominate much of the hockey chatter but it’s the AHL head coach that can convert raw prospects into NHL players or revive the career of a sagging veteran. The Tampa Bay Lightning have long taken AHL player development seriously, and they made a big addition this past offseason to further that commitment. The Lightning hired Benoit Groulx to pilot their affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch, back in May. The 48-year-old brought an extensive resume to Syracuse after arriving from the Gatineau Olympiques of the QMJHL. He replaced Rob Zettler, who missed the postseason in 2015-16. In 13 QMJHL seasons, Groulx went 460-293-18-59, winning three league championships. He also has high-profile experience having coached Canada at the IIHF World Junior Championship in 2014 and 2015. His 2015 team rang up a 7-0 record en route to a gold medal. So far, the move has paid off both in generating bodies for Tampa’s NHL roster and grooming prospects in a winning AHL environment. The Crunch began the weekend 7-3-0-1 under Groulx while they’ve already sent captain Luke Witkowski and top blue line prospect Slater Koekkoek to Tampa in the first month of the season. Groulx’s to-do list this season features a little bit of everything. There are players like Witkowski, who are serving the NHL team on an as-needed basis, and high-end talent like Koekkoek who can use the AHL as a final stop for fine-tuning. Mixed in are players whose careers need a jolt and those finding their way in the pro game. THE ROOTS OF NHL SUCCESS Additions to the NHL lineup like Witkowski and Koekkoek are why NHL teams invest millions of dollars in player development. Life in the salary cap era has ensured that there are no shortcuts to sustained NHL success. General managers and head coaches need a steady supply of young and affordable talent to learn the pro game quickly and effectively. The roots of the Lightning’s success go back several years. Their previous affiliate, the Norfolk Admirals, won the Calder Cup in 2012. After affiliating with Syracuse the following season, the Lightning prospects went back to the Calder Cup final before coming up short against the Grand Rapids Griffins. Lightning centre Tyler Johnson, undrafted coming out of the Western Hockey League, used the AHL to turn himself into an NHL player. He had 68 goals in 137 AHL regular season games, including a league-leading 37 goals in 2012-13 with Syracuse. Nikita Kucherov, whose nine goals in 17 games tie him for the Tampa Bay lead, needed only 17 AHL games with Syracuse in 2013-14. His 13-goal output sent him to the NHL for good. Other players have needed more AHL seasoning. Kucherov’s fellow Russian and linemate, forward Vladislav Namestnikov, registered 134 AHL regular season games before sticking with the Lightning to stay last year. Forward Ondrej Palat played 117 AHL games before his call-up. Lightning GM Steve Yzerman used a 17-game AHL stint to bring Jonathan Drouin back into the organization’s good graces last season after the then 20-year-old forward was unhappy with his NHL role and subsequent assignment to Syracuse. Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, who might assume the number one job in net if Ben Bishop departs via trade, has logged 37 games with Syracuse in the past two seasons. Less-heralded Tampa Bay forwards J.T. Brown and Alex Killorn also needed AHL time after NCAA careers before graduating to full-time NHL duty. THE NEXT STEP Now Groulx’s task is to shepherd the next wave of prospects into NHL duty. The Crunch play the same up-tempo, pace-heavy game that the Lightning employ. “I think we’re a work in progress,” Groulx said Friday before the Crunch met the Hershey Bears. “When we play with pace, I think we’re an exciting team to watch, a tough team to play against. Overall it’s a good start.” There is also a raw prospect like goaltender Adam Wilcox, a 24-year-old taken in the sixth round by the Lightning in 2011. He has emerged as an intriguing prospect early in the season and has taken control of the Syracuse net from Kristers Gudlevskis. “We like him very much,” Groulx said of Wilcox, who is 5-2-0 in seven games with a 2.27 goals-against average and a .912 save percentage. “He’s competitive.” Then there’s a reclamation project in veteran forward Cory Conacher, who was the AHL’s most valuable player in 2011-12 with Norfolk before winding through the NHL