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Every week we overreact to the plight of the teams populating the Premier League.
This is the third consecutive week on top of the crisis table for Liverpool. That's a Premier League Crisis Table record (though we did only start this five weeks ago), just wait until the tabloid headline writers get their hands on that stat. A 2-1 capitulation at the hands of Man Utd mean they are now five (count them, yes, five) Premier League games into the season without a win. Liverpool looked toothless against Man Utd which is strange for a team with Luis Suarez playing up front.
The once great Aston Villa sit second in the table after an absolute trouncing at the hands of recently promoted minnows Southampton. What a shambles Paul Lambert has turned the club into, this time last year they were riding high in eight place under tactical genius Alex Mcleish. There's no way he would've conceded four against Southampton, although they probably wouldn't have scored that one goal either. It could be a case of 21st season syndrome for Aston Villa.
Spurs had a lucky 2-1 win over QPR buying the under pressure Andre Villas-Boas some much needed breathing space. The real test is this weekend though as they travel to Old Trafford where AVB will surely revert to his crouching on the sideline 'why is this happening to me, I made pie-charts' style.
Two losses in a row mean Swansea bolt up the Crisis Table to fourth. The clubs owners must now regret signing a managerial unknown like Michael Laudrup. I mean, had anyone even heard of him before he came to The Barclays Premier League? Ok, so he played for Juventus, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Ajax and managed in Spain and Russia but surely none of that prepares someone for managing in the greatest league in the world. Their only option now is to cut their losses with him, get in Gary Megson and hope for the best.
QPR's mish-mash of mercenaries lost to Spurs and their joke of a manager 2-1. They are still without a win this season so Mark Hughes must be wondering what he did to deserve this statue of himself in Longford Town. Also, given that Harry Redknapp is currently unemployed, is his status as Premier League wheeler-dealer extraordinaire in crisis? Surely Mark Hughes has taken over the mantle given his 213 (did not research this number) summer signings.
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It was a winless weekend for Reading, Norwich and Wigan. They've only got one win and eight points between them. So only if the three of them aggregated their points could they hope to be as great as Sam Allardyce and his unstoppable West Ham mid-table-safety juggernaut.
Nigel Adkins is off the hot seat at Southampton and onto the mildly tepid chair of hopeful Premier League safety. This followed a 4-1 demolition of crisis club Aston Villa during which Rickie Lambert scored his 3rd and 4th goal of the season. Southampton must now be concerned about whether or not they can hold onto this season's Grant Holt come the looming January transfer window. Only 95 days to go until the transfer window bursts open.
Man Utd might be second place in the Premier League table but they are now in the Vidiculous situation of being without Nemanja Vidic for eight weeks. Could their season be on the verge of falling apart without Vidic? Can Jonny Evans and Rio Ferdinand along with Michael 'I can't believe they're still playing him at centre-back' Carrick hold things together for Man Utd? Probably. Maybe. Their season is over already.
Man City rise up the table after a 1-1 draw with perennial crisis club/joke team/title contenders Arsenal. Their new signings already look like flops. Scott Sinclair looks like he has the potential to reach the heights of Sean Wright-Phillip's career and Javi Garcia does not have the leg breaking ability of the man he replaced, Nigel De Jong. Tough times ahead for Man City, I fear for them.
Stoke move up to 12th after everyone suddenly realised that they hadn't won a game this season. Is it time for Tony Pulis to change Stoke's style of football? Tiki-taka with Andy Wilkinson, Glenn Whelan and Peter Crouch, it could work.
Everything is looking good at West Brom following a 1-0 win over Reading. West Brom's prosperity however is at the cost of Liverpool who sacked Steve Clarke back in June. If only they had appointed him instead of Brendan 'tiki-taka wannabe' Rodgers then it could've been them sitting pretty in fourth place, because that's how football works, right?
Everton stormed past Swansea on Saturday afternoon with a 3-0 win to once again become crisis free Champions League place contenders. If referees continue to ignore Marouane Fellaini's basketball-style assists then who knows how far they can go this season.
Can anything stop this runaway Arsenal freight train right now? And it's all built upon the defensive genius of Steve Bould.
Bould for England? |
LAS VEGAS — “You like my, my furniture?” the singer W. Axl Rose asked the screaming crowd at the T-Mobile Arena here on Friday night. He was on a throne made from guitars and amps, lent by Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters, where he could keep his injured left foot immobile.
It was the first night of an arena and festival tour by the partly reunited Guns N’ Roses, which brings Mr. Rose together with two of the band’s other founding members — Slash (Saul Hudson) on lead guitar and Duff McKagan on bass — for the first time since the mid-1990s. Since then there have been insults, recriminations, lawsuits and a takeover of the Guns N’ Roses brand by Mr. Rose, who has toured and recorded with sidemen for two decades. The Not in This Lifetime Tour, as the band has called it, was a reunion significant enough to make Guns N’ Roses the Saturday night headliner at the Coachella festival on April 16 and 23.
During an April 1 preview show for 500 people at the Los Angeles club the Troubadour, which helped propel the band to fame in the 1980s, Mr. Rose fell off the stage and broke a bone in his foot — thus the throne for a month of recuperation. Unexpected as it was, the injury only clinched the point of the reunion. It is different — both fraught and familiar — playing with peers who invented a band sound and sidemen trying to recreate it. Unable to strut and shimmy across the stage as the frontman he has been for so long, Mr. Rose had to rely on the songs themselves and share the spotlight, perhaps more than he expected.
He made every effort. Singing from the throne, he pumped out the beat with his right leg and gesticulated with both arms. Using crutches or a wheelchair, he also periodically headed backstage during instrumentals for costume changes that barely mattered: studded leather jackets and assorted hats, T-shirts, bandannas and sunglasses. He has set aside the unfortunate fashion choices, like cornrows and hockey jerseys, of his recent tours; he also omitted the onstage rants that once punctuated the band’s more indulgent shows. |
“Can you believe that asshole? I was about two fucking seconds from kicking him out.” Jocelyne’s irritation was apparent, even over the telephone. “Whoever said ‘The customer’s always right’ has NEVER worked with people before. Ever.”
Clara nodded sympathetically, though she knew her niece could not see her. “Oh my God that guy sounds like a total piece of shit.”
Remus and River’s eyes snapped up to look at their mother the moment the word passed her lips. “Mami!” Their voices chimed together as they leapt to their feet and raced toward her, leaving their void critter game behind.
“Fuck. Shit. Wait, no, I…” DAMN IT, not again! Now that the twins were older, she and Florian had been trying so hard to watch their language in front of their children. And unfortunately they’d been failing… miserably.
Jocelyne’s laughter was so loud that Clara could still hear it, even though she’d dropped the phone to her side.
“Mami, you said a baaaaaad word! I’m tellin’ Papi!” River said disapprovingly.
Beside her, her brother laughed. “Well Papi was sayin’ bad stuff this morning at bre’fast. ‘Member?” He turned his gaze toward his mother. “Now you BOTH gotta put money in the swear-jar!”
Clara sighed, but couldn’t suppress a small laugh of her own. “You caught me. Y’know, at this rate, you guys will be able to cash it in in no time…”
“Yay!” The twins cheered in unison.
“Sorry.” Clara turned her attention back to the phone call. “Just having a Mama-moment… I’m sure you understand.” The girl laughed.
“Definitely.” Jocelyne agreed happily. “Tell those little rascals I say hello, by the way.”
“Why don’t you tell them yourself?” Clara suggested. She turned the phone on speaker-mode and placed it gently on the coffee table.
“Hey there, munchkins!”
Remus and River’s faces lit up at the sound of Jocelyne’s cheerful greeting. “Tante Jossy! Hi! Hi!” They shouted over each other excitedly.
“What’s up? I hope you two are being really good for Mama and Papa.”
River nodded enthusiastically. “We’re bein’ sooooo good!”
“So so soooooooo good!” Remus was practically bouncing up and down. “And guess what happened! Mami and Papi bought us bran’ new bikes!”
“They did! Wow! You must have been very good.” Clara could almost hear Jocelyne’s smile.
“Yup! And we rided ‘em all over!” Remus continued. “And we even goed the way to Onkel Lucas and Tante Hazel’s house! That’s like a million-billion kilo’mers away!”
“Not alone, obviously!” Clara cut in over the twins’ cries of excitement. “Florian was with them.” She clarified hastily.
Jocelyne just laughed.
“And then we had a race!” River chimed in before her brother could speak again. “And I was the winner and Remi was a LOSER! Haha!” She stuck her tongue out at him.
“HEY!” Remus burst angrily. “Well… Well you’re just a Blöde Kuh!”
“Excuse me?!” Clara’s eyes narrowed. “That’s it… Both of you owe money now.”
“No fair! Those kinda words aren’t swears, Mami!” River insisted.
Her mother was unconvinced. “They’re close enough.”
“Don’t argue with Mama, okay?” Jocelyne’s voice was soft and gentle. “I thought you two promised you were being good…”
“We are!” They cried out in unison.
Remus seemed eager to change the subject. “Tell us about the babies, Tante Jossy!”
“They’re not babies!” River corrected her brother. “They’re talkin’ and walkin’ and stuff, right?”
Jocelyne laughed. “They’re doing great. And you’re right, River. They’re three years old now, so they do a lot of walking… and talking too!”
Poor Jocelyne… I thought I had it bad with TWO! Clara could not help the thought that crossed her mind.
“Can we talk to ‘em?” The little boy asked. “I wanna tell ‘em all ‘bout the bikes!”
“Sorry, kiddo.” Jocelyne replied sadly. “They’re with their Papa this weekend.”
River furrowed her brow in confusion. “How come their Papa doesn’t live at your house, Tante Jossy?” She asked.
“Well, our Papi doesn’t live with us all the time…” The girl’s brother reminded her. “He goes away with Onkel Lucas when they’re makin’ music. Maybe their Papa likes makin’ music too!”
“Is he a moosician like Papi?” River asked.
Jocelyne hesitated before replying. “N-no… Um, it’s… It’s kind of tricky to explain…”
“Alright, you two. I think you’ve bothered poor Tante Jossy enough for one night.” Clara interrupted, keeping her tone light and casual.
“That’s okay.” Jocelyne’s gratitude was apparent in her voice. “I’ve gotta go get ready for my shift anyway.”
“Well, good luck.” Clara said. “Hopefully you won’t have to deal with any more jackass customers…”
“Mami!”
“Shit!”
“Talk to you soon.” Jocelyne said with a laugh. “Say hi to Florian for me… Love you guys!”
“Love you too.” Clara replied warmly. “Bye, Jocelyne.”
Even after five years, hearing her niece hanging up the phone never seemed to get any easier.
“Mami?” River asked softly as Clara returned her cellphone to her pocket and sat back onto the couch. “Can I ask you a quesson?”
“Of course.” She smiled gently at her daughter. Clara had a feeling the kids would have more questions about Elliot. And now that Jocelyne was not listening in, she felt much more comfortable broaching the subject.
But it wasn’t Elliot she asked about.
“How come Tante Jossy lives so far away?” The little girl asked. “Why is she all the way in ‘Merica?”
Clara bit her lip nervously. These were not the types of questions she’d been anticipating. “Well… Tante Jossy has a job there, honey. And her babies. That’s where her life is. With her family.”
“But we’re her family too, right?” Remus said sadly. “So how come she only visits at Christmas? I wanna see her all the time! And Charlie and Alex and Tony too!”
“She’s… She’s just really busy.” Clara assured them. She sounded anything but confident as she spoke. “But she loves us very much. And I know she loves our phone calls.” The young woman smiled. “We’re lucky we get to talk to her so often.”
“I guess… But how come she doesn’t talk to everybody like she talks to us?” Remus asked softly.
Clara’s smile faltered. “W-what do you mean, honey?”
The two children exchanged a significant glance.
“Well… Onkel Lucas always looks so sad when we talk ‘bout Tante Jossy.” River’s voice was persistent. “He makes a funny face every time we say her name.”
Her twin nodded in agreement. “It’s really, really weird, Mami. And one time we tried askin’ him about it and he got all quiet and sad and it made me feel sad too…”
Oh God… Is this conversation seriously happening? Clara cleared her throat uncomfortably. “Okay, so… A long time ago, Tante Jossy and Onkel Lucas had a… fight. And it really hurt their feelings. So they don’t really talk as much as they used to.” She explained. “That’s all.”
River’s brow furrowed in confusion. “But… Me n’ Remi fight all the time! And we still talk to each other.”
“Those are little fights, Riv.” Remus shook his head and leapt to his feet, suddenly frantic. “What if we have a really really big fight someday and we say all kindsa mean stuff and say bad names until the swear jar’s all full and then we stop talking too?!”
Without warning, the five-year-old burst into tears. And his sister was on the verge of following suit.
Jesus. Way to go, Clara. “Hey, hey, hey!” She crouched down to address her son. “You guys don’t have anything to worry about, okay? Because no matter what, Onkel Lucas and Tante Jossy love each other a lot. That never changed.” All she could do was hope that what she’d said was true. “And it’ll never change for you either… I know it.”
“Promise, Mami?” Remus asked softly.
“I promise.”
“Now… Why don’t you two run downstairs and tell Papa to start getting ready for dinner, okay?” Clara smiled down at her children.
The twins skipped off to the basement without another word.
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Dozens of people died after drinking toxic alcohol over the Christmas weekend in the Punjab region of Pakistan. The development came one week after tainted liquor in Russia caused more than 70 deaths.
The alcohol was reportedly procured by two Muslim men, both of whom were among the dead, for a holiday party in Toba Tek Singh and was distributed mostly to Christians on Sunday. It is illegal for Muslims to purchase alcohol and minority religions such as Christians must obtain a permit to do so. In response to the country's strict liquor laws, many Pakistanis have resorted to making their own home-brewed alcohol.
"The men who belong to the Christian community drank liquor on the night of Dec. 25 and went home. Tragedy struck the next morning when many did not rise from their beds, while others got sick," Police Officer Mohammad Nadeem told BBC Urdu.
Local liquor stores were reportedly out of booze for Christmas, leaving the two men tasked with providing the alcohol to get it "from somewhere else," according to local authorities. The latest death toll was at least 32 with dozens more injured, some of whom had to have their stomachs pumped. Authorities have also said the maker and supplier were killed in the incident, the Australian Associated Press reported.
The news followed another tainted alcohol incident in Pakistan's Punjab region in late October when 11 were killed in the district of Jhelum, about 200 miles northeast of Toba Tek Singh and about 78 miles southeast of Islamabad. Bootleg brews have also killed hundreds across neighboring India in the last several years.
Last week, more than 70 people died after drinking "surrogate alcohol," cheap herbal or chemical-infused liquids such as bath oils, in the Siberian city of Irkutsk, Russia. Liquor becomes hazardous for consumption when methanol, or methyl alcohol, as opposed to normal ethanol, or ethyl alcohol, is introduced to the mix.
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Javier Vela, scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory, believes improvements in computer processors, TV displays and solar cells will come from scientific advancements in the synthesis of low-dimensional nanomaterials.
Ames Laboratory scientists are known for their expertise in the synthesis and manufacturing of materials of different types, according to Vela, who is also an Iowa State University associate professor of chemistry. In many instances, those new materials are made in bulk form, which means micrometers to centimeters in size. Vela's group is working with tiny, nanometer, or one billionth of a meter sized, nanocrystals.
"We're trying to find out what happens with materials when we go to lower particle sizes, will the materials be enhanced or negatively impacted, or will we find properties that weren't expected," Vela said. "Our goal is to broaden the science of low-dimensional nanomaterials." In an invited paper published in Chemistry of Materials entitled, "Synthetic Development of Low Dimensional Materials", Vela and coauthors Long Men, Miles White, Himashi Andaraarachchi, and Bryan Rosales discussed highlights of some of their most recent work on the synthesis of low dimensional materials.
One of those topics was advancements in the synthesis of germanium-based core-shell nanocrystals. Vela says industry is very interested in semiconducting nanocrystal-based technologies for applications such as solar cells.
Small particle size can affect many things from transport properties (how well a nanocrystal conducts heat and electricity) to optical properties (how strong it interacts with light, absorbs light and emits light). This is especially true in photovoltaic solar cells "Let's say you're using a semiconductor material to make a solar device, there's often different performance when solar cells are made from bulk materials as opposed to when they are made with nanomaterials. Nanomaterials interact with light differently; they absorb it better. That's one way you can manipulate devices and fine tune their performance or power conversion efficiency," said Vela.
Beyond solar cells, Vela says there's tremendous interest in using nanocrystals in quantum dot television and computer displays, optical devices like LEDs (light-emitting diodes), biological imaging, and telecommunications.
He says there are many challenges in this area because depending upon the quality of the nanocrystals used, you can see different emission properties, which can affect the purity of light. "Ultimately the size of the nanocrystals being used can make a huge difference in the cleanliness or crispness of colors in TV and computer displays," said Vela. "Television and computer technology is a multibillion dollar business worldwide, so you can see the potential value our understanding of properties of nanocrystals could bring to these technologies."
In the paper, Vela's group also discussed advancements made in the study of synthesis and spectroscopic characterization of organolead halide perovskites, which Vela says are some of the most promising semiconductors for solar cells because of their low cost and easier processability. He adds photovoltaics made of these materials now reach power conversion efficiencies of greater than 22 percent. Vela's research in this area has focused on mixed-halide perovskites. He says his group has discovered these materials exhibit interesting chemical and photo physical properties that people hadn't realized before, and now they are trying to better understand the correlation between the structure and chemical composition of perovskites and how they behave in solar cells. "One of our goals is to use what we've learned to help lower the cost of solar cells and produce them more reliably and readily," Vela said.
In addition, Vela's group is studying how to replace lead in traditional organolead halide perovskites with something less toxic, like germanium. "In principle, this is an area that should be much better known, but it's not," said Vela. "When we've been able to substitute germanium for lead, we have been able to produce a lighter perovskite, which he says could positively impact the automotive industry, for example.
"This could have great implications for transportation applications where you don't want a lot of lead because it's so heavy," said Vela. Going forward Vela says his group's focus will be on advancing the science in low-dimensional materials.
"We're not working with well-known materials, but the newest; the most recently discovered," Vela said. "And every time we can advance the science we're one step closer to opportunities for more commercialization, more production, more manufacturing and more jobs in the U.S."
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This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science.
Ames Laboratory is a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science national laboratory operated by Iowa State University. Ames Laboratory creates innovative materials, technologies and energy solutions. We use our expertise, unique capabilities and interdisciplinary collaborations to solve global problems.
DOE's Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit science.energy.gov. |
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Trump’s proposed budget is out. Among all the cuts – because you have to cut in order to increase defense spending while simultaneously giving the rich a tax cut – among all these cuts is one that people with ME should take very personally. NIH’s budget will be cut by 18% or $6 billion in fiscal year 2018, if Trump’s budgets passes as is. The proposed budget also calls for a reorganization of NIH’s Institutes, but offers little detail.
This is nothing short of disastrous. NIH is the largest source of biomedical research in the world. NIH scientists discovered the bacteria that causes Lyme disease. They demonstrated the effectiveness of the first drugs used to treat AIDS. The biomedical research enterprise in the United States is built on NIH as its foundation. Cutting that foundation by 18% will be catastrophic for human health.
In addition, more than 80% of NIH’s budget goes out the door to fund academic biomedical research, largely in the United States. How will researchers do their research? I guess they’ll have to do 18% less of it. But it won’t just affect those researchers’ salaries paid by their grants, or the purchase of equipment (I wonder what will happen to the businesses that supply that equipment?), or the training of doctoral and post doctoral students. It will affect American universities, research hospitals, and other research institutions.
The university system is dependent on indirect costs tacked on to grants. Indirect costs are a percentage added to a grant by the university. It covers the costs associated with university infrastructure, like buildings and administration and libraries. If NIH’s budget is cut by 18%, then NIH will fund substantially less academic research. And if substantially less academic research is being funded, then American universities are stuck holding the bag. Because universities will still have buildings and staff and libraries, but a big chunk of that cost will not be covered by the indirect costs normally charged to grants. Trump’s budget may cut taxes for the rich, but it’s one hell of a tax on our universities.
If the negative impacts of such a dramatic cut to NIH are that easy to identify, why is Trump proposing to do it? Apart from Trump’s desire to increase defense spending while cutting taxes, the Administration’s director of the White House Office of Management and Budget offered this explanation: “We think there’s been mission creep” at the NIH, he said. “We think they do things that are outside their core functions.”
Ok, but so what, right? After all, it’s not like NIH spends a whole lot on ME. Just $7.6 million in 2016. So who cares if NIH has a funding cut, right?
Are you prepared for an 18% reduction in ME spending?
I’m not. For one thing, the first year of funding for the new Collaborative Research Centers is set aside in this year’s budget. But all bets are off going forward. Like many other RFAs, the one for ME Centers explicitly states, “Future year amounts will depend on annual appropriations.” So it is possible that future years of funding could be cut or eliminated.
It’s common sense to conclude that if NIH’s budget is cut by 18% next year, every program and RFA and grant pool will be severely cut. NIH will make far fewer grants, and that will hit everybody hard.
But that could even be a best case scenario. After all, if I’m NIH and my choice is between an HIV/AIDS study and an ME study, there are a lot of reasons why I’m going pick HIV. Biodefense? Flu? Alzheimer’s Disease? Epilepsy? Spinal cord injury? Osteoporosis?
We’re not winning out against those diseases now. Do you really think that NIH will say, well, we should spread that 18% cut around evenly across the board. Do you expect that this cut will be applied fairly? Is any university going to support a faculty member who wants to apply for an ME grant instead of . . . basically any other disease?
ME research is stigmatized now. ME research is on a starvation diet now. What happens in any system when resources become more scarce? The weakest members of the system lose. And they lose hard.
Whatever your political views or affiliations, whatever you think of the current Administration, if you want to protect research funding then you have to make your voice heard. Call your Representative today. Make sure he/she knows that you support NIH funding and ask him/her to do the same. |
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Proposing to gut Medicare has been politically disastrous for Republicans, and it was pretty obvious that it was going to be a disaster even before they voted on it. So why did they do it? Jonathan Bernstein and Jon Chait offer a few possible reasons:
Fear of primary challenges. Didn’t realize it would be unpopular. Incompetence. Creates leverage for budget negotiations. Helps their deficit narrative. Makes it easier to pass if they win the presidency in 2012.
Well, sure, I guess it could be any of those things. But Jon Chait almost certainly nails the real reason at the end of his post: “I think Republicans more likely just got caught drinking their own Kool-Aid about how the public agrees with their vision.”
Yep. It’s the nature of political parties to overreach now and again, but usually they learn from their overreaching. Democrats, for example, have wanted to pass universal healthcare for decades, but they’ve learned from their losses and introduced steadily more moderate plans each time around. Eventually they finally passed one. But Republicans never seem to get it. They win a big victory (or even a not-so-big victory) and then see sugar plums dancing in front of their eyes when they read the poll numbers. America is a conservative country! Now let’s cement their support by being real conservatives!
But America, as always, is ideologically (moderately) conservative and operationally (moderately) liberal. This hasn’t changed much since the Nixon era, but Republicans just can’t seem to wrap their heads around it. So Ronald Reagan implodes over Social Security in 1982, Newt Gingrich implodes over Medicare in 1995, George Bush implodes over Social Security in 2005, and the tea party Republicans implode over Medicare in 2011. Americans, in the least surprising news ever, still don’t trust Republicans to screw around with Medicare or Social Security. Even Republicans don’t trust Republicans to do it. Probably it’s because Republicans have hated both programs from the beginning and keep trying to wreck them every time they get their trigger fingers anywhere close to the levers of power.
What makes this even weirder is that in just the past decade Republicans have helped their political cause by standing up for Medicare: first in 2003 when they passed the prescription drug plan and then in 2010 when they won a big House majority by beating up Democrats for cutting Medicare. But despite all this, they still don’t get it. They’re still convinced that someday Americans are going to blink their eyes and suddenly agree that Social Security and Medicare are liberal boondoggles that need to be privatized and slashed. It’s just an astonishing unwillingness to accept reality. |
The media's lies about "HandsUpDonShoot" are the gift that keeps on giving.
A MetroLink beating captured on video is now lighting up social media in St. Louis. Viewers sent the video to FOX 2 on Twitter and Facebook pageslooking for answers. Police say the beating happened on Monday evening at 9:54pm. The victim, a 43-year-old white male, tells investigators that a question about Mike Brown sparked the incident... The victim took the train to to Central West End and waited for police to arrive. He told investigators that he was seated on the train when he was approached from behind. The man in the red hat and shirt asked for his cell phone. The victim refused. The suspect in the red hat then asked the seated man what he thought of the Mike Brown situation. The victim says he hadn’t put much thought into it. He tells police that is when the man in the red hat started beating him. [Mike Brown question sparks MetroLink beating caught on video, by Joe Millitzer, Fox2News, March 27, 2015]
And just remember, this isn't the failure of the State to maintain order. This is policy. If the man had defended himself, or if he had used a gun, the suspects in this video would be the new "Gentle Giants" and Civil Rights Heroes. |
Image copyright IRSP media Belfast Image caption The video was reportedly filmed at the funeral of Barry McMullan on Monday
Police have launched an investigation after video emerged of shots apparently being fired at a republican funeral in west Belfast.
The video shows two masked men firing a volley of shots into the air as two children stand nearby.
It was posted on a YouTube channel called IRSP (Irish Republican Socialist Party) Media Belfast.
The channel indicates that the video was filmed at the funeral of Barry McMullan on Monday.
The published description of the video reads: "Irish Republican Socialist Movement lay Comrade Barry McMullan to rest with full honors (sic). Belfast, June 26th 2017."
Det Ch Insp Gary Reid said: "Police are aware of the footage showing shots apparently being fired by masked men in west Belfast in recent days.
"An investigation is underway." |
WA Fisheries cracks down on crayfish theft in lead up to Christmas
Posted
Western Australia's Department of Fisheries is cracking down on crayfish theft in the lead-up to Christmas.
Four boats have already been seized this season and offenders face massive fines.
North Metropolitan Compliance Manager Todd A'Vard said interest in crayfish was peaking.
"The catches have really picked up in the last week or so and obviously the activity in terms of people participating has really gone through the roof," he said.
"Typical of every boat ramp in the metropolitan area, everyone's trying to get out and get a feed of rock lobster for Christmas."
But some were doing the wrong thing.
Since the end of October, four boats have been seized after their owners allegedly interfered with lobster pots and seven people have been apprehended.
Mr A'Vard said three seizures have occurred south of Perth, while the fourth and most recent had happened at Ocean Reef.
"We've taken a very hard line this season, we're seizing boats where people are interfering with other peoples' fishing gear."
"The maximum fine for interfering with fishing gear is $25,000 and actually up to one year imprisonment, so the courts take it very seriously as well."
Theft of equipment and tampering seemed to be rife with cray fishermen speak of having pots stolen or moved every season.
Mr A'Vard said that while it was a challenge to police the state's waters, there had been a commitment to target crayfish theft.
"Operation Bagana that we've got going at the moment is sort of targeting between Dawesville and Kalbarri we've got probably around about 50 fisheries officers that are focused on that operation across that area.
"Whilst it's a big area, we're putting a lot of resources into it.
"We're getting some good results, we're getting some good information from the public to assist us through our Fishwatch number."
There is also an effort to target those who are taking more than the allowable eight per person and a maximum of 24 per boat.
"Bags and size limits, we're certainly focused on that as well, there's a tendency for people at this time of year when their craypots come up full of lobster they think that well, you know, 'we'll try and find a way of getting a few more into shore than we're allowed to'.
"Penalties up to $5,000 plus there's an additional penalty which is $250 a lobster which is quite severe."
The department has warned that some of those who have been apprehended for tampering or theft had unknowingly been monitored for some time.
While social media is awash with stories about crayfish thefts, officials must formally receive information in order to act.
"Hopefully the message will get out there, there's plenty of lobster out there if you just fish your own rock lobster pots," Mr A'Vard said.
Topics: illegal-fishing, fishing-aquaculture, hillarys-6025 |
The British team's IndyCar move marks its first top-tier single-seater foray in its history, having run its own academy and fielding cars in the British Formula 3 and Formula 4 championships, as well as European F3 and Formula 2.
Carlin will also continue with Indy Lights in 2018, creating a career ladder from junior formulas to IndyCar.
Carlin told Motorsport.com that it can now keep drivers it would previously let go onto Formula 1, having helped the careers of F1 drivers such as champions Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel.
"That's always been our plan really," said Carlin. "It's been working already it's just that now finally we can keep the drivers when they get to that last rung.
"We always lose drivers to F1 because it's physically impossible for any sort of junior independent team to get into F1 as the costs to enter barriers are just ridiculous.
"But IndyCar is achievable and blimey we've achieved it."
Motorsport.com understands that Carlin will run two cars in Indy Lights next year, downsizing from four cars, with staff moving to its IndyCar programme.
Carlin ran Matheus Leist last year, who has since moved to AJ Foyt Racing to partner Tony Kanaan, as well as Neil Alberico, Zach Claman De Melo - who has been linked with an IndyCar move - and Garth Rickards.
Carlin adds that the team's experience in running spec cars in junior categories will help its maiden IndyCar season.
IndyCar will use a universal aerokit for 2018 fitted to the series' Dallara IR-12. The choice between Honda or Chevrolet engines will be the only differentiator between the team's cars.
Carlin says the move to the new aerokit will help his outfit next year.
"Being a junior [category] team, we don't have a massive design department," said Carlin.
"We have got a design department but it's effectively one or two guys. To step into something like Formula 1 or LMP1 is just not within our realm.
"We've got a very good research and development department but we don't have the funding or the size of the company to build and design a competitive racing car.
"But to run and operate pretty much a spec car, is what we've done. We've been doing it for nearly 20 years now so we're well versed in what it takes to get a car up to speed quickly." |
There is a lake in Tanzania that turns animals into stone
Lake Natron in Tanzania is known for turning animals into stone. The water in the lake has an extremely high pH level (10.5), enough to burn the skin upon contact and gradually turn the animals into solid state. Birds and other animals that come in contact with the lake’s waters – often by mistake – die and get mummified into stones.
Photographer Nick Brandt observed this phenomena firsthand. He found these creatures around the lake, placed them in ‘living’ positions and photographed them.
In Nick’s words,
I unexpectedly found the creatures – all manner of birds and bats – washed up along the shoreline of Lake Natron in Northern Tanzania. No-one knows for certain exactly how they die, but it appears that the extreme reflective nature of the lake’s surface confuses them, and like birds crashing into plate glass windows, they crash into the lake. The water has an extremely high soda and salt content, so high that it would strip the ink off my Kodak film boxes within a few seconds. The soda and salt causes the creatures to calcify, perfectly preserved, as they dry. I took these creatures as I found them on the shoreline, and then placed them in ‘living’ positions, bringing them back to ‘life’, as it were. Reanimated, alive again in death.
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As a supporter of the Poppy Appeal, here she explains in her own words why she chooses not to wear one when she is reading the news
In the last few years, ITV News Presenter Charlene White has received a torrent of racist abuse on social media sites around her decision not to wear a poppy on-air.
Once again I've made the decision not to wear a poppy on screen. It's never an easy decision due to the racist and sexist abuse that I often receive on social media as a result.
It is a subject that provokes a lot of debate and anger - but it is one that I feel strongly about.
I support and am patron of a number of charities, and due to impartiality rules, I am not allowed to visually support them all whilst presenting news programmes.
That includes things like a red ribbon for World Aids Day, or a purple band for Bowel Cancer Awareness Month.
Both these and many more charities do great things in the UK, but I'm not allowed to give them exposure on screen.
So I feel uncomfortable supporting just one charity above all others, namely The Royal British Legion, but I fully support my colleagues who do choose to wear the poppy on screen.
In my private life, it's very different.
I wear a poppy on Armistice Day - in fact I wear one that my friend Jen's mum knitted for me a few years ago.
And I proudly have one of the ceramic poppies from the Tower Of London on my mantelpiece.
And every year I donate to the British Legion. Money which the charity desperately needs for the work that they do to support serving and ex-service men and women and their families.
So please don't think that I don't support the work that our service personnel do, or that I don't understand the sacrifices made by servicemen and women 100 years ago. I do.
I come from a Forces family. My Dad served in the RAF, and my uncle served in the Army.
When I first decided not to wear the poppy on screen, I spoke to both of them to make sure they were okay with it. And they both support my decision.
Of course I don't expect everyone to support it.
However it is always important to remember what my family, your family, and millions of people over many generations have fought for: the right to choose, and the right of freedom of speech and expression. |
You can choose from many types of tool belts or bags, but an electrician's tool belt will include pockets to store small parts you're working with on one side and larger pockets on the opposite side for various hand tools. You'll also want a loop for your hammer and a hook to hang electrical tape to keep it handy. Try to find a belt that doesn't add a lot of weight to your body, which will leave you worn out early in the day. You should only need around 4 pockets, plus loops, although you can get by with less if you know you only require a couple of hand tools for the day's work. You'll also want a high quality belt with good stitching and rivets as well as an adjustable buckle to accommodate your clothes. |
Image copyright Pacemaker Image caption Anaesthetist Piotr Dziurdzik has pleaded guilty to having extreme images of children
A County Antrim anaesthetist has been sentenced to a nine-month suspended jail term for making indecent images of children as young as five.
The judge said Piotr Dziurdzik did not require an immediate custodial sentence because he was "not dangerous".
Dziurdzik of Meetinghouse Street in Ballymoney, had pleaded guilty to a number of charges of making indecent photographs of children.
The 33 charges include 27 of making indecent photographs of children.
He worked at Causeway Hospital in Coleraine when the offences were committed between 2012 and 2015.
Other charges included three of possession of prohibited images of a child and three of possession of extreme pornographic images.
'Something forbidden'
A prosecution barrister told the court that when confronted by police Dziurdzik readily admitted: "Yes, true", and also explained: "It happened on occasion I was watching adult sites, there was links to sites we're talking about. Its not my area of interest."
The barrister said that when Dziurdzik was later interviewed by police he described what he did as "a paradox ... knowing something is forbidden" and likened it to "Adam and Eve ... the forbidden apple".
The vast majority of the images were of girls, although there were a number showing small boys, and the age range of the children was mainly between eight and 12, although some were as young as five or six.
Sentencing Dziurdzik at Antrim court, the judge said: "This finely balanced decision is based on your genuine remorse and the significant steps that have been taken to address your offending.
"Reports submitted to the court suggest you are not a dangerous offender and have been presented at low risk of reoffending."
Struck off
He also warned the doctor that if he committed any further offences in the two-year period he would be sent to jail.
Previously a spokesperson for the Northern Trust said it was "aware of this case and took appropriate and timely action at the earliest stage to deal with this matter.
"We are also aware that an interim order of suspension has been placed on the doctor's registration by the GMC."
The anaesthetist is already suspended by the General Medical Council and expects to be struck off.
The court heard he now hopes to return to his native Poland but a barrister said there was no way he would be able to set up practice there. |
The idea of “food sovereignty” is nearly 20 years old, and most folk still don’t quite know what it means. To be fair, the term ‘sovereignty’ does no-one any favours. It sounds like it might have something to do with nation-states. It could also be a slightly more pretentious way of saying ‘food self-sufficiency’. In truth, the one liner version of food sovereignty is fairly simple: “it’s about having a democratic food system for the first time”. Which almost immediately begs the question: so what does this actually look like?
To find out, you could thread through a fairly lengthy and dense academic definition. Or, if you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, you could just visit the newly occupied Gill Tract. Because yesterday, on Earth Day, dozens activists took over a piece of land controlled by the University of California at Berkeley, and dedicated it to food sovereignty. Right now, they’re planting 15,000 seedlings.
Photo Credit: David Id/Indy Bay
The wires are already buzzing with news about the occupation. I’m drawn to it for a number of reasons. First, it’s terrific agricultural land, of which there is a dearth in the East Bay, and activists are busy using it to grow food. Second, the protest is very pointedly a protest about the privatization of the university. The organizers are frustrated not only with the dwindling size of agricultural land, but also at a broken model of public education that requires the university to asset strip itself by selling off its best land, and then to pimp itself out to the private sector to fund public education.
The University has responded by saying that the land isn’t going to be developed, but is being used for agricultural research. Member of Occupy the Farm, Anya Kamenskaya, told me that “We’re not trying to demonize any particular kind of research, but the genomic research being done here is being done everywhere, whereas the kind of sustainable agriculture [for which the plot became famous in the 1960s] isn’t.”
“Most urban areas don’t have an area like this, and with food insecurity so high in the East Bay, this could be a valuable place for tens of thousands of people,” Anya continued. It’d be a return to the idea of a public university that Berkeley seems increasingly to have forgotten. The organizing is, unlike the university, open and radically democratic. The San Jose Mercury News quotes the irrepressible Gopal Dayaneni saying this: “Occupy the Farm is committed to farming; that’s the purpose of it,” he said. “If (police) want to tell us to leave, we’ll keep farming, and they’ll have to make a decision what to do.”
Tucked in there is an idea of freedom and choice that’s central to food sovereignty. The food system is filled with choices made by a handful of powerful people, in smoke filled rooms, over the objections of the majority. What the occupation is doing is making these decisions public.
I asked who’d be receiving the food grown on the occupied land. One organizer, who didn’t want to be identified because her job was with the university, said that who gets the food should be a community decision, answered with words that might be the bumper sticker for food sovereignty: “We thought it was wisest to leave that open”.
_________________________
ACTION ITEM:
The University has shut off the water supply. The occupiers are asking for your support: please call the University Chancellor on 510 642 7464 to ask that the water be turned back on.
Press release below. To find out more, share the news and find out how you can support the Occupation, visit www.takebackthetract.com
_________________________
For Immediate Release
April 22, 2012
Occupy the Farm Activists Reclaim Prime Urban Agricultural Land in SF Bay Area
(Albany, Calif.), April 22, 2012 – Occupy the Farm, a coalition of local residents, farmers, students, researchers, and activists, are planting over 15,000 seedlings at the Gill Tract, the last remaining 10 acres of Class I agricultural soil in the urbanized East Bay area. The Gill Tract is public land administered by the University of California, which plans to sell it to private developers.
For decades, the UC has thwarted attempts by community members to transform the site for urban sustainable agriculture and hands-on education. With deliberate disregard for public interest, University administrators plan to pave over this prime agricultural soil for commercial retail space, a Whole Foods, and a parking lot.
“For ten years people in Albany have tried to turn the Gill Tract into an Urban Farm and a more open space for the community. The people in the Bay Area deserve to use this treasure of land for an urban farm to help secure the future of our children,” explains Jackie Hermes-Fletcher, an Albany resident and public school teacher for 38 years.
Occupy the Farm seeks to address structural problems with health and inequalities in the Bay Area that stem from communities’ lack of access to food and land. Today’s action reclaims the Gill Tract to demonstrate and exercise the peoples’ right to use public space for the public good. This farm will serve as a hub for urban agriculture, a healthy and affordable food source for Bay Area residents and an educational center.
“Every piece of uncontaminated urban land needs to be farmed if we are to reclaim control over how food is grown, where it comes from, and who it goes to,” says Anya Kamenskaya, UC Berkeley alum and educator of urban agriculture. “We can farm underutilized spaces such as these to create alternatives to the corporate control of our food system.”
UC Berkeley has decided to privatize this unique public asset for commercial retail space, and, ironically, a high-end grocery store. This is only the latest in a string of privatization schemes. Over the last several decades, the university has increasingly shifted use of the Gill Tract away from sustainable agriculture and towards biotechnology with funding from corporations such as Novartis and BP.
Frustrated that traditional dialogue has fallen on deaf ears, many of these same local residents, students, and professors have united as Occupy the Farm to Take Back the Gill Tract. This group is working to empower communities to control their own resilient food systems for a stable and just future – a concept and practice known as food sovereignty.
Occupy the Farm is in solidarity with Via Campesina and the Movimiento Sin Tierra (Landless Workers Movement).
The Gill Tract is located at the Berkeley-Albany border, at the intersection of San Pablo Ave and Marin Ave.
Contacts:
Gopal Dayaneni:
510-847-3592 /
[email protected]
Lesley Haddock: 707-293-3253/[email protected]
Anya Kamenskaya: 415-812-4793 / [email protected]
Twitter: @OccupyFarm
Facebook Page: Gill Tract Farm
Website: TakeBacktheTract.com
Email: GillTractFarm [at] riseup.net
http://www.TackBacktheTract.com |
Holiday Guide: Uncommon Gifts From Off the Beaten Path View Full Caption
FAR NORTHWEST SIDE — Dozens of new shops and restaurants have recently opened their doors on the Far Northwest Side, saving gift hunters a trip Downtown — and making it easy to find unique gifts that won't find their way into the regifting pile come January.
FOR THE CHICAGO-LOVER IN YOUR LIFE
After starting online, Replica Chicago opened its Jefferson Park store (4425 N. Milwaukee Ave.) in 2012, and has been the go-to source for Chicagophiles for all over the city ever since. Owner Lyn Hooley makes the ceramic-tile coasters decorated with vintage maps of Chicago and the El system herself. $24 for a set of four coasters, available online and in store; $6 for individual coasters sold online only
FOR YOUR MEAT-LOVING BROTHER
Open only since March, Leadbelly (5739 W. Irving Park Road) is the go-to place on the Far Northwest Side for gourmet burgers, craft beers and custom (boozy, if you please) shakes. Using ingredients made from scratch, including beef and pork belly ground by hand as well as homemade buns, Leadbelly is sure to satisfy even the most demanding carnivore. Gift cards are available in any amount, and are sold in a gift basket with the eatery's famous almond and chocolate butter cookie.
FOR YOUR ARTSY FRIEND WHO WANTS TO SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT
Edgebrook resident Laura Guenther opened Local Goods Chicago (5354 W. Devon Ave.) nearly a year ago to showcase the work of Chicago artists — and to give Far Northwest Siders a cool place to shop. Any gift from this store is sure to be unique, but upcycled lamps from Norwood Park artist Kim Gottschall's KVG Designs are sure to be a conversation starter and good for the environment, too. Prices range from $50 to $90
FOR YOUR FOODIE BEAU
Recently featured on WTTW's "Check, Please," The Portage (3938 N. Central Ave.) is a foodie's close-to-home paradise. Touting elevated comfort food, the restaurant offers a Downtown-caliber dining experience a stone's throw from Portage Park. Gift certificates are available in any amount.
FOR YOUR THRIFTY AUNT
Thrift & Thrive (6025 W. Irving Park Road) in Portage Park is a frugalista's wonderland, with gently used and recycled items as far as the eye can see. The store offers furniture, jewlery, records and a host of knick-knacks and thingamabobs. Shop the store's new vintage section for throwback clothes, games and toys. Prices vary |
(Image: Palace of the Holy Office; Headquarters of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith)
Marco Tosatti, the well-informed and well-respected Italian Vatican specialist, has just revealed another quite troubling development in Rome. On 26 December, Tosatti reports on his own website Stilum Curiae that Pope Francis had just ordered the Prefect of one Vatican dicastery to dismiss three of his priests from their duties in their congregation.
My own research has shown that this incident occurred at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), and that it was Cardinal Gerhard Müller himself who now has to obey these peremptory new orders. Additionally, I was able to discover that the three priests involved are, respectively, of a Slovakian-American, French, and Mexican nationality. (One of my sources is a friend of one of these three theologians.) However, the last of these three might now, after all, be able to remain a little longer in his current position at the Congregation.
Let us now consider some of the specific details of what Marco Tosatti himself has perceptively gathered for us. He starts his article with a reference to Pope Francis’ usual rebuke of the Roman Curia at his Christmas address to the Curia and detects the pope’s obvious anger in his words and gestures. When looking over to the Curia itself, however, Tosatti perceives something else than a reciprocal anger to be present among the curial members: “It is not about their resistance, but about their fear, their discontent, and a kind of feeling that belongs to another context altogether.”
Tosatti then refers to a credible source who told him several recent episodes occurring at the Vatican. Two of them appear to be of great importance and might also give us some additional glimpses into Pope Francis’ own authoritarian methods as well as his somewhat indirect way of ruling the Church. But, we should now first concentrate on the new personnel matter at the Congregation for Doctrine, which Tosatti himself says is “decisively sadder.” Here is Tosatti’s report:
The head of a dicastery has received the order to remove three of his employees (all of whom have worked there for a long time), and it was without any explanation. He [the Prefect] received these official letters: “….I request that you please dismiss ….” The order was: send him [each of them] back into his diocese of origin or to the Religious Family to which he belongs. He [the Prefect of the Congregation] was very perplexed because it was about three excellent priests who are among the most capable professionally. He first avoided obeying and several times asked for an audience with the pope. He had to wait because that meeting was postponed several times. Finally, he was received in an audience. And he said: “Your Holiness, I have received these letters, but I did not do anything because these persons are among the best of my dicastery… what did they do?” The answer was, as follows: “And I am the pope, I do not need to give reasons for any of my decisions. I have decided that they have to leave and they have to leave.” He got up and stretched out his hand in order to indicate that the audience was at an end. On 31 December, two of the three [men] will leave the dicastery in which they have worked for years, and without knowing the why. For the third, there seems to be a certain delay. But then, there is another implication which, if true, would be even more unpleasant. One of the two had freely spoken about certain decisions of the pope – perhaps a little bit too much. A certain person – a friend of a close collaborator of the pope – heard this disclosure and passed it on. The victim received then a very harsh telephone call from Number One [i.e., the pope]. And then soon came the dismissal.” [emphasis added]
In this passage, Tosatti piercingly speaks about an “autocratic fever that seems to have broken out in the Vatican.” [my emphasis] And he concludes his report with the following words:
Thus it is not so astonishing when the atmosphere behind the walls and in the palaces is not really serene. And one may now ask oneself what kind of credit this fact gives altogether to all the elaborate and sustained fanfare about mercy. [my emphasis]
Thus Tosatti adds another piece of the puzzle concerning Pope Francis’ manner and methods of governance through which he seemingly aims at removing – or marginalizing – orthodox prelates, priests, and laymen from positions of formative influence in the Vatican.
Moreover, with specific regard of the Congregation for Doctrine, another source had told me the following, more than a month ago:
One source in Rome says that all those who work for the Holy See are afraid to talk about anything for fear of being chopped because of the presence of informants everywhere. He compared it to Stalinist Russia. He said two priest friends of his, good men, have been fired from the CDF because they were accused of being critical of Pope Francis.
