text
stringlengths 465
100k
|
|---|
In the course of today, a new system software update (v. 4.10) is for PlayStation ® 3 (PS3) published. The new features include:
The Internet browser has been improved, which optimizes the display of content and increases the accuracy when viewing page layouts. Some sites that previously could not be correctly displayed, including interactive websites, are now supported with the PS3 system software 4.10.
Every time your PS3 system to connect to PlayStation ® Network (PSN) are prepared in the time you can precisely set via the Internet. For this you go into the XMB (XrossMediaBar) on [Settings]> [Date and Time Settings] [Automatic Settings] to.
PSN account will be renamed Sony Entertainment Network account. The registration process and the credentials will remain the same.
In order to download PS3 system software version 4.10 requires at least 180 MB of free space on the PS3 Hard Disk Drive (System Update) or on removable storage media (PC Update). |
.- Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Bishop Gerhard Ludwig Muller of Regensburg, Germany as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and leader of three other important commissions.
Bishop Muller, whom the Pope elevated to archbishop, will also head the Pontifical Biblical Commission, the International Theological Commission and the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, which oversees Catholics who celebrate the traditional Latin Mass.
He will succeed the American Cardinal William Levada, who submitted his resignation upon reaching the age of 75.
Archbishop Muller was born in Mainz-Finthen on Dec. 31, 1947. He was ordained a priest in 1978 and served as a chaplain and as a religion education teacher in secondary schools, according to the Diocese of Regensburg.
He earned his doctorate in 1977 under Fr. Karl Lehmann, who would later become Bishop of Mainz and a cardinal. The future Archbishop Muller’s doctorate concerned the Church, the Sacraments and the thought of German Protestant theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
He became Professor of Catholic Dogmatics at Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich in 1986, becoming one of the university’s youngest professors. He has published over 400 academic works.
He was named Bishop of Regensburg in 2002. His pastoral initiatives include an effort to re-evangelize the diocese.
The archbishop has worked with the German Bishops’ Conference on ecumenical relations and on international development issues. He helped resume theological dialogue between the German bishops and the Russian Orthodox Patriarch. He was the Catholic head of the International Lutheran/Roman Catholic Commission on Unity.
Archbishop Muller hosted Pope Benedict’s 2006 visit to Regensburg, during which the Pope made his famous speech on the relation of reason and revelation.
The new head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is also involved in collecting Pope Benedict’s writings. In 2008, he established the Pope Benedict XVI Institute to help publish the Pope’s collected works and to examine the contexts in which they were written. |
Samsung promised at CES last January that it would deliver a 110-inch UHDTV this year, and with just a couple of days left to spare here it is. Apparently rolling out in China, the Middle East and a few European countries first, there's no word on price (the 85-inch version that launched earlier this year had a $40K pricetag attached when it launched), but can you really put a price on a TV that's bigger than a king-size bed? That's right, at 2.6-meters by 1.8-meters there's more than enough room for well-heeled VIPs or employees of large companies and government agencies (the target market for the S9110) to catch some z's on it -- and bring a few friends. It's available for custom orders just before we see the new generation of Ultra HD (including a 105-inch curved model) at CES 2014 next week, although most of us will be looking for TVs that actually fit inside our living room.
Update: Even though the set is custom order only, Samsung has confirmed to us that the basic edition costs 15 million Korean won ($142,000~) -- but who sticks with just the basics? |
The United Nations announced the names of three experts to investigate possible war crimes committed by both Israelis and Palestinians during the two-month conflict in the Gaza Strip, the world body has announced.
The team will look at “all violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law … in the context of the military operations conducted since 13 June 2014” and present a report in March 2015, according to a statement by the UN.
LIVE GAZA UPDATES
William Schabas, a Canadian professor of international law, has been selected to lead the panel, Reuters reported, while Doudou Diène, a Senegalese lawyer who has previously worked with the UN on a number of past cases, was also tapped to join the panel.
British-Lebanese human rights attorney Amal Alamuddin, in the spotlight recently due to her engagement to actor George Clooney, was one of three individuals nominated to investigate human rights violations in Gaza, but declined the invitation.
“I was contacted by the UN about this for the first time this morning,” Alamuddin said in a statement. “I am honored to have received the offer, but given existing commitments — including eight ongoing cases — unfortunately could not accept this role. I wish my colleagues who will serve on the commission courage and strength in their endeavors.”
Israeli officials have criticized the members on the UN panel, however, saying they are biased in favor of the Palestinians.
Residents of towns bordering #Gaza criticize the government and #IDF for leaving the Strip “too early.” — PaulaSlier_RT (@PaulaSlier_RT) August 12, 2014
The choice of William Schabas to lead the investigation is complicated, Israel says, due to comments he has made about Israeli officials in the past. Last year, at a conference in New York, Schabas said: “My favorite would be Netanyahu within the dock of the International Criminal Court.”
Concerning Alamuddin, Haaretz, the Israeli daily, suggested the lawyer’s background may open her to charges of bias: “In 1982, when she was 4, her family fled Beirut in a US ship while Israel was bombarding the city.”
The third member of the panel is Doudou Diène, an expert on human rights from Senegal who was the UN special envoy on racial discrimination from 2011-14.
Israel has come under strong condemnation by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who has accused Israel of violating international law by firing upon UN safe sites, though Israel has said the UN is biased against the country.
Coming under Israeli aerial strikes, Palestinians were forced to leave their homes and seek protection in shelters operated by the United Nations – dozens of UN-operated schools converted for the purpose.
However, the UN has also singled out Hamas for violating international law, specifically by launching rockets at Israel.
The panel is to submit its report to the UNHRC in Geneva in March 2015. Ambassador Baudelaire Ndong Ella from Gabon, the current president of the council, explained its mandate in a statement: “To investigate all violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, particularly in the occupied Gaza Strip, in the context of the military operations conducted since 13 June, 2014.”
Palestinian and Israeli negotiators are currently sitting down to peace talks after a recent ceasefire agreement came into effect. The two-month-long conflict has seen nearly 2,000 Palestinians and 67 Israelis killed. |
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Based on meta-analyses, the BP-lowering effect of CPAP therapy in patients with OSA is reported to be approximately 2 to 3 mm Hg. This figure is derived from heterogeneous trials, which are often limited by poor CPAP adherence, and thus the treatment effect may possibly be underestimated. We analyzed morning BP data from three randomized controlled CPAP withdrawal trials, which included only patients with optimal CPAP compliance.
METHODS: Within the three trials, 149 patients with OSA who were receiving CPAP were randomized to continue therapeutic CPAP (n = 65) or to withdraw CPAP (n = 84) for 2 weeks. Morning BP was measured at home before and after sleep studies in the hospital.
RESULTS: CPAP withdrawal was associated with a return of OSA (apnea-hypopnea index [AHI] at a baseline of 2.8/h and at follow-up of 33.2/h). Office systolic BP (SBP) increased in the CPAP withdrawal group compared with the CPAP continuation group by +5.4 mm Hg (95% CI, 1.8-8.9 mm Hg; P = .003) and in the home SBP group by +9.0 mm Hg (95% CI, 5.7-12.3 mm Hg; P < .001). Office diastolic BP (DBP) increased by +5.0 mm Hg (95% CI, 2.7-7.3 mm Hg; P < .001), and home DBP increased by +7.8 mm Hg (95% CI, 5.6-10.4 mm Hg; P < .001). AHI, baseline home SBP, use of statin drugs, sex, and the number of antihypertensive drugs prescribed were all independently associated with SBP change in multivariate analysis, controlling for age, BMI, smoking status, diabetes, and sleepiness.
CONCLUSIONS: CPAP withdrawal results in a clinically relevant increase in BP, which is considerably higher than in conventional CPAP trials; it is also underestimated when office BP is used. Greater OSA severity is associated with a higher BP rise in response to CPAP withdrawal.
TRIAL REGISTRY: ClinicalTrials.gov; No.: NCT01332175 and NCT01797653) URL: www.clinicaltrials.gov and ISRCTN registry (ISRCTN 93153804) URL: http://www.isrctn.com/.
Copyright © 2016 American College of Chest Physicians. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. |
Steve Jobs is now more liquid than Uncle Sam.
While it’s highly unlikely that President Barack Obama is looking to ask the founder and chief executive of Apple Inc. for a loan, it became a fact as of Thursday afternoon — the world’s largest technology company now has more cash on hand than the most powerful democracy on Earth has spending room.
As Republicans and Democrats continue to work towards a compromise to the country’s debt ceiling crisis, the U.S. Treasury Department said on Thursday that Washington now has a total operating balance of only US$73.768-billion.
Meanwhile, Apple currently boasts a cash reserve of US$75.876-billion, as of its most recent quarterly earnings report at the end of June.
Of course, the numbers aren’t directly comparable; the government’s number represents how much financial headroom it has before bumping up against an arbitrary debt ceiling, while Apple’s cash reserve represents the pile of money the Cupertino, California-based company has available on its balance sheet.
Still, the numbers show just how powerful Apple has become since the launch of the iPhone in 2007. Earlier this week, shares of Apple began trading North of US$400 on the Nasdaq Stock Market for the first time in the company’s history.
Apple’s market capitalization currently stands at US$363.25-billion, making it the second largest company on the planet, after Exxon Mobil. |
Counter Logic Gaming is reportedly set to drop out of Counter-Strike, according to a report by independent journalist Jarek "DeKay" Lewis.
Earlier this week, DeKay reported in-game leader Pujan "FNS" Mehta was leaving the organization due to an internal dispute with the team. DeKay is now reporting that due to financial issues, CLG is choosing to stop competing in CS:GO and sell off its players' contracts.
CLG recently failed to qualify for the ESL Pro League Season 6 Finals and was unable to make it out of the Americas Minor Championship, failing to qualify for the ELEAGUE Major: Boston Offline Qualifier. The team lost several strong players over the past year, and has struggled to remain competitive with top North American teams.
CLG first entered CS:GO in 2015 and have been considered one of the stronger NA CS:GO rosters in the past.
Daniel Rosen is a news editor for theScore esports. You can follow him on Twitter. |
Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton appears to be trapped between a rock and a progressive place as she struggles to prove to Sanders supporters that she is on their side while also retaining her moderate Obama-approving voters as well.
One key issue for this negotiation is the TPP for which Obama is strongly in support of and is attempting to force a lame-duck vote on. Though Clinton has become increasingly more vocal in her opposition to the trade deal à la Bernie Sanders, many don’t believe that when push comes to shove, the Former Secretary of State will side against the establishment and say “no TPP.”
While voters have always known where Sanders stands on the trade deal (and all others like it), Hillary’s support has often wavered. Her close relationship with the Obama administration as well as her selection of a formerly pro-TPP vice presidental candidate puts a great deal of strain on her credibility in this situation.
Now is the time for Clinton to step up and walk the walk. She must make strong statements against President Obama, urging, no, demanding that he pull off his TPP dogs and take back the measure he is seeking to push through Congress. She must make statements showing her allegiance to her former opponent Sanders on this issue, saying that she supports all of his efforts on the Senate floor to reject the TPP.
Now is the time for Clinton to prove to the millions who are wary of her that she can stand up for their interests and that she can support a progressive agenda.
Will she take action, or just take the safe route? This decision could define her entire administration. |
Asian American advocacy groups are criticizing Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush after he singled them out in reviving the controversial term “anchor babies”.
Bush told a conservative radio host last week that there needed to be better enforcement of women who come into the US to give birth – invoking the controversial term while doing so.
“Nothing about what I’ve said should be viewed as derogatory towards immigrants at all,” Bush later said, on Monday. “This is all how politics plays. And by the way, I think we need to take a step back and chill out a little bit as it relates to the political correctness that somehow you have to be scolded every time you say something.”
He added: “Frankly it’s more related to Asian people.”
The final comment prompted widespread condemnation from advocacy groups who believe it paints a reductive portrait of the immigration system in the US.
Erin Oshiro, senior staff attorney for immigration and immigrant rights at Asian Americans Advancing Justice, said that any rhetoric that pits immigrants against each other distracts from reforms needed in the system.
“They are coming here for opportunities for their families, the same as immigrants have always done,” Oshiro said.
Undocumented, Asian and taking up arms in the immigration fight – finally Read more
The term “anchor babies” is used negatively to describe people who enter the US and have babies there so that their children have American citizenship and, as the stereotype presumes, so that they have an opportunity to gain citizenship as well.
Yet the process of having an “anchor baby” to gain citizenship could take decades. Parents must wait 21 years before their grown children can sponsor them for citizenship. And if they have been living in the US without documentation, which is common, they must return to their birth country to receive a visa or green card; by leaving, they are banned from re-entry for up to 10 years.
“It’s a really impractical long-term plan that has no guarantee,” Oshiro said. “I don’t think that’s why immigrants are coming here.”
Bush on Tuesday defended himself from earlier critics by saying that because he is married to a Mexican-American woman, he feels “bicultural” and therefore is sensitive to immigrant communities.
And he backpedaled on his comments about Asian immigrants, saying that it applied to a “very narrowcasted system of fraud” in which pregnant women come to the US to take advantage of birthright laws.
That “narrowcasted system” probably refers to a major federal crackdown on so-called “birth tourism” earlier this year that saw federal agents swarm a business that housed wealthy Chinese women who traveled to California to have American babies.
“It’s going to be really hard for me to be lectured to about the politics of immigration,” Bush said.
But the general sentiment in his initial comments had already done its damage.
Congresswoman Judy Chu, a Democrat from California and the first Chinese-American woman elected to the US Congress, said in a statement that using the “slur” of “anchor babies” distracts from actual problems in the immigration system.
“All that is accomplished through talk of anchor babies – be they from Latin America, Asia, Europe, or Africa – is to use xenophobic fears to further isolate immigrants,” Chu said. “It’s time for our country to return to a substantive discussion on immigration.”
Asian Pacific American Advocates national president Michael Kwan condemned Bush’s comments in a statement. “This faulty rhetoric makes millions of law-abiding Asians a target for anti-immigrant and xenophobic attitudes, which will help spread the myth that Asian Americans are somehow less American than white Americans,” he said.
The National Council of Asian Pacific Americans did the same, saying Bush’s comments were part of continued discrimination against the immigrant community. “We urge lawmakers to instead focus on developing humane legislative solutions to reform our broken immigration system,” the NCAPA said in a statement.
And fellow Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump, whose comments about the immigration system were condemned by the Mexican government, said that Bush’s comments were “A mess!” |
AT least 17 civilians were killed yesterday when a Somali government soldier fired on a crowd in Mogadishu, according to hospital sources and witnesses.
Witnesses said the soldier accidentally triggered an anti-aircraft machine gun after a dispute with other soldiers on a crowded street in the south of the Somali capital. It was unclear what caused the dispute.
"There was a disaster in Mogadishu today [Monday]. We have received around 56 injured people, 12 dead bodies and five others died of their injuries at the hospital," said Mohamed Yusuf, the director of Mogadishu's Madina hospital.
Read Next
Defence Minister Abdihakin Mohamed Fiqi expressed regret over the incident and promised government assistance to the wounded.
"On behalf of the Somali government, the president, his prime minister and the speaker, we are very sorry about the sad incident," Mr Fiqi said at the hospital.
"We will help the wounded and promise to bring those behind the brutal killing to justice." |
October 27, 2014
Last weekend I finally deployed TLS for timtaubert.de and decided to write up what I learned on the way hoping that it would be useful for anyone doing the same. Instead of only giving you a few buzz words I want to provide background information on how TLS and certain HTTP extensions work and why you should use them or configure TLS in a certain way.
One thing that bugged me was that most posts only describe what to do but not necessarily why to do it. I hope you appreciate me going into a little more detail to end up with the bigger picture of what TLS currently is, so that you will be able to make informed decisions when deploying yourselves.
To follow this post you will need some basic cryptography knowledge. Whenever you do not know or understand a concept you should probably just head over to Wikipedia and take a few minutes or just do it later and maybe re-read the whole thing.
Disclaimer: I am not a security expert or cryptographer but did my best to research this post thoroughly. Please let me know of any mistakes I might have made and I will correct them as soon as possible.
But didn’t Andy say this is all shit?
I read Andy Wingo’s blog post too and I really liked it. Everything he says in there is true. But what is also true is that TLS with the few add-ons is all we have nowadays and we better make the folks working for the NSA earn their money instead of not trying to encrypt traffic at all.
After you finished reading this page, maybe go back to Andy’s post and read it again. You might have a better understanding of what he is ranting about than you had before if the details of TLS are still dark matter to you.
So how does TLS work?
Every TLS connection starts with both parties sharing their supported TLS versions and cipher suites. As the next step the server sends its X.509 certificate to the browser.
Checking the server’s certificate
The following certificate checks need to be performed:
Does the certificate contain the server’s hostname?
Was the certificate issued by a CA that is in my list of trusted CAs?
Does the certificate’s signature verify using the CA’s public key?
Has the certificate expired already?
Was the certificate revoked?
All of these are very obvious crucial checks. To query a certificate’s revocation status the browser will use the Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) which I will describe in more detail in a later section.
After the certificate checks are done and the browser ensured it is talking to the right host both sides need to agree on secret keys they will use to communicate with each other.
Key Exchange using RSA
A simple key exchange would be to let the client generate a master secret and encrypt that with the server’s public RSA key given by the certificate. Both client and server would then use that master secret to derive symmetric encryption keys that will be used throughout this TLS session. An attacker could however simply record the handshake and session for later, when breaking the key has become feasible or the machine is suspect to a vulnerability. They may then use the server’s private key to recover the whole conversation.
Key Exchange using (EC)DHE
When using (Elliptic Curve) Diffie-Hellman as the key exchange mechanism both sides have to collaborate to generate a master secret. They generate DH key pairs (which is a lot cheaper than generating RSA keys) and send their public key to the other party. With the private key and the other party’s public key the shared master secret can be calculated and then again be used to derive session keys. We can provide Forward Secrecy when using ephemeral DH key pairs. See the section below on how to enable it.
We could in theory also provide forward secrecy with an RSA key exchange if the server would generate an ephemeral RSA key pair, share its public key and would then wait for the master secret to be sent by the client. As hinted above RSA key generation is very expensive and does not scale in practice. That is why RSA key exchanges are not a practical option for providing forward secrecy.
After both sides have agreed on session keys the TLS handshake is done and they can finally start to communicate using symmetric encryption algorithms like AES that are much faster than asymmetric algorithms.
The certificate
Now that we understand authenticity is an integral part of TLS we know that in order to serve a site via TLS we first need a certificate. The TLS protocol can encrypt traffic between two parties just fine but the certificate provides the necessary authentication towards visitors.
Without a certificate a visitor could securely talk to either us, the NSA, or a different attacker but they probably want to talk to us. The certificate ensures by cryptographic means that they established a connection to our server.
Selecting a Certificate Authority (CA)
If you want a cheap certificate, have no specific needs, and only a single subdomain (e.g. www) then StartSSL is an easy option. Do of course feel free to take a look at different authorities - their services and prices will vary heavily.
In the chain of trust the CA plays an important role: by verifying that you are the rightful owner of your domain and signing your certificate it will let browsers trust your certificate. The browsers do not want to do all this verification themselves so they defer it to the CAs.
For your certificate you will need an RSA key pair, a public and private key. The public key will be included in your certificate and thus also signed by the CA.
Generating an RSA key and a certificate signing request
The example below shows how you can use OpenSSL on the command line to generate a key for your domain. Simply replace example.com with the domain of your website. example.com.key will be your new RSA key and example.com.csr will be the Certificate Signing Request that your CA needs to generate your certificate.
openssl req -new -newkey rsa:4096 -nodes -sha256 \ -keyout example.com.key -out example.com.csr
We will use a SHA-256 based signature for integrity as Firefox and Chrome will phase out support for SHA-1 based certificates soon. The RSA keys used to authenticate your website will use a 4096 bit modulus. If you need to handle a lot of traffic or your server has a weak CPU you might want to use 2048 bit. Never go below that as keys smaller than 2048 bit are considered insecure.
Get a signed certificate
Sign up with the CA you chose and depending on how they handle this process you probably will have to first verify that you are the rightful owner of the domain that you claim to possess. StartSSL will do that by sending a token to [email protected] (or similar) and then ask you to confirm the receipt of that token.
Now that you signed up and are the verified owner of example.com you simply submit the example.com.csr file to request the generation of a certificate for your domain. The CA will sign your public key and the other information contained in the CSR with their private key and you can finally download the certificate to example.com.crt .
Upload the .crt and .key files to your web server. Be aware that any intermediate certificate in the CA’s chain must be included in the .crt file as well - you can just cat them together. StartSSL’s free tier has an intermediate Class 1 certificate - make sure to use the SHA-256 version of it. All files should be owned by root and must not be readable by anyone else. Configure your web server to use those and you should probably have TLS running configured out-of-the-box.
(Perfect) Forward Secrecy
To properly deploy TLS you will want to provide (Perfect) Forward Secrecy. Without forward secrecy TLS still seems to secure your communication today, it might however not if your private key is compromised in the future.
If a powerful adversary (think NSA) records all communication between a visitor and your server, they can decrypt all this traffic years later by stealing your private key or going the “legal” way to obtain it. This can be prevented by using short-lived (ephemeral) keys for key exchanges that the server will throw away after a short period.
Diffie-Hellman key exchanges
Using RSA with your certificate’s private and public keys for key exchanges is off the table as generating a 2048+ bit prime is very expensive. We thus need to switch to ephemeral (Elliptic Curve) Diffie-Hellman cipher suites. For DH you can generate a 2048 bit parameter once, choosing a private key afterwards is cheap.
openssl dhparam -out dhparam.pem 2048
Simply upload dhparam.pem to your server and instruct the web server to use it for Diffie-Hellman key exchanges. When using ECDH the predefined elliptic curve represents this parameter and no further action is needed.
(Nginx) ssl_dhparam /path/to/ssl/dhparam.pem;
Apache does unfortunately not support custom DH parameters, it is always set to 1024 bit and is not user configurable. This might hopefully be fixed in future versions.
Session IDs
One of the most important mechanisms to improve TLS performance is Session Resumption. In a full handshake the server sends a Session ID as part of the “hello” message. On a subsequent connection the client can use this session ID and pass it to the server when connecting. Because both the server and the client have saved the last session’s “secret state” under the session ID they can simply resume the TLS session where they left off.
Now you might notice that this could violate forward secrecy as a compromised server might reveal the secret state for all session IDs if the cache is just large enough. The forward secrecy of a connection is thus bounded by how long the session information is retained on the server. Ideally, your server would use a medium-sized in-memory cache that is purged daily.
Apache lets you configure that using the SSLSessionCache directive and you should use the high-performance cyclic buffer shmcb . Nginx has the ssl_session_cache directive and you should use a shared cache that is shared between workers. The right size of those caches would depend on the amount of traffic your server handles. You want browsers to resume TLS sessions but also get rid of old ones about daily.
Session Tickets
The second mechanism to resume a TLS session are Session Tickets. This extension transmits the server’s secret state to the client, encrypted with a key only known to the server. That ticket key is protecting the TLS connection now and in the future.
This might as well violate forward secrecy if the key used to encrypt session tickets is compromised. The ticket (just as the session cache) contains all of the server’s secret state and would allow an attacker to reveal the whole conversation.
Nginx and Apache by default generate a session ticket key at startup and do unfortunately provide no way to rotate it. If your server is running for months without a restart then you will use that same session ticket key for months and breaking into your server could reveal every recorded TLS conversation since the web server was started.
Neither Nginx nor Apache have a sane way to work around this, Nginx might be able to rotate the key by reloading the server config which is rather easy to implement with a cron job. Make sure to test that this actually works before relying on it though.
Thus if you really want to provide forward secrecy you should disable session tickets using ssl_session_tickets off for Nginx and SSLOpenSSLConfCmd Options -SessionTicket for Apache.
Choosing the right cipher suites
Mozilla’s guide on server side TLS provides a great list of modern cipher suites that needs to be put in your web server’s configuration. The combinations below are unfortunately supported by only modern browsers, for broader client support you might want to consider using the “intermediate” list.
ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256: \ ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256: \ ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384: \ ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384: \ DHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256: \ DHE-DSS-AES128-GCM-SHA256: \ [...] !aNULL:!eNULL:!EXPORT:!DES:!RC4:!3DES:!MD5:!PSK
All these cipher suites start with (EC)DHE which means they only support ephemeral Diffie-Hellman key exchanges for forward secrecy. The last line discards non-authenticated key exchanges, null-encryption (cleartext), legacy weak ciphers marked exportable by US law, weak ciphers (3)DES and RC4, weak MD5 signatures, and pre-shared keys.
Note: To ensure that the order of cipher suites is respected you need to set ssl_prefer_server_ciphers on for Nginx or SSLHonorCipherOrder on for Apache.
HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS)
Now that your server is configured to accept TLS connections you still want to support HTTP connections on port 80 to redirect old links and folks typing example.com in the URL bar to your shiny new HTTPS site.
At this point however a Man-In-The-Middle (or Woman-In-The-Middle) attack can easily intercept and modify traffic to deliver a forged HTTP version of your site to a visitor. The poor visitor might never know because they did not realize you offer TLS connections now.
To ensure your users are secured when visiting your site the next time you want to send a HSTS header to enforce strict transport security. By sending this header the browser will not try to establish a HTTP connection next time but directly connect to your website via TLS.
Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=15768000; includeSubDomains; preload
Sending these headers over a HTTPS connection (they will be ignored via HTTP) lets the browser remember that this domain wants strict transport security for the next six months (~15768000 seconds). The includeSubDomains token enforces TLS connections for every subdomain of your domain and the non-standard preload token will be required for the next section.
HSTS Preload List
If after deploying TLS the very first connection of a visitor is genuine we are fine. Your server will send the HSTS header over TLS and the visitor’s browser remembers to use TLS in the future. The very first connection and every connection after the HSTS header expires however are still vulnerable to a MITM attack.
To prevent this Firefox and Chrome share a HSTS Preload List that basically includes HSTS headers for all sites that would send that header when visiting anyway. So before connecting to a host Firefox and Chrome check whether that domain is in the list and if so would not even try using an insecure HTTP connection.
Including your page in that list is easy, just submit your domain using the HSTS Preload List submission form. Your HSTS header must be set up correctly and contain the includeSubDomains and preload tokens to be accepted.
OCSP Stapling
OCSP - using an external server provided by the CA to check whether the certificate given by the server was revoked - might sound like a great idea at first. On the second thought it actually sounds rather terrible. First, the CA providing the OCSP server suddenly has to be able to handle a lot of requests: every client opening a connection to your server will want to know whether your certificate was revoked before talking to you.
Second, the browser contacting a CA and passing the certificate is an easy way to monitor a user’s browsing behavior. If all CAs worked together they probably could come up with a nice data set of TLS sites that people visit, when and in what order (not that I know of any plans they actually wanted to do that).
Let the server do the work for your visitors
OCSP Stapling is a TLS extension that enables the server to query its certificate’s revocation status at regular intervals in the background and send an OCSP response with the TLS handshake. The stapled response itself cannot be faked as it needs to be signed with the CA’s private key. Enabling OCSP stapling thus improves performance and privacy for your visitors immediately.
You need to create a certificate file that contains your CA’s root certificate prepended by any intermediate certificates that might be in your CA’s chain. StartSSL has an intermediate certificate for Class 1 (the free tier) - make sure to use the one having the SHA-256 signature. Pass the file to Nginx using the ssl_trusted_certificate directive and to Apache using the SSLCACertificateFile directive.
OCSP Must Staple
OCSP however is unfortunately not a silver bullet. If a browser does not know in advance it will receive a stapled response then the attacker might as well redirect HTTPS traffic to their server and block any traffic to the OCSP server (in which case browsers soft-fail). Adam Langley explains all possible attack vectors in great detail.
One solution might be the proposed OCSP Must Staple Extension. This would add another field to the certificate issued by the CA that says a server must provide a stapled OCSP response. The problem here is that the proposal expired and in practice it would take years for CAs to support that.
Another solution would be to implement a header similar to HSTS, that lets the browser remember to require a stapled OCSP response when connecting next time. This however has the same problems on first connection just like HSTS, and we might have to maintain a “OCSP-Must-Staple Preload List”. As of today there is unfortunately no immediate solution in sight.
HTTP Public Key Pinning (HPKP)
Even with all those security checks when receiving the server’s certificate we would still be completely out of luck in case your CA’s private key is compromised or your CA simply fucks up. We can prevent these kinds of attacks with an HTTP extension called Public Key Pinning.
Key pinning is a trust-on-first-use (TOFU) mechanism. The first time a browser connects to a host it lacks the the information necessary to perform “pin validation” so it will not be able to detect and thwart a MITM attack. This feature only allows detection of these kinds of attacks after the first connection.
Generating a HPKP header
Creating an HPKP header is easy, all you need to do is to compute the base64-encoded “SPKI fingerprint” of your server’s certificate. An SPKI fingerprint is the output of applying SHA-256 to the public key information contained in your certificate.
openssl req -inform pem -pubkey -noout < example.com.csr | openssl pkey -pubin -outform der | openssl dgst -sha256 -binary | base64
The result of running the above command can be directly used as the pin-sha256 values for the Public-Key-Pins header as shown below:
Public-Key-Pins: pin-sha256="GRAH5Ex+kB4cCQi5gMU82urf+6kEgbVtzfCSkw55AGk="; pin-sha256="lERGk61FITjzyKHcJ89xpc6aDwtRkOPAU0jdnUqzW2s="; max-age=15768000; includeSubDomains
Upon receiving this header the browser knows that it has to store the pins given by the header and discard any certificates whose SPKI fingerprints do not match for the next six months (max-age=15768000). We specified the includeSubDomains token so the browser will verify pins when connecting to any subdomain.
Include the pin of a backup key
It is considered good practice to include at least a second pin, the SPKI fingerprint of a backup RSA key that you can generate exactly as the original one:
openssl req -new -newkey rsa:4096 -nodes -sha256 \ -keyout example.com.backup.key -out example.com.backup.csr
In case your private key is compromised you might need to revoke your current certificate and request the CA to issue a new one. The old pin however would still be stored in browsers for six months which means they would not be able to connect to your site. By sending two pin-sha256 values the browser will later accept a TLS connection when any of the stored fingerprints match the given certificate.
Known attacks
In the past years (and especially the last year) a few attacks on SSL/TLS were published. Some of those attacks can be worked around on the protocol or crypto library level so that you basically do not have to worry as long as your web server is up to date and the visitor is using a modern browser. A few attacks however need to be thwarted by configuring your server properly.
BEAST (Browser Exploit Against SSL/TLS)
BEAST is an attack that only affects TLSv1.0. Exploiting this vulnerability is possible but rather difficult. You can either disable TLSv1.0 completely - which is certainly the preferred solution although you might neglect folks with old browsers on old operating systems - or you can just not worry. All major browsers have implemented workarounds so that it should not be an issue anymore in practice.
BREACH (Browser Reconnaissance and Exfiltration via Adaptive Compression of Hypertext)
BREACH is a security exploit against HTTPS when using HTTP compression. BREACH is based on CRIME but unlike CRIME - which can be successfully defended by turning off TLS compression (which is the default for Nginx and Apache nowadays) - BREACH can only be prevented by turning off HTTP compression. Another method to mitigate this would be to use cross-site request forgery (CSRF) protection or disable HTTP compression selectively based on headers sent by the application.
POODLE (Padding Oracle On Downgraded Legacy Encryption)
POODLE is yet another padding oracle attack on TLS. Luckily it only affects the predecessor of TLS which is SSLv3. The only solution when deploying a new server is to just disable SSLv3 completely. Fortunately, we already excluded SSLv3 in our list of preferred ciphers previously. Firefox 34 will ship with SSLv3 disabled by default, Chrome and others will hopefully follow soon.
Further reading
Thanks for reading and I am really glad you made it that far! I hope this post did not discourage you from deploying TLS - after all getting your setup right is the most important thing. And it certainly is better to to know what you are getting yourselves into than leaving your visitors unprotected.
If you want to read even more about setting up TLS, the Mozilla Wiki page on Server-Side TLS has more information and proposed web server configurations. |
Well, that didn’t take long, for a Director of Central Intelligence to totally lose his credibility in the servitude of the institution. What has it been? Three, four months?
I’ll have more to say about Panetta’s declaration in the ACLU FOIA case tomorrow. But for now, a little unsolicited advice for the spook-in-chief.
When you say,
I also want to emphasize that my determinations expressed above, and in my classified declaration, are in no way driven by a desire to prevent embarrassment for the U.S. Government or the CIA, or to suppress evidence of unlawful conduct,
Yet the entire world knows–and the CIA has itself acknowledged–that the materials in question do, in fact, show evidence of unlawful conduct, and when you sort of kind of pretend that no one else knows what they all know–that the materials show evidence of unlawful conduct…
Then you look like a fool.
A chump.
Like George Tenet, maybe, when he boasted of "slam dunk."
And then when you go on to say,
As the Court knows, some of the operational documents currently at issue contain descriptions of EITs being applied during specific overseas interrogations. These descriptions, however, are EITs as applied in actual operations, and are of qualitatively different nature than the EIT descriptions in the abstract contained in the OLC memoranda.
Then you’re just hoping we’re all bigger idiots than we really are.
Let me say this plainly. According to the CIA–the CIA itself–there’s a reason why the interrogations don’t resemble the "EIT descriptions in the abstract contained in the OLC memoranda." That’s because some cowboy probably named James Mitchell who was getting rich off of torture thought things would be more poignant–yes, the fucker actually said "poignant"–if he drowned Abu Zubaydah in gallons of water rather than sprinkling him like a daisy. There’s a reason why the descriptions of torture as it was applied is such a problem–and yes, is evidence of unlawful conduct. And that’s because we know–we all know!!!!–that the torture began before the memos authorized it, and the torture exceeded what few guidelines John Yoo placed on it.
So don’t give me this crap about not trying to avoid embarrassment–unless you start admitting how damning this shit is.
We know you’re trying to hide the evidence of criminal torture. Insisting, over and over, under oath, that that’s not what you’re doing isn’t convincing anyone. |
Editor\'s Note: Johnita P. Due is vice president and assistant general counsel for CNN. The opinions expressed in this commentary are hers.
(CNN) — "I have a message to all the white supremacists and the Nazis who came into Charlottesville today. Our message is plain and simple: Go home," said Governor Terry McAuliffe. "You are not wanted in this great Commonwealth. ... You pretend that you are patriots, but you are anything but a patriot."
McAuliffe was saying many of the things we needed to hear, and the black man standing behind him in the white "Menace II Supremacy" shirt was nodding emphatically.
"You want to talk about patriots, talk about Thomas Jefferson and George Washington who brought our country together," he added. The man in the t-shirt, who I later learned was Charlottesville Vice Mayor Wes Bellamy, stopped nodding, maybe coincidentally, but I felt punched in the stomach.
At a time when it is important to condemn white nationalists and supremacists unequivocally, invoking Thomas Jefferson is a mistake.
White supremacy is based on the concept that blacks and other people of color are not equal to whites -- many believe they are not even worth the three-fifths that was embodied in the original Constitution for tax and representation purposes. Such notions of inferiority are what Jefferson and other slave owners used to justify holding blacks in captivity and treating them as animals.
Invoking Jefferson to condemn the white supremacists and neo-Nazis who were demonstrating Friday and Saturday is antithetical to Jefferson's beliefs -- and certainly to the life he led.
Jefferson owned 600 slaves during his lifetime, freeing only two men before he died and bequeathing freedom to five other men, believed to be his progeny, upon his death.
And that is part of why McAuliffe's invocation of Jefferson hit me so hard. Our national healing cannot move forward if even well-meaning leaders don't recognize the role our Founding Fathers played in seeding white supremacy.
I spent four weeks over this past year at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business as part of an executive leadership development program of the National Association for Multiethnicity in Communications (NAMIC). Forty of us professionals across the communications industry learned cases and took courses in marketing, competitive dynamics, corporate strategy, change management and finance.
But we also learned about ambiculturalism, which is how diverse groups become more effective when they learn and accept the best values from each other, and how we, as leaders of color in our industry, can be impactful and advance even when we find obstacles in our way.
Toward the end of the program we went on a tour of Monticello, Jefferson's Virginia home. The juxtaposition of learning about empowerment in class with the significance of Monticello was emotionally jarring. It was a magnificent estate and an important part of our history to see, but it was a reminder of how deeply flawed Jefferson and the foundation of our country really were.
Both Monticello and the University of Virginia (founded by Jefferson) have made strides to more openly acknowledge the painful contradiction of Jefferson's slaveholding past. For example, a walking tour was added to UVA to show visitors where slaves lived and what role they played in building the university. So it was particularly sad to see the UVA campus infiltrated by such hatred.
When white nationalists rallied on Friday night, using torches reminiscent of Klan rallies, I wrote a note to my NAMIC classmates, sharing Charlottesville mayor Michael Signer's strong condemnation of the rally and knowing that some of my classmates were probably recalling, as I was, how we felt after the Monticello tour.
"This is part of our national history -- and national present -- and we cannot escape it," I wrote. "But we can all stand up to it and learn from it and be confident that the country is greater than the sum of its misguided parts."
My father, a civil rights and community activist for more than 60 years, challenged my use of the phrase "stand up." He thought it connoted physical resistance or violence. As an advocate of reconciliation and restorative justice , he wanted me to include "love" instead.
I refused, not because I don't believe we should all love each other, but because what I needed to express was that those of us who reject white supremacy and racism need to feel empowered to oppose it.
Didn't mom sit down and demonstrate peaceably in order to stand up to social injustice, I argued? Didn't you and others risk your lives to stand up to racism?
Follow CNN Opinion Join us on Twitter and Facebook
Standing up can come in many forms, and we must all stand up in our own ways. We can't let others intimidate us. We can't let those motivated by hate and false notions of superiority control the narrative of this country any longer.
That was Saturday morning, before a driver weaponized his car and plowed it into a group of brave counterprotesters standing up against white nationalism and racism, killing one young woman, Heather Heyer.
The NAMIC program ended in May, but I now know that if we had still been there, many of us would have been risking our lives to stand up against white supremacy. And we wouldn't have been invoking Jefferson's name to do so. |
Electric vehicles (EVs) have a lot going for them, but long charging times are still a barrier to adoption for many consumers. This is understandable—society has been conditioned for the last 100 years to think of a car as something that you can refuel in a few minutes. Even the fastest DC fast chargers still take almost half an hour to recharge an EV. What's more, the laws of physics get involved at some point, limiting the rate at which you can charge a battery before things start to get messy. The answer to impatient drivers needing a recharge may well be special roads that can power up a car on the move, F-Zero style. This week, the UK government announced that it wants to begin testing this tech, and soon.
Wireless recharging isn't that outlandish a concept, as anyone with an electric toothbrush may well know. Plenty of smartphones also use wireless charging, and we've covered Qualcomm's Halo tech that the company has been demonstrating with a BMW i8 hybrid that travels with the FIA Formula E Championship. The Halo system is designed to charge a car when it's stationary, but Qualcomm's Graeme Davison told us that it should be adaptable to low-speed recharging relatively easily.
Meanwhile, South Korea has already been testing a wireless road charging system in the town of Gumi on a special 7.5 mile (12km) stretch of road that powers up special buses. The UK announcement is for off-road trials for now (as in, not on public roads as opposed to dirt tracks) and is looking for bids from contractors wanting to develop the test infrastructure. In a press release, UK Transport Minister Andrew Jones said, "The government is already committing £500 million over the next five years to keep Britain at the forefront of this technology, which will help boost jobs and growth in the sector. As this study shows, we continue to explore options on how to improve journeys and make low-emission vehicles accessible to families and businesses." |
Superhero TV season has come and gone, which means there’s yet another season under the belts of Supergirl, Flash, Arrow, and Legends of Tomorrow. Over the last year of TV some of these shows defied expectations, and some lost their way—but there’s always room for the things we want to see them do next.
Supergirl
Advertisement
Leave Kara’s love life alone for a while
Mon-El ultimately ended up being one of the biggest problems of Supergirl’s second season. The show wildly refocused itself around Kara and Mon-El’s will-they-won’t-they-now-how-do-we-break-them-up nonsense way too much this part season, and as alarmingly charismatic both Melissa Benoist and Chris Wood are on screen together, their relationship ultimately came at the cost of spending solid time with Kara as a character and watching her grow. Instead, we saw Mon-El basically become a Gary Stu while Kara stood by.
Given how poorly the show resolved Kara and James’ romantic tensions in order to bring Mon-El on the scene, it’s time to just let Kara be on her own for a bit. If we want more romance on Supergirl, focus it on Alex and Maggie, a couple that definitely needs more time under the spotlight.
Advertisement
Give Kara a better boss
Supergirl instantly gets better when Cat Grant is around. Calista Flockhart is an absolute joy to watch as she effortlessly barges into a room, puts everyone down, and comes off as only person around really having any fun, but with the unfortunate reality of the show moving to Vancouver to film, she can’t be on the show as much.
That’s okay—Cat Grant is a potent enough force that she can be bottled up and saved to be delivered in key moments, like weaponized camp—but if we can’t have Cat around as often, then Kara needs a mentor figure at CatCo., and James Olsen isn’t really cutting it (especially since he’s spending way more time being Guardian than working there). Snapper Carr is so rarely around that he might as well have never been there. Supergirl has a number of mentors, but Kara doesn’t, and it’s a glaring absence. She needs someone she can bounce off of for matters that can’t be solved with heat vision.
Advertisement
Refocus on Kara as a hero
Between the overbearing weight of her romance with Mon-El, the arrival of Superman on the show, James becoming Guardian, and much of Supergirl’s supporting cast increasing their time in the limelight, season two lost its titular character much more often than we liked. The slow burn in season one of her growth as a superhero and in her personal life felt like it almost entirely dissipated in season two to focus on Mon-El. With him out of the way, the show needs to step back on broadening its cast of characters and remember that ultimately the show is about Kara’s journey and evolution, rather than trying to become Supergirl and Friends.
Give her a strong, central villain
In some ways, the fact that Supergirl doesn’t try to bring in series-long foes sets it apart from its fellow CW/DC shows, and the few attempts its made to bring in bigger villainous forces have fallen a bit flat (remember when Non was a thing on this series?) It could do with interweaving its villains-of-the-week with a character that can act as a real, persistent opposition to Kara. The show seems like it could already do this in the form of major new big bad Reign next season, but it’d be nice to have an antagonist that acts as a bigger foil to Kara than her regular spate of villains.
Advertisement
Arrow
Advertisement
Trim down Team Arrow
The Arrowcave got way too busy in season five. Wild Dog, Artemis, Mr. Terrific, and Ragman jostled for the spotlight to the point that most characters ended up feeling like they got short shrift, especially with the show rightfully spending time with Diggle and Felicity over the new recruits. With Evelyn a traitor and Rory out of action, there’s already been some cuts, but honestly, Curtis could probably do with a shift from being a not-great-vigilante back to being Felicity’s support.
We know Rene and Dinah are being upgraded to regular characters for the next season, so Wild Dog, Black Canary, and Green Arrow seem like a much more reasonably sized team.
Advertisement
Make Green Arrow an activist
One thing Arrow has not really touched on from the source material is Oliver Queen’s deep passion for activism and social justice. These beliefs have long driven Ollie’s sense of heroism in the comics (and play a crucial part in the character’s current Rebirth series), but TV’s Ollie rarely dabbles in fighting for the people as opposed to just fighting bad guys. Plus, themes of protest, civil disobedience, and grassroots activism are kind of hot topics right now, so it’d be a great way to honor the comics iteration of the character and do something that feels timely.
Don’t be afraid to get a little weird
When Arrow lost its way in season four, the cast and crew were quick to blame the introduction of mystical elements through the arrival of Damien Darhk rather than anything else, and then scurried back to a more grounded, pre-Flash version of the show to reassure disappointed fans. But as much as the CW might desperately want him to be, Green Arrow is no brooding Dark Knight. He’s the sort of character that can absolutely balance realistic villains like gangsters and corrupt officials with the wacky world of supervillains and space aliens. Arrow doesn’t need to go Legends of Tomorrow on itself, but it’d be nice to see it loosen up a bit again. Let that boxing glove arrow fly free!
Advertisement
Legends of Tomorrow
Advertisement
Just keep on having fun
Of all the DC/CW shows, Legends of Tomorrow probably has the least to improve on, because season two already did so much of the hard work in reforging the show as the wacky, super fun corner of the this TV universe. So season three, give or take a few tweaks, needs to pretty much keep on keeping on: embrace the fact that these characters have no right being anywhere near the controls of a highly advanced time-traveling spaceship, and then let them have access anyway. It is so much fun to see these guys try, screw up, and then grow as characters, but still be hilariously goofy in the process.
Keep the time traveling unique
One of the strongest points of Legends’ second series was its sheer earnestness in bringing us to a new time period and new location every episode. I mean, when you’re a time travel show, you might as well leap on the narrative opportunity of being anywhere and any time every week, right? The climax of season two might have given us the messed-up, mashed-up, time-altered Los Angeles for the Legends to play with, but if the show can keep on its toes when it comes to settings in season three beyond that, it’ll be great.
Advertisement
A lot less Rip Hunter
Rip Hunter is a wet blanket in human form, and the minute Legends dumped him was the moment season two really got fun, as we watched a motley crew of screw-ups try their hands at becoming the Legends they were supposed to be. Unfortunately, even though season two ended with Rip out of the way again, we know he’s coming back next season—which is fine, if only so the show can dump him (again) and get back to focusing on Sara leading the team.
Get crazy with the new cast
Legends has already proven it can handle some weird comic book nonsense—hell, the Justice Society was a major faction in season two!—and it’s done a pretty good job of introducing some out-there characters as additions to the team (even if Hawkman and Hawkgirl didn’t quite pan out as well as we’d hoped). If there are going to be new Legends coming in and out of the roster each season, then there’s definitely room for the show to loot decades and decades of DC comics history for ideas, instead of staying largely connected to characters we’ve seen on Arrow and Flash. (Also, I wouldn’t say no to having Matt Ryan’s Constantine return for a stint on the team, either.)
Advertisement
The Flash
Advertisement
No more time travel, seriously
Time travel has become woven into the very essence of The Flash at this point, but it’s also the big thing that’s crippled Barry Allen’s ability to learn from his mistakes (and most of his time travel causes those mistakes, anyway). The show is much too quick to lean on Barry’s ability to alter the future or go back to the past as a crutch for its storytelling. Time travel has become as synonymous as “it was the speedforce!” as an excuse for some serious bullshit on Flash, especially in the last season, so Barry Allen needs to have his time-and-space privileges revoked for a while.
A big villain that isn’t another Speedster
Three seasons of The Flash, three overarching villainous speedsters with links to Barry and the people he’s close with, three bad guys that Barry Allen has to beat by being struggling to be faster than them. For a guy who opens almost every episode with “My name is Barry Allen, I’m the fastest man alive!” that is objectively not the case most of the time. It’s just boring to see the same formula used over and over again, and season three’s reveal that big bad Savitar was a future, emo incarnation of Barry is the straw that broke the speed-camel’s back.
Advertisement
Admittedly, season four seems to be doing something new, dropping big hints that psychic comics villain the Thinker will be the big threat of the season. But hey, season three made it look like Dr. Alchemy would be the overarching threat, and we saw what happened with that, right?
More serialized adventures
Or maybe the show should just not have a big bad for a while? The more Flash has rooted itself in extended arcs, the less fun it is (Flashpoint last season, case in point), so spending time away from building up one big threat to bring the show back to a more villain-of-the-week sort of thing for a while would be very welcome. Variety is the spice of life and all that—but also, Legends proved just how much fun you can have in flipping the script repeatedly last season. There’s no reason The Flash couldn’t do the same.