and Switzerland prior to landing back with Tampa Bay. Conacher is 3-8-11 in nine AHL games this season. “He is a hell of a player,” Groulx said. “He plays with a lot of confidence, a lot of poise, [has] skill. I can’t say enough about him.” Be they a first-round pick, a diamond in the rough, or a reclamation project, Groulx’s focus has been to foster internal roster competition. “We have a solid group of players,” he said. “We try to implement [internal competition] on our team. We want to have that. I think that slowly but surely it’s coming. “I really like the organization. They know how to do things. They know how to treat people. We have access to all the resources that we need. So far it has been great. We’re all excited to be working for an organization like that.” POWER 5 1. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (10-3-1-0, 21 points) – The Penguins’ defence (a league-best 1.71 goals-against per game), Tristan Jarry’s goaltending (1.88 GAA, .932 save percentage), and a stout number-one penalty kill (91.1 per cent) have carried the club to 21 points in 14 games, most in the AHL. They also own an experienced blue line with AHL veterans Cameron Gaunce, Stuart Percy, Chad Ruhwedel, and Tim Erixon. But the Penguins and their puck possession game are also scoring at 3.21 goals per game. Rookie Jake Guentzel has six goals in 14 games to lead the team. 2. Tucson Roadrunners (7-1-2-0, 16 points) – The Arizona Coyotes’ AHL affiliate withstood the loss of veteran netminder Justin Peters to an NHL recall. Rookie Adin Hill has taken advantage of the opportunity, posting a 2.70 GAA and a .917 save percentage. They welcome the Manitoba Moose for a two-game series in the desert this weekend. 3. Milwaukee Admirals (9-2-1-1, 20 points) – Already the Admirals have endured instability in net with Marek Mazanec and Juuse Saros alternating roles with the parent Nashville Predators. After 12 goals in 54 games last season, Matt White has seven goals and 12 points in his first 10 games this season. They have allowed 2.54 goals per game, sixth-best in the AHL. 4. Lehigh Valley Phantoms (9-3-1-0, 19 points) – A 2-3-1-0 start has given way to a seven-game winning streak. The Phantoms handled rival Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, winning 4-1, at home on Wednesday. Can the Phantoms survive the departure of number-one goaltender Anthony Stolarz who is with the Philadelphia Flyers in the wake of Michal Neuvirth’s lower-body injury? The Lehigh Valley net is in the hands of rookie Alex Lyon now. 5. Toronto Marlies (8-3-1-0, 17 points) – The Marlies came through a six-game road trip that went 3-2-0-1 and featured stops against the likes of Lehigh Valley, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, and the Albany Devils. Another team that can play a strong puck possession game, the Marlies are 10th in goals per game (3.25), seventh in goals allowed (2.58) and their 26.9 shots allowed per game is fourth overall. They lead the North Division and play six of their next nine games on home ice. AWAITING THE CALL Bakersfield Condors winger Taylor Beck endured a trying 2015-16 season with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers and San Antonio Rampage. The campaign featured a trade from the Toronto Maple Leafs to the New York Islanders, injury problems, and an eventual late-season trade to a San Antonio team that was buried in the Western Conference standings. But signing this past summer with the Edmonton Oilers has paid off for the 25-year-old, who has 88 NHL games to his name. He offers size at 6-2, 203 pounds and an ability to fill a bottom-six NHL role. He has 16 points in 10 AHL games for the Condors and has already received one NHL recall this season. THE BIG GAME The Marlies and St. John’s IceCaps continue their season series with a pair of games at Ricoh Coliseum starting Saturday. They split a two-game battle at St. John’s two weeks ago. By the end of this weekend, the IceCaps will already have endured two six-game road trips. They began this weekend 7-7-1-0, good for fifth in the North Division, but a strong weekend will set them up well for an eight-game homestand next week. However, they will be without veteran winger Chris Terry, who started Friday tied for third in AHL scoring but is on recall to the Montreal Canadiens. Forward Charles Hudon and his league-best nine goals also is with Montreal.