This same Rome source, who is personally very honest and well informed, reports that these two priests here mentioned (who are some of the same ones who are involved in the recent three personnel cases) fear that they will not be the only ones to be removed. They see their own removal to be just the beginning of a “massive overhaul” [my emphasis] within the Doctrine Congregation, “not unlike what happened recently to Cardinal Sarah’s Divine Worship Congregation.” (Here we might be reminded of the fact that it was Marco Tosatti himself who had earlier called these recent changes at the Congregation for Divine Worship a “Purge.”)
We have also recently reported about the pope’s earlier decision to remove the members of the Pontifical Academy of Life, which is widely known for its strong stance in defense of human life. Here is what one well-informed source had reported to me then about this incident:
At the end of 2016 the Pontifical Academy for Life was closed and all its members dismissed. The Academy will be reconstituted in 2017 with new statutes and the Academy will be repopulated. The process for naming new members of the Academy is not known.
We also have repeatedly reported on the atmosphere of fear that now increasingly permeates the Vatican, as did a recent report from the co-founder of LifeSiteNews.
During this forthcoming year of 2017 – the centenary of the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima – may the Blessed Mother increasingly be our help and our trustworthy refuge. May she help us with those graces we shall need to defend the truth more fully and to manifest Christ’s love, as well, even in the face of fear.
This post has been updated. |
SpongeBob of SpongeBob Squarepants is a man of many words, and since his debut in 1999, he’s shaped the way millennials converse with each other. (Seriously, psychologists could learn a lesson or two from the tales of Bikini Bottom.) Perhaps it was the genius of marine biologist-turned-cartoonist creator Stephen Hillenburg, or maybe Nickelodeon’s relentless re-runs of the show are to blame, but one thing is for certain: twenty-somethings who grew up with the sponge still quote the dude and his pals on a daily basis.
But it’s been ten years since you’ve since the show, you say? How could such a thing be possible? Being that it’s Leif Erikson Day, we investigated and discovered that, yes, SpongeBob Squarepants quotes do come up quite frequently among those born after 1990. So much so, it’s like we’re speaking our very own language. If you’re in denial like Squidward is about his clarinet skills, see for yourself.
Zoom Nickelodeon/Jaclyn Kessel When October 9th rolls around every year. Nickelodeon/Jaclyn Kessel When you and your significant other are having trouble communicating. Nickelodeon/Jaclyn Kessel When you're feeling that late-afternoon craving. Nickelodeon/Jaclyn Kessel When you're flat broke. Nickelodeon/Jaclyn Kessel When you just need to be alone. Nickelodeon/Jaclyn Kessel When you're feeling kind of aggressive. Nickelodeon/Jaclyn Kessel When you're unsure of, well, anything. Nickelodeon/Jaclyn Kessel When someone offers you a piece of chocolate. Nickelodeon/Jaclyn Kessel When your date thinks they can get away with being cheap. Nickelodeon/Jaclyn Kessel When you're in a formal situation. Nickelodeon/Jaclyn Kessel When you need help remembering how to spell "poop." Nickelodeon/Jaclyn Kessel When you ruin everything. Nickelodeon/Jaclyn Kessel When you're suffering from an identity crisis. Nickelodeon/Jaclyn Kessel When you're standing on line at the DMV. Nickelodeon/Jaclyn Kessel When you're forced to give a speech. Nickelodeon/Jaclyn Kessel When you're a guest at anyone's home. Nickelodeon/Jaclyn Kessel When your roommate has company. Nickelodeon/Jaclyn Kessel When you're just having one of those days. Nickelodeon/Jaclyn Kessel When your roommate has company over AGAIN. Nickelodeon/Jaclyn Kessel When you're feeling a little less worldy than your peers. Nickelodeon/Jaclyn Kessel When you're debating what to wear for the day. Nickelodeon/Jaclyn Kessel When you feel like inspiring your peers. Nickelodeon/Jaclyn Kessel Advertisement Continue Next Gallery
[Where to stream SpongeBob Squarepants]
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Image caption The men will only serve 50 years each, the maximum allowed by Guatemalan law
Five former members of right-wing Guatemalan paramilitaries have been sentenced to a total of 7,710 years in jail for their role in a 1982 massacre.
The men were charged with guiding the army to Plan de Sanchez, a rural community in northern Guatemala, and taking part in the ensuing massacre.
Many of the victims were women and children.
Nearly a quarter of a million people were killed in Guatemala's civil war which ran from 1960 to 1996.
Judge Jazmin Barrios set a sentence of 30 years for each of the 256 victims of the former paramilitaries, plus 30 years for crimes against humanity.
However Judge Barrios said that the five men would only have to serve 50 years each - the maximum sentence allowed under Guatemalan law.
The massacre at Plan de Sanchez was one of 600 documented by a United Nations Truth Commission.
The men were part of the Patrullas de Autodefensa Civil, a civilian militia created by the army to help fight leftwing rebels.
In 2004, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights found the Guatemalan state responsible for the killings at Plan de Sanchez and demanded it investigate the case and prosecute those responsible.
Last week, a former Guatemalan soldier was sentenced to 6,060 years in prison for his role in a massacre of 201 people in the village of Dos Erres, also in 1982. |
This week, Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke is touring two national monuments as part of President Trump’s April 26 executive order to review the last 20 years of national monument designations. The order gave Zinke 45 days to review monuments and determine whether any should be “rescinded, resized or modified in order to better benefit our public lands.” The tour includes Bears Ears — 1.35 million acres established by President Obama in 2016 — and Grand Staircase-Escalante — 1.9 million acres established by President Clinton in 1996. These are only two of 27 that Zinke has singled out for review.
Zinke sees the review as an opportunity to “give state and local communities a meaningful voice in the process.” Doing so could be the environmental legacy of the Trump administration.
Under the Antiquities Act of 1906, presidents can establish monuments without any input or approval from Congress or state and local officials. Hence, Bears Ears is seen as a "massive land grab." That land grab is even bigger considering that Obama created 26 new monuments and expanded 8 more, for a total of 553 million acres, bigger than Alaska, more than any previous president.
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The effect of this executive power abuse on state and local governments is illustrated by Clinton’s creation of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. In it, he included 176,000 acres of state lands used to generate revenues for Utah’s K-12 public education system. The House Committee on Natural Resources recently cited Utah Geological Survey data that found restrictions for commodity production such as grazing and mineral development caused the value of the state lands to drop by $8 billion immediately after the designation. Bears Ears locked up another 109,000 acres of state land.
“Families that have lived for generations in affected communities find their families torn apart due to lack of employment opportunities for the next generation,” Kathleen Clarke, former head of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management under President Bush, said of the monument. “Populations are declining. In the twenty years since the creation of the Grand Staircase, school enrollment in Escalante has gone from 150 to 57 students.”
Obama’s designation of Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument in Maine caused similar concerns. At a recent hearing of the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Federal Lands, Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) identified economic losses to the forestry industry and public access barriers such as the loss of connectivity for ATV trails. “Not long after the President designated the Monument, Maine residents started to feel the negative effects of having the federal government as their new master,” he testified.
The monument review order follows President Trump’s Feb. 28 revocation of Obama’s “Waters of the United States” rule. That rule gave the Environmental Protection Agency authority to regulate virtually every drop of water from the Mississippi River to a backyard puddle. He has instructed the EPA to unwind Obama’s war on coal and signed a congressional resolution overturning the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) seizure of Alaska’s authority to manage wildlife on federal refuges.
The president should continue this trajectory by instructing Secretary Zinke to review the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s overreach. For example, in 2014, the FWS added four sub-species of the Mazama pocket gopher in Thurston County, Washington, to its list of threatened animals.
To develop property suitable for gophers, owners must go through a long, costly permitting process. Requiring a permit is not based on the number of gophers, but on the property’s suitability as gopher habitat. Landowners with suitable habitat may be required to develop a Habitat Conservation Plan approved by FWS, a plan that could cost $42,000 in habitat offset fees. In one case, a local developer spent over $3 million to accommodate the furry digger on 77 acres of its land.
Just as Secretary Zinke is seeking local input on national monument designations, he should require FWS to do so with endangered species regulations. When it worked with a nearby military base, they were able to develop a plan whereby gophers thrive along with military training exercises. The same could be done with private landowners.
President Trump’s executive orders have signaled that he thinks state and local policymakers can be better caretakers of the environment than Washington bureaucrats. The Trump environmental agenda seems to be following the advice of David Brower, founder of Friends of the Earth — “Think globally, act locally.” State and local citizens are better positioned to solve most environmental problems than are bureaucrats in Washington.
Terry L. Anderson is a senior fellow at the Stanford University Hoover Institution and former president of the Property and Environment Research Center in Montana.
The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the views of The Hill. |
OK, look, not here to argue even a little bit that Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling weren't perfectly cast in this movie, but, you know, if it were to be Disney couples playing Allie and Noah, that'd be cute too!
1. Ariel and Eric in the "I'm a bird" scene. Ugh, love it.
Ariel always wanted to frolic in the surf, with legs, after all. No go making deals with Ursula again to turn yourself into a sparrow though. (A flamingo, maybe.)
2. Flash-forward to Mulan and Li Shang as, well, old Allie and Noah.
3. Kristoff, Anna, and Hans in the fun fair flirtation scene.
Olaf is somewhere.
4. Pocahontas and John Smith lying in the road.
Grandmother Willow thinks this sort of thing is nonsense, BTW.
5. Prince Naveen as sad, disheveled home-building Noah.
6. And Tiana as sad, engaged Allie when she comes visit.
7. Proud homeowner Hercules.
He didn't even break a sweat building this mansion, don't you know.
8. Rapunzel and Flynn in the boat/geese scene.
9. And Jasmine and Aladdin in the hot wet makeout scene that follows.
10. Also, Aurora and Prince Phillip as, you know, that last scene in the movie.
BECAUSE THEY'RE JUST SLEEPING, OK?! (AND IT'S BEAUTIFUL.) BRB now, sobbing everywhere~~.
Follow Isaiah on Instagram. |
Game time is sacred except for those logistical incompetents who book flights at that hour. How do I know that the passengers on the TAM flight from Salvador to São Paulo were there by mistake? There was the man wearing the yellow and green porkpie hat, the kid draped with a flag, the baseball cap with the Brazil insignia, and nearly every other passenger with a Neymar jersey, to say nothing of the anxious faces of the wearers of said shirts.
An enormous television set sponsored by Budweiser had been placed in the middle of Salvador's departure's lounge. Ground crews huddled around it, along with groups hoping to catch a few minutes of action before the final call for their flights. After a few minutes of the game, enough to see a ball brush off a Chilean defender into the Brazilian goal, a large herd that included my family rushed down the hall in response to a warning that the doors to our plane were closing imminently.
This situation presents a challenge to a captain. He can either choose to enforce the rules or exacerbate the chaos himself. Our captain made it his mission to keep his passengers well-informed. Every few minutes he provided updates over the loudspeaker. But between announcements, he strolled the aisle kibitzing with his information-starved plane. "Maybe your Washington Wizards are better than Brazil," he told my daughter and I with a shrug.
The game seemed constructed to torture a flight of Brazilians—a one-one tie, yielding to extra time, and then penalty kicks. Passengers began leaning their heads into the aisle out of some base instinct. When the captain announced the arrival of penalty kicks, all rules disappeared. A women several aisles in front of us had an analog TV set with an antennae. Miraculously it picked up a grainy transmission of the game. Passengers piled into the aisle. Some stood on their seats to catch a glimpse of the small set. I had a hard time making out the game through the fuzzy screen. And it seemed that my fellow passengers had the same struggle but interpreted events to give the benefit to Brazil. At several moments they declared premature victory. When victory did truly arrive—validated by the loudspeaker—the plane burst into cheers and then song, with several men banging the beat on the baggage compartments. The sense of Brazil's doom at this earliest stage was impossible to imagine; the fact that it could happen while stranded in the air, without television or the comfort of family, was even harder to take. The cheer and songs continued with a special sense of relief. It was then that a stewardess decided to assert herself, clearing the aisle and forcing everyone to turn off their electronics. As we descended into São Paulo, there were no cars on the terminally crowded streets. But you could see a stray firework explode in the air. |
The Fung Wah Bus, which once shuttled human cargo from New York to Boston for $15 each way and managed somehow to be every bit as reliable as the Greyhound (that is to say: utterly unreliable), will return in early 2015 after more than a year off the road, its attorney told Reason this week.
The Chinatown-to-South Station line was ordered off the road in early 2013 after a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration inspection found fraudulent record-keeping, drivers who weren't drug-tested, and several buses with cracked frames. Attorney Alexander Linzer told DNAinfo that the company was "hopeful that they'll let us back on the road" back in October, and now it looks like their wishes have been granted.
Details about the return are relatively few, but according to Reason, FMCSA has restored the company's license, and getting back to business is now only a "a matter of logistics." Finally, that ticket booth on Canal won't look so sad and lonely anymore.
[Image via Jim Shank/Flickr] |
Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press
Derek Carr and Amari Cooper saved the Oakland Raiders' season with standout performances during a thrilling 31-30 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on Thursday Night Football.
Even after a 3-4 start, Oakland's Super Bowl aspirations remain intact.
Jack Del Rio's squad displayed resiliency and found a way to win despite a 30-21 deficit going into the fourth quarter. The Raiders proved their opponents were beatable after they handed the Chiefs their second straight loss.
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A new scapegoat emerged every week during the team's downturn. Offensive coordinator Todd Downing, wide receiver Amari Cooper, running back Marshawn Lynch and backup quarterback EJ Manuel each took a turn.
Cooper, in particular, felt the brunt of disappointment after he managed only 146 yards through six games. The 2015 fourth overall pick couldn't manage to average nine yards per reception. Everything changed against the Chiefs.
The Raiders receiver caught 11 passes for a career-high 210 yards and a pair of touchdowns. In fact, Cooper became the first Oakland target to produce 200 receiving yards in 52 years, per ESPN Stats & Info:
Cooper still experienced inconsistency in the form of a pair of drops, but Carr knew exactly who to target late in the contest. Trailing 30-24 with 2:11 left to play, the Raiders quarterback looked to the re-emerging star.
The game-winning drive began with a 15-yard completion to Cooper. The receiver turned a short pass into a big play with a tone-setting first down.
The batterymates connected again three plays later for 39 yards, putting Oakland in Kansas City territory. Other receivers took over after that, but Cooper had already done enough damage.
After struggling for weeks, the two-time 1,000-yard receiver had two things create space for him.
First, the Raiders used far more play action, particularly early in the contest, to open passing lanes.
Running backs Jalen Richard and DeAndre Washington combined for 64 yards on 18 carries to keep Kansas City's defense honest. Marshawn Lynch only had two carries for nine yards before he was ejected for running onto the field and making contact with an official.
The incident occurred after officials called cornerback Marcus Peters for a late hit to Carr. The Raiders offensive line didn't take kindly to the defensive back's overeager approach, and a scuffle occurred. Lynch tried to play peacemaker before he got entangled with an official, who was trying to pry players apart.
Downing leaned heavily on similar run concepts to those the Pittsburgh Steelers used to dominate the Chiefs in Arrowhead four days earlier. Oakland may not have been as effective overall, but the run game helped set the tone early while Carr and Cooper built confidence.
This was important since Cooper became frustrated with his play and Carr needed to establish a comfort level while dealing with an injured back.
"I think everyone on our team is a little frustrated at something," the quarterback said last week, per ESPN.com's Paul Gutierrez. "... I think if we can go out there and cut it loose and just trust what we have and what God gave us, I think we'll be better going forward."
Carr's words proved prophetic. But the duo's production didn't emerge from nowhere. Slight tinkering with the scheme created opportunities.
Aside from increased play-action usage, Cooper found himself working out of the slot.
Receiver Michael Crabtree said the Raiders "had no choice but to open the offense up. We had to win this game," per The Athletic's Vic Tafur.
Cooper, a two-time Pro Bowler, rewarded his coordinator with a 45-yard touchdown when he ran free after he lined up as the inside receiver:
However, Cooper couldn't deliver without his quarterback.
Carr isn't fully healthy, yet he played his best game of the season when the team appeared to have its proverbial back against the wall.
A loss would have dropped the Raiders to 2-5 overall and 0-3 in the division. They weren't crawling out of that hole even with nine games to play. After all, the Chiefs were the NFL's best team.
But the $125 million man loves to beat the odds, and he's done it more than any other quarterback since the start of the 2015 campaign, per NFL Research:
The 26-year-old was far from perfect. He hung up too many passes, threw into double coverage on numerous occasions, missed targets and didn't look comfortable in the pocket.
Carr made the necessary throws to win, though.
In fact, he threw two touchdown passes before finally being credited with the game-winning score. Jared Cook was ruled to have come up short on the first after review. Offensive pass interference on Crabtree nullified the second. On an untimed down, Carr went back to the former San Francisco 49er on a short comeback in the front left portion of the end zone to capture the victory:
The quarterback's ability to roll to his left and throw a rocket despite a transverse process fracture in his back is nothing short of astounding.
The Raiders needed every one of Carr's 417 passing yards to overcome the rival Chiefs.
"It was huge," All-Pro defensive end Khalil Mack said, per Gutierrez. "Everybody knew what was at stake."
When Carr and Cooper click, the Raiders can stick with the NFL's best. The pair can't take a step back after Thursday's performance. The AC-DC connection will be needed if Oakland plans to stay fully charged.
Brent Sobleski covers the NFL for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter: @brentsobleski. |
The Industrial Workers of the World union are calling for a Living Wage and improved working conditions for the cleaners who work at the Head Quarters of the British Medical Association in London.
The cleaner’s employment is outsourced to a contractor (currently Interserve PLC) and they, like far too many Londoners, have been earning poverty wages of £6.08 p/h. They need and deserve the London Living Wage (LLW) of £8.30 p/h. To quote the Mayor of London whose office sets the LLW:
“Londoners deserve proper reward for their labours, and I’m delighted that a growing number of organisations recognise that it suits them as well as their staff to pay the London Living Wage”
The cleaners and their IWW union reps recently met with Interserve management to demand a Living Wage with no job or hours cuts. The BMA are now entering contractual negotiations with Interserve, looking for “value for money”. So far however, the BMA have refused to meet the people who clean their building.
The BMA, as a Trade Union and not for profit organisation, rightly puts their members employment issues at the very heart of what they do and campaign for public support against aggressive attacks (including privatisation and sub-contracting) on the NHS and the pay and condition of medical staff whose proud duty it is to serve the public.
We, as the cleaners Trade Union, believe that it is also in the interests of the BMA (and therefore BMA members) that all those who work for such a highly esteemed organisation (including all outsourced staff), are treated with dignity and fairly rewarded for their labour with a Living Wage. This represents true “value for money” and the BMA should use the current contract negotiations to make it happen.
We call on all BMA members, as medical practitioners, and staff as well as the general public who use the NHS to support the cleaners' demand for a Living Wage and access to a healthier life.
---
IWW Cleaners and Allied Industries Union - BMA Job Branch
London IWW General Membership Branch
Awareness Rally and Leafleting Session on Tuesday 2nd October 4:00pm till 6:00 pm (IWW union flags, placards & literature only pls.)
Click here for Facebook Event page
BMA House Tavistock Square London WC1H 9JP (click for google+ info & map)
(see leaflet attached) |
Overview (4)
Mini Bio (1)
L. Frank Baum became a success with his 1883 production of "The Maid of Arran" in 1882. He was a dreamer, had a printing press and an amateur newspaper, "The Rose Lawn Home Journal" and published a coin and stamp collecting guide. He failed at almost everything through poor business sense. He had been an actor, though only successfully in "The Maid of Arran," a newspaper editor ("The Aberdeen Saturday Pioneer"), a store owner (Baum's Bazaar, from which he filed for bankruptcy on New Year's Day of 1899), and motion picture producer and director. He met everything with enthusiasm and talent, but things did not work just right and only became successful again as a writer. Diverse in audience and subject matter, he is best remembered for his fourteen Oz books and their subsidiary fantasies. He is said to have singlehandedly created the fantasy genre out of the Andersen-style literary fairy tale. He used a variety of pseudonyms for juvenile series made at the publishers request, the best known and most successful being as Edith Van Dyne, who was once played by an actress at a luncheon with another publisher who wanted to meet her. The name was later used by Emma Speed Sampson, who continued some of his series.
Baum was a kind and gentle family man, who never swore or told dirty jokes, nor was he able to punish his four sons, whom Maud had to handle for him. He was born with a bad heart and suffered several minor attacks, including one induced by The Peekskill Military Academy at age 14. He loved to make fun of the military after that incident, as one can see in his Oz books. He created and headed The Oz Film Manufacturing Company in 1914 and directed one film the year later, after which his son Frank Joslyn Baum took it over, changing the name to Dramatic Feature Films, after the Oz name had been cursed as box-office poison, despite excellent critical reception of J. Farrell MacDonald's The Patchwork Girl of Oz (1914).
He continued writing, sitting up in bed long after his health had failed him, and his final Oz book was published posthumously in 1920. It was only his second attempt at science fiction. Baum's writing attracted legions of fans of all ages, both during and after his lifetime. His work has influenced such writers as Gore Vidal, Ray Bradbury, and Terry Brooks. The Oz series has been continued both officially and unofficially after his death. Frank Joslyn Baum sold the film rights of the first Oz book to MGM in 1934, and Walt Disney soon picked up the rest, unable to secure the original from them, for he, too, had desired to make a film version, as had been done before by Baum himself, Otis Turner, Ray C. Smallwood, Larry Semon, Ethel Meglin, Ted Eshbaugh, and many subsequent to 1939. Ironically, Baum moved to Hollywood at Ozcot to have a quiet place to write, which, of course, resulted in the OFMC. One other notable work by Baum is Tamawaca Folks, a spoof of his vacation town of Macatawa Michigan, taking the name of Michigan author John Esten Cooke and changing it to John Estes Cooke. Baum himself has a supporting role (under a different name) in the novel, which was based on all the vacationers. Baum's health problems limited his life to 63 years, but his literary output was remarkable, though mostly forgotten. An episode of the television series Death Valley Days (1952) features him and Maud as characters.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Scott Hutchins <[email protected]>
Spouse (1)
Trivia (9)
Interred at Forest Lawn (Glendale), Glendale, California, USA, section G.
Designed the chandeliers of the dining hall of the Hotel del Coronado.
Hand-set the type of his privately-printed poetry collection, "By the Candelabra's Glare: Some Verse" without a handwritten manuscript.
In August 2006, descendants of L. Frank Baum went to South Dakota to give an official apology to Native Americans for newspaper editorials that Baum wrote in the late 1800s advocating the wide-scale extermination of all American Indians. Less than two weeks later, 150 Sioux men, women, and children were slaughtered by members of the the U.S. 7th Cavalry at the infamous Battle of Wounded Knee, which was long thought to have been instigated by Baum's bigoted editorials.
Disliked his first name and preferred to be called by his middle name 'Frank'.
Had worked unsuccessfully as an actor, Newspaper editor, chicken farmer, store owner, and traveling salesman before finding success as a writer.
Was a supporter of the woman's suffrage movement.
Personal Quotes (3)
With his fall the nobility of the Redskin is extinguished, and what few are left are a pack of whining curs who lick the hand that smites them. The Whites, by law of conquest, by justice of civilization, are masters of the American continent, and the best safety of the frontier settlements will be secured by the total annihilation of the few remaining Indians. Why not annihilation? Their glory has fled, their spirit broken, their manhood effaced; better that they die than live the miserable wretches that they are. [from an Aberdeen (SD) Saturday Pioneer editorial widely considered to have instigated the massacre of Sioux at Wounded Knee]
[Wounded Knee] resulted in a terrible loss of blood to our soldiers and was "a disgrace to the war department....The Pioneer has before declared that our only safety depends upon the total extirmination [sic] of the Indians. Having wronged them for centuries we had better, in order to protect our civilization, follow it up by one more wrong and wipe these untamed and untamable creatures from the face of the earth. [from an Aberdeen (SD) Saturday Pioneer editorial after the massacre of Sioux at Wounded Knee]
I shall take the heart... for brains do not make one happy, and happiness is the best thing in the world. |
Imagine an energy efficient house that’s a blueprint for the future, but exists today. That’s exactly what 60 architectural and engineering students from the Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) designed and built. Their Chameleon House is a 1,000-square-foot home powered entirely by the sun.
The Chameleon House is the Missouri S&T entry in the 2013 Solar Decathlon, a worldwide competition that challenges university students to build state-of-the-art solar-powered homes. The contest is intended to encourage the development of home designs and technologies that are energy efficient, economical, and attractive. This year, 19 university teams are competing to make use of energy-saving technologies that are readily available in the marketplace, although these technologies are integrated in a variety of innovative combinations in each solar home.
The Missouri S&T students spent nearly two years designing the Chameleon House. They chose the name because their home adapts to changing features with a modern, adjustable, open-space interior and a “live” web-based automation system that updates the home’s heating and cooling settings with the changing weather.
While most conventional homes get their power from the burning of fossil fuels, solar homes like the Chameleon House use clean, renewable energy from the sun, which reduces the cost to the environment and energy bills for residents. Thanks to a unique solar array and a thoughtful design plan that packs energy savings into every square inch, the Chameleon House is able to generate enough energy to operate the home off the public utility grid with power to spare.
QUEST went behind the scenes to show how Missouri S&T students infused the Chameleon House with the energy-saving technologies.
The Frame: Support from SIPs
Conventional homes are constructed from dimensional lumber or “studs,” padded with pre-cut panels of fiberglass, rock wool, or cellulose insulation. But the frame of the Chameleon Home is different. It’s built with high-tech prefabricated walls called structural insulated panels (SIPs).
Each SIP looks a bit like a marshmallow sandwich, according to Aaron Enz, the director of construction for the Chameleon House. A SIP is made from two pieces of oriented strand board (OSB), engineered sheets of wood made from glued layers of wood chips, separated by a dense layer of polystyrene foam in the middle. “[T]he reason that these are so good at thermally insulating the house is because there’s no wooden beams that go from this piece of plywood to the other,” said Enz. And even though the foam panels look delicate, their structure is strong, like a steel I-beam. Enz added, “They may not look like it, but they’re designed to be sturdy [enough] to withstand earthquakes.”
A study by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory confirms that SIPs are nearly airtight insulators that are 15 times better at stopping air leakage than conventional home frame construction. The study also found SIPs to be 40 to 50 percent more energy efficient than conventional stud walls, and so can keep a house warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer.
The Solar Array
To power the Chameleon House, the Missouri S&T team covered and wired the roof with 21 unique solar panel modules called redundant array integrated solar (RAIS) modules. Traditional solar modules have individual crystalline silicon cells wired together in series, like a single strand of Christmas tree lights. When one cell stops working or underperforms, the whole module is affected and may fail. But RAIS cells and modules are wired in parallel, with multiple contacts between the circuit’s beginning and end. That means if one module fails or underperforms, the rest of the modules continues to operate and generate electricity.
Solar panels work by converting sunlight into electricity. Each panel contains multiple silicon solar cells topped with metal-wire conductor strips. When the sun’s rays hit the silicon cells, they excite the silicon electrons and cause them to generate a direct electrical current (DC) like a mini generator. Inverter devices within the array convert the DC into alternating current (AC) to power appliances, lights, and other home devices.
The Chameleon House solar array has an additional feature not found in standard solar panels. Each RAIS module looks like a small A-frame and is backed by a reflector that increases its solar collection.
Charles Wright, who leads the Chameleon House electrical team, explained, “The solar array consists of 21 panels that total 8.6 kilowatts. Then on the front of the house, we’ll have an overhang with a bifacial panel (panels that collect light from the top and bottom), and it’ll generate 1.9 kilowatts. So, we’ll have a total of 10.5 kilowatts on the house. Basically, the house will be net zero, and that means it will produce as much electricity as it uses over a year’s period of time.”
As a general rule, solar panels produce electricity during the five sunniest hours of the day. So, the Chameleon House will produce 52.5 kilowatt hours per day or 1,500 kilowatt hours per month. According to the U.S Energy Information Administration, conventional American homes use an average of 940 to 1,348 kilowatt hours per month.
Project manager Emily Vandivert is proud of the Chameleon House’s free energy output. “You’re gaining free energy from the sun, other than the cost of the actual panels. It makes sense to use the sun’s power because we are able to harvest that power and transport it into actual energy,” she stated.
Heating and Cooling: A “Live” Automation System
The Chameleon House boasts a unique smart home feature: an automation system that optimizes the home’s total energy efficiency. The system combines a smart thermostat with a Web-based interface that monitors changing weather conditions in real time and tracks interior climate conditions.
The home automation system not only regulates the heating and cooling system’s thermostat, explained team leader Austin Murdock, “It also can open and close automated shades to gain heat from sunlight or open windows to let out extra heat instead of using the air-conditioning unit in the house.”
The home automation system not only regulates the heating and cooling system’s thermostat, explained team leader Austin Murdock, “It also can open and close automated shades to gain heat from sunlight or open windows to let out extra heat instead of using the air-conditioning unit in the house.”
The automation system operates from a built-in computer in the home’s mechanical room, and it can be monitored or updated with a Web-based tablet or smart phone. As the computer monitors “live” updates of changing weather conditions via the Web, the automation system makes small changes to the heating and cooling systems within the house. These small automated changes reduce the home’s power consumption, saving heating and cooling costs compared to manual changes made to suit a person’s comfort level.
The Competition
Just as the Chameleon House took final shape – after five months of construction – a day of reckoning arrived. The Chameleon House had to be taken apart in three sections and shipped by truck to Irvine, CA in order to compete in the Solar Decathlon. After a five-day trek across the country, the Missouri S&T students had just nine days to reassemble the home.
The Chameleon House premiered to the public at the Solar Decathlon in Irvine, California, in October. The international competition included nearly 4,000 university students from the U.S., Canada, Austria and the Czech Republic. More than 64,000 people visited the 19 solar homes. For more information about the Chameleon House and to learn about the other Solar Decathlon homes, visit www.solardecathlon.gov. |
CFMEU president Tony Maher slams Labor MP Nick Champion's call to support repealing carbon tax
Updated
A senior union official has slammed calls from within Labor to support repealing the carbon tax, as a "stupid" idea from a "muppet".
The incoming Abbott government has been piling the pressure on Labor to "honour" its mandate and support scrapping the tax, to guarantee passage of the repeal legislation through the Senate.
South Australian Labor MP Nick Champion says the ALP in opposition should support the new government's plan to dump the carbon pricing scheme, because the Coalition's alternative policy of "direct action" is a "disaster".
"Given that it would be a policy disaster, I think it would be a disaster for Mr Abbott, it would be a disaster for the Liberal Party and it would hasten their demise," he told AM.
"And in effect I believe if the Liberal Party want to hang themselves, well we should give them as much as rope as they need."
Once you go through that path, of waving through everything for the Coalition then why would people vote for you, why would all those Labor stalwarts stick with Labor? CFMEU president Tony Maher
Victorian Labor MP and former Trade Minister Richard Marles has agreed - albeit cautiously - that Labor should respect the election result.
"We do acknowledge the fact that Abbott won the election and we lost and we need to face that reality," he told Sky TV.
"And questions of mandate are issues that we need to consider and where I completely agree with Nick Champion is we need to be choosing our battles very carefully when we're in opposition."
But Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union president Tony Maher has labelled Mr Champion a political "amateur" and says he hopes "no one listens to that advice" - particularly the new party leader.
"That basically says - how about Labor stands for nothing," he said.
"I think it's just cheap kindergarten politics, trumping standing up for something.
"It could equally apply to the IR laws, to the ABCC, to anything else, so once you go through that path, of waving through everything for the Coalition, then why would people vote for you, why would all those Labor stalwarts stick with Labor?"
Mr Maher says he hopes the new Labor leader is an "adult".
Sorry, this video has expired Video: Nick Champion speaks with Nick Dole (ABC News)
"The sooner they get a captain of the ship the better, otherwise muppets like this will keep saying stupid stuff," he said.
Mr Maher is also concerned that if Labor supports scrapping the carbon scheme, that would throw doubt on any measures from a future Labor government.
"On the specifics of the policy, we negotiated a lot of protections, billions of dollars worth for workers in heavy industry in that package," he said.
"And if we're going to have to do that all over again in five or six years time, I'm not confident we'd get the same deal."
Not our job to save Liberals from bad policy: Champion
Mr Champion also based his argument on allowing people who voted for "bad policy" to "see that experiment fulfilled".
"It's not our job to save the Liberal Party from bad policy and it's not our job to save the Australian people from bad policy if that's what they choose, if that's what they vote for in an election," he added.
But Labor's climate change spokesman - and former minister - Mark Butler says having a price on carbon is a long-standing Labor policy.
He says Mr Champion should put his view to caucus.
"He can bring that to caucus and we can have a debate about that," Mr Butler told ABC Local Radio in Adeliade.
"It's one of the luxuries of opposition - but I've annunciated very clearly what the Labor party's position is on this."
Mr Champion says the former Labor government's emissions trading scheme was the product of a consensus between the Greens, Labor and - at one point - the Liberal party.
"That consensus is now broken down and I don't see why the Labor Party should necessarily stay wedded to this concept when everybody else has walked away from it in one form or another.
"You know, parental leave is a similar case. I think if Tony Abbott wants to give $75,000 a year to millionaires to have a baby, well, we should allow him to implement that and then hold him accountable."
Hunt says removing carbon tax is part of Coalition's mandate
The incoming government's climate change spokesman, Greg Hunt, says "Nick Champion has got it right".
"The simple, decent, honourable thing to do would be to acknowledge the result of the election, to allow the Coalition to proceed with its mandate to govern and first and foremost amongst that mandate role is removal of the carbon tax," he said.
Prime Minister-elect Tony Abbott has already instructed his top bureaucrats to begin drawing up the draft legislation to axe the carbon pricing scheme.
The government has promised that the legislation would be the first order of business when parliament resumes in late October or early November.
Topics: alp, political-parties, government-and-politics, climate-change, emissions-trading, federal-elections, federal-government, australia
First posted |
The "Live Milky Holmes Full Color Festival" concerts announced this past weekend that production on a brand-new animation has been green-lit. The anime will air on December 31, and fan club members can attend an exclusive countdown live event on the same day. More details will be revealed on the Detective Opera Milky Holmes franchise's portal site.
The cast of the anime performed 25 songs on each day of the weekend concerts, which tied into the group's second album (April 2's Full Color ). Footage from both days of the event, along with exclusive interviews, will run on CS-TBS Channel 1 in July in Japan. The event's Blu-ray Disc release will ship this year. The Blu-ray for the separate "Live Milky Holmes Aki no Daiundōkai" event will go on sale on July 20.
The franchise has inspired four television anime series and three anime specials. A film opened in Japan in February.
The "Detective Opera Milky Holmes 2016 Big! Project Unveiling" event had announced in January that a new live-action Mirumiru Milky variety television series, more live concerts, a pachi-slot (slot machine for pachinko parlors) game project, Monchhichi dolls, and an official shop were in the works for the franchise. |
CHICAGO -- Ron Santo never saw this. Fergie Jenkins never did this. Ernie Banks never lived to see this moment -- to watch the universe change before his eyes.
But finally, on Saturday at 9:45 p.m. Wrigley Daylight Time, when the world turned upside-down, it finally happened. That moment.
Editor's Picks 2016 MLB postseason: Complete coverage It was the Cubs' year after all! So how did they break their 108-year drought? Here's a look back at baseball's historic 2016 postseason.
Inside the Cubs' season-long party Every Cubs win means a trip to Wrigley Field's party room, complete with disco lights, a smoke machine and video boards. Now, 97 wins in, the players are asking: Can you be tired of celebrating?
Inside Theo Epstein's master mind Theo Epstein walks to and from Wrigley, eats lunch in the empty bleachers and wants Chicago to see the ivy turn red in October. The Cubs president may be nearing middle age, but his love of the game is shining through more than ever. 2 Related
There were two outs left until Cubs Armageddon. Yasiel Puig tapped a one-out ground ball toward shortstop, where Addison Russell realized immediately what had a chance to happen here.
The baseball -- THAT baseball -- was hopping directly at him. And his first thought was: "I could not believe it. ... He hit it to me. He hit it to ME."
But this ball was traveling so slowly, he wasn't sure it was a double-play ball. So all he told himself was to make sure he got one out -- "and if we get two, that's even sweeter."
Except Russell was feeding that baseball to a second baseman who believes everything and anything is possible. Of course Javier Baez was going to get this baseball to first base on time. What else would he do?
"So I decided to turn it," Baez said. "And we made it happen."
Anthony Rizzo celebrates just after completing the double play that also completed a Cubs and Wrigley Field first: winning the National League Championship Series. Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images
Baez's relay throw whooshed toward Anthony Rizzo at approximately 178 mph. It popped into Rizzo's glove a millisecond before Puig's foot hit the first-base bag. And it is barely possible to describe what happened next with mere words.
With hugs, maybe. With tears, maybe. With a lifetime's worth of emotions spilling through the night, definitely.
The Cubs -- the Chicago Cubs -- were going to the World Series. Did you think you'd possibly live long enough to read that sentence? Did you think the baseball gods would ever permit something that crazy to happen?
Well, it's happening, ladies and gentlemen. It's happening. In real life. In your life. For the first time in 71 years. In this actual world that you live in.
"I can't believe it," said Cubs legend Billy Williams after the team's 5-0 triumph over Clayton Kershaw and the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series that finally made that dream come true. "I'm standing on the field, and the Cubs are going to the World Series. I can't believe that."
Williams played for the Cubs for 16 years. In the 1950s. In the 1960s. In the 1970s. He has been retired for 40 years. No wonder his brain and his heart were having trouble processing a moment this powerful, this historic. How can any of us truly comprehend something this mysterious, something that very few people you know had ever witnessed?
So maybe we can help you make it all sink in. Maybe we can make you appreciate how lonnngggg ago 1945 really was. Ready? Since the last time the Cubs played in a World Series:
-- 1,275 different men played for the Cubs -- in seasons that didn't end this way, of course.
-- 606 different men threw at least one pitch for the Cubs -- none of them in a World Series game.
-- the Cubs played 11,309 baseball games -- not one of which could be described as "a World Series game."
-- World Series games were played in 45 different ballparks -- none of which were known as "Wrigley Field." At Coors Field, yes. At Chase Field, yes. At Ebbets Field and Citi Field, yes. Even at Tropicana Field. But at Wrigley? Iconic Wrigley Field? Never.
-- the Yankees played in 26 World Series in that endless time span. The Dodgers played in 15. The Cardinals played in 11. The Cubs watched or listened to all of them from their living rooms, from their man caves or from some fishing boat in the middle of a distant sea.
-- Banks played more than 2,500 games for the Cubs. Williams played more than 2,200. Ryne Sandberg and Santo played more than 2,100 apiece. That's a whole lot of box scores. Just not World Series box scores.
So what happened at Wrigley Field on Saturday night was more than just a baseball game. More than just a sporting event. The world changed on this night. Lives changed on this night. Millions of lives. Millions.
The Cubs go wild after their Game 6 win ended a 71-year World Series drought for the franchise. Jamie Squire/Getty Images
"This transcends baseball," said Ryan Dempster, a man who pitched 376 games for the Cubs over nine different seasons -- and never had any of them end like this. "You know how many people I saw cry tonight? People crying. People hugging each other. This is far more than a baseball game. I don't know how to put it into words, except it's an event in these people's lives that they will forever remember. And to be here, to watch it all happen, was just incredible."
So how do we define what changed on this night? After all, it wasn't as if the Cubs won a World Series. They merely won a game that will allow them to play in the World Series -- against a team from Cleveland with its own history to rewrite.
But even the Indians have at least played in four World Series since the last time the Cubs played in one. Meanwhile in Chicago, the Cubs hadn't reached this perch on the mountain since the Harry Truman administration, hadn't clinched a World Series berth at Wrigley since 1932, hadn't won a single best-of-seven series since 1908.
So even though there is more to do and more baseball to play, what happened at Wrigley Field was as epic as a league championship series clincher can possibly get. The Cubs didn't just end a drought here. They busted more ghosts than Bill Murray ever did.
"Getting to the World Series is a big accomplishment," said the manager of this ghostbuster crew, Joe Maddon. "Of course, winning it would be even greater than that. But I still believe that, in seasons to come, people are going to believe more easily now. They're not going to look for the next shoe to drop. They'll believe that something good is going to occur, as opposed to something bad."
But wait. Maybe those people actually crossed that threshold before the final out on this night. Maybe there was a sign from the heavens, in the ninth inning of this game, that it was OK to believe. Really.
It happened with one out in the ninth. On a 3-and-1 pitch from Aroldis Chapman to Carlos Ruiz. Ruiz swung at a 101 mph Chapman infernoball and got just enough of it to lift a high foul ball that drifted down the left-field line and floated just out of play -- into a section that looked waaayyyy too familiar to anyone who saw Game 6 of another NLCS, back in 2003.
"Somebody said to me that that one-out foul ball was right where [Steve] Bartman was," said Cubs catcher David Ross. "Somebody said that in the dugout. And I just said, 'Who cares, you know?' We've got one out and the guy on the mound throws 100. I like our chances.' ... So when he said, 'Ooh, that was right where Bartman was,' I just went, 'Perfect. It went all the way in the stands. Foul ball. So now we can win.'"
And three pitches later, what do you know? That's exactly what they did.
Mark Grace never had a night like this. Don Kessinger never felt a feeling like this. Sammy Sosa never hopped around Wrigley when the planets lined up like this.
But Baez? He was there. He was part of it. He was a cowinner of the NLCS MVP award -- along with Jon Lester -- on the night the Cubs booked their trip to the World Series.
"Crazy," he said. "It's crazy living this life right now."
And Russell? He was there, too. He pounded a second-inning double off Kershaw. He started the artful double play that turned Wrigley into a sea of noise, high-fives and selfies. And he spent the next hour and a half wandering around this magical ballpark with a smile on his face as wide as that street beyond the bleachers that was obviously named with him in mind.
"We're going to the dance, man," he said. "And we're gonna dance."
And Ross? Yep, he was there, too. He didn't play on this night, though he did become part of a very cool feat when Willson Contreras homered in the fourth inning -- and made the Cubs the first team in history to have three different catchers (Contreras, Miguel Montero and Ross) hit home runs in the same postseason. But nevertheless, Ross was summoned to the victory podium behind second base -- along with the brass and the manager and the co-MVPs -- and the cheers were so loud, they filled up his eyes with emotion.
Cubs fans had seen the signs that their team could do this all season, and they even brought a few to Wrigley Field for Game 6. Jamie Squire/Getty Images
"There's been a feeling about this city since we landed [Friday morning]," Ross said, as he nears the end of his final season. "There's just a buzz here. Everybody's excited. This is the Holy Grail of sports championships. And this moment here just shows you how great this city is and these fans. It hasn't always been this way. But I think they appreciate it more, because they've had so many low times."
But five years ago, the Cubs hired a master of curse zapping named Theo Epstein to perform another baseball magic act. Then, in the fall of 2014, they hired a silver-haired renaissance man named Joseph J. Maddon to lead people, embrace the moments and change this culture. Well, you could feel that culture shifting again on Saturday, right before your eyeballs.
Asked whether he had allowed himself two years ago, back when the Cubs hired him, to picture the sights and sounds of what he called this "crazy cool" evening, Maddon shook his head, his eyes twinkling in the electric night.
"I just didn't want to do that," he said. "I wanted to be surprised. And it's just as you'd expect. But I don't even know what it looks like outside. Oh my God."
No kidding. Beyond those ivy-covered walls, the streets were thumping with life. But not just streets named Waveland and Clark and Addison. We're talking about many, many streets, stretched out across many, many miles, where life as these people had always known it had just shot all these folks into a cosmos they had never known.
These Cubs might have four more humongous baseball games to win. But they've already erased 71 years of history and heartbreak. So even now, nothing is quite the same anymore. And that's going to take some getting used to -- even for the Cubbies themselves.
Asked what he thought had changed on this night, Maddon answered with one powerful word: "Perception."
"You know that thing I'd always heard, about the Cubs being lovable losers, I never quite understood that," the manager said, "because that's not how I was raised. So getting here and really not paying attention to all the nonsense, the superstition that really has dragged a lot of people's minds down -- to escape that is great. Now we can just continue to move it forward."
That job -- the moving-it-forward part of the gig -- begins Tuesday in Cleveland. But first, the 2016 Chicago Cubs had another big job they had to get to.
As the sign in the stands said, they had to "party like it's 1945." And from the looks of things, they were up to that job, too -- almost as up to that job as the people whose lives they had just transformed.
"They're ready for this moment," Baez said of those people. "And we're ready for this moment."
So how long, he was asked, could they all celebrate what just happened here?
"Ooh," gushed the NLCS co-MVP. "Forever." |
Hit the jump and check out the latest from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice director Zack Snyder as he now weighs in on the rumors that Mad Max: Fury Road 's George Miller could be directing one of the upcoming DC movies, or specifically the Man of Steel sequel.
The director of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and the Justice League movies, Zack Snyder, has certainly been making the rounds to promote Doritos' last Super Bowl advertising campaign. During his latest interview with News.Com.Au, the filmmaker addressed rumors that the eventual sequel to his Man of Steel movie may be helmed by Mad Max: Fury Road director George Miller.
"George doing one of the DC movies?" said Snyder when asked if he'd be keen on the possibility. "Oh my God, absolutely. George can do anything he wants, in my opinion. We haven’t talked about it, and to be frank I just didn't know what he was thinking of doing next. But yeah, if I was to think he had any interest in them of course I’m happy to talk to him." After praising Fury Road as a "f#cking great movie," he then reasssued the phone is "so open" to Miller if he is interested in directing any of the upcoming installments to the DC Extended Universe. What do you think?
Fearing the actions of a god-like super hero left unchecked, Gotham City’s own formidable, forceful vigilante takes on Metropolis’s most revered, modern-day savior, while the world wrestles with what sort of hero it really needs. And with Batman and Superman at war with one another, a new threat quickly arises, putting mankind in greater danger than it’s ever known before. Starring Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, with Amy Adams, Laurence Fishburne, Diane Lane, Jesse Eisenberg, Jeremy Irons, and Holly Hunter,
is directed by Zack Snyder, written by Chris Terrio from David S. Goyer's screenplay, and is scheduled to open March 25, 2016! |
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OKLAHOMA CITY - Three top officials in Governor Mary Fallin's executive branch began answering questions before a House committee investigating financial mismanagement at the Oklahoma State Department of Health.