Advertisement
Let Barry and Iris be happy for more than five seconds
Look, I get it. Part and parcel of a CW drama show is endless romantic tension, and the thought of a happy, stable lead couple is almost too much for your average CW executive to bear. But the insane lengths Flash has gone through to keep Iris and Barry apart from each other are becoming insulting. That the show basically broke the pair up for a few episodes last season just so the Supergirl crossover could have a song and scene where they get back together was bad enough, but the contrivance of season three’s cliffhanger ending separating the two yet again more was just tiresome. Let Barry and Iris get married, and let them live them in domesticated bliss for a bit. There are plenty of other ways for this show to stir up drama than by going back to that well again. |
In words interpreted as criticism of the US president, Obama warns of the dangers of using social media without thinking
Michelle Obama has warned young people of the dangers of using social media without thinking. Speaking at the inaugural summit of the Obama Foundation in Chicago, to laughter from the audience, the former first lady said: “You don’t just say what’s on your mind. You don’t tweet every thought. Most of your first initial thoughts are not worthy of the light of day.”
Despite stating: “I’m not talking about anybody in particular,” Obama’s words were widely interpreted as being a sideswipe at Donald Trump’s behaviour on Twitter.
She said: “You’re the first lady or the president, the commander-in-chief, and you have that voice. You have that power. What comes with that is responsibility to know that every word you utter has consequences.”
Her warning to young people that social media was “a powerful weapon” also urged people to think about the way they express themselves. “Just tell it like it is. No, you don’t. You need to think, and spell it right, and have good grammar.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Michelle Obama appeared in conversation with the poet Elizabeth Alexander on the second day of the Obama Foundation summit. Photograph: Charles Rex Arbogast/AP
Obama also had a message for female voters in the US, saying: “Any woman who voted against Hillary Clinton voted against their own voice.
“What does it mean for us as women that we look at those two candidates, and many of us said, ‘That guy, he’s better for me, his voice is more true to me.’”
According to CNN exit polls after the 2016 election, a slight majority of 53% white women voted for Trump. An overwhelming 94% of black women supported Clinton, as did 68% of Latino women.
Obama’s own use of social media has been widely praised in the past, particularly on the Vine platform, where she would pick up on pop culture references. Her #TurnipForWhat Vine has been watched more than 55m times. |
Len McCluskey, the head of the UK’s biggest trade union has urged Theresa May to guarantee car makers tariff-free access to the single market after Brexit, as Ford unveiled plans to cut 1,160 jobs over five years at its engine factory in Bridgend, Wales.
McCluskey, the Unite general secretary, also demanded that Ford provide “legally binding guarantees” of future production at the plant, saying that workers had been “kept in the dark”.
To stay or quit: Brexit means carmakers in UK face tough choices Read more
The US car firm, which has warned it could slash costs due to Brexit, said it was cutting jobs because it expected demand for the petrol engines made at Bridgend to fall after 2018.
Ford’s forecast of waning demand for the petrol engines it makes at Bridgend are understood to be linked to the rise of electric vehicles. The engines are also mostly used in larger cars, which the company believes are becoming less popular as customers opt for smaller, more fuel-efficient models.
Ford said it could “fully understand” workers’ concerns about the future of the Bridgend plant.
But McCluskey said the union would “use all its might” to protect jobs, blaming Ford’s decision on uncertainty surrounding the terms of Brexit.
“We will not allow Ford to walk away from its responsibilities,” he said. “Ford must give this plant a chance and work with Unite to secure a better future. We will be seeking legally binding guarantees to secure future production at the plant as well as exploring how Bridgend’s production capacity can be fully utilised through the introduction of new lines.
“Brexit is clearly a factor here. So I appeal again to the Westminster government and Theresa May to make it categorically clear without delay that there will be tariff-free access to the single market and customs union, because the uncertainty the UK’s automotive sector is enduring is having damaging real-life consequences now, before talks have even begun. The prime minister must act now because the very future of UK manufacturing, including car-making, is at stake.”
GMB union organiser Jeff Beck said the cuts, first revealed in a leaked document, meant “the nightmare for our members at Bridgend has unfortunately come true”. He said: “This is a real kick in the teeth for our hard-working members at the Ford plant – as well as their families and the community as a whole.”
Speaking during PMQs on Wednesday, May said the government had been in talks with Ford. “Ford is an important investor here. It has been established here for over 100 years,” the prime minister told MPs. “We now account for around a third of Ford’s global engine production, and Bridgend continues to be an important part of that.
“We have had, as I said, dialogue with Ford. We will continue to have a regular dialogue with Ford about the ways in which government can help to make sure that this success continues.”
Sources familiar with the firm’s plans said the decision was not affected by Brexit, despite the fact that Ford has previously warned that the EU referendum decision could cost the company $1bn (£810m) and force it to cut costs.
In an emailed statement, Ford said: “We announced in September last year that Ford would invest an initial £100m of an approved investment to build a family of all-new, technologically advanced petrol engines at Bridgend from late 2018. In line with this announcement, we have shared the five-year outlook with our union partners, based on what we know today.
“This shows healthy volumes to occupy the current workforce over the next 2-3 years. Beyond that, identified workload is reduced and whilst such a forecast is not unusual, given the cyclical nature of our business, it is a concern, and we fully understand that.”
The company said it would work with GMB and Unite to identify “future business opportunities” for the plant, which would be left with just 600 workers if the cuts go through as planned.
“It goes without saying, that in order to attract new business, the Bridgend operation would need to ensure its competitiveness, and addressing some of the current concerns relating to the plant’s efficiency would be high on the agenda,” Ford said. |
Clinton: Libya needs a Wal-Mart Bill Clinton challenges CEO to open stores in Tripoli
Your message has been sent successfully
Former President Bill Clinton has an idea of what beleaguered Libya needs: a Wal-Mart.
Speaking at his eighth annual Clinton Global Initiative summit on Sunday, he challenged Wal-Mart CEO Mike Duke to open a store in the troubled region to create jobs and foster international cooperation.
Advertisement:
"If the new president of Libya asked you to open a store in Tripoli, would you consider it?" Clinton asked Duke (a panelist at the event).
Clinton's yearly summit is intended to encourage business leaders, NGOs and politicians to brainstorm and make pledges in the name of global investment and humanitarianism -- the sort of humanitarianism that sees more Wal-Mart stores and jobs as a solution.
Renowned in the past decade for a string of overseas labor abuses, Wal-Mart recently won praise from Clinton on "The Daily Show" for its sustainable energy efforts. Watch the clip below, in which Clinton also tells Jon Stewart about his CGI guest list: |
ASTON Villa boss Remi Garde is to save his inspiring words for players who deserve them, it has emerged.
The former Lyon boss admitted that attempting to motivate his current squad would be a waste of everybody’s time, unless he motivated them to seek alternative careers.
Garde said: “With the right words, almost any player can become a winner, unless that player has ‘Aston Villa’ written on their shirt in impossible-to-erase letters.
“I can’t tell them they’re too good to be relegated, because they quite obviously aren’t. Loic Remy, Gokhan Inler and Wahbi Khazri are too good to be relegated, but unfortunately they don’t play for Aston Villa yet.
“Once I’ve bought them, I’ll tell them how their heroics will lift not just a stadium but a whole city. I’ll tell them how children will be named after them, how statues will be cast in bronze outside Villa Park, how they’ll never have to pay for a drink in this town for as long as they live.
“But why would I say something like that to someone like Joleon Lescott? It’d be like pouring premium-grade petrol into a wheelie bin.” |
What Mrs May said
Roland Smith Blocked Unblock Follow Following Jan 18, 2017
So now we know, Brexit really does mean Brexit.
But without labouring everything Mrs May said or didn’t say and the attendant hysteria of some about tumbling towards a rock hard Brexit, the speech deserves closer attention.
I need to say up front that there is a risk of over-doing the textual analysis but I’m going to do it anyway. It’s all we have, but it means what I’m about to write is still just a theory not a fact.
The really interesting section of the speech was her twelfth objective (of twelve) entitled “A smooth, orderly Brexit” — an idea that some of us “Liberal Leaver” folk have been promoting for some time.
It was interesting because while much of the speech was about the destination — and few Leavers would argue with the destination — this was the one section that gave us the “how” of Brexit. It deserves careful reading:
“12. A smooth, orderly Brexit
These are our objectives for the negotiation ahead — objectives that will help to realise our ambition of shaping that stronger, fairer, Global Britain that we want to see.
They are the basis for a new, strong, constructive partnership with the European Union — a partnership of friends and allies, of interests and values. A partnership for a strong EU and a strong UK.
But there is one further objective we are setting. For as I have said before — it is in no one’s interests for there to be a cliff-edge for business or a threat to stability, as we change from our existing relationship to a new partnership with the EU.
By this, I do not mean that we will seek some form of unlimited transitional status, in which we find ourselves stuck forever in some kind of permanent political purgatory. That would not be good for Britain, but nor do I believe it would be good for the EU.
Instead, I want us to have reached an agreement about our future partnership by the time the two-year Article Fifty process has concluded. From that point onwards, we believe a phased process of implementation, in which both Britain and the EU institutions and member states prepare for the new arrangements that will exist between us will be in our mutual self-interest. This will give businesses enough time to plan and prepare for those new arrangements.
This might be about our immigration controls, customs systems or the way in which we cooperate on criminal justice matters. Or it might be about the future legal and regulatory framework for financial services. For each issue, the time we need to phase-in the new arrangements may differ. Some might be introduced very quickly, some might take longer. And the interim arrangements we rely upon are likely to be a matter of negotiation.
But the purpose is clear: we will seek to avoid a disruptive cliff-edge, and we will do everything we can to phase in the new arrangements we require as Britain and the EU move towards our new partnership.”
In case you didn’t spot it, the key paragraph within this crucial section was this one [with some further added emphasis]:
“Instead, I want us to have reached an agreement about our future partnership by the time the two-year Article Fifty process has concluded. From that point onwards, we believe a phased process of implementation, in which both Britain and the EU institutions and member states prepare for the new arrangements that will exist between us will be in our mutual self-interest. This will give businesses enough time to plan and prepare for those new arrangements.”
The way I read this is as follows:
The Government wants to come to an “agreement” with the EU by the end of the two-year Article 50 period. For the sake of argument, let’s call that date Friday 22nd March 2019. “From that point onwards”, the government is looking to start implementing the agreement with the EU in phases, each with planned milestone dates. This clearly suggests to me that on Saturday 23rd March 2019, they are not expecting anything to really change except, probably, that the UK will literally not be a member of the EU. But the UK Government seeks “interim arrangements” that, to all intents and purposes, are very similar or even the same as those we had inside the EU before the 22nd March 2019. Then from Saturday 23rd March 2019, “both Britain and the EU institutions and member states [will] prepare for the new arrangements…”. And if there was any doubt about what is being said about this “point onwards”, we then get: “this will give businesses enough time to plan and prepare for those new arrangements.”
Thus the steady unwind of the EU/UK relationship would only start after the Article 50 two-year mark.
An alternative reading
Of course one could read it another way. Namely the UK/EU agree to put in some (quite basic) interim arrangements starting on Saturday 23rd March 2019 and we then build up from that position to ultimately reach the full final Comprehensive Trade Agreement. This alternative is prompted by the phrase “And the interim arrangements we rely upon [while in the implementation period after the two years] are likely to be a matter of negotiation.”
However that would itself represent a small “cliff edge” because the UK would be going from EU membership to something quite basic, then building back up again in certain areas. Why would the UK do that? And why would the EU want to move on from this basic interim arrangement? Once we’re out in “basic land”, the EU would have every reason to go slow to extend the element of economic discomfort provided by the basic interim arrangement.
So I think this alternative reading doesn’t really work. The “interim arrangements” sentence is just cunningly stating the obvious — that attempting to keep all arrangements broadly as they are now on Saturday 23rd March will still require negotiation/agreement with the EU.
A Broad Agreement
Going back to Mrs May’s speech, this means the “agreement” she describes as being struck before the end of the two-year Article 50 period is not necessarily the Comprehensive Trade Agreement in all its detail, but a blueprint, a framework, a roadmap… a broad agreement .
Funnily enough, in his opening speech in the House of Commons debate shortly after the prime minister’s own speech, David Davis used exactly that term (emphasis added):
“We intend to reach broad agreement about the terms of our new partnership with the EU by the end of the two-year negotiation triggered by article 50, but then we will aim to deliver an orderly process of implementation.”
All of this might explain why the government seems unbothered by the very obvious criticism to Mrs May’s approach — that writing, agreeing and signing a full Comprehensive Agreement in the space of two years (or even eighteen months, as per Michel Barnier) is impossible.
Because they are not expecting to write and agree one in that time.
Instead they intend to come up with a roadmap and an associated implementation plan, plus an agreement to essentially continue as is (albeit outside EU membership) when we hit Saturday 23rd March. They then look to unwind the relationship over time.
The prime minister was not prescriptive about how that unwind will happen or what exactly will be addressed or when. As she said….
“This might be about our immigration controls, customs systems or the way in which we cooperate on criminal justice matters.”
It is interesting that she included immigration controls. That will take time to set up and to resource properly. Indeed this could be the first time she is warming us up to free movement carrying on a little longer if she can’t get the EU to agree to limiting free movement as part of the “interim arrangements”.
Some questions
One obvious question is: “Will the Government just use the EEA model from 23rd March?”
It is clear that Theresa May does not want to make that jump and it would now be politically difficult for her to do that. There were many hints throughout her speech that the UK government sees that as parking the UK there in a just-too-convenient way, which would end up being “purgatory” or “half in, half out”. The difference between EEA and what I think is being proposed is that the May approach is most definitely a roadmap and the position on 23rd March most definitely a temporary point on a plan with a politically limited timescale and with both parties actively working towards the ultimate destination over time.
Which presents another obvious question: “How long will this take?”
I suspect the prime minister is trying to keep a General Election in reserve and, if all goes to plan, call one in 2019 to get popular ratification of the blueprint and implementation plan. She may even wait until 2020. Assuming she wins that, it then gives her another five years in which to implement the blueprint period, at which point she either fights one last general election as Tory leader or steps down at an appropriate moment just before. Her legacy would then be that she took Britain out the EU and set up a new relationship with it.
That gives us a planned maximum timescale of five years for the implementation period. Of course if the noise and obstructions around the Article 50 two-year period get too much, she may just have to engineer an early General Election but I suspect she would still have in mind a similar maximum implementation timescale.
All of which might explain why Liberal Leavers look relaxed about Mrs May’s vision and indeed why even Remainers have welcomed it. This is also why Nigel Farage and Paul Nuttall worry about a “slow motion Brexit”. Their worry should provide comfort to most sensible Leavers but it is true that implementation of the blueprint over a period of years *could* feasibly get ‘stuck’. This is a necessary risk of not cutting off from the EU in one fell swoop but I strongly suspect it is an overplayed concern and the EU will be glad to get shot of us.
So Mrs May’s speech suggests a Brexit that looks hard on the outside but has a hidden softer centre.
A Crème Brûlée Brexit.
Well it’s just a theory. |
A Russian soldier earned accolades after she walked through a minefield while testing an explosive-proof suit as bombs blew up around her.
The test, which was videotaped and posted on YouTube, shows the woman striding through the area as loud explosions are detonated around her, so close sometimes that she looks as if she has gone up in flames.
Her white suit turns to black as fire and smoke swirled around her.
At the end of the video she removes her mask, swings her blonde hair in the air and then salutes after someone hands her a bouquet of flowers. Take a look.
Девушка-испытатель ВПК России
She looked like she was having a blast. (Can I get a rim shot?)
Dmitry Rogozin, who is the Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister, was so impressed by her bravery that he wrote on his Facebook page, “Если у нас такие девчонки, представьте, что за парни у нас.” Really!
Roughly translated, Rogozin said “If we have that kind of girl, imagine what the guys are like.”
He also compared the woman to the Terminator, the cyborg assassin who traveled from the future to the past in the movie of the same name, saying the character couldn’t hold a candle to the “girl testers of the military industrial complex of Russia.”
Shows of might are nothing new for the country of Vladimir Putin who earlier this month staged quite a show for American forces when its military fighter jets buzzed a Navy destroyer and then mocked U.S. officials who expressed their displeasure.
The fire-proof suit was developed by the Central Research Institute of Precision Machine Building for Russian Armed Forces, according to Yahoo. |
Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission hears from bank CEOs
CEOs Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs (left), Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase, John Mack of Morgan Stanley and Brian Moynihan of Bank of America being sworn in Wednesday before the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Four top bank chief executives told a panel probing the financial crisis Wednesday that they made mistakes but didn't realize how bad they were at the time.
In a heated exchange in Washington with the head of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman Sachs' CEO, agreed the banks had assumed too much exposure to risk at the height of the crisis, and he wished he could go back and change things.
"Anyone who says I wouldn't change a thing, I think, is crazy," Blankfein said. "Knowing now what happened, whatever we did, whatever what the standards of the time were -- It didn't work out well."
"Of course, I'd go back and wish we had done whatever it took not to find ourselves in the position we found ourselves in," he added.
The remarks came during a hearing of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, a 10-member panel appointed last summer by Congress. Testifying were chiefs of some of the best-known and largest banks: Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500), Morgan Stanley (MS, Fortune 500), J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500) and Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500).
The panel's chairman, Philip Angelides, said he wanted to hear about the banks' role in creating the crisis and benefiting from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, which was set up to provide them with liquidity.
During the hearing, Angelides cast doubt on Blankfein's defense of Goldman Sachs' actions in the mortgage markets -- such as buying parts of risky mortgages and then placing bets against such morgages -- as part of their job as a "market maker."
"It sounds to me a little like selling a car with faulty brakes and then buying an insurance policy on the buyers of those cars," Angelides said. "It doesn't seem to me that that's a practice that inspires confidence."
Blankfein responded that Goldman was just selling what investors wanted.
"These are the professional investors who want this exposure," he said. "Even today, people are coming for exposure to these very products. .. That's what a market is."
The chief executives -- Blankfein, John Mack of Morgan Stanley, Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase, and Brian Moynihan of Bank of America -- testified under oath, standing up for a swearing-in during the public session.
The hearing lasted more than three hours and most of the testimony revolved around bad lending in the housing market.
Dimon said that one of the the banks' "big misses" was failing to "stress test" the housing market.
"We didn't stress test housing prices going down by 40%," Dimon said.
It has been suggested that this lack of accountability could be remedied if all of the firms and individuals involved in the creation of financial instruments had to "eat their own cooking." That would, for example, require that the bulk of their fees not be taken in cash, but in the securities they created, which they would be required to hold unhedged until maturity.
One commissioner asked Morgan Stanley's Mack if investment banks could have remediated the volume of illiquid toxic securities by eating "their own cooking," and taking fees for financial transactions via toxic securities, instead of cash. Mack said his firm did hold some of those securities.
"We did eat our own cooking and we choked on it," Mack said. " We kept positions and it did not work out."
'Sound' regulatory changes
Blankfein, Dimon and Mack all talked about the need for "sound" regulatory changes to help ward off future crises.
"I want to be clear that I do not blame the regulators ... however, it is important to examine how the system could have functioned better," Dimon said. "The current regulatory system is poorly organized with overlapping responsibilities, and many regulators did not have the statuatory resolution authority needed to address the failure of large, global financial companies."
In written testimony, the bank chiefs laid out their banks' mistakes that led to the crisis, detailing the housing bubble, with "new and poorly underwritten mortgage products," "excessive speculation," and mortgage securitization that allowed people to duck responsibility for poorly underwritten loans.
However, they added they didn't expect the financial crisis and especially its magnitude.
"After the fact, it is easy to be convinced that the signs were visible and compelling," Blankfein said. "In hindsight, events not only look predictable, but look like they were obvious or known. But none of us know what is going to happen."
In the past several weeks, the commission has talked to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke, but that testimony isn't being made public yet.
Lawmakers say the commission was modeled after the Pecora Commission, a panel that was convened after the 1929 Wall Street crash and other events leading to the Great Depression.
The Pecora panel's findings led to an overhaul of federal banking laws, including the creation of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933. Glass-Steagall divided investment banking from government-insured commercial banking; ending that separation in the 1990s was seen by some critics as contributing to the current crisis.
Slow start
The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission has taken a while to get up on its feet.
The panel was appointed last July and held its first meeting in September. It has only started getting staffed up over the past few months.
It has new offices in downtown Washington, a few blocks northwest of the White House. Funded to the tune of $8 million, it aims to employ between 40 and 50 investigators and other staffers.
The crisis panel's one big goal is to complete a final report, sort of like the final 9/11 Commission report that found federal agencies missed signs of the impending terrorist attacks in 2001. The financial crisis report is due Dec. 15.
Critics have noted the panel's impact may be blunted by timing, as the House has already passed a bill to overhaul regulations and the Senate is deep in negotiations on similar proposals.
But panel members have consistently pledged their work will serve as more than window dressing for politicians worried about the appearance that they allowed the financial crisis to happen.
The panel, which has subpoena power, plans to issue interim reports as it collects data, Angelides has said.
The panel's second-in-command is Bill Thomas, a retired California Republican congressman described as strong-willed during his tenure running the powerful Ways and Means Committee.
Other key panel members include: Keith Hennessey, an economic adviser under President George W. Bush; former Sen. Bob Graham, a Florida Democrat; and Brooksley Born, a past chairwoman of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, who called for stronger regulation of complex financial products such as derivatives in the 1990s. |
The problem here is that no determinations on refugee status have been made - aside from one positive decision on Nauru - and the UN refugee agency has serious doubts about the capacity of either country to make determinations and give adequate protection to those who have fled persecution.
Then came, ''people are clearly having their applications for asylum processed there [on Manus and Nauru] and if they are found not to be genuine asylum seekers, they are returned [home]''.
According to Immigration Minister Scott Morrison, the only resettlement option for those on Manus Island whose refugee claims are recognised is resettlement in Papua New Guinea, even though this is a matter of conjecture in PNG. The same, it appears, goes for those on Nauru.
If this were the case, some of the concerns of human rights agencies would be allayed, but the message to boat arrivals is that they will never be resettled in Australia.
Finally came a defence of the conditions in the camps, with the minister asserting that the asylum seekers are treated with dignity and respect. ''Their children go to school, they have community centres … the standard of accommodation and the standard of support they receive, in many instances, is better than that received by the people of Papua New Guinea''.
Not so, says Sarah Hanson-Young, who has been to Manus and Nauru, where a combined 2400 asylum seekers are being detained, and Christmas Island, where another 1700 are being held.
''On Christmas Island, none of the children are going to school, and on Nauru, the situation is even worse,'' says the Greens' immigration spokesperson. ''In the middle of the Nauru compound, there is a tent where they run activities for the children for two hours a day, and that's it. There is no proper education and no dedicated learning space, let alone 'schooling'.''
When Ms Bishop was asked about the discrepancies, she said she was referring to the past practice of resettling in third countries and Australia. She then referred other questions to Mr Morrison.
The minister was on firmer ground when she declared that the policy of deterrent was proving effective in stopping the boats and deaths by drowning at sea. What is less clear is whether the same end could be achieved by less brutal means. |
A "tough little" beer-loving pig abandoned during the Fort McMurray evacuations has been found safe thanks to the help of Twitter and Facebook.
Marshall, a black 4½-year-old pig, was left behind when his family fled the advancing wildfire last Tuesday.
Michelle Coutu told CBC News that there was no advance notice of the evacuation and the sight of the flames sent her family scrambling. While she was able to cram her daughter, her grandson and her three dogs into the back of her truck, there was no room for the pig.
"All I could do is let Marshall out of his pen and put some food down for him and pray for the best."
Her family reported the loose pig and posted about it online, urging others to keep an eye out for him.
That came in handy when the Alberta RCMP posted a Twitter photo of a constable feeding a pig watermelon on Monday evening. Many members of this Facebook group set up for the lost animals in Fort McMurray flagged the pig's picture to Coutu, who knew it was hers right away.
Officers canvasing Fort McMurray are finding all kinds of new<br>friends today. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/YMMfire?src=hash">#YMMfire</a> <a href="https://t.co/xFliVf10QB">pic.twitter.com/xFliVf10QB</a> —@RCMPAlberta
"You can always pick out your kids. He has the white tip on his tail. In the picture, you could tell he was a little bit hesitant to get the watermelon … but definitely he's not going to turn down a treat," she said.
"I was overwhelmed, just ecstatic, when I seen his picture knowing that he was OK."
A spokesperson for the Alberta RCMP confirmed to CBC News that a pig was found in Fort McMurray, but wouldn't say where it was found.
'He missed the evacuation bus'
It wasn't Marshall's first experience with an evacuation from Fort McMurray. Coutou said the family evacuated from their home three years ago when a nearby river flooded. That time, three RCMP officers had to help load the pig into the back of a pickup.
"Unfortunately, this time he missed the evacuation bus."
She doesn't know where Marshall went after they left, but thinks he might have gone into the neighbour's garden or on a search for beer cans.
"If you open a beer, he loves his beer. You cannot put your beer down because you won't have a beer afterwards."
Marshall's owner says he is friendly, social and like belly rubs. 'He's quite the character for sure.' (Submitted by Michelle Coutu)
She was able to glean some insight from the constable who appeared in the Twitter photo with Marshall after he posted about it on Facebook.
"He said he thought it was just a hilarious picture … he said it actually provided them with a very good laugh and he had a good time and he said Marshall was quite grateful for the watermelon."
The search continues for other animals left behind in Fort McMurray. Hundreds have been rescued so far. Officials are asking those who abandoned their pets to fill out the emergency pet rescue request form.
Reunion to come
While the community sorts out re-entry plans for its residents, Coutou will be staying with family in Newfoundland. She said friends and animal custody will be looking after Marshall in the meantime. She will be getting in touch to see when she can be reunited.
Coutou said that might call for a celebration.
"I think he's got potential, especially since it's his second evacuation here. He's a tough little pig," she said.
"I'm so proud of him." |
Image copyright Akhbar 24 Image caption Children put leftovers in the fridge
A man in the Saudi city of Hail has put a fridge outside his house and called on neighbours to fill it with food for the needy, it seems.
The man, who prefers to remain anonymous, told neighbours this would spare poor people the 'shame' of asking for food, the Gulf News newspaper reports.
The story took off after leading Saudi Muslim cleric Sheikh Mohamad al-Arefe tweeted his approval: "I've always said the people of Hail are generous. A man puts a fridge outside his house for leftover food; an indirect act of charity for the needy. Oh how I love you, Hail!" Sheikh al-Arefe has 8.6 million followers on Twitter and his remark was retweeted more than 5,000 times, according to Saudi news site Akhbar 24.
Social media users are calling on mosques and households to put out more fridges, and one person says people should go beyond leftovers and leave freshly-cooked food, adding it was a matter of feeding not only the body but also the soul through a "great act of charity" ahead of the fasting month of Ramadan, which begins at the end of June.
Use #NewsfromElsewhere to stay up-to-date with our reports via Twitter. |
(CNN) -- Former Yale University lab technician Raymond Clark III has been sentenced to 44 years in prison for the grisly killing of a graduate student in 2009, according to court officials.
Judge Roland Fasano sentenced Clark, 26, on Friday in New Haven, Connecticut, Superior Court as part of a plea agreement, said Rhonda Stearley-Hebert, a spokeswoman for the Connecticut Judicial Branch. Fasano pleaded guilty in March to the murder and attempted sexual assault of pharmacology student Annie Le.
Le, 24, was strangled to death. She had a broken jaw and collarbone, the prosecution said. Clark's DNA was "all over" the crime scene, including in her underwear, the state charged.
Le was pursuing a doctorate degree at Yale when she went missing on September 8, 2009. Her body was discovered inside a wall of a campus lab building after an extensive search by the FBI and police.
Clark admitted the facts as the prosecution presented them but pleaded guilty under a legal precedent that allows him to do so while still officially protesting his innocence
He pleaded guilty under the so-called Alford doctrine, which allows a defendant to assert that he is innocent but plead guilty when he "intelligently concludes that his interests require a guilty plea and the record strongly evidences guilt."
Clark had pleaded not guilty in January 2010.
Le had planned to marry Columbia graduate student Jonathan Widawsky on the day her body was found.
Clark was not a Yale student but had worked as a lab technician at the university since 2004, after graduating from high school. He lived with his girlfriend, who also was a Yale lab technician, according to police.
A Yale faculty member described Clark's job as maintaining colonies for animals used in research.
CNN's Leigh Remizowski, Brian Vitagliano and Jesse Solomon contributed to this report. |
As you might know, almost all followers of Hinduism live in India, and no wonder the world's largest Hindu temple is situated in the capital of India.
Speaking of Delhi landmarks, one would traditionally mention Red Fort, Qutub Minar, and India Gate on Kingsway. So how come Swaminarayan Akshardham (which means "temple of the God"), a magnificent and beautiful temple, is not so famous? The answer is simple: it is very "young".
It was opened in 2005. The construction took over 5 years and involved 7 thousand artisans and 3 thousand construction workers from all over India. Their combined efforts gave birth to a building 42 meters high, 94 meters wide, and 106 meters long. The structure of Akshardham consists of 234 pillars, 9 shiny domes, 20 four-sided towers, and over 20 thousand figurines depicting themes from Indian mythology. There are over 148 statues of an elephant alone!
All the facing was done by hand. Outer surface of the temple is faced with pink sandstone, while the inner surface is faced with white marble. In India, pink color symbolizes love for God, and white color symbolizes absolute purity and peace.
Thanks to its enormous size the temple is included in the Guinness Book of World Records. The temple complex takes up 12 hectares of land and includes the temple itself, several parks, a museum, a large cultural center where one can learn about Indian traditions and customs, water canals, which you can traverse by boats, and lots of cafes and souvenir shops.
Every evening there is a laser show with dancing fountains on Swaminarayan Akshardham grounds. The fountains are built in the form of a lotus placed inside a large bowl-shaped basin. The inner side of the basin serves as steps and benches for thousands of viewers.
Construction of this beautiful site was funded by donations and done through a spirit of volunterism. In order to fill in all man-made lakes and canals surrounding the temple required huge supply of water from 151 ponds around the country. In a country, where clean water is as precious as gold, it was quite a generous donation as well.
Let's take a moment and listen to Stas Sedov's story about the photo shoot.
During last days of our trip across India we planned to shoot several sights in the capital of the country: Red Fort, Qutub Minar, and others. We didn't plan to photograph Swaminarayan Akshardham. We knew that we couldn't even bring a cell phone inside the temple, not to mention other heavy photo equipment. However, our success in Taj Mahal encouraged us to request a photo permit for Swaminarayan Akshardham.
When we entered the temple first time we had only one document in our hands: photography permit for Delhi and Taj Mahal. At the time we were not sure what to expect, but we decided to take our chances anyway. Even if we failed with a permit, at least we would see a new wonder of the world.
The next thing we know, we are talking to the middle-age man from the local administration. It's hard to remember what exactly we were talking about, but we got him interested in our project. At the moment he didn't give us a definite answer. But he did ask us to give him time to see if it was possible to get permit for aerial photography. Meanwhile he assigned a guide to give us a half-hour tour around museums and the temple grounds.
To tell you the truth, I didn't know of Swaminarayan Akshardham existence. For me it was just another Indian temple. But that was before I entered its premises...
Usually, at the end of every trip, when almost every day you see wonders of nature and artisan masterpieces, your emotions get "washed out". It is very unlikely that something would be able to surprise you. But this was an exception! To say that I was surprised is to say nothing! I was smitten by the grandeur of the idea and its magnificent implementation in stone. It's hard to describe the range of feelings you experience while walking the grounds of Swaminarayan Akshardham. You feel harmony, tranquility, and strength of your spirit. The only time I experienced something similar was during my visit to the Meteora monasteries in Greece.
Our guide told us that the temple has no iron elements in its structure, and no cement. The concrete was used only in the foundation. The rest was made of stone. Marble and granite for the construction was delivered from all over the world. It was processed using special technology, and then joint together. All pillars of the temple are stacked, and all stone elements are turned 90 degrees after being connected. It was done to provide seismic resistance in case of earthquakes, which sometimes happen in India. Imagine the level of precision required for stone processing to assemble this big "puzzle".
Beside the buildings' structure, wall facing is quite impressive: stone figurines cover the walls all around! The size of the carvings ranges greatly: from actual size to palm size, but even the smallest figurines have the highest level of detail.
The time of our excursion flew by. I was heading toward the exit, but felt confident that we would be back here.
We were called the following evening and granted the permit to photograph Swaminarayan Akshardham. Our first photo session was scheduled early in the morning, just before the site opens for tourists. Pigeons, flying in the morning sky, quickly welcomed our RC helicopter to their flock.
It was the most comfortable photo session we had in India: both by the atmosphere and the working process. Everything indeed went very smoothly. The temple security arranged an area for us in the center of the alley for the night shooting. The temple lighting was switched on 15 minutes earlier than usual especially for our photo shoot. We just couldn't do a bad job in these perfect conditions.
Leaving premises I realized that I had just completed my most important photo shoot in India. It wasn't Taj Mahal that won me over in this extraordinary and amazing country, but Swaminarayan Akshardham! I truly hope to return to this temple one more time someday.
Photography by Stanislav Sedov and Dmitry Moiseenko
14 August 2012 |
President Trump said Friday he is "100 percent" willing to testify under oath about his interactions with James Comey in order to dispute the fired FBI director’s claims.
“One hundred percent,” Trump said when asked if he would give a sworn statement to Robert Mueller, the special counsel leading the investigation into Russia’s election interference.
"I would be glad to tell him exactly what I told you,” the president said during a press conference in the White House Rose Garden.
In his first comments since Comey's dramatic testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday, Trump accused the ousted FBI chief of making false statements about their private conversations.
ADVERTISEMENT
Trump said Comey’s statements vindicated his long-held claims that he did not collude with Russia to tip the election in his favor and that he did not interfere with the federal probe.
“Yesterday showed no collusion, no obstruction,” he said. “But we were very, very happy and, frankly, James Comey confirmed a lot of what I said. And some of the things that he said just weren't true.”
Trump again refused to say whether there are secret recordings of his conversations with Comey, a stunning suggestion he made on Twitter three days after he decided to ax him.
But he indicated the tapes might not exist, telling reporters, “you will be very disappointed when you hear the answer.”
Trump’s offer to sit for an interview with Mueller raises the stakes in the Russia probe.
Comey’s testimony gave the special counsel plenty of material to consider as he investigates whether the president or his associates acted illegally.
Trump said he did not pressure the FBI chief to drop an investigation into his former national security adviser Michael Flynn, reiterating a denial made by his personal lawyer, Marc Kasowitz.
“I didn’t say that,” Trump said of his alleged request of Comey to “let go” of the Flynn probe.
Trump flatly denied that he demanded a pledge of personal loyalty from the former FBI director.
“No,” Trump said. “I hardly know the man, I’m gonna say, 'I want you to pledge allegiance.’ ”
Democrats and some legal experts have cited those actions to accuse Trump of obstruction of justice in the Russia probe.
The question of whether there are tapes of his conversations with Comey has also dogged Trump.
"James Comey better hope that there are no 'tapes' of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!" Trump tweeted on May 12.
James Comey better hope that there are no "tapes" of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 12, 2017
For the past month, Trump and his aides have repeatedly stonewalled on whether the president actually routinely had his White House conversations recorded — a practice that ended amid the Watergate scandal that led to President Richard Nixon's resignation.
Comey told senators that he hopes those recordings exist because they would back up his side of the story.
“Lordy, I hope there are tapes,” he said Thursday.
He also pointed to the “tapes” tweet as the reason he decided to leak memos recounting his conversations with Trump, saying he was afraid Trump would use them to misrepresent their conversations.
Trump doubled down on his team’s effort to discredit Comey, accusing him of acting improperly by revealing their private conversations.
“No collusion, no obstruction. He's a leaker,” Trump said. "But we want to get back to running our great country."
Updated: 4:35 p.m. |
The Associated Press
LONDON -- The Latest on the publication by a coalition of media outlets of an investigation into offshore financial dealings by the rich and famous (all times local):
5:20 p.m.
Panama is fighting back against accusations the country is a haven for money laundering.
Panama's Foreign Relations Ministry has sent a letter to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development saying any suggestion that the country harbours shady financial dealings is categorically untrue.
OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria said the Panama Papers leak has shown that the country tolerates a "culture of secrecy" in financial transactions. Gurria said Panama was the last major jurisdiction allowing clients to hide money from tax and law enforcement officials.
Panama responded Wednesday that it's being unfairly singled out for criticism, and suggested a better target for investigation might be the British Virgin Islands.
The Foreign Ministry says Panama's laws "are not fundamentally different from those of any other financial jurisdiction."
------
4:25 p.m.
The Panamanian law firm at the centre of the huge leak of data on offshore accounts reportedly incorporated a string of companies named after James Bond films.
The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, which says it's one of the outlets given access to the leaked documents, says law firm Mossack Fonseca incorporated companies named Goldfinger, SkyFall, GoldenEye and Moonraker and was asked to set up a firm called Octopussy.
The OCCRP said the law firm also incorporated companies named Blofeld and Spectre, after the classic Bond villain and his organization. In addition, its report said, the files contain correspondence from a man called Austin Powers -- but that apparently was his real name.
------
4:10 p.m.
Spanish media are reporting that movie director Pedro Almodovar has cancelled publicity events for his new movie "Julieta" following intense interest in the offshore company he owned with his brother years ago.
The Europa Press news agency says Almodovar cancelled an appearance at a photo shoot and interviews ahead of the movie's premiere in Madrid on Wednesday night. It will be released to the public Friday in Spain.
Almodovar's production company El Deseo asked The Associated Press to submit questions in writing and did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
"Julieta" is Almovodar's 20th movie. Europa Press said actors in the movie, including Emma Suarez, Adriana Ugarte, Rossy de Palma, Daniel Grao, Inma Cuesta and Michelle Jenner went ahead and did interviews.
Almodovar's brother Agustin on Monday blamed his lack of experience for a decision to set up an offshore company in the British Virgin Islands in 1991 that was shut down in 1994.
------
4 p.m.
Authorities in the British Virgin Islands say the release of confidential files from a law firm in Panama have prompted them to investigate whether there have been any breaches of financial regulations in the Caribbean territory.
The British Virgin Islands has long played a prominent role in the offshore financial industry, and it has figured notably in the leak of documents from the Mossack-Fonseca law firm. The British territory is frequently used as a registry for offshore companies and trusts in a way that allows their owners to shield their identities from the public.
Financial regulators in BVI issued a statement saying they will "pursue a thorough investigation through the BVI's competent authorities, and further action will be taken, where necessary."
The BVI says it has "rigorous" regulatory oversight of its financial sector and adheres to international standards. Last year, the territory recorded 9,388 company incorporations, down from 11,436 a year earlier. The chain of islands has a population of about 30,000.
------
1:35 p.m.
A Spanish news website says a document in the massive leak of material from a Panamanian law firm shows that Nobel literature laureate Mario Vargas Llosa and his ex-wife were listed as shareholders in an offshore British Virgin Islands company for about a month in 2010.
However, a statement from Vargas Llosa's literary agent said he was surprised to hear that the two were listed as shareholders with Talome Services Corp.
News site El Confidencial said Wednesday it obtained the document from the cache of leaked material from law firm Mossack Fonseca. Its report says emails show a Vargas Llosa representative asked lawyers to remove Vargas Llosa and his ex-wife as shareholders on Oct. 6, 2010.
Vargas Llosa was awarded the Nobel prize on Oct. 7. El Confidencial says the company's shareholders were changed from Vargas Llosa and his ex-wife to two Russians on Oct. 12.
The statement from Vargas Llosa's agent says he and his ex-wife never interacted with Mossack Fonseca. It also says Vargas Llosa has complied with all tax regulations in Spain and elsewhere.
---
1:25 p.m.
Malta's health and energy minister is facing calls for his resignation after he was named in a leak of documents from a Panama-based law firm.
Konrad Mizzi, who is also deputy leader of the governing Labour Party, has acknowledged owning a company in Panama which is held by a trust in New Zealand.
However, Mizzi insists that the leaked documents make no reference to him holding any funds in Panama. He said he has commissioned an independent tax audit to prove that he's done nothing wrong, and that the company in Panama "will be closed soon after the tax investigation is concluded."
The opposition Nationalist Party is holding a protest to press for Mizzi's resignation on Sunday.
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has stood by his minister, but said he will dismiss him if it emerges that what Mizzi is saying is untrue.
------
1:10 p.m.
A lawyer for Nico Rosberg says the Formula One driver used an offshore company solely for liability reasons and to enable him to operate internationally.
German public broadcaster NDR has reported that Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca manages a company called Ambitious Group Ltd which has a contract with Mercedes for Rosberg's "driver services."
Mossack Fonseca is at the centre of a vast leak of confidential documents detailing the offshore business arrangements of thousands of wealthy people.
Rosberg's German lawyer Christian Schertz says British Virgin Islands-registered Ambitious Group wasn't used for tax avoidance.
Schertz said in a statement late Tuesday that "tax-wise, Mr. Rosberg acted correctly in every way."
He says Rosberg, who won Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix, is registered in Monaco for tax purposes and receives all payments there.
------
1:10 p.m.
France's far-right National Front party is filing law suits for defamation against media who imply that it or leader Marine Le Pen -- who plans to run in the 2017 presidential race -- may be implicated in the Panama papers scandal.
Party lawyer David Dassa-Le Deist issued a statement Wednesday saying defamation proceedings "have been started on this day."
The statement did not name the media being targeted. However, it noted the daily Le Monde's article Tuesday looking into alleged offshore dealings by a longtime Le Pen acquaintance whose company provides publicity for electoral campaigns. The paper also examined potential but unproven offshore interests of Le Pen's father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, via a former employee.
Le Pen's anti-immigration National Front portrays globalization as one of the enemies to redressing the French economy and preserving the nation's identity, making any innuendo that people linked to the party may allegedly be using foreign shell companies to hide funds a sensitive issue.
------
10:25 a.m.
The president of Ukraine has defended himself in the massive leak of records on offshore accounts that has named political officials, business and celebrities from around the world.
Petro Poroshenko said at a news conference in Tokyo on Wednesday that an offshore holding company set up for his candy business was a necessary step to put his assets into a blind trust when he became president in 2014.
The leaks have raised suspicion that such offshore entities were set up to avoid taxes. Iceland's prime minister resigned as the scandal deepened on Tuesday.
Poroshenko insisted that his case is different than Iceland's or Russia's, and that the company was not set up to minimize taxes.
He is in Japan this week to meet the Japanese prime minister and business leaders.
------
10:20 a.m.
India's top Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan has denied any connection to four shipping companies registered in tax havens following the publication of the names of rich and powerful people linked to the leaks, dubbed the Panama Papers.
He was responding to a report published Monday by The Indian Express newspaper based on the Panama Papers.
Bachhan tweeted an image of his statement late Tuesday: "It is possible that my name has been misused."
He said he did not know any of the companies he was allegedly linked to and has never been a director for any of them.
He added: "I have paid all my taxes including on monies spent by me overseas. Monies that I have remitted overseas have been in compliance with law, including remittances through LRS (Liberalized Remittance Scheme) after paying Indian taxes. In any event the news report in the Indian Express doesn't even suggest any illegality on my part." |
Sporting KC’s biggest challenge came in their first match, when they outlasted USL Pro side (and MLS hopefuls) Orlando City, 3-2. Since then, they haven’t conceded a goal: 2-0 over Colorado, 3-0 over USL Pro’s Dayton Dutch Lions and 2-0 over Philadelphia in the semifinals. Captain Jimmy Nielsen owns all three of those clean sheets. ROAD TO THE FINAL The Sounders outscored their four opponents 15-2 on their way to their fourth straight Open Cup final. After trouncing the Atlanta Silverbacks and Cal FC by a combined scoreline of 10-1 at home, they faced what might well be their toughest task during their Open Cup history when they played San Jose on the road, gutting out a 1-0 win. Facing Chivas USA in the semifinals seemed to be almost an afterthought, and they easily won 4-1.
Silverware is an expectation for Sporting’s ownership group this season. With the Eastern Conference race turning tighter and tighter each week and San Jose making a surprising run toward the Supporters' Shield, Sporting would love to lock up a CONCACAF Champions League spot well before the end of the MLS season. WHAT'S AT STAKE? Nothing less than history for the Sounders. By winning on Wednesday, they'll become the first team to win the 99-year-old US Open Cup four straight times. That's a feat that no team in the comparably long histories of England, France, Germany or Italy has accomplished. Among the big European domestic tournaments, only the Copa del Rey has had a four-time repeating champion, but not since Athletic Bilbao won their fourth in 1933.
Sporting’s defensive triangle (d-mid and center backs) against Seattle’s forward tandem of Eddie Johnson and Mauro Rosales. The way those two are in sync with each other right now, Sporting will need to throw them off their rhythm early and often (without drawing cards.) That won’t be easy, with physical Frenchman Aurélien Collin unavailable for the final. MATCHUP TO WATCH The Sounders backline has been the weak link recently, which should be severely tested by the three-headed monster that is the Sporting KC front line. The return of goalkeeper Michael Gspurning has helped solidify the defense, but this will be just his third appearance since early May and the kinks are still being worked out.
Teal Bunbury's always dangerous when he’s just broken a drought, as he did in last weekend’s 1-0 away victory against New England. He’s also starting to use his size to knock defenders off the ball, rather than vice versa. Here, the question is whether the officials will let him do that or whistle him. PLAYER TO WATCH Osvaldo Alonso has been the engine that has made the Sounders' Open Cup machine work. He's a tireless worker on both sides of the ball. But he's rarely faced an adversary like Roger Espinoza, who plays a very similar role for Sporting KC's midfield. If Alonso can still keep from being neutralized, it should be a good day for the Sounders.
Will Vermes put right back Chance Myers and forward C.J. Sapong in the XI if they’re available, or will he go with Michael Harrington in the backline and Soony Saad as a winger/withdrawn striker? Both looked solid against the Revs, but Myers (when he’s healthy) is a crossing machine and Saad has never played in a pro match where the stakes are this high. With SKC suffering from a spate of injuries, Vermes has some decisions to make. WILDCARD The Sounders have gone 6-1-1 against Kansas City since 2009, which includes an active seven-game unbeaten streak that includes one previous Open Cup meeting. That's somewhat deceptive, though, as the Sounders have won each of those games by one goal, needed to come back twice and scored the game-winner in the 89th minute or later four times, including the Open Cup win in 2009. Might the Sounders have a little bit of an edge if this game is close late?
Roger Espinoza’s back in town. Sore shoulder or no, Espinoza is on fire right now. His smarts have caught up with his heart, and he’s beginning to realize just how good he can be and where his skills can take him (which is probably to Europe, either in this transfer window or the next). And after taking on the Next Big Thing in Brazil’s Neymar, there’s no way he’s intimidated by anyone Seattle throws at him. THEY'LL WIN BECAUSE... The Sounders simply don't lose Open Cup games. Even dating back to their days in the USL, they haven't lost in regulation since 2005. During the MLS era, they are 15-0-1 (they had to beat the Portland Timbers in a shootout in 2010) and have outscored their opponents 38-10 along the way. That's domination, no matter who or where you're playing. Easily explained or not, the Sounders seem to play this tournament at a different level than their opponents. |
For the album by Willis Jackson, see Gatorade (album)
The Gatorade Company, Inc. is an American manufacturer of sports-themed beverage and food products, built around its signature line of sports drinks. Gatorade is currently manufactured by PepsiCo and is distributed in over 80 countries.[3] The beverage was first developed in 1965 by a team of researchers led by Robert Cade. It was originally made for the Gators at the University of Florida to replenish the carbohydrates that the school's student-athletes burned and the combination of water and electrolytes that they lost in sweat during rigorous sports activities.