With drug manufacturers charging $1,000 a pill for hepatitis C treatments and raising the price of a longstanding HIV medication 5,000 percent, state lawmakers hope to revive a bill that would demystify prescription drug costs. "Sunlight on costs will help control costs." Assemblyman David Chiu, D-San Francisco Assembly Bill 463 would require pharmaceutical companies to report production and marketing costs associated with any drug treatment priced at $10,000 or more. The bill, called the Pharmaceutical Cost Transparency Act, was initially introduced last February, but floundered in the Legislature. Now the authors are hoping the growing outcry in the last six months over drug prices will help garner new supporters. “Discontent with drug prices has reached a real breaking point,” said Assemblyman David Chiu, D-San Francisco, author of the bill. “Skyrocketing drug prices are gouging consumers, are costing government billions of dollars, are hitting at the bottom lines of businesses. And this is significantly impacting our health care costs.” Specifically, the bill would require drug makers to report: Profits attributed to the drug Costs associated with clinical drug trials, research and development, and manufacturing Government grants that supported research Marketing and advertising “I think sunlight on costs will help control costs,” Chiu says. “The data that we do know of, suggests that many of these companies are spending billions of dollars marketing and advertising their drugs, and not as much as they suggest on research and development.”
First off let me tell you I love Unearthed Comics. Her website is clean and easy to read, and her comics are fantastic following a range from space to environment to academic. Here she has put our favorite long-haired cannibalistic mongrel into a pretty pink princess dress. Sarah is also trying to get a kickstarter backed, so those of you who’d like to support and back some of the best comics on the internet can do so here at Unearthed Kickstarter. Sarah also does interviews, awesome interviews in my opinion, of different Web comic Creators. They’re insightful and fun, and she does a great job of asking question that are relevant to each creator, not just stock interview questions. Also keep up with all her amazing work on her website, which you need to visit right now at unearthedcomics.com Follow Unearthed Comics here: TWITTER FACEBOOK
Paris transport chiefs have made all public transport free this weekend in a drive to cut pollution. Transport in the Parisian region, known as Ile-de-France, will be free from Friday morning to Sunday evening, as an incentive for motorists to leave their cars at home. Pollution levels in the French capital have been on “maximum alert” for the last three days. “Considering the important risks for the inhabitants, I have decided, along with the government, to make all regional public transportations free during the pollution peak”, said in a statement Jean-Paul Huchon, head of the Ile-de-France region as well as of the regional public transport authority. It was decided in 2011 to make public transport free when the concentration of fine-particle pollution tops 80 micrograms per m3 of air. In Paris, on Thursday, the fine-particle pollution level was 100mg/m3. Photo credit CC BY Flickr/juanedc http://eurone.ws/1oQgt3o (with agencies)
Hundreds of youngsters abandoned lessons in support of their fellow pupils at St Benedict’s Catholic College in Colchester, Essex. The protest grew as word of the demonstration spread on Facebook, causing several lessons to be cancelled and others continuing virtually empty. More than 100 children, in years 10 and 11, some carrying placards, gathered on the playing fields last Thursday singing “we shall not be moved”. The revolt by pupils aged 14 to 16 was sparked when a teacher told off two girls as they walked into a lesson hand in hand. Teachers at the 840-pupil school have since stripped some of those involved from prefect duties and banned others from playing sports because of involvement in the protest. One parent, who asked not to be named, described the scenes as “pandemonium”. He said: “The whole of the second half of the afternoon was disrupted. From what I understand, about a third of Year 10 and 11 pupils were involved. It was absolute chaos. “It seems the teachers have become quite cavalier and a bit gung ho and flamboyant in the way they deal with pupils. This has had a huge backlash. “It seems ridiculous to reprimand girls for holding hands, They should be concentrating on more important things.” John O’Hara, the head teacher, said: “If we see students being overly familiar we always deal with it in an appropriate and tactful way. “Some students seem to have got the idea there is a new rule where students cannot have any contact with each other. “It may have come from something a member of staff said to a pupil, but it has been taken way out of proportion. “The vast majority of students were in lessons, but a minority were out on the school files, which is really disappointing because we have a good reputation for listening to our children.”