In late October, an audit of the health department began after resignations of the commissioner and senior deputy commissioner.
Dr. Terry Cline and Julie Cox-Kain's resignations were accepted at an emergency meeting. A statement released by the board this fall read, in part, "the resignation of Commissioner Cline came on the heels of information received by the Board that OSDH is faced with an immediate financial loss predicated upon multiple years of over-expenditures and fiscal mismanagement."
The first to testify Monday morning was Preston Doerflinger, acting director of the department of health. He told the panel lawmakers part of the problem was the complex system of 'split funding' that is used to pay their employees.
"The vast majority of them have multiple sources that compromise with pay. They might have some grant money, they might have some other type of federal money, they might have state dollars," Doerflinger said.
The committee also invited Denise Northrup, acting director of the Office of Management and Enterprise Services. She testified the agency knew the department of health needed more money months ago, but it wasn't until Oct. 27 that the OMES met with state Health Department officials about the situation.
"It was at that meeting we discovered the problem was much more significant," Northrup said. "Furloughs were announced in September, which raised a red flag for the agency, because they had filed a balanced budget in July."
Part of the Doerflinger's testimony was met with criticism.
"You’re the secretary of finance and revenue, the director, and you’re acting like you didn’t know anything about this until one week before it down?" questioned Rep. Bobby Cleveland, R-Slaughterville.
"Did you?" Doerflinger answered. "What I'm telling you is we should all be mad, and we all had an obligation."
Rep. Kevin Calvey, R-Oklahoma City also voiced his concerns over the lack of documentation brought to the hearing by Doerflinger. Without them, Calvey said lawmakers were not able to base their questions off much.
"It certainly does raise the question of who, what, when and is there a conflict of interest involved? I don’t know the answers to that, nor will we know until documents are provided," he said. "Here’s the bigger question is, is this just the tip of the iceberg?"
Doerflinger maintained some of the requested documents were beyond the scope of the situation at hand. He also told the panel the agency had identified "bloat." They are currently reviewing internal investment of some programs that have been added without the necessary resource.
"Going forward, we will be evaluating everything that we do as an agency. There are things that are statutorily required to do. We are going to be prepared to discuss that list of items with the legislature," he said.
Just last Friday, the Department of Health announced the layoffs of 37 employees which would offset financial strains on the agency. When questioned about how many of the people losing their jobs in are county departments versus the central office, Doerflinger answered: "The majority are in the counties."
The third person to testify Monday was Chris Benge, chief of staff for Fallin. Like Doerflinger and Northrup, he testified he was unaware of the significant financial problems until October. Last week, all three state officials volunteered to appear. |
Introduction
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., addresses the 114th annual VFW National Convention during July 2013 in Louisville, Ky. Timothy D. Easley/AP
The “Stand with Rand PAC” is taking a stand against the government.
In a letter to the Federal Election Commission, the independent political committee today cheekily dismissed regulators’ assertion that it can’t use the name of Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., in its title unless the candidate himself formally authorizes it.
“This Committee … is unaware that the late Ayn Rand, noted philosopher and author and of Atlas Shrugged, is seeking election to federal office,” Stand with Rand PAC wrote.
Striking a more serious tone, the committee also accused the FEC of “broad overreach.” It argued that the agency “must allow the maximum of first amendment freedom of expression in political campaigns commensurate with Congress’ regulatory authority.”
Stand with Rand PAC’s website features photos and quotations of Paul. It displays a t-shirt with Paul’s silhouette hovering over the words “Stand with Rand.”
The Stand with Rand PAC further declares: “Examples of the types of candidates that we support include Senator Rand Paul, Senator Mike Lee, Senator Ted Cruz and Virginia Gubernatorial Candidate Ken Cuccinelli.”
And Stand with Rand PAC isn’t standing by itself in what’s the latest legal kerfuffle involving political committees bucking federal laws that govern — and limit — political committees’ names.
Recently, a group called Stop Pelosi PAC found itself crosswise with the FEC, as did an unrelated pro-Paul PAC called Rand PAC 2016.
Federal law states that “no unauthorized committee shall include the name of any candidate in its name.”
But it also notes that “an unauthorized political committee may include the name of a candidate in the title of a special project name or other communication if the title clearly and unambiguously shows opposition to the named candidate.” What the law considers a “special project” or “other communication” is not defined.
Asked how his Ayn Rand argument squares with federal law, Stand With Rand PAC treasurer Dan Backer, who also keeps the Stop Pelosi PAC’s books, replied, “You’re saying Rand Paul doesn’t stand with Ayn Rand?”
The Stand with Rand PAC further argued in its letter to the FEC that “the use of just a first or last name is insufficient to trigger such a harsh restraint on speech.” It gives the hypothetical example of “a youth-oriented PAC named Think Young,” noting that such a group would share its name of three sitting congressmen “and would thus be impermissible.”
Senior Counsel Paul S. Ryan of the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center scoffed at the PAC’s arguments.
“Any argument by the Stand with Rand PAC that the PAC is named after Ayn Rand, and not Sen. Rand Paul, is a ridiculous one that should be rejected with laughter by the FEC,” Ryan said. “It is abundantly clear from the organization’s website that the PAC is named for Sen. Rand Paul.”
The Campaign Legal Center, which advocates for various campaign reforms, has not decided whether it will file a complaint against Stand with Rand PAC with the FEC or any other agency, Ryan said.
The FEC itself could audit or take enforcement action against the Stand with Rand PAC, which organized early this year as a hybrid PAC, and as of June 30, had only raised $200.
Such PACs may raise unlimited amounts of money to independently support candidates while also raising limited amounts to give directly to candidates — so long as they keep separate books for each kind of activity. |
Japanese Boxing Supershow: Murata, Higa, and Shiro
On Sunday, October 22nd, two exciting young champions Daigo Higa and Ken Shiro will defend their belts for the first time, while Ryota Murata steps on the road to revenge
Gleb Kuzin Blocked Unblock Follow Following Oct 20, 2017
Boxing in Japan is at all time high. The land of the rising sun is now the home of 10 world champions boxing champions, making it second only to the US’s count of 12*. There are two major boxing show left on Fuji TV in 2017, and the annual autumn show is coming to us this Sunday October 22nd with 3 world title fights.
In the first televised fight of the evening, 25 year old champion Ken Shiro (10–0, 5KOs) will be defending his WBC World Light Flyweight Title against dangerous contender Pedro Guevara (30–2–1, 17KOs).
In the second fight of the evening, Daigo Higa (12–0, 12 KOs) will try to extended his knockout streak in an attempt to match and beat the Japanese record of 15 consecutive KOs. Higa is arguably the most exciting young champion in the world, as we wrote earlier this year. Opposing him will be little known contender Thomas Masson (17–3–1, 5KOs) in what will be his only second fight outside France.
In the main event, Olympic Gold medalist Ryota Murata (12–1, 9KOs) will try to avenge the defeat he suffered due to an outrageous decision against Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam (36–2, 21KOs) earlier this year. For those in the US, N’Dam-Murata will be televised on ESPN2 at 7AM EST on Sunday.
Ken Shiro vs. Pedro Guevara
Of all the young champions from Japan, Ken Shiro is one of the most immature (in age, resume, and appearance). He can not match the power of Naoya Inoue or Daigo Higa, nor does he have transcendent boxing skills, yet he has managed to become a world champion in just his 10th professional fight by beating Ganigan Lopez. The title fight was a tough one, as was expected. The experienced champion pushed Shiro against the ropes, at all times looking to make the fight physical. Despite the gap in experience and level of opposition, Ken Shiro did not fall short, and gamely battled his foe toe to toe.
Just as it can be expected, a Mexican warrior, the 35 year old Lopez gave everything he had left the last round. Ken Shiro fought back with the same resilience, and never backed up. Ariake Colosseum met the final bell with standing ovations for both warriors in celebration of the tremendous show. Naming the winner of a fight that close is always difficult, and the scorecards reflected it with a close Majority Decision nod for Shiro, which many saw as a gift.
For his fight against Pedro Guevara, Ken Shiro enter the ring carrying a wealth of experience that he did not possess back in May. And he will need every bit of it. Pedro Guevara is a former champion who holds wins against Shiro’s rival Ganigan Lopez as well as Japanese hero and a former three-division champion Akira Yaegashi. Guevara poses an even bigger test for Shiro than Lopez, and he will need to do more than he did in his last outing to walk out of Ryōgoku Sumo Hall still the champion in the eyes of the boxing public. The image of a questionable victory is still in the minds of his fans, so a close decision won’t cut it this time. Ken Shiro will have to fight as he never fought before to emerge victorious.
Daigo Higa vs. Thomas Masson
Daigo Higa’s fans anticipated his title fight against Juan Hernandez Navarrete earlier this year with caution due to several factors: lack of experience, stamina problems (due to a hard weight cut to 112), and his swarming fighting style. As a swarmer, he is one of the last of his kind. Nowadays swarmers don’t find much success at the top of the sport: Dejan Zlaticanin was the last man to taste the gold. Unfortunately for him, the next thing he tasted was the canvas of the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, when Mikey Garcia casually obliterated the now former champion.
When fight night arrived however, Daigo Higa shattered all doubts with his masterful performance. With unexpected maturity, the young challenger from Okinawa paced himself and waited for the perfect openings to strike the veteran champion.
Navarrete came to fight without patience, and gave away enough space for Higa to capitalize on. Though he demonstrated tremendous heart and the will to fight till his last breath, Vic Drakulich called off the fight off after the 30 year old veteran tasted the canvas for the 6th time. Inside the distance of 6 rounds, Higa demonstrated every element of his skillset: catching Navarrete with crisp counters, working inside and outside, destroying the body with irregular precision, and showing his heightened ring IQ.
Masson doesn’t seem to pose any danger for the young champion this weekend. The fight will likely turn into a showcase of Daigo Higa’s skills from the opening bell. For Daigo, this fight is a but a step forward to match and break the Japanese record of 15 consecutive knockout wins, set by Tsuyoshi Hamada, also an Okinawa native, back in 1986 when he knocked out Rene Arredondo to win WBC Super Lightweight title. The likeliest next step for Daigo Higa is what his fans are waiting for — a showdown with Pakistani prodigy Muhammad Waseem. In the meantime, Daigo Higa will step into the ring to win over the hearts of boxing fans with another stellar and destructive performance.
Ryota Murata vs. Hassan N’dam N’jikam
Unlike his fellow young Japanese champions, Ryota Murata had an easier path to exposure in the west. Not only does he share a weightclass with two of boxing’s biggest stars in Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovking, but he also announced his name to the world when he won a gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics. Following those games he signed with Bob Arum, who promised the aging Ryota a short path to the title. Now 31, Ryota Murata stands with a record of 12 wins against a lone defeat, but only one solid opponent to his credit.
To put it bluntly, his career in the pro ranks been underwhelming. Many expected a swift start from him to equal that of fellow amatuer star Vasyl Lomachenko. But not only the quality of his opponents upset the public seeking to see Murata in competitive fights, but the Japanese’ ring performance as well. Failing to demonstrate any diversity to his game, and at times ignoring his defensive abilities, Murata has not shown much to convince boxing fans that he is even a mild threat to the reign of the middleweight king.
In the long anticipated step up fight against Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam, Ryota Murata failed to deliver a performance worthy of the star he had become in his native Japan. N’Dam successfully outboxed Murata for the first part of the fight until he tasted the canvas thanks to Murata’s straight right hand. Despite N’Dam’s best attempts to mimic Zab Judah for almost eight rounds in a row, Murata struggled to land any meaningful shots. Though most saw Murata winning the fight comfortably, no one believe that his performance lived up to his hype. The shock came after the final bell when two of the judges gave the fight to N’Dam by margins of 116–111 and 115–112. Both of the judges were later suspended by the WBA, but they haven’t altered the final result.
N’Dam is unlikely to demonstrate more than he did in the first fight, yet the pressure laying on Murata’s shoulders is even heavier than before. A rematch is essentially a chance to rehabilitate any mistakes or wrongdoings one boxer committed. This is exactly what is expected from the Japanese star. With the recent news of the fight between Lemieux and Saunders being finalized, Sergey Derevyanchenko winning the mandatory position for the IBF belt, Jermall Charlo making a statement, and Danny Jacobs signing with Eddie Hearn, the line of contenders for Golovkin and Canelo is now longer than the Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō road. Ryota Murata’s task seems nearly impossible — how much can he do to distinguish his name from the others on that list? |
Judging by past experience, there is a good chance that the right-wing Ateret Cohanim association will eventually evict the 51 Palestinian families living in the heart of the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan. As Nir Hasson reported in Haaretz on Friday, Ateret Cohanim is now at the peak of its legal battle to remove some 300 Palestinians living in Batan al-Hawa. The legal argument that will allow the eviction has already been accepted in the past by the courts. Its basic point is that the Palestinians are squatters on land that has belonged to Jews for more than a century. But in contrast to the way settlers are presenting it, this is not a private property dispute between the families and the landowners. The eviction efforts are a clear manifestation of Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians in Jerusalem.
First, Israeli law allows only Jews to demand that property abandoned due to the 1948 war be returned. Most of the families living in Batan al-Hawa abandoned property in West Jerusalem or elsewhere; however, they have no right to ask for it back. Second, the department in the Justice Ministry that administers such properties, as well as the Jerusalem municipality, the Construction Ministry, the Israel Police and other authorities, relentlessly aid Ateret Cohanim in its plan to make Silwan Jewish.
Third, the Israeli taxpayer is footing the bill for the settlement being established in the heart of Silwan’s crowded casbah. The Jewish families living there are certainly the most heavily guarded since the 2005 evacuation of Netzarim in the Gaza Strip. According to an official familiar with the matter, it costs as much as 1 million shekels (about $258,000) a year from the Construction Ministry’s budget to protect each family.
Fourth, the Jewish settlement in the heart of Silwan undoubtedly contributes to increased violence in the city – violence from which both Israelis and Palestinians suffer. The police have already conceded a link between settlements and violence. Thus, this is not a private project by an extremist group, but a deliberate government policy for which the Israeli public is paying the price.
Beyond these problems, it must be remembered that the settlement project in the heart of Silwan is bound to fail. Settlement efforts there have been ongoing for more than 25 years. Hundreds of millions of shekels have been poured into it, and it has had the sweeping support of successive governments. Nonetheless, as in Hebron, the settlers remain a tiny minority, a minuscule percentage of the population.
Even if the current efforts are successful and all 51 families are replaced by Jewish families, nothing will change. Silwan will remain a Palestinian village with tens of thousands of inhabitants. This policy achieves nothing but to pour more oil on the fire and amplify the suffering of the Palestinian inhabitants. Consequently, the government must stop encouraging Jewish settlement in Silwan. |
"The Ice Cream Man" I bought this tin ice cream truck last year and have been gathering other objects and developing the story behind the painting. Nothing was more exciting during the summer months of vacation than to hear the music of the ice cream man in the distance. Our ice cream man was named Herbie, and if you timed it just right when you were buying your ice cream from him, he would take the empty cardboard box that held the ice cream bars and pop it on top or your head. The frost from the box would go down your neck and make that 90 degree day feel real cool. Not to mention that you were the 'chosen one' that day, and that carried a lot of weight in my neighborhood. This tin truck was the spark for the inspiration that will soon become a painting. Here is a photo I took a few years ago in Long Beach, in the Belmont Heights area. Looks like my grandma's house in Los Angeles that we lived in for a short time when I was 4 years old. I am envisioning the ice cream truck parked in front of the house with the ice cream man handing a Popsicle and a Fudgsicle to two small girls. The girls had just been playing hopscotch and jumprope. Here's the box of chalk that I will use in the painting. I found an unused Popsicle and Fudgsicle wrapper and had to make a couple of frozen treats out of foamcore board to go in the wrappers. Here they are, ready to go into the still life set up. I am waiting for a vintage jumprope that I purchased. It may be a week before it arrives... Although I've found my three models for this painting, Spring Break has sent my two youngest models on vacation, delaying their photoshoot. I've decided to begin the design of the image, placing the house in the upper part of the canvas. I've been contacted by a couple of high schools that use my step-by-step pages in their art curriculum. They would like to have a little more information for their students as to how I draw the image on the canvas. So here goes. With the house, I placed a sheet of clear mylar over the photograph and made my own gridlines. Here's what it looks like finished. After I decided how large I wanted the house to be on the canvas, I drew corresponding gridlines on a sheet of white chipboard. This is an old mural artist's technique for scaling up a drawing onto a wall or larger surface. By observing just where certain parts of the house appear in each box formed by the gridlines, I copy those areas into the corresponding box on the chipboard. Here you can see the chipboard with the grid lines and the drawing of the house on it. I worked it all out with pencil and then drew over it with a black thin marker. Here's a close-up of the roof section. I drew this on chipboard instead of directly on the canvas so that I would still have the option of moving it up and down, left and right on the canvas. In order to get the drawing onto the canvas, I will lay a large piece of tracing paper over the drawing and trace the outline of the house onto the tracing paper with the black marker. Here I am tracing the outline drawing with the tracing paper and the marker. I'm using a #2 pencil now, rubbing it on the backside of the tracing paper. With the graphite on the back of the tracing paper, it becomes carbon paper. I tape it to the canvas and... With a 6H pencil, I retrace the outline, pressing the graphite from the #2 pencil onto the canvas. Here's what the canvas looks like after transferring the drawing onto it. I've had my props out in the sunshine today, moving them around, trying to find a grouping that works for the space I have allotted at the bottom of the painting. My models are coming over to pose on Thursday. Hope there is some sunshine... Well, the sun was shining and so were the faces on the models. Looks like I'll have plenty to work on this week, positioning them into the painting... By the way, Aria and Makenzie, (now a bit older) made the U.S. Olympic women's water polo team and will compete in Rio in 2016. I've drawn in all the other objects onto the canvas and started blocking in the sky and background trees. I'll move into the house now... ...defining the detail in the siding and choosing hues of gray to make up my shadow areas. I've made the shadows on the front facades of the house vary from cool (area of house set back) to warm as in the front porch projection. This part of the house reflects more light off of the cement walkway and sidwalk area, making the value (darkness) lighter and warmer. Here's the house and background all blocked in with its thin wash of oil and turpentine. This is a close-up of Aria in the foreground, sitting on one of the jumprope handles. Her older sister, Makenzie, is paying for both ice cream treats but she can't wait and has started on her popsicle. Here is Makenzie paying the ice cream man. Notice that the man's right hand is making change on his 'belt changer'. This is my changer, one that I bought when I was thirteen for collecting monthly subscriptions on my paper route. The next objects that I will paint will be those things that have a generic color that defines those objects. Things like clothing (except for the ice cream man who has a uniform) that can be adjusted will be last to be painted, giving me the option to help balance or contrast the focal areas of the painting. Here you see the box of chalk, which I have given a preliminary pass of oil. The jumprope handles had to be red (although they came in many colors) because they are most identifiable in that color. I've painted the Popsicle and the Fudgsicle their 'generic' colors. I've begun to paint the ice cream truck. In order for it to look more like a toy, I've added a wind-up key on the lower rear of the truck. Here's where the painting stands at this point. The ice cream truck is roughed in. I've begun to paint in the detail of the fruit clusters in the design of the tablecloth. Once I am finished I will pick a color to go into the box design on the tablecloth. The actual color is pink and I don't think I want that color dominating the bottom of the painting. I've completed painting the fruit clusters and have begun laying in the 'box design' on the tablecloth. I've decided to replace the pink color inside the squares with a warm tan and have painted the lines that separate the squares on off white. You can see that I've also started putting in the cast shadows. Here's another close-up showing the cast shadows of the ice creams. I've yet to start painting in the darker value of the tablecloth that hangs over the front of the street. I've blocked in the front of the tablecloth and... ...put the detail into the braided rope. Two of my models are in place. And that makes three! The only thing left is the jumprope diagram on the driveway. It will go in as part of my second and final paint application. I've begun the final paint application. I don't use any additives (media), just the thickness of the pigment right out of the tube. The sky and the trees are finished. The trees in the upper right of the painting. I drew in with off white paint the hopscotch pattern. The roof has final paint as well as the left side of the house (which I substantially darkened). I decided to paint the steps and the porch a reddish color to give the house a little more 'pop' and to provide a better backdrop for the ice cream truck. I've decided to add some interest to the cast shadows coming from the house to the right of the driveway. I chose Italian Cypress tree shadows so that I could get a linear pattern that stops the viewers eye from going up the driveway too quickly. I don't mind someone enjoying the 'mother-in-law quarters' at the end of the driveway, but I would like their initial focus to be on the ice cream transaction and activities in the foreground. Here's a close-up of the right side of the house. Except for the brickwork on the front porch, the house is done. The driveway and planter area is next. This is the left side of the house. The play of light through the picket fence and the narrow 'peek' into the neighbor's backyard adds interest to this part of the painting. Chalk up one more item painted... Sorry for the pun, but the box of chalk is done...(now I'm rhyming!) The ice cream truck is completed. It's funny how a tin toy looks fairly real when enlarged to human scale... And the jumprope is fully painted. Now on to the Popsicle and Fudgsicle. Here I am putting the finishing touches on the two frozen treats and... ...now they are done! Two of my figures are finished. Notice that although I have used a small sable brush to do the details of the figures (faces, hands and legs), I used a larger bristle brush to do the clothing. It makes a nice contrast and simplifies the clothing so that it doesn't distract from the simplicity of the pose. And that makes three done! Now all I have left is the tablecloth, which includes the cast shadow from all the objects and the tablecloth itself. Compare this photo with the one above. Notice the heavy paint on the tablecloth in this photo. I love showing the brushstrokes of the heavy 'looser' areas that surround a smoother 'detailed' area. Here's another detail of the tablecloth as it curves over the edge of the table (or street?) See how I darkened the shadow under the Fudgsicle, helping the wrapper 'pop' off the edge of the tablecloth. I also made the cast shadow and darker vertical areas of the tablecloth with a slightly greenish brown cast to show that there is a warm reflective light bouncing into it. It was a long haul, but "Ice Cream Man" is finished. Hope you enjoyed the journey! |
Ethereum Classic has become the fifth largest cryptocurrency in the world after surpassing the market cap of Litecoin. Briefly, Ethereum Classic also overtook NEM, the fourth largest cryptocurrency with a significantly high daily trading volume.
The daily trading volume of Ethereum Classic remains larger than Ripple and NEM, the third and fourth largest cryptocurrencies behind Bitcoin and Ethereum, at $326 mln. In fact, Ethereum Classic’s daily trading volume is 17 times larger than that of NEM.
Simply Classic
Over the past few months, Ethereum Classic has enjoyed an explosive growth in demand and daily trading volume primarily due to two major driving factors: the debut of the Ethereum Classic Trust and the integration of ETC by leading digital currencies.
On April 24, Barry Silbert-led Digital Currency Group, arguably the most prominent investment firm within the Bitcoin and Blockchain industries, launched the Ethereum Classic Trust to provide a platform for accredited and institutional investors to invest in ETC via a regulated channel.
Since then, Ethereum Classic has experienced an overall increase in demand, price, market cap and trading volume. By April 1, Ethereum Classic’s market cap was around $200 mln. In less than two months, the market cap of Ethereum surged by over seven times, to $1.45 bln.
Furthermore, South Korea’s largest digital currency Bithumb and several other exchanges in the Chinese exchange market added support for Ethereum Classic, providing a platform for cryptocurrency investors in Asia. Bithumb’s integration of Ethereum Classic was particularly beneficial to Ethereum Classic’s growing market cap as South Korea operates the largest Ethereum exchange market in the world, with 35 percent of the market share and a $296 mln daily trading volume.
Key difference between Ethereum Classic and Ethereum
Ethereum Classic made a huge step forward in March when it executed a hard fork to integrate a deflationary monetary policy in contrast to Ethereum. Currently, Ethereum operates on an inflationary monetary policy which produces 13 mln new Ethers annually.
Ethereum Classic moved on from Ethereum’s existing inflationary monetary policy to Bitcoin-like fixed supply.
BitNovosti.com owner and Ethereum Classic movement founder Arvicco emphasized the importance of rarity and scarcity in cryptocurrency.
He said:
“Platform token is a critical part of blockchain system that aligns economic incentives of key stakeholders, users, developers, investors, and miners. Its monetization makes everything tick and helps to bootstrap the ecosystem. However, it has been shown time and again in economic history that reliable long-term monetization is impossible without two key characteristics; utility and scarcity.”
If the demand toward Ethereum Classic in major markets such as South Korea and the US continue to sustain, the price of Ethereum Classic is likely to rise throughout the next few weeks. More importantly, the increase in the demand toward Ethereum could also benefit Ethereum Classic for investors who see value in ETC’s fixed supply and actual currency-like attributes. |
Hands only CPR: Never do nothing
Thousands of lives could be saved every year in the UK through the nation of life savers.
We’re providing CPR training in schools and workplaces across the UK to make sure that when someone has a cardiac arrest, the British public know what to do to save a life.
Hands-only CPR
In 2012 we worked with Vinnie Jones to help us teach the nation how to do Hands-only CPR: pushing hard and fast on the chest without giving rescue breaths.
Giving rescue breaths helps survival, and our Call Push Rescue training kits teach this skill along with CPR.
But if you don’t want to give rescue breaths, Hands-only CPR is still likely to increase a person’s chance of survival. Never do nothing.
How to do Hands-only CPR
When somebody collapses in front of you, what do you do?
Check the person over. If they are not responsive and not breathing, then their heart has stopped working and they are having a cardiac arrest. Now, call 999. Then you do Hands-only CPR. Lock your fingers together, knuckles up. Then push down, right on the sovereign. Push down five or six centimetres. That’s about two inches. Push hard and fast about two times a second, like to the beat of Stayin’ Alive. Don’t worry about hurting someone. A cracked rib can be mended – just concentrate on saving a life. Keep this up until the ambulance arrives.
So don’t forget. Check him over. Call 999. Push hard and fast to Stayin’ Alive. It works.
Hands-only CPR. It’s not as hard as it looks. |
Could public colleges be free?
Yes, says the head of the union for University of California’s 4,000 instructors and librarians.
How?
Trim non-essential functions, redirect a bunch of money and end tax breaks that mostly benefit wealthy college-goers’ families, argues University Council-American Federation of Teachers President Bob Samuels. Of course, not everyone would agree with his definition of non-essential, particularly researchers.
Samuels’ new book says students have become “slaves to debt” because colleges have decided to get into “expensive and disorienting” endeavors – research labs funded by external dollars, luxury dorms and athletics – that have little to do with instructing students. He says American higher education costs more than it should and undergraduates are forced to pick up the tab for university mission creep. On top of that, undergrads are suffering through large, impersonal classes and left in the hands of graduate students. While Samuels wants all of public higher education to be free, many of his examples of spending cuts are generally found at research universities with big-time athletics and don't exist at, say, community colleges, which already charge bare-bones rates.
The book, Why Public Higher Education Should Be Free: How to Decrease Costs and Increase Quality at American Universities (Rutgers University Press), offers a relatively simple if audacious proposal: redirect government higher ed spending so some 11 million students can attend public two and four-year institutions free of charge. That's the “decrease costs” part.
To “increase quality,” trim costs for athletics and pricey administrators and star professors who don’t teach much anyway. Use the savings to reduce class sizes and hire qualified instructors who can spend time with students.
Samuels estimates that full-time undergraduate tuition, room and board and other expenses at public four-year institutions and community colleges costs about $130 billion a year. Then, Samuels estimates that the state and federal governments could come up with $180 billion a year by better using the money they already pay to public colleges and redirecting the money they spend on student aid and lose to higher ed-related tax breaks for parents and students with mostly wealthy backgrounds. (NOTE: This pararagraph has been updated to correct the subject of the $130 million figure.")
"The tax code has been used to fund higher education because it is easier for Congress to pass a tax break than it is to get funding for a particular program," Samuels writes, "but what this system has achieved is a tremendous subsidy for upper-middle-class and wealthy families, while lower-income students are forced to take out huge loans to pay for their education."
In the process, Samuels’s plan would scale back corporate and other external research funding across the board and financial aid to students at private and for-profit colleges, although he said in an interview that about $50 billion left over could be used to cover things like that.
Samuels said a systemic shakeup is necessary to avoid the “giant social and economic catastrophe” that will come if students who attend college are forever crushed by debt from ever-rising costs or left with poor educations.
In an interview, he said the book evolved as he began to look at numbers.
“I totally did not start off the book thinking I was going to make this call for public higher education, and I was really surprised that we have more than enough money to make it free,” Samuels said. “The major stumbling block is people no longer believe in large government programs.”
Indeed, the latest major federal government program, President Obama’s health care plan, is deeply controversial.
But Samuels sees a lot of parallels between the American higher education system and the American health care system. Namely, “we spend more and the quality is less,” Samuels said.
Patrick Callan, president of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, doesn't agree with all of Samuels' ideas, but said he is “bold and courageous” for attempting to do more than just nip and tuck a broken system.
Even if what Samuels proposes never comes to pass, Callan said, the country needs to have a discussion about higher ed that goes beyond just student loan interest rates or the sort of tweaks to financial aid and college rankings that Obama proposed last week. Those plans may be more feasible, but they don’t do nearly enough to reduce the stratification of American higher ed, he said.
“The trouble is that most of the things that are politically realistic don’t get us where we need to go, so we need to reframe,” Callan said.
Samuels’s book takes on pretty much every major higher ed issue of the day, from administrative bloat to the hidden costs of campus technology.
But his core argument is that universities are no longer focused on educating students, particularly undergrads. Undergrads are the ones who are subsidizing everything else that happens at a university, he writes.
"Undergraduate students and their parents are therefore paying for the replacement of teaching with external research and administration, and what makes this situation even more upsetting is the fact that these institutions still claim that their central mission is education," he writes.
Instead of doing what’s best for undergrads, Samuels writes, administrators are pulling qualified professors and instructors out of undergraduate classrooms and sticking students in large classes or leaving them in the hands of unqualified graduate students.
Undergraduates don’t complain because “universities spend a great deal of money pleasing them outside the classroom,” Samuels writes, a reference to college sports and well-appointed living quarters and campus facilities.
Samuels writes that universities need to scale back their research mission, though he said he does not oppose basic and departmental research, and he writes faculty need to stop surrendering control of their classes to graduate students. External research is subsidized by taxpayers and students, he writes..
"Given that the most expensive aspect of developing new products is the research and design stage, universities offer a relatively cheap way of designing and testing new technologies for major corporations and government programs," Samuels writes. "In this system, state and student funds are used to build expensive labs and pay the salaries of professors and graduate students; companies basically rent the use of these workers and labs at a very low price."
Change the system, Samuels said and public college can be free.
“We already have enough money in the system to eliminate the cost of tuition or related student cost, if we just use the money we currently use in a more efficient manner, which includes tax breaks, federal aid, state aid,” Samuels said. “We could avoid students' taking on tremendous debt.” |
PHOTOGRAPHER SPOTLIGHT: The quasi-regular series that takes you behind the lens with some of Cincinnati's most prominent (or just really talented) photographers.
THIS INSTALLMENT: Phil Armstrong works to live -- not the other way around. Though a corporate job keeps him in a cubicle 40 hours a week, that doesn't stop him from spending the rest of the 128 developing his own creative lifestyle. "I only have one spin around the globe, so I need to express myself through photography, painting, sketching, and writing in order to generate as much as I possibly can in the time I have."
Cincinnati Refined: What got you hooked on photography?
Armstrong: Honestly, just by frequently looking up. In downtown and Over-the-Rhine, I started noticing all the different styles of architecture on every single block. If you actually look up at the Germania Building at 12th and Walnut, you'll notice how beautifully put together the facade is. If you look up at the old Times-Star Building on Broadway, you'll notice every side has a beautifully crafted statue rounding out the corner among other insanely brilliant Art Deco features. I kept seeing thousands of gorgeous little details all over our city and wanted to document them in a deliberate fashion and share them with others. There's a nearly endless supply of overlooked artistry amidst the brick and stone that make up the urban core and immediate suburbs, and photography was the easiest way to capture as much of it as I can.
CR: Favorite subject to shoot?
Armstrong: Closeups of architecture, specifically the artistic elements of older buildings. The 19th century Italianate in Over-the-Rhine, the Art Deco of the twenties that's scattered across the city, and so many other details woven into every building from various other decades in our history.
CR: Camera of choice?
Armstrong: I'm using a Nikon D3200.
CR: The one lens you can't live without
Armstrong: My trusty 70-300mm. I discovered the sorrowful faces at the top of PNC Tower with it while at the top of Pogue's Garage last summer and realized I'd probably never notice them without the ability to zoom in that close from so far away. It's invaluable for the type of photography I enjoy doing most.
CR: What's at the top of your photography bucket list?
Armstrong: I want to get inside Times-Star and see every inch of it since I've studied the exterior for so long. It's my favorite building in the city, and it's ignored by so many photographers. I've taken hundreds of shots from the outside, meticulously pouring over the animal skulls, birds, and floral designs chiseled into the limestone alongside the gargoyle heads in the rear, and many representations of historic figures related to the field of printing and publishing all over every side of it. It's an absolutely incredible building.
CR: Any advice for aspiring photographers?
Armstrong: Shoot for the love of the subject, and shoot for you. This is your art. It doesn't matter if the corbelling on that building built in 1888 interests anyone but you.
CR: How would you describe your passion for the Queen City/ how do you see photography as a medium to showcase it?
Armstrong: I'm a native of this city and I plan to live out the rest of my days here. This is home; I have so many memories, good and bad, buried firmly in the soil of the Queen City. I'm in awe of where we've come from and where we're going. We have so much history and art to be proud of, not to mention an abundance of architectural wonders lining our familiar streets to remind us of the unique Cincinnatian ingenuity we've had since the earliest days of Losantiville. Photography has integrity; it's the perfect way to capture both my history and the history of the city, as well as the art around us, every time the shutter closes to process a new moment in time.
CR: What's an interesting fact/ anecdote about yourself?
Armstrong: My sense of humor is often perceived as drought-like, I have an obsession with geography and mapping, and dogs are equal measures "the greatest" and "my favorite." I painted the 1945 Yalta Conference once.
CR: Motto to live by?
Armstrong: If you're feeling anxious, iron a shirt to any Bon Iver song and you'll more than likely relax.
---
If you like what you've read, just wait until you flip through the photo gallery to get an up-close encounter with those gargoyles. And if you're really digging Mr. Armstrong's style, you can follow him on Instagram + check out his website. |
League of Legends creator Riot Games makes a lot of money. $1 billion a year, in fact. That’s equivalent to $31 each and every second. In fact it’s probably so much cash it’s almost a burden. Like Brewster’s Millions they’ve got to work their socks off to even spend it all.
Which leads us to Radiant Entertainment. An otherwise innocuous developer, you may recognise them as the creators of promising free-to-play PC fighting game Rising Thunder, as well as the Minecraft-aping Stonehearth. While exact figures have been kept hush, hush, Riot Games has bought Radiant Entertainment and all that entails.
“We are delighted to announce that Radiant Entertainment has been acquired by Riot Games,” said Team Radiant. “At Riot, our developers will continue their mission of building incredible games that speak to us personally as players.”
If you’ve been playing either of their pre-release titles then you’re probably wondering what this means. Well, it looks as if it’s not exactly a case of ‘as you are’. Clearly Riot Games has seen some some potential here, but as of now though it means the Rising Thunder Alpha will be closed permanently on March 18th, with Radiant starting work on a new game. What form this takes we don’t know, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Rising Thunder concept reworked in order for Riot to squeeze its way into the fighting game scene.
I could be wrong but Stonehearth doesn’t appear to have taken off in any hugely significant way itself, amassing just over 100,000 users during its nine months in Early Access. Riot has chosen to continue development of this Minecraft competitor however, presumably in an effort to deliver the promised final game. As for when that will be, Radiant only say “when it’s ready.”
Make the most of the next week or so then Rising Thunder fans, as it’s about to be whisked away while development starts afresh on a new game.
What do you think Riot's plans are for the newly acquired Radiant? Sad to see Rising Thunder go? Or do you think it will be back? As ever, let us know below! |
opterown Profile Blog Joined August 2011 Australia 42225 Posts #1 https://twitter.com/Ethan_Ahn
http://www.thisisgame.com/board/view.php?category=13438&id=1289759
Judah @Ethan_Ahn
SC:BW Terran player braQ joins GSTL Commentator. announce soon.
Judah @Ethan_Ahn
#GSTL New comment braQ twitter is here - @firebathero
Sungeun Lee @firebathero
모두들 감사드립니다. 새로운 모습을 보여드리게 돼서 기쁘구요. 열심히 준비하겠습니다. Thanks everyone, I'm happy to show my new job for you. Fighting!
Oh damn this is awesome! Oh damn this is awesome! Moderator Retired LR Bonjwa
Solid`Blazed Profile Joined October 2011 Malaysia 82 Posts #2 did not expect this, awesome!
Sabu113 Profile Blog Joined August 2009 United States 8452 Posts #3 Hell yeah! I hope someone will be kind enough to give us some subbed FBH dialogue. Biomine is a drunken chick who is on industrial strength amphetamines and would just grab your dick and jerk it as hard and violently as she could while screaming 'OMG FUCK ME', because she saw it in a Sasha Grey video ...-Wombat_Ni
MrMotionPicture Profile Joined May 2010 United States 4327 Posts #4 Firebathero! I hope he does ceremonies for absolutely no real reason! "Elvis Presley" | Ret was looking at my post in the GSL video by Artosis. | MMA told me I look like Juanfran while we shared an elevator with Scarlett
GGzerG Profile Blog Joined January 2010 United States 9295 Posts #5 Can't really think about FBH without thinking about his ceremonies lol, I love him to death. FBH fighting~! NICE, I love FBH, I hope he still does some sort of commentator ceremonies.Can't really think about FBH without thinking about his ceremonies lol, I love him to death. FBH fighting~! AKA: TelecoM[WHITE] Protoss fighting
bittman Profile Joined February 2011 Australia 8308 Posts #6 Oh wow! That's pretty cool.
As an aside, sorry if I'm behind on it but he hasn't retired has he? Is this like a part-time thing? Or is it full time? Mvp - Leenock - Dongraegu - MC - Gumiho - Keen - Polt - Squirtle - Jjakji - Genius - Seed - Life - sC - Dream || LG-IM - MVP - FXO
FinestHour Profile Joined August 2010 United States 10517 Posts #7 LMAO well too bad he cant do ceremonies as a caster thug life. MVP/ex-
urashimakt Profile Joined October 2009 United States 1573 Posts #8 But GSTL commentators don't get to perform ceremonies... Who dat ninja?
GTPGlitch Profile Blog Joined March 2011 4555 Posts #9 FIREBATHEROOOOOOO Jo Byung Se #1 fan | CJ_Rush(reborn) fan | Liquid'Jinro(ret) fan | Liquid'Taeja fan | oGsTheSuperNada fan | Iris[gm](ret) fan |
slyderturtle Profile Joined August 2010 United States 178 Posts #10 He should do dances to commentate instead of talking.
neoghaleon55 Profile Blog Joined August 2010 United States 7425 Posts #11 waaaaaaaaaaaaat?
This is madness!
lol
awesome! moo...for DRG
StorrZerg Profile Blog Joined February 2008 United States 13006 Posts #12 Omg sweet
lets go Mr Firebathero! Hwaseung Oz fan for life. Swing out, always swing out.
wooozy Profile Blog Joined February 2009 1782 Posts #13 LOL sick
ROOTheognis Profile Blog Joined January 2006 United States 4482 Posts #14 oh well atleast this is not bad!! aww. Never got to see him play professionally in SC2oh well atleast this is not bad!! If you avoid your weakness, it will remain your weakness. www.twitter.com/#!/rootheognis Follow me!
Seeker Profile Blog Joined April 2005 Where dat snitch at? 31886 Posts #15 WHOOO!
FBH BABY! Moderator PM me if you want translations done | twitch.tv/dankshrine Weekly SC2 Podcast!
GTR Profile Blog Joined September 2004 47912 Posts #16 Noooooooo, its going to be hard looking at him as a serious person now. Commentator Twitter: @GTR1H
Stream: http://www.twitch.tv/GTR1H
StarStruck Profile Joined April 2010 24047 Posts Last Edited: 2012-09-17 04:14:40 #17
What? ._.
...What? ._. On September 17 2012 13:13 GTR wrote:
Noooooooo, its going to be hard looking at him as a serious person now.
Well, he was pretty good on those other shows like Battle.net Attack. He's a good speaker. Well, he was pretty good on those other shows like Battle.net Attack. He's a good speaker.
Shinespark Profile Joined June 2011 Chile 843 Posts #18 Is this for real? "I, for one, welcome our new Korean overlords."
m3rciless Profile Joined August 2009 United States 1403 Posts #19 FBH 4 lyfe White-Ra fighting!
RiceAgainst Profile Blog Joined November 2011 United States 1746 Posts #20 All I know him for is his celebrations. It's going to be hard to take him seriously. T_T
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In 2013, the Pew Research Global Attitudes Project asked over 40,000 respondents in 40 countries about their opinions on eight topics generally considered to be moral issues:
Abortion
Divorce
Drinking alcohol
Extramarital affair
Gambling
Homosexuality
Sex between unmarried adults, and
Use of contraceptives
Respondents indicated their sentiment about each issue by choosing one of the following responses:
Morally unacceptable
Morally acceptable
Not a moral issue
Depends on the situation, or
Refused to answer
Unsurprisingly, there was a great deal of variation in responses across countries and topics. The data suggest that Pakistan and Ghana are the most conservative countries in their attitudes toward the eight issues covered, while France and Germany the most liberal. Around the world, there is general agreement that using contraceptives is morally acceptable and even more consensus that extramarital affairs are morally unacceptable. In some countries, it appears that the most controversial or uncomfortable topic was that of homosexuality, with up to 11% of respondents in India and Pakistan refusing to even answer the question of whether homosexuality is morally acceptable or not.
For more interesting insights, explore the visualization below. [Confession: I like radar charts. While some may disagree, I find them morally acceptable and quite useful, although they require a bit of getting used to. I decided to show some aspects of the data using a radar chart because it effectively presents multivariate data and provides quick visual cues for commonalities and outliers. Select a couple of countries and watch the difference in shapes to draw your conclusions.] |
By now you’ve heard a lot about the new Google Chromecast. But none of it is important. You’re going to get one – it’s just that good.
You’ve already heard about the surprise launch, almost an afterthought considering we were all anxiously awaiting the new Nexus 7 tablet. You’ve heard about it selling out from both Best Buy online and Amazon in a matter of hours. You’ve heard about the three month offer from Netflix that ended suddenly.
You’ve heard that you can get Netflix and YouTube on your Xbox, PS3 or even a lot of Blue-ray players out there. And you’ve heard the cries of those in the Android community that this is really no different than any other Android PC stick or streaming media player on the market. But again, none of that matters.
So, without any further delay, we give you our Google Chromecast review. (applause)
Netflix Offer…alas we hardly knew you
Let’s be honest: The free three months of Netflix didn’t make much impact in anyone’s decision to buy the Chromecast – and it shouldn’t. There was a huge outcry that ‘Google botched another product launch’ or ‘Netflix did a bait and switch.’ It’s all been blown a little out of proportion. Yes, I would have liked to see a definite limit or end date publicized for the promotion, but that could just be the former retail clerk in me speaking. I can see how this could have caused a lot of customer service issues.
But, all of that aside, the offer doesn’t make a difference at all. There were numerous sites and bloggers saying that, with the three free months, the actual cost of the Chromecast was really $11.
The argument was that three free months of Netflix at $8 per month (forgetting that Netflix gives you one month free just for signing up) is $24. Subtract that from the $35 price tag gives you $11. But that overlooks one thing:
Is there arguably any less value in the Chromecast at $35 than $11? If you can’t see that even $35 is a steal for this technology, then please, click away from the page now. You’re in the wrong article.
Isn’t this just another Android PC stick?
In short…no. The Chromecast is more similar to streaming media players like the Roku than Android stick PC’s. The Chromecast runs a modified version of the Google TV OS (although there are some reports that it runs a modified Chrome OS). It doesn’t run a full version of Android, so it’s not going to have the same abilities – and that’s not a bad thing.
When we reviewed the Rockchip MK808B recently, we were amazed at the versatility of the device. It can run any Android app that your smartphone or tablet can, and on a bigger screen. All that versatility comes at a cost though. Bootup is not quick. To be honest, my Windows PC with an SSD hard drive boots up faster than the MK808B.
The Chromecast is the opposite. It is simple in design and streamlined in operation. Boot time is in the order of seconds, not minutes. Streaming a video from your tablet or smartphone is almost instantaneous, depending on your network speed. But, for that performance, you get a much simpler device in terms of functionality. All the Chromecast does is stream videos from Netflix, YouTube and the Google Play store. But it does it seamlessly.
Chromecast Review: Setup
We’ve already done an unboxing video so you can check out what’s included in the package. We’ve seen a setup video from IGN which describes the process as “a hassle.” We couldn’t disagree more.
For the Chromecast review, we used a Nexus 7 tablet for setup and found it to be incredibly easy.
There is an app in the Google Play store which will take you step by step through the process. I use the phrase ‘step by step’ because there really are only two steps, once the app is launched. First, the app will scan your wireless network for any Chromecast devices it can find and display a confirmation code for each. Second, add in your wireless network password so it has access to your network. Third…wait, there is no third.
OK, Third: Watch the intro video because it’s pretty cool.
That’s it. I’d say it was a five minute setup process, but four minutes of that was spent getting to the back of my TV, plugging the Chromecast into the HDMI port and plugging in the USB power adapter. Our test TV doesn’t have a USB port so I wasn’t able to test that functionality.
During the Google launch demonstration, they showed the Chromecast being able to turn on the TV and setting it to the correct input. Unfortunately it appears that this functionality only works if the TV has a USB port and the Chromecast is connected to that port as well as through HDMI.
Chromecast Review: You gotta see this!
The beauty of the Chromecast is in the “You gotta see this” factor. Stop to think about how many times you’ve been handed a friend’s phone or tablet just to watch a video on YouTube. Netflix and YouTube account for almost half of the videos being played over the internet. That in a nutshell is what the Chromecast was built for. This device has one simple purpose: to play that cool video on a big screen so you can share the experience. In that purpose, Chromecast hits it out of the park.
Chromecast Review: Simplicity…or… Remote? What remote?