Originally produced and marketed by Stokely-Van Camp, the Gatorade brand was purchased by the Quaker Oats Company in 1988, which, in turn, was bought by PepsiCo in 2000.[4] As of 2010, Gatorade is PepsiCo’s 4th-largest brand, on the basis of worldwide annual retail sales.[5] It competes with Coca-Cola's Powerade and Vitaminwater brands worldwide, and with Lucozade in the United Kingdom. Within the United States, Gatorade accounts for approximately 75% of market share in the sports drink category.[6]
History [ edit ]
University of Florida football player Chip Hinton testing Gatorade in 1965, pictured next to the leader of its team of inventors, Robert Cade
Gatorade was created in 1965 by a team of scientists at the University of Florida College of Medicine, including Robert Cade, Dana Shires, Harry James Free, and Alejandro de Quesada.[7] Following a request from Florida Gators football head coach Ray Graves, Gatorade was created to help athletes by acting as a replacement for body fluids lost during physical exertion. The earliest versions of the beverage consisted of a mixture of water, sodium, sugar, potassium, phosphate, and lemon juice.[8] Ten players on the University of Florida football team tested the first version of Gatorade during practices and games in 1965, and the tests were deemed successful. On the other hand, star quarterback Steve Spurrier said, "I don’t have any answer for whether the Gatorade helped us be a better second-half team or not. . . . We drank it, but whether it helped us in the second half, who knows?"[9] Nonetheless, the football team credited Gatorade as having contributed to their first Orange Bowl win over the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in 1967, at which point the drink gained traction within the athletic community. Yellow Jackets coach Bobby Dodd, when asked why his team lost, replied: "We didn't have Gatorade. That made the difference."[10]
The University of Florida researchers initially considered naming their product "Gator-Aid". They settled on the name Gatorade, however, since the researchers wanted to create a commercial product, not a scientifically-validated one. Darren Rovell notes his history of Gatorade, First in Thirst, "the doctors realized that they probably shouldn't use the 'Aid' suffix, since that would mean that if the drink were ever marketed, they would have to prove that it had a clear medicinal use and perform clinical tests on thousands of people."[11] Gatorade co-inventor Dana Shires explained, "We were told that you couldn't use that because the Food and Drug Administration prohibited that. That would classify it as something other than a cola or soft drink, so we changed it to ade."[12]
For example, some were skeptical that the product's effect was anything more than a placebo effect. Cade mentioned, "If you told a football player that you were giving him Demerol to relieve pain and you gave him a placebo instead, there's about a 30% chance that the placebo will relieve the pain as much as taking Demerol would have."[13]
Shortly after the 1969 Orange Bowl, Robert Cade entered into an agreement providing Stokely-Van Camp, Inc. (SVC), a canned-food packaging company, with the U.S. rights to production and sale of Gatorade as a commercial product.[8] In the same year, a licensing arrangement made Gatorade the official sports drink of the National Football League (NFL), representing the first in a history of professional sports sponsorship for the Gatorade brand. A year after its commercial introduction, S-VC tested multiple variations of the original Gatorade recipe, finally settling on more palatable variants in lemon-lime and orange flavors. This reformulation also removed the sweetener cyclamate—which was banned by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1969 - replacing it with additional fructose.[14] In the early 1970s, legal questions arose regarding whether or not the researchers who invented Gatorade were entitled to ownership of its royalties since they had been working under a research grant from the federal government which provided financial stipends.[8] The University of Florida also claimed partial rights of ownership, which was brought to resolution in 1973 in the form of a settlement awarding the university with a 20% share of Gatorade royalties.[15] As of 2009, the university had received more than $150 million from its share and was receiving approximately $12 million per year.[16]
Prior version of the Gatorade logo, in use (with minor variations) from 1973 to 2009. This version of the logo is still in use in the United Kingdom , and in Ireland
The Quaker Oats Company purchased SVC and Gatorade in 1983 for $220 million, following a bidding war with rival Pillsbury. In its first two decades of production, Gatorade was primarily sold and distributed within the United States. Beginning in the 1980s, the company expanded distribution of Gatorade, venturing into Canada in 1984, regions of Asia in 1987, South America and parts of Europe in 1988, and Australia in 1993. In 1990, Gatorade introduced Gatorade Light, a lower-calorie version sweetened with saccharin.[17] International expansion came at the cost of $20 million in 1996 alone; however, the resulting efforts produced worldwide sales of $283 million in more than 45 countries during the same year.[18] In 1997, distribution of Gatorade in an additional 10 countries prompted an 18.7% growth in annual sales.[19]
In 2001, the multinational food and beverage company PepsiCo acquired Gatorade's parent company, the Quaker Oats Company, for $13 billion in order to add Gatorade to its portfolio of brands. PepsiCo had also recently developed All Sport, which it divested of shortly following the Quaker acquisition to satisfy antitrust regulations. Worldwide development of Gatorade continued into the 2000s, including expansion into India in 2004, and the United Kingdom and Ireland in 2008.[19] As of 2010, Gatorade products were made available for sale in more than 80 countries.[3] As the number-one sports drink by annual retail sales in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Italy, Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Indonesia, and the Philippines, Gatorade is also among the leading sports drink brands in Korea and Australia.[20]
As the distribution of Gatorade expanded outside of the U.S., localized flavors were introduced to conform to regional tastes and cultural preferences, among other factors. For example, Blueberry is available in Colombia, and in Brazil, a Pineapple flavor of Gatorade is sold. In Australia,[citation needed] flavors include Antarctic Freeze and Wild Water Rush. Some flavors that have been discontinued in the U.S., such as Alpine Snow and Starfruit, have since been made available in other countries.[19]
In 2011, Gatorade was re-introduced to New Zealand by Bluebird Foods, a PepsiCo subsidiary in New Zealand. The product is made in Australia by Schweppes Australia, and imported to New Zealand and distributed along with Bluebird potato chips.
Products [ edit ]
Lemon-lime Gatorade in a glass bottle, circa 1970s
In its early years, the Gatorade brand consisted of a single product line, Gatorade Thirst Quencher, which was produced in liquid and powder form under two flavor variants: Orange and Lemon Lime.[21] These remained as the only two flavor options for nearly 20 years, until the addition of the fruit punch flavor in 1983.[22] In 1988 a Citrus Cooler flavor was introduced. The rise to popularity of this flavor was largely a result of Michael Jordan, who, at the height of his NBA career in the early 1990s, stated that it was his favorite flavor. This claim appeared on the packaging beginning in 1991, as part of a 10-year endorsement deal.[23][24] The Citrus Cooler flavor was reportedly discontinued at some point in the 1990s;[25] however, as of 2011, it is listed as being a current product in the U.S.[26] In the late 1970s and early 1980s, as well as the late 1990s to early 2000s, a Gatorade brand of chewing gum called Gator Gum was produced. The product, manufactured by Fleer Corporation, was available in both of Gatorade's original flavors (lemon-lime and orange). In the late 1970s, Stokely-Van Camp (owner of Gatorade before 1983) negotiated a long-term licensing deal with Swell and Vicks to market Gator Gum. The gum was discontinued in 1989 after the contract expired.[18][19]
It was not until the mid and late 1990s that Gatorade beverages became available in a broader range of flavor variations. Among these initial flavor extensions were Watermelon, introduced in 1995, and Cherry Rush, Strawberry Kiwi, and Mandarina flavors, added in 1996.[18][19]:171[27] In January 1997 Gatorade launched a new sub-line called Gatorade Frost with the intent of broadening the brand's appeal beyond traditional team competitive sports. Three initial flavors under the Frost product line were introduced at this time: Alpine Snow, Glacier Freeze, and Whitewater Splash.[28] Aimed at what the company described as the 'active thirst' category—a market 10 times the size of the sports drink segment—Gatorade Frost proved to be successful, far surpassing the company's initial expectations. Flavors in the Frost line were the first from Gatorade to divert from fruit names; it was described as consisting of "light-tasting fruit-flavor blends".[18]
Gatorade revealed the Gatorade Energy Bar in 2001. This bar was Gatorade's first foray into solid foods and was introduced to compete with PowerBar and Clif Bar. Gatorade Energy Bars contained a large proportion of protein, in addition to carbohydrates. The bar was primarily made up of puffed grains and corn syrup, common components of other energy bars.[19] In 2001, Gatorade introduced the Gatorade Performance Series, a special line of sports nutrition products. These products include Gatorade Carbohydrate Energy Drink, Gatorade Protein Recovery Shake, the Gatorade Nutrition Shake, and the Gatorade Nutrition Bar. The Endurance Formula, introduced in 2004, contained twice the sodium and three times the potassium of the typical Gatorade formula as well as chloride, magnesium, and calcium, to better replace what athletes lose while training and competing.[29]
Gatorade Ice in 2002, this flavor was re-labeled as Gatorade Rain in 2006 and No Excuses in 2009. Introduced asin 2002, this flavor was re-labeled asin 2006 andin 2009.
Introduced in 2002, Gatorade Ice was marketed as a lighter flavored Gatorade and came in Strawberry, Lime, Orange, and Watermelon. All of these flavors were colorless and transparent. Ice was re-branded in 2006 as Gatorade Rain and the flavor selections altered. In late 2007, a low-calorie line of Gatorade drinks, named G2, was released.[30] G2 was meant for athletes off the field and the yoga crowd.[4] As of 2015 , G2 has been produced in eight flavors: Orange, Fruit Punch, Grape, Lemon-Lime, Tropical blend, Blueberry-Pomegranate, Raspberry Melon, and Glacier Freeze. SymphonyIRI Group named G2 the "top new food product of 2008", noting that the product generated retail sales of $159.1 million in its first full year of production.[31]
Gatorade Tiger was a Gatorade Thirst Quencher sports drink formed as the result of a sponsorship arrangement with Tiger Woods. Debuting in March 2008, Gatorade Tiger was available in Red Drive (cherry), Cool Fusion (lemon-lime), and Quiet Storm (grape). Gatorade Tiger contained 25% more electrolytes than Gatorade Thirst Quencher.[32] As part of the 2009 rebranding, Gatorade Tiger was re-labeled as Focus. It was reformulated, adding the amino acid theanine, which is naturally found in many forms of tea, improving mental focus. Focus contained about 25 mg per 8 US fluid ounces (240 ml) serving or 50 mg per 16.9 US fluid ounces (500 ml) bottle. On 25 November 2009, it was reported by Beverage Digest, and later confirmed by PepsiCo, that they had made a decision, several months before November 2009, to discontinue some products to make room for the Prime and Recover products as part of a then-upcoming G Series re-branding.[33] In 2015, the Gatorade Energy gummies made their debut along with the Gatorade energy bar.
G Series introduced in 2010, from left to right: Prime 01 (pre-game fuel)
Perform 02: Gatorade Thirst Quencher (original Gatorade)
Perform 02: G2 low-calorie
Recover 03 (post-game protein) (pre-game fuel)(original Gatorade)(post-game protein)
In 2010, Gatorade re-branded a number of its products.[34] Original Gatorade was initially re-labeled as Gatorade G. Gatorade Rain was re-labeled as No Excuses. Gatorade AM was re-labeled Shine On; Gatorade X-Factor was relabeled as Be Tough, and Gatorade Fierce was relabeled Bring It. However, these names were short-lived, as a 2% decline in market share in 2009 led to a broader repositioning of the entire line in 2010.[35][36] Beginning in February 2010, the Gatorade product portfolio was re-positioned around what the company refers to as the G Series, categorizing varieties of its products into three main segments: before, during, and after athletic events.[37]
The Prime 01 product line consists of a pre-game fuel in a gel consistency, positioned for consumption prior to athletic activity. [3]
product line consists of a pre-game fuel in a gel consistency, positioned for consumption prior to athletic activity. Traditional Gatorade products such as Gatorade Thirst Quencher (Original Gatorade), G2 , and Gatorade Powder are categorized under the Perform 02 classification, representing their intention for consumption during periods of physical exertion. [37]
(Original Gatorade), , and are categorized under the classification, representing their intention for consumption during periods of physical exertion. Recover 03 refers to a post-workout protein and carbohydrate drink, formulated with the consistency of a sports drink. The composition of this beverage reflects its intention to provide both hydration and muscle recovery after exercise.[3]
G Series Pro, a brand extension initially developed for professional athletes, began to be sold in GNC and Dick's Sporting Goods stores in the U.S. in 2010 after first being available only in professional locker rooms and specialized training facilities.[38] Also in 2010, Gatorade introduced the G Natural Gatorade line which is made with "natural flavors and ingredients", specifically sweetened with Stevia and sold in Whole Foods grocery stores within the United States. G Natural was released in two flavors: G Orange Citrus and G2 Berry.[39] The G Series began to replace prior iterations of Gatorade product lines in the U.S. (the brand's highest volume market) in 2010,[40] and Canada in 2011.[41] While Gatorade products have historically been developed for athletes engaging in competitive sporting events, a separate line of products formulated for consumption before, during and after personal fitness exercise was introduced in the U.S. in 2011.[42] Labeled under the name G Series FIT, this product line consists of pre-workout fruit-and-nut bites, lightly flavored electrolyte replacement drinks, as well as post-workout protein recovery smoothies.[43][44]
Composition and health concerns [ edit ]
The original Gatorade is based on oral rehydration therapy, a mixture of salt, sugar, and water, with the citrus-based flavoring and added food coloring. The composition of individual Gatorade products varies depending upon the product in question, as well as the country in which it is sold. Gatorade Thirst Quencher contains water, sucrose (table sugar), dextrose, citric acid, natural flavor, sodium chloride (table salt), sodium citrate, monopotassium phosphate, and flavoring/coloring ingredients. Some Gatorade flavor variations used to contain brominated vegetable oil as a stabilizer.[45] Brominated vegetable oil was discontinued in 2013, and has been replaced with sucrose acetate isobutyrate.[46] An 8 US fluid ounces (240 ml) serving of Gatorade Perform 02 (Gatorade Thirst Quencher) contains 50 calories, 14 grams of carbohydrates, 110 mg sodium and 30 mg potassium.[47]
Gatorade Thirst Quencher is sweetened using a sucrose-dextrose mix. For a period of time in the 1990s and early 2000s, high fructose corn syrup was used to sweeten Gatorade distributed in North America, but as of 2011, the drink once again sweetened with a sucrose-dextrose combination, which the company describes as being "preferred by consumers". G2 and G2 Natural, labeled as being "lower calorie" variants, are sweetened in part with PureVia, an extract of the Stevia plant.[48]
The presence of calories, sugar, and sodium in Gatorade products has drawn attention from public school constituents, who have raised question over whether the sale of Gatorade beverages should be permitted in such schools. In 2010, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger sponsored a bill (SB 1295) which proposed a ban on the sale of sports drinks in California schools. In 2015, the University of California, San Francisco began to phase out the sale of sodas, sports drinks and energy drinks in its cafeterias, vending machines, and campus catering and retail locations, and began to "sell only zero-calorie beverages or non-sweetened drinks with nutritional value, such as milk and 100% juice".[49]
There are 34 g of sugar in one 20 oz bottle of regular Gatorade. The maximum amount of sugars a person should eat in a day is 25 grams for women and 37.5 grams for men. According to the American Heart Association, the recommended maximum amount of sugar for women is about 6 teaspoons and about 9 teaspoons for men.[50] Family Education says the AHA states that children should consume even less sugar, no more than only about 3 to 4 teaspoons each day.[51]
In 2012, a study on nearly 11,000 teens reported that "teens put on even more weight if they drank a bottle of sports drink each day, averaging 3.5 pounds for every sports drinks consumed per day". The researchers concluded, "We need to educate parents and clinicians about what constitutes a sugary drink... Sports drinks are promoted by professional athletes as a healthy drink, but they really don't need to be used by kids unless they are continually exercising for long periods or they're in hot climates."[52]
The USDA states that the average American will consume 160 pounds of sugar each year; almost a half-pound of sugar per day.[53] One of the most prevalent ways that sugar is consumed is through drinks. Most people do not notice the amount of sugar that one given drink can have.
In January 2013, the Gatorade manufacturer (PepsiCo) agreed to remove brominated vegetable oil from its Gatorade products in the USA amidst health concerns.[54] The composition of Gatorade in Europe, Japan and India remain unaffected as BVO was outlawed there 23 years earlier.
Research and development [ edit ]
The Gatorade Sports Science Institute on West Main Street in Barrington, Illinois
Gatorade's inventors went on to develop new sports drinks. Gatorade's owners sued to acquire rights to these new products, but they never made them available publicly. First, Shires and Cade developed Go!, a drink that, unlike Gatorade, contained protein to stimulate muscular recovery. Stokley-Van Camp paid "a fee to have the exclusive rights for some period of time, but they never did develop it".[55]
In 1989, Dr. Cade created a new sports drink that he claimed was more effective than Gatorade. The new product was called TQ2, shorthand for Thirst Quencher 2. The patent application read:
"The invention described here is a novel fluid composition which surprisingly and advantageously maintains blood volume at levels well above those observed in the absence of fluids or even with Gatorade."[56]
In an experiment with cyclists, Cade found that TQ2 allowed athletes to endure for 30% longer than Gatorade.[57]
Cade pitched the TQ2 product to Pepsi and other beverage companies. Meanwhile, Gatorade's owner Quaker sued Cade. After years of legal proceedings, Cade was forced to sell TQ2 to Quaker in 1993. Quaker "bagged" TQ2, never releasing it to the public.[58] Gatorade claimed that its research found that TQ2 was not an improvement over the original Gatorade formula. Cade, on the other hand, continued to stand by his product. He accused Quaker and Gatorade of stifling the publication of the research behind TQ2.[59]
The Gatorade Sports Science Institute (GSSI), a research facility operated in Barrington, Illinois, has been featured in a number of the company's commercials.[60] Established in 1985,[3] this organization consists of scientists studying the correlation and effects of exercise, environmental variables, and nutrition on the human body. According to Darren Rovell, "GSSI was created at a time when there was a lot of scientific controversy, since there wasn't much public evidence that Gatorade actually worked...GSSI was also created to be part of Gatorade’s powerful marketing arm."[61]
It regularly conducts testing and research on how hydration and nutrition affect athletic performance.[60] Professional athletes such as Eli Manning[62] as well as collegiate and amateur athletes have been involved in fitness testing programs at the GSSI, which in part have led to innovations in new Gatorade formula variations and product lines.[63]
In 2001, the GSSI observed that professional race car drivers were not maintaining adequate levels of hydration during races, attributable to the nature of drivers enduring multiple-hour races in high temperatures. As a result, it developed a product called the "Gatorade In-Car Drinking System", which has since been implemented in the vehicles of many professional race car drivers.[64]
In addition to the Gatorade Sports Science Institute, Gatorade sponsors external health and fitness research. In 1992, Gatorade paid the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) $250,000. A year later, Gatorade and the American College of Sports Medicine held a roundtable meeting on "exercise and fluid replacement".[65] The ACSM published the meeting's results in 1996, advising athletes to drink "at a rate sufficient to replace all the water lost through sweating" or "the maximal amount that can be tolerated".[66] Gatorade continues to sponsor the American College of Sports Medicine, though the exact amount it pays is not public.[67]
Advertising and publicity [ edit ]
Early Gatorade advertisements claimed that the drink moved through the body 12 times faster than water. Research found that this was not true - Gatorade moves through the body at the same speed as water. Gatorade removed the claim from its advertisements.[68] [ Gatorade advertisements have claimed] that athletes need to consume at least "40 oz. per hour or your performance could suffer".[69] South African exercise physiologist Dr. Tim Noakes found that Cynthia Lucero died from exercise-associated hyponatremic encephalopathy drinking Gatorade at "the rate recommended by the advertisements".[70]
Gatorade is the official sports drink of the AFL, NFL, MLB, NBA, WNBA, USA Basketball, NHL, Association of Volleyball Professionals, Indian Super League, High School Sports Teams, NASCAR, and other professional and collegiate athletic organizations,[3] providing supplies of the drinks to sponsored teams in some cases. Distribution was extended to include the U.K. in 2008, coinciding with an agreement designating Gatorade as the official sports drink of Chelsea F.C.[71][72] Gatorade's 1991 "Be Like Mike" ads featured Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls, a North American basketball team which had just won its first National Basketball Association championship at the time. The ads began airing in August 1991 and "Be Like Mike" became a household phrase in the United States.[73] In 2015, new versions of the ads were produced to commemorate the brand's 50th anniversary. In more recent years, the Gatorade brand has continued to employ professional sports athletes in the promotion of its products. Primary endorsers in the 2000s have included Major League Baseball player Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees, National Hockey League player Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins, National Basketball Association player Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat and Chicago Bulls, PGA Tour golfer Tiger Woods, and National Football League quarterback Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos.[74] In April 2014 it was announced that Gatorade would become an official supplier to Formula 1 team Sahara Force India.
Gatorade also hosts a variety of awards given to high school athletes who excel in their respective sports. One prominent award given is the Gatorade National Football Player of the Year.[76]
The Gatorade shower [ edit ]
Gatorade has been the subject of substantial media attention and reference in popular culture situations, most of which are in relation to team or individual athletic sports. The most notable and ongoing presence of Gatorade in popular culture is the Gatorade shower, originally called the "Gatorade Dunk", where players from a victorious team pick up the Gatorade cooler, sneak up behind the head coach, and pour the contents of the cooler (generally Gatorade and ice) over his head at the end of an American football game. This tradition was popularized in the mid-1980s when Harry Carson and Jim Burt, of the New York Giants, doused head coach Bill Parcells during the 1985 season. Burt's teammates picked up on this practice and popularized it during the team's championship season of 1986–87. The tradition has since become a recurring tradition across other team sports, including Canadian football.[77]
Gatorade and oral rehydration [ edit ]
In the aftermath of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, aid agencies were struggling to save the lives of thousands of Rwandan refugees dying of dehydration due to cholera in camps in eastern Zaire.[78] The aid agency AmeriCares was heavily criticized for choosing to provide Gatorade as a form of oral rehydration solution.[79][80][81] The New York Times stated:
But while Gatorade might be good for athletes, it is not good for cholera, said Dr. Michael Toole, an epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control. Gatorade does not have all the essential ingredients that an I.V. has, and people who were given it might have taken more appropriate solutions, Dr. Toole said.[82]
AmeriCares' president responded: "We stand by our decision to ship Gatorade to Rwandan refugees. In the absence of potable water, Gatorade, with its electrolytes and water, saved countless lives in a true triage situation."[83]
Two studies have suggested that Gatorade is at least as effective in treating dehydration as oral rehydration salts for adults[84] or Pedialyte for children between the ages of 5 and 12.[85] In both studies, however, potassium deficiency (hypokalemia) was more common in patients receiving Gatorade. |
Advertisement
North Korea upped its warmongering with Donald Trump today in a series of menacing boasts threatening to 'ravage' US troops amid fears the two countries are heading for war.
The secretive state vowed to 'pulverize' US bases and South Korean capital Seoul if it was threatened by the US military, which is carrying out drills on the Korean peninsula. A US aircraft carrier group is steaming towards the region.
It claimed it would 'ruthlessly ravage' the US if Washington attacked. China warned the region could go to war 'at any moment'.
The rhetoric comes after North Korea warned that President Donald Trump's 'troublemaking' and 'aggressive' tweets have pushed the world to the brink of thermo-nuclear war.
Pyongyang's Vice Minister Han Song Ryol accused Trump of building up a 'vicious cycle' of tensions and warned the US against provoking North Korea militarily. He said: 'We will go to war if they choose.'
He added the country would continue developing its nuclear program and conduct its next nuclear test whenever its leaders see fit.
In the past week Trump has shown his willingness to launch military strikes, with US missiles deployed in Syria and Afghanistan.
North Korea, led by dictator Kim Jong-un, vowed to 'pulverize' US bases and South Korean capital Seoul if it was threatened by the US military, which is carrying out drills on the Korean peninsula
North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un was pictured this week overseeing a special forces commando operation, as leaders warned a war could break out imminently with the US
In other developments today, as tensions heighten in the Korean peninsula:
The North Korean Foreign Ministry's Institute for Disarmament and Peace warned a thermo-nuclear war could break out at any moment
China's foreign minister Wang Yi said anyone who provokes conflict would 'pay the price', and said there would be 'no winners'. China warned war could break out 'at any moment'
Air China announced that flights between Beijing and Pyongyang will be suspended from Monday
The Kremlin voiced concern about the escalation of tensions, and called for 'restraint' from all parties
The Korean People's Army in North Korea threatened to 'pulverize' US military bases in South Korea, and the South Korean presidential Blue House
North Korea cited US-South Korean wargames, the deployment of a US aircraft carrier to the peninsula last weekend, as well as Trump's recent tweets as the cause of the threat of war
South Korea's Foreign Ministry said saying Han's remarks reveal the 'true colours of North Korea's government that is bellicose and a breaker of regulations'
Japan said it is maintaining high levels of surveillance and taking 'every possible measure' to respond to any contingency on the Korean peninsula
The US has been carrying out operations in the Korean peninsula alongside Japanese allies to enhance combat readiness
US Army soldiers were pictured today taking part in exercises close to the border between North Korea in Paju, South Korea
Fully armed US Aircraft from the 18th Wing during the no-notice exercise in the Korean Peninsula
North Korea's military said it would 'ruthlessly ravage' the United States if Washington chose to attack.
The Korean People's Army statement boasted that US military bases in the South 'as well as the headquarters of evils such as the (South Korean presidential) Blue House would be pulverized within a few minutes'.
Han's earlier comments come as tensions rise over the possibility Kim Jong-un's regime will launch another nuclear weapons test tomorrow as North Korea marks the national holiday Day of the Sun, commemorating the birth of the country's founding father Kim Il Sung.
Military officers visit the birthplace of North Korean founder Kim Il Sung, a day before the 105th anniversary of his birth, in Mangyongdae, just outside Pyongyang, today
A North Korean soldier pictured today gazing across the Yalu river opposite the Chinese border city of Dandong, on a day when China warned war could break out 'at any moment'
North Korean officials warned President Trump against acting aggressively against the secretive state
At the same time, a spokesman for the North Korean Foreign Ministry's Institute for Disarmament and Peace issued a statement condemning the United States for attacking Syria last week, while also calling for 'peace by strength'.
'The US introduces into the Korean peninsula, the world's biggest hotspot, huge nuclear strategic assets, seriously threatening peace and security of the peninsula and pushing the situation there to the brink of a war,' the North's KCNA news agency said on Friday, citing the statement.
RUSSIAN LAWMAKER WARNS 'US IS A GREATER THREAT THAN NORTH KOREA' A senior Russian lawmaker said the US is a greater threat to global peace than North Korea. Konstantin Kosachev, head of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the upper house of Russian parliament, said today: 'The most alarming thing about the current U.S. administration is that you can't be sure if it is bluffing or really going to implement its threats.' He said 'America objectively poses a greater threat to peace than North Korea,' adding that 'the entire world is scared and left guessing if it strikes or not.; Kosachev said there is a "small hope" that President Donald Trump's administration would listen to warnings from Russia and China not to use military force.
'This has created a dangerous situation in which a thermo-nuclear war may break out any moment on the peninsula and posed serious threat to the world peace and security, to say nothing of those in Northeast Asia,' it said.
In a statement, the North Korean military, quoted by state media agency KCNA, said: 'Our toughest counteraction against the US and its vassal forces will be taken in such a merciless manner as not to allow the aggressors to survive.'
The statements were criticised by South Korea's Foreign Ministry, which said Han's remarks revealed the 'true colours of North Korea's government that is bellicose and a breaker of regulations'.
It said North Korea will face strong punishment it will find hard to withstand if it makes a significant provocation, such as another nuclear test or an intercontinental ballistic missile launch.
China immediately responded, saying anyone provoking conflict will 'pay the price'.
China's foreign minister Wang Yi said today there would be 'no winner' in any war, as tensions mount with the US.
He told reporters in Beijing: 'Dialogue is the only possible solution.'
Wang stated: 'Lately, tensions have risen with the US and the ROK (Republic of Korea in the South) on one side, and the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea in the North) on the other, and one has the feeling that a conflict could break out at any moment.
'If a war occurs, the result is a situation in which everybody loses and there can be no winner.'
Wang said that whichever side provoked a conflict 'must assume the historic responsibility and pay the corresponding price'.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists: 'Moscow is watching with great concern the escalation of tensions on the Korean peninsula. We call for restraint from all countries and warn countries not to pursue actions that could consist of any provocative steps.'
US troops carrying out military exercises near the border between North and South Korea in Paju, South Korea, today as tensions escalate
US Air Force 44th and 67th Fighter Squadron F-15 Eagles and 961st Airborne Air Control Squadron E-3 Sentries taxi down the runway in the joint drills with Japan which have provoked North Korean anger
The tension around North Korea is high ahead of a major North Korean holiday, the birthday of its founding dictator Kim Il Sung, tomorrow
North Korea blames Trump and the US for the rising tensions, according to Han, who cited US-South Korean wargames, the deployment of a US aircraft carrier to the peninsula last weekend, as well as Trump's recent tweets on Tuesday that the North is 'looking for trouble'.
Han's remarks, on the eve of the country's biggest national holiday, the 'Day of the Sun', were released hours after a member of the Trump administration denied a report claiming the US was prepared to launch a pre-emptive strike to halt any nuclear test at the weekend.
North Korea's vice foreign minister Han Song Ryol blamed President Donald Trump on Friday for 'making trouble' through his 'aggressive tweets'
He ordered air strikes on a Syrian air base in response to a chemical weapon attack and yesterday dropped the 'mother of all bombs' on a network of caves in Afghanistan, killing 36 ISIS fighters.
In another show of force, US military planes have been conducting military drills alongside Japan in the Korean peninsula.
On Tuesday the US President tweeted: 'North Korea is looking for trouble. If China decides to help, that would be great. If not, we will solve the problem without them! U.S.A.'
Trump's recent tweets on Tuesday said the North is 'looking for trouble'
Trump also called North Korea a 'menace' earlier this week and tweeted that if China doesn't do its part to rein in Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions, the US 'will solve the problem without them'.
Han said: 'As long as the nuclear threats and blackmail go on with the military exercises, we will carry forward with our national defense buildup, the core of which is the nuclear arms buildup.'
He also talked of a sixth nuclear test, saying: 'That is something that our headquarters decides. At a time and at a place where the headquarters deems necessary, it will take place.'
The North Korean official dismissed the suggestion Trump made last year during his presidential campaign that he was willing to meet Kim, possibly over hamburgers.
'I think that was nothing more than lip service during the campaign to make himself more popular," Han said.
'Now we are comparing Trump's policy toward the DPRK with the former administration's and we have concluded that it's becoming more vicious and more aggressive.'
China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned there would be 'no winner' if a conflict broke out between the United States and North Korea
Trump diverted the USS Carl Vinson (pictured in March) toward the Korean peninsula last weekend in a show of force against North Korea
US Vice President Mike Pence will embark on a 10-day visit to Asia, starting in South Korea on Sunday with contingency plans should it coincide with a nuclear test, a White House adviser said.
CIA director Mike Pompeo said North Korea was closer now than it had ever been to being able to threaten the United States with a nuclear-tipped intercontinental missile and increased its technical know-how with each new test.
Experts do not believe North Korea has a deliverable long-range nuclear weapon, or intercontinental missiles.
But that could change within the next few years, as experts say North Korea could have a viable nuclear warhead and a ballistic missile capable of hitting the US mainland during Trump's watch as president.
'KIM MAY BE ABLE TO STRIKE THE U.S. MAINLAND WITHIN FOUR YEARS' WARNS EX-CIA DIRECTOR Dennis Wilder warned that North Korea could be able to launch missiles that can hit the US west coast within four years North Korea could be capable of carrying out a missile strike on the US mainland within Donald Trump's first term as president, a former presidential adviser has warned. Dennis Wilder, who was a special assistant to George W Bush, urged world leaders not to underestimate Kim Jong-un. Wilder, who has served as CIA deputy assistant for East Asia and the Pacific, told ABC that North Korea could develop long-range intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of hitting the US west coast within four years. He said: 'We believe, and American intelligence estimates say this, that the North Koreans could have such a weapon within the next four years. In other words, during the term of President Trump.' But he warned that as tensions heighten, it is the South Korean population which is currently at the greatest risk from Pyongyang. Wilder said: 'Seoul is within artillery range of the demilitarised zone. We know that this is a dangerous situation for the South Korean people and the 10 million people there.'
Aerial photos taken Tuesday show continued activity at the Punggye-ri Nuclear site where US officials fear a nuclear device has been installed in a tunnel ahead of another test.
And Han, referring to North Korea as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, said Friday: 'If the US comes with reckless military maneuvers then we will confront it with the DPRK's preemptive strike.
'We've got a powerful nuclear deterrent already in our hands, and we certainly will not keep our arms crossed in the face of a U.S. preemptive strike.'
The message had been echoed in the days before, when North Korea said it would launch a 'merciless retaliatory strike' against US military action.
Pyongyang also recently launched a ballistic missile and some experts say it could conduct another nuclear test at virtually anytime.
Satellite images of the Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site taken on April 12 appears to show vehicles parked around the North Portal of the site. North Korean monitoring service 38 North said the facility is 'primed and ready' for a sixth nuclear test
But North Korea blames Trump and the US for the rising tensions, according to Han.
'Trump is always making provocations with his aggressive words. So that's why. It's not the DPRK but the U.S. and Trump that makes trouble,' he said.
The annual military exercises have consistently infuriated the North, which views them as rehearsals for an invasion.
Washington and Seoul deny that, but reports that exercises have included 'decapitation strikes' aimed at the North's leadership have fanned Pyongyang's anger.
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence will travel to South Korea on Sunday in what his aides said was a sign of the U.S. commitment to its ally
'Our stance toward their hostile policy is strident and clear-cut,' Han said. 'Now the Trump administration is thinking about several options as regards the DPRK. Those options include such reckless options as headquarter decapitation and the pre-emptive strike.
'Whatever comes from the US, we will cope with it. We are fully prepared to handle it.'
US intelligence officials told NBC if the US is convinced North Korea will follow through on a test, it can preemptively deploy Tomahawk missiles from two warships parked in the region.
Bombers are also being lined up in Guam, and cyber and special operations on the ground may be utilized, the officials said.
But a member of the administration shot down the idea, describing the report as 'flat wrong', while another official told Reuters it was 'speculative at best'.
The Pentagon declined comment, saying, as a policy, it does not discuss future operations 'nor publicly speculate on possible scenarios.'
North Korea gears up to celebrate the 'Day of the Sun' Amid rising regional tensions, Pyongyang residents have been preparing for North Korea's most important holiday: the 105th birth anniversary of Kim Il Sung, the country's late founder and grandfather of current ruler Kim Jong Un. Saturday's holiday, known as the Day of the Sun, normally includes an immense military parade and synchronized public performances, sometimes involving tens of thousands of people. North Koreans placed flower baskets and bouquets below portraits of founder president Kim Il Sung on Friday. A light rain fell in the capital, as people wearing gumboots and holding umbrellas walked past portraits of the late leader and signs proclaiming 'Sun Day is the most significant event in North Korea'. Government minders have not confirmed any details about Saturday with visiting foreign journalists. However, it is likely the current leader, Kim Jong Un, will make an appearance. North Korean schoolgirls perform at the Mangyongdae Children's Palace on Friday, April 14, 2017, in Pyongyang, North Korea Children perform a variety dance and music show during an organised tour of the Childrens Cultural Palace for visiting foreign journalists on the outskirts of Pyongyang on April 14 Such pageantry reinforces the cult of personality around the Kim family, three of whom have ruled North Korea with a vice-like grip. The visiting journalists saw nothing out of the ordinary in Pyongyang despite the talk of war. However, when foreign journalists visit North Korea, their movements are closely managed and they are usually restricted to Pyongyang. Conversations with people are monitored by government 'minders', who also provide translations into English. Near the birthplace of Kim Il Sung, a pilgrimage spot for North Koreans, commuters on Friday moved briskly on and off the subway, young women holding umbrellas walked by, clasping arms, while two children in blue school uniforms shuffled down the street holding a flower basket almost their own size. 'If the enemies want to wage war with our leaders, we have nothing to fear because we will win,' said Jon Myon Sop, who works at a bus station. 'I know about how tensions are rising on the Korean Peninsula and how the U.S. and its puppet countries have brought their military assets to the region.' Cho Hyon Ran, a tour guide at the site, said: 'We don't want war but we are not afraid of war because we have strong power, our country is the strongest one in the world now. 'You can see all people are laughing, all people are singing, all people are celebrating the Sun's day,' she said in English. 'We are not afraid of anything.' North Korean school boys sing at the Mangyongdae Children's Palace on Friday, April 14, 2017, in Pyongyang, North Korea Amid rising regional tensions, Pyongyang residents have been preparing for North Korea's most important holiday: the 105th birth anniversary of Kim Il Sung North Korean schoolgirls attend a dance class at the Mangyongdae Children's Palace ahead of the Day of the Sun
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence will travel to South Korea on Sunday in what his aides said was a sign of the U.S. commitment to its ally.
NORTH KOREAN CRISIS: HOW THE WORLD REACTED Key developments which have happened following Vice Minister Han Song Ryol's comments today: Japan is maintaining high levels of surveillance and taking 'every possible measure' to respond to any contingency on the Korean Peninsula. It is coordinating with the US, South Korea and other countries and will continue efforts to convince North Korea to refrain from further provocations and comply with UN resolutions banning Pyongyang's missile technology development.
A senior Russian lawmaker says the US is a greater threat to global peace than North Korea. Konstantin Kosachev, head of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the upper house of Russian parliament, said: 'The most alarming thing about the current US administration is that you can't be sure if it is bluffing or really going to implement its threats.' He said: 'America objectively poses a greater threat to peace than North Korea.'
The Kremlin is watching the developments around North Korea with 'great concern.' President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia is calling on all parties to show restraint and refrain from any provocative action.
South Korea's Foreign Ministry has criticised comments by North Korea's vice foreign minister Han Song Ryol, saying they reveal the 'true colours of North Korea's government that is bellicose and a breaker of regulations'. It says North Korea will face strong punishment it will find hard to withstand if it makes a significant provocation, such as another nuclear test.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi says there would be no winners in an armed conflict between the US and North Korea over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons and missile programs. Wang said that all sides must stop provoking and threatening each other and take a flexible approach to resuming dialogue.
Some Chinese experts said they see little immediate possibility of hostilities breaking out between the US and North Korea, but say Beijing will respond harshly to any further North Korean nuclear tests. Director of Jilin University's Institute of Northeast Asian Studies Guo Rui said President Trump's domestic troubles should prevent him taking such action, while North Korea doesn't appear to be on a war footing. Guo says although the tension on the Korean Peninsula is high, it's not high to the point of having an imminent war.
Pence's Seoul stop kicks off a long-planned 10-day trip to Asia - his first as vice president - and comes amid concerns that Pyongyang could soon conduct its sixth nuclear test.
President Donald Trump has warned against further provocations, sending an aircraft carrier group to the region as a show of force. His officials have been assessing tougher economic sanctions as well as military options to curb North Korea's nuclear ambitions.
Pence plans to celebrate Easter with US and Korean troops on Sunday before talks on Monday with acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn.
'We're going to consult with the Republic of Korea on North Korea's efforts to advance its ballistic missile and its nuclear program,' a White House foreign policy adviser told reporters, previewing Pence's trip.
Pence will land in Seoul the day after North Korea's biggest national day, the 'Day of the Sun.'
The White House has contingency plans for Pence's trip should it coincide with a another North Korean nuclear test by its leader Kim Jong Un, the adviser said.
'Unfortunately, it's not a new surprise for us. He continues to develop this program, he continues to launch missiles into the Sea of Japan,' the adviser said.
'With the regime it's not a matter of if - it's when. We are well prepared to counter that,' the adviser said.
U.S. officials have played down the prospect of any military strike against North Korea, which would likely provoke massive North Korean retaliation and huge casualties in Japan and South Korea and among U.S. forces in both countries.
China, North Korea's sole major ally and neighbor, opposes its weapons program and has called for talks leading to a peaceful resolution and the denuclearization of the peninsula.
'Military force cannot resolve the issue,' Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters in Beijing. 'Amid tensions we will also find a kind of opportunity to return to talks.'
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also underscored fears about possible threats from North Korea, telling parliament in Tokyo that Pyongyang could have the capacity to deliver missiles equipped with sarin nerve gas.
Kim Jong-un made a public appearance in Pyongyang on Thursday, to open a housing project featuring residential tower blocks of various shapes - round, square and octagonal - with the tallest proclaimed as 70 storeys, or 234 metres, high, and including nearly 5,000 apartments in total.
Around 200 foreign journalists are in Pyongyang as the country marks the 105th anniversary of 'Day of the Sun'.
Officials had given no details as to the nature of a planned 'big' event today or where it would take place, and similar announcements in the past have been linked to relatively low-key set pieces. In the end, it turned out to be the grand unveiling of a block of flats.
In 2016, for example, foreign journalists underwent hours of investigation by North Korean officials ahead of what turned out to be a pop concert to mark the finale of a ruling Workers' Party congress.
Washington-based 38 North, who monitors North Korea, has reported 'unusually high levels of activity' at the Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site over the past four weeks.
New satellite imagery from April 2 showed there was more activity around the North Portal, which is the tunnel where the four most recent nuclear tests have taken place.
It was revealed that Kim Jong-Un had overseen a special forces commando operation, watching from an observation post as special forces dropped from light transport planes 'like hail' and 'mercilessly blew up enemy targets'.
With a broad smile on his face, Kim praised his troops for their precision, saying 'the bullets seemed to have their own eyes', KCNA said, without identifying when the operation was held.
The Rodong Sinmun - the official mouthpiece of the ruling Workers' Party - carried several photos from the contest including one of Kim watching the troops parachuting down from jets into an open field. Another showed him grinning from ear-to-ear as he walked by cheering soldiers.
'IT WAS LIKE THE BULLETS HAD EYES': KIM PRAISES TROOPS AFTER SPECIAL FORCES TRAINING DRILL North Korean despot Kim Jong-un this week oversaw a special forces commando operation as tensions soar with Washington over Pyongyang's nuclear programme. Pictures released by state media show the dictator looking on from an observation post and smiling as special forces troops dropped from light transport planes 'like hail' and 'mercilessly blew up enemy targets'. According to the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Kim praised his troops for their precision, saying 'the bullets seemed to have their own eyes'. North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has overseen a special forces commando operation, state media said on April 13. Pictured, an undated photo of the regime's special operation forces It did not identify when and where the operation had been held. The agency's report said: 'The contest proved once again that our Korean People's Army... will show a real taste of gun shot and real taste of war to the reckless invaders.' The North has since said it is ready for war with the US, while speculation is mounting that it might conduct a nuclear or missile test to mark the 105th birthday anniversary of founder Kim Il-Sung on Saturday. The reclusive state has long been on a quest to develop a long-range missile capable of hitting the US mainland with a nuclear warhead, and has so far staged five atomic tests, two of them last year. The smiling North Korean leader is seen watching his 'elite fighting force' on a military training exercise in photos released today The Rodong Sinmun - the official mouthpiece of the ruling Workers' Party - carried several photos from the contest showing firefight excercises Yesterday Kim oversaw a commando operation in which special forces dropped from light transport planes 'like hail' and 'mercilessly blew up enemy targets' Kim praised his troops for their precision in the training exercise (pictured), saying 'the bullets seemed to have their own eyes', state news agency KCNA said
US military officials fear North Korea has placed a nuclear test in a tunnel with the potential to detonate it on Saturday. Pictured: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (left) flanked by vice-chairman of the State Affairs Commission Choe Yong-Hae at an opening ceremony for 'Rymoyong street', a new housing development in Pyongyang today |
Name Date Start time End time Location Description
Study Space @ McComas Dec. 4 4:30 p.m. 7 p.m. 143 McComas Hall Study Hall: tables, chairs, plugs
Free Chair Massages Dec. 5 10 a.m. 2 p.m. McComas Gym Free Chair Massages by Relax Blacksburg. Brought to you by Hokie Wellness.
Finals Extravaganza Dec. 5 10 a.m. 2 p.m. McComas Gym Snacks, Crafts, Chair Massages, Moose the Therapy Dog and a Chance to Win an Amazon Echo Dot
SGA Reading Day Dec. 5 9 a.m. 7 p.m. Old Dominion Ballroom Reading Day with SGA is back as a place for students to study and prepare for the end of the semester. On Wednesday, Dec. 5th (9 a.m.-7 p.m.) and Thursday, Dec 6th at 9 a.m.- Friday, Dec 7th at 5 p.m., Old Dominion Ballroom is open to all students with tables, chairs, and ample electrical outlets provided. There will be coffee, snacks, and de-stress giveaways through the event, so be sure to stop by. While finals time may be stressful, come on out, get your work done, and study on at Reading Day with SGA! For more information check out the SGA Facebook and Twitter (@vtsga).
Floating into Finals Dec. 5 7 p.m. 9 p.m. McComas Pool Come float away all your exam stress with us! We will have floats, relaxing lighting and music to help you take a mental break from all your studying. Drop in anytime for this free event!
Late Night Breakfast Dec. 6 10:30 p.m. 12:30 a.m. Owens Food Court All-you-care-to-eat breakfast,$8.60 cash/credit/dining dollars/hokie passport or $4.30 flex
Study Space @ McComas Dec. 6 6 a.m. 8 p.m. 143 McComas Hall Study Hall: tables, chairs, plugs
Study @ Squires Dec. 6 8 p.m. 10 p.m. Squires Student Center Squires will be open 24-hours each day/evening, open study space, free coffee/snacks, a stress-relieving activity each evening including yoga, stress ball making, therapy animals, and an art project
Study Space @ Holtzman Alumni Center Dec. 6 8 a.m. 4:30 p.m. Holtzman Alumni Center Assembly Hall, open space for students to study
Free Chair Massages Dec. 6 3 p.m. 7 p.m. Newman Library Free Chair Massages by Relax Blacksburg. Brought to you by Hokie Wellness.
SGA Reading Day Dec. 6 9 a.m. (12/6) 5 p.m. (12/07) Old Dominion Ballroom Reading Day with SGA is back as a place for students to study and prepare for the end of the semester. On Wednesday, Dec. 5th (9 a.m.-7 p.m.) and Thursday, Dec 6th at 9 a.m.- Friday, Dec 7th at 5 p.m., Old Dominion Ballroom is open to all students with tables, chairs, and ample electrical outlets provided. There will be coffee, snacks, and de-stress giveaways through the event, so be sure to stop by. While finals time may be stressful, come on out, get your work done, and study on at Reading Day with SGA! For more information check out the SGA Facebook and Twitter (@vtsga).
Study Space @ McComas Dec. 7 6 a.m. 8 p.m. 143 McComas Hall Study Hall: tables, chairs, plugs
Study @ Squires Dec. 7 8 p.m. 10 p.m. Squires Student Center Squires will be open 24-hours each day/evening, open study space, free coffee/snacks, a stress-relieving activity each evening including yoga, stress ball making, therapy animals, and an art project
SGA Reading Day Dec. 7 9 a.m. (12/6) 5 p.m. (12/07) Old Dominion Ballroom Reading Day with SGA is back as a place for students to study and prepare for the end of the semester. On Wednesday, Dec. 5th (9 a.m.-7 p.m.) and Thursday, Dec 6th at 9 a.m.- Friday, Dec 7th at 5 p.m., Old Dominion Ballroom is open to all students with tables, chairs, and ample electrical outlets provided. There will be coffee, snacks, and de-stress giveaways through the event, so be sure to stop by. While finals time may be stressful, come on out, get your work done, and study on at Reading Day with SGA! For more information check out the SGA Facebook and Twitter (@vtsga).
Study @Squires: Free Yoga Class Dec. 7 9 p.m. 10 p.m. Squires - Williamsburg Room Free Yoga class for anyone to join, no preregistration necessary
Study @ Squires Dec. 9 8 p.m. 10 p.m. Squires Student Center Squires will be open 24-hours each day/evening, open study space, free coffee/snacks, a stress-relieving activity each evening including yoga, stress ball making, therapy animals, and an art project
Scoop and Score Dec. 10 9 p.m. 11 p.m. D2 at Dietrick Hall late night ice cream social, free to dining plan holders
Study Space @ McComas Dec. 10 6 a.m. 8 p.m. 143 McComas Hall Study Hall: tables, chairs, plugs
Study @ Squires Dec. 10 8 p.m. 10 p.m. Squires Student Center Squires will be open 24-hours each day/evening, open study space, free coffee/snacks, a stress-relieving activity each evening including yoga, stress ball making, therapy animals, and an art project
Free Chair Massages Dec. 10 3 p.m. 7 p.m. Newman Library Free Chair Massages by Relax Blacksburg. Brought to you by Hokie Wellness.