Atheist Ireland has campaigned consistently against the blasphemy laws in Ireland. This position has been primarily driven by the international responsibilities of our country but we have also highlighted the chilling effect of this legislation in Ireland. A new example of censorship due to blasphemy was experienced this week, when referring to Mary as an “Iron Age carpenter’s wife” was considered too offensive for Irish adults to endure. Over the last two years, representatives of Atheist Ireland have had more than a dozen guest articles carried in the Northern Standard. This is a weekly newspaper published in Monaghan, with a circulation of more than 15,000. Of course, these articles are regularly edited for length and for clarity, as might be expected. However, it has also been noticed that on occasion even simple statements of Christian doctrine cannot be published, as it may be offensive to Irish Christians if their preferred reverential appellations are not added. Every week, the Northern Standard carries an article called “Medjugorje Calling”, which reports the otherworldly messages that have been given to supposed visionaries in Bosnia. Readers are invited to visit the shrine and report back on any Marian apparitions that they may witness. However, even the Vatican has become deeply uneasy about these celestial appointments, which have been continuing on a daily basis for more than thirty years now. This has resulted in the letter below coming into the public domain. Since news of this Vatican distrust seemed to have escaped the avid Medjugorje-watchers at the Northern Standard, a short piece was offered by Atheist Ireland to inform readers of the official Vatican position. Some copy was provided using exactly the same mechanism as was used for all previous guest articles and the full text of the submission is reproduced below. Unfortunately, the final line of this piece ran foul of the previously mentioned policy, whereby even simple statements of Christian doctrine are censored as being offensive to Irish Christians. The reaction to this guest article from the Northern Standard was to state that an editor would have to “water it down” before it could be brought “to wider attention”. Specifically, the problematic language was that which referred to Mary as an “Iron Age carpenter’s wife”. The Northern Standard thought that “the reference might have been construed as derogatory” and that some of their readers may “equate that with blasphemy”. It was not possible to discover from the Northern Standard, exactly what anyone who gets married to a carpenter is supposed to be ashamed of. It was however suggested to the Northern Standard that Atheist Ireland did not invent the idea that Mary was married to a carpenter. Rather, this is an objectively factual statement about the Christian narrative as reported by all Christian Churches. As such, it was intimated to the Northern Standard that if they were suggesting that Mary was not a carpenter’s wife, it would in fact be them who would be guilty of blasphemy. Unfortunately, these arguments fell on deaf ears and not a single word was printed that challenged the claims of the alleged visionaries. The official position of the Vatican on the dubious nature of the Marian apparitions was not reported either. However, the ever-present “Medjugorje Calling” article continues to be published as usual in an entirely uncritical manner. The article on Medjugorje from the 14th January 2016 edition of the Northern Standard is reproduced below. This includes a Marian message to non-believers in particular, who are asked to “offer your pains and sufferings to my Son and to me”. It is clearly ridiculous to suggest that Irish citizens are incapable of coping with the upset that would be caused if such religious ideas were openly discussed. It is also more essential than ever that these ideas are open to scrutiny, since a Christian ethos is still given special privilege within more that 90% of our State funded schools. Does the State really expect citizens to fully fund an education system that they then hand over to private management based on a Christian ethos … while making it illegal for citizens to discuss that ethos? Atheist Ireland will continue to campaign on this issue nationally and also internationally as members of the International Coalition Against Blasphemy Laws.