One of the main goals of the Chromecast device team was simplicity across platforms. To the Chromecast, it doesn’t matter if you’re using iOS or Android (no Windows phone yet). It doesn’t matter if you’re with your friends and there are five other devices connected to your network. Chromecast will integrate with them all. This has the potential of creating a little competition for the control of the TV, but we’ve been dealing with that for as long as we’ve had remotes.
The beautiful thing is that there’s no new app to learn. There is only one additional button on your YouTube, Netflix, Pandora or Google Play apps which streams the content to your TV. No learning curve. To use an old Microsoft slogan – “It just works.”
Chromecast Review: The Verdict
It’s easy to recommend the Chromecast. For what it is, it’s an almost perfect device – and it’s only going to get better as more content providers come online. In terms of price, it’s a good value at twice the price. At $35, buy it now – it’s just too good. |
Governor Charlie Baker, a Republican who took office in January 2015, has taken steps to rein in state spending and help close budget gaps.
The Massachusetts state payroll declined slightly in 2016, marking its first decrease in at least 16 years, according to recently compiled data.
While the overall payroll shrunk, the state continued to dole out increasing sums to cover overtime, buyouts, and other types of pay beyond standard wages.
The dip in the state payroll was driven by a reduction in the workforce. Governor Charlie Baker, a Republican who took office in January 2015, has taken steps to rein in state spending and help close budget gaps, including a hiring freeze and an early retirement program.
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“It’s definitely a positive sign,” said Mary Connaughton, director of government transparency at the Pioneer Institute, a nonprofit think tank that supports limited government. “One of the largest parts of the state’s budget is salaries, and trying to control that is no easy challenge.”
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Overall, $6.865 billion was spent on state worker salaries in 2016. That represented a 0.6 percent decline — or $38.8 million — from 2015.
The 2016 payroll represented nearly 18 percent of the state’s $39 billion budget.
State Comptroller Thomas Shack said that it marked the first time the payroll had shrunk since at least 2000. He said that records for earlier years could not be easily compared because they are paper-based.
The figures do not account for some independent state agencies that handle their own payrolls, such as the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. State payroll data going back to 2010 is published on a website the state comptroller’s office recently launched to promote transparency.
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The number of workers on the state payroll, which includes some people who only worked for the state briefly and collected small sums, was 126,126 last year, down from 126,692 in 2015.
Much of the cost cutting came from the Department of Transportation, the Department of Revenue, the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development, and the Trial Court system.
“The Baker-Polito administration is pleased to have reduced the state’s bureaucracy, saving hundreds of millions for taxpayers, and will continue to pursue effective cost savings and fiscally responsible budget solutions to support the Commonwealth,” said Baker spokesman Brendan Moss.
Baker and Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito recently opted not to take a pay raise for themselves. (Baker made $151,800 in 2016; Polito made $122,058.)
The Baker administration’s ability to cut personnel costs is limited because chunks of the state’s payroll — such as state colleges and universities — are not under the governor’s direct control. Even within the executive branch, the governor’s administration sets the salaries for only a small percentage of workers because many are covered by union contracts.
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Massachusetts spent more than $250 million on overtime pay, up by $5.4 million from 2015. Statewide spending on buyouts also rose from $68.9 million to $69.6 million.
And, “other” pay — which includes standby pay, shift differential, roll call pay, police detail, and stipends — rose from $173 million to $183 million.
Overtime spending by the Department of Correction was up by $6.9 million. Department spokesman Christopher Fallon attributed the increase to pay raises under collective bargaining and to more employees using leave benefits last year than they did in 2015.
Those posts are sometimes filled by having other employees work overtime, he said, adding that use of such leave time tends to fluctuate each year.
State Police, which typically spends more each year on overtime pay than any other department, spent $46.2 million in overtime in 2016, an increase of $2.5 million from the previous year.
State Police spokesman David Procopio said troopers are often needed to work overtime to respond to “critical or ongoing incidents such as investigations into violent crimes, searches for missing persons and children, and storm and disaster response ... [and] for court appearances necessary to ensure charged individuals whom they have investigated and arrested are held accountable.”
The Pioneer Institute’s Connaughton said that the state should look into ways to lower overtime costs.
“That would be another opportunity to see if there can be further savings,” she said.
The average pay among all state workers last year was about $54,343, slightly lower than the average in 2015 of $54,419.
(By comparison, the average pay for all private and public workers in Massachusetts was $59,010 in May of 2015, the most recent figures available from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. That was up from $57,610 in May of 2014.)
Yet the number of well-paid state workers continued to climb, albeit at a slower rate than in previous years.
State data show that 13,573 workers earned $100,000 or more in 2016, up from 13,265 in 2015
The University of Massachusetts system, like in previous years, accounted for most of the highest-paid state workers overall.
The UMass system employs many more people than any other department, and its $1.35 billion payroll last year, similar to previous years, was the largest of any department in the state by a wide margin. Its payroll grew by the largest sum of any department — $40 million — which university officials said was due to increase in collective bargaining obligations.
UMass spokesman Jeff Cournoyer said that only 22 percent of UMass’ total revenue comes from state tax dollars. Cournoyer said the expansion of UMass’ payroll in recent years is consistent with its growth in numerous areas, including student enrollment, that has driven the hiring of new faculty and staff.
“UMass is a world-class university system conducting $629 million annually in life-changing research, generating $6.2 billion in annual economic impact — a 12-1 return on its state appropriation — and is not only one of the largest employers in the state but contributes more than any other institution to the state’s overall workforce” Cournoyer said in an e-mail.
The highest paid state worker, for the third straight year, was UMass’ basketball coach Derek Kellogg, who earned about $1,063,678 in 2016.
The next highest was UMass Medical School chancellor Michael Collins who made $938,075 in 2016.
Todd Wallack of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Matt Rocheleau can be reached at [email protected] . Follow him on Twitter @mrochele |
Toyota’s Heavy-Duty Fuel Cell Truck Finally Hits the Road
Toyota’s long-awaited hydrogen fuel cell electric truck is finally hitting the road, almost six months after the company first unveiled the clean and quiet Class 8 drayage truck.
The custom-built prototype will haul imported Toyota parts from the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to warehousing and distribution operations in Southern California, some as many as 100 miles away. The program, which Toyota is calling “Project Portal,” will run indefinitely starting Oct. 23.
The test is designed to develop operating cost and reliability data to support Toyota’s contention that fuel cell electric trucks are an economically feasible alternative to both standard diesel drayage trucks and the new crop of battery-electric trucks just entering the market.
“We are excited to start the world’s first test of a heavy-duty fuel cell truck,” said Andrew Lund, Toyota’s chief engineer on the project. He told Trucks.com that Toyota has quietly been testing the truck under varying load conditions around the ports since August and will be putting it into real commercial-duty operation later this month. The truck will be operated by Toyota drivers working through port-based drayage company Southern Counties Express.
Testing at Toyota’s facility in Arizona and at the ports since the truck’s April unveiling has led to “some software updates” and the addition of supplementary air ducts to increase airflow for cooling the under-hood electronics, said Takehito Yokoo, Toyota North America’s senior executive engineer for fuel cell development.
Fuel cell vehicles are powered by electric motors but don’t need bulky, heavy battery packs to store the energy. Instead, they make their own power by pulling electrons from compressed hydrogen in a process that takes place in a fairly compact fuel cell stack. There’s no combustion and no tailpipe emissions, although the present process for producing fuel quality compressed hydrogen is not emissions-free.
The technology isn’t limited to trucks. It debuted in modern passenger vehicles several years ago and now Toyota, Honda and Hyundai have passenger cars in the California market that use fuel cell electric propulsion systems.
Although fuel cell technology’s feasibility hasn’t yet been demonstrated, many analysts believe hydrogen fuel cell and battery-electric systems – along with hybrids that combine electric drive with cleaner internal combustion engines – will begin to dominate in short-haul commercial trucking applications. The same theory holds true for passenger vehicles, especially as the transportation industry moves away from fossil fuels under tightening emissions regulations and global uncertainty around fossil fuel price and availability.
“This has been a sea-change year in commercial trucking,” said Bill Van Amburg, executive vice president of CalStart, a Pasadena-based clean transportation technologies coalition.
“It’s not just a lot of innovators doing things,” Van Amburg told Trucks.com.
Major suppliers as well as engine and truck manufacturers are “starting to turn the switch,” he said. “Electrification is starting to take off in some segments, especially transit buses.”
Van Amburg expects to see an influx of medium-duty products in the near term, followed by activity in the heavy-duty segment in the mid-term.
The causes, he said, include clean air regulations and potential bans on combustion engines in Europe as well as China – the world’s largest car and truck market. In the U.S., states such as California have the ability to adopt stricter standards than the federal government.
And while diesel and gasoline prices remain relatively low in the U.S., the long-term price stability and availability of fossil fuels for transportation remains a concern.
“Fossil fuels are a huge balance of trade issue in China, India and Japan, which have no domestic oil production,” Van Amburg said.
Toyota and other companies that are developing battery- and fuel cell electric trucks believe they are leading a wholesale transformation of the industry. They also argue that in addition to air quality improvement and fuel stability, electric propulsion systems can bring significant long-term operating savings to trucking fleet operators.
In addition to Toyota, propulsion systems developer U.S. Hybrid and truck maker Kenworth have said they will be developing hydrogen fuel cell electric systems for Class 8 drayage trucks.
Nikola Motor is developing a fuel cell powered Class 8 long-haul tractor-trailer combo that will be able to refuel at a national network of Nikola-built hydrogen stations. Bosch, a major global components supplier, is developing an electric-drive axle system for the Nikola truck and has a large and growing electrification unit.
General Motors, one of the world’s biggest car and truck producers, recently unveiled a heavy-duty fuel cell truck concept and has said that hydrogen is a key part of its future.
Additionally, parcel delivery giant UPS is deploying 17 custom-built fuel cell electric Class 6 delivery vans in select markets throughout its fleet over the coming year to capture operating cost and reliability information.
On the battery-electric front, Tesla plans to unveil a Tesla Class 8 electric tractor – likely for drayage use – on November 16. The Tesla truck is slated for 2020 production. The launch of the electric semi has been delayed twice now as Tesla struggles with production issues for its new Model 3 electric sedan.
Others with trucks already in the market or under development include Chinese manufacturer BYD, a major electric truck and bus maker partly owned by Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway; diesel engine giant Cummins Inc., which is developing its own electric powertrain; and Kansas City’s Orange EV, a developer of heavy-duty electric tractors for port terminal work.
Wrightspeed, a California company, makes range-extended turbine-electric powertrains for the refuse truck industry; Texas-based Peterbilt showed a Class 8 electric refuse truck at an industry expo earlier this year; and Indiana’s Workhorse Group is developing the W15 electric pickup truck for fleet duty. It also has an electric delivery van in the competition for a U.S. Postal Service fleet replacement contract.
Others in the medium-duty class include Mitsubishi-Fuso, a unit of Daimler Trucks, which just launched the first factory-built line of electric work trucks with eCanter. Los Angeles-based Chanje Energy is a Chinese-backed startup with a Class 5 electric delivery van.
Read Next: Hydrogen Fuel Cell Trucks: Holy Grail or Hot Potato |
UPDATE: Following an early-morning distress call, the HMS Bounty has sunk off the coast of North Carolina.
The replica ship had lost communications early Monday, Oct. 29, about 90 miles southeast of Hatteras, N.C.
The search for two members of the 16-person crew continues, with 14 other members of the crew having already been lifted from two rescue boats. None of the rescued members of the Bounty's crew suffered life-threatening injuries.
A C-130 fixed-wing aircraft, an MH-60 helicopter have already been deployed by the Coast Guard, which was readying to deploy ships to search for the two missing crew members at 1 p.m. Monday, Oct. 29.
The Coast Guard is urging boaters not to take any undue risks on the water.
Calls were made early Monday morning that contact had been lost with the replica Bounty off the coast of North Carolina.
The Coast Guard sent two MH-60 Jayhawk helicopters at 6:30 a.m. to hoist 14 people from the water.
The 14 recovered members of the crew were air-lifted to Air Station Elizabeth City to be met with medical services.
The 16-person crew had to don cold water survival suits and life jackets before abandoning the ship in two 25-foot lifeboats.
The 180-foot tall ship ran into 18-foot seas and 40-mile-per-hour winds from Hurricane Sandy and was reportedly without propulsion and taking on water.
On Sunday night, the U.S. Coast Guard received a call from the owner of the vessel saying communications with the ship had been lost.
The 180-foot tall, three-masted ship was to winter in Galveston, Texas.
The replica and star of “Mutiny on the Bounty” had been hauled-out by Boothbay Harbor Shipyard for a month for repairs. The ship set sail from Boothbay earlier in the month.
The ship was housed at the Boothbay Harbor Shipyard for approximately a month as it underwent several repairs, including major bottom-work and new fuel tanks.
The Bounty is a replica of the famed British vessel that was scuttled in 1789 off the coast of Tahiti following a mutiny.
Ben Bulkeley can be reached at 633-4620 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @BBRegisterBen. |
Where They Lived
Diverse in culture and way of life, they lived in hundreds of small, politically autonomous communities up and down the state, connected by trade and kinship networks. Two maps show the general range of these tribes throughout the entire area. The map of Pomo linguistic stock shows many dialect variations and village sites, demonstrating the complexity of language variations in just one tribal group.
How They Lived
Most California native communities consisted of between 200 and 500 people. Boundaries were general. Nomadic groups tended to have greater social and gender equality, while more sedentary groups had hierarchical social classes with a wide gulf between rich and poor.
Although artwork by European artists depicts some aspects of California Indian life, we have no images from pre-Columbian California. The lithographs shown here, by Russian artist Ludwig Choris, were based on sketches he created during a visit to California in 1816 — long after their traditional way of life had been disrupted.
It is possible to get glimpses of their lives, but it is impossible to know how these tribes really looked and lived, as opposed to how they were viewed through European eyes. For example, because native groups usually altered the landscape in a way that mimicked nature, Europeans mistakenly assumed natives lived in an untouched "wilderness." But whether they lived in mountains, valleys, deserts, forests, or beaches, native peoples continually managed their environment, tending and cultivating the land through controlled burnings, weeding, pruning, tilling, irrigation, and selective replanting.
Basketry
We do know that elaborate basketry was an integral component of Native Californian culture and subsistence. Baskets were both beautiful and functional. They varied greatly by shape and size based on their function, be it for gathering food, sifting acorn meal, storing tobacco, gambling, cooking, and even transporting water. Native Californians could weave so tightly that their baskets held boiling water — heated by hot rocks — without leaking.
Although the images shown here do not include baskets from pre-Columbian times, these traditional baskets suggest the wide range of shapes, patterns, and types of baskets made by native women. Two photographs taken in Yosemite National Park during the 1930s and 1940s show Lucy Telles, a famous basketmaker also known as Pa-ma-has (1885-1955). Telles was of Yosemite Miwok and Mono Lake Paiute descent. She often worked in the park, demonstrating native basket-making techniques for tourists. One photograph shows her working on her largest basket; the other shows her seated amidst 10 other baskets, possibly all made by her. |
Looking for a game where you embark on an eerie adventure and discover secrets? You might want to look into The Charnel House Trilogy. From Owl Cave and Mastertronic, The Charnel House Trilogy is now available on Steam. It follows Alex Davenport and Dr. Harold Lang, two strangers who board an ominous train, grasping at fragments of memories and confronting pasts perhaps best left forgotten.
As the name says, The Charnel House Trilogy combines three horror adventure games into one package, including Sepulchre, the original tale from Owl Cave starring Madeleine Roux, Peter Willington, Jonathan Grier, Jim Sterling (yes, THAT Jim Sterling), and Ben Chandler.
I’m actually not familiar with the game, which currently only has two pre-release customer reviews on its Steam page — one negative, one positive. Do your research and see if this adventure game is something you’d enjoy. The game costs $5.99 on Steam, but it’s 20% off ($4.79) until April 23. |
The nominees for the 11th annual Canadian Folk Music Awards were announced this afternoon at City Hall, and three Edmontonians are among the 73 artists up for 19 different awards.
Local artists Laura Vinson, Lizzy Hoyt and Rebecca Lappa will enjoy hometown support when Edmonton hosts the gala awards show Nov. 8 at the Citadel Theatre.
Vinson, along with her band, Free Spirit, is nominated for Aboriginal Songwriter of the Year. Her album, Warrior, is up against folk legend Buffy Sainte Marie’s Polaris-shortlisted Power In The Blood, as well as artists from as far away as Iqaluit and Thunder Bay, Ont.
Multi-instrumentalist Hoyt is up for Solo Artist of the Year alongside St. John’s Amelia Curran, a frontrunner who’s up for three awards this year.
Lizzy Hoyt is nominated for Solo Artist of the Year.
Lappa, who’s been nominated for a CFMA every year since 2011, is nominated for Young Performer of the Year (artists must be under 19 at the time of recording) off the strength of her recent album, Tattered Rose. Completing the Alberta contingent is Robbie Bankes, who’s up for the same award. The Calgary native is currently based in Rauland, Norway, where he’s studying folk music at university (it’s paid off).
Rebecca Lappa is nominated for Young Performer of the Year. Robbie Bankes is nominated for Young Performer of the Year.
Overall, nine provinces (all but New Brunswick) and all three territories are represented at this year’s awards. British Columbia’s husband-and-wife bluegrass duo Pharis and Jason Romero, who hail from Horsefly, lead with four nominations for their album A Wanderer I’ll Stay. Curran, fellow St. John’s natives Fortunate Ones, Nova Scotia’s Jenn Grant, Toronto’s Whitehorse and PEI’S Catherine MacLellan have three nominations each.
This year’s youngest nominee is Stella Swanson, honoured in the Children’s Album of the Year category. At only nine years old, she’s earned a nod for I’m Not A Bunny, inspired by her actual pet rabbit.
Events — including showcase concerts on Friday and Saturday by the nominees, $25 each — take place the whole weekend, Nov. 6-8. Sunday’s bilingual awards gala goes from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. and will be hosted by Regina singer/songwriter Connie Kaldor and Quebec singer, dancer and musician Benoit Bourque, who’s also a member of the band, La Bottine Souriante. Tickets ($50) are open to the public and can be purchased by visiting folkawards.ca or clicking here.
A full list of this year’s nominees can be found here.
BY THE NUMBERS
B.C.: 16 nominations, 12 artists
Alberta: 4 nominations, 4 artists
Saskatchewan: 1 nomination, 1 artist
Manitoba: 4 nominations, 6 artists
Ontario: 33 nominations, 25 artists
Quebec: 14 nominations, 12 artists
Nova Scotia: 7 nominations, 4 artists
Newfoundland: 11 nominations, 5 artists
Prince Edward Island: 3 nominations, 1 artist
Yukon: 1 nomination, 1 artist
Northwest Territories: 1 nomination, 1 artist
Nunavut: 2 nominations, 1 artist |
Next gen hacker SuperDaeE, who breached Sony, Microsoft, Epic, Valve, Blizzard and other gaming companies, just released a 1.7TB treasure trove FTP download. The files, however, are apparently encrypted. Previously, SuperDaE vowed he would release said files, which are believed to contain sensitive information about unreleased games, should he be arrested.
SuperDaE, whose real name is "Dylan" and who is an Australian citizen, announced earlier his plans on sister site Gizmodo. SuperDaE leaked loads of accurate new info to Kotaku about the then unnamed Xbox One and PS4 earlier this year. Earlier today when the FTP went life, SuperDaE tweeted, "Insurance up."
As Kotaku first mentioned last month, the "insurance file" supposedly contains material grabbed by SuperDaE's hacks into Gears of War and Unreal Engine developer Epic, World of Warcraft studio Blizzard, Sleeping Dogs dev house United Front Games and the now-shuttered publisher THQ, among others.
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The FTP also apparently contains software development kits for the PS4, Xbox One and Wii U as well as possible old code for unreleased games such as Company of Heroes 2 and WWE 14. The Epic directory includes folders for Unreal Engine 4 and UE4 projects called Fortnite (an announced game), Kilo, Lima and Orion.
When asked via Twitter what the FTP contained, SuperDaE replied, "Enough files to change the video game industry for better."
The encrypted file is currently live on SuperDaE's site (noted by LevelSave and NeoGAF). SuperDaE's website also has an Australian bank transfer number and a BitCoin link. Currently, it's unclear how the downloader gets the seemingly necessary key to open the file.
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Recently, Kotaku reported that SuperDaE, a 17 year-old minor, was facing an array of eight legal charges, including "possession of cannabis and drug paraphernalia", "possession of a prohibited weapon", "possession of identification material with intent to commit an offence", and "possessing and copying an indecent or obscene article, possession of child exploitation material".
Last Kotaku heard SuperDaE was out on bail.
Update: When Kotaku asked SuperDaE what would trigger the "insurance" file's release, the Australian hacker replied, "My inability to access a computer."
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For those who know me I’m perhaps the biggest Arnold Schwarzenegger fan around and have seen just about every one of his movies. I quote his movies daily with friends and family and pretty much idolize his ascension in the bodybuilding world as well as movies and politics. Success runs synonymous with the name Arnold Schwarzenegger!
Now that his career in politics appears to be over he can focus on what made him a house hold name, movies! Many rumors have been swirling about that Arnold is planning on reprising his role in several movies which he does not do too often sans a few such as Terminator 2, Terminator 3, The Expendables and Conan. However the rumors that I mentioned look to have him reprising his role again in Terminator 5, another Conan, a possible True Lies sequel and recently announced TWINS sequel called Triplets.
I can honestly say that I am more than thrilled to hear the news of these sequels, especially True Lies and Conan. The Triplets movie is not really something I’m too interested in since I was not thrilled with the first one anyways.
Terminator does not surprise me since he sort of made a digital cameo in T4 as the Cyberdyne Systems Model 101 or T-800 so its only natural to assume he will have some sort of appearance in Terminator 5, perhaps as a real person who the terminator is based off of, that would be interesting.
True Lies 2 has been talked about as soon as the first was released back in 1994. James Cameron, the director of True Lies, has expressed disinterest in sequels earlier in his career but according to recent news his focus lies with 2 sequels to Avatar. Afterwards he plans on devoting time to True Lies and possibly a Terminator sequel, which will be both highly anticipated and definite box office successes.
The movie that we are most likely to see first aside from Triplets (I’m on the fence about it) is a third Conan movie. The synopsis could be about an aging Conan who is now King and is at the end of his reign. He wants to go all out in one last battle, for glory! I think the idea is great and do like the idea of an older Conan reigning supreme and having an itch for one last battle. I guess you can say its similar to the last Rocky Balboa film that shows Rocky not 100% satisfied with his boxing career and needs one last final/farewell fight to close the book on his life. I see this as a success or maybe I’m being biased, either way I think Conan still has some life left.
I hope Arnold continues making movies well into his 70’s. He can still be a top box office action hero as long as it remains believable. I will remain his biggest fan even when he is long gone. There is no one like Arnold Schwarzenegger.
via Project Arnold |
Two of the strongest Overwatch teams in South Korea will face off on Friday in Seoul in the first semifinals match in OGN Overwatch APEX Season 2. RunAway will be tested against LW Blue in a best-of-five series to advance into the finals and a chance at the championship.
RunAway climbed a rocky road to get back into APEX having almost fallen out of the league this past season, but with its winning streak since getting out of groups, the team has become a very intimidating opponent, especially for LW Blue.
"To look at external factors first, RunAway's team atmosphere right now is fantastic," Afreeca Freecs head coach Kim "TaiRong" Tae Yeong said. "They almost never get into disagreements, and whenever they do, it gets resolved in a healthy manner very quickly. There are no emotional rifts between the players, and this positive environment naturally leads to great team synergy."
Any spectators who have watched RunAway compete in APEX are likely to have seen the victory celebrations that Yoon "Runner" Dae Hoon has enacted in the booth, either cheering loudly or getting up after winning on a single map to hug his teammates. The Lucio main and core of his team, Runner has charged himself with keeping the team energy high. LW Blue's consistency issues could easily lead to RunAway stealing a set and creating a gap that not even LW Blue's Hwang "Fl0w3R" Yeon Oh could close.
"Genji in professional play is at least 70 percent a team effort," TaiRong said. While Fl0w3R is an absolutely fantastic DPS player, so is RunAway's Kim "Haksal" Hyo Jong, who made RunAway famous in Season 1 in the first place. Genji plays from the spectator's point of view can easily look like a one-man job, but neither one of them can put the team on his back entirely.
Because there is such an emphasis on how well a team can support and enable its main DPS players, it makes sense that the team with the most well-rounded performance should come out on top, but good vibes and a positive attitude aren't enough. Disrupting the enemy team's use of the meta is important, too.
"RunAway should be good," TaiRong said, "if they focus on overpowering LW Blue's tanks."
Certainly, Kim "Mek0" Tae-hong's Zarya and D.Va are frightening, especially paired up with Song "janus" Jun-hwa's Reinhardt and Winston. With Mek0 playing utility tanks and janus playing the main backbone, LW's support and DPS have a formidable foundation to win games.
RunAway can't overtake the rest of LW Blue without first eliminating Mek0 and janus. So, will Runner and the rest of RunAway advance to the finals, or will it be LW Blue that finally stop them in their tracks? |
Update 5th Nov: The fire strike has been cancelled, so the fireworks are scheduled to go ahead as planned – but the weather is looking unreliable, with a good chance of rain from about 7pm onwards, which may affect some displays.
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Time to start planning the annual celebration of the persecution of a Papist plot to kill our Protestant Monarch. Sadly, the burning of effigies seems to be frowned upon now, although a few venues will have bonfires this year.
Thanks to a rare conjunction of the calendar and history, Bonfire Night this year will be on a Friday, so with clever planning it can be possible to attend three firework displays, spread over the whole weekend!
If I’ve missed any (as I am bound to have), then send me a note and I’ll update the details.
Clever bit: Click on the headers in the table below to sort the columns as you might prefer.
Notes: Alexandra Palace has cancelled its fireworks this year.
Prices displayed are for purchases on the gate – some venues may offer cheaper tickets if purchased in advance
Caveat Emptor: The details are believed to be correct, but you should always check with the venue for changes. |
As if the idea of designated “free speech zones” isn’t a skin-crawlingly bad enough test of the bounds of free speech, here comes Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker to up the creepy ante: Why not charge protesters to exercise their First Amendment rights on state property? That’s just what Walker has proposed under a new policy that’s already in effect in his home state. –KA
Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel:
The policy, which also requires permits for events at the statehouse and other state buildings, took effect Thursday and will be phased in by Dec. 16. Walker administration officials contend the policy simply clarifies existing rules.
State law already says public officials may issue permits for the use of state facilities, and applicants “shall be liable to the state … for any expense arising out of any such use and for such sum as the managing authority may charge for such use.”
But Edward Fallone, an associate professor at Marquette University Law School, said the possibility of charging demonstrators for police costs might be problematic because some groups might not be able to afford to pay.
“I’m a little skeptical about charging people to express their First Amendment opinion,” he said. “You can’t really put a price tag on the First Amendment.”
Read more |
A Dundee councillor says she has been subjected to racist comments on a website by people campaigning for independence.
Maryfield councillor Georgia Cruickshank says the comments came after she was approached by a man who was both “aggressive” and “intimidating” to her at the recent Baxter Park Community Family Fun Day.
The Labour councillor has described the comments on the wingsoverscotland site as “a bit pathetic” and says she found the fun day episode “unsavoury”.
However, the site’s organiser has called the claims “ridiculous”.
She said: “When campaigning in support of the Better Together position, I witnessed first-hand how ugly, damaging and divisive this debate is becoming for some individuals within the Yes camp.
“At the Baxter Park Community Family Fun Day on Saturday I was approached by an individual who, at the outset and whilst there were children and youths around, appeared quite reasonable.
“However, this Jekyll and Hyde character changed as quickly as the children and youths moved away. As a mature woman, I quickly felt quite intimidated by his attitude, which I felt was quite aggressive towards me and what I stand for.
“In response to his question why wouldn’t I vote yes for separation, I tried to explain why I believe we are better together, moving forward as a nation, one United Kingdom, which only seemed to anger him further.
“He wouldn’t let me answer his questions, just kept firing more questions at me and I asked him why he was being so angry and aggressive towards me.
“He said ‘because this matters, it really matters’.
“As a local councillor, this community fun day was a great opportunity to just have a chat with local people.”
Ms Cruickshank, who hails from the north of England, says a friend then contacted her about photographs and derogatory comments that had been posted about her on the website.
Among the comments from a man called Gordon Bain, one said Ms Cruickshank had sworn at him before she “dived under the table”.
She said other comments claimed the Better Together campaign had “bussed” in a Geordie woman to man the stall, while others questioned her colour.
She said: “At first, I laughed at the photographs and even appreciated the skill someone has, as a photo of me has been superimposed on to an endless number of derelict sites throughout Scotland.
“But the other postings on this website show a very sinister side to the ‘Yes’ campaign.
“These racist and anti-English comments would not be tolerated in a football ground and would certainly not be tolerated in any workplace, so why is this website allowed to continue supporting this type of material?”
The site’s host, the Rev Stuart Campbell said: “I have no idea what happened in Baxter Park, as I wasn’t there. The story as recounted to me was of Ms Cruickshank responding to some questions with a curt “F*** ***”.
“But the idea that anyone made ‘racist’ comments about Ms Cruickshank is ridiculous. It was noted that she had a Geordie accent but nobody attached this to any abusive remarks.
“Later, an anti-independence campaigner on Facebook accused the site and its readers of victimising Ms Cruickshank because she was ‘black’, at which some people expressed simple surprise because Ms Cruickshank had not appeared to anyone, including the person who spoke to her, to be anything other than white.
“Absolutely nobody made or would have made any derogatory comments about her colour. There were neither racist nor anti-English comments made by anyone and those quoted by Ms Cruickshank are plainly neither of those things but differences of political opinion.” |
I’m definitely not going to win a mother-of-the-year award with this admission, but my kids eat Nutella directly out of the jar, with a spoon.
They love the sweet, hazelnut chocolate spread and would eat it with every meal if I let them.
I’ve long felt guilty after reading the list of ingredients in the popular spread, which was started by the Italian company Ferrero. Those ingredients begin with sugar and include palm oil, a substance I don’t really want my kids ingesting.
But, unlike peanut butter, for which I can easily find a natural version, it’s hard to find a healthful hazelnut spread.
When I set out to make it myself, I also was wondering if I could make something I wouldn’t mind spreading on my own toast in the morning. I love hazelnuts but find the jarred stuff too sweet.
The answer to that question is yes, but the kids prefer a higher sugar content.
So, before it’s time to serve those quick back-to-school breakfasts of Nutella on toast, I’m offering two recipes for homemade spread — one that my kids are still perfectly content to eat with a spoon, even though it has less sugar and no palm oil, and one that more closely resembles natural peanut butter in texture but with a hint of chocolate. That one requires refrigeration and a quick stir before use, but it’s worth the effort.
Both recipes require a little oil to smooth things out. You can use sunflower or even canola oil, but I liked the extra nutty flavor that hazelnut oil provided.
You’ll need a food processor or high-powered blender for this recipe. The hardest part is skinning the hazelnuts, which is done by roasting them in the oven and rolling them in a towel to separate the stubborn skins from the nut. I don’t mind the texture of the skins, so I was rather lazy about removing all the skin, but the more you remove, the smoother the finished product.
NUTELLA KNOCK-OFF
This version is very similar to what comes in the store-bought jar. It keeps at room temperature for a few weeks, but I’d be shocked if it lasts that long. Recipe is adapted from splendidtable.com.
Makes about 2 cups.
1 cup hazelnuts
3 tablespoons powdered sugar
2 tablespoons hazelnut oil
1 tablespoon good-quality unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
12 ounces milk chocolate chips, or chopped milk chocolate
To roast nuts: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place hazelnuts on baking sheet. Roast, shaking pan a few times to keep nuts from burning, for 12 minutes or until deep-golden brown. Place still-warm hazelnuts in clean tea towel. Rub vigorously to remove as much of skin as possible.
To process nuts: Place nuts in food processor or industrial-strength blender. Process until a paste forms. Add powdered sugar, oil, cocoa powder, vanilla and salt. Process for 5 minutes or until as smooth as possible. Set aside.
To melt chocolate: In microwave or over double boiler, heat chocolate, stirring frequently, until just melted.
To finish: Add chocolate to hazelnut mixture. Process just until combined.
To store: Store at room temperature for up to two weeks. (Note: Mixture will firm up as it sits overnight.)
NUTELLA FOR GROWN-UPS
If you love hazelnuts, this version is for you.
Makes about 2 1/2 cups.
2 cups hazelnuts
2 tablespoons hazelnut oil
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/3 cup milk chocolate chips
1/3 cup dark chocolate chips
To roast nuts: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place hazelnuts on baking sheet. Roast, shaking pan a few times to keep nuts from burning, for 12 minutes or until deep-golden brown. Place still-warm hazelnuts in clean tea towel. Rub vigorously to remove as much of skin as possible.
To process nuts: Place nuts in food processor or industrial-strength blender. Process until a paste forms. Add oil, cocoa powder, vanilla and salt. Process for 5 minutes or until as smooth as possible. Set aside.
To melt chocolate: In microwave or over double boiler, heat both kinds of chocolate chips, stirring frequently, until just melted.
To finish: Add chocolate to hazelnut mixture. Process just until combined.
To store: Store in refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Give it a stir before using.
Jess Fleming can be reached at 651-228-5435. Follow her at twitter.com/jessflem. |
Congress leader Kapil Sibal hit out at PM Narendra Modi during the Gujarat election campaign
Congress leader Kapil Sibal, attacked by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah over his plea in the Supreme Court to defer the Ayodhya case till after the 2019 elections, hit back on Wednesday evening asking his critics to check their facts."Our PM comments without knowing things sometimes. Amit Shah and he said I represented the Sunni Waqf Board. I was never a Sunni Waqf Board lawyer," Mr Sibal stated, adding that he was representing an individual in the Ayodhya case. He also said, "The Ram temple will be built when God wants it built, not when Modiji wants it. The matter is in court."At an election meeting in Gujarat today, PM Modi censured the Congress over Mr Sibal's petition in the Supreme Court, saying that while the Congress leader and senior lawyer has the right to defend the Babri masjid in court, it was not proper to "link Ram mandir with the Lok Sabha elections."At another rally, PM Modi congratulated the Sunni Waqf Board for their "brave stand", a reference to the board's member Haji Mehboob disowning Mr Sibal argument in court and insisting that they too wanted an early decision.Haji Mehboob, however, backed out after Zafaryab Jilani, convenor of the Babri Masjid Action Committee contradicted him. Mr Jilani said Mr Sibal's statement in court was made after "consultation with all advocates including leaders of the Muslim Personal Law Board. Mr Sibal had discussed this".The senior lawyer, whose argument in court was used by the BJP to try to corner the Congress, also rubbed it in.PM Modi did not check the fact that he had never represented the Sunni Waqf Board in the Supreme Court, Mr Sibal said.The court order had listed Mr Sibal as a lawyer for an individual, Mohammad Hashim.The Prime Minister should be a "little more careful", he said, asking the ruling party to "address the concerns of India" and "not divide the people of our country like this". BJP chief Amit Shah also had yesterday quoted Mr Sibal to challenge Congress boss Rahul Gandhi to clarify his party's stand on the Ram temple. The BJP, Mr Shah said, is clear it wants the dispute resolved at the soonest. "The Supreme Court should give a judgment and a grand Ram temple should be built in Ayodhya," he said. |
Part of that bourgeois dream involved white people getting to live out their fantasies of having black servants. I Watched a Casino Kill Itself: The Awful Last Nights of Atlantic City’s Taj Mahal Olivia Nuzzi December 8, 2014
Many historians have leveled criticism at the Code, arguing that it was too conservative and supportive of the bourgeois. Napoleon Was a Dynamite Dictator J.P. O’Malley November 7, 2014
Diaspora always meant tragedy; you think you can be a good German bourgeois, but that way lie the death camps. Jonathan Pollard Means Israeli-American Squabbling Instead of Israeli-Palestinian Negotiation Raphael Magarik July 26, 2013
I confess to being surprised at the reaction to yesterday's article on the boring, bourgeois future of gay marriage. Why Gay Marriage is Worth Fighting For Megan McArdle March 27, 2013 |
With its Kickstarted Battletech revival still a year out from a projected early 2017 launch, Harebrained Schemes, the Seattle-based studio behind the excellent series of Shadowrun turn-based tactical cRPGs, is trying something a little different for its next title Necropolis, a single-player and co-op action-roguelike with a Souls-like desire to dish out pain and a distinct art style inspired in part by the gorgeous stylings of Journey. As Necropolis approaches a targeted Steam launch in March, Game Director Chris Kohnert was kind enough to take a moment out of his busy crunch-time schedule to answer some of our burning questions about the game. Also a big thanks to Susan Lusty for helping to coordinate this interview!
VGBlogger: Harebrained Schemes has been one of the most–if not THE most–successful game studios when it comes to Kickstarter campaigns for titles like Shadowrun and BattleTech and Golem Arcana. Any particular reason why you didn’t go the crowdfunding route with Necropolis?
Chris Kohnert: We have definitely been grateful for all of the support that backers have shown us. It’s been a great opportunity to work closely with fans (both old and new) during the development of all our Kickstarted titles. But with Necropolis, we are charting some new territory for the studio. We felt that we needed the space to explore and test out new ideas without needing to worry about what promises we’ve made to a group of backers. Early on, a lot of ideas were experimented with and ultimately discarded if they didn’t pan out. We needed to be able to find the fun, and sometimes that just means putting your head down and trying out lots of things to see what feels right.
VGB: Necropolis is billed as a “diabolical dungeon delve.” How diabolical are we talking here?
CK: If you’re asking the Brazen Head, not nearly diabolical enough! He really does enjoy tormenting the occasional Adventurer. There are a fair number of traps and the like, as you’d expect in any self-respecting dungeon delve, but I think the real heart of the “diabolical” is in the overall challenge that Necropolis will ultimately present if you are willing to delve to its furthest depths. We’ve built something that’s pretty easy to pick up and play (it’s a core tenet in fact), but quite difficult to master and ultimately beat.
VGB: Given the series’ immense popularity, new roguelikes and games built around the idea of being brutally difficult are routinely compared to the Souls games, including this one. Was the Souls series in fact a strong influence? Any other inspirations?
CK: You’ll definitely see the spirit of a Souls game in Necropolis, and frankly I consider it a great compliment to be compared to Dark Souls, because those games are such great accomplishments. Roguelikes add just another element of punishment in a way. Many people enjoy the challenge of not being able to memorize a level or predict exactly how a play session is going to go. Early on, Dennis Detwiller (the creative lead on Necropolis) and myself had conversations that started something like “What if Spelunky and Dark Souls had a child, and that child tried to murder you over and over…”
VGB: I understand that the world of Necropolis is built around procedural generation, but more broadly speaking how is progression through the game structured? Is it set up to go floor by floor through the dungeon? Are there firm start and end points? Etc.
CK: The overall mantra within the Necropolis is Down is Good. Of course, down also means more difficult. We’ve ensured there are several routes downward, even some that aren’t necessarily immediately visible, but as you go deeper into the Necropolis, you will encounter more difficult enemies. It’s always exciting to look down over a ledge and think “oh, man, I just have to get down there”. It just keeps going and going. Until it doesn’t of course. There’s an end. I won’t spoil it just yet by revealing how many levels there are, but it will definitely not be a light affair to get to the end.
That said, you’ll be able to stop and pick up the game session later if you don’t have time to do it in one sitting. Sometimes life calls and you need to attend to things. The Brazen Head will wait for you.
VGB: How is character customization/development handled? Does the game follow the standard earn experience points and level up method, or is it more loot based?
CK: That’s an interesting point actually. Many people see Necropolis and think that it’s got all the trappings of an RPG, but it most definitely is not. At least not in a sense that most people expect. We’ve tried hard to build more of an arcade style game than an experience-and-loot game. You won’t be golden-pathing skill trees or stats here. It just doesn’t make sense with the roguelike as we see it. It’s all about adapting your play style to the tools at hand. So you found a blazing fire axe this play-through, great! Chances are you will find something else next time through.
VGB: What character setup options are available before entering the dungeon as far as things like ability and equipment loadouts? Is it all randomized or is there some player choice?
CK: There’s very little initial choice when you enter the game: male or female, and your initial color scheme. Everyone starts the same way. Again, it’s an arcade game, not an RPG, so your skills and weapons and loot that you collect as you go define how you play and react not the character you build up front.
VGB: Does Necropolis have any element of carry-over persistence between dungeon dives? Like the more you play do you unlock upgraded loadout options or the chance to get better loot on future dives?
CK: We have something called Codexes, which when found provide additional perks or unlocks. For example, you might find a Codex that increases defense or makes you jump higher. If you can carry the Codex back to one of the Scriptorium points, you’ll permanently bank it and have it available in future play sessions. Though if you die before you can make it back… well, there’s always next time.
VGB: Regarding the combat system, do the movesets and animations change based on the weapon being used, and thus allow for different play styles and strategies?
CK: Definitely. Much like a Souls game, the movesets of weapons are the heart of how each one plays. Some are faster or swing in different arcs. Some have more reach, etc. I will say we’re even going one step further. We have plans to release other classes in the future that will add an extra layer to all the existing weapons. For example, a big heavy sword that is a bit sluggish in the hands of the Blackguard (a thief type class) might be much lighter and faster to the Brute (our knight class) and he’ll swing it completely differently, giving you a whole different feel.
VGB: Can you elaborate a little on the game’s “living ecology” and how it impacts gameplay?
CK: We’ve built many of the creatures in the Necropolis with an inherent predator/prey relationship. Often these can be used to the player’s advantage. For example, there are these magical crystalline creatures called the Grine that have started taking up residence in the Necropolis. Well, it just so happens that we also have a creature called a Gemeater, who, as you might guess, really loves munching on anything gem-like or crystalline. So, if you find yourself being overwhelmed by a group of Grine, maybe you can just lead Mr. Gemeater over and he’ll see what he considers to be dinner, and bam, you just sneak out the back as he wades in and takes them out.
VGB: How does the game handle the difficulty balance between single-player versus co-op? Do things like enemy count and strength simply scale based on the number of players?
CK: Yeah, we’ll be tweaking some of the stats behind the scenes to make sure that players continue to have a good time without upsetting the overall difficulty we’re trying to achieve.
VGB: Are there any unique gameplay dynamics to teaming up in multiplayer? For example can players revive fallen comrades, share items, do any sort of cooperative attacks or strategies?
CK: Definitely! I love the cooperative elements of games like Borderlands or Left 4 Dead, and combine that with the sheer lethality of the Necropolis in general, it totally makes sense that you’d want to bring along a friend or two. They will be able to help you up if you’re downed, assuming you can be reached in time, so it makes the likelihood of a complete restart less likely. Just watch out for a misplaced sword swing from your friend, however…
VGB: Will the co-op support online, offline/split-screen, or both?
CK: Co-op is online only.
VGB: What were some of the inspirations behind the game’s stylized low-poly art?
CK: Our characteristic look has been driven by the hard work of our art directors Chris Rogers and Mike McCain. Early on, they began toying with some different directions for Necropolis. One of the earliest decisions was to break from the typical pursuit of photorealism. In doing so, it gave us a lot of room to pursue a more stylized aesthetic and let the player experience something new and fresh compared to a lot of offerings out there currently. You’ll definitely catch hints of Journey (an absolutely gorgeous game) coming through, as it was a pretty big inspiration early on. We were also looking to capture some of the genuine sense of fun and adventure you’ll find in many of the Zelda games (Ocarina of Time or Wind Waker for instance), so you’ll also see hints of that in places too, if you look in just the right places.
VGB: I noticed with the recent launch of the Steam page that pre-orders come with the official soundtrack. Who composed the soundtrack and how do you intend for the music to complement the tone of the game?
CK: The composer is Jon Everist who we’ve worked with in the past on our Shadowrun games. It’s been interesting feeling out exactly what music means in Necropolis. If you take something like Dark Souls, music has a subtle presence and is used sparingly. But there’s definitely no questioning its power when used effectively to accentuate emotional or tense moments. Add to that, the particular brand of quirky humor that we are bringing through characters like the Brazen Head, you’ll get a completely different angle. For example, check out our PAX East trailer or PAX Prime trailer from 2015 [trailers embedded at page bottom], you’ll hear a much more upbeat and whimsical tone than you might expect for a “diabolical dungeon delve.” That’s not to say that that’s what you’ll hear in game, as trailers are their own beast when putting them together, but it gives you a hint as to some of the variety that we’re trying to deal with tonally within the Necropolis.
VGB: Are all systems still a go for a March 17th launch?
CK: As you can imagine, the team is all hard at work fixing bugs and making sure all the enemies and traps are at prime lethality. We’re looking forward to seeing all the carnage the Brazen Head will bring when the doors to the Necropolis open in March.
VGB: Are there any plans to explore console versions once the PC version is done?
CK: We’ve definitely got plans… Unfortunately I can’t say much more yet, but you should definitely stay tuned! |
There are a lot of questions that are coming with the territory for newly-minted general manager Jeff Gorton who replaced Glen Sather at the helm last week.
Something Sather became known for post-lockout was forcing RFAs coming off their entry level contracts to take a bridge deal before getting a more lucrative contract later. I talked about this last year when the Columbus Blue Jackets were dealing with their Ryan Johansen holdout.
From that article:
The main benefit to this strategy is having a solid foundation to point to when RFAs complain they're being low-balled or that the Rangers were negotiating in bad faith. The precedent set didn't stop some negotiations from getting ugly (see Stepan, Dubinsky and Staal to name a few) but it did allow the Rangers to take a "this happens to everyone it's not just you" stance.
The current Stepan negotiations, however, show the risk of such a strategy. The Rangers bit the bullet and locked down McDonagh long term (avoiding a bridge deal he would have been in line for under the current precedent) and it ended up being an enormous steal for the organization. Forcing players to take bridge deals might keep them cheap in the short term, but it makes them far more expensive in the long term -- just wait until Kreider is up for negotiations next season -- because the players feel they did their time at a lower salary in order to be compensated more the next time negotiations begin.
This has already become an issue this summer; with the Rangers moving Carl Hagelin who was looking for a more lucrative contract coming off his bridge deal and now having to deal with the Stepan negotiations (where he will get a contract he deserves).
Which brings up my big question here: Is it worth moving away from bridge deals to lock players down long term at cheaper contracts?
There is a level of risk to this ideology, obviously. Had the Rangers locked up Del Zotto to an extensive deal worth far more money after his 40-point rookie season, they wouldn't have been happy campers today (although it wouldn't have been nearly as bad as some think).