Free Yoga Flow class Dec. 10 5:15 p.m. 6:15 p.m. Library multipurpose room
Study Space @ McComas Dec. 11 6 a.m. 8 p.m. 143 McComas Hall Study Hall: tables, chairs, plugs
Study Space @ McComas Dec. 12 6 a.m. 8 p.m. 143 McComas Hall Study Hall: tables, chairs, plugs
Free Tea and Study Space @ The Gallery Dec. 6-10 12 p.m. 9 p.m. Perspective Gallery Free Tea Study Area in gallery
Sketch & Stretch Pop Up Event Dec. 7-10 Squires Open Hours during exam Perspective Gallery Hallway Sketch and Stretch Pop Up Art Event
Free fitness classes Dec. 7-12 McComas/War Memorial Visit here for more info
Campus Kitchen Volunteer Opportunities Every Friday 3 p.m. 5 p.m. Meet at New Hall West, Suite 110 Take your mind off finals and help others! Campus Kitchen diverts unused food from dining halls around campus and delivers it to shelters, food pantries, and soup kitchens in the Blacksburg area. Please sign up on the Campus Kitchen Gobbler Connect page for a date and time that will work best for you! |
Kenta Maeda homered off Dave Roberts in batting practice, so his manager owes him dinner
Clayton Kershaw took some cuts for himself in a Cactus League game earlier this week, Hector Santiago is chompin' at the bit to jump into the batter's box (even though he's in the American League) and Justin Verlander ... well, he's bunting to lead off innings, but that's neither here, nor there.
The point is: It's almost #PitchersWhoRake season!
We're just a week away from counting Bartolo Colon's hits and gazing in awe as Madison Bumgarner, Zack Greinke, Max Scherzer or some other determined hurler steps to the plate and proves that pitchers can mash, too.
Dodgers newcomer Kenta Maeda seems poised to insert himself into that mix.
Maeda was recently cranking homer after homer during Dodgers batting practice with his Japanese bat. When he caught some flack from his new teammates for using non-regulation lumber, Maeda switched to an American-made stick and manager Dave Roberts promised to buy him dinner if he could put one out with one of his first five swings.
Dave Roberts said he owes Kenta Maeda dinner. Roberts was pitching batting practice and Maeda took him deep with an American bat - Eric Stephen (@truebluela) March 26, 2016
Maeda didn't need the last four tries, because he promptly picked up right where he left off and Roberts planned to make good on his word:
"This had some elevation. He got the ball out in front, got some extension, good trajectory. It was a legit homer. I owe him dinner, so it's his choice. I'm thinking a nice American dinner, steak and potatoes."
If you think that this is the part when we're supposed to start chanting "IN-N-OUT! IN-N-OUT! IN-N-OUT!," you should slow your roll because Roberts says that the team's got to eat healthy at Spring Training.
"Definitely not McDonalds. We eat healthy in this camp."
And for those of you who might be worried about the other side of Maeda's game, the Japanese pitcher struck out five (including Joey Votto to end a 1-2-3 first inning) over 5 1/3 innings of work against the Reds on Sunday. Maeda's Spring Training ERA is 1.89. |
By Chris Wright
A Swedish newspaper has been forced to apologise after publishing an article which compared Austrian club Red Bull Salzburg to both Adolf Hitler and Josef Fritzl.
Tasked with writing a straight-forward match preview for Malmo’s upcoming Champions League play-off against the oft-maligned Austrian side, Aftonbladet football writer Ronnie Sandahl waded in with the following almost unbelievably callous introduction:
“Austria has not only given us Josef Fritzl and Adolf Hitler. There is also Red Bull Salzburg, the most hated football club of our time.
“When [Malmo and Red Bull] play each other in the two decisive Champions League games, people from all over the world will be support the Swedes.”
That’s Adolf Hitler: Austrian-born Nazi and single-largest tyrant ever known to mankind, Josef Fritzl: an Austrian man who held his own daughter captive for 24 years while routinely raping her, and Red Bull Salzburg: an Austrian football club who have been criticised for spending inordinately large amounts of money.
Unsurprisingly, Sandahl’s article has caused absolute outrage in Austria, with Austrian FA president Leo Windtner showing admirable restraint by labelling the piece as an “unbelievably thoughtless comparison… directed against the whole nation.”
Red Bull Salzburg have since confirmed that Aftonbladet’s editor-in-chief has contacted the club personally to apologise, sending a message “in which he profusely apologises in the name of the paper and distances himself from these words,” adding that, as far as the club are concerned, the matter is now closed.
We are rendered aghast. There really are no words.
(Via Eurosport) |
Updated 1:06 p.m.: Gotham producers have responded with a generic statement that neither confirms nor denies Pinkett Smith's exit: "Fish Mooney’s storyline takes a lot of interesting twists and turns into the finale of season one of Gotham.”
Previous: There's a big change coming to Fox's Gotham.
Co-star Jada Pinkett Smith says she will not return for the previously announced second season of Fox's Batman origin story. (Reps for Fox and producers Warner Bros. Television have not yet responded to THR's request for confirmation.)
The actress made the announcement Friday on Live With Kelly and Michael when she was asked directly about her future with the drama from showrunner Bruno Heller.
"I don't think so, no. I signed for a year and the year is up," Pinkett Smith said. "But there are some great things coming ahead on Gotham, believe you me. There's a lot of good stuff coming."
See more Secrets of 'Gotham's' Set: Inside Fish Mooney's Lair
Pinkett Smith signed on to co-star as gangster/Penguin's (Robin Lord Taylor) boss Fish Mooney on Gotham's freshman season, marking her return to the small screen following TNT's medical drama Hawthorne, which ran from 2009 to 2011.
The news of her departure comes as Taylor's Oswald Cobblepot (the eventual Penguin) has become the breakout star of the series described as Jim Gordon's (Ben McKenzie) origin story.
While it seems Fish Mooney's days may be numbered, Pinkett Smith also joked that the door may be left open for more. "She could show up anywhere, you never know!" she said with a laugh.
The character is actually ripe for disappearing for a while and is currently not in Gotham City but in a mystery location in Europe, having made her move against Falcone (John Doman) and lost. Fish has since been abducted by the Dollmaker (Colm Feore) and finds herself forced to try and prove herself as his right-hand woman. Assuming Gotham doesn't end in Fish's death — though that wouldn't come as a surprise, particularly because it would establish the Dollmaker as a big bad for season two — it would be easy to leave her somewhere plotting her revenge on everyone in Gotham in future episodes, thereby mirroring Cobblepot's arc from this season.
Watch Pinkett Smith's announcement below, and hit the comments with your thoughts on her upcoming departure. Will you miss Fish Mooney on Gotham? How do you think she should go? |
There is a dangerous piece of rhetoric floating around, increasingly popular with politicians, which says the government should forget gay marriage and concentrate on "the things that really matter".
Defence secretary Philip Hammond is the latest to thump this tub, explaining: "Clearly [gay marriage] is not the number one priority. If you stop people in the street and ask them what their concerns are, they'll talk to you about jobs and economic growth… The government has got to show that it is focused on the things that really matter."
Personally, I never stop people in the street and ask them what their concerns are. I don't know if Philip Hammond does. If so, perhaps this flawed reasoning extends nationwide. Or he's only stopping people in Downing Street.
George Osborne said something nearly identical the week before; that gay marriage is "not a priority of the government" because the government is "focused on the really important issues that matter to people".
Mr Osborne said that he personally is in favour of gay marriage. What a perfect position he finds himself in, politically: pleasing supporters of same-sex matrimony with his own endorsement, while reassuring opponents that the government's not seriously considering it.
Those in his party who are revolted by gay marriage use the same handy argument, that there are "more important things to think about". It's a clever way to reject the issue without screaming: "Ugh, two men at the altar! Probably wearing dresses! And with big moustaches! Big moustaches and dresses at the same time! That reminds me, I must ring my mother."
They know better than to reveal the full terrifying vision of social collapse that a gay wedding triggers in their minds: a church full of crop-haired anarchists, most of them speaking foreign languages; teenagers snorting heroin off the altar, most of them on Facebook; women publicly breastfeeding in the pews, most of them bishops; two newlywed drag queens high-fiving as a vicar in hotpants says: "You may now fist the bride."
No: far better just to say they're more interested in the economy.
I don't mean to suggest that my own first reaction to the idea of gay marriage was free from nerves, uncertainty or reflex stereotyping. But, as with most things, my immediate conservative instincts fell away with a bit of proper thought. I won't explain why I'm now in favour, because that isn't the point. I have my opinions and you'll have yours; my worry is the argument, whether you support change or not, that it's "less important" than the economy.
Please let's not nod along with this idea until it feels like a truism. It's a dangerous way of thinking. It may even be that kind of thinking that got "us" into economic trouble in the first place.
The economy in this country – the basic, central core of what an economy is – is extremely healthy. We have an abundant climate, hardy British labour for building and farming and crafting, and brilliant inventive minds at work. If those gambling international speculators, who create nothing and build nothing, with their massive fantasy "derivatives market" and their mind-blowing "trillions of debt", all disappeared tomorrow, we'd still have an economy. We might not have flat-screen TVs with 200 channels – and City traders might not have private jets – but we'd still have food and coal and tables and new ideas. Greece is about to default on its debt and opt out of the whole mad lending scheme; perhaps we'll watch that country invent democracy for the second time.
We'd also still have love. Stripped of our credit cards, our electronic goods, our super-fast broadband, our international travel – and even of our welfare system based on cash and paperwork rather than simple sharing – we'd still have men and women, and men and men, and women and women, who felt joy and safety and hope, making promises and planning futures, because of this free and powerful human instinct alone.
The stark revelation, a few years ago, that all of the numbers on all of the screens meant nothing, that there was no gold, that it was all debt, that the emperor had no clothes, made us feel terrified and powerless. It's too much to confront directly, like staring at the sun: the realisation that it's merely empty digits on a screen that entitle some people to helipads and swimming pools, others to dying on a trolley in a hospital corridor.
We know now, but we can't seem to change it. The more powerless we feel, the closer we huddle to what we can control: our own promises, to our own loved ones. Those tiny, enormous, emotional contracts between one person and another.
If a historically marginalised group of us want to make those contracts formal, in the sight of God, the way it has been done by the majority for thousands of years, how dare anyone say this is "less important" than money? Stand against it if you will, but don't dismiss it as trivial.
Thoreau wrote, in 1863: "If a man walks in the woods for love of them half of each day, he is in danger of being regarded as a loafer; but if he spends his whole day as a speculator, shearing off those woods and making earth bald before her time, he is esteemed an industrious and enterprising citizen. This world is a place of business. What an infinite bustle! I think there is nothing, not even crime, more opposed to poetry, to philosophy, ay, to life itself, than this incessant business."
I have a new daydream, of a parallel world, where our democratic leaders say: "We'll do our best for economic growth, but our priority is to concentrate on the things that really matter to people." |
Photo showing a captured Ethiopian military vehicle
A day after al Shabaab, al Qaeda’s official branch in Somalia, claimed it ambushed and killed dozens of Ethiopian troops in southern Somalia, the jihadist group has now released a photo report from the ambush.
The photos show several burning and captured vehicles. One image shows the jihadist group capturing an armored vehicle, while others show a variety of small arms that were taken. Two photos show Ethiopian identification cards. Some photos are too graphic to be published by The Long War Journal.
The statement from Shabaab’s media office claiming the attack, which has been translated by the SITE Intelligence Group, says that the “highly successful ambush carried out by a company of Mujahideen fighters from the ‘Sheikh Abu Zubayr Battalion’ began on Thursday (June 11) afternoon.” The battalion identified in the statement is named after the former emir of Shabaab, who was killed in a US drone strike last year.
The jihadist group continues by saying that the unit destroyed 13 vehicles and killed dozens of soldiers in the Ethiopian convoy after “mowing them down with machine guns.” Shabaab claims that this ambush caused many in the Ethiopian ranks to retreat, leaving behind military hardware and “many of their comrades.” This is evident in the photo report released by the group.
When the Ethiopian contingent sent reinforcements to the area the next morning, Shabaab said that it targeted the convoy “with a martyrdom operation,” or suicide bombing. [For more information on the attack, Shabaab claims to kill dozens of Ethiopian troops in southern Somalia.]
Photos released by Al Shabaab’s Al Kataib Media:
Caleb Weiss is a contributor to FDD's Long War Journal.
Are you a dedicated reader of FDD's Long War Journal? Has our research benefitted you or your team over the years? Support our independent reporting and analysis today by considering a one-time or monthly donation. Thanks for reading! You can make a tax-deductible donation here. |
Up to now, Manchester City have had a largely tumultuous relationship with the Champions League. Struggles on the field, and near complete disregard from UEFA off it has seen an ever increasing apathy towards the competition turn to widespread derision. Each and every incident has been met with a more pathetic retort than the last by European football’s governing body. None more so than its most recent decision to investigate City fans for ‘booing’ the ‘sacred’ Champions League anthem.
Whilst the problems away from on the field matters show no sign of abating, those on it could well be a thing of the past, after a majestic display in Southern Spain last night. Devastating in attack yet dominant in defence. Not a combination seen regularly from City in European competition, but it was in full effect against Sevilla. The Blues nullified the Spaniards attacking threat superbly, especially in the second half, defying logic and the history books to become the first English side to win in the Sanchez Pizjuan. This was also the first Champions League home defeat for Sevilla in their history.
City were at it right from the off, defending from the front, pressurising their hosts and forcing mistakes. The outstanding duo of Fernando and Fernandinho were central to this, both at their combative best. Whilst Fernando sat in holding role, breaking up the play, Fernandinho was given the licence to roam, trading attacking duties with Yaya Toure.
Unsurprisingly, it was Fernandinho who created the opener. He found a pocket of space in the final third before playing a precise pass inside the full back to Raheem Sterling who coolly slotted home. Minutes later, it was Sterling’s turn to wreak havoc in the Sevilla defence. The winger swarmed all over Coke, causing the full-back to make a costly error from Vincent Kompany’s clearance. He charged into the box, picking out Bony with his cutback, and when the Ivorian’s effort was only parried by Sergio Rico, who was on hand to head home City’s second? Fernandinho of course. Who else.
The Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan was shocked into silence. A sea of fluorescent green had swamped their fortress. Two and a half thousand pilgrims from Manchester were rubbing their eyes in disbelief.
Sevilla gathered themselves and mounted a response. Llorente missed a guilt edged chance before Coke linked nicely with Vitolo to allow Tremoulinas to score the simplest of headers to halve the deficit. The spell of pressure continued. Iborra thought he had equalised, only for Hart to deny him with a stunning save. Then came the dagger into Spanish hearts. Hart claimed the ball from a Sevilla corner before quickly releasing Jesus Navas with a pinpoint pass. Navas, returning to the club where he made his name for the first time since leaving for Manchester, collected the ball with aplomb. Plucking it out of the Andalucían skyline, he cut inside, exchanged passes with the effervescent Fernandinho before picking out Wilfried Bony, who struck his first Champions League goal. A devastating counter attack from Pellegrini’s men. 4 passes and the ball was in the back of the net. Any life in the crowd that had been resurrected was sucked out again in one fell swoop.
The second half promised an onslaught from the hosts. The reality was that it never surfaced. It wasn’t allowed to. City saw the game out with a measure of control that was so unlike the rest of their Champions League forays. In fact, it was the visitors who went closest to troubling the scoreboard further; Toure and Fernandinho both narrowly missing opportunities to extend the advantage.
Manuel Pellegrini seemingly learnt his lessons from previous encounters, forming a significantly sturdier platform from which City could attack. The midfield triumvirate of Fernando, Fernandinho and Toure ran the show, allowing Sterling and Navas to use their dynamic pace to full effect.
It was a coming of age for City in Europe. They conquered a ground where guests commonly return home from battle battered and bruised. Sevilla simply do not lose at home in Europe, but last night they were overwhelmed. The hatches that had been battened down for so long were smashed open by a lime green army. Now to replicate it on a regular basis. If they can do that, maybe it won’t be so long before City are a recurring feature of the Champions League’s latter stages. |
This article is available in: English Español
Photo by Victor Grigas, freely licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
The Wikimedia Foundation works to expand free and open access to knowledge everywhere, including areas where affordable access to the internet is a fundamental barrier.
In some regions, the Foundation has utilized “zero-rating” to make mobile traffic to Wikipedia and the Wikimedia sites entirely free. This approach removes the barrier of cost for those wishing to read, learn, and contribute to Wikipedia, in any language. We call this program Wikipedia Zero. Today, more than 600 million people in 64 countries can read, edit, and contribute to Wikipedia through Wikipedia Zero partnerships.
Recently, Facebook’s zero rating program, Free Basics, has come under public scrutiny in India. Facebook’s Free Basics includes Wikipedia as one of its services, but we wish to be clear that neither Wikipedia nor the Wikimedia Foundation are partners of Free Basics. Wikipedia is included in the Free Basics package through our free license. In line with our open policies, anyone can use and distribute Wikipedia content without formal permission.
We have our own approach to zero rating that we believe respects the fundamental values of the Wikimedia movement. This approach was first articulated in our Operating Principles, which are used in considering each Wikipedia Zero partnership.
Our guiding concepts are:
No collection of personal information. Carriers receive the IP addresses of sites that will be zero-rated so that they can identify Wikipedia Zero traffic. Wikipedia Zero does not enable carriers to collect or receive personal information about Wikimedia users.
Carriers receive the IP addresses of sites that will be zero-rated so that they can identify Wikipedia Zero traffic. Wikipedia Zero does not enable carriers to collect or receive personal information about Wikimedia users. No compromise of experience. Carriers zero-rate access to the regular mobile version of Wikipedia and other Wikimedia sites. To ensure users do not mistakenly incur data charges, they are prompted with a notice if they are about to leave a zero-rated page.
Carriers zero-rate access to the regular mobile version of Wikipedia and other Wikimedia sites. To ensure users do not mistakenly incur data charges, they are prompted with a notice if they are about to leave a zero-rated page. No shift of editorial control. Wikipedia articles and other Wikimedia content are community curated and will remain that way. Zero-rating agreements do not shift editorial considerations, responsibilities, or policies. In fact, partnerships are meant to extend access to local Wikimedia volunteers and chapters around the world and aid in their community work.
Wikipedia articles and other Wikimedia content are community curated and will remain that way. Zero-rating agreements do not shift editorial considerations, responsibilities, or policies. In fact, partnerships are meant to extend access to local Wikimedia volunteers and chapters around the world and aid in their community work. No exchange of payment. The Wikimedia Foundation does not pay carriers to zero-rate access to the Wikimedia sites and does not receive payments from carriers through Wikipedia Zero.
The Wikimedia Foundation does not pay carriers to zero-rate access to the Wikimedia sites and does not receive payments from carriers through Wikipedia Zero. No exclusive rights. We try to partner with as many carriers as possible to maximize the number of users that can benefit from the initiative.
We try to partner with as many carriers as possible to maximize the number of users that can benefit from the initiative. No commercial bundling. Access to the Wikimedia sites through Wikipedia Zero cannot be sold through limited service bundles.
Access to the Wikimedia sites through Wikipedia Zero cannot be sold through limited service bundles. Commitment to collaboration with other public interest sites. Our main goal is to promote free access to knowledge, and we want to help other similar services interested in doing the same (just contact us!).
As a Foundation dedicated to free and open access to knowledge for all, we yearn for affordable internet around the world. Until then, we will continue working to bring free access to knowledge to every person on the planet.
Adele Vrana, Head of Strategic Partnerships, Global Emerging Markets
Smriti Gupta, Regional Manager, Strategic Partnerships—Asia
Wikimedia Foundation |
Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe says that television stations across America canceled appearances he was set to make on their networks over fears of “retribution from a future Hillary Clinton administration.”
O’Keefe: TV Networks Pulled Story Over Fear of “Retribution” From Hillary Clinton – https://t.co/2MfOZUvYLs pic.twitter.com/DzvUjJ6bAr — Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) October 18, 2016
O’Keefe released his second bombshell video in the space of two days, shocking footage that shows Democratic party operatives scheming on how to “successfully commit voter fraud on a massive scale.”
Yesterday’s video, which proves that the violence at Donald Trump rallies – blamed on Trump’s “rhetoric” by the media – was in fact planned in advance by individuals connected to Hillary Clinton’s campaign, went viral online but received little mainstream coverage.
Now we know why.
“Project Veritas Action had television exclusives lined up around the country, those television stations spiked the story at the last minute,” said O’Keefe.
“Our sources tell us the reason they did so was fear of retaliation and retribution from a future Hillary Clinton administration,” he added, concluding, “Truth is dangerous, especially when it challenges those in power.”
O’Keefe’s revelation that TV networks spiked his story over fears that a future Clinton administration would punish them is absolutely chilling, although not surprising given Wikileaks revelations which show how deeply embedded and subservient to the Clinton campaign the mainstream media really is.
Support O’Keefe and Project Veritas by sharing the bombshell videos below and forcing the media to cover these massive stories.
SUBSCRIBE on YouTube:
Follow on Twitter: Follow @PrisonPlanet
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paul.j.watson.71
*********************
Paul Joseph Watson is the editor at large of Infowars.com and Prison Planet.com. |
Where in the world are people having the best, most exciting sex? And the worst?
Thanks to two comprehensive surveys conducted by Durex, the condom company, we have some hard evidence to determine sexual satisfaction levels in countries around the world.
The surveys, highlighted and helpfully parsed by Zack Beauchamp at Vox, reveal that people in Mexico and Nigeria report having the most exciting sex on the planet, by a wide margin.
One caveat: Nigeria was the only country in which interviews were done in person rather than electronically, which likely skewed the results considering the sensitive nature of the subject matter. It is, presumably, much easier to tell a computer that you’ve been having boring, terrible sex than it is to say it out loud to another human.
Mexico though? For a country not stereotypically known as a hotbed of great sex (think: France, Spain), an incredible 73 percent of people reported having exciting sex lives.
Advertisement
One factor is respect. An incredible 88 percent of Mexicans reported feeling well-respected during sex, which may contribute to their high level of reported sexual satisfaction.
Now for the depressing news: an absolutely dismal 10 percent of Japanese people were excited by their sex lives.
Advertisement
Excitement levels aside, the low level of Japanese sexual activity in general has sparked interest in recent months. “Celibacy syndrome” has taken hold, according to a frequently cited Guardian article which posed the question: “Why have young people in Japan stopped having sex?”
Speculative reasons behind celibacy syndrome include all the usual suspects: the demand for instant gratification, increasing stress levels, the rise of technology and the rejection of traditional relationship norms.
For some perspective: only 45 percent of Americans report feeling excited by their sex lives. Not quite as good as Mexico and Nigeria, but nowhere near Japan.
Advertisement
Alexandra DiPalma is a producer for Fusion Lightworks, Fusion’s In-house Branded Content Agency. |
In today’s economy, it can be pretty tough to make money anywhere, but some intrepid folks are earning money hand over fist online and they’re doing it in some crazy ways.
There’s a lot that can be learned from these people, especially if you’re sitting on your own idea but think it’s too out there. As these people illustrate, there’s no end to the insanity when it comes to making money online!
There’s a lot that can be learned from these people, especially if you’re sitting on your own idea but think it’s too out there. As these people illustrate, there’s no end to the insanity when it comes to making money online!
1 . Virtual Farming
Nearly half a million people in China are making money by playing a game, earning gold and selling it to other players with too much time on their hands and a credit card burning in their pocket! The phenomenon that is World of Warcraft, a massively multi-player online role-playing game, has spawned some of the most creative ideas for making money. The game’s currency is gold, but a lot of players don’t want to take the time to earn it themselves. So, these people in China, and all over the world, spend their days playing the game, making gold and selling it in the game for actual cash. |
Canada is world famous for welcoming refugees, but one group has had a tough time getting in: US citizens.
A small but increasing number of Americans want refuge in Canada. In fact, the number of them requesting asylum north of the border more than doubled between 2015 and 2016, from 80 to 187, according to Canada Border Services Agency data. Most of them were denied.
Some are trying to avoid going to prison, others refuse to fight in America’s wars. Now, immigration lawyers are predicting more US citizens will attempt to flee for Canada — to escape Donald Trump’s America.
But despite Canada’s open-door reputation for those in need, admitting more than 40,000 Syrian refugees since 2015, its acceptance rate for American asylum-seekers is below 1 percent, according to the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada.
“I am aware of one [American] adult in 2014 who was accepted as a person in need of protection. All the others were children,” said Melissa Anderson, the spokeswoman for Canada’s refugee tribunal.
Normally, the only American citizens who get refugee status in Canada are the children of undocumented immigrants, including children born in the US to parents living there illegally, she explained.
Their numbers aren’t nearly as big as, say, Syrians or Colombians, who are among the leading nationals seeking asylum in the country. America does not have the same life-threatening dangers. But US citizens have cited several reasons for making refugee claims in Canada.
Trouble with the law
At the end of 2015, Canada’s immigration authorities ordered the deportation of a 25-year-old asylum-seeker from Illinois.
Canadian court documents identify the man as “X.” They say he was wanted in the US for “enticing a minor to engage in sexual activity,” when he was 22 and the girl was 15. He had met the girl online, driven to her house and honked for her to get into his car, at which time the girl’s stepfather intervened. He faced 10 years in US prison.
He told the Canadian refugee tribunal that his only intention was to meet the girl.
Canada rejected his request. A judge said there were “reasonable grounds” and enough evidence provided by US authorities for the panel to consider the man guilty as charged.
But another American escaping sex charges in the US was more successful. In 2014, 47-year-old Denise Harvey, who was facing 30 years in US prison for having sex with a 16-year-old boy, got admitted as a protected person in Canada.
It turns out that 16 is the age of consent in Canada, and the woman wouldn’t have faced criminal charges for her actions had they taken place in in the country.
Then there was Kyle Lydell Canty, an African American who in 2015 was facing charges in the US including jaywalking and disorderly conduct. As CBC News reported, he applied for refugee status in Canada, claiming he was a victim of racism and police brutality. Canada rejected him.
“It’s very unusual” for Canada to grant refugee claims to Americans, said Marshall Garnick, an immigration lawyer in Toronto. It could cause “an international incident for the government of Canada to accept Americans [as refugees]. It’s not good for Canada’s image.”
Opposition to war
In the past decade, a number of US soldiers have requested asylum to avoid being court-martialed for refusing to deploy to Iraq and Afghanistan. For instance, in 2013, the refugee tribunal in Toronto denied the refugee claim of a 27-year-old US soldier who deserted after serving in Afghanistan. In court documents, he stated that he felt that American military presence in Afghanistan “was creating a police state rather than a democracy, sponsored by international big business and resulting in needless civilian and military casualties.”
Canada denied the claims by US Iraq and Afghan war objectors.
One asylum-seeker, Rodney Watson, is a US Army veteran who refused to return for a second tour in Iraq. He has been living in a church in Vancouver for seven years to avoid deportation.
Although the numbers are much lower, these war resisters' motives may be reminiscent of the historic exodus to Canada of tens and thousands of Americans who opposed the Vietnam War, many of whom remained.
More expected under Trump
A man who told police he is from Sudan is taken into custody by a Canadian police officer after arriving by taxi and walking across the US-Canada border into Hemmingford, Quebec on Feb. 13. Credit: Christinne Muschi/Reuters
A rising number of African and Middle Eastern migrants are crossing the US border for refuge in Canada. Trump’s immigration crackdown, and Canada’s openness, are expected to beckon more to follow.
“Virtually every person who’s crossed, from pregnant women in the back of trucks to those shepherding their children to safety, have said to us that the United States is no longer a safe country for them to be in,” Paul Caulford, a doctor at the Canadian Centre for Refugee and Immigrant Healthcare outside Toronto, told the Otherhood podcast in February.
Related: Way more migrants are now sneaking across the US-Canada border
After Trump’s executive order in January to halt the arrival of all refugees and certain Muslim travelers, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said, “Canadians welcome you, regardless of your faith.”
That executive order is suspended after court challenges against it. But the Trump administration is ordering more immigration restrictions and deportations.
Up until now, Canadian refugee lawyers said most of their American clients were largely the children of undocumented immigrants, service members who didn't want to deploy to Iraq and Afghanistan, or spoke out against the US military; people with mental health problems; or fugitives from justice.
A few Americans who were facing the death penalty have also sought safety in Canada, because Canada will not send someone back to face capital punishment, according to its extradition terms with the US, said attorney Peter Edelmann, who has represented Americans who were seeking asylum in Canada.
But with Trump in power, Canada should expect new types of cases, the refugee attorneys said.
“We're going to get a new kind of refugee claim from US citizens in the next four years — they won’t be like the ones in the past,” Garnick said in an email. “It’s not going to be primarily the US army deserters who were dishonorably discharged due to their refusal to be deployed or redeployed to Iraq. It will be a different kind of US citizen refugee claimant.”
For example, Garnick said a Muslim American citizen of Iranian descent might get asylum in Canada if they show they cannot live safely in the US because of the threat of injury or death, or that they can’t get a job due to their religion or ethnic background.
“In other words, if [the Muslim American] could prove that a blanket travel ban like the one Trump brought in is not just causing him to feel uneasy, but actually has caused him a reasonable subjective and objective fear, due to letters of threat or perhaps some other incident,” Garnick said, “he'd have a chance at a refugee hearing.”
Julie Masis reported from Montreal. |
The American Civil Liberties Union has waded into the controversy over South Carolina’s bizarre Democratic primaries last week, which ended with the Senate nomination going to an unknown, unemployed candidate who won more votes than were cast in some counties.
The ACLU has sent a letter (PDF) to the South Carolina State Election Commission asking it not to allow the state’s counties to erase the voting records from the June 8 primary, which saw favored candidate Vic Rawl lose the Senate nomination to unknown Alvin Greene by a 59-to-41 margin.
“We take no position on whether there were irregularities sufficient to place the outcome of the election in doubt but believe the voters in South Carolina are entitled to know that their votes were properly counted,” the ACLU letter states. “That assurance can only be given if the information on the flash cards is preserved and audited.”
Typically, South Carolina counties erase voting machines’ memory cards before the machines are used in the next election cycle. But with numerous Democrats raising the alarm about the possibility of electoral fraud and the possibility that Greene — as well as some other Democratic candidates — were “plants” designed to sabotage the Democratic primaries, attention is turning to the state’s voting machines in an effort to preserve as much of what happened on primary night as possible.
Rawl himself has called for an investigation into the election results.
“There are numerous complaints,” he told MSNBC’s Keith Olberman. “Everything from having my name show up on a Republican primary ballot to all sorts of issues with regard to the computer cards, with regard to the difference between the absentee votes versus the actual vote during the day of the machine voting. We are convinced that there is something amiss with regard to either the software or the machines themselves.”
Government watchdog group Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington has called on South Carolina’s attorney general to investigate whether Greene was “induced to run for the Senate in violation of South Carolina law.”
“The people of South Carolina have a right to fair, transparent and fraud-free elections,” CREW executive director Melanie Sloan said in a statement. “Paying candidates to run for office and concealing the sources of campaign funds undermines the integrity of the electoral process and threatens our democracy.â€Â
Despite having won early 60 percent of the vote in election-day balloting, Greene lost the mail-in ballots by a whopping 86-to-16 margin against Rawl, raising observers’ suspicions about the results.
Whether or not the election results can be properly reviewed is still up in the air. BradBlog’s Brad Friedman notes that South Carolina uses “ES&S’ 100% unverifiable Direct Recording Electronic voting machines” which “are both oft-failed and easily manipulated in such a way that it’s almost impossible to detect the systems have been gamed.” |
As new readers might not know, I am a member of the RAINN Speakers Bureau. This means I regularly go out of my way to talk about rape with people who might not know what it is, or how it impacts peoples' lives, or how they themselves may be contributing to the epidemic of rape in our culture. Writing about things like the Josh Duggar sexual abuse "scandal" is something I might describe as "what I do."
Which means, unfortunately. dealing with the aggressive rape-apologists of the world is also, pretty much, "what I do."
Last week I published a piece about Josh Duggar, and the comments from men's rights activists (MRAs for short) and rape apologists came pouring in. I know, never read the comments... but I'd like to take this moment to talk about what these people said, what they believe, and how dangerous and wrong these ideas can be.
First among these is the idea that this was just a simple childish mistake. That Josh Duggar was a kid, and he shouldn't be tarnished now by the brush of having made a mistake, a bad mistake, but just that- a mistake. One commenter went so far as to compare this to potty training.
"You're dirty. And, you're not fit to raise children because when you were a kid, you used to poop your pants."
What this commenter is saying is that, for a fourteen year old boy, molesting a sleeping sibling is an inevitable part of growing up. Just as every child must be taught to use the toilet rather than a diaper, every boy must learn not to rape through the technique of trial and error. According to this guy, raping your sister is just part of growing up. Just like potty training, everyone does it.
What's terrifying about this idea is, actually, he's kind of right about that last part. In surveys done of college aged men, more than half confess to committing acts of rape, if the act is not explicitly named as rape. They will confess to having sex with somebody too drunk to consent, or hearing "no" and going ahead anyway, or pressuring and pressuring until the girl gave in. All of those are called "rape" by legal definition, but the men who commit those acts don't consider it rape, because to them, rape is something overtly violent that doesn't occur between people who know each other. This is why, according to new studies, nearly one in five girls is raped during her freshman year of college alone. And we know from decades of study that girls who are sexually assaulted during adolescence are more likely to be raped again- because to them, having their consent negated or ignored is normal.
By that right, yeah, most men may be rapists. But that does not make it okay. That means the need for comprehensive sex education, which includes consent as a fundamental element, is essential for reducing the instance of sexual assault.
Another argument that many of the commenters used was that Josh Duggar didn't rape his sisters. How dare I call him a rapist?
This is how the state of Arkansas defines statutory rape:
Sexual intercourse or deviate sexual activity with someone less than 14 years of age where the defendant is more than 3 years older than the victim.
Deviate sexual activity is defined as: any act of sexual gratification involving the penetration, however slight, of the anus or mouth of one person by the penis of another person; or the penetration, however slight, of the labia majora or anus of one person by any body member or foreign instrument manipulated by another person.
So yes, Josh Duggar raped his sisters, one of whom was only five years old at the time he assaulted them. And it's extremely important that we call that what it is.
Victims of sexual assault are used to being told their experience "doesn't count." That it doesn't count because they were asleep. Or it doesn't count because they knew the perpetrator. Or it doesn't count because they didn't fight back. Or it doesn't count because they "let it happen." Or it doesn't count because they were dressed provocatively. Or it doesn't count because they weren't virgins. Or it doesn't count because they were drinking. Or it doesn't count because they were made to perform oral or anal sex rather than vaginal intercourse. Or it doesn't count because they were penetrated by something other than a penis. Or it doesn't count because they were assaulted by a woman. Or it doesn't count because they were a prostitute. Or it doesn't count because it happened a long time ago. Or it doesn't count because he thought she said yes.
It is still rape. It still counts. The experience is traumatic, and real, and valid. Any time a person claims that another person wasn't really raped, what they are saying is that another human being's trauma and pain are irrelevant. And that is not acceptable. Josh Duggar raped his sisters, let's call it what it is, and acknowledge that his sisters have been horribly maltreated by living under the shadow of this for over a decade. That after being raped, they were forced to live with their rapist, smile for their rapist, pose in pictures with their rapist. Attend museums and political rallies and family picnics with their rapist.
We all have to acknowledge how incredibly painful and degrading that must have been. That it continues to be.
The last comment I'd like to address is the idea Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar are not complicit in Josh Duggar's crimes. Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar are absolutely complicit in these assaults. They taught their children that men are superior to women, a tenet of the Quiverfull ideology. They hid the actions of their oldest son from the authorities, to the detriment of their other children. They protected their son, who raped their daughters, before protecting their daughters from a teenaged boy who raped them. They sent him to stay with a family friend rather than calling the police. I can't imagine they'd have been so forgiving if they had caught him dealing drugs, or holding up liquor stores. But rather than send him to actual treatment or the actual juvenile justice system, they shipped him off to spend a summer free from the responsibilities of home, and when he was no longer a minor, and no longer accountable for his crimes as a minor, they had him speak with a friend of the family who happened not only to be a state trooper but also a connoisseur of child pornography about not repeating his mistakes.
Worst of all, they taught their daughters to accept being raped.
They taught them this not only by prioritizing Josh's safety and success over the safety and success of his victims, they taught this explicitly. Here is a worksheet from the Christian home schooling program the Duggars used, specifically for teaching about sexual assault:
Now, the whole purpose of life according to the Quiverfull movement is to become as close to God during life as possible. As holy as possible. This worksheet specifically asks of children, would you rather that? Being made more holy and more full of spirit? Or would you rather not be raped?
This is a worksheet that essentially gives permission to any potential predator to attack a child who has answered that question with what they no doubt believe is the right answer, that they would rather be made more holy. If Josh Duggar sat around the home schooling table with his many sisters and heard them answer, "Oh yes, I would rather be mighty in spirit," he could easily believe he had already been given permission, by his parents, his sisters, and even God, to go ahead and put his hands all over his sleeping sisters' genitals.
This is a toxic philosophy. It is a toxic environment. It is a toxic culture. And it is a toxic family.
To all the women trapped in the Quiverfull movement, know there are other ways to live. Know there are ways out, people who have escaped, people who are prepared to help you. To the girls of the Duggar family who are still trapped and victimized, there is a way out. There is a better life for you. There is a world full of people who respect your physical and bodily autonomy.
To all the rape apologists out there, stop. Just stop. You are wrong, and your ideology is dying fast. Time to look in the mirror and ask yourself if you really want to align yourself with this belief structure. If you really want to say it's okay to rape so long as you feel bad about it later. It's okay so long as you do it while you're young. It's okay so long as the girl never has a chance to stand up and demand justice.
It is never okay. Rape is never okay. It is never acceptable. It is never excusable.
It is never just a mistake. That's the biggest lie there is. Rape costs lives. Whole lives lost to a labyrinth of PTSD, depression, substance abuse, suicide. Rape isn't something you accidentally do, like wetting your pants. It's something that permanently alters the life of another human being. It's the sort of "mistake" that might be compared to texting while driving, resulting in putting somebody in a wheelchair for the rest of their life.
It's worse than a mistake- it's a crime. And there are always victims involved.
I am on the side of the victims. I am here, along with RAINN.org to help you find the help you need and that you deserve.
I hope you can find it in yourself to stand here with me.
Update:
As an experiment, I decided to treat potty training and rape prevention as essentially the same for a day. Every time my two year old sat on the potty, I reminded all the children, "It's not okay to touch somebody without asking. It's not okay to touch somebody who's sleeping, but if they tell you it's okay to wake them up, it's okay to wake them up. It's not okay to touch somebody's penis or vulva unless they want you to, and if ANYONE asks you to touch THEIR penis or vulva, you need to tell mommy or daddy. Okay?"
The sky didn't fall, and so far, the kids haven't raped anybody. So even if in some bizarre alternate universe rape IS like potty training, it's just as easy to keep the kids from shitting all over another human being later in life.
---
Read more about my crusade against sexual assault here: The Difference You Don't Know Between Normal and Right
Read my latest post here: Poor Little Rapist, Josh Duggar Edition
If you're social, follow me on Twitter and Facebook!
Type your email address in the box and click the "create subscription" button. My list is completely spam free, and you can opt out at any time. |
Plague Inc: Evolved evolves onto Mac!
Mac users - please get in touch and let us know how you find it!
We have a lot of cool stuff coming in the future - currently we are working hard on adding the (long anticpated!) scenario creator into the game. We will also be adding a new Special Plague type - more information here in the next week or so!
Plague Inc: Evolved - Update 0.7.4 full change log:
New additions Mac compatibility added
Hotkey for news dropdown added – R
Save reminder added when quitting the game without saving anything
Tweaks Double clicking on a new save, or existing save, should allow you to save without having to click "Save Game"
Number of minor text/translation tweaks and updates
Fixes Graphics / optimisation improvements
Fixed Overlap on social message box on end graph screen
Trend graph fixes – colours and offset issues
Feedback Form issues fixed
Fixes to Artificial Organs, Due Diligence and Contagion Cancelled achievements
Trend graph should be shown correctly without any offsets
Change log for previous update can be found here: We are excited to officially release Plague Inc: Evolved on Mac! At the same time we've fixed a number of bugs and made a number of graphic / performance improvements for all users including PC.Mac users - please get in touch and let us know how you find it!We have a lot of cool stuff coming in the future - currently we are working hard on adding the (long anticpated!) scenario creator into the game. We will also be adding a new Special Plague type - more information here in the next week or so!New additionsTweaksFixesChange log for previous update can be found here: Evolution 7 |
Ocean acidification fueled by climate change is accelerating faster than previously thought and could have devastating effects within just a few decades, according to a new study from University of California at Davis, Ocean Conservancy, Duke University and National Resources Defense Council. Unless we confront industrial carbon pollution right away, it could have huge ecological and economic effects on top oyster and clam fisheries, including Massachusetts, reports Michael Casey of CBS News:
Factoring in a region’s economic dependence on the industry and local environmental conditions such as agriculture runoff that might exacerbate ocean acidification, the study identified 15 states most at risk from the impacts. They include Massachusetts, New Jersey, Virginia, Washington, Oregon, Connecticut, New York, Rhode Island, Maine, Florida, North Carolina, California, Louisiana, Maryland and Texas.
“Our analysis shows acidification will harm more than ocean creatures; it will have real impacts on people’s lives,” said Lisa Suatoni, NRDC Oceans Program Senior Scientist. “It will pinch pocketbooks, it will put livelihoods at risk, and it will alter the fabric of communities all across the country.” […]
[UC-Davis’ Julia] Ekstrom also said work needs to be done to make these coastal communities aware of the threat and to ensure that places like southern Massachusetts – a region which depends more than any other in the country on shellfish- can start to adapt to by diversifying their economies or shifting into other fisheries.
“It doesn’t mean getting out of shell fishing but we need to understand better what it means to them,” Ekstrom said. “They are going to be the ones who can figure out how to become resilient to these global changes.” |
15User Rating: 1 out of 5
Review title of HeyCommander91 WARNING MHO IS SHUTTING DOWN ON 12/31/17
ALL I AM GOING TO SAY IS MHO HAD GREAT POTENTIAL TO BECOME A GREAT FREE TO PLAY MMO GAME BUT IT WAS TARNISHED BY ITS DISGRACEFUL PITIFUL PAY-TO-WIN MICROTRANSACTIONS SYSTEM SO GAZILLION TRIED TO STEAL OUR MONEY AND JUST TO MAKE MATTERS WORSE GAZILLION CEO DAVE DOHRMAN HAS A CASE ABOUT HIS SEXUAL ALLEGATIONS AGAINST WOMEN SO DISNEY CUT THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH GAZILLION AFTER HARVEY WEINSTEIN CASE THIS IS WHY I DO NOT SUPPORT PAY TO WIN GAMES IT IS JUST FREAKING MONEY GRAB PLEASE MAKE THIS REVIEW AS HELPFUL AND SPREAD THE WORD WE WILL NOT TOLERATE PAY TO WIN GAMES ANYMORE THEY ARE STEALING OUR MONEY AND MHO WAS ONLY OUT FOR 6 MONTHS😑 GOOD THING I ONLY SPENT $10 WE DEMAND OUR MONEY BACK I REFUSE TO SPEND ANY MORE MONEY WITH GAZILLION THEY ARE MONEY HUNGRY SAVAGES THAT DESERVE TO BE SHUT DOWN THEY SHOULD BE TRULY ASHAMED OF THEMSELVES JUST LIKE CROSSOUT ALTHOUGH I LIKE THAT GAME BUT IT'S STILL RIDDLED WITH PAY TO WIN MICROTRANSACTION😢👎RIP MHO YOU DESERVE BETTER THAN THIS😭👎 |
A trip to Sri Lanka is full of history, culture, and adrenaline-pumping adventure. Sri Lanka’s tourism industry has been growing steadily, and local guides have cornered the exciting outdoor adventure market. This is a cultural crossroads – a place with Muslim fishing villages, Buddhist temples, towering rock formations, and abundant wildlife. And after you’ve gotten your fill of active adventure, Sri Lanka offers beautiful beaches and gently rolling hills to relax and unwind. These are some of the most amazing adventure travel experiences to put on your to-do list for Sri Lanka .
Hiking:
Nature lovers will love Sri Lanka for its unspoiled hiking and trekking opportunities. The countryside is moderately hilly, the climate is generally temperate, and the scenery is unforgettable. Expect to see lush forests, paddy fields, tiny villages, and green parks along most trekking route. Several local companies offer guided tours, and some eco-lodges lead guests on walks as well. One of the best trekking destinations is Adams Peak in the south of Hill Country, which offers stunning a 360-degree view of the landscape at the summit. If you prefer, pick up the pace with a horseback riding tour, which can be arranged in Dambulla, Sigiriya, and Nuwara Eliya.
Also check: Delicacies from The North East everyone must eat
Rock Climbing:
There are a few rock climbing destinations in Sri Lanka around Avissawella and Kandy, and tour companies frequently offer four-hour experiences for climbers of varying skill levels. Expert climbing guides will provide you with all the equipment you need and help you choose a route that challenges you. Some popular climbing spots include Knuckles Range, Ella Range, Habarana, Sigiriya, Polonnaruwa, Horton Plains, and Buttala. For a more extreme climbing experience, try waterfall climbing on the face of the towering Bambarakanda Waterfall.
Diving:
There are lots of places to go diving in Southeast Asia, and the adventure sport is becoming more popular in Sri Lanka as well. There are several dive schools and dive sites along the west coast, a place where marine life is abundant and there are some shipwreck sites to explore. The best time to dive here is between November and April. Other top diving locations include Unawatuna and Weligama. Expect to find colorful coral gardens along the southern coast once you get far enough out in the ocean.
Also check: Top 10 Hottest east European cities to visit
Deep Sea Fishing:
Sri Lanka has over 1,000 miles of shoreline and a continental shelf spanning 10,000 square miles, making it a wonderful place for deep sea fishing. You can fish for tuna, jack fish, barracuda, groupers, and red and white snappers around Bentota in the Indian Ocean. Expert fishermen take visitors on four-to-five hour deep sea fishing expeditions of the coast of Sri Lanka in the morning and late afternoon. If you have some luck in the sea, you’ll get to enjoy your catch for dinner!
Cycling:
Cycling is a popular tourist activity in Sri Lanka, especially through the hill country and away from the busy highways. However, cycling can be dangerous on roads with heavy bus and truck traffic; so many visitors choose to travel with an experienced cycling group and a leader who knows the safest routes. One popular cycling route goes across the Benota Bridge, through local villages, to the Virahaya Temple, and then to the Lunuganga House and Gardens. Bike rentals are inexpensive in Sri Lanka, and most of the terrain requires mountain bike tires. A guided cycle tour through the beaches and paddy fields of Unawatuna is also an ideal cycle ride.
Also check: 7 Reasons why Iceland is awesome in winter
Hot Air Ballooning:
Several tour companies offer hot air balloon adventures to give travelers a birds-eye view of the Sri Lankan landscape. You can find most balloon flight departures around the Cultural Triangle, and most flights last about an hour. Balloons reach heights between 500 and 2,000 feet in the sky, floating over cultural sites, landmarks, treetops, rivers, and lakes.
Wildlife Tours:
You can observe lots of wildlife species in their native habitats while traveling around Sri Lanka. One of the most popular wildlife experiences here is elephant riding in the jungle close to Habrana. Whale watching is also a big deal in Sri Lanka between the months of December and April. You can watch blue whales, sperm whales, fin whales, and dolphins migrate for the season in various areas in Sri Lanka. Monkeys run free in Sri Lanka, through ancient ruins and small villages, so observe their behaviors and snap some fun photos.