Buchler, like many others who reacted to the results of Election Day by giving to the women’s health organization, was troubled by what a Trump administration would mean for reproductive rights. Trump’s running mate, Mike Pence, has been a vocal opponent of abortion and reproductive rights. As governor of Indiana, he led the charge to shut down Planned Parenthood clinics across the state and signed into law a ban on abortions for fetuses with Down Syndrome and other medical conditions. The law also made the transfer or collection of fetal tissue a felony and forced women to hear an ultrasound of the fetus before they were allowed an abortion. “As a young woman, I’m feeling very vulnerable today,” Buchler said. “I’m truly fearful of what a Trump presidency will mean for women’s reproductive rights.” Kaitlyn Buchler, a 23-year-old Clinton supporter, said it was hard not to feel “hopeless” after Tuesday’s results. But she decided to set up a monthly recurring donation of $5 to Planned Parenthood as a way of showing her support. And sure enough, the nonprofit has seen an “outpouring of support” from both longtime and first-time donors since Hillary Clinton conceded the election, a spokesperson for the organization told VICE News. Besides cash donations, volunteer signups and phone calls have also come pouring in. In the hours after Donald Trump won the U.S. presidential election, anecdotal evidence pointed to a surge of support for an organization that will likely find itself the target of a Trump administration: Planned Parenthood. Read more In the hours after Donald Trump won the U.S. presidential election, anecdotal evidence pointed to a surge of support for an organization that will likely find itself the target of a Trump administration: Planned Parenthood. And sure enough, the nonprofit has seen an “outpouring of support” from both longtime and first-time donors since Hillary Clinton conceded the election, a spokesperson for the organization told VICE News. Besides cash donations, volunteer signups and phone calls have also come pouring in. Kaitlyn Buchler, a 23-year-old Clinton supporter, said it was hard not to feel “hopeless” after Tuesday’s results. But she decided to set up a monthly recurring donation of $5 to Planned Parenthood as a way of showing her support. “As a young woman, I’m feeling very vulnerable today,” Buchler said. “I’m truly fearful of what a Trump presidency will mean for women’s reproductive rights.” Buchler, like many others who reacted to the results of Election Day by giving to the women’s health organization, was troubled by what a Trump administration would mean for reproductive rights. Trump’s running mate, Mike Pence, has been a vocal opponent of abortion and reproductive rights. As governor of Indiana, he led the charge to shut down Planned Parenthood clinics across the state and signed into law a ban on abortions for fetuses with Down Syndrome and other medical conditions. The law also made the transfer or collection of fetal tissue a felony and forced women to hear an ultrasound of the fetus before they were allowed an abortion. The measure was so controversial, even some pro-life Republicans spoke out against it. Pence has been unapologetic about his anti-abortion stance. In a Trump administration, “we’ll see Roe v. Wade consigned to the ash heap of history where it belongs,” Pence vowed in September. Liz Estey, another 23-year-old Clinton supporter, donated $25 to Planned Parenthood for the first time Wednesday. She is disappointed her candidate lost but said Trump’s election was even more painful for her because of “the symbolic statement it makes to women in this country.” “It’s unfathomable to me that so many people in this country can’t see or don’t care how Trump treats women,” Estey said. “I’m sad, angry, disappointed, but above all else I feel betrayed.” Over the course of his unprecedented campaign, Trump vowed to appoint Supreme Court justices who would overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, said he would punish women who get abortions, and made the phrase “grab them by the pussy” one of the more memorable sound bites of this year after a leaked 2005 tape caught him saying he can grope women because he’s a celebrity. Women who donated to Planned Parenthood in the wake of Trump’s election said they needed to do something to address a sense of panic or hopelessness. “I seriously woke up this morning in a daze and feeling very worried about what it means to be a woman in this country,” said 24-year-old Chelsea Beeler, who donated $20 to Planned Parenthood Wednesday morning. She added that she plans on making a heftier donation as soon as she gets paid next week. Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards responded to Trump’s victory by reassuring people that the organization would continue its mission. “There are almost no words to capture the threat that this election result poses to our democracy, to our economic security, to access to reproductive health care, and most especially to the safety and dignity of people of color,” Richards said in a statement. “We will never back down and we will never stop fighting to ensure that Planned Parenthood patients have access to the care they need.” New Yorker Ryan Sloan gave $35 — his first time donating to the organization — because, he says, it’s clear Pence wants to defund it. “I want them to be able to keep doing what they do,” Sloan said. “From a selfish standpoint, it feels good to be doing something.” Other donations have been more high-profile. Rapper El-P from the group Run the Jewels said he gave $5,000 to Planned Parenthood on Wednesday. and i dont know how to fight whats coming but i just donated 5k to planned parenthood. maybe thats part of it. “i was taught to do that if you can and you dont publicize it or draw attention to it,” he wrote on Twitter. “But today im thinking of my mom, sisters and nieces.” Follow Olivia Becker on Twitter: @OliviaLbecker