I understand the need to treat most RFAs this way, especially those who have yet to prove themselves. But the Rangers could have saved themselves a big headache by locking up Stepan long term (I would have to assume he would have taken a $5-millionish deal at the time) back then rather than giving him a bridge deal.
I'm not sure there are any players in the Rangers upcoming RFA crop that are eligible for a bridge deal -- Emerson Etem and J.T. Miller specifically -- who should buck the trend. If Miller or Etem are willing to sign on a four year deal at $1.5-million, then I think it's a risk the Rangers need to take. Granted, my guess is neither player wants to box themselves into that type of a deal, but it's worth putting it on the table.
James Mirtle did a really good piece of the decrease of bridge deals in the NHL which is seeing younger stars making more earlier. The reward, however, is players being paid more today to be on better contracts tomorrow (in their prime). The highlight from his story:
What the cap has forced GMs to do is find as much value for their $71-million and change as they can. That means eliminating overpays, which means eliminating legacy contracts for veterans who are paid for their name more than their production. It also means targeting players entering their prime rather than those leaving it. The NHL is becoming much more advanced analytically speaking, with at least a dozen teams now employing a full-time staffer charged with crunching numbers. Again and again, these analysts have shown that peak performance in the NHL is between age 22 and 27, earlier than many in the game previously believed ... The "smart" money is on young players such as Saad and Hamilton, who have established themselves at a young age and who will play all six years of their new deals in their prime. They're still getting better, even as their cap hits will decrease relative to a rising cap.
The Rangers hit a home run by doing exactly the above with McDonagh, and currently have him on a contract that's so favorable to the team it's almost unfair. They elected not to make the same decision with Stepan two years ago and they will be paying the price (again, a price Stepan deserves) for that choice. Stepan is a little different, since he's 25 and a max deal would only take him until he's 33, but the point remains the same: this could have been avoided.
Like I said above, I'm not sure a situation like this makes sense for Miller or Etem. The player does need to show a significant upside (or have enough of a foundation to make him worth the risk) to strike a longer term deal coming off their ELC, but those players quite obviously exist on the Rangers even if there aren't any this year.
Next year, for example, Kevin Hayes will be in line for a bridge deal. Well, he would have been in line if Sather was still the general manager.
Let's see if Gorton follows that trend first. |
Allow me to approach from the other direction, 10000 hours of practice can also make you only a guy at the party yesterday who can do cool tricks with sticks if you practice wrong stuff.
Practice makes perfect is missing the word smart at the beginning. Let say you have practiced signle stroke roll for 10000 hours. You would be amazing of course but imagine after 10010 hours somebody came and told you to play single strokes with every other seventh stroke is accented. You better be ready for that otherwise you would be very disappointed.
Practicing smart is a very difficult art. You can pick up the left foot clave thingy from Horacio Hernandez and devote your year on it but you would be only able to play the clave. You wouldn't be incorporating any of it to your playing. So picking up a relatively tough thing is not the smartest way. However, using a syncopation book and practicing every possible hand foot permutations would get you very far away. Because most of the tough stuff is comprised of small chunks that you would be practicing via syncopation exercises.
I would suggest divide your time into parts with different emphasis;
Playing grooves that requires stick control, 5-stroke roll, doubles, paradiddles etc. Playing grooves that requires independence, either polyrhythms 3 on left hand playing 4 on the right and counting with foot etc. or ostinato based, playing off beats on hi-hat where you try to play super-straightforward blues ride pattern, but your feet are playing a different melody Playing grooves that requires dynamics, samba with accented kick on ones, techno-like rhythms which requires a mild hi-hat chick, very silent ghosts and quite accented kick and snare. Muscle exercises with one limb at a time, watch or record yourself playing anything and see what you might be doing different and where it starts lagging. Watching the greats and learning about things like Moeller technique, heel-up/down playing etc. helps you to orient yourself. Time practice. This is amazingly difficult to master but 10000 hours would make it perfect. Try to keep the time without a metronome and record yourself. You would be amazed how strange it gets even when you feel that you are on top of your game.
Skipping a month or two sometimes even help and mostly doesn't do that much harm. You can get back to it within a week if you are serious about practicing.
So what is the way to start from absolute zero? That's a question nobody ever answered properly. Because everybody has a different route to arrive at mid-level playing.
First thing you need to get comfortable with is what it is that you are providing. Initially, your main job is to provide a solid sound pattern that makes people comfortable in terms of consistency. That can very well be a snare beat where you just do it twice every second. As long as you can divide a second in your head into two and execute the two strokes per second you are done.
However, different musical setting requires different tempos. Hence you change your frequency such that you play three notes every two seconds. That's trickier to think arithmetically but easier to play if you just listen.
Over time we arrived to a convention that answers if I play a steady thing like that a minute long, how many beats do you want me to play?. That's the bpm (beats per minute) unit. It is really not that scientific in practice. 60-70 is slow, 100-120 mid etc.
Long story short, tempo tells you roughly how much a beat would last. But communicating with other musicians is difficult if you keep the beat lingo. So we came up with another system that would tell how many beats does it take to play a pattern if we are to repeat a guitar riff, say,
I love that bass intro groove by the way :) So, here the bass groove repeats itself every 8 beats. But you can also count it as 16 beats if you count the hi-hat chicks. It's a matter of mutual agreement. Believe me it's not confusing it's just a choice. When you want to tell someone about this beat you would say well it's a 16 beat pattern or 4 beat or 1 beat. Up to you how you set it up. Once you know what this means, you can dive into how we name long notes that lasts two beats or half a beat for faster stuff.
We use powers of two, a fourth note is 1/4 and is usually one beat (in western 4/4 music), a sixteenth note is 1/16 and it is a quarter of the beat. Why this complication? Well it's historical and conservative people. There are much clearer systems you can come up with but I digress.
To conclude this super brief intro, just download some free beat generators and try to come up with drum patterns. That would tell you what note values and durations mean in tabs by comparing what you created and how you would write it. |
Bashir Al-Assad Shot By Bodyguard? UPDATED
UPDATE:
“The lone assassination pumped several bullets at point blank range into Assad,” said the source. “Assad was rushed to Al-Shami Hospital in Damascus in critical condition. He died on the operating table from heart failure resulting from massive blood loss.”
Amid concerns that Iran will attempt to control the Syrian army, an Israeli security analyst believes the report to be accurate.
“In the last 24 hours have we seen Assad? Any photographs or video? No. Nor will we see any as loyalists who are closest to Assad have been threatened if any leaked photos or reports reach Western media. Iran is attempting to take control of the Syrian army and its wealth of weapons as Syrian solders are now deserting in mass. I don’t believe that the West will allow any Iranian control of Damascus.”
Yet the mainstream press isn’t touching the story except to say that its just rumours. I guess we shall haveto wait and see. That Israel is taking it serious does give it some credibility in my eyes. -Mort
translated:
Arab media sources confirmed press reports that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was on Saturday evening for serious injury after suffering a shots fired by a member of his personal guard.
The sources said that President Assad was transferred to Shami Hospital in Damascus, suffering from wounds and described it as very serious, and he is fighting for his life there, while the Syrian army has closed all roads leading to the hospital. Even the meantime there has been no official statement by the system, while sources close to him denied what was in the news altogether, noting that the president was in good health and high spirits, and will deliver a keynote speech in the coming days.
The MSM is not reporting on this as of yet. I’m assuming because its unconfirmed. If true, it would be a huge blow to the government side. -Mort |
Mississippi lays claim to some of the densest concentrations of prehistoric archaeological sites of any state, and none of these sites are more striking than the massive earthen mounds that dot the landscape. Constructed from about two thousand to a few hundred years ago, these burial mounds, platform mounds, and others hold mysteries that archaeologists are still unraveling today. The Mississippi Mounds Trail links a number of the best-studied and most accessible mounds in the state. Each of the mounds on the trail can be viewed from public roadways and feature accompanying markers.
Mississippi mound sites mark centers of social and political authority. Every mound has its own chapter to tell in the unfolding story of the human past. Opportunities to discover more about these mounds and their builders disappear daily as erosion, farming, urban development, and looting continue to degrade these sites. Untold numbers of the old monuments have already been lost, and secrets of our nation's past have vanished with them. The mounds that remain stand as a testament to the vitality, diversity, and creativity of their makers, who developed the complex societies of long ago. It is up to us to protect the mounds that are left so that future generations can continue to experience the wonder of these dramatic memorials of ancient times. |
Lee County deputy on leave after failing to show up at 911 call
LEE COUNTY, Fla.- Sheriff Mike Scott says one of his deputies should be fired after he did not show up at a 911 call.
Officials say a woman is now dead. Neighbors say they found her lying on the ground with ants crawling over her body, her phone in one hand, and medication in the other.
“If what I know is in fact validated and proven through this investigation, my estimation is that it leaves him unfit to wear this uniform and as long as I’m the sheriff, he’ll not ever wear it again,” said Scott.
Sources tell WINK News that Friday afternoon, just after 1 p.m., someone called 911 from a house near Ortiz Avenue. Nobody spoke on the other end of the line.
“We know that we dispatched a 911 call, we know that it was a valid call,” said Scott.
Operators stayed on the line, and a deputy named Yvan Fernandez was dispatched.
Fernandez said he was on his way. But Scott says that a preliminary investigation shows Deputy Fernandez did not go, and it appears that instead, he may have gone to lunch.
“I need to confirm whether or not whether he was physically at the restaurant when the call came to him or whether he had not yet made it to the restaurant and was still en route,” said Scott.
Sources tell WINK News that about 30 minutes into the call, another deputy was dispatched instead. Before any help arrived, family friends found a woman lying on the ground.
“He called me back around 1:41 and said ‘Gwen is laying out in the yard, she has the house phone in one hand and her pills in the other hand and she’s not moving,'” said Cykecya Russ.
Russ says 47-year-old Gwen Minis, was a family friend who had just gotten out of the hospital after having a heart attack. Her brother found her lying face down next to the driveway.
Exact details are unclear because it’s still so early in the sheriff’s internal investigation. However, sources tell WINK News it was almost an hour before a deputy finally arrived.
“Immediately upon learning of this, Itook his gun, his badge and his vehicle and put him on what we call administrative leave with pay,” said Scott.
Author: dave culbreth |
Glynn Washington
The producer/host of WNYC’s Snap Judgment shares about being raised in a fundamentalist Christian cult, strategies he’s used to survive racism, what he learned by visiting Japan as a college student, his struggles with bipolar and his family’s history of mental illness especially his late brother.
This episode is sponsored by Young Health’s Probimune. For your first bottle free (plus $6.75 shipping) go to www.Probimune.com and use offer code MENTAL.
For more information on LAPodfest go to www.LAPodfest.com and use offer code HAPPY for $5 off. The festival is Sept 23-25 in LA. Our podcast records Sun Sept 25th at 9pm. It can be watched in person, live streaming or up to 30 days archived.
For more information on the In This Together Festival, where Paul will be interviewing NBA player Royce White, go to www.ITTFest.com The festival is Nov 13th in LA. |
On the 23rd of July 1983, Air Canada Flight 143 ran out of fuel at FL410 – 26,000 feet halfway through a 2,829 kilometre (1,768 mile) flight from Montreal to Edmonton. The Boeing 767-200 carrying 61 passengers managed to glide to safety to the Gimli Industrial Park Airport in Manitoba, a Canadian prairie province.
What went wrong? The sequence of events leading to the incident is somewhat convoluted.
The first link in the chain of events took place almost three weeks prior to the fault, on the ground in Edmonton. Boeing had issued a service bulletin for the Fuel Quantity Indicator System (FQIS) to be checked on all 767s. From an operational standpoint, the plane could not be flown if the FQIS was not functional at all, but with partial functions, the plane was considered operational but the fuel quantity needed to be measured with a float stick. The Boeing 767 C-GAUN was given a routine check by an Air Canada technician, who found that testing the three fuel quantity indicators caused them to go blank. However, during a later check the indicators worked fine.
The same technician saw the issue again, although he wasn’t aware that it was the same plane. This time he traced the problem to a faulty circuit breaker. Disabling it meant the back-up circuit breaker kicked in and the gauges worked. He pulled the breaker, tagged it as “inoperative” and apparently left a note in the log book which was not very clear.
The next day, C-GAUN flew to Montreal. Here, a maintenance worker saw the note in the logbook and checked the circuit breaker. While waiting for the fuel truck, he decided to try resetting the breaker and the fuel quantity indicators went blank. The fuel truck arrived and he got to work, forgetting about the faulty circuit breaker that he had reactivated.
This action was considered to have “contributed significantly” to the accident.
The return flight to Edmonton was a different crew. The captain noticed the blank fuel gauges and stated to the crew that they would need to perform a drip test to check fuel levels. He decided to load the full amount of fuel needed to fly directly to Edmonton with an en route stop at Ottawa to verify fuel levels.
This fuel requirement is expressed as a mass, in this case 22,300kg of fuel.
There was an estimated 7,682 litres of fuel remaining in the tanks.
The maintenance crew worked out how many litres of fuel were needed to make up 22,300kg of fuel, then subtracted the 7,682 litres on board and then used the fuel gauge on the refuelling truck to fill the aircraft tanks with the remaining required litres of fuel.
Canada was at this time changing from imperial to metric. The Boeing 767 was the first plane in the fleet to measure fuel in kilograms rather than pounds.
The maintenance crew had a multiplier of 1.77 for converting from litres. Somehow, no one noticed that this figure was for a conversion to pounds, not kilograms.
The maintenance crew calculated the amount of fuel needed using a factor of 1.77 pounds/litre rather than 0.8 kg/litre and reported that the plane had 22,300kg on board. It actually held 22,300 pounds, which is just over 10,000kg.
“The 156-tonne Gimli Glider”
In the past, when fuel was calculated manually, a flight engineer’s duties included checking the fuel load. Flight engineers were a thing of the past on this 767, as a Presidential task force, under Ronald Reagan, had determined that aircraft could be built to be operated by two pilots instead of three, if the tasks previously given to the second officer (flight engineer) were either fully automated or handled by ground staff. Responsibility for ensuring adequate fuelling had passed to the maintenance branch. But because these men were not trained to calculate fuel, they assumed the pilots would make sure it was done properly. The problem was neither of the pilots was trained in this technical task. Safety procedures had failed to keep pace with new technology. As the investigation later concluded: “Air Canada … neglected to assign clearly and specifically the responsibility for calculating the fuel load in an abnormal situation.”
The flight crew checked the figure but they only checked the arithmetic, not the conversion factor, so they came up with the same result. They manually entered the fuel amount into the flight management computer as 22,300kg. The computer tracks fuel consumption by subtracting the fuel burned from the total amount.
At Ottawa, a further drip-stick test was made and there was a further chance to spot the error. The Captain was told that the aircraft had 11,430 litres of fuel on board. He converted this using the figure that the ground crew had given him in Montreal: 1.77/litre and came to the conclusion that they had 20,400 kilos of fuel remaining. Still no one realised that the previous crew had used pounds rather than kilos. The aircraft had less than half the fuel remaining that the captain thought it did, 9,144 kilos of fuel, and nowhere near enough to complete the flight to Edmonton.
The flight crew verified the remaining fuel against the computer and took off.
When the first low fuel pressure warning sounded, the Captain believed that the left fuel pump had malfunction. He turned it off, asked for a a divert to Winnipeg and began his descent. Another low fuel pressure warning sounded, this time for the right side. Then the left engine failed, rapidly followed by the right engine.
The Gimli Glider / Air Canada
As Pearson began gliding the big bird, Quintal “got busy” in the manuals looking for procedures for dealing with the loss of both engines. There were none. Neither he nor Pearson nor any other 767 pilot had ever been trained on this contingency. Pearson reports he was thinking “I wonder how it’s all going to turn out.” Controllers in Winnipeg began suggesting alternate landing spots, but none of the airports suggested, including Gimli, had the emergency equipment Flight 143 would need for a crash landing. The 767’s radar transponder had gone dark leaving controllers in Winnipeg using a cardboard ruler on the radar screen to try and determine the 767’s location and rate of descent. Pearson glided the 767 at 220 knots, his best guess as to the optimum airspeed. There was nothing in the manual about minimum sink – Boeing never expected anyone to try and glide one of their jumbo jets. The windmilling engine fans created enormous drag, giving the 767 a sink rate of somewhere between 2000 and 2500 fpm. Copilot Quintal began making glide-slope calculations to see if they’d make Winnipeg. The 767 had lost 5000 feet of altitude over the prior ten nautical (11 statute) miles, giving a glide ratio of approximately 11:1. ATC controllers and Quintal both calculated that Winnipeg was going to be too far a glide; the 767 was sinking too fast. “We’re not going to make Winnipeg” he told Pearson. Pearson trusted Quintal absolutely at this critical moment, and immediately turned north. Only Gimli, the site of an abandoned Royal Canadian Air Force Base remained as a possible landing spot. It was 12 miles away. It wasn’t in Air Canada’s equivalent of Jeppensen manuals,but Quintal was familiar with it because he’d been stationed there in the service. Unknown to him and the controllers in Winnipeg, Runway 32L (left) of Gimli’s twin 6800 foot runways had become inactive and was now used for auto racing. A steel guard rail had been installed down most of the southeastern portion of 32L, dividing it into a two lane dragstrip. This was the runway Pearson would ultimately try and land on, courting tragedy of epic proportions.
The co-pilot suspected that the Captain had not seen the guardrails nor the crowds of people. Knowing they had only one chance at landing, he decided to keep his mouth shut. Pearson came in high and fast but managed to use the rudders to lose speed and altitude in the same way as you would in a glider or small aircraft. It worked.
“The 156-tonne Gimli Glider”
The rally spectators were startled to see a huge aircraft bearing down on them, silent except for the rushing of wind against its body. People scattered as quickly as they could, but only the friction between the aircraft nose and the ground as the partly extended nosewheel collapsed, brought the aeroplane to rest in front of them. The time was 2038 hours. Just 17 minutes had elapsed since Pearson had started flying a powerless 767 from 28,500 feet to a safe landing.
In 2008 the Boeing 767 was decommissioned. Its final flight is documented on YouTube:
Amazing plane, amazing story. And for people like me, flying an American plane using gallons in Europe where fuel is measured in litres, it is not a bad reminder always to check the conversions. |
- An unexpected guest spoke passionately about ending black bear hunts in Florida at Wednesday's Hillsborough County Commission meeting.
Megan Sorbo, of Orlando, is 10-years-old and said her love for the Everglades drives her passion to save Florida's black bears from hunters.
Megan came to the meeting prepared - armed with an impassioned speech and a pink step-stool to help her reach the podium in front of commissioners
"I am here to speak on behalf of Florida black bears," Megan began. "Using a claim of scientific calculations, the FWC decided on a kill quota of 320 bears total for the state."
Megan said the "most sickening part" of last year's hunt was there were more hunting licenses issued than the estimated number of bears in the state.
"Can you imagine having the size of your home and yard reduced by over 80-percent," Megan asked. "And then having people wanting to come into your now small home to hunt you while you were doing nothing wrong?"
She finished by asking the commission to adopt a resolution, banning black bear hunting in Hillsborough County.
"We must work to protect and not kill our bears left in Florida," Megan said. "Bears have already lost over 80% of their habitat and have done nothing to merit being killed."
Though she spoke among other adults advocating for the same cause, Megan stole the show.
"You tackled a tough issue,and you did it very well," Commissioner Les Miller, Jr. said.
"We don't have many young people come and present in public comment," said Commissioner Sandra Murman. "Here's a young child that has really taken this cause to heart and is really trying to help out."
This mini-activist's inspiration came from her first visit to the Everglades.
"I'm trying not to be so emotional," Megan said after the meeting. "They're beautiful animals. I've seen one once. They will defend themselves and their cubs if threatened but that is not a reason to kill them."
FWC reported just over 300 bears were killed in last year's hunt. Officials maintain it's a "management tool" for an increasing population. Opponents like Sorbo argue current population numbers are only a guess. She's out to spread the word.
"If more people speak out than just being armchair activists and just blowing hot air on Facebook, they might actually get some results," Megan said.
No matter where you stand, there's no arguing this young girl speaks with the poise and passion of someone well beyond her years.
"It's my future kids' future. That's why we need more young children speaking," Megan said.
Megan also has a blog, and YouTube videos focused on raising awareness for all Florida wildlife.
As for the resolution, Commissioner Murman said it's more of a state issue. However, the Hillsborough County Commission is looking into it, to see what it entails and if it's something that can be addressed here. |
This list has been expanded into the new book, "Wired to Create: Unravelling the Mysteries of the Creative Mind," by Carolyn Gregoire and Scott Barry Kaufman.
Creativity works in mysterious and often paradoxical ways. Creative thinking is a stable, defining characteristic in some personalities, but it may also change based on situation and context. Inspiration and ideas often arise seemingly out of nowhere and then fail to show up when we most need them, and creative thinking requires complex cognition yet is completely distinct from the thinking process.
Neuroscience paints a complicated picture of creativity. As scientists now understand it, creativity is far more complex than the right-left brain distinction would have us think (the theory being that left brain = rational and analytical, right brain = creative and emotional). In fact, creativity is thought to involve a number of cognitive processes, neural pathways and emotions, and we still don't have the full picture of how the imaginative mind works.
And psychologically speaking, creative personality types are difficult to pin down, largely because they're complex, paradoxical and tend to avoid habit or routine. And it's not just a stereotype of the "tortured artist" -- artists really may be more complicated people. Research has suggested that creativity involves the coming together of a multitude of traits, behaviors and social influences in a single person.
"It's actually hard for creative people to know themselves because the creative self is more complex than the non-creative self," Scott Barry Kaufman, a psychologist at New York University who has spent years researching creativity, told The Huffington Post. "The things that stand out the most are the paradoxes of the creative self ... Imaginative people have messier minds."
While there's no "typical" creative type, there are some tell-tale characteristics and behaviors of highly creative people. Here are 18 things they do differently.
They daydream.
Creative types know, despite what their third-grade teachers may have said, that daydreaming is anything but a waste of time.
According to Kaufman and psychologist Rebecca L. McMillan, who co-authored a paper titled "Ode To Positive Constructive Daydreaming," mind-wandering can aid in the process of "creative incubation." And of course, many of us know from experience that our best ideas come seemingly out of the blue when our minds are elsewhere.
Although daydreaming may seem mindless, a 2012 study suggested it could actually involve a highly engaged brain state -- daydreaming can lead to sudden connections and insights because it's related to our ability to recall information in the face of distractions. Neuroscientists have also found that daydreaming involves the same brain processes associated with imagination and creativity.
They observe everything.
The world is a creative person's oyster -- they see possibilities everywhere and are constantly taking in information that becomes fodder for creative expression. As Henry James is widely quoted, a writer is someone on whom "nothing is lost."
The writer Joan Didion kept a notebook with her at all times, and said that she wrote down observations about people and events as, ultimately, a way to better understand the complexities and contradictions of her own mind:
"However dutifully we record what we see around us, the common denominator of all we see is always, transparently, shamelessly, the implacable 'I,'" Didion wrote in her essay On Keeping A Notebook. "We are talking about something private, about bits of the mind’s string too short to use, an indiscriminate and erratic assemblage with meaning only for its marker."
They work the hours that work for them.
Many great artists have said that they do their best work either very early in the morning or late at night. Vladimir Nabokov started writing immediately after he woke up at 6 or 7 a.m., and Frank Lloyd Wright made a practice of waking up at 3 or 4 a.m. and working for several hours before heading back to bed. No matter when it is, individuals with high creative output will often figure out what time it is that their minds start firing up, and structure their days accordingly.
They take time for solitude.
"In order to be open to creativity, one must have the capacity for constructive use of solitude. One must overcome the fear of being alone," wrote the American existential psychologist Rollo May.
Artists and creatives are often stereotyped as being loners, and while this may not actually be the case, solitude can be the key to producing their best work. For Kaufman, this links back to daydreaming -- we need to give ourselves the time alone to simply allow our minds to wander.
"You need to get in touch with that inner monologue to be able to express it," he says. "It's hard to find that inner creative voice if you're ... not getting in touch with yourself and reflecting on yourself."
They turn life's obstacles around.
Many of the most iconic stories and songs of all time have been inspired by gut-wrenching pain and heartbreak -- and the silver lining of these challenges is that they may have been the catalyst to create great art. An emerging field of psychology called post-traumatic growth is suggesting that many people are able to use their hardships and early-life trauma for substantial creative growth. Specifically, researchers have found that trauma can help people to grow in the areas of interpersonal relationships, spirituality, appreciation of life, personal strength, and -- most importantly for creativity -- seeing new possibilities in life.
"A lot of people are able to use that as the fuel they need to come up with a different perspective on reality," says Kaufman. "What's happened is that their view of the world as a safe place, or as a certain type of place, has been shattered at some point in their life, causing them to go on the periphery and see things in a new, fresh light, and that's very conducive to creativity."
They seek out new experiences.
Creative people love to expose themselves to new experiences, sensations and states of mind -- and this openness is a significant predictor of creative output.
"Openness to experience is consistently the strongest predictor of creative achievement," says Kaufman. "This consists of lots of different facets, but they're all related to each other: Intellectual curiosity, thrill seeking, openness to your emotions, openness to fantasy. The thing that brings them all together is a drive for cognitive and behavioral exploration of the world, your inner world and your outer world."
They "fail up."
Resilience is practically a prerequisite for creative success, says Kaufman. Doing creative work is often described as a process of failing repeatedly until you find something that sticks, and creatives -- at least the successful ones -- learn not to take failure so personally.
"Creatives fail and the really good ones fail often," Forbes contributor Steven Kotler wrote in a piece on Einstein's creative genius.
They ask the big questions.
Creative people are insatiably curious -- they generally opt to live the examined life, and even as they get older, maintain a sense of curiosity about life. Whether through intense conversation or solitary mind-wandering, creatives look at the world around them and want to know why, and how, it is the way it is.
They people-watch.
Observant by nature and curious about the lives of others, creative types often love to people-watch -- and they may generate some of their best ideas from it.
"[Marcel] Proust spent almost his whole life people-watching, and he wrote down his observations, and it eventually came out in his books," says Kaufman. "For a lot of writers, people-watching is very important ... They're keen observers of human nature."
They take risks.
Part of doing creative work is taking risks, and many creative types thrive off of taking risks in various aspects of their lives.
"There is a deep and meaningful connection between risk taking and creativity and it's one that's often overlooked," contributor Steven Kotler wrote in Forbes. "Creativity is the act of making something from nothing. It requires making public those bets first placed by imagination. This is not a job for the timid. Time wasted, reputation tarnished, money not well spent -- these are all by-products of creativity gone awry."
They view all of life as an opportunity for self-expression.
Nietzsche believed that one's life and the world should be viewed as a work of art. Creative types may be more likely to see the world this way, and to constantly seek opportunities for self-expression in everyday life.
"Creative expression is self-expression," says Kaufman. "Creativity is nothing more than an individual expression of your needs, desires and uniqueness."
They follow their true passions.
Creative people tend to be intrinsically motivated -- meaning that they're motivated to act from some internal desire, rather than a desire for external reward or recognition. Psychologists have shown that creative people are energized by challenging activities, a sign of intrinsic motivation, and the research suggests that simply thinking of intrinsic reasons to perform an activity may be enough to boost creativity.
"Eminent creators choose and become passionately involved in challenging, risky problems that provide a powerful sense of power from the ability to use their talents," write M.A. Collins and T.M. Amabile in The Handbook of Creativity.
They get out of their own heads.
Kaufman argues that another purpose of daydreaming is to help us to get out of our own limited perspective and explore other ways of thinking, which can be an important asset to creative work.
"Daydreaming has evolved to allow us to let go of the present," says Kaufman. "The same brain network associated with daydreaming is the brain network associated with theory of mind -- I like calling it the 'imagination brain network' -- it allows you to imagine your future self, but it also allows you to imagine what someone else is thinking."
Research has also suggested that inducing "psychological distance" -- that is, taking another person's perspective or thinking about a question as if it was unreal or unfamiliar -- can boost creative thinking.
They lose track of the time.
Creative types may find that when they're writing, dancing, painting or expressing themselves in another way, they get "in the zone," or what's known as a flow state, which can help them to create at their highest level. Flow is a mental state when an individual transcends conscious thought to reach a heightened state of effortless concentration and calmness. When someone is in this state, they're practically immune to any internal or external pressures and distractions that could hinder their performance.
You get into the flow state when you're performing an activity you enjoy that you're good at, but that also challenges you -- as any good creative project does.
"[Creative people] have found the thing they love, but they've also built up the skill in it to be able to get into the flow state," says Kaufman. "The flow state requires a match between your skill set and the task or activity you're engaging in."
They surround themselves with beauty.
Creatives tend to have excellent taste, and as a result, they enjoy being surrounded by beauty.
A study recently published in the journal Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts showed that musicians -- including orchestra musicians, music teachers, and soloists -- exhibit a high sensitivity and responsiveness to artistic beauty.
They connect the dots.
If there's one thing that distinguishes highly creative people from others, it's the ability to see possibilities where others don't -- or, in other words, vision. Many great artists and writers have said that creativity is simply the ability to connect the dots that others might never think to connect.
In the words of Steve Jobs:
"Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn't really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That's because they were able to connect experiences they've had and synthesize new things."
They constantly shake things up.
Diversity of experience, more than anything else, is critical to creativity, says Kaufman. Creatives like to shake things up, experience new things, and avoid anything that makes life more monotonous or mundane.
"Creative people have more diversity of experiences, and habit is the killer of diversity of experience," says Kaufman.
They make time for mindfulness.
Creative types understand the value of a clear and focused mind -- because their work depends on it. Many artists, entrepreneurs, writers and other creative workers, such as David Lynch, have turned to meditation as a tool for tapping into their most creative state of mind. |
FUNKOARS Live @ Club TBD, BNE – Friday 8th May, 2015
Supports: I Am D (BNE), Eloji (MELB), Mathas (PER) & DJ Eclipse (USA).
For OHHS & Rip2Shredz Press
Everything from Larry Emdur to celebrating The Price Is Right, The Funkoars talk shit while two fans stuff themselves with dry WeetBix.
We get all this and more from a deep billing at The TBC Club, a dank little dive fit for teenage rap cyphers or a gangster’s den that manages to squeeze in 100 fans. The night starts with I Am D with DJ Immaculate on a tiny, cluttered stage with a letterbox view. The Brissy MC tries earnestly to involve the slow-building floor space using The Daley Grind and Girls In The City to bring the punters to the front.
Sharing the 11-stop tour, MC Eloji steps out with a smooth set, harmonising over hooks and sharing his homeboy Branford’s chords with the crowd as he beatboxes and croons. Eloji finishes up with a positive freestyle a cappella. Also on the ‘Oars tour, Perth MC Mathas intrigues most with his blend of melancholic soundtracking behind his throat singing and frank delivery of rhyme, performing his own phone dialogue mid-track. The X-Ecutioners’ DJ Total Eclipse steps out to scratch-fuck some KRS-One while a midnight chant for Golden Era’s whores of funk ramps up.
They’ve been together for more than 15 years, says Trials, fifth album on its way and they’re still rapping dick lyrics. Finally, The Funkoars show the kids “this is how hip hop is supposed to sound” and trump out their old shit before sending out the aforementioned tribute to Larry Edmur, including a The Price Is Right wheel and two suckers to have a dry WeetBix eat-off during Kidney Shifters. Now the whole venue is a Bix-spitting mess. Adelaide’s purveyors of dick-rapping debauchery close at 1am but not before reminding us of that fifth LP on its way with Below Average. |
Atlanta Falcons safety William Moore ignored the whispers while walking into the locker room from practice Tuesday; whispers concerning the status of injured teammate Sean Weatherspoon.
Moore figured something had happened to Weatherspoon as the linebacker went through rehabilitation exercises with the training staff. But Moore heard a few folks say his good friend and former college teammate would be fine.
Moore never anticipated Weatherspoon would be lost for the season with an Achilles tear suffered while going through rehab for a knee injury. Moore said he discovered the severity of Weatherspoon's injury through the media.
"It really hurt me when I got the news," Moore told ESPN.com."That guy, he worked so hard to try to come back. And I know all about it. Trust me. My rookie season was the worst season ever. I was so frustrated going through all those injuries and wanting to prove everybody wrong by trying to come back and stay healthy.
"He didn't even get the opportunity to come back. And I know Spoon. He's always passionate, on and off the field."
Moore hadn't talked to Weatherspoon personally as of Wednesday afternoon, but he left a text message reading, "I know your phone is overloaded so get to me when you get time, bro." Weatherspoon now faces six to eight months of rehab after missing significant time last season with a Lisfranc foot sprain and the knee injury.
"I know Spoon. He's going to overcome it regardless," Moore said. "It's just really sucks for a guy like that. It really sucks."
Moore related his struggles overcoming knee and hamstring injuries as a rookie to Weatherspoon's plight.
"You want to get right so bad that you end up pulling something else trying to go so hard," Moore said. "I really don't know what happened with Spoon, but that's just tough."
Weatherspoon is sure to be the same type of inspirational leader he was while sitting out a portion of last season. Yet the Falcons would rather him be that vocal leader from the huddle rather than the sideline.
"I've played over nine years with the guy; I know him and he's always been my leader, from Missouri all the way to here," Moore said. "He gets me up every time, which I really don't need many people to get me up. But he's that extra fire. And I know that I play at a different level when he's on the field.
"Now, we have to take leadership to a different route because everybody's not Spoon. It's kinda worse that we have, I'm not going to say inexperienced linebackers, but we have younger 'backers. I could see if we have three or four guys who have been in the league for over six, seven, eight years. But we have guys who are just getting into the league or that are in the second year or third year or whatever. Spoon was the guy that led those guys. And they would tell you that. He was their voice. It's going to be tough not having him around."
Moore will have to assume more of a leadership role without Weatherspoon on the field.
"No doubt about it, I have to," Moore said. "But not because I have to, but because I want to. I've always just liked to have my play speak for me. Now, I want to take that leadership role because sometimes, that's what the guys need.
"I love the game so much, and it's time to let it be heard. I'm not Spoon. I can't do the things that he did. I'm just going to tell it how it is." |
Two indie games, Legend of Grimrock and Gunpoint could come to Linux (details below). These games have created quite a lot of excitement even before their release.
Two indie games,andcould come to Linux (details below). These games have created quite a lot of excitement even before their release.
I have contacted developers of both these games in past asking them about possibility of Linux versions. At that time these games were still in early stages development so I haven't received any concrete responses.
However, these developers are now looking at possibility of Linux versions. These are still not any confirmations. But the fact that they are considering it sounds great as both these games are looking really nice.
Legend of Grimrock (Almost Human Studio)
I badly want this game to come to Linux being a huge fan of first person dungeon crawlers. Watch the video to know more about the game:
The team behind Grimrock has lots of experience and has been involved in development of games like Max Payne 2, Alan Wake and Shattered Horizon.
Olli tells me that we “won’t have to wait too long to start your journey in the dungeons of Mount Grimrock”, with the game slated for a launch early this year. They’re hoping to see the game on Steam someday, they’re thinking about mobile platforms besides iOS, and they’re going to consider a Linux port, but most importantly, they’re getting ready for the PC launch.
Gunpoint
Gunpoint is a stealth puzzle game where you play a role of a freelance spy. Your aim is to infiltrate high security buildings. You can cross-link things like light switches and doors, use electronics gadgets or other techniques to reach your objective.
Gunpoint is Independent Games Festival, 2012 Finalist. Check out the video:
Wired, Gunpoint developer Francis has shown interest in bringing the game to Linux. In an interview with, Gunpoint developer Francis has shown interest in bringing the game to Linux.
If and when I can free myself up from that, I want to see if I can make a level editor, then a replay system, and some other nice freebies. I'm also really keen to bring it to Mac, Linux and eventually iPad -- the first I can do myself, the other two I may need help with.
So, what do you say? Want these games to come to Linux?
interviewed Almost Human and they said they are going to consider a Linux port. |
Kim Jong Un Upset Over Lack of Media Attention Today
WASHINGTON D.C. – Reports are coming in that Kim Jong Un is incredibly “fussy” over the lack of media coverage he is receiving today. Other events in America have had extensive coverage from news media which would otherwise be reporting Un’s latest threats and belligerent statements.
Satellite images show that Kim Jong Un spent the whole day on his laptop Googling himself. Images show that Un began jumping up and down and hitting his computer, in a temper tantrum over the news media covering something besides him and North Korea.
Un tweeted today: “I still have bombs you know! #helloAny1There?” Regardless of Un’s demeanor on Twitter, very little attention was given to him by any Americans.
However, according to reports, Dennis Rodman Facebook messaged Un and said, “hey, little man. You doin’ ok?” This set off a brief conversation that seemed to settle down the leader of North Korea, at least for a little while. Rodman told us that no matter what he said, Un was not amused.
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Electoral Commission comes down on Cannabis is Safer than Alcohol party for ‘numerous failures’
In news that will do little to dispel popular stereotypes about the productivity of fans of certain drugs, the Cannabis is Safer than Alcohol political party has been fined for repeatedly filing its accounts late.
The party must pay a total of £23,000 for what the Electoral Commission said were “numerous failures” to comply with rules on reporting political finances.
Cannabis is Safer than Alcohol (Great Britain) was fined £10,000 for the late filing of two quarterly reports on donations, and one set of accounts, and for not keeping proper accounts, the commission said in a statement.
The separate Northern Ireland branch of the party – which won the right to a party political broadcast in the region last year after fielding candidates in four seats – has been fined £13,000.
It had failed to provide two quarterly donations reports, or its spending return for the Northern Ireland assembly election in May 2016, filed one loans report and one set of accounts late, and failed to keep proper accounts.
Such issues are treated very seriously by the Electoral Commission, which has powers under the 2000 Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act to ensure parties abide by the rules over donations and spending.
Cannabis is Safer than Alcohol, or Cista, was launched before the 2015 general election, in which it fielded 32 candidates across the UK, winning just over 8,400 votes in total. It is chaired by Paul Birch, who made a large sum from the sale of the social network Bebo, and who invested £100,000 in the party.
Cista is seeking a royal commission on drug law reform and a recognition of the medical benefits of cannabis.
Speaking to the Guardian last year, Birch said many of Cista’s supporters were long-term users of opiate medicines who were sick of the side-effects of the drugs. “Taking cannabis enables them to have pain relief and have a normal life,” he said.
Cista also put up a candidate in the 2016 London mayoral election, with Lee Harris winning more than 20,000 votes. However, since then the party has hit regulatory difficulties. It has previously paid fines to the Electoral Commission for other offences, and in November last year was removed from the register of political parties after failing to complete an annual registration confirmation.
Bob Posner, the director of party finance for the Electoral Commission, said parties had to submit up-to-date records so voters could see who was funding them and by how much.
He said: “We had significant concerns about this party’s willingness to comply with the rules and the loss of transparency as a result of its unprecedented history of non-compliance. The fines issued in this case reflect the serious impact that this can have on voter confidence.” |
SWAT team raids suspected illegal Oakland gambling den after shooting
A police SWAT team stormed a suspected illegal gambling parlor near Interstate 880 in Oakland Wednesday following a shooting there and a six-hour standoff with several people holed up inside, officials and neighbors said.
Officers showed up shortly after 3 a.m. to the converted warehouse space at 1530 E. 12th St., where gunfire erupted during an apparent all-night party.
About a dozen people came out with their hands up, including one victim, who appeared to be limping with the assistance of others. But several people inside stayed put for hours, prompting the temporary stalemate with armed police.
Oakland Police are in a standoff on East 12th Street, where a suspect remains hold up following an shooting Wednesday morning at an illegal gambling parlor. Oakland Police are in a standoff on East 12th Street, where a suspect remains hold up following an shooting Wednesday morning at an illegal gambling parlor. Photo: Evan Sernoffsky / The Chronicle / / Photo: Evan Sernoffsky / The Chronicle / / Image 1 of / 9 Caption Close SWAT team raids suspected illegal Oakland gambling den after shooting 1 / 9 Back to Gallery
“We know you are inside. Can you please call 911 so we can communicate with you?” SWAT team members said over a loudspeaker aimed at the building, while heavily armed and camouflaged officers took cover behind an armored police vehicle.
Just after 8 a.m., a man and woman emerged from the building with their hands up and were questioned by police before being released.
An hour later, SWAT team members entered the building with their guns drawn and began a room-to-room search. They emerged soon afterward, and officials said a shotgun and a replica handgun were recovered inside.
The injured victim was taken to a hospital, treated and released. Police said two suspects in the shooting were taken into custody.
The building is in an industrial part of the city, halfway between the Lake Merritt and Fruitvale BART stations near International Boulevard. Residents in the area described the repurposed building, which includes several small rooms and a recording studio, as a “wild place” that allegedly houses recently installed illegal slot machines.
“It was bound to happen,” said one resident, who asked not to be identified, of the shooting and subsequent standoff. “They got all kinds of s— going on in there.”
Officer Johnna Watson, an Oakland Police spokeswoman, said beat officers have previously responded to complaints at the building, but she could not immediately give details of why they were called there.
Wednesday’s predawn shooting came during a party inside the building that attracted a large crowd, local residents said.
“People were high out of their minds,” another resident, who also asked not to be named, said of the soiree.
Evan Sernoffsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: [email protected] |
By Patrick Metzger
This week, The Lonely Island released a music video for a song that was cut from their new movie, Popstar. The deleted scene for the song, “Fuck Off,” shows Conner4Real (Andy Samberg’s Bieber-esque teen idol character) joyfully belting out the most over-the-top expression of teenage angst possible.
The song is an incredible parody, not least because Samberg and company have caught onto a melodic phenomenon that has plagued the airwaves for the past several years, which they use to great effect at the song’s 40 second mark.
I like to call this melodic snippet the “Millennial Whoop.” It’s a sequence of notes that alternates between the fifth and third notes of a major scale, typically starting on the fifth. The rhythm is usually straight 8th-notes, but it may start on the downbeat or on the upbeat in different songs. A singer usually belts these notes with an “Oh” phoneme, often in a “Wa-oh-wa-oh” pattern. And it is in so many pop songs it’s criminal.
The musical figure is probably best exemplified by Katy Perry’s 2010 song “California Gurls” (featuring Snoop Dogg):
This song comes right at the beginning of “Peak Millennial Whoop,” when suddenly every artist (consciously or subconsciously) jumped on board to replicate this earworm. In “California Gurls,” we first hear it at 0:51 as a kind of foreshadowing to its more memorable usage within the chorus at 1:05 (and multiple times in every chorus thereafter).
The beauty of such a short melodic sequence (simply the repetition of two notes over and over) is that no one can own it. Last year, after Robin Thicke was taken to court by Marvin Gaye’s family for violating the copyright of “Got To Give It Up” with his song “Blurred Lines,” Reggie Ugwu at Buzzfeed wrote a great summary of how the legal system determines whether something really is “a ripoff.” While it would be easy to claim “substantial similarity” between songs that use the Millennial Whoop, in order to convince a jury that someone was ripped off, an artist would have to prove that this “Wa-oh-wa-oh” motif was their original idea. That would put them on thin ice indeed due to the scènes à faire defense, which basically says certain musical elements are just too common to be owned by any one entity.
Ally Burnett found herself in this very situation when she sued Carly Rae Jepsen and Adam Young (a.k.a Owl City), saying their 2012 song “Good Time” had infringed on the copyright of her 2010 song “Ah, It’s a Love Song” (which starts with a Millennial Whoop). Burnett got an out-of-court settlement from Jepsen, but Young fought the case and was awarded royalties after “Good Time” was deemed an original work.
For comparison, here’s “Good Time” (Millennial Whoop at 0:04):
If it wasn’t written by Ally Burnett or Carly Rae Jepson or anyone else, where does the Millennial Whoop come from? I would argue it has antecedents in teasing songs like “Nanny nanny boo boo” and “I know something you don’t know” that, as Leonard Bernstein pointed out in his lecture series The Unanswered Question, seem to transcend cultures across the globe. It’s the kind of musical phrase that we seem to know instinctively and that has a relationship to the overtone series embedded in every single note we hear.
Also, although the melodic intervals are different, the “Wa-oh-wa-oh” syllables surely have more recent roots in the Buggles song “Video Killed the Radio Star”:
It is, perhaps, no wonder that in the same year that “California Gurls” came out, Nicki Minaj was sampling “Video Killed the Radio Star” in her song “Check It Out”:
Humans crave patterns. The reason pop music is successful to begin with is because almost every song is immediately familiar before you get more than 10 seconds into a first listen. Between the formula of European classical scales and chord progressions that have gelled over hundreds of years and the driving heartbeat rhythms that stimulate our internal organs at the right decibels, listeners are immediately hooked in by familiar structure and themes that have likely been ringing in their ears since they were in the womb. And with the pervasive nature of pop music, where everything is a remix, a feedback loop has been created in which songs are successful because they are familiar, so in order to be successful, songs are created that play on our sense of familiarity.
So it is that the Millennial Whoop evokes a kind of primordial sense that everything will be alright. You know these notes. You’ve heard this before. There’s nothing out of the ordinary or scary here. You don’t need to learn the words or know a particular language or think deeply about meaning. You’re safe. In the age of climate change and economic injustice and racial violence, you can take a few moments to forget everything and shout with exuberance at the top of your lungs. Just dance and feel how awesome it is to be alive right now. Wa-oh-wa-oh.
—
Here are some more examples of the Millennial Whoop. Let me know in the comments if you find any others!
Fall Out Boy – “She’s My Winona” (2008, modified Millennial Whoop at 0:14)
BOY – “Little Numbers” (2011, Millennial Whoop at 1:04)
Stonefox – “All I Want” (2013, Millennial Whoop at 2:02)
Demi Lovato – “I Really Don’t Care” (2013, Millennial Whoop at 1:00)
—
[UPDATE: One reader pointed out that infant-directed speech (i.e. “Baby Talk”) often uses this same interval. And a band member from Cymbals Eat Guitars (one of their songs is listed below) noted on Twitter that Jesse Lacey from Brand New calls this the “mom calling you inside from the porch interval”.]
[UPDATE: The following songs have been identified by readers since I published this post.]