Also check: Jeapers Creepers : 10 Spookiest Destinations En El Mundo
Rafting:
Head to Kitulgala to go whitewater rafting in Sri Lanka and experience some top-notch rapids. You can also take a canoe or kayak out on the water, and local tour operators can set you up with quality rental gear. The best overall place for watersports in Sri Lanka in Bentota, where jet skiing, waterskiing, and speed-boating conditions are ideal.
Beaches Bumming:
To wind down and relax after a hardcore day of adventure sports, head to one of Sri Lanka’s beautiful beaches. Some of the best beaches to check out are Unawatuna,Mount Lavinia, Arugam Bay, Mirissa, and Tangalla. To get an even deeper relaxation experience, consider booking a yoga or meditation class along the shoreline at either sunrise or sunset.
Tea Escapades:
Ceylon Tea Trails has opened up a world of adventure and discovery in the Bogawantalawa Valley. The essential Tea Trails experience will show you first hand, the tea making process, starting from the fields where it all begins with the picking of “two leaves and a bud” to the factory where the all important conversion to “made” black tea happens. The tour ends with a tasting of different grades of this great brew with some cake.
Also check: Top 10 European Destinations Perfect For A Self Drive Holiday
The Blueberry Trails organizes amazing holiday packages for the traveler in you. For our upcoming tour schedule and International tours from Mumbai and for custom made Holiday Packages from India. Write to us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call us at +91 8080 122 441 for further information. |
The White House It's official.
Killing Bin Laden has provided a boost to Obama's poll numbers.
From Pew:
The public is reacting to the killing of Osama bin Laden with relief, happiness and pride. And Americans overwhelmingly credit the U.S. military and the CIA for the success of the operation.
An overnight survey of 654 adults, conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press and The Washington Post finds that 72% say they feel "relieved" by Osama bin Laden's death, while 60% feel "proud" and 58% say they are "happy." Far fewer, just 16%, say the news of bin Laden's death make them feel "afraid."
Barack Obama's job approval rating has jumped in the wake of bin Laden's killing. In the one-day survey, 56% say they approve of the way Obama is handling his job as president while 38% disapprove. Last month, Obama's job rating was about evenly divided - 47% approved, 45% disapproved. Obama has gotten about the same boost in job approval as did former President Bush in the days after the U.S. military's capture of Saddam Hussein in December 2003. Following Saddam's capture, Bush's rating rose from 50% to 57%. (A more comprehensive survey will be conducted May 5-8 to follow up on these preliminary reactions to the death of bin Laden and Obama's job performance.)
Read the full poll here > |
Jenna Jameson clearly does not support Playboy’s decision to feature a transgender woman in its upcoming issue, and she’s calling the publication out for its “ridiculous attempt” to stay relevant.
The former Playboy cover girl expressed her thoughts on the move over Twitter on Thursday, and she hasn’t let up yet.
So @playboy just announced it will be featuring its first transgender playmate… — Jenna Jameson (@jennajameson) October 19, 2017
On Friday the former porn star spoke with Fox News, calling Playboy’s decision to make a transgender woman a Playmate ridiculous and foolish. (RELATED: Playboy Changes The Magazine’s Foundation With Transgender Playmate)
“I just think it’s a ridiculous attempt by Playboy to stay relevant. It is a foolish decision that alienates its consumer base,” Jameson said.
Just because I don't agree with a trans person being in Playboy doesn't mean I'm "transphobic" .People these days with all their "phobics" https://t.co/iCRmbKsZDz — Jenna Jameson (@jennajameson) October 19, 2017
Playboy has featured transgender women before, but French model Ines Rau is now the first openly transgender woman to become an official Playmate. She posed completely nude for photos that will appear in the November/December issue of the magazine.
The announcement caused a variety of reactions, but despite how you feel about transgender issues, Jameson does prove a point. Playboy has featured beautiful women on its pages for decades in order to cater to a predominately male audience, and featuring a transgender woman in the magazine completely ruins everything it was built upon.
This has nothing to do with looks… my opinion has to do with business. I think this decision alienates its client base https://t.co/hhvzU6U9JW — Jenna Jameson (@jennajameson) October 20, 2017
If Jameson’s theory is right, Playboy might have risked everything simply to cater to the politically correct instead of the audience that has been reading the magazine for 64 years. |
Ever get the feeling that some environmental groups are willfully oblivious to solutions to the environmental problems they claim?
Ask a silly question, and get a facepalm inducing answer demonstrated.
“The sponsors of an environmental conference flew roughly 50 college students to Washington, D.C., Tuesday to discuss ways to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to prevent global warming. “…Bloomberg Government and the environmental group Defend Our Future hosted ‘The Next Generation of Climate Conversations: A Town Hall Discussion’ conference “… “Bringing the students to D.C. was the equivalent of cutting down about 620 trees in terms of CO2 emissions”.
Pro-tip: If you want to reduce CO 2 emissions, you can start by not flying in people to brainstorm when you can just telecommute…
Who do these students think they are, Al Gore?
Tweet |
So whose Spring is this going to be?
As elections across Europe and the US may have placated the masses, will an Arab Spring materialize again? Or Occupy Something?
Perhaps this season will be the “Ransom Spring” as hackers unleash a massive cyber attack that infected hundreds of thousands of computers running Microsoft Windows.
Microsoft has pointed to the National Security Agency as the hackers are using a technique purportedly stolen from the ultra secret spy agency. The cyber attack targets Microsoft’s operating system through a back-door channel put in the code to allow government access to the computer without the user knowing it.
The hack effectively takes over the computer and demands a $300 ransom, to be paid in 72 hours with bitcoin.
I can’t help to think that there could be another nefarious motive behind this attack. By asking for bitcoin to pay the ransom, which most people will not pay preferring to wait for a software fix, it could also be an operation to discredit the cryptocurrency as its valued soared to more than $1,800.
Bitcoin’s value saw a $200 decline as the global hack was taking place. However the sell off was short-lived and values have rebounded somewhat into the low $1,700 range.
In another ransom attack, Disney’s Chairman and CEO Bob Iger told company employees on Monday that the newest installment of “The Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise is being held hostage by hackers and will be released on the web unless the company pays the undisclosed ransom.
Disney’s ransom attack is similar to the cyber theft Netflix faced last month when hackers stole unreleased episodes of the hit “Orange is the New Black.”
Netflix refused to pay the price and the shows were leaked online.
And so it may begin The Ransom Spring. Look for this uprising online.
Advertisements |
The old man paused for breath beneath a walnut tree. A part-time philosopher, he was called Rahmatollah (“Offer of the Gods”). He had wobbly knees and clutched a walking stick but his mind showed no sign of slowing down.
He sat in the shade quoting the 13th-century Iranian poet Saadi Shirazi and musing over his 80 or so years living in the sleepy mountain village of Abyaneh, 210 miles south of the capital Tehran. “I used to walk in these peaks as a boy, searching for wolves and hunting ibexes. Back then, Abyaneh was a very different place,” he said, almost mournfully.
Once a thriving agricultural community, Abyaneh was home to thousands and blessed with an almost semi-autonomous existence. Isolated until the 17th century, it remained free of interference by Afghans, Turks and Indians. With the next village 12 miles away, locals even formed their own dialect.
The mudbrick houses of Abyaneh Credit: © ASK Images / Alamy Stock Photo/ASK Images / Alamy Stock Photo
Today barely 80 residents remain, living in red mudbrick houses. Bizarrely, though, Abyaneh is located close to the epicentre of the country’s biggest problems, a lonely spot in the desert that has seen it exiled from the international community.
“No photographs,” warned my guide Majid as we drove past the mysterious Natanz nuclear facility, all high fences and armed patrols.
But change is coming. Sanctions imposed over Iran’s controversial nuclear programme are being lifted and the Islamic Republic is once again open for business. Last year saw the Foreign Office ease travel restrictions and reopen the British embassy in the capital after it was famously stormed in 2011. As a result, airlines and tour operators are hastily re-establishing their presence. On September 1, British Airways will recommence direct flights to Tehran from London Heathrow. It is welcome news to the 77 million population of this nation plagued by preconceptions as a land of fundamentalists and terrorists.
Tehran – where British Airways will fly to directly, from September 1 Credit: Copyright 2015 Emanuele Mazzoni/Emanuele Mazzoni
Majid has been showing off his homeland to curious visitors for the past 15 years. “Iran is a deeply misunderstood country,” he said, sitting cross-legged on a Persian rug and sipping a cup of saffron chai in a teahouse high in the quiet hillsides north of Tehran. Beyond the walls, mules ferried sacks of pomegranates along deserted trails.
There, like almost everywhere in Iran, the locals greeted us with a touching mix of curiosity and delight. Some stared unsubtly while others whispered with urgency. Some came rushing over with questions and, more often than not, offers of tea, fruit or homecooked meals.
Hopes are high that Iran has finally turned a corner and a new era beckons. Rahmatollah was characteristically coy about it all. “The future? Only God knows but good things are coming,” he said, gazing out over Mount Karkas.
Mount Karkas, in the north of Iran Credit: © Florian Neukirchen / Alamy Stock Photo/Florian Neukirchen / Alamy Stock Photo
Many miles to the south, the city of Yazd was doing a roaring trade. The pavements were heaving with shoppers browsing the father-and-son kerbside stalls selling fruit, sweet-smelling rose water and Persian rugs. The busiest place, however, seemed to be Haj Khalifeh Ali Rahbar, a confectionery store started by two brothers more than 60 years ago. The place was stacked with all manner of sugar-dusted treats with exotic names such as noqhl, loze nargil and qotab.
And while it cannot trade on a world-famous name like other Iranian heavyweights such as Shiraz and Isfahan, Yazd proved to be one of the most enlightening stops on our two-week tour, thanks mostly to the famed Towers of Silence. These large manmade monuments in the desert on the outskirts of town are where Zoroastrians leave their dead to be consumed by vultures.
We broke up the long journey to Shiraz beside a roadside pistachio farm. The small shrubs, all neatly planted in regimented rows that swept up the hillside, were decorated with ripening shells like faded rubies dangling from the tip.
The owner – a farmer on a motorbike – soon materialised. I half expected him to start shouting, ordering us off his land and away from his precious pistachios but this was Iran. Instead, he greeted us like long-lost family and proceeded to pick handfuls of his prized produce for us to sample.
“Iranian people do not hate the West,” Mr Abedi explained. “They celebrate everything it has brought them but propaganda has given the wrong impression of us.” Credit: Nicola Messana - Fotolia
But the most memorable individual we met was Abbas Barzegar, the Richard Branson of Iran who lives in the absurdly beautiful Bavanat Valley. In a previous life, Abbas was a humble man working on a farm. “I had no money, no cows, nothing. I thought God had deserted me. Now I have a magical business, a garden, a family, even a donkey,” he beamed.
So, what brought about this change in fortune? Two German backpackers. Lost and with nowhere to stay, they were offered a spare room in Abbas’s house and an idea was born. With the help of a $600,000 grant from former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, he built his own guesthouse, which now has 33 rustic rooms, a small museum and even a petting zoo. Success, however, may have gone to his head.
Over a breakfast prepared by his demure wife and served by his daughters, he spoke of his dreams of owning his own valley and populating it with his own tribe who would all wear the same clothes and be ruled over by his infant son. Several of us exchanged knowing glances in between mouthfuls of homemade cheese and walnut bread.
Iran’s strained relationship with the West plays out regularly in the headlines but there is very little, if any, hostility to be felt from people on the ground
Of course, we didn’t come all this way to listen to these ramblings. We came for the Bavanat Valley, one of Iran’s most naturally blessed locations: a wide chasm bookmarked by crumbled peaks and scattered with drooping sunflowers, gushing streams and dusty walking trails.
A boy of no more than 13 emerged from within a haze of dust kicked up by the dozens of goats he was trying to herd. He was having limited success, his desperate pleas lost among the plumes of sand swirling around him.
Having a much more leisurely day were the Abedi family. Like the rest of the 14,000 nomads who spend six months of the year in the Bavanat Valley (wintering on the warm shores of the Persian Gulf), they were busy tending to their cattle and drinking tea outside their large tents. Tea was extended to us and we sat on rugs placed on grass and talked about our respective lands. Mr Abedi turned his attention to the US citizen in our party. “Why does America hate us so much?”
Iran’s strained relationship with the West plays out regularly in the headlines but there is very little, if any, hostility to be felt from people on the ground. “The Iranian people do not hate the West,” Mr Abedi explained. “They celebrate everything it has brought them but propaganda has given the wrong impression of us.”
The future and present-day Iran may be the biggest talking points but the country’s past is never far from the agenda. Its complex history dates back centuries to the first human settlements around 4000 BC. In the years that followed, Persia was conquered and ruled by some of history’s biggest figures. Cyrus the Great laid the foundations of the Persian Empire in the sixth century BC.
Its most impressive achievement, arguably, is Persepolis, the mighty capital of the empire built by Darius the Great. More than 150 years in the making, this ancient city has attracted subjects from far and wide to pay homage to their rulers. They didn’t come empty-handed, bringing offerings of gold, spices and baby giraffes from their exotic lands including Arabia and India.
"The Persian Empire's most impressive achievement, arguably, is Persepolis, the mighty capital" Credit: emk(c)2012/Milos Kubus
It was undoubtedly a place of great splendour but a drunken attack launched by Alexander the Great one fateful night saw Persepolis burn to the ground. That, along with centuries of abandonment (the city wasn’t rediscovered until 1620), took its toll. But the ruins that stand today boast splendour of a different kind.
Aside from Persepolis, the tour’s most anticipated stop came at the end. Legends surround the fabled city of Isfahan, former capital of Persia, and its grandeur remains. Just as it did in the days of Shah Abbas the Great in the 17th century, life in Isfahan revolves around Meidan Emam, one of the largest public squares in the world. “Only Tiananmen is bigger,” said Majid with pride. Once, kings would sit on balconies overlooking the square and watch polo matches played out against a backdrop of mighty mosques and madrassas.
Today, Meidan Emam remains a place of euphoria and entertainment. Shoppers milled around the arcades and vanished into crowded bazaars. Courting couples picnicked on the grass while families rode horses and carts around the perimeter.
"Just as it did in the 17th century, life in Isfahan revolves around Meidan Emam, one of the largest public squares in the world" Credit: JPAaron - Fotolia
But at its heart, Meidan Emam remains a place rooted in religion and tradition. People come to worship at the Shah Mosque, under its vast dome adorned with half a million tiles. A man in a scruffy tracksuit emerged from the crowd and proceeded to take centre stage. He stood directly in the middle of the hall and started to sing the call to prayer. Every murmur fell silent as his voice gained momentum, each note sliding down the glazed walls like honey.
A wave of goosebumps swept along my arms and everyone in sight was rendered speechless. It was a delicate and soulful display that took us all by surprise. Very much like Iran itself.
Nick Boulos travelled with Wild Frontiers (020 7736 3968; wildfrontierstravel.com). For more details, see telegraph.co.uk/iranreview. |
Saturday night in Philadelphia was relatively tranquil; that is, until around 11:30 p.m., when huge gusts of wind and rain — mixed with hail and accompanied by lightning — viciously blew through the area.
The rain had stopped Sunday morning, but the powerful winds had not. And thousands were left without power as a result. Examples of wind damage across the city included a downed tree on the 3400 block of W. Queen Lane in East Falls and collapsed scaffolding on 19th Street in Center City.
The National Weather Service has issued a High Wind Warning for much of the area for Saturday until 7 p.m. Sunday, with gusts expected to be between 25 to 35 mph. Some are expected to be as strong as 60 mph. The Alberta clipper could also potentially bring snowfall to parts of New Jersey, where the High Wind Warning remains in effect from midnight Saturday until 2 p.m. Sunday.
The strongest winds came Sunday morning and diminished in the afternoon. Thousands were impacted by downed power lines (PECO's outage map here) and trees, damage to some buildings and difficult driving conditions. PSE&G, New Jersey's largest utility, released a statement and referred residents to their outage map in the event of service disruptions.
Poitier Jackson/for PhillyVoice Poitier Jackson/for PhillyVoice Scaffolding on 19th Street in Center City, Philadelphia is knocked over after strong winds slammed the region.
As of 10 p.m. Sunday, PECO was reporting that more than 2,000 customers throughout the area were still without power, down from 18,000 earlier in the day. PSE&G said that more than 10,000 customers in New Jersey were impacted.
After the winds subside, the work week isn't expected to be particularly pleasant either. Low temperatures will be in the 30s Monday and in the 20s Tuesday, forecasters predict.
Here's the full forecast from the National Weather Service:
Monday: Rain likely, mainly after 1pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 62. Southeast wind 5 to 14 mph becoming southwest in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.
Monday Night: Rain likely, mainly before 9pm. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 30. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.
Tuesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 44. Breezy.
Tuesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 26.
Wednesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 50.
Wednesday Night: A chance of rain after 9 p.m. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 41. Chance of precipitation is 40%.
Thursday: Showers likely. Cloudy, with a high near 60. Chance of precipitation is 70%.
Thursday Night: Showers likely. Cloudy, with a low around 43. Chance of precipitation is 70%.
Friday: A chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 55. Chance of precipitation is 40%. |
3D Printing Could Revolutionize Drugs
3D printing is a highly-anticipated new technology that could soon "revolutionize" the drug market. This technology, now in development, could soon allow us to design and print everything from toys and tools to human hearts—and, inevitably, drugs. Lee Cronin, a chemist from the University of Glasgow, says he has created a prototype 3D "Chemputer" that can create medicine by assembling chemical compounds on a molecular level. “What Apple did for music, I'd like to do for the discovery and distribution of prescription drugs,” says Cronin. Prescription patients would be able to purchase a "blueprint" and chemical "ink" at an online version of a pharmacy, and could then print the drug at home with software and a 3D molecular printer. Chemicals and dosages could be tailored to meet each individual's specific needs, and certain allergies and other health concerns could be "edited out." If successful, this new prescription method could radically alter the entire pharmaceutical industry, taking control away from Big Pharma and placing it in the hands of the consumers. “In the future, we will not sell drugs, but blueprints or apps,” says Cronin.
But just like music on iTunes, the technology will also open up avenues for consumers to evade the rules. Mike Power, author of Drugs 2.0: The Web Revolution That's Changing How the World Gets High, predicts ambitious DIY chemists will eventually control the drug market—making the very notion of "controlled substances" a thing of the past. Power says this could be a good thing: free production and distribution of drugs like LSD and MDMA, he claims, would eliminate the need for “designer drugs" (unregulated substitutes for illicit street drugs, with often-unpredictable and harmful effects). But downloading illegal drug blueprints from unknown sites could also create the same problems as downloading music: Without any official standards or regulation, the blueprints could be mislabeled (the same problem, Powers points out, that currently plagues the illegal drug market). And chemically sloppy medicines could have far more harmful consequences than sloppily-recorded songs. But for better or for worse, the technology is on the horizon. When, exactly? “Maybe 10 to 15 years? Who knows?” says Cronin. “Maybe five to 10.” |
Get the biggest celebs 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
Rapes, killings and tortures were all in a day’s work for Uday Hussein, one of the most sadistic monsters the world has ever seen.
His acts sickened even his murderous father Saddam and, for five years, Latif Yahia was his “fiday” – his double, catching bullets meant for Iraq’s most despised man.
While Uday satisfied his perverted lusts behind heavily fortified palace walls, Latif would pretend to be him at official functions around the country, surviving 11 assassination attempts.
His disturbing story is told in new movie The Devil’s Double, starring English actor Dominic Cooper – but sitting across from me in a London hotel, he tells me the full story would be far too horrific to commit to film.
Latif, 46, says: “The movie is only 20% of the truth. The director wasn’t going to put everything in because we don’t want to make a horror movie. They edited a lot of horrible stuff out because it was too much.
“The first time I watched it, for three or four full days I really didn’t sleep. It brought it all back, and all the years of counselling and therapy I had to cope with it all.”
And his memories are truly horrific.
“I saw the rapes, many many rapes,” he says softly. “He once brutally raped a pregnant woman. You could hear the screams, you could hear everything. Then with an iron bar he hit her.
“After that I saw a lot of killing and cutting. Even now I don’t sleep at night because of everything I have seen. He would rape and kill women then kill their parents if they complained. He would torture them.”
Uday even fell out of favour briefly with his father when, at a party in honour of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s wife, he murdered Saddam’s personal valet and food taster in front of horrified guests, bludgeoning his victim with a cane before cutting his throat with an electric carving knife.
Latif and Uday’s paths first crossed when they were teenagers in the same class at school, the best in Baghdad. Saddam had just become president and Latif’s millionaire businessman father warned his son to steer clear of his powerful classmate.
“We weren’t friends. We said hello but that was it,” says Latif in a passionless voice.
“People around him were scared of him and he would choose the people to be around. I studied a lot and I didn’t want to be involved. But even when we were kids we looked similar. We both had afro hairstyles which was the fashion then.”
But the power that came with being Saddam’s son allowed the young Uday to become untouchable, even among his terrified teachers at the segregated school.
Latif remembers: “He would bring his girlfriend into school. In an Arab nation this wasn’t done to have a girl there. One teacher told him no, it shouldn’t be done and we didn’t see him any more – the teacher simply disappeared.
“He would drive to school in his Porsche and would park it on the basketball court. He was very loud, he didn’t care what anyone thought if him.”
Latif went on to study engineering at Baghdad University but even there he could not escape Uday, who appeared on the same course. Terrified of four years of “friendship” with the despot’s son, he switched to a law course to avoid him.
But while serving in the Army in 1983 during the Iran-Iraq war, he received an order summoning him to Uday’s palace and was given a terrible choice.
He recalls: “Uday said ‘What do you say to becoming Saddam’s son?’ I said we are all Saddam’s sons, which is what we used to say then. ‘No I want you to be my fiday,’ he said. I played stupid and asked whether he meant be his bodyguard. He said, ‘No, you will become Uday.
“I asked if I had any choice and he said, ‘Yeah of course. It is a free country you can do what you want.’” But when Latif declined, he was bundled into the boot of a car and locked in a cell for seven days.
Again, he was summoned before Uday. “He told me, ‘Do this or I will rape your sisters.’ They were kids, just seven or eight years old. This was typical Uday.
“I told him to just leave my family alone and I would do anything he wanted.”
Latif then moved into an opulent palace where everything was laid on for him, and the long training process began to turn him into the perfect replica of the Butcher of Baghdad’s son.
He even had extensive dental and plastic surgery to replicate Uday’s features. For months, he studied how he smoked, wrote and spoke, and his posture, plus he also had to start drinking and smoking to be like his boss.
Then the next stage of training – far more monstrous – began. To understand the president’s son, and to desensitise him to what was to come, he had to watch videos of tortures and rapes committed by Uday and his friends. The barbarous acts, coupled with Uday’s glee at committing them, sickened Latif.
“Seven or eight hours a day I had to watch Uday torture his people,” he says. “How he punished them. It was a way of preparing me psychologically for what was going to happen to me. I was sick when I was seeing it. Then I would see the live torture later.”
Graduating from this sick course, Latif was given access to all life’s luxuries. But he would be sent out to perform Uday’s civic duties, everything from inspecting troops to handing out medals to the Iraqi football team.
He says he never participated in Uday’s atrocities but felt powerless to stop him. He explains: “There was no way I could leave or my family would pay the price. I didn’t want to see my mother be raped, my sisters be raped, my father tortured.
“He once asked me to kill someone but I couldn’t so I cut myself. Uday had raped the winner of Miss Baghdad and her father had complained to Saddam. Uday was angry with him and brought him into his office and ordered me to kill him. I refused and instead, I cut my wrists.”
Many of Latif’s bodyguards died in the assassination attempts on him around the country by angry husbands or brothers.
And he reveals: “I went to Kuwait after the invasion and there was an assassination attempt. The western media said Uday had been killed but it was me, not him. I was shot through the hand and in the chest and head.”
Latif was later spirited out of the country by the CIA and now travels between Belgium and France with his Irish wife Karen and nine-year-old daughter Dina, with no country prepared to give him permanent residence.
He felt robbed of a chance to stand in court and testify against Uday after he was killed, aged 39, by US special forces during a shoot out in 2003.
Latif adds: “I can’t stay anywhere too long. I still fear for my life, especially after this movie comes out. There are still Saddam supporters around the world.
“The west made Saddam and Uday martyrs. I wanted them in court so I could tell them what I saw.”
- The Devil’s Double, from Once Were Warriors and Die Another Day director Lee Tamahori, is released next Wednesday. |
#leftwrapper { border-color:#bbbbbb; border-style:solid; border-width:1px; font-size: 11px; float:left; width: 220px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 15px; margin-bottom: 15px; line-height:14px } #leftimage { background-color:#bbbbbb; width: 210px; height: 132px; margin-left:5px; margin-top: 5px; margin-bottom: 0px; } #leftcaption { display:block; width: 201px; margin-bottom:5px; margin-top: 0px; margin-left:5px; margin-right:6px; padding-top:6px; padding-left:7px; padding-bottom:4px; border-color:#bbbbbb; border-style:solid; border-width:1px; } These reports were produced by the Canadian Centre for Investigative Reporting, with major funding provided by the Open Society Institute.
KOSTROMA, Russia — Yuri Frolov, 24, started using heroin when he was 16 and living in the city of Kostroma, north of Moscow.
Kostroma isn’t known for heroin. The city of almost 300,000 is on Russia’s Golden Ring, a collection of picturesque cities northeast of Moscow visited by tourists for their typical Russian architecture and onion-shaped church domes.
My wife and I met Frolov in May at a drug rehabilitation center in the countryside in southern Russia, near the city of Stavropol. The center is austere. There is no running water and residents have to use outhouses. It’s part work camp, part monastery. The ascetic lifestyle and fresh air are thought to help addicts give up their dependencies. But this bucolic patch of land in the rolling hills of the northern Caucasus comes as a shock for many of the young addicts, who are used to cell phones and urban apartment blocks.
Before he came to the center, Frolov had never worked with livestock. Here he is in charge of collecting water from a nearby reservoir via horse-drawn carriage. In his free time he works with the center’s horses in a sprawling field.
Frolov had been clean for five months when we met. He is broad-shouldered and tall. But there is something delicate about his long face and green eyes.
Sitting on a concrete slab near the stables, Frolov spoke of how easy it was for him to purchase heroin back in Kostroma:
“There was a Gypsy village only three miles from the town I’m from. You’d go there. There’d be cops standing outside. You’d pay them 100 rubles ($3.60) to get in and 50 rubles to get out. The gypsies would yell at you, ‘Buy from me. I’ve got the best stuff.’ You didn’t need to look or anything. There was good quality heroin everywhere.”
Since 2001, the year American and Canadian troops entered Afghanistan, heroin production has reached record levels. And a significant amount of that heroin is ending up here, in Russia. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, it is the world’s largest national market for heroin, consuming about 20 percent of all the heroin trafficked from Afghanistan annually.
There are at least 1.5 million heroin users in Russia. It’s estimated that every day 80 people die from heroin addiction.
At a press conference in May, the head of Russia’s anti-drug agency, Viktor Ivanov, told reporters that among Russia’s most important goals is the liquidation of global drug crimes at the highest levels. It’s no secret that he was referring to Afghan heroin. A map detailing the global heroin trade from Afghanistan to the world was projected on a screen behind him.
“A million people have died globally from Afghan heroin over the past 10 years,” the stern-faced, former KGB officer said.
According to Russia’s Federal Drug Control Services (FSKN), the FSKN and the U.S. military have carried out five joint operations in Afghanistan to destroy drug labs. Russia’s involvement raised the ire of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, as any presence of Russian forces remains a sensitive issue for Afghanis who remember the war with the Soviets.
Despite its focus on the issue, Russia can’t seem to stop the flow of cheap heroin across its borders from the central Asian countries of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, travel from these former Soviet Republics into Russia has remained visa-free. It hasn’t helped that Russian border guards were removed from Tajikistan — which shares an 835-mile border with Afghanistan — in the summer of 2005. Government corruption has also fueled heroin traffic across central Asia and into Russia.
“Heroin defiles and corrupts everything,” said Yuri Krupnov, director of the Institute for Demography, Migration and Regional Development in Moscow. “It is such a powerful geo-economic, geo-political force, with anonymous authors, that it is impossible to confront it.”
That explains why heroin is still ending up in the veins of young people like Frolov and another addict at the rehab center, Alexei Vanchikov.
"I can count the people who I started using drugs with who are still alive on one hand," Vanchikov said. He has lived for five years with HIV and refuses to take medication.
Here at the Spaso Preobrazhenski Rehabilitation Center, rehabilitation consists of manual labor and prayer. The center is run in association with the Russian Orthodox Church and is completely free for addicts. The brain behind this type of open-air rehabilitation is Nikolai Novopashin, a former addict and an evangelist for recovering drug users.
On a recent afternoon at the center, Novopashin spoke to nearly 30 recovering addicts seated outside on benches. "There are businessmen and doctors who think you should all be rounded up and drowned at sea,” he bellowed. Novopashin doesn’t mince his words.
And he’s right. Despite the tough talk of Russian officials, such as FSKN’s Ivanov, rehabilitation has in many ways been an afterthought of Russia’s drug strategy.
Novopashin's way may not necessarily be the best method. Drug policy experts and advocates both within Russia and internationally have criticized Russia for its abstinence-based approach to drug rehab.
Writing on OpenDemocracy.net in May 2011, former heroin addict and drug rights activist Irina Teplinskaya said, "Russia’s official approach to the treatment of drug addiction is based on forced abstinence. It both humiliates drug users and deprives them of their rights.”
In October 2010, Yegor Bychkov, head of the City Without Drugs Foundation in the Russian city of Nizhny Tagil, was sentenced to three and a half years in jail for kidnapping a young drug addict. But just a few months later, the charges were reduced and Bychkov was released.
It's clear from this case that public opinion around drug abuse is very complicated.
In Moscow, a group known as Duri Net outs drugs dealers by pouring indelible ink on them. In Yekaterinburg, another branch of City Without Drugs targets Gypsy families who are thought to be involved in the drug trade.
With the government unable — or unwilling — to address a problem as serious as heroin addiction, to many there is only one solution left: dealing with it on their own.
But Novopashin said neither drug addicts nor small-time dealers are to blame:
"We should blame the people who didn’t give them a good reason to live, who didn’t give them a sense of purpose, a sense of patriotism, a sense of national identity. Then we should blame the people who made all this possible — you think heroin just falls out of the sky!?"
Ilnur Batyrshin is a research specialist for AntiDrugFront.ru, a think tank that tracks the heroin trade from Afghanistan, through central Asia and into Russia.
In a recent interview, Batyrshin told CCIR, "The heroin problem is a direct result of opium production in Afghanistan and whether we want it or not, so long as Afghanistan keeps producing opium we’ll continue to have a heroin problem. The only way to stop that is to put a stop to opium production in Afghanistan."
Other addicts we spoke to confirmed that after the American invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, there was a "wave" of heroin flowing into Russia.
According to Yuri Krupnov, there is direct correlation between the amount of heroin in production and the number of troops in Afghanistan. “As one increases,” he said, “so does the other.”
Russia would like to nip heroin production in the bud by destroying poppy fields in Afghanistan. But Canada and other NATO countries have refused to do so, saying that it is outside of their purview.
Russia's tiniest drug capital
A few hours from Moscow by train is the town of Kimry. It was once a town of shoemakers. In the Soviet Union, residents worked in local shoe and textile factories. But in 2001, it was flooded with heroin.
By 2004, the problem was impossible to ignore. Father Andrei Lazerov became an outspoken advocate for young addicts in Kimry.
The Russian orthodox priest has a long flowing beard, hair pulled back into a knot behind his head, and wears a massive gold cross over his black robes. On a recent afternoon at his home in Kimry, he remembered what the town was like not long ago.
"We had around 300 drug dealers and 311 students in the city,” he said, almost in a whisper. “There were needles everywhere. From this house where we are right now, they sold drugs 200 meters (218 yards) that way, 300 meters in that direction they were selling heroin, and over there too.”
Kimry became known as Russia's tiniest drug capital. According to Lazerov, the local drug mafia was protected by the local prosecutor at the time. A kilo, or two pounds, of heroin was sold every day in Kimry. According to a 2004 news report on Russian state TV, nearly one in five residents in this city of 50,000 was addicted to drugs.
With all of the attention Kimry received in the Russian press, the city was eventually cleaned up and the problem was no longer visible when we visited. Still, in the area near the train station where heroin was once sold openly we found ample evidence of recent heroin use: Needles littered the dirt road and local residents told us that drugs are still sold there.
At the rehab center near Stavropol, we met up with Dmitry Glazunov, a former addict from Kimry. Glazunov is soft-spoken and very polite.
"All of the people I know who are around my age shoot up heroin," he said. "As for the older guys I started shooting up with, there are only two or three left. And they have HIV and they might already be dead. If you go to the cemetery in Kimry you’ll notice that there aren’t very many old people — it’s all kids."
Glazunov said that he's afraid to return to Kimry because he knows the temptation to use again is too great.
“I’ll walk through the area where they sell drugs right near the train station,” he said. “Even if I can hold off for two or three days, it’ll draw me in eventually."
Rehabilitation strategy?
The FSKN’s Viktor Ivanov is kept busy by Russia’s Afghan heroin addiction. In May, he visited the Spaso Preobrazhenski Rehabilitation Center while we were there.
It was a whirlwind event. He swept in with his entourage in a shiny black Land Rover and was greeted by the local patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church. During his 45-minute visit he was whisked around the grounds by Novopashin, performing a sped-up version of the stations of the cross.
Former addicts stood waiting at the positions Novopashin had assigned them: in the wood working shop, near the rabbit pens, beside a chirping clutch of ducklings. Yuri Frolov stood beside a saddled horse. When Ivanov passed by, Novopashin told Frolov to get up and ride. There were oohs and ahhs from the crowd. Novopashin had turned an urban heroin addict into a Russian version of John Wayne.
After Ivanov's visit, Novopashin's center received government "certification.” That means it will receive about 10,000 rubles ($350) each month per recovering addict. It also means the Russian government can say they are doing something to fund rehabilitation.
But according to Pavel Aksenov, executive director of the Russian Harm Reduction Network (ESVERO) in Moscow, the government’s strategy to bolster drug rehab is putting the cart before the horse.
“A certification program isn’t going to solve the problem,” he said on a recent morning in his office in downtown Moscow. “First you have to focus on creating an effective system of social rehabilitation.”
According to Aksenov, such a system does not yet exist in Russia. For the most part, state-sponsored rehabilitation is a quick affair. It involves cleaning an addict’s blood and putting him back on the street again. Rehabilitation requires time. Add to that the fact that methadone treatment, used to reduce opium dependency, is illegal in Russia.
Moreover, there is no system of quality control in Russia to determine the effectiveness of the nearly 400 private drug rehabilitation centers that exist here.
Aksenov says that in United States, and closer to home in Belarus and Ukraine, rehabilitation centers use what is known as an Addiction Severity Index to determine the effectiveness of an addict’s rehabilitation.
Recovering addicts are judged on whether they are taking medication for diseases like HIV (remember 33-year-old Alexei Vanchikov), or whether they have gone back to school or have managed to hold down a job.
At Novopashin’s center, recovery is a matter of faith. And there are no formal means for determining how effective his methods are. At least six addicts we met there had left, relapsed and returned.
According to Human Rights Watch, state-run rehabilitation centers exist in only 26 of Russia’s 85 regions. CCIR could only identify four free state-run rehabilitation centers in the country.
Relapse
In June, Yuri Frolov returned home to Kostroma for his mother's birthday.
Vadim Hachaturov, a former heroin addict who manages the rehab center near Stravropol, warned Yuri that it was too soon to go home. The risk of falling into old habits was too great, Hachaturov said.
But Frolov left anyway.
We met up with Frolov in Moscow on his way to Kostroma in June. We walked along the Moscow River on a sunny afternoon. Frolov was happy to be going home, to see his mom, to spread his wings after spending almost half a year in rehab. He also spoke openly about his fear of using again. He said he might travel with his mother to a nearby lake for a vacation, away from the temptations of his friends and former acquaintances who are still using.
We said goodbye in front of the metro station, and as we turned to walk away, my wife told me she had a bad feeling that Frolov was going to start using again.
In the weeks that followed our brief visit, we tried to call, but were unable to reach Frolov. Finally, we called Hachaturov in Stravropol. He told us that Frolov had started shooting up again. His mother had called the center in tears, asking him what she should do. Hachaturov was furious, thinking that Frolov had gone and proved him right.
For more on this story, visit the Canadian Centre for Investigative Reporting. |
It's here. Intel's first smartphone SoC that you'll actually be able to buy in a device before the end of the year. The platform is called Medfield and Paul Otellini just announced its first device partners.
Medfield starts out as a bonafide mobile SoC. Whereas Moorestown was a "two-chip" solution, Medfield is just one - the Penwell SoC:
The SoC is only available in a PoP (Package on Package) configuration measuring 12mm x 12mm. Intel wouldn't give out a die size but it did show me a Penwell sample without the stacked DRAM:
Since I know the measurements of the package I could estimate the dimensions of the silicon itself. My math worked out to be around 62mm^2. That's larger than a Tegra 2-class SoC, but smaller than Tegra 3 or Apple's A5. The diagram of its high level architecture above helps explain why.
There's only a single version of Medfield being announced today: the Intel Atom Z2460. The Z2460 features a single Atom core with a 512KB L2 cache, a PowerVR SGX 540 GPU and a dual-channel LPDDR2 memory interface. In a world where talking about four Cortex A9s and PowerVR SGX 544MP2s isn't uncommon, Medfield starts out almost sounding a bit...tame. But then you see its performance:
Although running what appears to be a stock Gingerbread browser, Intel's Medfield reference platform posts SunSpider performance better than any other smartphone we've tested - including the Galaxy Nexus running Ice Cream Sandwich. Intel promises that Medfield's performance will scale on ICS as well - the gap should be maintained. We've seen high results from reference designs in the past, but the Medfield platform is a little different as you'll soon see - it's a complete smartphone design that should be representative of handsets that hit the market later this year.
Medfield isn't a one trick pony either, performance is similarly dominating under BrowserMark:
These are tablet-like scores. Here the Galaxy Nexus running ICS comes close, but once again Intel expects that on the same OS Medfield should be faster than any of the currently available SoCs.
I asked Intel where its SunSpider and BrowserMark performance advantages came from, especially considering we've typically only seen huge gains with new browsers and not new SoCs. Their response pointed to a bunch of factors, but one stand out issue was the A9 has a great execution core but seems to be more limited on the memory interface. Atom can support far more outstanding misses in L2 than the Cortex A9, which chokes bandwidth to the processor for anything not already in the L2 cache. This may be one of the reasons why we've never been able to get really high bandwidth numbers out of A9 based SoCs. It's probably safe to assume that things will be different with the Cortex A15, but for now it's little things like this that give Medfield a performance advantage.
GPU performance is understandably not as impressive. We couldn't get offscreen numbers of GLBenchmark 2.1 but we did get results at the device's native resolution (1024 x 600):
3D performance is better than the OMAP 4460 due to Medfield's 400MHz GPU clock compared to ~300MHz in most OMAP4 devices.
Performance without power considerations is meaningless, especially in the smartphone world. Luckily for Intel, Medfield seems very competitive there as well. Intel provided some power and performance data for Medfield based on its reference platform. I still haven't been able to verify any of this for myself, but I was able to see some power tests run in person on the reference platform and competitive devices.
The Intel provided values are pretty astonishing . Sub 20mW idle, sub 750mW during a call on 3G and although not pictured here, Intel's internal data suggests ~1W power consumption while browsing the web compared to ~1.3W on the iPhone 4S and Galaxy S 2. I've done my own measurements on 4S web browsing and came up with a very similar value.
Intel Measured Smartphone Power Consumption (Identical Display Brightness) Standby (3G) Talk (3G) Browsing (3G) Video Playback 720p Apple iPhone 4S ~38mW ~800mW ~1.3W ~500mW Intel Medfield Reference ~18mW ~700mW ~1.0W ~850mW Samsung Galaxy S II ~19mW ~675mW ~1.2W ~650mW
The performance and power data both look great for Medfield. You would think that this data, assuming there's nothing fundamentally wrong, would be enough to convince a handset maker to actually give Intel a shot. You'd be right.
In addition to disclosing Medfield performance data, Intel is also announcing partnerships with both Motorola and Lenovo. The former is a broad, multi-year agreement stating that Motorola plans on creating many devices based on Intel silicon - the first of which will be a smartphone due out before the end of the year. Tablets will follow at some point as well.
Lenovo on the other hand will actually be taking and tweaking Intel's own Medfield reference platform, and releasing it in China in Q2.
All of this is exactly what Intel needed: a start. |
A Florida woman is in jail on Tuesday after being charged with felony battery for allegedly kissing a police officer on the nose.
According to a police report obtained by The Smoking Gun, Manatee County Sheriff’s Office deputies were called to the home of 62-year-old Peggy Hill on Saturday after a dispute with a neighbor about a fence between their properties.
The report claimed that Sgt. Randy Lamb was speaking to Hill when “she approached him and kissed him on the nose against his will.”
“He stepped away from her, wiped off the saliva off from his nose, attempted to take her into custody and she started to struggle with him,” the report said.
Hill explained to the officers that the neighbors had been arguing over chicken wire on the fence. She reportedly told police that she had “about 3 glasses of wine” before they arrived on the scene.
“She advised that Sgt. Lamb was being aggressive towards her,” the charging officer wrote. “She could tell he was being aggressive by his body posture. She admitted that the thought just popped in her head to kiss him on the nose, so she kissed him on the nose. She advised that she was not being aggressive towards him.”
The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office’s website indicated that Hill was being held lieu of $5,000 bond.
[Photo credit: Manatee County Sheriff’s Office] |
MILWAUKEE -- The Milwaukee Public Museum started a massive undertaking to digitize their entire collection. But they need your help to complete the project. Carl joins FOX6 WakeUp with the details.
Milwaukee Public Museum (website)
Discover the unknown stories and facts about our state you never knew. Told through the narrative of objects not normally on display, visitors will uncover the rich fascinating secrets hidden all around us.
Unseen. Unknown. Uncovered.
Hidden Wisconsin spans MPM’s collections in both natural and cultural history and is made up of nearly 50 objects and artifacts that are rarely on display to the public.
Uncover Wisconsin’s mysteries by stepping into an immersive and interactive exhibit design comprised of four themes: Hidden in Plain Sight, Hidden Beneath, Hidden in History, and Hidden Forever. The young and young at heart can sneak behind the walls of a 1920s speak-easy, spy on friends and family with one way mirrors and even have the chance to decipher clues to win great prizes from MPM. |
Image caption The leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland, Cardinal Sean Brady, has faced calls to resign
An organisation which represents more than 850 priests in Ireland has been meeting on Monday to discuss the future direction of the Catholic Church.
The Vatican has recently criticised leading members of the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) for expressing views which contradict Church teaching.
The ACP meeting comes at a turbulent time for the Church in Ireland.
Its leader, Cardinal Sean Brady, is facing calls to resign over his handling of a clerical sex abuse case.
The ACP meeting, entitled "Towards an Assembly of the Irish Catholic Church", has been taking place at a hotel in Dublin.
One of the event's organisers, Father Brendan Hoban, said: "We believe that in 20 years time there will be very few priests in Ireland.
"We believe too, as everybody understands, that without priests you have no eucharist, and without eucharist you have no church.
"We are saying, 'what's the plan B'."
Many women at the conference said they felt excluded from the Church, and there were calls for a debate on the issue of female priests.
The organisers said they expected only 200 people to show up but there were more than 1,000, which they said was proof of the demand for a more open and democratic Catholic Church.
Change
The conference was described as a first effort to bring people together to discuss the current state of the Catholic Church in Ireland which has been rocked in recent years by a series of high-profile child abuse scandals.
During that period, a number of priests have openly expressed their desire for change in Church rules on matters such as clerical celibacy, the ordination of women and the ban on contraception.
Analysis The Catholic Church once dominated Irish public life, but Irish society has diverged sharply from its traditionalist teaching. In the wake of the sex abuse scandal - and with its leader Cardinal Brady hamstrung by his own role in failing to report abuse to police - the Irish Church has lost authority and respect with bewildering speed. The deepening sense of public alienation, and dwindling congregations has rallied more than a quarter of all active Roman Catholic priests in Ireland to what amounts to a rebel group. On Monday, they recruited lay Catholics to the call for fundamental reforms, including some they know Rome views as impossible. It represents an unprecedented challenge to the Vatican's authority. For its part, the Vatican will flatly refuse such reforms, but publicly it is likely to say little, hoping to deny the Association of Catholic Priests the advantage that taking them on might provide.
However, in recent months, some of Ireland's most vocal, liberal priests have been disciplined by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF).
They include leading ACP member, Father Tony Flannery, and the broadcaster and newspaper columnist Fr Brian D'Arcy.
Fr Flannery, who is based in County Galway, was ordered to stop writing articles for a Redemptorist Order magazine to which he had contributed for 14 years.
Fr D'Arcy was told he must get prior approval to write or broadcast on topics dealing with church doctrine.
In the run-up to Easter, Pope Benedict warned that the Church would not tolerate priests speaking out against Catholic teaching.
Last week, a BBC documentary uncovered new revelations about an internal Church investigation into clerical child sex abuse in 1975.
It said a teenage boy who had been sexually abused by Fr Brendan Smyth gave the names and addresses of other children who were at risk from the paedophile priest to Cardinal Brady, who at that time was a 36-year-old priest.
He passed the allegations to his superiors but did not inform the police or the children's parents.
Fr Smyth continued to sexually assault one of the boys for a year after that.
He also abused the boy's sister for seven years, and four of his cousins, up until 1988.
The ACP recently commissioned a survey of Irish Catholics which found that 90% would support the introduction of married priests.
The survey also found that 77% of Irish Catholics want women to be ordained, while more than 60% disagreed with Church teaching that gay relationships were immoral.
At the time, Fr Brendan Hoban from the ACP said the results were proof that the perception of Irish Catholics as traditionalist, conservative and resistant to change was wrong. |
VIDEO: Burglar breaks into Central Austin hair salon, steals safe Copyright by KXAN - All rights reserved Copyright by KXAN - All rights reserved Suspect gains entry to the Urban Betty hair salon on West 38th St. on June 15, 2017 (Courtesy/Chelle Neff) Burglar breaks their way into Central Austin salon Suspect gains entry to the Urban Betty hair salon on West 38th St. on June 15, 2017 (Courtesy/Chelle Neff) prev next
AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Surveillance video from a Central Austin hair salon shows just how quickly a burglar can break in and get out of a business with -- in this case -- a safe.
It happened around 4 a.m. Thursday at the Urban Betty hair salon at 1206 W. 38th St., across the street from Seton Medical Center Austin.
The video shows the suspect throwing something at the glass door, before eventually kicking and pushing the glass through the door frame and climbing through. In less than 10 seconds, he is out the door with the safe in hand.
The owner, Chelle Neff, says the suspect got access to a credit card kept in the safe, using it at a gas station, a pharmacy and a Redbox.
The business is asking you to contact them if you recognize the suspect.
KXAN is reaching out to Austin police for any additional information available.
Copyright by KXAN - All rights reserved The aftermath of a burglary at the Urban Betty hair salon on West 38th Street on June 15, 2017 (Courtesy/Chelle Neff) |
A central premise in marketing seems so obvious that it doesn’t even bear scrutiny: if customers give you positive feedback on your product, that’s good. And if those people buy the product repeatedly, that's even better.
But what if certain customers just don’t have great taste? Or, more precisely, what if their tastes don’t match up with those of the rest of the population? Positive feedback and early sales from these customers might actually not be good news—they could be a sign that the product’s going to tank.
A recent paper in the Journal of Marketing Research has identified a group of customers whose support for a product is a “harbinger of failure,” a signal that the product will eventually flop. “Increased sales of a new product by some customers can actually be a strong signal of future failure,” researchers write. So who are these people?