Image copyright Thinkstock Image caption Up to 1,500 badgers were killed during culls last year Up to six new areas have come forward to apply for licences to cull badgers in a bid to curb the spread of bovine TB. The cull was extended to Dorset last year after pilots in Gloucestershire and Somerset, but now applications for more culls have been lodged. Twenty-nine applications have been received with six new areas in Cheshire, Cornwall, Devon, Wiltshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire. In 2015, 1,500 badgers were killed. Details of where and when the culls will be planned have not yet been released. The government said last year's cull was a success, but protesters say there is no evidence killing badgers reduces the level of TB in cattle. 'Great shame' Dorset Wildlife Trust believes there are better ways of controlling the disease, such as badger vaccination. Dr Simon Cripps, chief executive of the trust, said: "It is a great shame there are more applications for badger cull areas when the culls to-date have been failures. "The National Farmers Union (NFU) would be better putting their efforts into getting cattle vaccination legalised in Europe so this problem can finally be solved." Image copyright Thinkstock Image caption Cattle are regularly tested for TB and destroyed if they test positive NFU President Meurig Raymond has welcomed the new applications. He said: "Bovine TB is endemic across the South West of England, large parts of the Midlands and beyond. It is vital we do everything we can to tackle this disease to stop it spreading further and causing more misery for farming family businesses. "Only by using every option at our disposal will we stand a chance of controlling and eradicating this devastating disease and achieving what everybody wants - a TB free England. "The fact that so many areas have expressed an interest shows how widespread the TB problem is and how urgently it needs to be dealt with." England's badger cull:
"I am tired of the fact that all discussions start and end with the Sweden Democrats," party leader Göran Hägglund said on Thursday. The party's proposals include a reduction in benefits offered to refugees and the introduction of temporary residence permits to replace the current praxis of permanent residency. "This is an area where we haven't achieved sufficient success," Hägglund said referring to higher levels of unemployment among newly-arrived immigrants in comparison to people born in Sweden. Hägglund explained that the party, which has been languishing in the polls since the September election, would like to see the changes in order to "preserve the legitimacy" of Sweden's asylum policy. Among the measures is included a proposal that new immigrants be able to earn up to 100,000 kronor ($13,000) tax free per annum for their first five years in Sweden. At the same time the party proposed a reduction in introduction benefits to finance the initiative. While Hägglund underlined that the proposals were not a question of "closing the border", the move was welcomed by the Sweden Democrats (SD), who have proposed a dramatic reduction in immigration to Sweden. "This paves the way for a more informed debate about immigration," acting party leader Mattias Karlsson said on Thursday. Acting leader of Sweden Democrats Mattias Karlsson. Photo: TT Karlsson added that the proposal could make it easier for SD to side with the Alliance if they were to win the upcoming extra election. The Christian Democrats, which form part of the four-party Alliance opposition, are reported to have acted alone in the matter while the Moderates and the Liberal Party have welcomed the discussion. The governing Green Party meanwhile criticized the move. "If we want an open Sweden in touch with the Zeitgeist and part of a globalized world then we should not be regarding refugees in terms of a cost," Green Party spokeswoman Åsa Romson said. Romson expressed a hope that the other Alliance parties do not follow the Christian Democrats' lead. Experts however expressed little surprise at the tactic. "The question was not really if it was going to come, but when," said Ann-Cathrine Jungar, a political scientist at Södertörn University College. Jungar drew parallels with processes occurring in other European countries which have also experienced emerging nationalist and populist parties. "This is of course a deliberate tactic, to prevent more votes heading to the Sweden Democrats and to reclaim some voters who have already moved. The discussion about immigration has become very black and white as parties who wish to discuss the matter risk being accused of playing into the hands of the Sweden Democrats," she said. Jungar explained that it was difficult to predict how the Christian Democrats move would affect the political landscape in Sweden, if at all. "In Belgium the other parties adapted but still managed to maintain a distance from Vlaams Belang, which became isolated," she said. Sweden's Prime Minister Stefan Löfven has said that the government intends to decide that an extra election is to be held on March 22nd 2015 in a bid to address the parliamentary stalemate.

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