Uber’s Announcement of Self-Driving Cars in Pittsburgh (2016 — Sep 13, Millennial Whoop at 0:32)
Pavo Pavo – “Ran Ran Run” (2016 — Sep 14, Millennial Whoop at 0:51)
Skechers – “Twinkle Toes” (2016 — Aug 29, Millennial Whoop at 0:00)
—-Songs above this line were released after this article was published—-
Frank Ocean – “Ivy” (2016, Millennial Whoop at 2:53)
Dagny – “Backbeat” (2016, Millennial Whoop at 0:00 as part of longer melodic phrase)
AURORA – “Running With the Wolves” (2016, Millennial Whoop at 1:11)
AURORA – “Conqueror” (2016, Millennial Whoop at 0:23)
Berlin After Midnight – “All Night Long” (2016, Millennial Whoop at 0:52)
Oh Wonder – “Without You” (2015, Millennial Whoop at 0:31)
twenty one pilots – Ride (2015, Millennial Whoop at 0:48)
Dance Gavin Dance – “Stroke God, Millionaire” (2015, Millennial Whoop at 2:32
Tove Lo – “Habits (Stay High)” (2014, Millennial Whoop at 0:48)
Of Monsters and Men – “Mountain Sound” (2014, Millennial Whoop at 2:15)
Andy Grammer – “Forever” (2014, Millennial Whoop at 3:15 at the beginning of a longer melodic phrase)
Fifth Harmony – “Anything Is Possible” (2014, Millennial Whoop at 0:20)
CHVRCHES – “The Mother We Share” (2013, fragmented Millennial Whoop at 0:00, standard Millennial Whoop at 0:33)
American Authors – “Best Day of My Life” (2013, Millennial Whoop at 0:33)
Filter – “Burn It” (2013, Millennial Whoop at 1:10)
Imagine Dragons – “Monster” (2013, Millennial Whoop at 0:57)
One Direction – “Heart Attack” (2012, Millennial Whoop at 0:37)
One Direction – “Live While We’re Young” (2012, Millennial Whoop at 0:53)
The Lumineers – “Ho Hey” (2012, Millennial Whoop on the word “heart” at 0:58)
Conner Youngblood – “A Summer Song” (2012, Millennial Whoop at 1:13)
Rebecca Black – “Sing It” (2012, Millennial Whoop at 0:03)
Chris Brown – “Turn Up the Music” (2012, Millennial Whoop at 1:30)
Big Tree – “Storm King” (2011, Millennial Whoop at 2:24)
Outasight – “Tonight Is the Night” (2011, Millennial Whoop at 0:52)
The Head and the Heart – “Down in the Valley” (2011, Millennial Whoop at 1:48)
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – “And We Danced” (2011, Millennial Whoop at 2:01)
Justin Bieber – “Baby (featuring Ludacris)” (2010, Millennial Whoop at 0:46)
Michou – “Growing Younger” (2010, Millennial Whoop at 0:37)
Alejandro Sanz – “Looking for Paradise (featuring Alicia Keys)” (2010, Millennial Whoop at 0:14
Kings of Leon – “Use Somebody” (2009, Millennial Whoop faintly at 0:02, louder 1:28)
Cymbals Eat Guitars – “And The Hazy Sea” (2009, elongated Millennial Whoop at 0:00)
Little Boots – “Remedy” (2009, Millennial Whoop at 0:51)
Mates of State – “Goods” (2007, Millennial Whoop at 0:20)
Green Day – “Are We the Waiting” (2004, Millennial Whoop at 0:34)
Death Cab for Cutie – “Lightness” (2003, Millennial Whoop at 0:32)
The Rasmus – “In the Shadows” (2003, Millennial Whoop at 0:12)
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Maps” (2003, Millennial Whoop at 1:24 on the word “maps”)
Smurfehits – “Tenker på deg” (1996, Millennial Whoop at 2:17)
The KLF – “Last Train to Trancentral” (1991, Millennial Whoop at 1:00)
Baltimora – “Tarzan Boy” (1985, Millennial Whoop at 1:11)
Madness – “Wings of a Dove” (1984, Millennial Whoop at 0:43)
Morris Day and the Time – “Jungle Love” (1984, Millennial Whoop at 0:38) |
Adam Scherr (born September 6, 1983) is an American professional wrestler, actor and former strongman currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Braun Strowman.
He is the winner of the 2018 Men's Money in the Bank contract, along with the titular match at the Greatest Royal Rumble event, and is also a one-time Raw Tag Team Champion with Nicholas. Strowman has headlined many pay-per-view events, including the 2017 editions of SummerSlam and Survivor Series. He holds the record for most eliminations in a single Elimination Chamber match with five, most eliminations in a single Royal Rumble match with 13, and is tied for the most eliminations in a single Survivor Series elimination match with four. Upon debuting on the main roster, Strowman was associated with the villainous stable The Wyatt Family, wearing a black sheep mask and being physically dominant. Throughout his appearances with WWE, Strowman has been portrayed as an unstoppable monster.[3]
Early life [ edit ]
Adam Scherr was born on September 6, 1983, in Sherrills Ford, North Carolina.[4] His father, Rick "Crusher" Scherr, is widely regarded as one of the greatest slow-pitch softball players of all time,[5][6][7] and is a USSSA Hall of Fame member who still holds the All Time World Series records in home runs (101), hits (166), and RBIs (202).[8] Scherr has a younger sister named Hannah.[9] As he grew older, he spent time in Arkansas and Tennessee. As a teen, he attended Bandys High School, where he was on the football, track and field, and wrestling teams. He went through a significant growth spurt in high school; he was 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) during his freshman year and grew to 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) by the time he graduated.[10] After graduating in 2001, he "goofed off" until 2003, when he enrolled in a community college. He spent the next four years playing football semi-professionally for the Hickory Hornets, supplementing his income by working as a doorman and mechanic. Scherr attended the NFL Scouting Combine in 2007, but he ultimately did not turn professional. In the late 2000s, he began competing in amateur strongman competitions.[11][12][13]
Strongman career [ edit ]
Scherr earned his Strongman Corporation (ASC) Professional Card by winning the NAS US Amateur National Championships on November 5, 2011.[14] He won the 2012 Arnold Amateur Strongman Championships on March 4, which took place during the Arnold Sports Festival alongside the 2012 Arnold Strongman Classic.[15] This victory earned Scherr an invite to the 2013 Arnold Strongman Classic.[15] He competed in the SCL North American Championships on July 8, 2012, finishing in 5th place overall as well as competing in the Giants Live Poland event on July 21, finishing in 7th place overall.[16]
Professional wrestling career [ edit ]
WWE [ edit ]
Training (2013–2015) [ edit ]
Scherr signed a contract with the professional wrestling promotion WWE in early 2013 and was assigned to the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, where he adopted the ring name Braun Stowman (with the first name a reference to Milwaukee Brewers left fielder Ryan Braun).[17] In 2014, he made appearances as one of Adam Rose's "Rosebuds" in his Exotic Express gimmick.[18][19] He made his professional wrestling debut at an NXT live event in Jacksonville, Florida on December 19, 2014, defeating Chad Gable.[2] On June 2, 2015, Stowman appeared at a Main Event taping in a dark match, where he defeated an unidentified wrestler.[20]
The Wyatt Family (2015–2016) [ edit ]
On August 24 episode of Raw, Scherr, under the tweaked ring name Braun Strowman,[21] made his main roster debut by attacking Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns and establishing himself as the newest member of The Wyatt Family alongside Bray Wyatt , Luke Harper and Erick Rowan. [22][23] Strowman had his first televised singles match on the August 31 episode of Raw, when he defeated Ambrose by disqualification.[24] Strowman wrestled in his first WWE pay-per-view event match on September 20 at Night of Champions, where The Wyatt Family defeated Ambrose, Reigns and Chris Jericho in a six-man tag team match after Jericho passed out to Strowman's lifting arm triangle choke.[25] On December 13 at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, The Wyatt Family defeated The ECW Originals (Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley (collectively known as The Dudley Boyz), Rhyno and Tommy Dreamer) in an eight-man tag team elimination tables match.[26]
On January 24, 2016, Strowman appeared at the Royal Rumble and scored among the most eliminations in the Royal Rumble match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, eliminating five opponents before being eliminated by Brock Lesnar, only to return to the match and helping his fellow Wyatt Family members to eliminate Lesnar.[27] Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter wrote that Strowman was "put over as a monster" in the match.[28] On February 21 at Fastlane, The Wyatt Family lost to the team of Big Show, Kane and Ryback,[29] but they got their win back the next night on Raw in a rematch.[30] Strowman appeared on April 3 at WrestleMania 32 during The Rock and John Cena's confrontation with The Wyatt Family.[31] The Wyatt Family were originally scheduled to face The League of Nations on May 1 at Payback,[32][33] but the match was cancelled after Wyatt suffered a legitimate injury.[34] In July, The Wyatt Family began a feud with the WWE Tag Team Champions The New Day,[35][36] which saw them defeating The New Day in a six-man tag team match on July 24 at Battleground.[37]
Undefeated streak (2016–2017) [ edit ]
Strowman in September 2016
As part of the 2016 WWE draft, Strowman was drafted to the Raw brand while Bray Wyatt and Erick Rowan were drafted to SmackDown instead, Strowman separated from The Wyatt Family and beginning his singles career.[38] On the following weeks on Raw, Strowman appeared with a modified appearance and defeated James Ellsworth and several other local wrestlers who put up no challenge.[39][40] On the September 5 episode of Raw, Sin Cara challenged Strowman due to him disrespecting luchadores, but he lost by countout and by pinfall in the following weeks.[41][42] On the October 17 episode of Raw, Strowman was confronted by Sami Zayn after easily defeating three local competitors in a one-on-three handicap match.[43] Strowman was scheduled to compete against Zayn the following week on Raw, but the match never started as both men attacked each other before the bell rang.[44] On the October 31 episode of Raw, Strowman won a battle royal by last eliminating Zayn for a spot on Team Raw for the traditional Survivor Series five-on-five elimination match.[45][46] At the event on November 20, Strowman eliminated Dean Ambrose, but he was the first man to be eliminated from Team Raw after being counted out due to interference by James Ellsworth, who was put through a table after being chased up the entrance ramp by Strowman.[47] Team Raw later lost the match.[48] On the December 13 episode of Raw, Raw General Manager Mick Foley announced a match between Strowman and Zayn for Roadblock: End of the Line on December 18,[49] being announced as a ten-minute time limit match in which Strowman had ten minutes to defeat Zayn, which Strowman was unable to do.[50] The following night on Raw, Strowman demanded a match against Zayn, but Foley had given Zayn the night off which prompted Strowman to attack Sin Cara and Titus O'Neil during their match and later attacked Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns during their match against Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens.[51] Strowman defeated Zayn in a Last Man Standing match on the January 2, 2017 episode of Raw to end their feud.[52]
On January 27 at the Royal Rumble, Strowman interfered during Kevin Owens and Roman Reigns' title match, helping Owens retain the Universal Championship.[53] Later that night, Strowman would enter the Royal Rumble match at number seven, eliminating Mojo Rawley, Big Cass, Kalisto, Mark Henry, Big Show, James Ellsworth and Tye Dillinger before being eliminated by Baron Corbin.[54][55] On the January 30 episode of Raw, Strowman challenged for his first world championship when he took on Kevin Owens for the Universal Championship as he was granted the match by Foley after video proof of Owens promising Strowman a title match, which Strowman would go on to win by disqualification after Reigns interfered and attacked him.[56] Strowman then continued to demand better competition, easily defeating four local competitors and then being granted a match with Reigns at Fastlane[57] while also attacked him in his match against Samoa Joe, causing Joe to win.[58] At the event on March 5, Strowman faced Reigns in a losing effort, marking his first loss by pinfall.[59] At WrestleMania 33 in April, Strowman competed in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, but failed to win.[60]
Universal Championship pursuits (2017–present) [ edit ]
On the April 10 episode of Raw, Strowman continued his feud with Roman Reigns, attacking him and kayfabe injuring his shoulder.[61] Despite playing a villain, Strowman received a very positive fan response, partially due to the negative fan reaction of Reigns.[62] The two had a match at Payback, where Strowman defeated Reigns.[63] After the May 8 episode of Raw, WWE claimed that Strowman had a legitimate injury with a shattered elbow and would therefore be sidelined for about six months.[64] This also caused a change in the schedule, with the planned match between him and Brock Lesnar at Great Balls of Fire having to be scrapped. Strowman underwent surgery three days later in May 11.[65] However, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported that while Strowman's elbow injury was indeed legitimate, it was minor, scheduled to sideline him for only two months, with WWE exaggerating it in order for him to make a surprise return "four months early".[66] On the June 19 episode of Raw, Strowman returned from injury, attacking Roman Reigns.[67] This led to an ambulance match at Great Balls of Fire, with Strowman winning.[68] At SummerSlam, Strowman would challenge for Lesnar's Universal Championship in a fatal-four-way match also involving Reigns and Samoa Joe in a losing effort.[69] Strowman faced Lesnar for the championship at No Mercy in September, but was unsuccessful once again.[70]
Strowman later became involved in The Miz's feud with the reformed stable The Shield, culminating in a five-on-three handicap TLC match at the TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs in October. During the match, Strowman's teammates turned on him, throwing him into the back of a garbage truck, thus turning Strowman into a face in the process. His team would also go on to lose the match.[71] Strowman would return to Raw the following week, attacking The Miz and The Miztourage (Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas).[72] At Survivor Series in November, Strowman appeared as part of Team Raw, defeating Team SmackDown as Strowman and Triple H were the sole survivors of the team. After the match, Strowman attacked Triple H with two running powerslams.[73] On the December 11 episode of Raw, Strowman fought Kane to a double countout in a match to determine the number one contender to the Universal Championship on January 28, 2018 at the Royal Rumble leading to the match being changed to a triple threat match involving also Kane and Lesnar.[74] At the event, Strowman would be unsuccessful in winning.[75] The next night on Raw, Strowman defeated Kane in Last Man Standing match to qualify for the Elimination Chamber match at the titular pay-per-view to determine the number one contender for the Universal Championship.[76] At the event on February 25, Strowman eliminated The Miz, Elias, John Cena, Finn Bálor and Seth Rollins (setting the new record for the most eliminatation in a single Elimination Chamber match), but in the end he was eliminated by Roman Reigns.[77]
On the March 12 episode of Raw, Strowman, despite lacking a partner, won a tag team battle royal to determine the number one contenders for the Raw Tag Team Championship at WrestleMania 34. Raw General Manager Kurt Angle allowed Strowman to challenge for the titles, under the provision he choose a partner at the event.[78] At the event on April 8, Strowman chose a young fan in attendance named Nicholas to be his partner (in reality, son of referee John Cone).[79] The duo then defeated champions Cesaro and Sheamus, winning his first championship in WWE and making Nicholas the youngest champion of any kind in WWE history.[80] The following night on Raw, Strowman and Nicholas relinquished the titles due to Nicholas' "scheduling conflict" (school).[81] On April 27 at the Greatest Royal Rumble in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Strowman won the namesake match and in doing so broke the record for most eliminations in a Royal Rumble match with 13, beating Roman Reigns' previous record of 12.[82][83]
From April to August, Strowman feuded with Kevin Owens. He and Bobby Lashley defeated Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn at Backlash,[84] and won the Money in the Bank ladder match, where Strowman threw Owens from the top of a ladder against a table.[85] At Extreme Rules, Owens defeated Strowman in a Steel cage match after Strowman performed a chokeslam off the cage through an announce table on Owens, thereby giving Owens the win as his feet touched the floor first, per the rules.[86] At SummerSlam, Strowman defeated Owens in a singles match with his Money in the Bank contract on the line in two minutes.[87] Later in the night, Strowman announced he would be cashing in on the winner of the main event and challenging them after the match. However, then-reigning Universal Champion Brock Lesnar attacked Strowman during his match with Roman Reigns, leaving Strowman unable to cash in when Reigns won the title after pinning Lesnar.[88]
Strowman would attempt another cash-in on Reigns, the new champion, the next night on Raw, but was stopped by The Shield, who attacked Strowman before the match became official.[89] Strowman then formed an alliance with Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre by helping them attack The Shield, thus turning heel once again.[90] At Hell in a Cell in September, Strowman would cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase on Reigns, but due to interference from Brock Lesnar, the match ended in a no contest.[91] At Super Show-Down on October 6, Strowman, Ziggler and McIntyre faced The Shield in a losing effort,[92] before defeating them two days later on Raw.[93] However, on the October 15 episode of Raw, Strowman, Ziggler and McIntyre lost to The Shield once again after McIntyre accidentally kicked Strowman during the match. Afterwards, Strowman powerslammed Ziggler before being attacked by McIntyre, dissolving their partnership and turning Strowman face once again.[94]
At Crown Jewel in November, Strowman lost to Lesnar after a pre-match attack by Baron Corbin.[95] Later that month at Survivor Series, Strowman was again attacked by Corbin, along with McIntyre and Bobby Lashley, after Team Raw defeated Team SmackDown in the traditional tag team elimination match.[96] Braun Strowman defeated Baron Corbin in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match to earn a Universal Championship match against Brock Lesnar at the Royal Rumble and Corbin was stripped of all authoritative power.[97] On the January 14, 2019 episode of Raw, he was removed from the Universal Championship match since he wasn't medicaly cleared to compete.[98] However, he instead participated in the Royal Rumble match, being the last eliminated by the eventual winner Seth Rollins.[99] In February, Strowman continued his feud with Corbin, leading to a no-disqualification match at Elimination Chamber, which Strowman lost after interference from McIntyre and Lashley.[100] However, the following night on Raw, Strowman defeated Corbin in a tables match.[101]
Personal life [ edit ]
Scherr is an avid hunter, angler, camper, and outdoorsman. He supports the Green Bay Packers.[102]
Other media [ edit ]
Filmography [ edit ]
Film [ edit ]
Year Title Role 2016 Three Count Strongman 2018 Holmes & Watson Brawn
Television [ edit ]
Year Title Role Notes 2012 The World's Strongest Man Competitor Episode: "The Qualifiers: Kartuzy, Poland" 2018 Dus Ka Dum Himself
Video games [ edit ]
Championships and accomplishments [ edit ]
Professional wrestling [ edit ]
Strength athletics [ edit ] |
Bill Maher is coming to London; I would love it if the whole of the Hammersmith Apollo was filled with Muslims wearing Ben Affleck T shirts.
— Sarfraz Manzoor (@sarfrazmanzoor) October 16, 2014
Dear Ben,
I am writing to you today as a woman who was born and raised in Islam. I saw your discussion with Bill Maher and Sam Harris, and I must say you did me a great disservice that day. Your heart was in the right place, of course, and it was lovely of you to step up and defend "my people".
What you really did though, perhaps inadvertently, was silence a conversation that never gets started. Two people attempted to begin a dialogue and you wouldn’t even listen. Why should any set of ideas be above criticism, Ben?
Why are Muslims being "preserved" in some time capsule of centuries gone by? Why is it okay that we continue to live in a world where our women are compared to candy waiting to be consumed? Why is it okay for women of the rest of the world to fight for freedom and equality while we are told to cover our shameful bodies? Can’t you see that we are being held back from joining this elite club known as the 21st century?
Noble liberals like yourself always stand up for the misrepresented Muslims and stand against the Islamophobes, which is great but who stands in my corner and for the others who feel oppressed by the religion? Every time we raise our voices, one of us is killed or threatened. I am a blogger and illustrator, no threat to anyone, Ben, except for those afraid of words and drawings. I want the freedom to express myself without the very real fear that I might be killed for it. Is that too much to ask?
When I wrote a children’s book that carried a message of diversity and inclusivity for everyone, my life changed. My book, My Chacha (uncle) is Gay’ has the innocent anti-homophobia message, "Love belongs to everyone." This was not palatable to many of my Muslim brothers and sisters.
Since that project I have been declared an "enemy of God" and deemed worthy of death. All because I want to help create a world where South Asian children too can have their stories told, so they too can know that love comes in all forms, and that that’s okay. My Muslim brothers and sisters were hit hard by this work because it addresses the issue of homophobia within our own community. It is not something they can pass off as "Western" immorality. Just like they deny that any issues exist within the doctrine of Islam, many deny that homosexuality exists amongst good, "moral" Muslims. Just like that, millions of people’s existence is denied. Please do not defend people who think this way, and let me tell you Ben, many "good" Muslims do think this way.
What you did by screaming "racist!" was shut down a conversation that many of us have been waiting to have. You helped those who wish to deny there are issues, deny them. You became an instant hero, a defender of Islam. It’s kind, it really is. I understand because I too am plagued and affected by the issues brought about by actual Islamophobia. I have a Muslim name and brown skin, my peaceful relatives have been pushed in the subway and called "terrorist" for no reason.
I get that.
We must distinguish critiquing an ideology from being hateful towards a group of people. And for this reason I think that tackling the issues within Islam should be two-pronged. They must be brought up, but simultaneously we should stress that blame for these issues cannot be placed on individuals.
In the interest of being politically correct and "liberal", we silence the voices of millions. I am turning to you because you were instrumental in starting this conversation. Those of us who want reform are muted by extremists, as well as the liberals who betray us in the name of multiculturalism.
ISIS paints a horrific picture, so I understand the knee-jerk reaction to deny any link. Most Muslims choose to interpret scripture in a peaceful way, but that doesn’t mean the raw material isn’t there for those who choose the path of violence. That material must be addressed.
Can we talk about the blatant double standards and violation of human rights, for a second? Mosques are built throughout western countries, usually without much issue. But in the hub of Islam, the heart of Islam, Saudi Arabia, no one but Muslims are allowed to officially practice their faith. There are no churches, temples or synagogues because Saudi Arabia will not permit any non-Muslim place of worship to exist. Who will hold them accountable for such injustice if we hush everyone who speaks out against Islam?
What is so wrong with wanting to step into the current century? There should be no shame. There is no denying that violence, misogyny and homophobia exist in all religious texts, but Islam is the only religion that is adhered to so literally, to this day.
In your culture you have the luxury of calling such literalists “crazies”, like the Westboro Baptist Church, for example. In my culture, such values are upheld by more people than we realise. Many will try to deny it, but please hear me when I say that these are not fringe values. It is apparent in the lacking numbers of Muslims willing to speak out against the archaic Shariah law. The punishment for blasphemy and apostasy, etc, are tools of oppression. Why are they not addressed even by the peaceful folk who “aren’t fanatical, who just want to have some sandwiches and pray five times a day? Where are the Muslim protestors against blasphemy laws/apostasy? Where are the Muslims who take a stand against harsh interpretation of Shariah? These sandwich-eating peaceful folk do not defend those suffering in the name of Islam, Ben, and therein lies our problem.
Maybe the points Maher and Harris were trying to make are more easily digested when coming from within the community, I can appreciate that. That is why I am writing to you, as someone who has personally been hurt by the lack of acknowledgement of these issues.
If Muslims do not critique their own atrocities, then people on the outside will and their message will not be listened to simply because of who they are. It’s a vicious cycle, one that can only break if indeed, like Harris said, true reformers are empowered.
I ask you and anyone reading this to make an effort to seek out reformers from within our community, and support them in any way you can.
If I were allowed to meet a man that is not my father, brother or husband unchaperoned, I would have loved to discuss this over drinks (which I am also not allowed to have) with you. So, you see, things must change.
Sincerely,
Eiynah
Last fortnight, Gone Girl star Ben Affleck caused a storm when he got into a heated debate with US TV host Bill Maher and American author Sam Harris over their views on Islamic radicalism. Appearing on the show Real Time with Bill Maher, Affleck attacked Harris for suggesting that Islam was a "mother lode of bad ideas" and skewed Maher for maintaining that liberals fail to condemn the lack of personal freedoms, especially for women and LGBT minorities, in the Muslim world.The actor claimed that Maher and Harris were being racist and were making generalisations about Muslims. "How about more than a billion people who are not fanatical, who don't punish women, who just want to go to school, have some sandwiches," he asked. "It's stereotyping."The debate, which can be viewed here , was circulated widely on the internet, and earned Affleck a great deal of praise from progressives.However, not everyone agreed with Affleck. In an open letter this week, a Canadian illustrator and blogger of Pakistani origin named Eiynah politely and eloquently explained why she believes the actor is wrong.Eiynah's blog, Nice Mangos, can be viewed here . Her Twitter handle is @nicemangos. |
Welcome!
Welcome! Ultralight backpacking is my passion, and keeping up on new technologies, gear, and techniques relevant to UL backpacking is what floats my boat. I'm always looking for the lightest, most functional gear to improve a lightweight or ultralight backpacking kit, and report my impressions and field testing results here. For hikers wanting to keep up on the latest and greatest ultralight backpacking gear, this is a good place to hang out. Also, there is a lot of information here (and on our informational website Southwest Ultralight Backpacking) on useful techniques and backcountry etiquette -- food for thought for hikers wanting to lighten their load and their impacts.
My goal for Ultralight Insights is to understand, test, and report on new technologies and gear of interest to lightweight and ultralight backpackers. It's a passion after all, so we just plain enjoy talking about it. I hope readers will add their own wisdom and comments, respond to my questions, ask their own questions, and correct me if I get something wrong. Happy hiking! Will |
ISLAMABAD: A clash broke out in Islamabad's Sector I-11 between slum-dwellers and Capital Development Authority (CDA) officials on Thursday as authorities backed by some 1,200 police personnel and rangers launched an anti-encroachment operation against informal settlements in the area.
All roads leading to Afghan Basti were blocked before the operation was launched to raze more than 800 illegal homes constructed in Sector I-11.
Police shelling protesting residents. ─ DawnNews screengrab
The operation was met with resistance from residents of the settlement. Television footage showed clashes occurring between authorities and residents as policemen and women dragged protesting residents away from the site.
Residents of the settlement were shown throwing stones at policemen who fought back, baton-charging the slum-dwellers and using teargas to disperse them.
Slum-dwellers throwing stones at policemen. ─ DawnNews
Bulldozers demolished temporary homes in the settlement as policemen held onlookers back from disrupting the process.
A bulldozer demolishing a house in the I/11 slum. ─ DawnNews screengrab
Meanwhile, rights activists expressed dismay at the forced evictions, spurring debate on social media on whether the slum dwellers should be evicted in this manner without arrangement of alternative housing.
The hashtag #stopevictions has been trending on social-media website Twitter for the past few hours.
Earlier, fearing resistance from the katchi abadi residents, the CDA had delayed the operation which was to be held on Wednesday.
Also read: CDA backs off from operation to remove I-11 slum
The I-11 Katchi Abadi, according to a survey carried out by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in 2013, is home to 864 families and 8,000 people live there. During a visit to the slum on Wednesday, it was observed that in their negotiations with the CDA, residents were unwilling to settle for anything less than alternative land.
Earlier this week, an enforcement team of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) along with a large number of police personnel had failed to launch an operation to remove the I-11 slum after a seven-hour-long face-off with the dwellers.
The residents of the katchi abadi proved that they were organised, well-connected and had been tipped-off about the operation a day earlier. CDA officials seemed disappointed over the attitude of the police who did not seem interested in taking action against the dwellers.
On June 26, the CDA had submitted a four-phase plan to the Islamabad High Court (IHC) for the removal of illegal slums.
Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddique had directed the CDA to remove the katchi abadi from I-11 where a new sector could not be developed due to the presence of the illegal settlers for over three decades.
Also read: ‘Action against illegal slums continuing’
An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that the I-11 Katchi Abadi housed 20,000 people. The estimate has now been updated to reflect findings of a recent UNHCR survey. |
In America, the sport is run under the jurisdiction of the Underwater Society of America (USOA), a 64-year-old organization that represents all diving sports in North America - including activities like underwater rugby and photo fishing, an actual competition among divers to see who takes the best photographs. The USOA would like to add two or three new underwater hockey clubs a year, and start kids playing at a younger age. But they keep running into issues like pool availability and lawsuit concerns. "The sad thing," says Karen Erickson, the sport's development director, "is that swimming and synchronized swimming and water polo are prioritized over underwater hockey."
It took America a bit longer to catch hold of the sport. The first recorded U.S. National Tournament took place in 1976, and spread slowly to other cities from there. Today there are currently 60 American club teams, composed of players who mostly took up the game in college. The players take the sport as seriously as they would a game of football. There are weekly practices and tryouts and rivalries. Each year, the United States fields a national team to compete in the World Championships.
Blake's teammates fully embraced the game, which premiered at the Portsmouth Guildhall Baths in the winter of 1954. From there, underwater hockey gained surprising traction. Exhibition games were held all around England. By the 1970s, the UK had an official national team, and played other national teams from South Africa, Zimbabwe, France and the Netherlands and club teams from Ireland and the Netherlands.
At the start of the game, each team would line up at opposite ends of the pool with the squid placed midway between the teams. At the buzzer, the teams would swim out to the puck, diving underwater to reach it. The first player to the puck would either propel it forward with their stick or flick it to a teammate. There would be penalties for, among other things, holding onto another player's mask or fin and striking another player with the stick.
The concept, as he described it to his teammates over tea, was simple: The object of the game was for the six players on a team to move a "squid" (a three-pound lead weight) along the bottom of the pool with the aid of a "pusher" (a short, shuffleboard-like stick) against the opposing team, with the goal of hitting the puck into a two-meter goal. Instead of wearing full scuba gear, players would only wear a mask and flippers and periodically surface to breathe, making breath management an important part of the sport.
And then, one night, the idea for underwater hockey came to him, as if in a dream.
He thought up a number of ideas to keep his teammates engaged, but discarded all of them because they were "too rough or violent, too much equipment, uncontrollable, impractical, expensive, damage to the player or the swimming pool" as he wrote in his self-published memoirs.
Like Wittekind, Alan Blake, the inventor of underwater hockey, did not know what he was getting into when he started the sport. Back in 1954, all Blake, a recreational scuba diver, wanted to do was keep his new diving club from falling apart during the winter, when outdoor dives were not practical.
This is a lot of responsibility, weight and guilt to carry on a 47-year-old history teacher, even one who's back has been strengthened by thousands of pool laps.
With over a dozen Catholic high schools in Cincinnati competing for students, and Bacon's numbers down 50 percent from 10 years ago, underwater hockey is one of the school's biggest recruiting tools. "If you want to play underwater hockey, this is the only high school in the country that offers it," says Steve Anneken, Kevin's father. The school helps support summer camps and clinics to introduce Cincinnatians to underwater hockey, with the hope that the sport might be the final enticement a parent or student needs to commit to the school.
Wittekind, who everyone calls Doc on account of his doctorate in U.S. History, is not just the team coach. He is also the team dad, the older brother, the event organizer, recruiter, the head fundraiser and the athletic trainer. He schedules games with other schools, books hotels, buys the snacks, and competes as a substitute on the JV team. "There would not be underwater hockey at Bacon if not for Doc," Chris Krebs, Lauren's mother, says firmly.
Wittekind, who had grown tired of commuting to Columbus each weekend, agreed. "I thought this will give me back a lot of my time. That was the biggest mis-statement of the century," he says laughing a laugh that sounds a little like a painful cough.
When the story came out, underwater hockey was all the students could talk about. They wanted to know where it started (in England in the 1950s), how it was played (with snorkels and fins), where it was played (mostly at colleges). And then they wanted to know if he could start at team at Bacon.
Wittekind, a then-Ph.D. candidate, with a slightly protruding belly, an overgrown buzz cut and round professorial glasses, had started playing the sport at Ohio State University while working on his doctorate degree. At 29, he was still hooked on the sport, traveling two hours back to Columbus most weekends to practice with the team.
But instead, Wittekind, a Bacon alum himself, replied with the words that would come to define his next 20 years: "I play underwater hockey."
There was any number of things Wittekind could have said then: he was a U.S. diplomacy geek, he jogged occasionally, he played the trombone.
When Paul Wittekind started teaching at the school in 1994, he was required to sit through the obligatory new staff interview by the school newspaper. At the end of it, the reporter asked: "Do you have any hobbies?"
The small, 400 person Catholic school prides itself on its affordability (tuition costs $8,000 a year with lots of financial aid available), its 85-year-old Franciscan tradition and its close-knit relationships between students and teachers.
Cincinnati is a highly divided city, defined by its transplant-heavy east side and its old world-leaning west side loyalties. Vine Street bisects these two quadrants, and Roger Bacon High School proudly sits right in the center of it.
"They're all really good," Wittekind sighs. Mary, Queen of Victory, has her work cut out for her.
"What do we know about the teams we're playing today?" he is asked.
In the front of the bus, Wittekind settles into his seat, staring at his clipboard.
"Yesterday was rough," he says. "I hope we have a little bit better day today. And that we win at least one game."
Poptic groans softly, then invokes the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, makes the sign of the cross, and begins:
As is custom, Wittekind starts the day by picking a team member to lead everyone in prayer. Today he chooses Steven Poptic, an incoming junior, whose highlighted blond hair spills over his left eye.
The team quiets down as Coach Wittekind, who is revered as a godfather of the sport, makes his way to the back of the bus wearing a Roger Bacon sweatshirt and Tevas, with two of his toes taped together, the result of too many unfortunate fin injuries.
This year's nationals were supposed to act as a going away party of sorts for the graduating Spartans and Wittekind. Six of the team's varsity players received their diplomas a month ago, and are now in that weird, time-defying stage between high school and college where they are not yet adults, but no longer high schoolers. This tournament is the last time they will ever wear a Bacon uniform or serve under Wittekind's tightly-fisted tutelage. When the last buzzer sounds, they will officially be released from all Bacon responsibilities. So far, the tournament hasn't been the celebratory bash they'd planned for.
"Roger Bacon has a really strong club," says Karen Erickson, the development director of U.S. Underwater Hockey. "They always put on a good show. Some really great players have come out of their system."
Twice, in 2010 and 2011, Bacon has beaten a majority of these teams, placing first in the B Division nationals. Last summer, nine of Bacon's players competed for the USA junior team in the invitational America's Cup, where they played against teams from Colombia and Canada. In March, the team finished third in the B Division of the University of Guelph tournament in Ontario, playing against mostly Canadian college teams.
Roger Bacon, the only high school in the country to field an underwater hockey team, is a perennial favorite at the U.S. Nationals. They are fast and squirrely, and accustomed to going up against tough, older teams. Because there are no East Brunswick Bears or Solon Comets to play against in the states, the Spartans travel to Canada to play against other high school teams and fly to tournaments in California and Florida to play against college club teams. They pride themselves on their underwater, underdog status, feeding off the teams who derisively call them "Bacon Bits" and laugh at their skinny legs and walnut-sized biceps.
The sport is a lot more popular than one would think. Really. It's played in 30 countries and five continents and there's a World Championship every year. The U.S. Nationals are a prelude to this year's championships in Hungary in August.
Underwater hockey is a co-ed sport that is similar to regular hockey except players wear snorkels and fins, the sticks are only about 12 inches long, and all the action takes place at the bottom of a pool 8 feet deep. To watch the game, spectators often don their own snorkels and fins and float along the side of the pool.
The other members of the team stare down at the floor uneasily.
Lauren, who is super-competitive and only has enough room in her head to consider her own mental anguish right now, still has not let go of yesterday's losses. "We should have at least won the first game," she moans, kicking her legs against the seat in front of her.
"They're, like, not going to let me play today because I'm nauseous and can't eat and they think I have a concussion or something," she complains.
At 14, Chrissy is the youngest player on the team. Her long brown hair is damp and down and flipped to the right, and she is mouthing the words to a Michael Jackson song. When it is over, she peeks her head over at Sadie, sitting in the seat behind her.
Kevin walks toward the back of the bus, slapping hands with his teammates. Three of the girls: Sadie DiMuzio, Chrissy Ungruhe, and Lauren Krebs are already nestled in their seats, knees pressing against the seat in front of them, listening to their headphones.
"Today is a new day," says graduating senior Kevin Anneken, as he gets on the bus. His ginger red hair is combed forward, and it sits like a shelf over his blue eyes. As the captain of the team, Kevin spends the majority of the time trying to keep his teammates as fired up as he is.
On Friday, the first day of the round-robin competition, the team lost their first game. They also lost their second and third games. They won their fourth - but it was against the JV team so it doesn't count. "I don't really want to talk about it," Coach Paul Wittekind said gruffly at the end of the day.
The start of the National Underwater Hockey tournament has not gone exactly as planned for Cincinnati's Roger Bacon High School.
"Pool directors are nervous about the underwater breath holding part," adds Brigit Grimm, the U.S. women's coach. "They think there will be all kinds of liability if someone drowns - but no one has ever drowned at an underwater hockey game."
Each summer, the U.S. Nationals take place in a different city and the competition differs from championships in many other sports. For instance, teams do not need to qualify in order to play. They need only to consist of U.S. Citizens - though foreigners are allowed if they show proof of temporary residence - to belong to the Underwater Society of America and register before the deadline.
At this year's 2013 competition, there are 21 teams competing from as far away as San Francisco and Gainesville, Fla. Early favorites are Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles, and the two teams spend a lot of time glaring at each other.
Roger Bacon has their own rival too: Michigan State. "They're just jerks," Sadie explains. "They're rude. I don't know why. They just don't like us. I think it kind of makes themselves feel better to go after a high school team for some reason."
It's as if the longstanding Ohio State-University of Michigan rivalry has spilled over to representatives of their respective states, even under the water.
* * *
On the second day of nationals, the team pulls up in front of the Walter Schroeder Aquatic Center in Brown Deer, a suburb outside of Milwaukee. All around the aquatic hall, hundreds of players smashed into small Speedos are lounging on bleachers or walking on the sidelines in their fins, their feet swishing across the pool deck like cross-country skiers as they make their way to and back from the pool. A few players are checking out the wares at the CanAm underwater hockey store, which is selling things like specialized $130 neon-colored, fiberglass flippers that promise to maximize your underwater thrusting power, and a $75 black face diving mask that will both increase your underwater field of vision and make you look like Darth Vader. As a favor, this year CanAm is also selling a calendar filled with images of female Czech underwater players posing nude underwater. "It's for a fundraiser," Steven Kars, CanAm's owner explains.
Walking quickly out of the locker room in her black swimsuit, Sadie, dandelion thin with an open face and faded blue eyes, is one of the first Bacon players out to the pool. From her bag, she pulls on her protective ear gear, with side padding that makes her look like a bulgy-eyed fish. She dips her mask in the water to clear it out, then she slips on a pair of bright green bobby socks that she wears underneath her fins, to prevent chafing. She pikes her finned feet in front of her, mermaid like, then eases herself into the pool.
For Sadie, who grew up swimming and snorkeling in her parents' pool, underwater hockey feels as natural as holding a fork. Most nights, she can be found, belly-side down on the floor in front of the TV, running figure eights with her stick, until her parents can't take the sound anymore and tell her to go practice in her room.
"I just like being in the water," Sadie shrugs. "Out-of-water sports just take so much effort and you sweat and get hot, but swimming for me just feels pretty easy."
Sadie also likes that the sport is co-ed. She played all-girls volleyball in middle school and she hated all the drama and nitpicking and talk about things other than the game. The dynamics of underwater hockey are different, she says. "It's not, like, limited to girls so the conversations are more diverse," she says. "Also, there are not too many co-ed sports you can play, so that's cool, too."
At the end of the summer, Sadie will enter the University of Cincinnati to study electrical engineering. "I like math and science and puzzles and figuring out how things work," she explains. Sadie will also be one of only a few girls in her major at Cincinnati - a fact that also doesn't bother her. "I knew when I picked it, that there would be mostly guys, but I don't care. It's not a big deal with me. I just kind of get along well with most people and don't need to have a best friend in my major or anything," she explains.
* * *
The Spartans first afternoon game is against The Sturgeon Bay Sturgeons, from Sturgeon Bay, Wisc. The Sturgeons, a new team made up of mostly post-collegiate players and novices, are huddled together under a larger than life plastic model of a sturgeon that they've strung up on the bleachers. Like Bacon, they lost most of their games yesterday and are looking for retribution today.
Asked about predictions for the game, Sturgeon Amy Ensign, 44-years-old, looks up from her stretching. "One of our team members reffed their first game yesterday and was really impressed with their level of stick skills," she says. "As 18-year-olds, they have much better lung capacity than we do."
"I think if we do have an advantage it's that we have more life experience and we see the big picture more," she allows, adding that: "I think they're going to give us a run for our money."
Told that Sturgeon Bay is a little worried about the game, Kevin nods his head curtly. "Good, they should be," he says.
* * *
From the sidelines, it looks like you are watching a shark tank.
A few minutes before the game begins, the Spartans line up at the edge of the pool, their sticks pointing forward as if inviting a duel. When the bell sounds, their muscular legs kick like bat wings, and they leave a crescendo of waves behind them. They swim out to the center of the pool, then dive down head first. From the sidelines, it looks like you are watching a shark tank. "We call the sport ‘Fins and Butts' because that's all we can see," says Kevin's father Steve, who's been to dozens of games over the years.
In the first minute, the Sturgeons reach the puck first. Bacon players race back to defend their own goal, but they are not back in time, and the Sturgeons easily sweep the puck into the goal. Sadie, angry at her playing, screams underwater, making a gurgling sound that sounds like a dying animal. Both teams head back to their respective walls, waiting for the puck to drop again.
"You need to support each other better," Coach Wittekind calls out.
The buzzer sounds, and again the two teams converge on the puck, their bodies slanting like descending airplanes as they fight for control. The Sturgeons find a seam, scooping the puck toward an open forward. As they descend on Bacon's goal, Kevin hangs back to defend it. He deflects the puck, sending it up field, but then has to float up to the surface for air. Before he gets back down, the Sturgeons score again, and the crowd responds.
"It's OK. Roger Bacon."
"Just put one in."
After 11 minutes, the team switches sides. Roger Bacon gulps down swishes of water and receives last-minute advice. The refueling seems to work. A few minutes into the second half, Lauren, a strong, powerful swimmer, pushes past a pack of Sturgeon players, and keeps control of the puck. She passes it to Kevin, who slams it into the Sturgeons' goal.
3-1.
The next few minutes are a tense tug of war for possession, with the puck ricocheting off the side wall of the pool. Then the Sturgeons get the puck again and converge on the goal. Lauren, Sadie and Poptic all race backwards to play defense. Sadie blocks a shot, but it is intercepted by another Sturgeon player. There is a mad rush to protect the Spartans' goal, but the puck slips in.
4-1.
The game ends soon after. The Sturgeons congratulate each other, then lead Bacon in the ritualistic cheer, performed after every game. "Three cheers for Roger Bacon. Hip hip hooray. Hip hip hooray. Hip hip hooray."
The team is glum at the loss, except for Kevin, who says, "I think we went out much better today than yesterday. We're looking strong, I think."
* * *
You could be confused for thinking that the lawn outside of Walter Schroeder Auditorium is actually a Florida beachfront. Players spread beach towels on the grass, slap on sunscreen and bask in the sun. There are coolers of Gatorade, and bright umbrellas sticking like flowers out of the ground. Some players have unfolded beach lounging chairs, and read novels in between games. The only thing missing from the whole scene is the water.
In between games, Sadie and Chrissy drag their own towels outside. The two represent opposite ends of Bacon's legacy: Chrissy is about to enter Bacon, and Sadie is about to leave it. When Sadie, Lauren, Rebecca, Liz and Michelle graduate, Chrissy and another sophomore named Shelby will be the only girls on the team. This is worrisome for Chrissy. In fact, most things about next year are worrisome for Chrissy, whose entire family lineage, it seems, has graduated from Bacon.
"I'm worried," Chrissy confides, as she lays on her stomach. "In elementary school, I wasn't shy at all. I wasn't awkward. I was, like, really talkative and friends with everyone. But now I'm all awkward and say stupid things."
"You're not even in high school yet," Sadie points out.
"But I'm going to be next year."
"We're friends," says Sadie.
"Yeah, but you won't be there," Chrissy replies, peeling a piece of grass like string cheese. "I'm going to get my friend Rachel to join. I'm going to make her pay the dues when I get back. She wants to join drama, which is fine too, but no matter what, she's joining. She's awkward like me. We're thick as thieves, even though I've only known her for like 10 minutes."
"They are kind of like the future. If they don’t play it, no one’s going to play it."
She sighs. Sadie makes clucking, comforting noises. Though the two are very different, Sadie has made it her role to take Chrissy under her wing this tournament. "I like trying to help the younger freshman in any way I can," she says later. "They are kind of like the future. If they don't play it, no one's going to play it."
The U.S. Underwater Hockey Association is well aware of this. "Look around," says Grimm, the U.S. women's underwater hockey coach. "There are not many women here. We want the women who are here to feel like a community."
What makes it possible for both men and women to play the sport is the water. "It's the great equalizer," says Grimm, who was a competitive swimmer at UCLA in the '70s.
"And the thing about underwater hockey is that every player has to come up for air at some point," adds Erickson, the development director.
But a lot of the more competitive leagues do not have female players. The Cincinnati team, which this year features all Roger Bacon alumni, has no women and their swimsuits read "Big Daddies from Cincinnati." Which is not to say that next year, they couldn't include women.
"If Sadie and Lauren tried out, they would definitely make the team," says Alex Mathis, who graduated from Roger Bacon last year and is now playing for Team Cincinnati.
To keep players like Sadie and Lauren, Brigit invited the girls to play in a makeshift all-female game at the tournament. Sadie didn't particularly like it. Not because it was all women, but because she didn't know her teammates. "Basically, you didn't know exactly what people were good or capable of," she explains. "At Bacon, I pretty much knew what my team could do. In this game, I didn't know if my teammate was going to barge through the other players or try to steal the puck. I just didn't know anything about them. It was frustrating."
* * *
Chrissy is not the only player having problems with transitions. Before the next game, Kevin and Bacon alum Alex Mathis sit on the bleachers having a heart-to-heart conversation about legacies with a reporter.
"This is like the last thing I get to do for Bacon before I leave for college," says Kevin, as he gnaws into a granola bar. "Next year, I'm graduating to the big boy leagues, and playing with all the big dogs who've been around for a while. It'll be weird. At least with Bacon, all the other teams are impressed with us - even when we get blown out."
"It's different," Alex agrees. "Everything's a lot less organized now. When I was at Bacon, Doc took care of all of us. We always had a bus to go back to and all the food we wanted. Now [with Team Cincinnati] it's more hodge-podge. Like, I don't know where we're eating tonight, and you probably know where you're going to eat for the next six nights."
"Yes, Family Table," laughs Kevin who has already memorized the restaurant's five-page menu.
"The big difference is that now we're playing at a higher level. And it's a lot more social," says Alex. "When I was at Bacon, Doc would whisk us away in the bus after every game to a different hotel than anyone else was staying at. Now it's all about drinking. Half our team was like we have a really big game against L.A. at 9 a.m. this morning and the other half rolled in from the Ale House at three in the morning. On a game day!"