Doom visible in the data
The researchers set out with twin goals: figure out how to identify people with quirky taste, then see if their purchasing data could be used to predict whether a product is likely to succeed for fail. To do this, they gathered data from a large retailer. They analyzed the customer loyalty card data of nearly 130,000 individual customers as well as the overall transaction data (including those purchases made without a loyalty card) from 111 stores. The data spanned nearly seven years and excluded seasonal products.
First, they needed to figure out which products had failed, so that they could see who had bought them. All of the products in the data set had made it through pilot stages and had been rolled out across the retail chain, but only 40 percent were still around three years later. Anything that disappeared within less than three years was labelled as having failed.
Then the researchers established which groups had frequently bought these products within the first year of their life. These are presumably the people who’d liked the product the most, and so their taste clearly differed from the mainstream, which had generally rejected the product.
Finally, they looked at what happened to other products that this group liked. Sure enough, products purchased by harbingers of failure don’t do so well in the long run: “If sales to these customers are high, the product is more likely to fail,” the researchers write.
The more harbingers of failure like the product, the worse this effect is. If they buy a product repeatedly, it’s even more likely to fail. And the logical opposites also hold true: if harbingers of failure avoid a product, it does pretty well, and popularity with a different group of consumers—the "harbingers of success"—spells good news.
The interesting thing here is that the researchers tweaked their definitions to see if the effect was robust, or whether it fell apart when they changed something small. They reran the tests, changing what constituted a failed product or what length of time they considered the "introductory phase," yet they kept finding the same thing: a certain group of customers was associated with a lot of failed products.
They say that their study can be used to help market research, because when data from harbingers of failure is incorporated into predictions of product success, the predictions get more accurate.
Niche tastes
So who are the harbingers of failure? The researchers don't have any especially insightful information on them, other than that they're people who are more likely to buy the niche products that account for a low proportion of overall sales. “Harbingers have preferences that are systematically different from other customers,” the researchers explain. If something appeals to them, it’s unlikely that it will appeal to the mainstream.
It’s a similar concept to a well-understood problem with tech products, where early adopters often have different preferences to the mainstream markets. This can result in really innovative technologies having initial success and then tanking, because they don’t have widespread appeal. Even though preferences for things like food and beauty products are often much simpler, similar mechanisms are at play.
It’s important to note that the researchers aren’t implying that certain people cause a product to fail. It’s not as though mainstream customers are steering clear of a product because of who else is buying it. But because harbingers of failure have reliably weird taste, their desire for a product can be used to predict the likelihood of the product's eventual fate.
The implications here for manufacturers and retailers are interesting, because they suddenly complicate how positive feedback should be understood. It could save companies a lot of money to identify failed products earlier, or avoid producing them in the first place. Discontinuing flops early in the game reduces the opportunity cost of selling more successful products instead.
It might be a pragmatic choice for retailers, but as anyone knows after experiencing a beloved product being swiped from the shelves, it’s hard luck on anyone with niche tastes.
Journal of Marketing Research, 2015. DOI: 10.1509/jmr.13.0415 (About DOIs). |
Sabbe sattā sukhi hontu is a Pali phrase meaning “May all beings be well (or happy)”.
It’s not, properly speaking, a mantra, but is a chant that is used in exactly the same way as a mantra.
Unlike most mantras, it has a definite grammatical meaning.
Sabbe = all
Sattā (or sattaa) = beings
Sukhi = happy, well
Hontu = may they be
The chant has an attractive tune, and it’s lovely to chant this at the end of a period of the metta bhavana (development of lovingkindness) practice. It makes a beautiful group chant as well.
Outside of formal meditation, you can chant this mantra while walking, driving, or while engaged in any other such activity. It can help if you keep your attention centered on your heart, and also if you imagine that light is flowing from your heart and touching other people.
There are many other Pali chants that are similar and that are also closely related to the practice of lovingkindness, yet none seem to be as common as sabbe satta sukhi hontu, which really expresses the essence of lovingkindness.
Variants include:
sabbe satta avera hontu (may all beings be free from enmity and danger)
sabbe satta abyapajjha hontu (may all beings be free from mental suffering)
sabbe satta anigha hontu (may all beings be free from physical suffering)
sabbe satta dukkha muccantu (may all beings be free from suffering)
sabbe satta sukhi attanam pariharantu (may all beings protect themselves joyfully)
Click below to listen to an MP3 version:
Pronunciation notes:
a is pronounced as u in cut
ā (or aa) is pronounced as a in father
Sabbe satta sukhi hontu is the key of the development of lovingkindness and compassion. Although most religions teach us to love our neighbors and even our enemies, it’s often hard to know exactly how to do that. Buddhism, being a very practical tradition, offers a number of practices, including the development of lovingkindness (metta bhavana), and the development of compassion (karuna bhavana) meditations. Each of these practices helps us to develop a healthier and more loving relationship to oneself and others.
Metta is often translated as love as well as lovingkindness, and the essence of love in this sense is that we recognize that all beings, just like us, wish to experience happiness and do not wish to experience suffering. Metta is an empathetic sense of caring for others’ wellebing. It’s for that reason that sabbe satta sukhi hontu (“may all beings be happy”) is considered to express the heart of the lovingkindness practice.
In cultivating lovingkindness we commonly repeat phrases such as “May all beings be well; May all beings be happy; May all beings be free from suffering.” The accumulated effect of those words, when they are mindfully repeated, is to create a genuine sense of caring. |
Editor’s Note: With a new year comes new options. We’ve updated our list of the best espresso machines with several new options and updated prices on older offerings that are now an even better deal than before.
Espresso is so the new moonshine. But these latter-day at-home concoctions don’t run through slipshod copper stills or spend time fermenting in claw-foot tubs. Instead, amateurs and connoisseurs across the globe utilize beautiful, complicated and completely legal kitchen countertop machinery to whip up and drip out high-grade buzz that people pay good money to sip.
Novices looking to break into the shot-pulling biz, though, will find that buying the proper equipment is an intimidating affair, complicated by ever-escalating price tags and more mechanical nerdery than a bus full of mathletes with erector sets. Rest assured, the right espresso machine for you is out there, and Eliot Ness isn’t going to forcefully confiscate any of these puppies any time soon. Because he’s dead. Follow our guide on buying an espresso machine and you’ll have all the schoolin’ you need to pick an ideal home setup.
Categories
Pick Your Poison
Four main categories of machines — manual, semi auto, full auto, and super automatic — are offered on today’s market, and deciding on one of these types will greatly focus a buyer’s search. If the perfect espresso is one that requires the least effort to produce, the following are, in the broadest of terms, ordered from least to most desirable:
Manual machines are like a restored car from the early 1900s — a beautiful homage to heritage, but unimaginably complicated compared to today’s most advanced models. There are no crank start mechanisms or chokes to contend with on manual espresso machines, but because they don’t maintain constant water pressure on their own, users must push water through the coffee manually, which can vary the quality of the final product. In short, these machines should be considered by experienced home baristas only.
Semi-Auto espresso makers came to be thanks to Achilles Gaggia’s 1938 patent, which introduced electric pumps to devices, resulting in even, hands-free water pressure. Because operators can decide when to turn the pump on and off (hence “semi” automatic), and because boiler temperature controls are automated on these makers, this is the most popular type of traditional machine in use today.
Fully-Auto machines are very similar to semi-auto machines, but include an electronic nanny to regulate the amount of water passing through the espresso. It is often the case that fully automatics include redundant semi-automatic controls.
Super Automatic machines have all the bells and whistles, frequently including a built-in grinding apparatus and other related gadgets. Currently, “caffe crema” — essentially espresso-brewed coffee diluted to the strength of regular joe — has come into vogue as a result of the prevalence of super automatic machines.
Tools for Making Better Coffee at Home Stop splurging on coffee. Here’s what you need to brew cafe-quality coffee at home. Read this story
Buyer’s Guide
Before You Pull like a Pro, Shop like One
Before you go shopping ask yourself one very important question: What exactly do you want? Since different machines’ faculties and specialties vary, the first step in your espresso-stential journey is asking what types of drinks you’re looking to make (e.g. straight espresso or cappuccino, or both?). Furthermore, depending on how many drinks you want to churn out in one swoop and how often you will be making them, the questions of sustained performance and durability may come more into play. Would you be able to utilize a direct-plumb machine that connects directly to your home’s water pipes? (If not, you’ll simply need to fill the machine’s water reservoir manually.) Because some machines need more juice than others, you’ll also need to determine what kind of power supply you have available.
What can you get for your cash money? Let’s talk boilers. There are three price points to consider, each offering a different boiler configuration with different accompanying mechanicals. Machines under $1,000 are commonly single-boiler, dual-use setups: because these use a single thermostat to control the water temp (switchable from one boiler to the other at the user’s behest), these machines can’t brew and steam milk simultaneously. Above the $1,000 mark, you’ll come across mostly single-boiler, heat-exchanger machines, which feature a larger boiler that keeps water at or around 240 degrees Fahrenheit and make it possible to brew and steam simultaneously. Dual-boiler machines tend to cost well over $2,000, and feature two separate boilers for simultaneous brewing and steaming. While “dualies” seem like the way to go for serious espresso nerds, keep in mind that North American 110V power outlets can’t always handle the needs of these machines (we have to throw Europe a bone every now and then), though North American brands are slowly coming up with new approaches to work in our market.
Dripping Knowledge We sat down with Enrico Maso, who as senior product manager at DeLonghi, knows a thing or two about espresso for a quick chat about life’s most important questions. GP: Why is espresso the finest coffee drink? EM: I think that several factors make espresso the finest coffee drink: the high pressure of the extraction process enhances the aroma and the body of the coffee. The extraction time plays an important role in making a good espresso, as the right timing will prevent an over-extracted or under-extracted brew. Right water temperature is (92 to 96 degrees Celsius) is also key factor that affects the taste. So we can say that espresso is the finest drink because it is the harmonious combination of several elements controlled at a perfect level. GP: What exactly is crema and why is it so important? EM: Crema is the flavorful thick layer of foam that sits on top of the coffee liquid. When you sip the drink and break this layer, you enjoy all of the different elements and flavors that go into the espresso in one. Why? Because Crema is an emulsion of air, gases, water and coffee that occurs as a result of the pressurized extraction process. It’s one of the most essential elements in espresso to gives the drink an aroma and body. GP: How often should you clean an espresso machine, and are there any best practices? EM: You should clean the espresso machine every day to avoid any residue left behind; this residue can easily cause over-extraction or staleness, resulting in a burnt taste. De’Longhi’s home espresso machines are designed to be easy to clean — the Gran Dama Avant, for example, features a clean button that automatically performs a clean cycle on the milk tank and removes unwanted residue. Many espresso machines also feature easily removable parts, making them easy to wipe down with a cloth. Taking care of your machine is a simple task that will enhance your espresso experience, making it better everyday.
When actually purchasing a machine pay attention to how intricate the machine is, and to how easy it will be to maintain and clean. Check out the max pump pressure, and if it’s self-priming, know what type of boiler setup you’re looking at and if there is a thermostat involved — this will determine how much personal effort you’ll need to put into each drink. Furthermore, is the water tank a good size (indeed, is there a water tank at all?), and do you like the size and design of the machine as a whole? Espresso machines can be large and heavy, and they run the aesthetic gamut.
Finally, allow us to offer some advice, straight up. We can’t stress this bit enough: you must invest in a proper, high-quality bean grinder and learn how to use it. If you don’t properly grind, your espresso, just like your first high school dance, will be a completely disappointing, mediocre failure. Also keep in mind that while in a perfect world the most outfitted, option-laden choice is the best and most desirable, there are some optional espresso machine accouterments that can and/or should be avoided altogether. Never mind crema enhancers — these damage the espresso instead of bettering it. Machines that have high-bar pressure ratings — 15, 16 or 18 — don’t usually deliver those pressures anyway, due to restrictors or overflow valves, so anything claiming over 9 bars doesn’t make a lick of difference. Frothing aids may seem handy, but the technique isn’t all that difficult to master without help, and these aids can reduce the natural sweetness of milk froth because they continuously administer heat (like your drunk frat brother trying to get a date). Steam buttons are a no-go too: they’re binary, on-or-off affairs, whereas a steam knob offers steam power fine-tuning.
Now that we’ve laid the groundwork, it’s time to take a shot at offering up solid recommendations. In the interest of easing potential sticker shock, keep in mind that these machines are ultra-specialized and precision-made, and they crank out super refined stuff when used properly. Depending on your needs and means, you can probably find something that suits you; regardless, these machines are a serious endeavor and make for an impressive, tasty, high-octane experience. At any rate, now that you’ve practically got a PhD in coffee technology (which is probably still more useful than a Creative Writing MFA), let’s get to it.
Our Picks for All Budgets
Pull Out Your Wallet and Get Crackin’
Lucca A53 Mini
Beginner and intermediate shot-pullers alike will enjoy the Mini LUCCA, designed by La Spaziale specially for Clive Coffee with handsome (and optional) wooden elements (the panels and the portafilter handle). The compact machine sports dual boilers, a vibratory pump (“pretty quiet”, according to Clive) and manual-fill 3-liter water tank (which means a water line isn’t necessary). Brew temperature is adjustable by single degrees, giving aspiring and experienced baristas room to flex and newbies the comfort of factory default settings; shot volumes are also customizable and programmable, as is the offset differential.
Elektra Microcasa
Yeah, this thing looks pretty ridiculous. And so is the brew it spouts, according to more than a few reviewers. Elektra has refined its design for increased precision, but its look hasn’t changed since the 1980s, and the method itself remains straightforward: the coiled heating element brings the water to temperature and a pull of the lever infuses the grounds in the grouphead. Boiler pressure is preset at 0.9 bars and can be adjusted to the user’s liking. The downside is the time commitment: the boiler takes about 10 to 12 minutes to heat fully, and mineral buildup demands continued care (slightly less so in the chrome model). In other words, this is the espresso machine for those with a deep historical curiosity.
Slayer 1-Group
When Slayer’s commercial-purpose tri-grouphead model hit the market in 2010, it received a glowing reception for its paddle actuators, whose precision left more control than ever in the hands of the barista (literally). The 1-Group leans more homeward with its titular single grouphead, even if its $9,000 price tag doesn’t. Utilizing dual boilers and a quiet gear pump, the 1-Group’s pre-brew water volume can be adjusted mid-infusion with the paddle, giving users unprecedented control over the flavor profile of each shot. Alternatively, you can program this via glass touchscreen, along with steam pressure, water temperature (adjustable to the tenth of a degree) and shot timers.
Vesuvius Dual boiler with Pressure Profiling
The Vesuvius is noted for its touchscreen-controlled PID with five preset pressure profiles — the main draw of this particular model — along with its temperature control and water tank volume. The list of high-end features continues from there: an E61 commercial grouphead, a programmable timer, LED heading lights, no-burn steam and hot water wands, and the ability to switch between the 3-liter reservoir and direct plumbing.
Faema Carisma
The Carisma is an ideal machine for casual coffee drinkers who want a good balance between no-fuss brewing and authenticity. With that in mind, the Carisma’s copper boiler is treated with Ruveco Teck, which ensures consistency by reducing the amount of metals found in the water that goes into its tank. The steam and hot water are controlled with ergonomically designed knobs; pressure and temperature are displayed on a circular LCD screen, as is pump pressure, and a helpful float indicates when it’s time to empty the drip tray. Everything is there to help beginners inch towards being comfortable with experimentation — or just stay in their comfort zone.
Saeco Aroma
Since it comes in both black and stainless steel, the Philips Saeco Aroma Espresso Machine is ready for whatever kitchen design theme you’ve got going on. It’s versatile too — this little guy’ll brew freshly ground beans or prepackaged coffee pods, of which 12 are included. For less than a few Benjamins, it’s the best “machine” option available for the budget constrained drinker.
Rancillo Silvia V3
As its ubiquitous presence attests to, Rancillo’s Silvia V3 ($629) is a classic and popular piece of semi-auto espresso hardware. Brass fixtures ensure even heat, three thermostats keep simple the task of monitoring your brew, and as long as you pay close attention to how your beans are ground (Silvia is sensitive, guys) you’ll be in business. Most sources agree it’s the best single-boiler espresso machine available for under $1,000.
Quick Mill Alexia
Quick Mill’s Alexia isn’t for latte lovers, as frothing milk is far from the little lady’s specialty. If you’re down for sipping’ your swill straight, however, she’s your girl. The Alexia is touted as a good choice for manual machiners testing the semi-auto waters. This is a straightforward pull-style device; the pump is noisier than some and manually regulating the temp requires a small learning curve.
Pasquini Livia 90
The prosumer espresso machine market owes its own existence in large part to the Pasquinia Livia 90 ($1,735). The auto refill feature and automated pressure system make it possible to enjoy shot after shot of the serious stuff. Its core technology is somewhat dated and sensitive to technique, though, and making repairs an expensive proposition.
Rocket Espresso Giotto Evoluzione V2
If you’re looking to get molto autentico, first stop saying “Eye-talian” and then refinance your villa so you can pick up a Rocket Espresso Giotto Evoluzione V2. This made-in-Milan prosumer model looks old school (pictures don’t do it justice) but boasts trick features like a new insulated all-copper boiler to better stabilize temperatures, a vibratory pump to prevent line blockage and a dual pre-infusion system. There’s a 2.9-liter water reservoir for those “off the grid”, but it can connect directly to water supply should your habit escalate.
Izzo Alex Duetto III
The Izzo Alex Duetto III’s patented lever-controlled brew system handily maintains a constant temperature, and its rotary pump is whisper quiet. The machine’s Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) maintains strict temperatures in the group and steam boiler while providing a variety of other useful controls including switching the machine’s operational mode from 15 to 20 amps, its temp readout between Fahrenheit to Celsius and turning off either boiler if you don’t need heated milk or to save energy. Think of it like a steady-handed nanny, keeping things even and reliable no matter how jittery your caffeine-laden hands are. Shoppers looking for an espresso heavyweight should look no further — not only is this machine extra-accurate, it weighs in at over 70 pounds.
Editor’s Note: Upgraders should note that the Duetto shown here and in our slideshow above have been customized with a variety of accessories including a Clive Style 7 Walnut Bottomless PF, a Duetto brew lever knob and wood-grain tampers sold exclusively by our friends Clive Coffee.
DeLonghi Gran Dama ESAM6700
If you prefer drinking espresso and could care less about making it then the DeLonghi ESAM6700 Gran Dama Avant Touch-Screen Super-Automatic Espresso Machine is worth a gander. The modernized counter-yacht easily prepares practically any espresso drink you’d order at a coffee bar with the touch of a button — from grinding all the way to the finished product. There’s even a “long coffee” function, which replicates the taste of traditional drip via an extended brewing process, for those mornings when you don’t feel like being an Italian.
La Cimbali Junior Casea DT1
If you’re the type who takes his business home after work, you should have a commercial quality espresso machine at home that means business too. The La Cimbali Junior Casea DT1 is a looker that’s built to last. Commercial-grade construction, programmable volumetric dosing and a new three-hole steam tip for creating rich foam even in low doses means this one has potential to make it into your will. But commercial grade doesn’t mean commercial size: the DT1 will fit under standard kitchen cabinets (though it does tip the scale at nearly 80 pounds). It can’t be used anywhere, however, since it must be plumbed in.
La Marzocco GS/3
Unlike the other stainless steel doppelgängers on this list, La Marzocco’s silhouette can be customized with exotic wood paneling for a more natural look that somewhat underplays its freak-of-nature powers within. Top-line components, including a PID temperature controller, dual boilers and saturated brew groups, provide unrivaled performance, but you’ll need to directly plumb it for optimal use. On the downside, its digital programming isn’t the most intuitive option on the market for today’s iPhone-addicted masses. It’s constructed to take a beating, and can be configured as an automatic or manual machine, though the latter will cost you a bit more. The manual version features a “paddle” that allows users to fine-tune pre-infusion and extraction as they see fit.
Kees van der Westen Mirage
Let’s say you win the lottery, or maybe that you have a seriously inadequate… errm… espresso tamper (or perhaps both) and you happen to want to make ultra-premium espresso. It’d be absurd if you didn’t buy the Mirage (if you have to ask, it’s too much). The Kees van der Westen-designed beast is often referred to as the best espresso machine in the world, and looks like the offspring of a Spyker C8 that copulated with a suit of armor. Classic lever operation and museum quality everything else make this the things java dreams are made of. |
Share. The sleeping giant awakes. The sleeping giant awakes.
Scientists at CERN have announced that the Large Hadron Collider has started delivering data today for the first time in 27 months.
During the shutdown, the LHC went through maintenance and improvements in preparation for the next round of testing. The LHC is now providing collisions to experiments at 13 TeV (trillion electron volts), an unprecedented level of energy.
Exit Theatre Mode
Today the LHC was filled with six "trains" of proton bunches, consisting of 100 billion protons each. These bunches travel around the 27 kilometre ring and collide with each other. Eventually the experiments will be increased to 2808 bunches per beam, allowing up to one billion collisions per second.
The new experiments will allow scientists to further investigate the "Standard Model", a theory that describes the particles that make up the universe. "The first 3-year run of the LHC, which culminated with a major discovery in July 2012, was only the start of our journey. It is time for new physics!” said CERN Director General Rolf Heuer.
Heuer is of course talking about the discovery of the Higgs Boson, but here at IGN we know that Homer Simpson actually discovered it 14 years ago.
Matt Porter is a freelance writer based in London. Make sure to visit what he thinks is the best website in the world, but is actually just his Twitter page. |
Two public areas around Anfield's Main Stand have today been confirmed as 96 Avenue and Paisley Square.
96 Avenue is the tree-lined path in front of the Main Stand that links Walton Breck Road high street with nearby Stanley Park. The avenue has been specially designed to reconnect the stadium to the wider community and the park. It is also the area where the Hillsborough memorial will be permanently located ahead of the first home game of the season.
Margaret Aspinall, chair of the Hillsborough Family Support Group, said: “We are delighted that this beautiful area in front of the Main Stand will be named in memory of the 96.
“We have been speaking with the club throughout the expansion project on all Hillsborough matters and I’m sure fans will enjoy walking down and visiting 96 Avenue.”
Paisley Square is located at the corner of the Kop where it meets the Main Stand and has been named in memory of Liverpool’s most successful manager, Bob Paisley. It is an area where fans can gather together before the game to enjoy the Anfield atmosphere.
Robert and Graham Paisley, Bob’s sons, said: “It is truly an honour for our father to be recognised in this way and we’re grateful to the club for being involved in this incredible project.
“People who knew dad would know that he didn’t like any fuss or being in the limelight but having the Paisley Gates and now the Paisley Square is true testament to the success that he had as manager and ensures that his memory will live on.”
Fans will have the opportunity to see the new 96 Avenue and Paisley Square at Liverpool’s first home match of the season, against Leicester City in the Premier League on Saturday September 10.
For all of the latest news on the redeveloped Main Stand, visit our dedicated section. |
National will not build houses for first-home buyers, meaning the policy is a clear difference with a Labour-Green Government.
Prime Minister John Key says the poll result is not a sign the current system is failing.
"We don't think it's necessary because that's 100,000 homes over 10 years," he says.
"We're going to build 100,000 homes under our programme in about 3.5 years."
Labour would fund the KiwiBuild programme with a revolving loan that is repaid once the houses are sold.
Leader Andrew Little says the result vindicates the policy and is proof it's not only popular, but Kiwis believe it's one of the best solutions to the crisis.
"People do expect when we do have a crisis of the nature we've got - a shortage of houses across the country - that if the private sector can't do it, then the Government needs to step in and lead a building programme," says Mr Little.
Greens co-leader Metiria Turei is also welcoming the result, saying it flies in the face of the Government's vehement opposition to a mass-scale house-building programme.
"National will not do it because they are so fixed in their ideology," she says.
"I mean, they just launched a billion-dollar fund which had nothing to do with building new homes. They have no new ideas and I think that's why they're failing."
The poll of 1000 people was taken between July 22 and August 3 and has a margin of error of 3.1 percent.
Newshub. |
North Korea may be getting ready to launch a long-range ballistic missile following its fourth nuclear test earlier this month, Japan’s Kyodo News reported.
Satellite imagery analysis in recent days indicates preparations for a possible launch, Kyodo said, citing an unidentified person in the Japanese government. Both Japan and South Korea declined to confirm the report.
The regime in Pyongyang fired a long-range rocket before each of its previous three nuclear tests, which all resulted in a tightening of international sanctions. In 2012, North Korea put a satellite into orbit via a rocket, which the U.S. and South Korea called a test of ballistic missile technology banned under United Nations Security Council resolutions.
“As a government we are very interested in North Korea’s motives regarding the missile, and we are gathering information and working to analyze it as usual,” Japan’s Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Koichi Hagiuda said at a regular briefing Thursday. “But I decline to comment on the nature of the details of this specific information.”
South Korea is worried North Korea may conduct a surprise launch in a follow-up to its Jan. 6 nuclear test, Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min Seok told reporters in Seoul.
South Korean defense stocks rose on the report. Speco Co., which makes military products, rose 6 per cent, the biggest gain since Jan. 8; and Firstec Co., a weapon maker, climbed as much as 4.9 per cent. By comparison, the benchmark Kospi index was little changed.
International trade bans on arms and luxury items have not convinced North Korea to halt its development of weapons of mass destruction and return to disarmament talks that broke down in 2009.
On a trip to Beijing on Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry failed to secure China’s support for tougher sanctions against North Korea over its latest nuclear test, with the countries agreeing in Beijing only to pursue a new security council resolution. China wields a veto and supplies most of North Korea’s food and energy imports.
According to the New York Times, Kerry cautioned China “that North Korea was moving ahead with an effort to manufacture a nuclear weapon small enough to fit atop a long-range missile that could reach U.S. shores, and said the United States “will do what is necessary to protect the people of our country.”
Kerry told a join press conference with the Chinese foreign minister, Wang Yi, that “this is a threat the United States must take extremely seriously….The United States will take all necessary steps to protect our people and allies. We don’t want to heighten security tensions. But we won’t walk away from any options.”
With files from Heejin Kim, Andy Sharp, Maiko Takahashi and National Post staff. |
Keurig Will Use DRM In New Coffee Maker To Lock Out Refill Market
from the who-wanted-paying-customers-anyway dept
"Green Mountain has announced a new anticompetitive plan to maintain its monopoly by redesigning its brewers to lock out competitors’ products. Such lock-out technology cannot be justified based on any purported consumer benefit, and Green Mountain itself has admitted that the lock-out technology is not essential for the new brewers’ function. Like its exclusionary agreements, this lock-out technology is intended to serve anticompetitive and unlawful ends."
The single coffee cup craze has been rolling now for several years in both the United States and Canada, with Keurig, Tassimo, and Nespresso all battling it out to lock down the market. In order to protect their dominant market share, Keurig makers Green Mountain Coffee Roasters has been on a bit of an aggressive tear of late. As with computer printers, getting the device in the home is simply a gateway to where the real money is: refills. But Keurig has faced the "problem" in recent years of third-party pod refills that often retail for 5-25% less than what Keurig charges. As people look to cut costs, there has also been a growing market for reusable pods that generally run anywhere from five to fifteen dollars.Keurig's solution to this problem? In a lawsuit (pdf) filed against Keurig by TreeHouse Foods, they claim Keurig has been busy striking exclusionary agreements with suppliers and distributors to lock competing products out of the market. What's more, TreeHouse points out that Keurig is now developing a new version of their coffee maker that will incorporate the java-bean equivalent of DRM -- so that only Keurig's own coffee pods can be used in it The plan was confirmed by Keurig's CEO who stated on a recent earnings call that the new maker indeed won't work with "unlicensed" pods as part of an effort to deliver "game-changing performance." "Keurig 2.0" is expected to launch this fall. French Press and pour-over manufacturers like Chemex have plenty of time to get their thank you notes to Keurig in the mail ahead of time as users are hopefully nudged toward the realization they could be drinking much better coffee anyway.
Filed Under: coffee, drm
Companies: keurig, treehouse foods |
Planning your visit
How long will the exhibition be in Sydney?
The exhibition will open from 2 June 2017 and will be on until 8 October 2017.
What are the hours of the exhibition?
10am to 5pm (last entry 3.30pm).
My ticket has a time on it. What does that mean?
Tickets are sold for timed entry in half-hourly periods. Patrons will enter the exhibition at some point within the designated time period on their tickets.
What happens if I miss my time slot?
It is essential that you arrive in time to enter the exhibition within the time period on your ticket. If you are late, we cannot guarantee your prompt entry. We recommend arriving at the Museum at least 15 minutes prior to your visit.
Can I take my pram or stroller into the exhibition?
While the Museum welcomes visitors of all ages, some exhibitions such as this one cannot accommodate strollers. We ask that carers make use of the stroller parking provided at the cloaking desk on level 3 (Museum entrance).
How long does it take to see the exhibition?
The average visit to the exhibition is an hour and a half. Visitors also receive entry to the rest of the Powerhouse Museum during opening hours.
Is there a restriction to how long I can spend in the exhibition?
While entry to the exhibition must be within the time slot on your ticket, you can spend as long in the exhibition as you like on the day. Most visitors usually spend about one to two hours in the exhibition.
Is this exhibition suitable for children?
This is a great exhibition for all ages to enjoy but we recommend that children aged 5 years and over will get the most out of their exhibition experience. Children aged 12 years and under need to be accompanied by an adult at all times.
Is the exhibition accessible?
The Powerhouse Museum is fully accessible, with ramps and accessible toilet facilities (please note that toilets are not located within the exhibition). This exhibition is fully accessible. Wheelchairs may be borrowed (subject to availability). Companion card holders receive free admission when accompanying a paying visitor with a disability.
Is photography permitted in the exhibition?
Yes, photography is permitted within the exhibition. However, no flash photography is allowed. Share your photos using #SherlockHolmes #PowerhouseMuseum and tag us @maasmuseum.
Are food and drinks permitted in the exhibition?
No food or drinks are permitted inside the exhibition.
Is there a café at the Powerhouse?
Yes, there are two cafés at the Powerhouse, located on level 3 (near the exit) and adjacent to the outdoor playground on level 1.
Ticketing
Why should I pre-book my ticket?
It is cheaper to pre-book your tickets compared to box office prices. We also strongly recommend that you book your tickets in advance to avoid disappointment on sold out days, to avoid the queues, and are able to see the exhibition on the day that you would like. When a session sells out, tickets are not available for purchase at the box office.
Where can I purchase tickets?
Tickets are available online through ticketek.com.au, over the phone on 132 849 or in person at Ticketek outlets. Tickets may also be purchased in person at the Museum front desk.
Why do I need to purchase tickets for a specific time?
When you purchase your tickets, you will be asked to choose a date and time you would like to see the exhibition. For example, if you purchase tickets for 5 June 2017 at 10.30am, you will enter between 10.30am and 11.30am. This hour window allows us to manage the number of people in the exhibition at any given time to ensure all guests have a smooth experience.
I am a MAAS Member. How do I purchase tickets to the exhibition?
Entry to the exhibition is free for MAAS Members. Members must show their membership card and photo identification upon entering the Museum to gain entry to the exhibition.
Can I enter and exit the exhibition more than once with my ticket?
No. Tickets are for one entry per person only. Used tickets will show as such in our system to prevent re-entry, so visitors should purchase tickets only from official outlets.
Can I enter the Powerhouse Museum with my exhibition ticket?
Yes. Tickets to the exhibition also includes entry into the Museum during opening hours on the same day that the exhibition ticket is valid for.
Can I buy tickets to the exhibition on the day?
Tickets for the next available session can be purchased online or from the Powerhouse Museum box office. We strongly recommend that you pre-book your tickets to save and to avoid disappointment.
Can I exchange my tickets for another date if due to unforeseen circumstances I cannot make the original booking date?
Tickets are non-refundable but can be exchanged for another day if you are unable to attend, subject to the availability of your preferred date – tickets cannot be exchanged if the date or time on the ticket has passed. To exchange the date or time of your ticket, please contact us on 1300 795 012 or visit the Museum Box Office prior to the date and time on your ticket.
Are group or school bookings available?
For all group and school group sales, please call 1300 364 001 or visit ticketek.com.au. Group discounts are available for 10+ visitors.
Are gift vouchers available to purchase?
Yes, gift vouchers can be purchased here. Gift vouchers are untimed and can be used for the next available session during Museum hours (10am–5pm, last entry 3.30pm).
Can I use my entertainment book voucher or other discount voucher for entry to the exhibition?
No, discount vouchers or general admission passes (including members’ guest passes) are not valid for use to enter this exhibition.
I am accompanying a vacation care or school group, is my entry free?
Teachers accompanying school groups receive complimentary tickets in accordance with the following levels of supervision, which are recommended by the Museum (supervisor: students)
1:5 for years K-2
1:10 for years 3-6
1:20 for years 7-12
Teachers visiting with their friends or families (not on an excursion) will need to pay the adult rate for entry.
The exhibition
What is in the exhibition?
The International Exhibition of Sherlock Holmes offers an interactive experience combining science with history and culture to bring to life the historic underpinnings of author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s rich and vibrant stories. Visitors will learn how Sherlock Holmes, a scientific expert ahead of his time, used seemingly trivial observations of clues others missed to solve some of his era’s most puzzling mysteries. His practices and techniques, created in the mind of doctor-turned-author Conan Doyle, encouraged a change in the way police work was conducted, and remain in practice today.
The International Exhibition of Sherlock Holmes features original manuscripts and period artifacts, investigative tools influenced and used by Sherlock Holmes, and interactive crime-solving opportunities. Guests will be transported into Sherlock Holmes’ London to solve a crime in a world just receiving its introduction to his ground-breaking methods. Guests will then return to the present day – finding themselves in a showcase of Sherlock Holmes in all his manifestations from books and movies to today’s contemporary forensic science.
Visitors are advised that this exhibition contains human remains. |
INDIANAPOLIS – One came to America with almost nothing from Argentina. One has operated a local construction firm and taken his passion from fandom to his own team. And one has been a staple of the sports car scene for more than a dozen years, yet now finally gets to live out his original passion back in the open-wheel world.
Add in an iconic name in McLaren coming back to the Brickyard after a several-decade hiatus and you’ve got three new team owners and one returning major manufacturer name as the team newcomers in the 101st Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil.
Combined, they field five cars. Ricardo Juncos making his INDYCAR debut with a full two-car effort for Spencer Pigot and Sebastian Saavedra. Mike Harding has assembled a new one-car entry on his own for Gabby Chaves. Mike Shank has partnered with Andretti Autosport to run a car for rookie Jack Harvey, while McLaren, Honda and Andretti have combined as branding partners for the Fernando Alonso entry that folks hope will eventually preview a fuller McLaren entry down the road.
As for the three that are here from a team standpoint, Juncos has the most successful open-wheel pedigree among the three entrants. Any keen-eyed observer of the Mazda Road to Indy presented by Cooper Tires will have seen Juncos’ team’s success and preparation showcased in the Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires and Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires, championships which they won by the end of their second full season in each. Spencer Pigot won him championships in both back-to-back in the two in 2014 and 2015 and Conor Daly won the Pro Mazda title in 2010; both are Juncos alumni now in IndyCar.
But stepping up into IndyCar was always going to be a question of timing, opportunity and financial resources with which to do so. Luckily as KV Racing Technology’s era of operation drew down, so its equipment became available, and Juncos was able to acquire what was needed to step up.
All this was occurring while Juncos was prepping a two-car Indy Lights team as scheduled for 2017, and then completed an eleventh hour deal to keep its Pro Mazda team going after selling off that equipment. But this also comes after Juncos moved into his new 44,000-square foot shop in downtown Speedway, Ind. in December.
“A lot’s been going on – like a storm!” Juncos told NBC Sports. “But we put a full IndyCar team together in two months, from zero, in terms of everything. We assembled and put the cars together, and all these people together, without missing anything on the Pro Mazda or Indy Lights teams.
“Last weekend, when we won both races in Pro Mazda, and were able to win the one in Indy Lights, it’s all about the team effort – we are doing IndyCar without making any issues on these teams. That’s the goal. It was a lot of work, but everything is very good. I’m still learning everyday. I’m excited for what the future can give us, for this race.”
The crew features a number of KVRT alumni, including Greg Senerius (team manager). The engineering staff includes technical director Tom Brown, an open-wheel and sports car veteran, along with past Indy 500-winning entrant Steve Newey and fellow IndyCar veteran David Cripps, who came up frustratingly short of winning when he was with Panther Racing.
Shank, who brings the majority (but not all) of his Acura NSX GT3 sports car crew to the Andretti team, which keeps the band of lifers together from his shop based outside Columbus in Patalaska, Ohio. They got the chance to go with him to Le Mans last year and now get to add Indy, with Shank, to their resumes. Noting how much people love Shank, his longtime friend and Rolex 24 driver AJ Allmendinger and Allmendinger’s friend and current Shank Acura driver Katherine Legge have been here for support this week.
“It’s not about me. It’s always been about my guys,” Shank told NBC Sports. “My guys have been with me from 10 to 23 years, always standing behind me. A lot of guys have been with other teams, but if we want to do Indy, we want to do it as a present group. Whatever happens, we deal with. We fix it. We do it together.
“I try not to micromanage. For me, it’s step back and let (Tim) Keene (team manager) run the show. With the technical background Andretti has, the whole thing is so very good. Let’s see where we land. This could be interesting.”
Interesting it was – albeit for the wrong reasons on the opening day of practice for Harvey. With the car encountering a steering issue, Harvey was shot into the Turn 2 wall exiting the warmup lane and suffered right front damage. That required a rebuild of the car after it was stripped down and then put back together, but the English driver has made methodical progress forward since that point, culminating with 124 laps run on Monday.
Bad as that day was, it’s still a damn sight better than the potential debut Shank could have had in IndyCar in 2012. Shank’s engine plight was made public as Honda and Chevrolet added extra teams saddled with Lotus engines that wanted to switch prior to Indy, which wasn’t in either manufacturer’s game plan. Yet it also left a bitter taste for Shank, who had gone out, purchased a Dallara DW12 chassis, but couldn’t get an engine to run it outside of the Lotus. Had he debuted with that engine, it’s quite possible Shank in IndyCar could have been one-and-done.
In the five years since, INDYCAR’s leadership structure has evolved and it’s likely that without Jay Frye, INDYCAR President of Competition and Operations, among others than neither Juncos nor Shank would be racing next weekend in the ‘500. Both owners took the time to thank Frye and INDYCAR as a result.
“To be honest one of the things that surprised me the most is how professional they are,” Juncos said. “Mark Miles, Jay Frye, everyone in INDYCAR, marketing, to the PR guys. Bill van de Sandt invited us to T&S and Race Control so I could have an idea! They pushed me to do this.
“I knew it was probably the right opportunity at the right time. But it was still a big, big task. Jay Frye gave me a bit of confidence and support that this is the right thing to do. I’m so pleased to have those guys. The support is massive, and for drivers to believe in our program.”
“It’s a deep exhale! What we went through, no one should have to go,” Shank explained. “There’s two people I have to thank: Jay Frye and Mark Sibla have championed us. They came and saw me after the 2017 Rolex and said, ‘If you want to come here, let’s work it out with a team since I don’t have a car.’ But they were very instrumental. They always answer their phones.”
If Juncos and Shank have been known from their pedigree in other series, Harding’s arrival is more of a surprise because it comes largely out of left field. But that’s not a bad thing.
With a construction background by trade with the Harding Group, Harding had always been a fan of the Indianapolis 500. Yet after last year’s 100th running, he took a big leap of faith in tandem with team manager Larry Curry to turn that fandom into an actual program, and purchase two new Dallaras as a result, complete with Harding’s Dale Earnhardt Jr. fandom producing a stylized No. 88 Chevrolet. And for good measure, Al Unser Jr. is working with the team as a driver coach.
“I had gone away from racing, other than Indy-only things,” Curry told NBC Sports. “I worked for Mike. Mike asked me if I was gonna do last year’s 500. I told him, ‘But I work for you!’ ‘You need to go do it,’ he said. ‘You’ve been there so many years. You have to do it. I’ll give you off whatever time you need.’
“So I did, and the race is over, we’re up in the suite talking. He said, ‘What do you think about doing this? What do you think about us doing our own deal?’ I just said right away, ‘Mike, it’s very extensive.’ He replied, ‘I never asked that. I asked, would you do it for me.’ But you know how it is, there’s a lot of excitement in May… this’ll go away. Guess what, it didn’t!”
Harding backed that up nicely. “Larry worked for me for the last couple years, and he mentored Tony Stewart,” he said. “So I told him, ‘What do you think about starting a team this year?’ And he was all gung ho for it. We didn’t know if it’d really happen for it, but it came through.”
One of the things that’s additionally nice about all three of these entrants is their push to provide opportunities for recent Mazda Road to Indy graduates. Pigot, 23, completes a 15-year journey with Juncos that began in karting together. Saavedra, a seemingly eternal 26, has been in-and-out of IndyCar for parts of seven seasons; this is his seventh team he’s attempted to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 with.
Harding runs Chaves, who edged Harvey, Shank’s driver, for the 2014 Indy Lights title on a tiebreaker.
All of the team owners are so thrilled with the upside and potential of their young stars.
“It’s crazy obviously!” Juncos laughed. “These things have only happened a few times in history. For me, 15 years ago, coming from Argentina, in karts and he’s 9 years old. Now we’re living this. Sometimes things happen in humanity, which luckily happened for us. Without losing the focus, enjoy this, because it’s a great story of the team, of Spencer, of both of us together. For whatever reason, it’s happening.”
“Having Jack, it’s part of the package. We’re all one kit together,” Shank said. “Jack, you’re on my side now. My guys are the same way. They’ll support him good and bad.”
“Mike Hull from Ganassi recommended Gabby Chaves to us, he’s the best one out there,” Harding said. “I set up an interview with Gabby and couldn’t believe how mature this 23-year-old man was. I think we made the right decision.”
Naturally, debuting is one thing but future development and staying power is the ultimate goal here.
Juncos has long harbored ambitions of a full-time IndyCar program, Shank has now opened the doors to one in addition to his continued, dedicated sports car presence, and Harding already seems set to race at least twice more this year.
For this race, Chaves has qualified the best in 25th for Harding, with Harvey in 27th for Shank and Andretti, then the Juncos pair of Pigot (29th) and Saavedra (31st) a little further behind. Both of the Juncos cars had slow fourth laps in qualifying; Juncos has pushed through with a rebuild of Pigot’s primary car from Friday to Saturday, working through the night to get the car ready to go for Pigot to qualify.
With only eight full-time owners now, and with three of them in Roger Penske, Chip Ganassi and Michael Andretti fielding 12 full-time cars of 21 and 15 of 33 at Indy, spreading the car count among other teams is one of INDYCAR’s key goals for 2018 and beyond.
“I think it’s really key,” said Mark Miles, head of INDYCAR’s parent company Hulman & Co. “I don’t think that’s an economic driver for us, but it’s very healthy to have more diversity in our owner group.
“We love Roger, we love Michael, we love Chip … and we love all the rest of our current paddock. But more owners being invested in the series is a healthier thing. It’s very good.
“Besides these three when you have Zak Brown talking about a couple cars, not just at the Indy 500 but INDYCAR, it’s a very exciting thing.”
Follow @TonyDiZinno |
At this point in time, it’s safe to say that most copies of Windows 10 are legit, which means Microsoft has already made money off of it. Unfortunately, it looks like the company is thirsting for more, and wants to inject ads into its File Explorer tool.
According to the folks at Thurrott, the ads (starting with promotions for Microsoft’s OneDrive cloud storage service) are easing their way into the upcoming Creators Update, which some people are currently testing in beta. There are also similar notifications in the previously released Anniversary Update. Nobody asked for this, and yet, here we are.
They might just be small pop-ups, but that’s how it starts, folks. Microsoft has many other products it might want to start slinging, including Office 365 subscriptions and Skype credits – and who knows whether the company will eventually want to expand to serving up ads from other businesses?
Thankfully, you can turn them off by following these steps:
Launch File Explorer and the click View > Options > Change folder and search options.
In the Folder Options dialog that pops up, select the View tab.
In the Advanced Settings box, scroll down and uncheck the option labeled “Show sync provider notifications.” Hit OK.
That should sort you out even if you aren’t yet seeing the ads on your copy of Windows 10. It’s likely that we haven’t yet seen the last of evils like this: Back in 2015, Microsoft began recommending apps from its Store in the Start Menu (you can turn those off too), so don’t consider yourself fully safe from promotions in your OS just yet.
Read next: Get 2TB of cloud storage for life — for under $50 |
A new song from Rihanna, the latest Star Trek alien, could be coming tomorrow. The track appeared on iTunes two days ago, and the singer teased on Instagram that she's "got something for y'all tomorrow." "Sledgehammer" could have been written as early as two years ago; fan source Rihanna Diaries discovered a tweet from 2014 with the lyrics "you're just another brick and I'm a sledgehammer."
A sledgehammer is probably the least of the Enterprise crew's problems, since director Justin Lin keeps tearing the poor ship to shreds. Star Trek Beyond is the third entry in the new series kicked off by JJ Abrams, and will premiere in theaters later this month on July 22nd.
You're just another brick and I'm a sledgehammer #barz — Rihanna (@rihanna) May 16, 2014
Got something for y'all tomorrow. A video posted by badgalriri (@badgalriri) on Jun 26, 2016 at 9:15am PDT
Why People Love Bass |
Written by rugyada
Here some News and some credible rumours inside knowledge/rumours directly from the "horse's mouth" that I am have the exclusive privilege to write about for the first. ;)
At the Mandriva General Assembly, a capital increase of €6M was approved and would arrive at Mandriva in ten days
Leonid Reiman, and on the direct question from other shareholders concerning his commitment in Mandriva and belief in free software, where he made it very clear that he had the absolute, most definite trust in Free Software and had great respect of and worked on building his understanding of, which for the same applied to Mandriva, in addtion to it's strengths, superiourity potential, history, internationality, making him without any doubt reaffirm his trust in and commitment to both.
Mandriva will not rebase itself on Mageia, nor join it's organization, although while we're very much willing to invite them and participate in an independent foundation on much of same premises, where they'd be allowed to continue their work without any forced influence by us, but being able to gain support and funding for us
Specifications for a Mandriva Linux 2012 release, new project leadership and a first alpha release is likely to be able to be released by the end of the month (unconfirmed yet, to be decided very soon).
For some more info about the general assembly itself, one should take a closer look at
http://www.boursorama.com/forum-mandrivaexmandrakesoft-1rPMLMAN-OTC-1
and also
http://forum.mandriva.com/fr/viewtopic.php?f=190&;t=135876&start=400
(google.translate.com will be your friend).
Bye, Nicco. |
Hexels are now an officially licensed product of Catan and Mayfair Games!
Featured On
You can now order Booster-Packs to add extra Hexels to your reward level!
Here is how the Booster-Packs work:
Domestic backers - for every 10 extra Hexels you would like to receive on top of your reward level, just add $20 to your pledge. You can add as many Booster-Packs to your pledge as you like, and all reward levels from $28 and up qualify to order Booster-Packs.
International backers - for every 10 extra Hexels you would like to receive on top of your reward level, just add $25 to your pledge. You can add as many Booster-Packs to your pledge as you like, and all reward levels from $28 and up qualify to order Booster-Packs.
The slight increase in cost per Hexel for the booster packs as compared to the reward levels also covers the increased shipping costs as well as the extra man-hours required to offer this level of customization!
Designing the perfect modular game board for Catan has been a bit of an obsession of mine for over a year now. Throughout that time I have come up with many iterations that ranged from a large single board with indentations for the pieces to various versions of interlocking pieces and ultimately to the final design in its simplest form. What I like to call, a Hexel.
A Hexel is a single hexagonal piece to reflect the hexagons of the board which they were designed for that magnetically connects to each of its neighbors by allowing each magnet to freely orient itself in whatever direction creates the strongest bond. The result is a board that stays together when playing, allows complete modularity, can be used as a storage device, and it all fits into the original box your game of settlers came in.
Creating something that mostly worked would to be okay if it were only for myself, but since this was for you it had to be amazing! Here is the process that brought this humble idea to be something deserving of your attention.
The Evolution of The Hexel:
The very first design. Play the original Settlers and be able to easily pop out the pieces when you are done with little finger-holes
A whole board in one piece was too large to store conveniently, so it was broken up into three interlocking pieces
The three interlocking pieces placed near each other to show how it would create the board
The previous designs forced the board to be limited to a single layout. By splitting up the board into groups of three pieces it allowed for more modularity and could more easily fit in the original box
Groups of three placed next to each other to show how they would create an entire board. The board no longer had anything to hold it together well and couldn't quite make the original layout without lots of extra pieces
A single piece was designed to hold each hexagonal tile. This allowed a reduction in plastic of 35% compared to old models while also introducing the chambers for the self-orienting magnets
Hide the magnet chambers and increase the number of magnets to create a stronger hold (top view)
(bottom view of the four magnet chambers)
The previous versions still weren't good enough, so we upped our game. Six magnets! Also, reducing required plastic makes the part more eco-friendly while also making it easier to produce!
The first prototype from our manufacturers (bottom view).
Top view of the manufacturer's delivered prototype (top view). LIKE A GLOVE!
A whole board assembled using various prototypes including the completely modular harbor piece!
A close up on the pieces next to each other. The top two pieces are 3d printed and not quite as accurate as the bottom piece, but even so the pieces sit very snugly next to each other.
Flex Goals
Currently being updated. Stay tuned!
The Shake Test!
The Hold Test!
Everything for 3-4 player Settlers of Catan all in the original Box!
Everything for 5-6 player Settlers of Catan all in the original Box!
Check out the stats on the project at Kicktraq!
Patent Pending. |
2011 Preseason Consensus
See the "notes" file for information on the preseason consensus.
Columns headed with yellow backgrounds are online sites that are not reviewed by me. Clicking on the column heading text of on online site will take you to the actual site instead of a review.
If you are having trouble locating a magazine that you want, the individual reviews will tell you how to order direct from the publisher.
Jump to:
National Top 25
Rank Team Total
Points TSN Lindy Athlon Phil
Steele Rogers
Poll USA
Today Blue
Ribbon
/ ESPN Game
Plan Com
pughter
Ratings Fort
Heresy
Model Coll.
F'ball
Matrix Coll.
F'ball
Poll CPA
Rank F'ball
Out-
siders 1 Alabama 410 3 2 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 1 1 2 3 1 2 Oklahoma 400 2 1 2 2 7 1 1 4 1 3 5 1 2 2 3 Oregon 369 5 3 3 4 9 3 5 3 5 5 3 8 1 8 4 Florida State 355 7 5 4 10 3 5 7 1 4 4 2 9 8 10 5 Louisiana State 354 1 4 8 7 13 4 3 5 3 7 4 6 10 5 6 Boise State 340 6 6 5 3 2 7 6 6 6 6 - 3 4 3 7 Stanford 301 4 8 13 16 17 6 4 8 9 2 14 20 5 7 8 Virginia Tech 282 13 12 7 5 23 13 11 9 10 16 9 5 13 6 9 Oklahoma State 271 12 7 12 19 10 8 12 11 7 10 18 17 6 14 10 Notre Dame 267 18 19 6 6 5 18 19 7 12 8 7 11 12 19 11 Arkansas 263 11 10 16 13 8 14 14 14 11 15 8 21 7 9 12 Texas A&M 254 9 13 11 8 6 9 8 15 17 23 12 7 11 - 13 Nebraska 246 10 9 10 12 11 11 9 13 8 - 20 4 9 - 14 South Carolina 213 19 11 21 14 14 12 10 19 14 24 21 15 14 13 15 Ohio State 210 8 14 9 15 16 16 18 18 18 18 10 - 18 15 16 Texas Christian 185 20 15 15 11 15 15 17 17 15 21 - - 15 11 17 Wisconsin 184 25 17 23 23 12 10 13 10 13 17 - 14 20 22 18 Georgia 174 - 16 14 9 - 22 16 16 16 14 6 - 17 21 19 Missouri 147 - 23 25 - 4 21 24 12 22 12 - 10 24 17 20 Michigan State 122 17 22 22 - - 17 15 20 21 - 13 16 25 - 21 Florida 109 - 20 18 - - 23 - 21 19 20 15 - 22 12 22 Southern Cal 102 - - 20 17 25 - 22 - - 9 19 - 16 18 23 West Virginia 98 23 18 17 - 20 - 23 - 20 - 16 24 - 20 24 Mississippi State 91 15 21 - - 21 20 21 - 24 22 - 25 19 - 25 Auburn 76 21 24 - - - 19 - - - 19 - - 23 4
Others receiving votes:
Notes:
USA Today didn't have a national top 25 in their college football publication, but they do publish a poll prior to the season, was was used here.
Conference predictions
Notes:
Notes:
Phil Steele predicted a tie between Pittsburgh and South Florida for 1st-2nd in the Big East.
predicted a tie between Pittsburgh and South Florida for 1st-2nd in the Big East. Phil Steele predicted a tie between Cincinnati and West Virginia for 3rd-4th in the Big East.
predicted a tie between Cincinnati and West Virginia for 3rd-4th in the Big East. Phil Steele predicted a tie between Louisville and Rutgers for 6th-7th in the Big East.
predicted a tie between Louisville and Rutgers for 6th-7th in the Big East. Steve Wrathell's CPA Rankings predicted a tie between Connecticut and Louisville for 6th-7th in the Big East.
Notes:
Notes:
Notes:
Notes:
Notes:
Phil Steele predicted a tie between Oregon State and Washington for 3rd-4th in the PAC-12 North.
predicted a tie between Oregon State and Washington for 3rd-4th in the PAC-12 North. Phil Steele predicted a tie between UCLA and Utah for 3rd-4th in the PAC-12 South.
predicted a tie between UCLA and Utah for 3rd-4th in the PAC-12 South. Rogers Poll predicted a tie between Arizona and Arizona State for 3rd-4th in the PAC-12 South.
predicted a tie between Arizona and Arizona State for 3rd-4th in the PAC-12 South. The Fort Heresy Model predicted a tie between Arizona and Utah for 4th-5th in the PAC-12 South.
Notes:
Phil Steele predicted a tie between Arkansas State and Middle Tennesee for 4th-5th in the Sun Belt.
predicted a tie between Arkansas State and Middle Tennesee for 4th-5th in the Sun Belt. College Football Poll predicted a three-way tie between Middle Tennessee, North Texas, and Wester Kentucky for 5th-7th in the Sun Belt.
predicted a three-way tie between Middle Tennessee, North Texas, and Wester Kentucky for 5th-7th in the Sun Belt. Steve Wrathell's CPA Rankings predicted a tie between Florida International and Troy for 1st-2nd in the Sun Belt.
predicted a tie between Florida International and Troy for 1st-2nd in the Sun Belt. Steve Wrathell's CPA Rankings predicted a tie between Louisiana-Lafayette and North Texas for 7th-8th in the Sun Belt.
Notes: |
Today, the Australian Bureau of Statistics released the – December-quarter 2015 National Accounts data – which showed that real GDP grew by 0.6 per cent in the three months to December 2015 (down from 1.1 per cent in the September-quarter. It was largely driven by Private household consumption (albeit declining) and public consumption and capital formation. Private consumption growth remained positive and contributed to growth, but it is being funded by a declining saving ratio and rising indebtedness. This was in the context of declining real wages growth and declining real net national disposable income overall and per capita. These trends are unsustainable. The government sector was responsible for 50 per cent of the total growth in the December-quarter. Without the public sector spending contribution, annualised growth would be at 1.2 per cent relative to pre-GFC trend rates of between 3 and 3.25 per cent. The negative growth in private investment means that potential output in Australia and future growth rates will be lower than otherwise. Again, not a positive sign. The other notable result was the increasing evidence that Australia continues to be in an income recession. Real net national disposable income fell by a further 0.1 per cent over the quarter and 1.1 per cent over the last year. The data continues to confirm that Australia faces a very uncertain outlook and with the annual fiscal statement coming up – now is not the time to be cutting net public spending.
The main features of the National Accounts release for the December-quarter 2015 were (seasonally adjusted):
Real GDP increased by 0.6 per cent after recording a 1.1 per cent increase in the September-quarter (revised up from 0.9 per cent). The annual growth rate is 3.0 per cent, which is barely sufficient to keep unemployment from rising.
The main positive contributors to expenditure were Household final consumption expenditure, which contributed 0.4 percentage points, and Public gross fixed capital formation, which contributed 0.2 percentage points to GDP growth. The ABS say that this reflects the “growth in Household final consumption expenditure is reflected in growth in the service industries of Information, media and telecommunications (2.7 per cent), Retail trade (1.0 per cent), and Arts and recreation services (2.2 per cent)”.
The main negative factors were the decline in Private gross fixed capital formation of 1.9 per cent (New engineering construction detracted 0.6 percentage points from GDP growth).
Our Terms of Trade (seasonally adjusted) fell by 3.2 per cent in the quarter and over the last 12 months they have fallen by a substantial 12 per cent.
Real net national disposable income, which is a broader measure of change in national economic well-being fell by 0.1 per cent for the quarter and 1.1 per cent for the 12 months to the December-quarter 2015, which means that Australians are worse off (on average) than they were 12 months ago. In fact, Real net national disposable income per capita has declined for the last six successive quarters. This is the income recession that economists are now speaking about.
that economists are now speaking about. The Household saving ratio fell to 7.6 per cent and is now moving towards levels that we saw before the GFC – flat wages are straining households who are resorting to credit to sustain consumption expenditure.
Overall growth picture – growth on the back of mining exports
The following graph shows the quarterly percentage growth in real GDP over the last five years to the December-quarter 2015 (blue columns) and the ABS trend series (red line) superimposed. After the decline in trend growth was arrested by the fiscal stimulus in 2008-09 the decline in government support saw the dip in trend growth in 2010.
Initially, the growth in private investment associated with the record terms of trade and the resulting mining boom helped drive the new rise in trend growth which ended towards the end of 2013.
At present, trend growth is flat and actual growth is fluctuating as Household consumption expenditure and public infrastructure expenditure offset declines private investment expenditure and net exports.
The mining boom was thought to be in two stages. First, the investment boom as new productive infrastructure was being constructed (railways, ports, loaders, new sites etc). Second, the export boom that would result from the enlarged productive capacity. The second stage relied on continued growth in China to boost volumes and the prices remaining at elevated levels.
The problem is that China has now stepped down to a slower growth rate and our net exports now showing signs of volatility (see next section on contributions).
It is clear that commodity prices have peaked – our terms of trade are down 12 per cent over the last year and 3.2 per cent in the December-quarter.
This movement is being exacerbated by volume gluts in the world markets of the commodities that we export, which should continue to drive commodity prices down. The volume losses to exports in the last quarter is indicative of the world slowdown, however.
The overall assessment is that the Australian economy continues to grow but below trend, although there is now a debate going on with suggests that trend growth is now lower (around 2.7 to 2.8 per cent) than previously thought (around 3.25 per cent).
At any rate, annual growth of 3 per cent in the December-quarter is an overstatement of what is happening because it was inflated by the 1.1 per cent growth (revised upwards from 0.9 per cent) in the September-quarter.
The annualised quarterly growth rate from December 2015 is 2.4 per cent, which is closer to the current outlook.
Domestic wages growth is flat and real wages are falling. Household are driving consumption growth (albeit at declining rates) by reducing their saving out of disposable income (see later section), which means that private household indebtedness will also start to rise again.
With growth still below trend (however defined), now is not the time for accelerated policy austerity.
The opposite policy shift is needed – there is clearly a need for a further boost in the public contribution to growth to provide a boost to domestic demand (see next section).
Analysis of Expenditure Components
The following graph shows the quarterly percentage growth for the major expenditure components in real terms for the December-quarter 2015 (blue bars) and the September-quarter 2015 (grey bars).
Domestic demand rose by 0.4 per cent in the December-quarter 2015 as a result of continued (albeit slowing) growth in household consumption, a slight boost in the growth in public consumption spending (0.76 and 0.65 per cent, respectively), and a sharp increase in public capital formation (5.97 per cent growth).
Private investment continued to fall (-1.92 per cent) after a decline of 2.3 per cent in the September-quarter 2015 and any growth in exports (O.57 per cent) was more or less offset by import growth (0.6 per cent).
The strong performance with exports from the September-quarter disappeared indicating weakening world conditions.
Contributions to growth
What components of expenditure added to and subtracted from real GDP growth in the December-quarter 2015?
The following bar graph shows the contributions to real GDP growth (in percentage points) for the main expenditure categories. It compares the December-quarter 2015 contributions (blue bars) with the September-quarter 2015 (gray bars).
The strongest contributor to real GDP growth in the December-quarter 2015 were Private household consumption (0.4 percentage points), followed by Public capital formation (0.2 percentage points) and Public consumption (0.1 percentage points).
The overall contribution of the government sector to growth was 0.3 percentage points.
That is, the government sector contributed 50 per cent of the real GDP growth in the December-quarter 2016.
The overall contribution of private investment on growth continued to be negative (-0.4 percentage points), which confirms that the investment cycle associated with the mining boom is well and truly over and non-mining investment is not picking up the slack.
The strong contribution from Net exports in the September-quarter 2016 disappeared in the December-quarter, suggesting that world markets are tightening for commodity exports.
The next graph shows the contributions to real GDP growth of the major expenditure aggregates since the December-quarter 2014 (in percentage points). The total real GDP growth (in per cent) is also included as a reference.
Real GDP growth positive but real net national disposable income growth negative
The ABS tell us that:
A broader measure of change in national economic well-being is Real net national disposable income. This measure adjusts the volume measure of GDP for the Terms of trade effect, Real net incomes from overseas and Consumption of fixed capital.
While real GDP growth (that is, total output produced in volume terms) grew by 0.6 per cent quarter, real net national disposable income growth continued to fall – declining by 0.1 per cent in the December-quarter, which followed a 1 per cent decline in the September-quarter.
Real net national disposable income growth has been weak since 2011 and has been criss-crossing the zero line for the last three or so years.
Over the last year, real net national disposable income has declined by 1.1 per cent – which suggests that Australia is caught up in a “national income recession”.
Real net national disposable income per capita has shown positive growth in only one of the last seven quarters. In other words, Australians are poorer in income terms that they were at the beginning of 2014.
The following graph shows the evolution of the quarterly growth rates for the two series since the March-quarter 2005. You can see the divergence between real growth in output (and income that is generated by the economy) and the real net national disposable income (the real income Australians get) over the last few years.
So while the economy was pumping out mining exports at increasing volumes, Australian households were going backwards in real income terms.
The decline in real income has intensified as the mining contribution to real output growth has declined.
This subdued state is the result of the declining export prices manifesting in the significant decline over the last 12 months in Australia’s terms of trade and the flat wages situation.
In other words, our capacity (in real terms) to purchase imports has declined per unit of export and Australian workers are not sharing in productivity growth.
It means that Australians overall are poorer even though we are still producing more than 12 months ago.
This discrepancy is one reason why an export-led growth strategy will not necessarily increase the standard of living of domestic residents, even if it exports grow.
Household saving ratio falls sharply to 7.2 per cent
The squeeze on wages in Australia is manifesting in two ways. Rising indebtedness and falling saving out of disposable income.
The following graph shows the household saving ratio (% of disposable income) from 2000 to the current period. The household saving ratio fell slightly in the December-quarter 2015 to 7.6 per cent. It has declined from 9.2 per cent in the June-quarter.
Further, even though Household consumption expenditure remains positive and helping maintain overall growth in the face of negative private investment and faltering exports, it is decelerating as a result of subdued real wages.
The decline in the Household saving ratio is a worrying trend.
After the GFC hit, the household sector sought to reduce the precariousness in its balance sheet exposed by the GFC.
Prior to the crisis, households maintained very robust spending (including housing) by accumulating record levels of debt. As the crisis hit, it was only because the central bank reduced interest rates quickly, that there were not mass bankruptcies.
In June 2012, the ratio was 11.6 per cent. Since the December-quarter 2013, it has been steadily falling as the squeze on wages has intensified.
While the recent trend is downwards, it is unlikely that households will return to the very low and negative saving ratios at the height of the credit binge given that the household sector is now carrying record levels of debt.
At some point, household consumption growth will fall unless growth is supported by public spending (given the poor outlook for private investment and net exports).
This also means that government surpluses which were strong>only were made possible by the household credit binge are untenable in this new (old) climate. The Government needs to learn about these macroeconomic connections. It will learn the hard way as net exports weaken if it tries to impose austerity.
Real GDP growth and hours worked
Over the last several years, there has been the sharp dislocation between what is happening in the labour market and what the National Accounts data has been telling us.
Growth in employment and hours worked has been very modest over the period while annual real GDP growth has been between 2 to 2.5 per cent but falling.
Today’s data shows that GDP per hour worked fell dramatically in the December-quarter 2016 (-0.6 per cent) which is the reason growth in hours worked rose sharply (1.3 per cent) and was more than twice the real GDP growth rate (0.6 per cent).
The following graph presents quarterly growth rates in trend GDP and hours worked using the National Accounts data for the last five years to the December-quarter 2015.
You can see the major dislocation between the two measures that appeared in the middle of 2011 persisted throughout 2013 and has reasserted itself in the last two quarters.
Just in case you think the labour force data is suspect, the hours worked computed from that data is very similar to that computed from the National Accounts.
To see the above graph from a different perspective, the next graph shows the annual growth in GDP per hour worked (so a measure of labour productivity) from the March-quarter 2007 quarter to the December-quarter 2015. The horizontal blue line is the average annual growth since September-quarter 2007.
The relatively strong growth in labour productivity in 2012 and the mostly above average growth in 2013 and 2014 helps explain why employment growth has been lagging given the real GDP growth. Growth in labour productivity means that for each output level less labour is required.
In the December-quarter 2015, annual labour productivity growth was -0.4 per cent (well below the recent average of 1.5 per cent).
Over the last year, labour force growth has average about 1.6 per cent, while productivity growth has averaged around 0.4 per cent. This means that real GDP has to grow by around 2 per cent before the unemployment rate will start to fall (not considering short-term cyclical fluctuations in hours worked or participation).
Conclusion
Today’s National Accounts data indicates that while the Australian economy continues to grow, the annual rate of growth is still well below trend, which explains why unemployment has been stuck at elevated levels for the last few years.
The main contributors to growth were Private household consumption (albeit declining) and public consumption and capital formation.
Private consumption growth remained positive and contributed to growth, but it is being funded by a declining saving ratio and rising indebtedness. Neither trend is sustainable.
The government sector was responsible for 50 per cent of the total growth in the December-quarter.
Growth in domestic demand was relatively weak as a result of the continued decline in private nvestment expenditure, which is undermining future prosperity.
The negative growth in private investment means that potential output in Australia and future growth rates will be lower than otherwise. Again, not a positive sign.
The other notable result was the increasing evidence that Australia continues to be in an income recession with real net national disposable income continuing to decline.
Taken together, the future is very uncertain and with the annual fiscal statement coming up – now is not the time to be cutting net public spending.
That is enough for today |
It’s been a while since I did a roundup, so here I am with a lovely festive one. How about some gold holiday DIYs to try? I love the way these very talented creatives incorporated gold into their holiday DIYs. From ornaments to trees to lights. The gold is subtle yet adds just the right amount of metallic flair to your festive decor. Click through below for all the details on how to make these gorgeous items:
DIY Kintsugi Gold Fixed Christmas Baubles – Fran from Fall For DIY uses her Kintsugi kit to create her pretty baubles. So stunningly minimal, and yes… ingenious DIY Mod Light-Up Trees – Casey from Vitamini Handmade adds a mod spin to her decor with these gold light-up trees. So clever, right? DIY Painted String Lights – I love the way Caitlin from The Merrythought transforms and updates regular old string lights into a modern gold version. DIY Gold Leaf Ornaments – In this easy and lovely DIY, Victoria from Oh So Pretty creates these ornaments with gold leaf accents
With all these gorgeous ways to add gold to holiday decor, which ones will you try this weekend? |
WASHINGTON The White House, under political pressure to respond forcefully to the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, is readying strike forces and drones but first has to find a target.
And if the administration does find a target, officials say it still has to weigh whether the short-term payoff of exacting retribution on al Qaeda is worth the risk that such strikes could elevate the group's profile in the region, alienate governments the U.S. needs to fight the group in the future and do little to slow the growing terror threat in North Africa.
Details on the administration's position and on its search for a possible target were provided by three current and one former administration official, as well as an analyst who was approached by the White House for help. All four spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the high-level debates publicly.
In another effort to bolster Libyan security, the Pentagon and State Department have been developing a plan to train and equip a special operations force in Libya, a senior defense official tells The Associated Press.
The New York Times, citing internal government documents, says such a unit would be "a commando force to combat Islamic extremists like the ones who killed the American ambassador in Libya last month and to help counter the country's fractious militias."
The efforts show the tension of the White House's need to demonstrate it is responding forcefully to al Qaeda balanced against its long-term plans to develop relationships and trust with local governments and build a permanent U.S. counterterrorist network in the region, the AP says.
Vice President Biden pledged in his debate last week with Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan to find those responsible for the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others.
"We will find and bring to justice the men who did this," Biden said in response to a question about whether intelligence failures led to lax security around Stevens and the consulate. Referring back to the raid that killed Osama bin Laden last year, Biden said American counterterror policy should be, "If you do harm to America, we will track you to the gates of hell if need be."
The White House declined to comment on the debate over how best to respond to the Benghazi attack.
The attack has become an issue in the U.S. election season, with Republicans accusing the Obama administration of being slow to label the assault an act of terrorism and slow to strike back at those responsible.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday night that the security of State Department operations was her responsibility.
The White House is "aiming for a small pop, a flash in the pan, so as to be able to say, 'Hey, we're doing something about it,"' said retired Air Force Lt. Col. Rudy Attalah, the former Africa counterterrorism director for Defense Department under President George W. Bush.
Attalah noted that, in 1998, after the embassy bombing in Nairobi, the Clinton administration fired cruise missiles to take out a pharmaceutical factory in Sudan that may have been producing chemical weapons for al Qaeda.
"It was a way to say, 'Look, we did something,"' he said.
On the subject of developing a special operations unit, U.S. officials received approval from Congress well before the Benghazi attack to reprogram some funding in the budget that could be used for the commando program in Libya. But the details are still being discussed with the Libyans and also must get final approval from Congress, according to the defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
The initial cost is estimated at about $6.2 million.
The defense official said U.S. leaders have recognized the need to train Libyan commando forces, but details such as the size, mission and composition of the forces are still being finalized.
A Washington-based analyst with extensive experience in Africa said administration officials have approached him for help in connecting the dots to Mali, whose northern half fell to al Qaeda-linked rebels this spring. They wanted to know if he could suggest potential targets, which he says he was not able to do.
"The civilian side is looking into doing something and is running into a lot of pushback from the military side," the analyst said. "The resistance that is coming from the military side is because the military has both worked in the region and trained in the region. So they are more realistic."
Islamists in the region are preparing for a reaction from the U.S.
"If America hits us, I promise you that we will multiply the Sept. 11 attack by 10," said Oumar Ould Hamaha, a spokesman for the Islamists in northern Mali, while denying that his group or al Qaeda fighters based in Mali played a role in the Benghazi attack.
Finding the militants who overwhelmed a small security force at the consulate isn't going to be easy.
The key suspects are members of the Libyan militia group Ansar al-Shariah. The group has denied responsibility, but eyewitnesses saw Ansar fighters at the consulate, and U.S. intelligence intercepted phone calls after the attack from Ansar fighters to leaders of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, bragging about it. The affiliate's leaders are known to be mostly in northern Mali, where they have seized a territory as large as Texas following a coup in the country's capital. The Maghreb is a region of northwest Africa that stretches from Libya to Mauritania.
But U.S. investigators have only loosely linked "one or two names" to the attack, and they lack proof that it was planned ahead of time or that the local fighters had any help from the larger al Qaeda affiliate, officials say.
If that proof is found, the White House must decide whether to ask Libyan security forces to arrest the suspects with an eye to extraditing them to the U.S. for trial or to simply target the suspects with U.S. covert action.
U.S. officials say covert action is more likely. The FBI couldn't gain access to the consulate until weeks after the attack, so it is unlikely it will be able to build a strong criminal case. The U.S. is also leery of trusting the arrest and questioning of the suspects to the fledgling Libyan security forces and legal system still building after the overthrow of Muammar Qaddafi in 2011.
The burden of proof for U.S. covert action is far lower, but action by the CIA or special operations forces still requires a body of evidence that shows the suspect either took part in the violence or presents a "continuing and persistent, imminent threat" to U.S. targets, current and former officials said.
"If the people who were targeted were themselves directly complicit in this attack or directly affiliated with a group strongly implicated in the attack, then you can make an argument of imminence of threat," said Robert Grenier, former director of the CIA's Counterterrorism Center.
But if the U.S. acts alone to target them in Africa, "It raises all kinds of sovereignty issues ... and makes people very uncomfortable," said Grenier, who has criticized the CIA's heavy use of drones in Pakistan without that government's support.
Even a strike that happens with permission could prove problematic, especially in Libya or Mali, where al Qaeda supporters are currently based. Both countries have fragile, interim governments that could lose popular support if they are seen allowing the U.S. unfettered access to hunt al Qaeda.
The Libyan government is so wary of the U.S. investigation expanding into unilateral action that it refused requests to arm the drones now being flown over Libya. Libyan officials have complained publicly that they were unaware of how large the U.S. intelligence presence was in Benghazi until a couple of dozen U.S. officials showed up at the airport after the attack, waiting to be evacuated -- roughly twice the number of U.S. staff the Libyans thought were there. A number of those waiting to be evacuated worked for U.S. intelligence, according to two American officials.
In Mali, U.S. officials have urged the government to allow special operations trainers to return, to work with Mali's forces to push al Qaeda out of that country's northern area. AQIM is among the groups that filled the power vacuum after a coup by rebellious Malian forces in March.
U.S. special operations forces trainers left Mali just days after the coup. While such trainers have not been invited to return, the U.S. has expanded its intelligence effort on Mali, focusing satellite and spy flights over the contested northern region to track and map the militant groups vying for control of the territory, officials say. |
Pigs are awesome. And these 6 amazing facts about them will prove just that. About 110 million pigs are needlessly killed each year for food, so next time someone says that they “must have bacon” send them this list!
1. Pigs are extraordinarily intelligent. They are curious and insightful animals who are widely accepted as being smarter than young children of at least 3 years of age, dogs, and even some primates.
2. Pigs are extremely social animals. They form close bonds with other individuals and love close contact and lying down together.
3. Pigs are very clean, keeping their toilet area far away from where they lie down and eat. Even newborn piglets will leave the nest to go to the toilet within hours of birth.
4. Pigs are very peaceful animals, rarely showing aggression. The exception, as with many animals, is when a mother (sow) with her young offspring is provoked or threatened.
5. Wild pigs play an important role in managing ecosystems and maintaining biodiversity. By rooting, and thus disturbing the soil, they create areas for new plant colonisation. They also spread fruit plants by dispersing their seeds.
6. Pigs have a tremendous sense of smell. The large round disk of cartilage at the tip of the snout is connected to muscle that gives it extra flexibility and strength for rooting in the ground.
Share on Facebook and Twitter! |
How our best and brightest can work tirelessly for 8 years only to receive food stamps, debt, and no career.
Tenure track professor ($120,000 avg) vs.
Adjunct ‘professor’ ($20,000 avg.)
Only one out of ten PhD’s get the job they studied 8.2 years on avg. for
With 140,000 doctorates awarded last year [4]
And only 16,000 new professorship openings listed. Leaving adjunct positions to swell to %76 of college faculties[10]
Your chances by subject have declined English: -%41.4 Math: -%40 Sociology: -%35 Political Science: -%39
Your wages have declined From $53 an hour To an avg of$8.90 an hour [For 20k/56/40 and 120k/56/40]
And that’s the best possible scenario. With 4 in 5 adjuncts making
less than
$20k yearly
Probable Adjunct Experience Teaching two classes= $900 a month $750=rent $35 per week on gas (you live away from campus where housing in cheaper) =10$ And foodstamps
This has led to the number of Masters and PhD holders on food stamps tripling in three years.
Rising to 360,000 masters holders
And 30,000 PhD holders
Adjuncts make 50% less than secretaries, but it’s not all about the money. It’s also about quality of life.
Adjunct vs. Secretary
No job security vs. great job security.
$45k in debt vs. didn’t need to pay a cent
No insurance vs. full benifits
Pending loss of hours from the Affordable Care Act vs. 40 hours a week [fines employers with 50+ part time employees working over 30 hours]
Why do they do it?
Sunk costs: involves the increased investment (time, money, future) in a path that is not lucrative just because one has previously invested in the path. Determinants Social (peer pressure) Psychological (gambling) Project (past commitment) Structural (cultural and environmental factors)
Foot in the door technique: tactic involving getting one to agree to a large request by first making a smaller related request. What does this mean? (bigger picture)
Adjuncts are keeping the system afloat, and work in indentured servitude
States are spending $16 billion less on public colleges than in 2008. That’s $2,353 less per student.[9]
Flagship University systems like California are reducing funding by 29.3%[11]
Leading to (in CA) 4,200 fired staff members[11] 9,500 positions unfilled[11] And the elimination of 180 programs [11]
And that’s only possible because they’re charging 70% more in tuition [11]
\
While undergradute matriculation has skyrocketed. Leaving adjuncts with harder jobs than the tenure track positions they dreamt of in grad school.
There are 5.7 million more college students than there were 10 years ago. A 45% increase in full time students.[11] While tenure track positions have only increased 28%
in 32 years.
(from 1975-2007)[12]
Matriculation and tuition are on the rise. Yet the value of an education clearly IS NOT. Support humane treatment of educators.
[citations] |
[New search] [Contents list] [Printable PDF version] [Help]
DECISION
1. This case concerns an application by the Appellant to appeal a personal penalty notice after the 30 day time limit. The parties accept that the Tribunal has discretion to permit an appeal out of time. The issue is whether the Tribunal may exercise that discretion where the delay is serious and in the circumstances where the Appellant is totally dependent on his representative and the representative has failed to take any or any necessary steps.
2. The application before the Tribunal is not an appeal on behalf of MDM.
The evidence
3. I had the benefit of two witness statements of the Appellant who was cross examined by counsel for the Respondents. I found the Appellant to be an honest witness.
The facts
4. The Appellant had been a director of a company (MDM Global Limited "MDM") which traded in metal. It commenced business in early 2013 when it registered for VAT. Its first trade was in February 2014. MDM filed returns. HMRC disallowed input tax claims and raised assessments based on gross turnover. As a result of MDM's failure to pay the VAT assessed, penalty assessments were notified to MDM and, as MDM had become insolvent, personal penalty notices were served on the Appellant.
5. The personal penalty notices issued were as follows:
Dates of penalty notices Amount of penalty 5 December 2014 £145,275.45 22 December 2014 £102,313.51 29 January 2015 £92,565.60 17 March 2015 £78,203.19 30th April 2015 £63,407.60 29 June 2015 £8,735.89 TOTAL £490,501.24
6. VAT assessments and penalty notices were received by MDM on 5 December 2014 and on the same day a personal penalty notice was received by the Appellant as indicated in the table above. On that day the Appellant changed advisers. Mr Bridger of Sovereign Associates was appointed. Mr Bridger continued to represent the Appellant from 5 December 2014 to July 2016 when Bond Adams was appointed to represent both MDM in provisional liquidation and the Appellant. During the period when Mr Bridger was engaged the Appellant paid Mr Bridger £500 per month to represent him and MDM.
7. The Appellant did not recall receiving the personal penalty notices but recalled receiving a lot of documents in respect of MDM and himself and as he did not understand them he sent them to Mr Bridger to deal with on his and MDM's behalf. There were emails showing some documents were sent to Mr Bridger. The Appellant always sent him the original documents by registered post. The emails provided to HMRC did not include the attachments, but as the attachments were notices and letters from HMRC I cannot see that the omission was significant. There were some extraordinary communications from Mr Bridger which I will detail below which show Mr Bridger operated in an unusual way. Counsel for HMRC alleged that the Appellant had cherry-picked the correspondence that had been supplied. Counsel also invited the Tribunal to draw adverse inferences from the apparent failure of the Appellant to obtain copies of documents from Mr Bridger which correspondence counsel for the Respondents understood to be privileged being covered by litigation privilege. HMRC had not issued an information notice to Mr Bridger or the Appellant. I consider that the Appellant had made adequate disclosure to HMRC. I do not think it likely that the Appellant was cherry-picking judging from the correspondence and I do not draw an adverse inference from the Appellant not seeking documents from Mr Bridger.
8. During the course of MDM's business the Appellant had been advised to open an offshore bank account which he did in Hungary. The Appellant had given HMRC the details of the bank account. MDM had however ceased trading and as the account had been closed the Appellant had been unable to obtain copies of bank statements to show payments for goods. HMRC had not exercised powers under Treaties to obtain information and obtain copies of the bank statements.
9. Mr Bridger had assured the Appellant on numerous occasions that he was experienced in handling tax matters of this nature, had secured excellent outcomes for clients and that everything was in hand. Mr Bridger had declined to give the Appellant copies of his correspondence with HMRC on the ground of confidentiality. As the Appellant had no experience of such matters he was totally reliant on Mr Bridger and was unable to judge whether Mr Bridger was not competent. Mr Bridger failed to appeal on the appellant's behalf against any of the notices of assessment of VAT or penalties against MDM or the personal penalty notices served on the Appellant. The Appellant became aware of the dire situation when he received a letter from the official receiver and there was a threat of bailiffs attending his home.
10. The Appellant is married and has two adopted children. The family live in a modest home with a value of £220,000 and a mortgage of £120,000. The Appellant was deeply concerned about the effect that these insolvency proceedings would have on his wife and children and did not wish to have meetings with any party at his home.
11. Mr Bridger's advice included that the Appellant should cease to be a man by making a declaration to that effect to enable Mr Bridger to communicate to the world that the Appellant was dead, that there was plenty of time to deal with an enforcement notice as the Bills of Exchange Act governed the counting of the time limit to do so, that the Appellant erect a poster in his home denying access to all persons which was intended to prevent access by officials/bailiffs to avoid loss of personal assets. Mr Bridger refers to himself as "Master Bridger".
12. In my view, Mr Bridger's advice to the Appellant in the spring of 2016 justifies the "fabulist" label which Mr Connoly for the Appellant gave to Mr Bridger.
13. Bond Adams, a firm of solicitors, was engaged by the Appellant from July 2016. They immediately addressed the urgent issue of suspending the enforcement action that HMRC were taking to collect the VAT and penalties assessed on MDM and the Appellant. They then filed notices of appeal dated 9 September against the personal penalty notices with the tribunal. They were filed first on 15 September 2016. The Tribunal noticed the notices of appeal did not have attached to them the decisions against which the appeals were being made. The notices of appeal were re-filed for a second time on 10 March 2017.
14. The Appellant admits that the delay in appealing against the personal penalty notices is serious.
15. The Appellant had no competence to deal with the various notices issued by HMRC to MDM and himself and he was totally dependent on his advisers.
16. I find that Mr Bridger misled the Appellant as to what steps were being taken and needed to be taken to challenge the personal penalty notices.
17. I find that the delay between December 2014 and July 2016 in making appeals against the assessments and notices was caused by Mr Bridger's inactivity and misleading information he gave to the Appellant on whom the Appellant had relied.
18. I find that Bond Adams proceeded as quickly as possible upon being appointed by the Appellant and naturally prioritised the steps to set aside the statutory demand for payment. The appeals were made in September and I accept they were made as expeditiously as possible following Bond Adams appointment.
The legislation
(References to VATA are to the Value Added Tax Act 1983)
19. Section 83G(1) VATA provides that an appeal "is to be made" within 30days of " the date of the document notifying the decision to which the appeal relates"
20. Section 83(G)(6) provides that an appeal may be made after that period "if the tribunal gives permission to do so".
The issue in contention is in what circumstances may the First-tier Tribunal exercise that discretion to permit an appeal out of time.
The authorities
21. I was taken to the following cases:
(1) BPP Holdings Limited v HMRC [2017] UKSC 55 (BPP Holdings)
(2) McCarthy & Stone (Developments) Ltd v HMRC [2014] UKUT 196 (McCarthy & Stone)
(3) Denton v TH White Ltd [2014] EWCA Civ 906 (Denton)
(4) B Fairall (in Liquidation) v HMRC [2010] UKFTT 3015 (Fairall)
(5) Rowledge v HMRC [2016] UKFTT 556 (Rowledge)
(6) Data Select Ltd v HMRC 2012 STC 2195 (Data Select)
(7) Mitchell v News Group Newspapers Ltd [2013] EWCA Civ 1537 (Mitchell)
(8) Obhloise Benjamin Ogedegbe v HMRC [2009] UKFTT 364 (Ogedegbe)
(9) Leeds City Council v HMRC [2014] UKUT 350 (Leeds City Council)
(10) Romansave Property Services v HMRC [2015] UKUT 254 (Romansave)
(11) R (oao Dinjan Hysaj) v SSHD [2014] EWCA Civ 1633
(12) Hytech v Coventry City Council [1996] EWCA Civ 1099 GH(Coventry City Council)
The Appellant's submissions on the law
22. Counsel for the Appellant noted that the Supreme Court in BPP Holdings endorsed guidance given by the Upper Tribunal in McCarthy & Stone when Judge Sinfield was not inclined to admit that different practices should apply in the Upper Tribunal (from the High Court) for failure to adhere to court orders, practices etc given that the overriding objectives of both the Upper Tribunal and the High Court are expressed in the same terms. Further the Upper Tribunal in McCarthy & Stone relied on Mitchell which has been clarified subsequently in the Court of Appeal in Denton in which the following threefold test was identified:
'A judge should address an application for relief from sanctions in three stages. The first stage is to identify and assess the seriousness and significance of the "failure to comply with any rule, practice direction or court order" which engages Rule 3.9(1) CPR. If the breach is neither serious nor significant, the court is unlikely to need to spend much time on the second and third stages. The second stage is to consider why the default occurred. The third stage is to evaluate "all of the circumstances of the case, so as to enable [the court] to deal justly with the application including factors (a) and (b) per Vos LJ at [24]).'
Factors (a) and (b) are:
'(a) for litigation to be conducted efficiently and at proportionate cost:
and (b) to enforce compliance with rules, practice directions and orders'[I]
In relation to the third limb of the test in Denton, it was noted that McCarthy & Stone had accepted the criteria laid down in Data Select which are:
(1) What is the purpose of the time limit?
(2) How long was the delay?
(3) Is there a good explanation for the delay?
(4) What will be the consequence for the parties of an extension of time?
(5) What will be the consequences for the parties of a refusal to extend time?
23. Counsel for the Appellant applied the five factors to the facts of this case as follows:
(1) Purpose of the time limit. Counsel accepted that the purpose of the time limits is to require a party asserting a right of appeal to do so promptly and to assure the opponent that after the time limit has expired, no claim will be made, per Leeds City Council which principle was endorsed in Rowledge.
(2) How long was the delay. Counsel for the Appellant accepted that the delay was serious. The notices were received between 5 December 2014 and 29 June 2015. The notice of appeal is dated 9 September 2016 which is between 20 months and 13.5 months late. He noted that permission to appeal out of time was granted in FTT case of Fairall where the delay was 33 months.
(3) Was there a good explanation for the delay? Counsel said there was a good explanation for the delay. Counsel for the Appellant placed the blame at the door of Mr Bridger, the Appellant's representative during the period December 2014 to July 2016. The Appellant was totally reliant on Mr Bridger. Mr Bridger misled the Appellant into believing his affairs were being handled professionally. Mr Bridger sought to reassure the Appellant that there was no reason to be concerned by communications received from HMRC. He boasted about success in other cases, he reassured the Appellant that he was taking all relevant steps to protect the Appellant's position. The principle in the Coventry City Council case ought not to apply in a case where the Appellant has been systematically misled by the adviser. This is a factor which should be taken into account as not to do so would be draconian indeed. The Tribunal has the ability to consider all the circumstances and this is an extreme case. A decision in favour of the Appellant in this case would not open the floodgate of requests for permission to appeal out of time on account of actions of a legal adviser. When the Appellant instructed his current advisers there was no unavoidable delay. A 700 page witness statement was produced to set aside the statutory demand for payment. Once that was done the application for permission to appeal out of time was undertaken.
(4) What will be the consequences for the parties of an extension of time? The burden of proof will be on the Appellant to prove that the input tax claimed by MDM is deductible. Loss of evidence and delay will prejudice the Appellant but no real prejudice will fall on the Respondents although it is noted there has been a change of personnel handling the enquiry.
(5) What will be the consequences for the parties of a refusal to extend time? There will be demonstrable injustice if the case is not heard. The Appellant's net assets are insufficient to meet the amount of the penalty. His only asset is a family home where he lives with his wife and two children. The home has a value of £220,000 with a mortgage of £120,000.
In view of the above in all of the circumstances of the case Counsel submitted that permission to appeal out of time ought to be granted.
Counsel for the Appellant indicated that the prima facie merits of underlying appeal were considered not relevant in Rowledge. He addressed the Tribunal on the point but as HMRC and I also consider the prima facie merits are irrelevant I do not consider them in this decision.
The Respondent's submissions
24. Counsel for the Respondents indicated the correct approach to be adopted by the Tribunal in considering the Appellant's application to make an appeal out of time is:
(1) To consider the overriding objective "to deal with cases fairly and justly" and all of the circumstances of the case guided by the 5 factors set out in Data Select (as set out above).
(2) To have regard in doing so to the provisions of CPR 3.9 as interpreted in Mitchell and Denton (as set out above), and applied to the tribunal system in BPP, including the need for both the litigation to be conducted efficiently and at proportionate cost and the general need to enforce compliance with time limits when considering all the circumstances of the case.
(3) To avoid investigating the merits of the case.
25. Counsel for the Respondents also referred to the Court of Appeal case of Coventry City Council which involved a dispute pertaining to a computer software system where the Coventry City Council's legal team had failed their client by preparing inadequate documentation, senior counsel failed to attend a hearing at which a pupil attended on behalf of the client. The Court held that the client had to pay the penalty of the failure of its legal team. The Court considered the attitude was contumacious and showed a wilful lack of respect and regard.
26. Applying the five factors in Denton in the following manner counsel for the Respondents considered the application for permission to apply ought to be dismissed
(1) The purpose of the time limit was to provide finality to HMRC so they may close their files and deal with other cases. There was a strong public interest in this and the decision in BPP Holdings Limited reinforced the need for finality.
(2) The delay was between 26 months and 20 months and was serious.
(3) There was no good reason for the delay. Counsel challenged the Appellant's inability to recall receipt of the documents, and his compliance with requests for documents including in particular the Hungarian bank account. Counsel also challenged the Appellant's lack of consent to Mr Bridger representing to the Official Receiver that he was dead. Counsel invited the Court to draw adverse inferences from the Appellant's failure to request his former adviser to produce his files. Counsel suggested that even if the account of Mr Bridger's conduct is true, the Appellant was deceived by Mr Bridger into believing there was no reason to be concerned about the documents being received from HMRC and all was in order, the decision in Coventry City Council case should be followed. Counsel suggested that the actions of the adviser should fall upon the head of the client. Further even if the Appellant's story about the conduct of Mr Bridger between December 2014 to July 2016 is to believed there is no excuse for the three month delay in Bond Adams being instructed in July 2016 and filing the appeal in September 2016 without copies of the underlying decisions being appealed.
(4) If the permission is granted the Respondents are denied finality and will suffer prejudice in the Appellant being allowed to bring an appeal since the officer previously involved in the case has left the service.
(5) Finality will be achieved if permission is refused. There will be prejudice to the Appellant but he brought it upon his own head.
Discussion
27. The parties were in agreement as to the proper test to be applied, viz the 5 factors set out in Data Select which I deal with below.
(1) What is the purpose of the time limit?
Both parties accepted that the purpose was to produce finality at the earliest possible time in line with the overriding objective. Counsel for the Respondents urged me to follow BPP Holdings and insist the time limits be strictly adhered to. I do not consider BPP is helpful and certainly not decisive because in that case a direction had been made by the First-Tier tribunal (F-tT) and the F-tT had indicated that HMRC would be barred from participating in proceedings if the direction was not adhered to. The facts in this are very different: there had been no analogue of the F-tT's direction in BPP and no other "warning shot" over "the Respondent's bows". Nor was there in BPP an analogue of Mr Bridger's unusual behaviour in this case.
(2) How long was the delay?
The parties agreed the delay was serious. The Appellant indicated that the delay was between 13.5 and 20 months but there had been other cases in the tribunal where a delay of 33 months had occurred where there had been a mistaken belief that an appeal had been made orally. The Respondents considered the delay should be regarded as between 24 and 20 months. I do not think the difference between the parties on the length of the delay is material in this case.
(3) Is there a good explanation for the delay?
The Appellant considered there was good reason for the delay which was due to Mr Bridger's failure to properly represent the Appellant. Mr Bridger failed to give the Appellant legal advice in relation to the personal penalty notices, failed to take steps to appeal the notices. On the contrary he habitually assured the appellant that matters were in hand, that there was no need for the appellant to be concerned, that he had the expertise to deal with the issue. Mr Bridger deliberately misled the Appellant and the appellant had relied upon Mr Bridger.
The Respondents invited me to conclude that the principle in Coventry City Council should apply, that the conduct of a legal representative should be visited upon the head of the client. As there was no good reason for Mr Bridger's delay so there should be no good reason for the appellant's delay.
I do not consider the Coventry City Council principle should apply in cases such as this where, to use an analogy from employment law, the so-called representative is on a frolic of his own acting outside the scope of any possible brief that the Appellant could have given. As mentioned above there was no analogue of the F-tT's direction in BPP Holdings and no other "warning shot" over "the Respondent's bows". Nor was there in BPP Holdings an analogue of Mr Bridger's unusual behaviour in this case.
In relation to the modest delay from Bond Adam's appointment in July 2016 to the making of the appeals in September 2016 I find that that delay is explicable as Bond Adams had first to deal with the more pressing issue of the enforcement proceedings.
(4) What will be the consequence for the parties of an extension of time?
If permission is granted the Appellant will be able to bring his appeal against the personal penalty notices and as the burden of proof is on the Appellant, the delay may be a barrier to him being able to do so effectively as evidence may not be available to him now that may have been available to him 20 months ago. HMRC considered that they would be prejudiced if the permission is granted as there had been a change in personnel at HMRC. The officer dealing with the enquiry is no longer with HMRC. As HMRC is a professional organisation, its files and records should be in such good order to enable another officer to pick up the case quickly in consequence there will, in my opinion, be prejudice to the Appellant but no real prejudice to HMRC if permission is refused.
(5) What will be the consequences for the parties of a refusal to extend time?
I accept Counsel for the Appellant's assertion that there would be demonstrable injustice if permission is not granted. The Appellant's only asset is his home, a modest dwelling with a value of £210,000 subject to a mortgage of £120,000, which he shares with his wife and two adopted children. The aggregate value of the penalties is £490,000. It will be inevitable that the Appellant will lose his home. The Respondents accepted there would be prejudice to the Appellant but that he had brought the injustice on his own head. I do not accept that he did do so. The Appellant appointed Mr Bridger to represent him. Mr Bridger did not do so effectively. On the contrary Mr Bridger's actions or inactions were so extraordinary, so out of the scope of any brief that could have been delivered to any putative representative, that those actions cannot in all conscience be visited upon the Appellant. I note that if permission is granted the Respondents will be able to defend the appeals in exercise of their statutory duty to administer the tax system and collect the correct amount of tax.