* * *
The one thing that still unites all the Roger Bacon players - current and alumni - is an intense hatred of Michigan State. Every team has their rivals, and for Bacon, Michigan State is the enemy. They dislike most everything about them - from their sparkly, bottle-green bathing suits to the funny way they stretch out their "O's" when talking, to the showy, obnoxious way that some of the girls straddle the judging ref's lap during games.
Like a lot of enemies, Bacon hates the team partly because they are a lot like them.
"Geographically, they are one of the closest teams to us," Wittekind explains. "Like us, every four years they have to replace their team and struggle with attrition issues like we do. They struggle to get respect and pool time. In terms of totem pole, they're not the biggest or most influential [school]."
But there is more than just geographical distaste that keeps the teams fighting. There’s also genuine bad blood.
But there is more than just geographical distaste that keeps the teams fighting. There's also genuine bad blood. Two years ago, at the U.S. Nationals in L.A., Bacon had two recent graduates playing on their team. Michigan State found this unfair, and complained to the refs and tournament organizers. "As parents, watching, we kind of found this humorous," says Kevin's father Steve.. "We're like "OK, you're all college aged or older and we have two guys who graduated a few years ago playing and you're complaining?'" At the end of the national championship game, where Michigan State lost to Bacon, a few of their players chanted: "Hip hip hooray, f***ing Cincinnati, Hip hip f****ing Cincinnati."
The parents and players were furious. "As a parent, I was like, ‘Are these guys serious?' They just played kids aged 14 to17, and they're all bent out of shape?" Steven Anneken says, shaking his head in disbelief.
The Bacon-Michigan State game is the last one of the night. In the standings, the outcome doesn't mean much. Both teams are tired, and both are disappointed in their playing. No matter the outcome of this game, both teams have already been delegated to C level, the lowest division, for the finals tomorrow.
Nonetheless, Kevin remains the relentless optimist. "We've got to trust each other," he tells his teammates during warm ups, as the University of Cincinnati team gathers to watch. "We've got to get down quickly."
Michigan State shoots out quicker than anticipated. They score within the first minute.
"Guys," Kevin says, "We've got to be cycling better. Let's get our heads in the game."
Right after the second puck drop, Michigan State scores again.
Kevin is starting to get angry. "Steven!" he yells. "You have to play further back."
Unaccustomed to the outburst, Poptic looks wounded.
"It's OK, Steven," Wittekind consoles.
"C'mon. Push it!" The audience members shout from the side, as if their cheers could physically propel Bacon forward. But all the cheering is for naught. Bacon is unorganized. They're tired. They don't swim out strong. They're not playing aggressively. They give up when they lose the puck. And the goals keep coming. At the half, the game is 6-0.
On the sidelines, Kevin pleads with his players to get into the game. "Try your hardest," he practically begs.
The second half goes much better for Bacon. They are more aggressive. They use the wall more. Kevin gets a breakaway, and he scores. Bacon manages to keep the puck on the Michigan State side for much of the game - but then they lose control. Then Bacon regains momentum, passing the puck down the pool, and throwing it into the goal.
Final score: 7-1.
On the bus on the way to Family Table, Kevin leads the team pep talk. "Guys!," he says. "I think is the toughest competition we've faced in any tournament. But, you know, people in the shower stopped to compliment me."
"On what?" team members call out, snickering.
Kevin chooses to ignore this. "Even though the scores don't look like it, we really stepped things up today," he says. "Look at the Michigan State game. If you only take our second half scores, then we were tied. That means we can be just as good as them!"
On Sunday morning, the team pulls into the parking lot of St. Catherine of Alexandria Church and pile out. At every tournament the team goes to Mass. Sometimes, in order to jive with their schedule, this means that they go to a Mass completely in Spanish. Once they pulled into a church, and found out it was the cemetery where Bob Hope was buried. It had a full-time security guard watching Bob Hope's grave, Kevin explained exuberantly.
Today, they file off the bus, walking up the cobblestone stairs, to the pews inside the church. The priest, a kindly man, asks the team what they are doing in Milwaukee. "Underwater hockey," they explain.
"Oh," the priest says, nodding, as if he's heard this before, like they said they drink water in the morning or brush their teeth.
At 8:30 a.m. he welcomes the congregation, "I want to especially welcome the team from Cincinnati who are here playing underground hockey."
"Underwater hockey," they yell.
"Either way," he says. "I hope you win today."
As the priest ends the Mass, he says: "Good luck with your underwater volleyball."
"Underwater hockey," they yell back.
Walking out, Kevin says to Brother Roger, an assistant coach and priest-in-training: "Is it me or did the wine have a higher concentration of alcohol than normal?"
At 10 a.m., the team walks into the Walter Schroeder Aquatic Center, which smells like chlorine and feet.
Their first game of the day: Bacon vs. Bacon. "Well, at least Bacon will win," says Steven Anneken helpfully.
As expected, the varsity wins - which means they get a rematch with Michigan State.
At the start of today's game Michigan State seems optimistic - some might say cocky.
Warming up, the captain says to his team: "When we win this game, we can get first place. We never get first place."
"There is no next game for us," he tells the team. "This is it."
Kevin, hearing of this, is furious and fired up, and trying to pass these feelings off like a cold.
"There is no next game for us," he tells the team. "This is it. We have to get out early. We have to go out as fast as we can. We have to ... I can't think of what I was going to say. We have to want this. Go Spartans!"
At the wall, the team holds out their sticks like knives, inviting a batlle. When the bell rings, they push off the wall, their powerful legs creating ocean waves. Their fins disappear under like dolphin tails as their fans cheer them on.
Come on Bacon, keep pushing!
Kevin sprints out toward the goal, then circles back but has to catch his breath. As he bursts out of the water for air, a member of the other team, spots an opening, and nails it in.
1-0.
It's all right, Kevin.
Lauren consoles her team: "It's one point, that's it." Sadie on the sideline is shaking with exertion and lack of breath.
Drive! Drive!
Michigan State hits Poptic's stick instead of the puck. Stick foul! the refs call. Bacon gets possession. The Michigan State players must stay back two meters until Poptic touches the puck.
Come on guys! Push one in!
Poptic slams the puck to the left corner. There's no one there to meet it.
Wittekind rubs his temples. "If someone's making a run, you've got to be there," he shouts. Kevin circles back, eel-like, and rushes to protect Bacon's goal. He blocks a shot. A Michigan State player swishes in, and aims the puck at the center of the goal.
2-0.
With two minutes left in the half, Kevin makes a breakaway, his long body like an arrow aiming toward the goal. He walks it in. 3-1.
Michigan State roars back, converging on the puck like a swarm of bees. They elbow and man and push their way to the goal, through force. Bacon's defense breaks up, and they score.
At half time its 4-1
Push it! Here we go!
Quickly, Michigan State makes another surge. There's no one to cover. Sadie makes a desperate attempt to catch up, but fails. The goal goes in.
As they pop up for breath, Michigan State's No. 10 snarls at one of Bacon's sophomores: "Lay off my tail. Get the f*** off of me."
A stick foul is called on Bacon. No. 10 smiles, and Lauren restrains herself from tackling the girl. The puck is slammed close to the goal, but Sadie intercepts it. She curves herself around, C-like, switching direction - but there is no one to pass it to. Michigan State takes it and walks it into the goal.
On the sideline, Sadie takes out her mouth piece and sighs. Lauren shakes her head, like she's trying to knock out bad thoughts. Kevin slams his stick against the wall.
"Way to have a temper tantrum," No. 10 mocks.
Kevin explodes at his teammates. "You've got to be down there. There's no excuse for that. We need two backs down at all times. We're giving up easy points."
Doc shakes his head.
Two minutes. "Let's go all out!" he shouts.
And now the game is no longer against Michigan State, but for themselves. For the legacy. For their last minutes as Roger Bacon players. They just want to score. To get the puck to the opposite side. They are pushing hard. Lauren's strokes are like punches. Sadie swims with her elbow bent like an archers. Kevin's arms reach as if he could will himself forward.
Together, they surge. They pass the puck, using the wall like a pinball machine edge, as they advance down the pool. Everyone is down in Michigan State's territory now, waiting for the pass that will let them walk the goal in. Kevin takes the puck and aims ...
And then time runs out. The buzzer sounds and the game is over.
Kevin, ever the captain, ever the cheerleader, starts the cheer.
Three cheers for Michigan State. Hip hip hooray. Hip hip hooray. Hip hip hooray.
No. 10 refuses to shake hands. "I should have kicked them in the face. Bunch of little punks," she murmurs.
Lauren, walking with the assistant coach Brother Roger after the game, shakes her head. "I don't understand. They won. What the hell?"
Brother Roger responds, "It's good you took the high road."
Lauren, bleeding from the heel, looks unconvinced.
Wittekind, looking at the sloped back and shoulders of his dejected players, tells a reporter, "I take back what I said in the beginning of the game," he said, referencing an earlier conversation in regard to the Michigan State team. "They called my kids little punks. Say whatever you want about them."
* * *
Before the day ends, Bacon Varsity will play one more game against a team from Pittsburgh and they will once again lose. They will, however, walk away with a consolation prize: an entire carton of Chips Ahoy! cookies, which they win for being the most organized team in the whole tournament. "We got the Chips Ahoy!, guys. We got the Chips Ahoy!," Kevin will shout joyously, tossing around packets of the cookies like confetti.
In a month Kevin will head off to the University of South Carolina where he hopes to start the school's first underwater hockey club, Sadie will move into her new dorm at the University of Cincinnati, and Lauren will start at The University of Indianapolis, where she will major in exercise science. Doc will start the process of rebuilding and rebranding the team, running clinics and convincing students in his U.S. history classes to take a chance on underwater hockey.
But for now, they will sit together on the bus one last time, munching on chocolate chip cookies, and talk about what they're going to order from the five-page menu at Family Table. |
Today we got a official looking mailer with my name, car make, model and year on the front, which on initial inspection gives the impression that it’s from your car manufacturer. The letter states “ THIS LETTER IS TO INFORM YOU THAT IF YOUR FACTORY WARRANTY HAS EXPIRED, YOU WILL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR PAYING FOR ANY REPAIRS…” Note the IF in the statement, this is how they can get away with it, but in reality many people, myself included fail to register the “IF” in the text.
The text goes onto say “PLEASE RESPOND BY 08/19/2014 AND MENTION THIS LETTER FOR A $100 DISCOUNT”, and in larger text below “IMPORTANT VEHICLE PROTECTION INFORMATION, PLEASE CALL IMMEDIATELY” with their phone number 1-800-420-8055. I give this number in the hope that people searching this number online will be linked to this blog article so they don’t get fooled by this misleading marketing and super aggressive customer representatives when you do call!
This company, Vehicle Protection Center operates out of Saint Peters, MO 63376, see the complaints about this company on their profile on the Better Business Bureau website [Link]. Clearly this mailer is designed to mislead car owners and this sort of misleading advertizing needs to be clamped down on; but unfortunately the US government allows for this sort of marketing practice.
I’m a massive skeptic; so I rarely take anything at face value, which is how I came to write this article after I Googled the number and found lots of negativity surrounding this company’s tactics. Obviously I didn’t call the number listed on the mailer after [or before] reading complaints online!
In addition; the question has to be asked, how did they get this information? The only organizations that should have this information is; Davis Moore of Wichita, KS, Kansas DMV, Progressive Insurance and Capital One Auto Loans, did one of these organizations sell our information or did Vehicle Protection Services acquire the information illegally? Either way, I am not happy that it’s out there!
If you are looking for best pre-owned car dealership options, then consider in house financing.
Update [Oct, 11 2014, 14:43]: In addition to another two mailers from Vehicle Protection Center, yesterday we received a different mailer on fetching green paper from a company using similar scare tactics called Vehicle Services Department, tel: 1-800-200-7155, otherwise known as Auto Assure, LLC of 6400 Pinecrest Dr Suite 400, Plano, TX 75024, tel: 972-202-9761 [BBB Profile].
Update [Oct, 18 2016, 17:10]: I had not received a letter from these companies for a while; but today, I received a different one from a company called CarShield, see below, which suspiciously has the same address as Vehicle Protection Center, however they have a different telephone number; 1-800-615-7462. It’s the same tactics as the other two mailers, like the others, DO NOT CONTACT!
Update [Mar, 7 2018, 16:02]: Another name to add to the list of company names that these people trade under; this was sent to me by a reader, Paul. It uses the same phone number that Marion mentioned in a comment below and go under the name, Endurance Dealer Services (Endurance, LLC).
Paul’s Comments
I made 2 phone calls to their corporate office at 866-918-1438 and they were very apologetic when I called. I made 3 other phone calls to reps at 1-877-334-4872, so they knew I was upset, recording each call which showed up when I reached corporate. Endurance Dealer Services, 400 Skokie Blvd, Suite 105, Northbrook, IL 60062, 866-918-1438. Their reputation is taking somewhat of a beating with your blog, along with other related web-posts – found simply by searching “1-877-334-4872”. Here’s the letter sent to my wife (see above). Curiously, they asked if I received the note on pink paper. Obviously not, but they seemed concerned about that possibility.
Update [Jul, 13 2018, 15:13]: They keep coming, I know it has been mentioned in Paul’s comment above, but this is the first one I have received from Endurance, the phone number listed is 1-877-413-6377. This time, they spelled my last name incorrectly, given I haven’t received one of these in a while, it must be for the 2012 Ford Escape Limited I bought my wife a few months back.
Update [Sep, 14 2018, 11:11]: And, another one, Auto Assure again, and another different phone number, 1-800-200-9312. I’ll keep adding more as they come in, to make people aware of this scam! |
CLOSE Nashville has taken action to stop bars-on-wheels known as pedal taverns as well as low-speed vehicles that resemble golf carts from operating during peak traffic hours in the morning and early evening. Joey Garrison / The Tennessean
Buy Photo Nashville Pedal Tavern is suing another company, Sprocket Tours, for purportedly using the phrase "pedal tavern" to market it's own four-wheeled party bike company. (Photo: Shelley Mays / File / The Tennessean)Buy Photo
A party bike, by any other name, is not a pedal tavern.
Such is the argument sparking perhaps the most Nashville lawsuit ever, claiming Nashville Pedal Tavern LLC states a rival, Sprocket Tours, is illegally calling its own wheeled booze-vessel a "pedal tavern."
A federal lawsuit filed Thursday argues the slow-moving, people-toting bars are officially known as four-wheeled party bicycles. Nashville Pedal Tavern trademarked the phrases "pedal tavern" and "Nashville Pedal Tavern," and therefore no other company should be able to promote similar services using such terms, the lawsuit states.
However, Sprocket Tours — a company that operates similar slothful saloons they call "Sprocket Rockets" — advertises their company as "Nashville's #1 Party Bike Pedal Tavern," the lawsuit says.
By doing so, the company is using a term that it can't, argues Nashville Pedal Tavern.
"(Sprocket's) intentional use of a mark that is confusingly similar to Plaintiff’s PEDAL TAVERN® mark constitutes willful trademark infringement," states the lawsuit.
► More: Metro suspends downtown golf cart taxi service
A Tennessean review of the Sprocket Rocket website Thursday showed the company billed itself as "Nashville’s #1 Peddle Tavern."
Nashville Pedal Tavern states in the lawsuit it has tried since 2014 to get Sprocket to stop using the terms, but to no avail. The company even suggested alternative language: Pedal carriages.
Nashville Pedal Tavern argues Sprocket is violating federal and state trademark and competition law. It wants a judge to force Sprocket to stop using the terminology, pay Nashville Pedal Tavern any profits it may have received through advertisements using those words and to pay three times the amount of any other monetary damages for "willful and intentional misconduct."
A message left at the office of Sprocket Rocket tours was not immediately returned Thursday. Nor were emails to Nashville Pedal Tavern.
There's no indication whether the battle between bachelorette-bearing mobile bar businesses will slog its way through the slow wheels of justice any faster than they meander past Nashville's honky tonks.
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Read or Share this story: https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2017/08/03/nashville-pedal-bars-face-off-court-seriously/538268001/ |
VANCOUVER — A “life-long smoker” has been ordered to butt out inside his Langley, B.C., apartment while he waits to challenge his condo corporation with a human rights complaint.
A British Columbia Supreme Court judge has concluded that Paul Aradi must follow a no-smoking bylaw in his building, despite having difficulty standing and walking.
In a ruling posted online Tuesday, Judge Wendy Harris said she will not allow the 70-year-old to continue disregarding the bylaw until the Human Rights Tribunal holds a hearing.
Aradi’s rights complaint asks the corporation to accommodate his disability, which he said affects his ability to smoke his cigarettes outside. It’s expected the hearing will be held in July, although it has not been formally scheduled.
“That would be approximately six months away from now, which is a significant period for those owners who have expressed concerns about the smell of cigarettes and the effects of second-hand smoke on their health and the use and enjoyment of their property,” Harris wrote.
“I reject the respondent’s contention that their concerns are exaggerated or ideologically based.”
The Canadian Forces veteran purchased his condo in 2002, seven years before the corporation prohibited smoking inside individual units. The corporation did not attempt to enforce the bylaw until December 2013, after other residents began complaining.
Aradi began accumulating fines, but did not pay the $2,300.
He instead filed short, hand-written responses.
Aradi asserted the bylaw is discriminatory in creating two classes of citizens, smokers and non-smokers. He also accused the corporation of trying to force him to move because he had complained about certain bills from the corporation.
I reject the respondent’s contention that their concerns are exaggerated or ideologically based
In affidavits filed in the case, the corporation’s secretary states that at least five owners made complaints, ranging from health risks of second-hand smoke to fire risks, foul odour and negative effect on property values.
In her ruling, the judge found that the smoking bylaw was valid and residents have a “reasonable expectation” that it will be consistently enforced.
Harris also found that Aradi did not file his human rights complaint until more than a year after he was first fined.
She accepted he has an addiction to smoking and has mobility limitations. But she also found evidence — including TV news footage — that the man has been able to walk a relatively short distance from his unit to smoke.
He can also drive his car to another location where smoking is permitted, Harris said. |
by Andrew Sacher
TWIABP at NYU Strawberry Fest 2014 (more by Andrew Sacher)
The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die are putting out their collaborative EP with spoken word artist Chris Zizzamia, Between Bodies, on October 7 via their own Broken World Media in the US (pre-order) and Black Lake Records in Europe (pre-order). We’ve got the premiere of its brand new single, “Space Exploration To Solve Earthly Crises,” which finds TWIABP layering clean guitars, lush string arrangements, and some nice vocal harmonies as Chris goes off with a seemingly stream-of-consciousness delivery. It’s a cool project and a chance for the band to show off a different side of them than the one heard on last year’s Whenever, If Ever. Check out the new song below.
As recently mentioned, TWIABP are going on a tour with The Hotelier which hits CT on October 25 at The Space (tickets) and has a NYC date TBA.
Song stream below…
—
TWIABP — 2014 Tour Dates
09/11 – Athens, OH – Union Bar & Grill^
09/12 – Pontiac, MI – Crofoot Ballroom#
09/13 – Chicago, IL @ Riot Fest
09/14 – Rockford, IL @ Rockford Art Deli
09/20 – Kitchener, CAN @ KOI Fest
10/17 – Ithaca, NY – The Haunt*
10/18 – Pittsburgh, PA – Cattivo*
10/19 – Rochester, NY – Bug Jar*
10/22 – Montreal, QC – Il Motore*
10/23 – Burlington, VT – Signal Kitchen*
10/25 – Hamden, CT – The Space*
10/26 – Baltimore, MD – Metro Gallery*
10/27 – Richmond, VA – The Broadberry*
10/28 – Charlotte, NC – Casbah @ Tremont*
10/29 – Nashville, TN – The High Watt*
10/30 – Atlanta, GA – Purgatory*
11/02 – Gainesville, FL – The Fest*
11/04 – Birmingham, AL – The Forge*
11/05 – Dallas, TX – Prophet Bar*
11/06 – Houston, TX – Walter’s*
11/08 – Austin, TX – Fun Fun Fun Fest
11/10 – Phoenix, AZ – Rhythm Room*
11/11 – Los Angeles, CA – The Echo*
11/12 – Anaheim, CA – Chain Reaction*
11/13 – San Francisco, CA – Bottom of the Hill*
11/14 – Reno, NV – Holland Project*
11/15 – Portland, OR – Slabtown*
11/16 – Seattle, WA – Vera Project*
11/17 – Boise, ID – The Crux*
11/18 – Salt Lake City, UT – Kilby Court*
11/19 – Denver, CO – Marquis Theater*
11/20 – Lawrence, KS – Jackpot*
11/21 – St. Louis, MO – The Demo*
11/23 – Grand Rapids, MI – Pyramid Scheme*
11/24 – Akron, OH – Musica*
11/28 – Philadelphia, PA – World Café Live*
11/29 – Boston, MA – Middle East Downstairs*
^ = w/ You Blew It!
# = w/ Citizen, You Blew It!, Hostage Calm
* = w/ The Hotelier, Rozwell Kid, Posture & the Grizzly |
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Malik Bendjelloul, a Swedish filmmaker who won the 2013 Academy Award for best documentary with his debut feature, “Searching for Sugar Man,” about a forgotten American balladeer who, unwittingly, had achieved fame halfway around the world, was found dead on Tuesday in Stockholm. He was 36.
The police there confirmed the death without immediately giving the cause. But his brother Johar later told The Associated Press that Mr. Bendjelloul had committed suicide, giving no other details. He told another news organization that his brother had struggled with depression.
A largely inexperienced filmmaker when he started the project, Mr. Bendjelloul edited “Searching for Sugar Man” in his Stockholm apartment and paid for most of it himself.
The film tells the story of Sixto Rodriguez, a singer, songwriter and guitarist from Detroit who recorded two blues-tinged folk-rock albums under the single name Rodriguez in the early 1970s and then vanished from the music scene, a casualty of poor publicity and meager sales.
For decades he supported himself and three daughters doing manual labor, unaware that his music — songs of protest and hardscrabble life rendered in a heartfelt tenor — had resonated in South Africa, where opponents of apartheid especially admired his anthems of struggle.
The film takes its title from “Sugar Man,” a song about a drug dealer that appeared on Rodriguez’s 1970 album, “Cold Fact.”
The film unearths Rodriguez’s tale in the manner of a detective story, telling of the search for information about the singer that had been started by an ardent fan, Stephen Segerman, a Cape Town record store owner.
Reviewing the film in The New York Times, Manohla Dargis called it “a hugely appealing documentary about fans, faith and an enigmatic Age of Aquarius musician who burned bright and hopeful before disappearing.”
Mr. Bendjelloul was born in Ystad, Sweden, on Sept. 14, 1977, and grew up in Angelholm.
Published sources say that his father, Hacène Bendjelloul, was an Algerian doctor and that his mother, the former Veronica Schildt, was a translator and a painter. Information about survivors was not available.
As a youth in the early 1990s, Malik appeared in a recurring role in the Swedish television series “Ebba and Didrik,” about siblings in a seaside village. (The director was his uncle.)
He studied journalism at the University of Kalmar (now Linnaeus University), and went on to make short documentary features for Swedish television featuring interviews with musicians like Björk and Elton John.
Restless, in 2006, he quit his job and traveled to Africa in search of a story for a movie of his own. In Cape Town he met Mr. Segerman, who in 1997 had created a website, The Great Rodriguez Hunt, hoping to gather information about the singer.
Ultimately, Mr. Bendjelloul was able to interview Mr. Rodriguez and tell the tale of the search in the film.
“This was the greatest, the most amazing, true story I’d ever heard, an almost archetypal fairy tale,” he said in a 2012 interview with The Times. “It’s a perfect story. It has the human element, the music aspect, a resurrection and a detective story.” |
Join us at the 2018 AWS Summit Sydney Series to learn how cloud technology can help your business lower costs, improve efficiency and innovate at scale. This year's event runs over three days at the new International Convention Centre, Sydney. Amazon Innovation Day is a half day event on 10 April and AWS Summit Sydney is a two-day event on 11 and 12 April.
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By 1970, Richard Nixon badly wanted to be rid of his Housing and Urban Development secretary, a liberal Republican and former governor of Michigan named George Romney. Romney had a strange dedication to racial integration and had been generally making a hash of the president's "Southern Strategy" by withholding housing funds from projects that barred black families. But Nixon found it difficult to fire people himself (he preferred to have H.R. Haldeman or John Ehrlichman do it, until he had to fire them), and so he instead got Romney to agree to cease promoting integration in suburbs. The president’s strategy was to convince Romney to go away. Romney, who seemed to have gone into government out of a sincere desire to serve, stayed on.
There was a great deal of wrenching irony in this tactic. Nixon had only given Romney the job at HUD -- a "liberal" Cabinet agency that had been recently created by a Democratic administration and Congress -- to keep him out of the president's way in the first place. The early "reform"-minded Nixon administration further marginalized Romney by making prominent liberal Daniel Patrick Moynihan the head of the newly created "Council on Urban Affairs," a panel that appeared to have a policy mandate pretty much identical to that of Romney's Cabinet agency, but with a more direct line to the president. Nixon didn't actually care about urban policy or the status of the African-American community. He cared about getting good press, which his feints toward progressive urban policy won him until white communities began resisting -- at which point the president no longer had an urban policy to speak of. Romney stayed on in the Cabinet, powerless and ignored, until after Nixon's 1972 reelection. With a new Nixon team taking shape for the second term, Romney finally resigned, to what must have been the great relief of the president.
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"I don't know what the president believes in," Romney reportedly told a friend after Nixon effectively told him to stop doing what he'd been explicitly appointed to do. "Maybe he doesn't believe in anything."
A few years earlier, George Romney had been the front runner for the Republican nomination for president. Romney was probably tied with Nelson Rockefeller as the most preferred candidate of the liberal and moderate Republicans, largely from the Midwest and Northeast, who wanted to regain control of the party following the devastating defeat of conservative Barry Goldwater in 1964. A 1966 New Yorker story declared Romney the leading contender for 1968 -- so long as someone didn't come along who would unite the Republican Party's warring Goldwater and Rockefeller wings. Someone, the article says, like Richard Nixon.
It's not hard to imagine that the 21-year-old Mitt Romney, freshly returned from his Mormon mission tour abroad shortly after the 1968 election, noticed that his father, a dedicated public servant with a passion for social justice, lost the nation's top job to a notoriously unprincipled paranoiac whose main qualification for the presidency was an unchecked willingness to do literally anything to reach it. The guy who didn't believe in anything won.
And just in case Mitt might have been in danger of missing that grim lesson, his father had driven much the same point home, by negative example, in 1967. The elder Romney had explained to an interviewer that he had come to oppose American involvement in Vietnam after he’d seen the handiwork of U.S. military propagandists painfully contradicted by actual conditions on the ground. The upshot, Romney said, was that he'd received "the greatest brainwashing that anyone can get."
It was, of course, totally true that military leaders were lying about the war. Whether Romney came to oppose the war for nakedly political reasons or because the veil was legitimately lifted from his eyes, it was still the right call. And making that call destroyed his campaign before New Hampshire even voted.
Romney's "brainwashing" line went on to become shorthand for a campaign-killing misstep and is an example of how the political press can sink a campaign in an instant. According to Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen, quoted in a 1993 New Yorker piece on Gary Hart: "The press knew that Romney was an idiot, but the question was: How do you write it? So along come his comments about being brainwashed, and -- wham! -- they take him out. He's history."
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What lesson did Mitt Romney take from his father's national humiliation? Certainly not "don't change your positions." He seems to have learned something closer to "don't say what you actually think."
"It did tell me you have to be very, very careful in your choice of words," Mitt Romney told the Atlantic in 2005. "The careful selection of words is something I'm more attuned to because Dad fell into that quagmire."
There you have it: Be careful never to say anything of import and don't believe in anything, and the presidency could be yours. Or the Republican nomination, at least.
George Romney was a dedicated campaigner when his son Mitt ran for U.S. Senate against Ted Kennedy, but Romney died years before his son won his first (and thus far only) election and subsequently made a series of sharp right turns. George's paternal pride -- his youngest son was a "miracle baby" whom both parents doted on -- might have blinded him to his son's craven mutability. But assuming he could look at the Mitt Romney campaigns of 2008 and 2012 with something approaching objectivity, does anyone imagine he'd like what he sees?
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What would the George Romney who walked out on the convention that nominated Barry Goldwater -- and who then sent Goldwater a letter accusing him of racism -- say about Mitt Romney’s desperate machinations to win the favor of a party now run by Goldwater's spiritual heirs?
The idea that anti-war, pro-integration upper-Midwest Republican George Romney would even be a Republican in 2012 is preposterous. The man who was too liberal for the Nixon administration would find no room in today's GOP, where what passes for "moderate" is acknowledging the existence of evolution. (Until his 1994 run, Mitt Romney himself was a registered independent who voted for Democratic Sen. Paul Tsongas.)
Mexican-born George Romney would cringe to see his son promise to veto legislation offering a (still challenging) path to citizenship for people who illegally entered the country as children and went on to graduate from college or serve in the military. The George Romney who fought his own church on civil rights legislation would be appalled to see Mitt Romney accept the endorsement of and make campaign appearances with Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, whose life's work is crafting legislation designed to make it easier for law enforcement to racially profile Latinos and harass and detain suspected "illegals." Anti-war George Romney would surely have some qualms with Mitt's plan to "double Guantanamo." Hell, George Romney even released 12 years' worth of his tax returns when a magazine asked him for his most recent one. The full 1040s were made available to the press -- at the time, an unprecedented move by a presidential candidates. Mitt Romney, predictably, ignored calls to make public his own tax returns for as long as he could, before releasing only his most recent return.
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Whether and where the Romneys differ on specific matters of policy is up for debate and largely a matter for speculation. But there's no denying that they are very different kinds of politicians. One Romney was on the wrong side of an intraparty war and on the right side of history. He may have been grandstanding and self-righteous — a man with, in the cynical appraisal of the editors of the New Republic in 1964, "an oversimplified, horse-opera sense of morality" — but he was dedicated to his ideals. The other Romney has no obvious ideals, or at least no permanent ones.
In that sense, Romney is perhaps the perfect political fulfillment of the American managerial mind-set: Driven chiefly by an obsession with short-term results and superficial personal likability, the corporate manager in the United States is likewise often forced to contemplate a yawning existential void in the vacant center of his earnest strivings. Other managers-in-crisis will respond to such dark nights of the soul by stoking a midlife crisis, which may or may not involve a sports car, a chronic substance abuse problem and a destructive affair with an underling. But Romney, hostage to both a harshly undeviating commitment to the myth of self-made success and a Mormon worldview that tolerates neither traditional human vices nor the cessation of earnest toil, even after the end of this mortal life, is constitutionally incapable of any such backsliding. Instead, he merely reboots and tackles the next item on his to-do list. (In this case, "be president, no matter what noxious shit you have to say.") |
American professional baseball player, shortstop
Osborne Earl Smith (born December 26, 1954) is an American former baseball shortstop who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Diego Padres and St. Louis Cardinals from 1978 to 1996. Nicknamed "The Wizard" for his defensive brilliance, Smith set major league records for career assists (8,375) and double plays (1,590) by a shortstop (the latter since broken by Omar Vizquel), as well as the National League (NL) record with 2,511 career games at the position; Smith won the NL Gold Glove Award for play at shortstop for 13 consecutive seasons (1980–92). A 15-time All-Star, he accumulated 2,460 hits and 580 stolen bases during his career, and won the NL Silver Slugger Award as the best-hitting shortstop in 1987. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 2002. He was also elected to the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame in the inaugural class of 2014.
Smith was born in Mobile, Alabama, but his family moved to Watts, Los Angeles, when he was six years old. While participating in childhood athletic activities, Smith developed quick reflexes; he went on to play baseball in high school and college, at Los Angeles' Locke High School and Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo respectively. Drafted as an amateur player by the Padres, Smith made his major league debut in 1978. He quickly established himself as an outstanding fielder, and later became known for performing backflips on special occasions while taking his position at the beginning of a game. Smith won his first Gold Glove Award in 1980, and made his first All-Star Game appearance in 1981. When conflict with Padres' ownership developed, he was traded to the Cardinals for shortstop Garry Templeton in 1982.
Upon joining the Cardinals, Smith helped the team win the 1982 World Series. Three years later, his game-winning home run during Game 5 of the 1985 National League Championship Series prompted broadcaster Jack Buck's "Go crazy, folks!" play-by-play call. Despite a rotator cuff injury during the 1985 season, Smith posted career highs in multiple offensive categories in 1987. Smith continued to earn Gold Gloves and All-Star appearances on an annual basis until 1993. During 1995 season, Smith had shoulder surgery and was out nearly three months. After tension with his new manager Tony La Russa developed in 1996, Smith retired at season's end, and his uniform number (No. 1) was subsequently retired by the Cardinals. Smith also served as host of the television show This Week in Baseball from 1997 to 1998.
Early life [ edit ]
Smith was born in Mobile, Alabama, the second of Clovi and Marvella Smith's six children (five boys and one girl).[1] While the family lived in Mobile, his father worked as a sandblaster at Brookley Air Force Base.[2] When Smith was six his family moved to the Watts section of Los Angeles.[2] His father became a delivery truck driver for Safeway stores, while his mother became an aide at a nursing home.[3] His mother was an influential part of his life who stressed the importance of education and encouraged him to pursue his dreams.[4][5]
Smith played a variety of sports in his youth, but considered baseball to be his favorite.[6] He developed quick reflexes through various athletic and leisure activity, such as bouncing a ball off the concrete steps in front of his house, moving in closer to reduce reaction time with each throw.[7] When not at the local YMCA or playing sports, Smith sometimes went with friends to the neighborhood lumberyard, springboarding off inner tubes and doing flips into sawdust piles (a precursor to his famous backflips).[8] In 1965, at age ten, he endured the Watts Riots with his family, recalling that, "We had to sleep on the floor because of all the sniping and looting going on."[9]
While Smith was attending junior high school, his parents divorced.[3] Continuing to pursue his interest in baseball, he would ride the bus for nearly an hour to reach Dodger Stadium, cheering for the Los Angeles Dodgers at about 25 games a year.[3] Upon becoming a student at Locke High School, Smith played on the basketball and baseball teams.[3] Smith was a teammate of future National Basketball Association player Marques Johnson on the basketball team, and a teammate of future fellow Hall-of-Fame player Eddie Murray on the baseball side.[10] After high school Smith attended Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 1974 on a partial academic scholarship, and managed to walk-on to the baseball team.[11] In addition to his academic education, he learned to switch-hit from Cal Poly coach Berdy Harr.[12] When Cal Poly's starting shortstop broke his leg midway through the 1974 season, Smith subsequently took over the starting role.[5] Later named an All-American athlete, he established school records in career at bats (754) and career stolen bases (110) before graduating in 1977.[11][13]
Professional baseball career [ edit ]
San Diego Padres [ edit ]
Smith was playing semi-professional baseball in Clarinda, Iowa, when in June 1976 he was selected in the seventh round of the amateur entry draft by the Detroit Tigers.[14][15] The parties could not agree on a contract; Smith wanted a $10,000 ($44,029 today) signing bonus, while the Tigers offered $8,500 ($37,425 today).[14] Smith returned to Cal Poly for his senior year, then in the 1977 draft was selected in the fourth round by the San Diego Padres, ultimately agreeing to a contract that included a $5,000 signing bonus ($20,673 today).[14] Smith spent his first year of professional baseball during 1977 with the Class A Walla Walla Padres of the Northwest League.[16]
"As I was in the air, the ball took a bad hop and caromed behind me, but I was able to catch it with my bare hand. I hit the ground, bounced back up, and threw Burroughs out at first." —Ozzie Smith describes a fielding play he made in 1978[17]
Smith began 1978 as a non-roster invitee to the San Diego Padres' spring training camp in Yuma, Arizona. Smith credited Padres manager Alvin Dark for giving him confidence by telling reporters the shortstop job was Smith's until he proved he can't handle it.[18] Even though Dark was fired in the middle of training camp, Smith made his Major League Baseball (MLB) debut on April 7, 1978.[19][20]
It did not take long for Smith to earn recognition in the major leagues, making what some consider his greatest fielding play only ten games into his rookie season.[5][21] The Padres played host to the Atlanta Braves on April 20, 1978, and with two out in the top of the fourth inning, Atlanta's Jeff Burroughs hit a ground ball up the middle.[22] Smith described the play by saying, "He hit a ball back up the middle that everybody thought was going into center field. I instinctively broke to my left and dove behind second. As I was in the air, the ball took a bad hop and caromed behind me, but I was able to catch it with my bare hand. I hit the ground, bounced back up, and threw Burroughs out at first."[17]
Smith in 1978
During a roadtrip to Houston, later in the season, Smith met a part-time usherette at the Astrodome named Denise while making his way to the team bus outside the stadium.[23] The couple developed a relationship that was sometimes long-distance in nature, and eventually decided to marry.[23][24] It was also during the 1978 season that Smith introduced a signature move. Padres promotion director Andy Strasberg knew Smith could perform backflips, but that he only did them during practice before fans entered the stadium.[21] Strasberg asked Smith to do a backflip for fans during Fan Appreciation Day on October 1, the Padres' last home game of the season.[21][25] After conferring with veteran teammate Gene Tenace, Smith went ahead with the backflip, and it proved to be wildly popular.[21] Smith finished the 1978 season with a .258 batting average and .970 fielding percentage, placing second in National League Rookie of the Year voting to Bob Horner.[26][27]
After working with a hitting instructor during the offseason, Smith failed to record a base hit in his first 32 at-bats of the 1979 season.[28] Among players with enough at-bats to qualify for the 1979 National League Triple Crown, Smith finished the season last in batting average (.211), home runs (0), and RBI (27).[29] Off the field, conflict developed between Padres' ownership and the combination of Smith and his agent, Ed Gottlieb. The parties entered into a contract dispute before the 1980 season, and when negotiations lasted into spring training, the Padres renewed Smith's contract at his 1979 salary of $72,500[30] Smith's agent told the Padres the shortstop would forgo the season to race in the Tour de France, despite the fact Smith admitted to The Break Room on 96.5 WCMF in Rochester, New York he had never heard of the Tour. Angered by the Padres' attitude during those contract talks, Gottlieb took out a help-wanted ad in the San Diego Union, part of which read, "Padre baseball player wants part-time employment to supplement income."[31] When Joan Kroc, wife of Padres owner Ray Kroc, publicly offered Smith a job as an assistant gardener on her estate, Smith and Gottlieb's relationship with the organization deteriorated further.[32]
Meanwhile, Smith was winning recognition for his accomplishments on the field. In 1980, he set the single-season record for most assists by a shortstop (621), and began his string of 13 consecutive Gold Glove awards.[33] Smith's fielding play prompted the Yuma Daily Sun to use the nickname "The Wizard of Oz" in a March 1981 feature article about Smith.[34] While "The Wizard of Oz" nickname was an allusion to the 1939 motion picture of the same name, Smith also came to be known as simply "The Wizard" during his playing career, as Smith's Baseball Hall of Fame plaque would later attest.[35][36] In 1981, Smith made his first All-Star Game appearance as a reserve player.[37]
Trade [ edit ]
While Smith was having problems with the Padres' owners, the St. Louis Cardinals also found themselves unhappy with their shortstop, Garry Templeton. Templeton's relationship with Cardinal Nation had become increasingly strained and finally came to a head during a game at Busch Stadium on August 26, 1981, when (after being heckled for not running out a ground ball) he made obscene gestures at fans, and had to be physically pulled off the field by manager Whitey Herzog.[38][39]
Given the task of overhauling the Cardinals by owner Gussie Busch (and specifically to unload Templeton), Herzog was looking to trade Templeton when he was approached by Padres General Manager Jack McKeon at the 1981 baseball winter meetings.[40] While McKeon had previously told Herzog that Smith was untouchable in any trade, the Padres were now so angry at Smith's agent Gottlieb that McKeon was willing to deal.[41] McKeon and Herzog agreed in principle to a six-player trade, with Templeton for Smith as the centerpiece.[41] It was then that Padres manager Dick Williams informed Herzog that a no-trade clause had been included in Smith's 1981 contract.[42] Upon learning of the trade, Smith's initial reaction was to invoke the clause and stay in San Diego, but he was still interested to hear what the Cardinals had to say.[43] While the deal for the players beside Templeton and Smith went through, Herzog flew to San Diego to meet with Smith and Gottlieb over the Christmas holiday.[44] Smith later recalled that, "Whitey told me that with me playing shortstop for the St. Louis Cardinals, we could win the pennant. He made me feel wanted, which was a feeling I was quickly losing from the Padres. The mere fact that Whitey would come all the way out there to talk to us was more than enough to convince me that St. Louis was the place I wanted to be."[45]
St. Louis Cardinals [ edit ]
On December 10, 1981, the Padres traded him (along with a player to be named later and Steve Mura to the Cardinals for a player to be named later, Sixto Lezcano and Garry Templeton. The teams completed the trade on February 19, 1982, with the Padres sending Al Olmsted to the Cardinals, with St. Louis sending Luis DeLeon to the Padres.[46][47] Herzog believed Smith could improve his offensive production by hitting more ground balls, and subsequently created a motivational tool designed to help Smith concentrate on that task.[48] Approaching Smith one day during spring training, Herzog said, "Every time you hit a fly ball, you owe me a buck. Every time you hit a ground ball, I owe you a buck. We'll keep that going all year."[49] Smith agreed to the wager, and by the end of the season had won close to $300 from Herzog.[49] As the 1982 season got underway, Herzog's newly assembled team won 12 games in a row during the month of April, and finished the season atop the National League East division.[50][51] Herzog would later say of Smith's contributions that, "If he saved two runs a game on defense, which he did many a night, it seemed to me that was just as valuable to the team as a player who drove in two runs a game on offense."[52]
Smith became a father for the first time during the 1982 season with the birth of his son O.J., today known as Nikko, on April 28.[53] Smith also developed a lasting friendship with teammate Willie McGee during the season, and Smith said he likes to think he "helped Willie get over some of the rough spots of adjusting to the major leagues".[54] Smith later participated in the postseason for the first time when the Cardinals faced the Atlanta Braves in the best-of-five 1982 National League Championship Series (NLCS). Smith drove in the series' first run by hitting a sacrifice fly that scored McGee in Game 1, ultimately going five for nine in St. Louis' three-game series sweep.[55]
Just as Herzog had predicted when he told Smith the Cardinals would win the pennant with him on the team, Smith found himself as the team's starting shortstop in the best-of-seven 1982 World Series against the Milwaukee Brewers. During the contest Smith scored three runs, had five hits, and did not commit an error in the field.[56] When St. Louis was trailing 3–1 with one out in the sixth inning of Game 7, Smith started a rally with a base hit to left field, eventually scoring the first of the team's three runs that inning.[57] The Cardinals scored two more runs in the 8th inning for a 6-3 win and the championship.