Counsel for the Respondents invited me to have regard to all of these factors in light of CPR 39 and through the lens of efficient litigation, to follow BPP Holdings and refuse permission which had been followed in a number of tribunal cases such as Odegegbe and Romaserve. In BPP Holdings HMRC had failed to comply with a series of directions (accompanied by a warning of the consequences of non-compliance) and had provided no reasonable excuse other than lack of resources. The Supreme Court did not interfere with the decision of Judge Mosedale debarring HMRC from further participation in the proceedings. Lord Neuberger comments on the guidance given by the Upper Tribunal:
"to secure a degree of consistency of approach among the Ff-T judges. In the context of court decisions, this was plainly in the mind of the court of appeal in Mitchell and Denton. There must be a limit to the permissible harshness (or indeed the permissible generosity) of a decision relating to the imposition or confirmation (or discharge) of a debarring order. It may be this case is not far from that limit…... However I do not consider that it was the wrong side of the line, given the combination of the nature and extent of HMRC's failure to reply to BPP's request, the length of the delay in rectifying the failure and the length of the consequential delay to the proceedings, the absence of any remedy to compensate BPP for the delay, and the absence of any explanation or excuse for the failure coupled with the existence of other failures by HMRC to comply with directions." [34]
Lord Neuberger recognised the judge faced "a binary question involving two unpalatable choices. Making the debarring order which she regarded as draconian, or not making the order, which, to use the vernacular, would have meant that HMRC effectively would have got away with it."[35]
The decision of Judge Mosedale in BPP Holdings was a balance of all of the facts. The Supreme Court accepted the balance that she struck but acknowledged the decision was very much at the limit of permissible harshness. The facts of this case are very far away from those in BPP. They are extraordinary and in weighing all of the circumstances in this case I am unable to accept the invitation to follow BPP for to do so in this case would be too extreme and fail to have regard to the overriding objective.
Decision
28. I give permission for the appeal to be made out of time.
29. This document contains full findings of fact and reasons for the decision. Any party dissatisfied with this decision has a right to apply for permission to appeal against it pursuant to Rule 39 of the Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) (Tax Chamber) Rules 2009. The application must be received by this Tribunal not later than 56 days after this decision is sent to that party. The parties are referred to “Guidance to accompany a Decision from the First-tier Tribunal (Tax Chamber)” which accompanies and forms part of this decision notice.
HEATHER GETHING
TRIBUNAL JUDGE
RELEASE DATE: 04 OCTOBER 2017 |
The hot stove season is well upon us. In the past couple of years, things seem to have fired up much quicker than they previously had. So before things get really crazy, here are five moves that certain National League teams need to make this offseason. Some are trades, some are signings, but all could end up being critical. Or not. Feel free to tell us in the comments section if you think these hold water.
Phillies trade Jimmy Rollins to the Dodgers
The Dodgers need a shortstop, and if the rumor mill is to be believed, the team is considering more options than just free agent Hanley Ramirez, who was very productive during his time in a Dodgers uniform (more on him in a bit). If so, the Dodgers would be well served to go after Rollins. |
There is no law against publishing Mein Kampf in Germany, but the copyright holders have until now refused permission. Now they are planning to publish a new edition of Hitler's book themselves and Stephan J Kramer, of Germany's Central Council of Jews, agrees the time is right.
Contrary to what some people may think, there is, at present, no general prohibition against the publication of Adolf Hitler's book.
The reason it has been possible to ban new editions is purely technical. After World War II, the state of Bavaria became the owner of parts of Hitler's property which had been confiscated by the occupying powers - including the copyright to the dictator's publications.
Thus Bavaria has been able, so far, to use its discretion and block new editions. However, the copyright expires in 2015.
About the author Stephan J Kramer is General Secretary of the Central Council of Jews in Germany
The only imaginable way to continue the existing ban beyond 2015 would be explicit legislation to this effect - a complicated process which might even run into constitutional difficulties and fail to clear the hurdle of the Constitutional Court.
What a triumph for the Nazis this would be.
And, of course, the power of the existing ban on publication on copyright grounds has already been eroded, to a considerable degree, by new technologies.
Those who really want to read Hitler's credo can do so on the internet. Just put Mein Kampf into a search engine and you can receive a pdf file for your computer. This, too, should be taken into consideration.
Handling Hitler's book will be a litmus test of whether Holocaust education of the past 60 years has succeeded or failed
Also, there is no legal ban on the possession or sale of Mein Kampf - for example, in antiquarian bookshops. A ruling of the German Supreme Court more than 30 years ago made this clear.
This does not mean that the re-emergence of the Fuhrer's venomous concoction should be taken lightly.
Yes, unhindered distribution of Mein Kampf could make the life of right-wing extremists easier, give them yet better access to the book and provide them with fresh ammunition for their propaganda efforts, which find fertile ground in today's difficult economic and cultural situation.
Under these circumstances, I agree with the idea of publishing a properly annotated edition of Mein Kampf - with expert analysis and context provided by historians - as proposed by Bavaria.
Image caption Hitler wrote Mein Kampf (My Struggle) in 1924, while serving a prison sentence for attempting to stage a coup. After he came to power in 1933, couples were given the book at their wedding as a present from the Nazi state. It has not appeared in German since the end of WWII.
Image caption In January, UK publisher Peter McGee said he planned to sell annotated extracts of the book on the streets of Germany, but later backed down. The title of his pamphlet, The Unreadable Book, refers to Hitler's ideology, his "turgid and incoherent" writing style and to the lack of availability in Germany, says McGee.
Image caption Professor Horst Poettker, who wrote the commentary for McGee, says: "This material is particularly well-suited for learning what the Nazis thought and how they acted. The book had a wide reach and shows what normal Germans may have known about the intentions of Hitler, Goebbels and the party."
Image caption Poettker: "Commentary is necessary because there are statements which may seem convincing. The purpose of the commentary is to separate these plausible points from false, paranoid and inhuman parts and to show how they helped to give the overarching barbaric ideology false credibility."
Such an edition would educate the interested reader and, in particular, German youth. It would unmask Hitler for what he was, a fanatic. One who made his views no secret, and yet won massive support from his fellow countrymen, taking Germany into years of dictatorship, leading it to commit the worst crime in human history, to devastate Europe and, ultimately, leaving the country occupied, divided and weakened.
It only contains the polarising views of the author German historian Juergen Faulenbach, (More views below)
Who knows, maybe such educational efforts should have been made earlier? They definitely should be made now. It is important for the annotated edition - or editions - to establish themselves before non-annotated editions, implicitly or explicitly pro-Nazi, become available.
Of course, no amount of expert commentary will turn a Nazi into a freedom-loving liberal who embraces the ideal of equality for all. Proper annotation, however, is important to unmask Hitler's propaganda for what it was - an appeal to the lowest instincts of his readers, hate-mongering and intellectual primitivism.
This is, just to give one example, true of Mein Kampf's racial theories. According to Hitler's world view, race is the "fundamental element on which all life is based". Therefore, he states, the worth of nations must be based on the different races from which they spring.
Mein Kampf in brief Written in prison 1924/25, published 1925/26
Dictated in part to Rudolf Hess, in part co-written with other Nazi prisoners
First volume mainly autobiographical
Second volume focuses on Nazi ideology: expansionism, militarism, racism, anti-Semitism
Centred on myth of supposed Jewish world conspiracy
Recommends how propaganda can be used to influence the masses
About 13 million copies sold by 1945
Some of the losses of Nazi daily newspaper Voelkischer Beobachter offset by book's profits Professor Horst Poettker, Dortmund University / School of Journalism
Hitler went on to demand that "those elements within the folk-community which show the best racial qualities ought to be encouraged more than others and should be especially encouraged to increase and multiply".
These statements must be put in their proper historical context. And the annotations must be prepared by experts in the relevant fields, including psychology and educational sciences.
I do not think German democracy will be endangered by new publications of Mein Kampf. But handling Hitler's book will be an important litmus test of German political maturity and of whether Holocaust education of the past 60 years has succeeded or failed.
My recommendation to go ahead with the publishing project does not mean I feel no apprehension. It does not mean that I belittle, in any way, the monstrousness of Hitler's ideology.
And I do understand those, among the general German public as well as inside the Jewish community, who object to any involvement of the German state in printing Mein Kampf.
I think, however, that wise involvement is better than running away from the battle.
In the face of increasing right-wing nationalism across Europe, we have to be aware that those who fight can lose, but those who do not fight have already lost.
Mein Kampf: Elsewhere on the web
The question of whether to republish the book is fraught. Stephan Kramer is not the only German - nor the only Jewish leader - who would like to see a properly annotated version. But some, including academics and historians, believe the effective ban should remain in place.
In 2009, German historian Juergen Faulenbach argued against re-release in the Independent : "The book does not provide any important answers to questions about how the Nazi regime was possible. It only contains the polarising views of the author. To lift a 60-year-old ban on Mein Kampf would be problematic."
Writing for the Guardian, historian David Cesarani argues that republication would educate the young about the level of responsibility of ordinary Germans for the Holocaust. "Young Germans may start to wonder whether the millions who read Mein Kampf and still voted Nazi or supported Hitler can truly be regarded as 'victims' of all that followed from his rule."
In 2011, Waterstones apologised for including Mein Kampf in its Christmas reading list. The festive recommendation was noticed by a customer who told the Jewish Chronicle he demanded an explanation for the bookshop chain's "apparent zeal to promote this disgusting work". |
About “Untitled 3 (Grammy Performance)”
This song is a variation of Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright” which he performed at the 58th Grammy Awards in 2016. The song deals with injustice in America and references the death of Trayvon Martin. Like his performances on late night TV, Kendrick added an additional verse to the end of the song.
Prior to the Grammys airing, Kendrick revealed he has a “chamber of unreleased music”:
You see all these performances on these late night shows, I got a chamber of material from the album that I was in love where sample clearances or something as simple as a deadline kept it off the album. But I think probably close to ten songs that I’m in love with that I’ll still play and still perform that didn’t make the cut.
Less than a month later, Kendrick released an album of this unreleased music, simply titled untitled unmastered. This track wasn’t included as a full song; however, parts of it were included on “untitled 5 | 09.21.2014.” |
The Rev. Dr. John Burton Wolf, 92, a Unitarian Universalist minister, father, and grandfather died on September 19 in Tulsa, OK.
Dr. Wolf, author of the book, The Gift of Doubt, was the senior minister of All Souls Church in Tulsa for 35 years, before becoming the Minister Emeritus in 1995. Through his leadership, All Souls grew to become one of the largest Unitarian Universalist churches in the country and helped to establish two other Unitarian Universalist churches in Tulsa. Hope Unitarian Church was founded in 1969 and Church of the Restoration was formed intentionally as a multiracial congregation in the Greenwood District in 1988.
During Dr. Wolf’s tenure at All Souls, he preached about civil rights, reforming the funeral home industry, the importance of public education, and the arts. His sermons were frequently covered by the media. In 1973, after Dr. Charles Mason, the Tulsa Public Schools superintendent at the time, boasted to the press that he did not “…know what the word integration means,” Dr. Wolf’s sermon The Last Days of Dr. Mason was printed on the front page of the Tulsa World. Dr. Wolf invited his congregation to join him at the school board meeting later that week. Dr. Mason resigned at the meeting and Tulsa Public Schools were integrated the following September. Another sermon that landed on the front page of the Tulsa World was titled Tulsa is a Hick Town, in which Dr. Wolf advocated for the creation of a Performing Arts Center in downtown Tulsa. The Tulsa Performing Arts Center celebrated its 40th year anniversary this year.
An impassioned speaker, Dr. Wolf condemned racial prejudice and championed the rights of racial minorities, women, gays and lesbians, including women’s reproductive rights.
In 1965, he hosted Tulsa’s first interfaith and interracial worship service as a local response to the civil rights marches in Selma, AL. Following the service, he and other prominent representatives of Tulsa’s clergy led a civil-rights march through downtown Tulsa.
During Tulsa’s centennial year, Dr. Wolf was selected by Tulsa People Magazine as one of The Hundred Tulsans Who Made a Difference. Dr. Wolf was inducted into the Tulsa Hall of Fame in 2015 and has received numerous distinguished awards from the interfaith community of Tulsa.
In the 1980’s with the establishment of cable television, Dr. Wolf became a pioneer of television ministry among Unitarian Universalists. His “Faith for the Free” program began on local access stations and were eventually broadcast across the country.
Dr. Wolf was born in Bloomington, Illinois on Sept 6, 1925 to Walter and Helen (Young) Wolf. He graduated from Illinois Wesleyan University in 1949 with a Bachelor of Science degree in pre-medicine and earned his Bachelor of Divinity Degree from the Federated Theological Faculty of the University of Chicago in 1952. Dr. Wolf was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Meadville Lombard Theological School in 1976.
He served churches in Racine, WI and Meadville, PA before coming to Tulsa in 1960. Dr. Wolf served on many denominational boards and commissions including terms as Vice President of the Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association and Trustee of the Unitarian Universalist Association.
Dr. Wolf was a Navy veteran of World War II, serving as a signalman in the Armed Guard and in the Pacific. He was commissioned into the Navy Chaplaincy Reserves during the Korean War.
After retiring from the ministry in 1995 he remained in Tulsa with his wife Barbara N. Wolf. He remained active locally and nationally in causes for education and interfaith understanding.
Survivors include his wife of 65 years, Barbara N. Hudgins Wolf; their son John David Wolf (wife Anita Jacobson Wolf) of Claremore; their daughter Catherine Elizabeth Wolf of Tulsa; grandson Aaron Michael Wolf-Johnson (wife Kayla Wolf-Johnson); and great-granddaughter Willow Rose Wolf-Johnson of Tulsa.
Please send condolences for the family to All Souls at 2952 S. Peoria Ave, Tulsa, OK 74114.
Contributions in honor of Dr. Wolf can be made to “All Souls” care of the “John B. Wolf Memorial Fund.” The memorial fund will be distributed based on his wishes and the wishes of his family. |
The Ten Commandments are no longer valid. They are outdated and outmoded and don't begin to address the needs of a complex, literate, technological society or of a civilization of six billion diverse individuals. OK, some of them, like "don't kill" and "don't steal", are excellent rules to have on the books. But these were already rules which were well received and widely accepted tens of thousands of years before the biblers hijacked them. In perhaps the greatest act of revisionist backdating in history, the xians claimed that they had actually invented morality in the form of the 10Cs. Never mind the Code of Hammurabi, which predated the 10Cs by centuries, and of which we actually have an existing copy - carved in stone! Ironic, huh? Numerous other civilizations - China, India, Sumeria, Egypt - had written legal codes thousands of years before the Jews fled into the desert. All those codes had prohibitions against murder, theft, adultery, and fraud. And yet the xians persist with their demonstrably false claim that they were first. But, given that these other codes had long existed, it appears that their god stole all his best material. Deception and stolen material. More irony. And despite the claims that the ten commandments are the foundation of our legal system, the ten commandments are not even the foundation of the ten commandments.
Fact is that humans have always had generally accepted, if loosely practiced and sporadically enforced, moral codes. Despite the thick coating of superstitious nonsense, the underlying principles have always been essentially humanistic in practice - don't kill people, don't cheat people, don't steal from people, etc; good ideas with a fully rational basis and a wide following, and ideas that far predated Moses' alleged face to face with godhisownself. It is when you get religion involved that you get unintelligible and people-unfriendly laws. Case in point:
The First Commandment - No other gods
A Funny Story...
The 10 Cs were allegedly given to a man who was alone on a mountain for 40 days and nights, hearing voices in the clouds and having visions of bright lights, and who claimed to have spoken at great length, and in great detail, with the the creator of the universe.
Besides the tablets, Moses was given explicit instructions for the construction of a storage chest, a table, a lampstand, and a tabernacle- which required a LOT of curtains and milled wood, which one would think would be hard to come by in the desert - with an alter for burnt offerings, and a large courtyard. God was also very explicit regarding the fabrics, colors, and ornamentation of the priests garments. Likewise in the details of the slaughtering of sacrificial animals, the sprinkling of the blood, the handling of the internal organs, and the burning of the carcasses. At this time, godhisownself demanded that Moses conduct a census and that every Israelite must pay a "ransom for his life" [Exodus 30:12, KJV]. Then there was more detailed instruction regarding a bronze wash basin, anointing oil, incense, and some staff appointments by name. This all takes 7 full chapters of Exodus (24 - 31 KJV).
When Moses came down off the mountain and found a party going on, he destroyed the tablets before actually delivering them. Then, claiming god said so, he commanded the men to go through the camp and kill "brother friend and neighbor". Three thousand were killed. This rated only two verses - Exodus32:27-28. The killers were then blessed. The survivors were struck with a plague and run out of town. As a parting shot, god told Moses that he would not accompany them to the "land of milk and honey" because they were "stiff necked" and if he spent any time with them he would probably end up killing them all.
Deut. 5:7 Thou shalt have none other gods before me. Penalty: Death or worse for 3-4 generations of your descendents who had nothing to do with your problem.
Comments: This commandment has served as the justification for some of the most horrific atrocities ever perpetrated against fellow humans over matters of conscience.
This is identical to the Taliban solution. Were we to enforce this, we would have to kill approx. 80% of the Humans on the planet.
In the United States, under the Constitution, this commandment is not reflected anywhere in our laws and carries no criminal penalty. The Second Commandment - No graven images Deut. 5:8 Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth: Penalty: For breaking these first two commandments, the Alleged Xian Deity (AXD) promises dire consequences for three or four generations of your descendents: (reminds me of Joe Pesci - "I'll kill your whole fuckin' family!")
Someone, quoting Moses quoting the AXD continues ...
Deut. 5:9 Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me.
Comments: Can be and has been construed to outlaw all art. Xians, to this day, brazenly attempt to define art and to punish those who diverge from the biblically acceptable. The Taliban in a similar effort blew up the largest Buddha statue on earth. A few weeks later they were destroyed. (They probably shouldn't oughta done that.) As it does for the Taliban, that usually means death. If the AXD is feeling particularly magnanimous that day it may only mean personal ruination for family and descendents who actually had nothing to do with the offense. The AXD is highly unpredictable in that regard.
In the United States, under the Constitution, this commandment is not reflected anywhere in our laws and carries no criminal penalty. This commandment could not be more thoroughly disregarded or irrelevant.
The Third Commandment - The lord's name in vain Deut. 5:11 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain: for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain . Usage: This one is almost completely ignored. I'm not sure I really know what it even means.
Penalty: Death
Lev. 24:16 And he that blasphemeth the name of the LORD, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the Lord, shall be put to death.
Comments: Only the occasional grandma will give you any pro forma grief over this. In the United States, under the Constitution, this commandment is not reflected in federal law. The Fourth Commandment - Keep the Sabbath Deut. 5:12 Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee. Usage: This one too is completely ignored.
Penalty: Death
Ex. 35:2 Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you an holy day, a sabbath of rest to the LORD: whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death.
Comments: I'm not sure, but I think that driving a car to church technically qualifies one to be stoned to death by angry mobs of good solid xians.
There are still a few backwards communities with random and arbitrary blue laws in effect. These are rapidly disappearing and are not required by federal law.
The Fifth Commandment - Honor your parents Deut. 5:16 Honour thy father and thy mother. Penalty: Death
Lev. 20:9 For every one that curseth his father or his mother shall be surely put to death.
Comments: Widely disregarded and for good reason - we would have to kill every teenager on the planet. As satisfying as it would be, it is a tad harsh in my estimation.
This is not included in our Constitution.
The Sixth Commandment - Don't kill Deut. 5:17 Thou shalt not kill. Penalty: Death
Comments: Finally, one that everyone can agree on. It is of some interest however that it was only listed as the 5th most important commandment. I think most people would list that as number one.
The prohibition against killing your fellow humans was written law thousands of years and in many places prior to the 10Cs. The Seventh Commandment - Don't screw around Deut. 5:18 Neither shalt thou commit adultery. Penalty: Death. For both parties.
Lev. 20:10 And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.
Comments: This is the only form of sex outlawed, or even mentioned in the 10 Cs. This may still be illegal in some locales in the United States, but it ain't in the Constitution and it ain't federal law. The Eighth Commandment - Don't steal Deut. 5:19 Neither shalt thou steal. Penalty: Death
Deut. 24:7 If a man be found stealing any of his brethren of the children of Israel, and maketh merchandise of him, or selleth him; then that thief shall die;
Comments: Written laws against theft long preceded the ten commandments. The Ninth Commandment - Don't lie Deut. 5:20 Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour. Penalty: Payback
Deut. 19:19 Then shall ye do unto him, as he had thought to have done unto his brother:
Comments: A ctually, this is the first one without a death sentence. It calls for fair retribution. I kinda like this solution. Written laws against lying long preceded the 10Cs. Generally, lying is not illegal except under oath or when reckless disregard for the truth causes injury. Bear in mind that everyone who testifies in court swears, usually on a bible, to be truthful. Half of these people will then lie their asses off. The Tenth Commandment - Don't covet Deut. 5:21 Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour's wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour's house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbour's. Penalty: None
Comments: They seem to have run out of steam here. I couldn't find any direct penalty for covetousness, but only a general disfavor and a vague threat of being "smitten". I don't know why they even mentioned it if they weren't gonna go big over it. It is worth noting that our entire economy - the biggest and best in the world - is built on coveting what everyone else has. Curiously, what you did NOT get in the ten commandments was the Golden Rule.
Go figure. Some other things which did not make it into the 10 Cs Prohibition against violence of any sort including assault, child abuse, or spousal rape
Alcohol or drug abuse
Gambling
Consensual sex
Porn
Aggressive driving
Spam
Anything to excess
Bad manners
War A couple of these might be construed by some to have had tangential references in the xian holy book. The point of this list is to show that as a comprehensive guide, the 10 Cs fall miserably short of addressing many of the issues encountered on modern Earth. |
Rated 5 out of 5 by tranmeregirlie from Absolutely amazing I went with my sister-in-law and neither of us had ever seen Genesis with Peter Gabriel or Steve Hackett, but both love the early stuff. This was an absolute treat - the quality of the singing, playing, portrayal of Peter were superb - thank you guys
Rated 4 out of 5 by Pcw from Brilliant show Will be going to next year's show definitely. Will also pass my experience of the gig to friends
Rated 5 out of 5 by KeithK from A journey into my youth The Musical Box took me back to my youth and my first Genesis concert on the UK White Tour which evolved into the Black Show that they performed at Basingstoke. The Musical Box are so accurate of Gabriel's Genesis of the time that I almost believed that I had travelled back in time and it was 1973 once again . If you yearn for the early years of Genesis , make sure you see them.
Rated 5 out of 5 by Bob 1 from Awsome!! Loved every second of it.. If you love early Genesis, then just go and see them.
Rated 4 out of 5 by AlSkeksis from Enjoyable Evening I went to see Musical Box for the 4th time and they didn't disappoint. My younger brother and mother enjoyed it even more than I did. They've played better which is why it didn't deserve 5 stars but it was still worth every penny. I felt the singer was getting a bit bored as he has been doing this set for years. Other than that, it was very good.
Rated 5 out of 5 by Reny from Fantastic concert. This event will stick out in my mind for the rest of my life as it brings back memories.
Rated 3 out of 5 by Bobdebob from A bit quiet It was a very good recreation of early Genesis can't fault musicianship but a bit on the quiet side felt like they needed to turn it up a bit good gig though. |
People pay homage to the late Cuban leader Fidel Castro during the last ceremony before his burial in Santiago de Cuba -the cradle of his revolution- on December 3, 2016 (AFP Photo/RODRIGO ARANGUA)
Havana (AFP) - There will be no Fidel Castro streets or plazas in Cuba, in keeping with the late revolutionary leader's wishes, as spelled out in a law Cuban legislators passed on Tuesday.
President Raul Castro, 85, said that before dying at the age of 90 on November 25, his brother Fidel had requested that no monuments or statues be erected in his honor, and that no streets or buildings be named after him.
Lawmakers adopted the bill implementing his wish unanimously on Tuesday.
While he was an omnipresent figure in the lives of Cubans after taking power in 1959, Fidel Castro always opposed the erection of statues in his likeness. No streets or buildings are named after him in the Communist-led Caribbean country.
He also decreed that his name and image not be used for commercial or advertising purposes.
However, he did make an exception that would allow artists to use his name, people to cite it at political rallies and workplaces, and for a research institute on his role in history to bear his name.
Official media reports did not immediately make clear what penalties those breaking the law would face. |
UC San Francisco scientists have discovered a network of brain cells that allows animals to keep track of where they are when they are not moving through space, such as when they are eating, engaged in social interactions, or sleeping. The new research fills a critical gap in a decades-long line of research on the so-called GPS system of the brain, which has so far been largely described in terms of cells that aid navigation by becoming active when animals, including humans, move through particular locations.
“Experiences when you’re moving are different from experiences when you’re still,” said Loren Frank, PhD, professor of physiology at UCSF and senior author of the new study, which appears in the March 2 online issue of Nature. “When you’re creating memories of a trip you’re taking, there are memories of all the different places you’ve passed through, but there is a whole other class of experiences you have when you’re just in one place, and our work shows that the brain actually processes these experiences in a different way.”
Frank is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) investigator, and co-director of the Kavli Institute for Fundamental Neuroscience at UCSF.
In 2014, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine recognized the discoveries of the brain’s “place cells” and “grid cells,” which together comprise a cognitive mapping system that animals rely on to navigate. Place cells, which are found in the brain’s hippocampus, a structure crucial to memory, fire robustly when animals pass through particular spatial locations. Grid cells, in the entorhinal cortex, fire like place cells but in a repeating pattern of spatial locations.
In recent work, Frank and others have shown that, when animals aren’t moving, they occasionally “replay” earlier sequences of place-cell firing, perhaps as mental rehearsal for long-term storage or as a way to plan out future locations to visit. But because place cells were thought to be active mainly when animals walk or run, it was not clear whether or how animals kept track of location when not moving.
To explore this question, a team led by UCSF graduate student Kenneth Kay used a W-shaped maze containing a reward at three different sites, then trained rats to travel among the three sites in a particular order. This study design ensured that the animals would experience not only periods of movement when in the maze, but also periods of stillness when receiving rewards and when considering where to go next in the maze.
The scientists recorded activity in four different hippocampal regions and found that cells in an area called CA2 became especially active when the rats ceased moving, and that these cells were part of a wider network of hippocampal cells that signal rats’ location during immobile periods. Signaling of location was even found to be active while the rats were sleeping.
Interestingly, the signal for current location was found to turn off rapidly during place-cell replay and vice versa, Frank said, suggesting that the hippocampus switches between representing past experience versus current experience, on a timescale of tenths of a second.
“Some research has suggested that CA2 is important in forming social memories, which is intriguing, because social experience in rats generally takes place when they’re not moving around a lot,” Frank said. “The same can be said for our own social experiences. We can go biking with someone, but a lot of these experiences take place when we’re just sitting together. It may be that a system that’s specialized for knowing where you are and what the context is when you’re not moving could be important for remembering social interactions.”
About this neuroscience research
Funding: The research was supported by HHMI, the National Institutes of Health, and a McKnight Foundation award to Frank, and a Ruth L. Kirchstein National Research Service Award Fellowship to Kay, a student in the UCSF Medical Scientist Training Program.
Source: Pete Farley – UCSF
Image Credit: The image is adapted from the UCSF press release.
Original Research: Abstract for “A hippocampal network for spatial coding during immobility and sleep” by Kenneth Kay, Marielena Sosa, Jason E. Chung, Mattias P. Karlsson, Margaret C. Larkin and Loren M. Frank in Nature. Published online March 2 2016 doi:10.1038/nature17144
Abstract
A hippocampal network for spatial coding during immobility and sleep
How does an animal know where it is when it stops moving? Hippocampal place cells fire at discrete locations as subjects traverse space, thereby providing an explicit neural code for current location during locomotion. In contrast, during awake immobility, the hippocampus is thought to be dominated by neural firing representing past and possible future experience. The question of whether and how the hippocampus constructs a representation of current location in the absence of locomotion has been unresolved. Here we report that a distinct population of hippocampal neurons, located in the CA2 subregion, signals current location during immobility, and does so in association with a previously unidentified hippocampus-wide network pattern. In addition, signalling of location persists into brief periods of desynchronization prevalent in slow-wave sleep. The hippocampus thus generates a distinct representation of current location during immobility, pointing to mnemonic processing specific to experience occurring in the absence of locomotion.
“A hippocampal network for spatial coding during immobility and sleep” by Kenneth Kay, Marielena Sosa, Jason E. Chung, Mattias P. Karlsson, Margaret C. Larkin and Loren M. Frank in Nature. Published online March 2 2016 doi:10.1038/nature17144
Feel free to share this neuroscience news. |
Frequently, as I read the various articles in MAKE, I come across stories from young folks indicating that they want to become mechanical engineers when they come of age so they can continue to “make things” for a profession. I would like to guide them into perhaps a more suitable profession — one of being a manufacturing engineer. I’ve been a manufacturing engineer for 36 years in a number of different areas and have loved my choice of engineering from the beginning.
Growing up I always thought that I wanted be be an architect or an engineer. Either of those professions seemed to be a good outlet for my creativity. I would draw house plans or make any number of plastic models. I had a drafting table in my bedroom that was bigger than my bed! There was always something that needed to be designed or built.
Through high school and college I worked for a small manufacturing company during the summers as a draftsman/designer. Looking back, I can now see how valuable that work experience was. The feedback I received from the toolmakers was invaluable. They would let me know what was manufacturable and what was not, sometimes in a very animated fashion!
As I looked for colleges, I chose two that had very well-known architecture programs. I chose Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, Calif., even though I was told that I would have to be added to a waiting list for the School of Architecture. While I waited for an opening, I enrolled in the mechanical engineering program. As much as I enjoyed the lab work, I found the theoretical end of it rather pointless. What on earth was I going to do with an answer of 2 pi theta? I wanted to be able to work on problems where the answer was 15 feet per second or a mass of 7 pounds. I was fortunate to discover the manufacturing engineering program at Cal Poly while waiting for my opening in the School of Architecture. After my one-year wait, I did indeed get a call from the dean’s assistant informing me of my opening. I politely declined. I was informed that no one passes an opportunity to enter that program. I might have been the first ever!
The manufacturing engineering program was fantastic. Not only did one get the theory of a particular operation, but it was followed up with a lab where you put into practice the theory. This was true for the machine and electronic labs, but also chemistry and physics. I believe that program and many others at Cal Poly provide an education that is second to none. The school’s credo is “Learn by Doing.” Even today Cal Poly graduates are highly sought after individuals, due to the fact that they can actually do something in industry on their first day on the job.
As an example, my senior project was to design and build an injection mold. I chose a scale model of the Great Pyramid of Cheops. I sat down with my drafting kit and began the design of a thin-walled pyramid. Once the design was completed and my advisor approved it, I machined all the components and fitted them together. The final step was to mount the mold set into an injection molder and shoot the parts! Talk about fully understanding the design, development, and implementation of a real-world task!
I feel very fortunate that I was able to attend college, and specifically find a program that I just fell in love with. As I read various comments in MAKE magazine and elsewhere indicating that the writer would like to become a mechanical engineer, I would recommend young makers seek a manufacturing program that works for them. This can either be a two-year or a four-year program. I have found that these programs allow one to move on into industry and continue “making things” and get paid for it! |
Share on Twitter Tweet Share on Facebook Share
An whiz kid at New York University Poly has just released a new photo app for the iPhone that could end the scourge of closed eyes and sour-puss snapshots once and for all.
“It’s literally flawless,” said John Meyer, the 18-year-old CEO of Tap Media. “It’s a new way to take group photos, and all you have to do is hold up your iPhone.”
Meyer’s new app, Perfect Shot — which he developed in his Brooklyn Heights dorm room — uses the iPhone’s built-in facial recognition capabilities, which Apple users will recognize from the box that appears around their subjects’ faces when taking their picture, and applies that technology to more particular parts of a person’s gaze.
Instead of just tracking the faces, Meyer’s app makes the camera focus on the people’s eyes and mouths, and only snaps a picture when everyone in the picture has both eyes open and a big, toothy grin — no button push required.
“The app tells your phone to analyze your face 100 times per second, but it only takes one picture when everyone’s ready.”
Before releasing his latest app, however, Meyer subjected his software to a grueling testing process that culminated in the ultimate group shot.
A group of 15 of Meyer’s friends were asked to make a whole variety of faces while arrayed in front of a Perfect Shot-armed iPhone, with expressions including eyes closed with smile, eyes open without smile, and some both smiling and with eyes open.
The developer knew his app was ready for release when the iPhone refrained from taking shots until everyone had both their eyes open, and were smiling.
“Once they were all smiling and had their eyes open, it immediately took the shot.”
The young app programer has been making software for smart phones since his freshman year in high school, and has since created over 40 apps for the iPhone, iPad, and Android.
Among his many creations include Real Aquarium HD, a suped-up screen saver, which provides encyclopedic information on the sea creatures it displays, and an app for Mac called Film, which brings the power of Instagram to your laptop, complete with extra features, like a powerful search function and the ability to display pictures in a slideshow format.
Meyer also founded the app development studio Tap Media, through which he frequently employs other developers, sometimes at rates of $75-per-hour.
The entrepreneur’s next step is to move into the NYU-Poly-owned DUMBO Incubator on Jay Street, where he plans to work with other tech wizards to develop the apps of the future.
Reach reporter Colin Mixson at cmixson@cn glocal.com or by calling (718) 260-4514.
Updated 11:48 am, January 16, 2019
©2013 |
Mornin' Fellow Patriots!
So, I want to talk about the real war this morning. Not that we don't do our part in the real war, but something apart from our little battlefield, and something that makes what we do all the more important.
Last night, I was reading an article from The Long War Journal analysing the air strikes in pakistan. So far in 2009, there have been 42 strikes, already more than than the 36 from last year. And, that's just great 'cause I'm all for the Hellfire into jihadi campaign. By all accounts, it's taking a serious toll on alqada and taliban operatives: 404 killed, with some nice high value targets tossed in for good measure. In addition, the death toll to civilians remains relatively low at 43.
President Obama, to his credit, has continued and even intensified the Hellfire into jihadi campaign. And he ordered up a surge in Afghanistan. Good moves, both. As I am sure you have heard, though, he is rethinking his strategy. Moving from a counterinsurgency to a counter intelligence campaign. But, one of the things that makes the Hellfire into jihadi campaign so successful, is boots on the ground. I hope we keep enough boots on the ground.
Here is the bummer thing, though. He made this decision, to change course, after having have had one conversation with the general he picked to lead the charge. That's not leading, that's being led. Very disappointing.
So, with that said, how's about we take out some islamo-facist, terrorist supporting e-jahidi trash! |
New Delhi: Showing signs of recovery, industrial output rose to nearly 3-year high of 6.4 percent in August on improvement in manufacturing and capital goods while retail inflation remained with in comfort zone.
The manufacturing sector, which constitutes over 75 percent of the index, grew by 6.9 percent in August, while the capital goods output rose by 21.8 percent in the month indicating a recovery.
ALSO READ: Industrial production grows at a near 3-year high of 6.4% in August
Commenting on the twin macro economic data, Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian said, "Encouraging news on Indian economy. IIP growth increased to 6.4 percent, consistent with indirect tax revenue performance. Core inflation moderate."
The previous high of factory output growth was recorded in October 2012 at 8.4 percent. The factory output had grown by 0.5 percent in August last year.
Industrial output, measured in terms of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), was at 4.1 percent in the April-August period against 3 percent in the year-ago period, the data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) today showed.
As regard retail inflation, the Consumer Price Index rose to 4.41 percent in September from 3.74 percent in August this year but remained in comfort zone. RBI has projected 5.8 percent retail inflation by January, 2016.
ALSO READ: Retail inflation rises to 4.41% in September on dearer food items
"The growth in manufacturing seems to be accelerating and we are hopeful of higher growth in the coming months.. Government?s efforts to revive manufacturing has started yielding results," said FICCI Secretary General A Didar Singh.
Chief Economist, India Ratings & Research Devendra Kumar Pant said, "Sharp fall in inflation and monetary easing has increased demand for consumer durable. This is partially due to initiation of festival season. Bond market is likely to respond favourably to IIP data and bond yields are likely to fall by around 5 basis points in tomorrow's trade." I
Meanwhile, the IIP growth for July has been revised slightly downwards to 4.1 percent from provisional estimate of 4.2 percent last month.
Commenting on the data, Assocham President Rana Kapoor
said, "..Pleased to see finally the green shoots of economic activity getting converted into strong industrial growth figures."
"On the whole, these estimates put forward certain positive indications of growth revival, however, the policy makers need to continue with the proactive stance to support these developments," he added.
According to IIP data, the manufacturing sector, which constitutes over 75 percent of the index, grew by 6.9 percent in August, 2015 against a contraction of 1.1 percent in the same month last year.
The output of capital goods, a barometer of investment, grew at an impressive rate of 21.8 percent as against a contraction of 10 percent in the same month last year.
The mining sector growth was at 3.8 percent in August against 1.2 percent in the same month last fiscal.
However, power generation growth slowed to 5.6 percent in August as compared to 12.9 percent in the same month a year ago.
The overall consumer goods output grew by 6.8 percent in August as compared to a contraction of 6.2 percent in the same month a year ago.
The consumer durables goods output grew at 17 percent in August as compared to a contraction of 15 percent in the same month a year ago.
The consumer non-durable goods output grew by 0.4 percent in August as compared to 0.4 percent growth in the same month a year ago.
The basic goods output grew by 3.4 percent in August, compared to 9 percent growth a year ago, whereas intermediate goods output grew by 2.6 percent in the month as compared to a contraction of 0.1 percent in the same period last year.
In terms of industries, 15 out of 22 groups in the manufacturing sector showed positive growth in August. |
The game within the game this week will be played at great heights along the line of scrimmage when the Miami Dolphins visit the Detroit Lions and guard Mike Pouncey faces defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh.
Pro Bowl offensive lineman versus Pro Bowl defensive lineman.
“He’s a really good football player," Pouncey said Wednesday. "He plays really hard. He’s a Pro Bowl football player. We have to go out and play our best against him. He’s going to be the best defender we play against all year."
That is high praise from Pouncey. And Suh will be trying to live up to that billing by playing well, but also playing a lot of snaps.
The Lions, you see, are without tackle Nick Fairley, who is out with a knee injury, and had been without C.J. Mosley, who was sent home from London and suspended for two weeks. Mosley is back with the team.
That left the Lions with only three viable tackles against Atlanta. So Suh played. And played. And played, getting few series off.
“I’m built that way," Suh said. "I’m built to endure long drives. I’m endured to just go out there and play whatever snaps I need to play. I think I’ve, over the years, proven that I can maintain and take care of myself to where I can play whatever game, with whatever consequences or anything that comes across our way."
And Suh is good with that workload.
"I look at my rookie year and I don’t think I remember coming out of the game, so it is what it is," Suh said. "I don’t really look at it like that. I look at it as an opportunity to go out there and play, have an impact that much more and go from there."
Awesome. So how about we tackle the elephant in the room?
Suh, you see, has this reputation as something of a dirty player. Don't believe me. Let your eyes decide:
Anywho, It is fair to say most of those instances have not happened lately. But they have indeed happened.
So is Pouncey ready to defend himself or his quarterback if Suh get all extracurricular?
“No, we don’t worry about that," Pouncey said. "We are going to go out, play hard. We’re not worried about him playing dirty. We worry about him playing as hard as he can. We have to go out there and match his intensity."
Yeah, I get the feeling Pouncey will be matching intensity bigtime if Suh takes a cheap shot at Ryan Tannehill. |
Todd Stern, a visiting lecturer at Yale Law School, was U.S. special envoy for climate change from 2009 to 2016.
President Trump has made a colossal mistake in deciding to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement. There is simply no case for withdrawal, other than a desire to double down on an ill-informed campaign promise, while the case for staying in is overwhelming. But damaging as it is, this decision is not the beginning of the end for efforts to contain climate change. The world decided in Paris to confront the climate threat, and it is not turning back.
Around the world, climate change is a metastasizing danger, for some countries even an existential threat. It was understood in the years leading up to the Paris negotiation that the climate challenge could be met only with a new kind of agreement premised on concerted effort by all. That agreement — ambitious, universal, transparent, balanced — was reached in Paris, with the help of U.S. leadership every step of the way.
(Daron Taylor/The Washington Post)
Trump’s suggestion Thursday that he is willing to renegotiate the deal to make it fairer to the United States doesn’t pass the straight-face test. The Paris agreement — for anyone who actually understands it — is entirely fair to the United States. The idea that 194 other countries will listen to Trump’s insulting Rose Garden blather and say, “Sure, let’s sit down and negotiate a new deal” is ridiculous.
Instead, Trump’s decision will be seen as an ugly betrayal — self-centered, callous, hollow, cruel. The ravages of climate change have been on display in recent years in the superstorms, floods, rising sea levels, droughts, fires and deadly heat waves that will only get worse as the carbon index mounts. Vulnerable countries will look at the United States, the richest power on Earth, the largest historic emitter of greenhouse gases, and think — even if they do not say — how dare you?
[Trump just did something terrible and destructive. The GOP must own the consequences.]
President Barack Obama once said to business leaders, in a Roosevelt Room meeting I attended, that climate change was the one threat, other than nuclear weapons, with the potential to alter the course of human progress. A near-consensus of major U.S. companies urged the Trump administration to stay in the agreement because they know climate change is real, that the Paris agreement is a good and balanced deal, that their own concerns on matters such as intellectual property and trade will be defended only if U.S. negotiators are at the table and that turning the United States into a climate-change pariah will be bad for business, for access to markets and for investment. But our chief-executive president decided to leave U.S. business in the lurch.
All this is more than disappointing. And watching the so-called internal battle on this issue play out between determined antagonists on the one side and diffident, sotto voce defenders on the other was downright depressing.
But let’s be clear: This is not the end of the line. This is a call to arms.
Countries won’t follow Trump out of the Paris climate agreement and over a cliff. They won’t give Trump the satisfaction of “canceling” the agreement, as he promised during his campaign. They will want to show that they can carry on without the United States. And they know too well that climate change is real and that if the Paris regime fell apart, they’d just have to build it again. They will hold on to the hope that the current administration will be a one-term wonder. It is true that, in the longer run, it would be difficult for the Paris regime to produce accelerated action at the level that is needed without the United States. But other countries will probably bet that the United States will come back.
[The big political takeaways on the U.S. exiting the Paris agreement]
Progressive U.S. states and cities also have a crucial role to play, not only in extending the good work they are already doing on climate change, but also by sending a clear and resounding message to the global community: that while Trump’s Washington may have gone dark on climate change, inspired centers of innovation and commitment are lighting the way forward all over the country. In states such as California and New York, Washington, Oregon, Minnesota, Illinois and North Carolina, and in New England; in cities such as New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston and New Orleans, among many others. These entities account for a sizable chunk of both U.S. gross domestic product and carbon emissions. They may not be able to get the United States all the way to our 2025 Paris emissions target, but they have the potential to go far.
Private companies, too, have been instrumental in driving the clean-energy revolution, pursuing the massive economic opportunities presented by the need to decarbonize our energy system. And consumers are increasingly demanding that companies not only provide desirable products or services, but also stand as good corporate citizens.
Finally, for citizens, it is time to hold our leaders accountable at all levels of government. Protecting our nation, our children and our American heritage should not be optional for an elected leader. Nor should preserving America’s singular standing in the world.
Thursday was not a good day for climate change, and it was not a good day for the United States. Nothing we say now can change that. But it is a day that needs to be remembered as the visible moment the rear-guard opposition went too far. It is a day to spark action and resolve. It is a day that needs to count. |
BERLIN — Pudding Man is unmasked! He is none other than 25-year-old mobile app designer Naor Narkis.
And if you don’t know who pudding man is, you clearly don’t live in Israel or Germany.
Narkis – whose revealed his name for the first time to The Washington Post – sparked an uproar over the past three weeks after taking to the Internet to share his decision to leave behind the high cost of Tel Aviv and follow a host of young Israelis emigrating to cheap and shabby-chic Berlin. Despite the shadow of the Holocaust here, he encouraged more of his countrymen to do the same — anonymously mounting a Facebook page on Sept. 29 titled Olim Le Berlin. Even the name itself — playing on a Hebrew word commonly used to encourage immigration to Israel — stirred passions.
(Photo courtesy of Naor Narkis)
But his page really went viral – and became part of the national debate – after he posted a shopping receipt, including a local version of a beloved Israeli chocolate dessert known as Milky. He bragged of buying a far more ample portion than the typical serving size in Israel for roughly one-third the price. Soon, talk began of a “Milky Revolution” – or an outflow of young Israelis who could find economic solace in the symbolically important, and undeniably cheap, former capital of Nazi Germany.
Almost immediately, the Tel Aviv native became a folk hero to some, and an anti-Zionist villain to others. Those falling in the latter camp include a range of media commentators, politicians and Holocaust survivors who railed against the unknown pudding man. Israeli Agriculture Minister Yair Shamir told the Jerusalem Post: "I pity the Israelis who no longer remember the Holocaust and abandoned Israel for a pudding.”
In response to the "milky" debate, Israel's main discount supermarket chain, Rami Levy, put the chocolate puddings on sale, although in reality most other goods remain pricey.
In the summer of 2011, Israel saw the biggest protests it had ever witnessed when hundreds of thousands of Israelis took to the streets to decry the high cost of living in their country. The mass demonstrations, which took issue with high housing prices and the cost of everyday consumer goods, threatened to down Netanyahu's government at the time. Since then, however, and despite promises by various leaders to tackle the high cost of living, little has changed on the ground.
In Germany, meanwhile, Narkis has become an anonymous phenom, with the Bild Tabloid declaring, "Because of chocolate pudding – a Berlin-revolution in Israel.” Spiegel Online declared Berlin “the pudding paradise!"
Sitting at a cafe in Berlin’s fashionable Mitte neighborhood Friday, Narkis, a slightly built Tel Aviv native who spent six years in the Israeli army, said he was initially shocked by the uproar. He received death threats via his Facebook account, he said, though in retrospect he does not "take them seriously." He said he decided to remain anonymous to keep the focus on his message – “Israel is too expensive for young people, and if that doesn’t change, it will lose a generation of us who will move away.” He was unmasking himself now, he said, to start promoting his message publicly.
Narkis arrived in Berlin five months ago, he said, after first trying his hand in Paris. It seemed initially like a logical choice. His mother’s parents immigrated to Israel from France, and he speaks fluent French. But, he said, besides the high cost of Paris, a virulent strain of anti-Semitism there drove him away after just a few months.
“There are people there at protests yelling 'Jews, out of France,’ ” he said.
By contrast, he said he found in Berlin an atmosphere wholly welcoming to Israelis.
“I was always curious about Germany because I wanted to understand a society that almost exterminated my people,” he said. But, he noted, German Chancellor Angela Merkel had recently led a major rally against anti-Semitism. And, on the streets of Berlin these days, he said, “you find the lowest level of anti-Semitism in Europe. I think young Germans and young Israelis share a lot in common. We both grew up in the shadow of the Holocaust. And in that sense, we understand each other.”
But his decision was also about the two “Cs” — cheap and cool — that have made Berlin the “it city” for the untold legions of the young and hip. He is paying, he said, 425 euros ($535) a month for a room in a two-bedroom apartment, almost half the price he said he would pay for similar accommodations in Tel Aviv.
He denied speculation in Israel that he was working for a German real estate company. Rather, he said, he is supporting himself here as a freelance mobile app designer while also giving language classes. He said he speaks Hebrew, English, Arabic, German, French and Spanish.
He felt particularly bad, he said, by the castigation he’s received from Holocaust survivors: “I understand their feelings about Berlin, and I take them very seriously. And I also love my country, Israel.” But, he insisted, Israeli authorities need to wake up to the fact that the cost of living there is “forcing young people into exile.” He said his parents – his mother, of French Jewish stock, and his father, an Iraqi Jew – were supporting his crusade.
Although he said he intended to be in Berlin for a few years to make money before returning home, he is now debating leaving sooner.
“Maybe I'll come back to Israel and start something more” on this issue, he said. “I miss my parents, and they miss me.”
Ruth Eglash contributed to this report. |
Subsets and Splits
No saved queries yet
Save your SQL queries to embed, download, and access them later. Queries will appear here once saved.