After the World Series championship, Smith and the Cardinals agreed on a new contract in January 1983 that paid Smith $1 million per year.[58] Smith was voted in as the National League's starting shortstop in the All-Star Game for the first time in 1983, and at season's end won a fourth consecutive Gold Glove Award.[59] During July of the 1984 season, Smith went on the disabled list with a broken wrist after being hit by a pitch during a game against the Padres.[60][61] Smith's return to the lineup a month later was not enough to propel the Cardinals to a postseason berth.[60]
"Smith corks one into right, down the line! It may go ... Go crazy, folks, go crazy! It's a home run, and the Cardinals have won the game, by the score of 3 to 2, on a home run by the Wizard! Go crazy!" —Jack Buck[62]
In 1985, Smith amassed a .276 batting average, 31 stolen bases, and 591 assists in the field.[15] The Cardinals as a team won 101 games during the season and earned another postseason berth.[63] Facing the Los Angeles Dodgers in the now best-of-seven NLCS, a split of the first four games set the stage for Game 5 at Busch Stadium. With the score tied at two runs apiece in the bottom of the ninth inning, Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda called upon closer Tom Niedenfuer to pitch. Smith batted left-handed against Niedenfuer with one out. Smith, who had never hit a home run in his previous 3,009 left-handed major league at-bats,[64] pulled an inside fastball down the right-field line for a walk-off home run, ending Game 5 in a 3–2 Cardinals victory.[65] Smith said, "I was trying to get an extra-base hit and get into scoring position. Fortunately, I was able to get the ball up."[16] The home run not only prompted broadcaster Jack Buck's "Go crazy folks" play-by-play call, but was also later voted the greatest moment in Busch Stadium history by Cardinals fans.[66][67]
After Smith's teammate Jack Clark hit a late-inning home run of his own in Game 6 to defeat the Dodgers, the Cardinals moved on to face the Kansas City Royals in the 1985 World Series. Once again sportswriters were quick to draw attention to Smith's outstanding defensive play instead of his 2 for 23 effort at the plate.[68][69] After the Cardinals took a three-games-to-two advantage, a controversial Game 6 call by umpire Don Denkinger overshadowed the remainder of the Series (which the Royals won in seven games).[70]
What was not publicly known during the regular season and playoffs was that Smith had torn his rotator cuff after suffering an impingement in his right shoulder during the July 11–14 homestand against the Padres.[71][72] After suffering the impingement diving back into first base on a pickoff throw, Smith altered his throwing motion to such a degree that the rotator cuff tear subsequently developed.[71] The 5'10" (1.78 m), 180-pound (82 kg) Smith opted to forgo surgery and instead built up his arm strength via weightlifting, playing through whatever pain he encountered.[64] Said Smith, "I didn't tell anybody about the injury, because I wanted to keep playing and didn't want anybody thinking they could run on me or take advantage of the injury. I tried to do almost everything, except throw a baseball, left-handed: opening a door, turning on the radio—everything. It didn't get any better, but it was good enough that I didn't have to have surgery."[73]
Because of his injury, Smith let his then four-year-old son Nikko perform his traditional Opening Day backflip before the Cardinals' first home game of the 1986 season.[74] Smith made an "eye-popping" play later that season on August 5, during a game against the Philadelphia Phillies at Busch Stadium.[64] In the top of the ninth inning, Phillies first baseman Von Hayes hit a short fly ball to left field, which was pursued by both Smith and left fielder Curt Ford.[75] Running with his back to home plate, Smith dove forward, simultaneously catching the ball while parallel to the ground and flying over the diving Ford, avoiding a collision by inches.[4][64]
"The thing about Ozzie is, if he misses a ball, you assume it's uncatchable. If any other shortstop misses a ball, your first thought is, 'Would Ozzie have had it?'" —Former New York Mets shortstop Bud Harrelson in 1987[5]
After hitting in either the second or eighth spot in the batting order for most of his time in St. Louis, Herzog made Smith the number-two hitter full-time during the 1987 season.[76] Over the course of the year, Smith accrued a .303 batting average, 43 stolen bases, 75 RBIs, 104 runs scored, and 40 doubles, good enough to earn him the Silver Slugger Award at shortstop.[26] In addition to winning the Gold Glove Award at shortstop for the eighth consecutive time, Smith posted a career-high on-base percentage of .392. Smith was also the leading vote-getter in the 1987 All-Star Game.[77] The Cardinals earned a postseason berth with 95 wins, and subsequently faced the San Francisco Giants in the 1987 National League Championship Series.[78] Smith contributed a triple during the series, and the Cardinals won the contest in seven games.[79]
The 1987 World Series matched the Cardinals against the American League champion Minnesota Twins. The home team won every game of the contest, as Minnesota won the series.[80] In 28 at-bats during the Series, Smith scored three runs and had two RBIs.[69] Smith finished second in MVP balloting to Andre Dawson, who had played on the last-place Chicago Cubs, largely because Smith and teammate Jack Clark split the first-place vote.[81] Following the 1987 season, Smith was awarded the largest contract in the National League at $2,340,000.[82]
While the team did not see the postseason for the remainder of the decade, Smith continued to rack up All-Star appearances and Gold Gloves. Combined with the attention he received from his contract, Smith continued to be a national figure. Known as a savvy dresser, he made the April 1988 cover of GQ magazine.[83] Smith was witness to change within the Cardinal organization when owner Gussie Busch died in 1989 and Herzog quit as manager during the 1990 season.[84][85]
"No one paid attention to my offense. So having 2,000 hits is one of the things that is an accomplishment." —Ozzie Smith, from the 1993 St. Louis Cardinals Yearbook[12]
Joe Torre became Smith's new manager in 1990, but the team did not reach the postseason during Torre's nearly five-year tenure.[86] While the Cardinals celebrated their 100th anniversary in 1992, Smith marked milestones of his own, stealing his 500th career base on April 26, then notching a triple on May 26 in front of the home crowd for his 2,000th hit.[87] St. Louis had a one-game lead in the National League East division on June 1, 1992, but injuries took their toll on the team, including Smith's two-week illness in late July after contracting chicken pox for the first time.[88] As a testament to his national visibility during this time, Smith appeared in a 1992 episode of The Simpsons titled "Homer at the Bat".[89] Smith became a free agent for the first time in his career on November 2, 1992, only to sign a new contract with the Cardinals on December 6.[15]
Smith won his final Gold Glove in 1992, and his 13 consecutive Gold Gloves at shortstop in the National League has yet to be matched.[90] The 1993 season marked the only time between 1981 and 1996 that Smith failed to make the All-Star team, and Smith finished the 1993 season with a .288 batting average and .974 fielding percentage.[26] He appeared in 98 games during the strike-shortened 1994 season, and later missed nearly three months of the 1995 season after shoulder surgery on May 31.[91][92] Smith was recognized for his community service efforts with the 1994 Branch Rickey Award and the 1995 Roberto Clemente Award. In February 1994, Smith took on the role of honorary chairman and official spokesman for the Missouri Governor's Council on Physical Fitness and Health.[93]
1996 [ edit ]
As Smith entered the 1996 season, he finalized a divorce from his wife Denise during the first half of the year.[24][94] Meanwhile, manager Tony La Russa began his first season with the Cardinals in tandem with a new ownership group. After General Manager Walt Jocketty acquired shortstop Royce Clayton during the offseason, La Russa emphasized an open competition for the spot that would give the Cardinals the best chance to win.[95] When spring training concluded, Smith had amassed a .288 batting average and zero errors in the field, and Clayton batted .190 with eight errors.[24] Smith believed he had earned the position with his spring training performance, but La Russa disagreed, and awarded Clayton the majority of playing time in the platoon situation that developed, where Smith typically saw action every third game.[24][96] La Russa said, "I think it's fair to say he misunderstood how he compared to Royce in spring training ... When I and the coaches evaluated the play in spring training—the whole game—Royce started very slowly offensively and you could see him start to get better. By what he was able to do defensively and on the bases, Royce deserved to play the majority of the games."[97]
Smith missed the first month of the season with a hamstring injury, and continued to harbor ill feelings toward La Russa that had developed after spring training ended.[24][98] In a closed-door meeting in mid-May, La Russa asked Smith if he would like to be traded.[24] Instead, Smith and his agent negotiated a compromise with Cardinals management, agreeing to a buyout of special provisions in his contract in conjunction with Smith announcing his retirement.[24] The agreement prompted a press conference at Busch Stadium on June 19, 1996, during which Smith announced he would retire from baseball at season's end.[99]
Ozzie Smith's number 1 was retired by the St. Louis Cardinals in 1996.
As Smith made his final tour of the National League, he was honored by many teams, and received a standing ovation at the 1996 All-Star Game in Philadelphia.[24] Between June 19 and September 1, Smith's batting average increased from .239 to .286.[100] On September 2 Smith tied a career high by scoring four runs, one of which was a home run, and another on a close play at home plate in the bottom of the 10th inning against division leader Houston.[101] The victory moved the Cardinals to within a half game of Houston in the National League Central Division, and the Cardinals went on to win the division by six games.[101][102] The Cardinals held a special ceremony at Busch Stadium on September 28, 1996, before a game against the Cincinnati Reds, honoring Smith by retiring his uniform number. Noted for his ritual backflip before Opening Days, All-Star Games, and postseason games, Smith chose this occasion to perform it for one of the last times.[21]
In the postseason, the Cardinals first faced the San Diego Padres in the 1996 National League Division Series. After sitting out Game 1, Smith got the start in Game 2 at Busch Stadium, helping his team go up two games in the series by notching a run, a hit and two walks at the plate, along with an assist and a putout in the field.[103] The Cardinals then swept the series by winning Game 3 in San Diego.
The Cardinals faced the Atlanta Braves in the 1996 National League Championship Series. Smith started Game 1 and subsequently registered three putouts and one assist in the field, but went hitless in four at-bats in the Cardinals' 4–2 loss.[104] The Cardinals then won Games 2, 3, and 4, contests in which Smith did not appear.[105][106][107] Upon receiving the start in Game 5, Smith nearly duplicated his Game 1 performance with four putouts, one assist, and zero hits in four at-bats as part of another Cardinals defeat.[108] The Cardinals also failed to win Game 6 or Game 7 in Atlanta, ending their season.[109] When the Cardinals were trailing by ten runs during Game 7 on October 17, Smith flied out to right field while pinch-hitting in the sixth inning, marking the end of his playing career.[110] Smith finished his career with distinctions ranging from the accumulation of more than 27.5 million votes in All-Star balloting, to holding the record for the most MLB at-bats without hitting a grand slam.[4][111]
Post-playing career [ edit ]
Upon retirement, Smith took over for Mel Allen as the host of the television series This Week in Baseball (TWIB) in 1997.[112] Smith also became color commentator for the local broadcast of Cardinals games on KPLR-TV from 1997 to 1999.[113] When his stint on This Week in Baseball concluded, Smith then moved on to do work for CNN-SI beginning in 1999.[114] After La Russa retired as manager of the Cardinals in 2011, Smith became active in the organization again, starting with his stint as a special instructor for the team's 2012 spring training camp.[115]
Smith fields a ground ball at Doubleday Field in 2002.
On January 8, 2002 Smith learned via a phone call he had been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on his first ballot by receiving 91.7% of the votes cast.[116][117] As it happened, the Olympic torch was passing through St. Louis on its way to Salt Lake City for the 2002 Winter Olympics, and Smith served as a torchbearer in a ceremony with St. Louis Rams' quarterback Kurt Warner that evening.[118] Smith was inducted into the Hall of Fame during ceremonies on July 28, 2002. During his speech, he compared his baseball experiences with the characters from the novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, after which his son Dustin presented his Hall of Fame plaque.[119] Days later on August 11, Smith was back at Busch Memorial Stadium for the unveiling of a statue in his likeness made by sculptor Harry Weber.[120] Weber chose to emphasize Smith's defensive skills by showing Smith stretched horizontal to the ground while fielding a baseball.[120] At the ceremony Weber told Smith, "You spent half of your career up in the air. That makes it difficult for a sculptor to do something with it."[120]
Smith has also been an entrepreneur in a variety of business ventures. Smith opened "Ozzie's" restaurant and sports bar in 1988, started a youth sports academy in 1990, became an investor in a grocery store chain in 1999, and partnered with David Slay to open a restaurant in the early 2000s.[121][122][123][124] Of those businesses the youth academy remains in operation, with the restaurant having closed in 2010 after changing ownership and locations once.[125][126] Aside from appearing in numerous radio and television commercials in the St. Louis area since retiring from baseball, Smith authored a children's book in 2006 and launched his own brand of salad dressing in 2008.[127]
Besides the National Baseball Hall of Fame, Smith has been also inducted or honored in other halls of fame and recognitions. In 1999, he ranked number 87 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players,[128] and finished third in voting at shortstop for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.[129][130] He was honored with induction into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, Alabama Sports Hall of Fame and the St. Louis Walk of Fame, and received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Cal Poly.[131][132][133] In January 2014, the Cardinals announced Smith among 22 former players and personnel to be inducted into the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame Museum for the inaugural class of 2014.[134]
Career MLB statistics [ edit ]
Hitting [ edit ]
Category G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SB SO AVG OBP SLG Statistic[26] 2,573 9,396 1,257 2,460 402 69 28 793 1,072 580 589 .262 .337 .328
Fielding [ edit ]
Category G PO A E CH DP FP RF/9 Innings Statistic[26] 2,511 4,249 8,375 281 12,624 1,590 .978 5.22 21,785.67
Personal life [ edit ]
Smith is the father to three children from his marriage to former wife Denise; sons Nikko and Dustin, and daughter Taryn.[74][120] Smith remains a visible figure around the St. Louis area, making varied appearances like playing the role of the Wizard in the St. Louis Municipal Opera's summer 2001 production of The Wizard of Oz.[135] Smith cheered on his son Nikko as he cracked the top ten finalists of the 2005 edition of American Idol.[136][137] In 2012, Smith made news headlines again, when he sold all of his Gold Gloves at auction together for more than $500,000.[138]
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ] |
Please use the
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Please rate and review in the Please use the Bug System to report any bugs.Please use the Feature Requests to give me ideas.Please use the Support Forum if you have any questions or problems.Please rate and review in the Review section.
short 1 min video demonstration:(the workflow for using images as fracture map is pretty much the same. you just need to specify an image in the UI instead of creating a voronoi shader)Update in v0.0.7:- fixed a bug that kept the tool from functioning under OSX(Thanks to "GalvanisedOil" for finding the fix and posting it on theUpdate in v0.0.6:- minor bug fixed- automatic check for SOuP plug-in (link to SOuP site) - (bug reported byis fixed)> auto load SOuP if plug-in is found> deactivate voronoi fracturing if SOuP is not installed (only image based fracturing available)- update check in Settings menu (check for new version on creative crash)Update in v0.0.5:- added option for adjusting the image resolution of voronoi fracture maps in preferences (before the voronoi shader is used as fracture map it is converted to a file texture. the values entered correspond to the size of this texture.)Updated in v0.0.4:- added Settings menu for setting path preferences (since two people ran into an error messsage, when no project was set. script will now test directories before use and if "sourceimages" is not accessible use some place in user dir)- user can now decide where the temporary fracture maps are stored (choices are: sourceimages folder of current project, sub folder in user dir, or a custom path). choice will be stored & kept even if you restart maya.Updates in v0.0.3:- issue with disappearing pieces fixed (now using a custom procedure instead of SOuP's "split mesh by object group". thanks tofor pointing out this bug and suggesting a possible solution!)- additional button to extrude selected pieces (for extrusion after re-fracturing fractured pieces. will also take "Center Pivot" checkBox into account)- changed/improved default color ramp on voronoi shader- changed default values for "Image File Conversion Options"If you have any other sugestion or wishes for the next update, just let me know & i'll see what i can do.Updates in v0.0.2:- some bug fixes (naming, cleanup, etc.)- You can now pick a fractured piece and fracture it again - as long as you didnt extrude!DISCLAIMER:You will need to have the SOuP plug-in by Peter Shipkov installed and loaded for this script to work.You can download it atThis script provides a GUI which guides you through the process of image based fracturing.USAGE:- create a poly plane & add it to the GUI- click "Create Voronoi Shader" button OR choose an image as fracture source- adjust other option as needed- click "Fracture Geometry"If you have any questions or requests to the tool, feel free to contactc&c appreciated.have fun! :)PS:SOuP element used is "voronoiTexture3D". |
Love the sinner, hate the sin.
Rarely in history has there been a greater mischaracterization of the heart of Jesus or a more egregious bastardization of the Bible than these six words.
The damage that LTSHTS has done in the lives of billions of people and to the public perception of Christians can never be fully calculated, but one thing is certainly true: it’s an embarrassment and a sin and a total abomination—and here are three reasons why:
1) Jesus never said it.
Lots of Christians would have us believe that Jesus would be totally onboard with LTSHTS, but the simple truth is that he never prescribed anything like it in Scripture. Jesus was crystal clear in his teachings about our calling to love: God, and our neighbor as ourselves, one another as he loved us, our enemies, sacrificially, extravagantly, relentlessly—but never with caveats or qualifications. He never let anything about a person’s life keep them from intimate fellowship with him (and he was the only one qualified to do so).
LTSHTS supporters will ask rhetorically, “Well doesn’t Jesus preach against sin and therefore hates it? Isn’t hating sin just being obedient to him?” Jesus always spoke to people about their own lives; about the sins they were personally called to address in response to him. Whatever repentance Jesus was inviting people to, it was on their behalf, it was never on behalf of anyone else. His words were never given as license to police someone else’s moral condition, but to use a mirror to assess one’s own. Any behavior modification, any inner conviction, any heart change would be between Jesus and those hearing his words. Only he decides the work he does. We don’t get to play middleman between Christ and another human being. We are assigned the tasks of feeding, healing, and caring for those we cross paths with, in his name.
Unfortunately for those so clinging to LTSHTS, Jesus commands us to love people—period.
2) It’s cowardly and morally inconsistent.
Let’s be honest here. Whenever any Christian uses the phrase LTSHTS, it’s never in the context of anything other than gender identity and sexuality, which itself is an indictment of the words themselves. It isn’t as though these faithful folks spend their entire lives dispensing the kind of behavior-based malevolence that LTSHTS always comes packaged with. It’s not as though they continually scour the Scriptures, applying their theological understandings of sin to those in their midst who might lie or steal or commit adultery or love money or drink to excess. If they truly loved those “sinners” and hated those “sins” enough to treat people as horribly as they treat the LGBTIQ community for the sins they charge them with, they’d have nobody left who could ever stand to be in their presence. LTSHTS is simply an exercise in selective, subjective sin-shaming and targeted discrimination disguised as righteousness.
If you’re a Christian and you’re going to choose to be hateful or biased toward people based on their gender identity and sexuality, you may as well just come out and say it. Own your discomfort or displeasure. Hiding behind LTSHTS is just using Jesus as justification for the kind of behavior he would be quite appalled by. It isn’t Christlikeness, it’s cowardice.
3) It’s a relationship-killer.
At the core of LTSHTS is the argument that gender identity and sexual orientation are somehow choices (an idea that runs counter to everyone’s experience of both, of course, but that’s neither here nor there). The speaker of LTSHTS believes that the person in question is making a decision to do something that the speaker believes is inherently sinful, yet (the speaker claims) they are able to somehow separate a sexual act (which they despise), with the person engaging in said act (whom they supposedly love). I’d really like a practical unpacking of how that all works with actual people, but I doubt it will be forthcoming.
Never mind that gender identity and sexual orientation are for all of us, both far greater than simply any physical acts we perform, and therefore to characterize LGBTIQ people as inherently sinful for only those acts themselves, is completely flawed from both a Biblical and common sense perspective.
But someone’s sin isn’t really the issue here and we don’t even have to agree on that. Regardless of our theological perspective, we can’t ignore that at the heart of Jesus’ life and ministry is the way he drew people close to him, listened to them, touched them, broke bread with them, wept with them, and treated them with dignity, as equals.
When a follower of Christ claims that they LTSHTS, they are saying two things loudly and unquestionably to a LGBTIQ person:
One, that he or she knows that person’s body and heart from a distance, better than the person in question knows from the inside.
And two, that what those people are telling them is involuntary about themselves, they are characterizing as despicable. They are declaring them as inherently defective, vile, evil. I’m not sure those who wield LTSHTS so causally have any real idea how damaging and hurtful that is; what it really speaks to the hearer’s heart. If they did, I’m certain they would see the complete absence of Jesus in it.
To say to a LGBTIQ person, “I love you but I hate your sexuality”, is the same as saying to someone, “I love you, but the color of your eyes disgusts me”, or “I love you, but I hate the way you laugh”, or “I love you, but God believes that the freckles on your shoulders and cheeks are an abomination.”
LTSHTS is not (as its practitioners allege) a balanced phrase, but a hateful phrase; one that never makes a relationship between two parties better or closer or richer, it only severs or prevents the very kind of intimate fellowship Jesus forged, even with those he disagreed with. To utter it is to stand in complete opposition to the life he lived and to the ministry he practiced.
Christian, there are many more reasons why “Love The Sinner, Hate The Sin” needs to be killed and buried forever, but those are a great start.
The bottom line, is that it is a phrase that injures, demeans, judges, and ostracizes people who are made in the image of God, and those are things that should never be on the agenda of someone claiming to be following in the footsteps of Jesus.
We’re talking here about important conversations, regarding extremely complex issues, with incredibly diverse human beings. These all deserve much more than a cheap, insulting catch-phrase. They deserve far greater effort than a lazy religious platitude which doesn’t work when fleshed out in real relationships and serves no redemptive purpose.
LTSHTS is about as sinful as we can get, friends.
To never utter that phrase again, may be the very repenting Christians ought to do—but that’s between you and Jesus.
As for me?
I love you, Christian, but I really hate the way you—”love the sinner, hate the sin.”
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Sony BMG is no stranger to piracy. As one of the most vocal supporters of the RIAA and IFPI antipiracy efforts, the company has some experience hunting down and punishing consumers who don't pay for its products. The company is getting some experience on the other side of the table, however, now that it's being sued for software piracy.
PointDev, a French software company that makes Windows administration tools, received a call from a Sony BMG IT employee for support. After Sony BMG supplied a pirated license code for Ideal Migration, one of PointDev's products, the software maker was able to mandate a seizure of Sony BMG's assets. The subsequent raid revealed that software was illegally installed on four of Sony BMG's servers. The Business Software Alliance, however, believes that up to 47 percent of the software installed on Sony BMG's computers could be pirated.
These are some pretty serious—not to mention ironic—allegations against a company that's gone so far as to install malware on consumers' computers in the name of preventing piracy.
Sinking pirates can pay (BSA)
While PointDev is claiming €300,000 (over $475,000) in damages in its suit against Sony BMG, Agustoni Paul-Henry, PointDev's CEO, says (from a Google translation of a French report) that this is more about principle than money: "We are forced to watch every week if key software pirates are not [sic] on the Internet. We are a small company of six employees. Instead of trying to protect us, we could spend this time to develop ourselves."
Paul-Henry thinks Sony BMG's piracy of PointDev's products is the fault of more than just a single employee (again, translated): "I think piracy is linked to the policy of a company. If the employee has the necessary funding to buy the software he needs, he will. If this is not the case, he will find alternative ways, as the work must be done in one way or another."
Certainly, one wonders what led to Sony BMG to steal PointDev's product in the first place. It's a safe bet that the company can afford to pay for the necessary licenses, which leaves sheer laziness as the most likely culprit. In any event, it's absolutely inexcusable for a company that has been at the forefront of the antipiracy fight, going so far as to surreptitiously install rootkits on its customers' PCs.
Further Reading |
Collection StuAllenandMarsHotel
Set 1
01-Cats Down Under The Stars
02-See What Love Can DO
03-Ha Ain't Give You None
04-Dear Prudence
05-Rhapsody In Red
06-Sisters & Brothers
07-Lonesome Highway
Set 2
08-Crowd chat, Intros
09-Let's Spend The Night Together
10-The Maker
11-Tore Up Over You
12-Russian Lullaby
13-Mystery Train
14-Reuben & Cherise
15-That Lucky Old Sun
16-Midnight Moonlight
17-Crowd & Tuning
18-Intros
19-Imagine
Notes
Notes from Stu Allen & Mars Hotel at The Ashkenaz Community Center, Berkeley CA, 6-26-2013.
Recording gear used: Sound Devices 744T 4-channel hard disc recorder @ 24/96 resolution.
Input sources: Crown SASS P Mk 2 stereo condenser PZM @ center stage lip; Crown CM-700 cardioid condender mics, 1 each, @ left and right side of the SASS focused on the guitar(R) and keys(L), all 4 channels mixed-on-the-fly through a Shure FP-42 4 channel mixer down to 2 stereo channels; SBD 2.channel feed.
Path: 744T>ext. hard drive>Samplitude ProX>TLH>flac16.
Recorded, mixed & uploaded by: Bob Cogswell
FOH engineer: Bo Putnam
Monitor mix engineer: Shaun Wilson
Band:
Stu Allen - guitar
Steve Sofranko - keyboards
Justin Purtill - bass
Pete Lavezzoli - drums
Set list:
Set 1
01-Cats Down Under The Stars
02-See What Love Can DO
03-Ha Ain't Give You None
04-Dear Prudence
05-Rhapsody In Red
06-Sisters & Brothers
07-Lonesome Highway
Set 2
08-Crowd chat, Intros
09-Let's Spend The Night Together
10-The Maker
11-Tore Up Over You
12-Russian Lullaby
13-Mystery Train
14-Reuben & Cherise
15-That Lucky Old Sun
16-Midnight Moonlight
17-Crowd & Tuning
18-Intros
19-Imagine
Discs
Disc 1
01-Cats Down Under The Stars
02-See What Love Can DO
03-Ha Ain't Give You None
04-Dear Prudence
05-Rhapsody In Red
06-Sisters & Brothers
07-Lonesome Highway
Disc 2
01-Crowd chat, Intros
02-Let's Spend The Night Together
03-The Maker
04-Tore Up Over You
05-Russian Lullaby
Disc 3
01-Mystery Train
02-Reuben & Cherise
03-That Lucky Old Sun
04-Midnight Moonlight
05-Crowd & Tuning
06-Intros
07-Imagine |
The German parliament publishes protocols for each of their sessions. A lot of data waiting to be processed. The protocols are published in the form of text files and PDFs. The published text files are not of my liking but xpdf manages to produce decent text versions from the PDFs. The layout is preserved quite well, which is good because it makes the whole journey from there more deterministic. Processing the layout though is not trivial because the text flow is not trivial.
Most of the text – the actual parts holding the transcript – is split into two columns.
Lists with names are usually separated into four columns.
Headlines and titles occupy mostly a full line.
Tables can look programmatically similar to all of those three styles.
Those different layouts can be combined on one page. And the vertically separating empty columns are not guaranteed to be found at specific positions.
If you are like me you now start thinking about a set of regular expressions to get the job done. This got very messy very soon …
“Some people, when confronted with a problem, think “I know, I’ll use regular expressions.” Now they have two problems.” (Jamie Zawinski)
My gut feeling was that there must be a more generic solution to this, so I did what every decent programmer would do at this point – I took my mind off the job and got me a coffee.
Not sure what led me to the concept of cellular automata but I suddenly had the idea that when you think of the text as a character matrix then the shape of a text block would emerge from iteratively applying cellular rules. As soon as all text boxes would be rectangular it was just at matter of enumerating them accoring to the top-left corner. This would be possible because an empty separating line (green in above picture) would always go all the way from left to right.
I wrote a javascript app that would highlight the parts identified as content (red) and gradually push back the vaccum (blue) until a stable state is reached. The case of table content needs some more computational hand holding though because a table would otherwise be identified as a set of disconnected columns (yes … I used regular expressions at that point, but don’t tell anybody). I am not publishing the code because there is nothing special to be learned from it. But I will publish the data processing for the Bundestag protocols and I guess I will try to enhance and generalize the idea for the purpose of text-mining in general.
I implemented this algorithm in Python for evaluating the public Bundestag protocols as described here. The code can be found at GitHub and the code specific to this algo starts at line 135. The algorithm is at its current state not efficient but it works like a charm.
(original article published on www.joyofdata.de) |
@Champollion I was just pulling your leg about the writer part, but you've brought up some good points, even though I don't agree with each and every one of them.
Secret of Mana is actually a more applicable translation, even though it isn't 1:1 either, but collecting Mana and how to use it, is very much an important and intrinsic part of the world, whereas the fictional book mentioned in the Tengai series is not. It is only one of the many, many parts of the entire lore that encompasses books, animes and games, so that's a pretty big difference.
It's like renaming "Lord of the Rings" to "The Red Book of Westmarch"...
I would love to see what the translator of the game has to say about that, so maybe you should share your point of view with him. I'm pretty sure he's not going to agree.
My point was also more that I find it strange that people completely accept almost any translation and go with it, simply because they don't understand the language or care to investigate into the background of a series.
Say for example that the original writer would want to pull a prank and translate the title to "The grass is always greener in Eden", then that would now have been the title of the series, even though that is an even more lacking and ridiculous title than "Far East of Eden".
Makyou is a word used to describe/mean a place (in Japanese lore generally caves or grottos) of evil ghosts or demonic beings, so that part should at the very least also be present in the translation. (side note: in modern day Japanese life, the term is still used, but then as a synonym for "illusion")
And of course, English is NOT the original language, so Tengai Makyou is not the translation of Far East of Eden, but the other way around.
Besides all that, I think I've provided enough evidence to support my point of view:
https://www.giantbomb.com/tengai-makyou/3025-1326/
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/VideoGame/TengaiMakyou
As for the Legend of Zelda: she actually IS an ever present part of the series, albeit not always in the same form. Sometimes she has a different name or a different appearance, but it is still Zelda.
The games that she isn't in, often aren't part of the main story line, but even so, it's understandable why they aren't suddenly going to call these games "The Legend of Link", since Zelda is an established series, so it has instant recognition with its target audience.
Little boy, blond hair, pointy ears, green tunic, sword and a shield: AHA! A new Zelda game! It's become a household name, so Nintendo would be stupid to change that for some spinoffs/minor games.
Now, if they were to name it "The Deku Tree sagas", then it would be strange, because although the tree is there or is mentioned in several games, it's only PART of the entire lore.
A better alternative name for the series would probably be "Legends of the Triforce", since that is almost always there, or maybe even better: "Hyrule Legends"...
Anyways, I think I'm just going to call it a day here. I've got my point of view, you've got yours, and I respect that, but I'm probably never going to agree with all of your points, so I'll simply agree to disagree. |
For months, every story on the Huffington Post about Trump came with a disclaimer at the end describing him as a "serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist," among other things. Now, according to Politico, a note sent to HuffPo staff from the organization's Washington Bureau Chief, Ryan Grim, on Tuesday evening said the disclaimer will no longer be used in an effort create a “clean slate”.
"Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims — 1.6 billion members of an entire religion — from entering the U.S."
Of course, Huffington Post spokeswoman Sujata Mitra noted that the plan all along was to remove the "Editor's Note" after the election cycle...of course, because the point was to block a Trump presidency which didn't really work out that well apparently.
“The thinking is that (assuming he wins) that he’s now president and we’re going to start with a clean slate,” Grim wrote in the memo, obtained by POLITICO. "If he governs in a racist, misogynistic way, we reserve the right to add it back on. This would be giving respect to the office of the presidency which Trump and his backers never did." "This note was added to stories about presidential candidate Donald Trump during the election cycle,” Huffington Post spokeswoman Sujata Mitra wrote in a statement. "Now that the election is over, we will no longer be adding the note to future stories, as he is no longer a presidential candidate."
Seems like Ariana probably should have accepted this board position from PMUSA...turns out her "independence" wasn't all that "useful" to Hillary after all. |
Divine entity, supreme being and principal object of faith
Many religions use images to "represent" God in icons for art or for worship. Here are some examples of representations of God in Christianity and various branches of Hinduism
In monotheistic thought, God is conceived of as the supreme being, creator deity, and principal object of faith.[3] The conceptions of God, as described by theologians, commonly include the attributes of omniscience (all-knowing), omnipotence (all-powerful), omnipresence (all-present), and as having an eternal and necessary existence. Depending on one's kind of theism, these attributes are used either in way of analogy, or in a literal sense as distinct properties. God is most often held to be incorporeal (immaterial).[3][4][5] Incorporeality and corporeality of God are related to conceptions of transcendence (being outside nature) and immanence (being in nature) of God, with positions of synthesis such as the "immanent transcendence". Psychoanalyst Carl Jung equated religious ideas of God with transcendental aspects of consciousness in his interpretation.[6]
Some religions describe God without reference to gender, while others or their translations use sex-specific terminology. Judaism attributes only a grammatical gender to God, using terms such as "Him" or "Father" for convenience.[7]
God has been conceived as either personal or impersonal. In theism, God is the creator and sustainer of the universe, while in deism, God is the creator, but not the sustainer, of the universe. In pantheism, God is the universe itself. In atheism, there is an absence of belief in God. In agnosticism, the existence of God is deemed unknown or unknowable. God has also been conceived as the source of all moral obligation, and the "greatest conceivable existent".[3] Many notable philosophers have developed arguments for and against the existence of God.[8]
Monotheists refer to their gods using names prescribed by their respective religions, with some of these names referring to certain cultural ideas about their god's identity and attributes. In the ancient Egyptian era of Atenism, possibly the earliest recorded monotheistic religion, this deity was called Aten,[9] premised on being the one "true" Supreme Being and creator of the universe.[10] In the Hebrew Bible and Judaism, Elohim, Adonai, YHWH (Hebrew: יהוה) and other names are used as the names of God. Yahweh and Jehovah, possible vocalizations of YHWH, are used in Christianity. In the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, God, coexisting in three "persons", is called the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In Islam, the name Allah is used, while Muslims also have a multitude of titular names for God. In Hinduism, Brahman is often considered a monistic concept of God.[11] In Chinese religion, Shangdi is conceived as the progenitor (first ancestor) of the universe, intrinsic to it and constantly bringing order to it. Other religions have names for the concept, for instance, Baha in the Bahá'í Faith,[12] Waheguru in Sikhism,[13] Sang Hyang Widhi Wasa in Balinese Hinduism,[14] and Ahura Mazda in Zoroastrianism.[15]
The many different conceptions of God, and competing claims as to God's characteristics, aims, and actions, have led to the development of ideas of omnitheism, pandeism,[16] or a perennial philosophy, which postulates that there is one underlying theological truth, of which all religions express a partial understanding, and as to which "the devout in the various great world religions are in fact worshipping that one God, but through different, overlapping concepts".[17]
Etymology and usage
The Mesha Stele bears the earliest known reference (840 BCE) to the Israelite God Yahweh.
The earliest written form of the Germanic word God comes from the 6th-century Christian Codex Argenteus. The English word itself is derived from the Proto-Germanic * ǥuđan. The reconstructed Proto-Indo-European form * ǵhu-tó-m was likely based on the root * ǵhau(ə)-, which meant either "to call" or "to invoke".[18] The Germanic words for God were originally neuter—applying to both genders—but during the process of the Christianization of the Germanic peoples from their indigenous Germanic paganism, the words became a masculine syntactic form.[19]
In the English language, capitalization is used for names by which a god is known, including 'God'.[20] Consequently, the capitalized form of god is not used for multiple gods (polytheism) or when used to refer to the generic idea of a deity.[21][22] The English word God and its counterparts in other languages are normally used for any and all conceptions and, in spite of significant differences between religions, the term remains an English translation common to all. The same holds for Hebrew El, but in Judaism, God is also given a proper name, the tetragrammaton YHWH, in origin possibly the name of an Edomite or Midianite deity, Yahweh. In many translations of the Bible, when the word LORD is in all capitals, it signifies that the word represents the tetragrammaton.[23]
Allāh (Arabic: الله) is the Arabic term with no plural used by Muslims and Arabic speaking Christians and Jews meaning "The God" (with the first letter capitalized), while "ʾilāh" (Arabic: إله) is the term used for a deity or a god in general.[24][25][26] God may also be given a proper name in monotheistic currents of Hinduism which emphasize the personal nature of God, with early references to his name as Krishna-Vasudeva in Bhagavata or later Vishnu and Hari.[27]
Ahura Mazda is the name for God used in Zoroastrianism. "Mazda", or rather the Avestan stem-form Mazdā-, nominative Mazdå, reflects Proto-Iranian *Mazdāh (female). It is generally taken to be the proper name of the spirit, and like its Sanskrit cognate medhā, means "intelligence" or "wisdom". Both the Avestan and Sanskrit words reflect Proto-Indo-Iranian *mazdhā-, from Proto-Indo-European mn̩sdʰeh 1 , literally meaning "placing (dʰeh 1 ) one's mind (*mn̩-s)", hence "wise".
Waheguru (Punjabi: vāhigurū) is a term most often used in Sikhism to refer to God. It means "Wonderful Teacher" in the Punjabi language. Vāhi (a Middle Persian borrowing) means "wonderful" and guru (Sanskrit: guru) is a term denoting "teacher". Waheguru is also described by some as an experience of ecstasy which is beyond all descriptions. The most common usage of the word "Waheguru" is in the greeting Sikhs use with each other:
Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh
Wonderful Lord's Khalsa, Victory is to the Wonderful Lord.
Baha, the "greatest" name for God in the Baha'i faith, is Arabic for "All-Glorious".
General conceptions
There is no clear consensus on the nature or the existence of God.[29] The Abrahamic conceptions of God include the monotheistic definition of God in Judaism, the trinitarian view of Christians, and the Islamic concept of God. The dharmic religions differ in their view of the divine: views of God in Hinduism vary by region, sect, and caste, ranging from monotheistic to polytheistic. Many polytheistic religions share the idea of a creator deity, although having a name other than "God" and without all of the other roles attributed to a singular God by monotheistic religions. Jainism is polytheistic and non-creationist. Depending on one's interpretation and tradition, Buddhism can be conceived as being either atheistic, non-theistic, pantheistic, panentheistic, or polytheistic.
Oneness
Monotheists hold that there is only one god, and may claim that the one true god is worshiped in different religions under different names. The view that all theists actually worship the same god, whether they know it or not, is especially emphasized in the Bahá'í Faith, Hinduism[30] and Sikhism.[31]
In Christianity, the doctrine of the Trinity describes God as one God in three divine Persons (each of the three Persons is God himself). The Most Holy Trinity comprises[32] God the Father, God the Son (which is Jesus Christ God), and God the Holy Spirit. In the past centuries, this fundamental Mystery of the Christian faith was also summarized by the Latin formula Sancta Trinitas, Unus Deus (Holy Trinity, Unique God), reported in the Litanias Lauretanas.
Islam's most fundamental concept is tawhid (meaning "oneness" or "uniqueness"). God is described in the Quran as: "Say: He is Allah, the One and Only; Allah, the Eternal, Absolute; He begetteth not, nor is He begotten; And there is none like unto Him."[33][34] Muslims repudiate the Christian doctrine of the Trinity and the divinity of Jesus, comparing it to polytheism. In Islam, God is transcendent and does not resemble any of his creations in any way. Thus, Muslims are not iconodules, and are not expected to visualize God.[35]
Henotheism is the belief and worship of a single god while accepting the existence or possible existence of other deities.[36]
Theism, deism, and pantheism
Theism generally holds that God exists realistically, objectively, and independently of human thought; that God created and sustains everything; that God is omnipotent and eternal; and that God is personal and interacting with the universe through, for example, religious experience and the prayers of humans.[37] Theism holds that God is both transcendent and immanent; thus, God is simultaneously infinite and, in some way, present in the affairs of the world.[38] Not all theists subscribe to all of these propositions, but each usually subscribes to some of them (see, by way of comparison, family resemblance).[37] Catholic theology holds that God is infinitely simple and is not involuntarily subject to time. Most theists hold that God is omnipotent, omniscient, and benevolent, although this belief raises questions about God's responsibility for evil and suffering in the world. Some theists ascribe to God a self-conscious or purposeful limiting of omnipotence, omniscience, or benevolence. Open Theism, by contrast, contends that, due to the nature of time, God's omniscience does not mean the deity can predict the future. Theism is sometimes used to refer in general to any belief in a god or gods, i.e., monotheism or polytheism.[39][40]
God blessing the seventh day, a watercolor painting depicting God, by , a watercolor painting depicting God, by William Blake (1757–1827)
Deism holds that God is wholly transcendent: God exists, but does not intervene in the world beyond what was necessary to create it.[38] In this view, God is not anthropomorphic, and neither answers prayers nor produces miracles. Common in Deism is a belief that God has no interest in humanity and may not even be aware of humanity. Pandeism combines Deism with Pantheistic beliefs.[16][41][42] Pandeism is proposed to explain as to Deism why God would create a universe and then abandon it,[43] and as to Pantheism, the origin and purpose of the universe.[43][44]
Pantheism holds that God is the universe and the universe is God, whereas Panentheism holds that God contains, but is not identical to, the Universe.[45] It is also the view of the Liberal Catholic Church; Theosophy; some views of Hinduism except Vaishnavism, which believes in panentheism; Sikhism; some divisions of Neopaganism and Taoism, along with many varying denominations and individuals within denominations. Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism, paints a pantheistic/panentheistic view of God—which has wide acceptance in Hasidic Judaism, particularly from their founder The Baal Shem Tov—but only as an addition to the Jewish view of a personal god, not in the original pantheistic sense that denies or limits persona to God.[citation needed]
Other concepts
Dystheism, which is related to theodicy, is a form of theism which holds that God is either not wholly good or is fully malevolent as a consequence of the problem of evil. One such example comes from Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov, in which Ivan Karamazov rejects God on the grounds that he allows children to suffer.[46]
In modern times, some more abstract concepts have been developed, such as process theology and open theism. The contemporaneous French philosopher Michel Henry has however proposed a phenomenological approach and definition of God as phenomenological essence of Life.[47]
God has also been conceived as being incorporeal (immaterial), a personal being, the source of all moral obligation, and the "greatest conceivable existent".[3] These attributes were all supported to varying degrees by the early Jewish, Christian and Muslim theologian philosophers, including Maimonides,[48] Augustine of Hippo,[48] and Al-Ghazali,[8] respectively.
Non-theistic views
Non-theist views about God also vary. Some non-theists avoid the concept of God, whilst accepting that it is significant to many; other non-theists understand God as a symbol of human values and aspirations. The nineteenth-century English atheist Charles Bradlaugh declared that he refused to say "There is no God", because "the word 'God' is to me a sound conveying no clear or distinct affirmation";[49] he said more specifically that he disbelieved in the Christian god. Stephen Jay Gould proposed an approach dividing the world of philosophy into what he called "non-overlapping magisteria" (NOMA). In this view, questions of the supernatural, such as those relating to the existence and nature of God, are non-empirical and are the proper domain of theology. The methods of science should then be used to answer any empirical question about the natural world, and theology should be used to answer questions about ultimate meaning and moral value. In this view, the perceived lack of any empirical footprint from the magisterium of the supernatural onto natural events makes science the sole player in the natural world.[50]
Another view, advanced by Richard Dawkins, is that the existence of God is an empirical question, on the grounds that "a universe with a god would be a completely different kind of universe from one without, and it would be a scientific difference."[51] Carl Sagan argued that the doctrine of a Creator of the Universe was difficult to prove or disprove and that the only conceivable scientific discovery that could disprove the existence of a Creator (not necessarily a God) would be the discovery that the universe is infinitely old.[52]
Stephen Hawking and co-author Leonard Mlodinow state in their book, The Grand Design, that it is reasonable to ask who or what created the universe, but if the answer is God, then the question has merely been deflected to that of who created God. Both authors claim however, that it is possible to answer these questions purely within the realm of science, and without invoking any divine beings.[53]
Agnosticism and atheism
Agnosticism is the view that the truth values of certain claims – especially metaphysical and religious claims such as whether God, the divine or the supernatural exist – are unknown and perhaps unknowable.[54][55][56]
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities.[57][58] In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities, although it can be defined as a lack of belief in the existence of any deities, rather than a positive belief in the nonexistence of any deities.[59]
Anthropomorphism
Pascal Boyer argues that while there is a wide array of supernatural concepts found around the world, in general, supernatural beings tend to behave much like people. The construction of gods and spirits like persons is one of the best known traits of religion. He cites examples from Greek mythology, which is, in his opinion, more like a modern soap opera than other religious systems.[60] Bertrand du Castel and Timothy Jurgensen demonstrate through formalization that Boyer's explanatory model matches physics' epistemology in positing not directly observable entities as intermediaries.[61] Anthropologist Stewart Guthrie contends that people project human features onto non-human aspects of the world because it makes those aspects more familiar. Sigmund Freud also suggested that god concepts are projections of one's father.[62]
Likewise, Émile Durkheim was one of the earliest to suggest that gods represent an extension of human social life to include supernatural beings. In line with this reasoning, psychologist Matt Rossano contends that when humans began living in larger groups, they may have created gods as a means of enforcing morality. In small groups, morality can be enforced by social forces such as gossip or reputation. However, it is much harder to enforce morality using social forces in much larger groups. Rossano indicates that by including ever-watchful gods and spirits, humans discovered an effective strategy for restraining selfishness and building more cooperative groups.[63]
Existence
Isaac Newton saw the existence of a Creator necessary in the movement of astronomical objects.
Arguments about the existence of God typically include empirical, deductive, and inductive types. Different views include that: "God does not exist" (strong atheism); "God almost certainly does not exist" (de facto atheism); "no one knows whether God exists" (agnosticism[64]); "God exists, but this cannot be proven or disproven" (de facto theism); and that "God exists and this can be proven" (strong theism).[50]
Countless arguments have been proposed to prove the existence of God.[65] Some of the most notable arguments are the Five Ways of Aquinas, the Argument from desire proposed by C.S. Lewis, and the Ontological Argument formulated both by St. Anselm and René Descartes.[66]
St. Anselm's approach was to define God as, "that than which nothing greater can be conceived". Famed pantheist philosopher Baruch Spinoza would later carry this idea to its extreme: "By God I understand a being absolutely infinite, i.e., a substance consisting of infinite attributes, of which each one expresses an eternal and infinite essence." For Spinoza, the whole of the natural universe is made of one substance, God, or its equivalent, Nature.[67] His proof for the existence of God was a variation of the Ontological argument.[68]
Scientist Isaac Newton saw the nontrinitarian God[69] as the masterful creator whose existence could not be denied in the face of the grandeur of all creation.[70] Nevertheless, he rejected polymath Leibniz' thesis that God would necessarily make a perfect world which requires no intervention from the creator. In Query 31 of the Opticks, Newton simultaneously made an argument from design and for the necessity of intervention:
For while comets move in very eccentric orbs in all manner of positions, blind fate could never make all the planets move one and the same way in orbs concentric, some inconsiderable irregularities excepted which may have arisen from the mutual actions of comets and planets on one another, and which will be apt to increase, till this system wants a reformation.[71]
St. Thomas believed that the existence of God is self-evident in itself, but not to us. "Therefore I say that this proposition, "God exists", of itself is self-evident, for the predicate is the same as the subject.... Now because we do not know the essence of God, the proposition is not self-evident to us; but needs to be demonstrated by things that are more known to us, though less known in their nature—namely, by effects."[72] St. Thomas believed that the existence of God can be demonstrated. Briefly in the Summa theologiae and more extensively in the Summa contra Gentiles, he considered in great detail five arguments for the existence of God, widely known as the quinque viae (Five Ways).
For the original text of the five proofs, see quinque viae
Motion: Some things undoubtedly move, though cannot cause their own motion. Since there can be no infinite chain of causes of motion, there must be a First Mover not moved by anything else, and this is what everyone understands by God. Causation: As in the case of motion, nothing can cause itself, and an infinite chain of causation is impossible, so there must be a First Cause, called God. Existence of necessary and the unnecessary: Our experience includes things certainly existing but apparently unnecessary. Not everything can be unnecessary, for then once there was nothing and there would still be nothing. Therefore, we are compelled to suppose something that exists necessarily, having this necessity only from itself; in fact itself the cause for other things to exist. Gradation: If we can notice a gradation in things in the sense that some things are more hot, good, etc., there must be a superlative that is the truest and noblest thing, and so most fully existing. This then, we call God (Note: Thomas does not ascribe actual qualities to God Himself). Ordered tendencies of nature: A direction of actions to an end is noticed in all bodies following natural laws. Anything without awareness tends to a goal under the guidance of one who is aware. This we call God (Note that even when we guide objects, in Thomas's view, the source of all our knowledge comes from God as well).[73]
Some theologians, such as the scientist and theologian A.E. McGrath, argue that the existence of God is not a question that can be answered using the scientific method.[74][75] Agnostic Stephen Jay Gould argues that science and religion are not in conflict and do not overlap.[76]
Some findings in the fields of cosmology, evolutionary biology and neuroscience are interpreted by some atheists (including Lawrence M. Krauss and Sam Harris) as evidence that God is an imaginary entity only, with no basis in reality.[77][78] These atheists claim that a single, omniscient God who is imagined to have created the universe and is particularly attentive to the lives of humans has been imagined, embellished and promulgated in a trans-generational manner.[79] Richard Dawkins interprets such findings not only as a lack of evidence for the material existence of such a God, but as extensive evidence to the contrary.[50] However, his views are opposed by some theologians and scientists including Alister McGrath, who argues that existence of God is compatible with science.[80]
Specific attributes
Different religious traditions assign differing (though often similar) attributes and characteristics to God, including expansive powers and abilities, psychological characteristics, gender characteristics, and preferred nomenclature. The assignment of these attributes often differs according to the conceptions of God in the culture from which they arise. For example, attributes of God in Christianity, attributes of God in Islam, and the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy in Judaism share certain similarities arising from their common roots.
Names
The word God is "one of the most complex and difficult in the English language." In the Judeo-Christian tradition, "the Bible has been the principal source of the conceptions of God". That the Bible "includes many different images, concepts, and ways of thinking about" God has resulted in perpetual "disagreements about how God is to be conceived and understood".[81]
Throughout the Hebrew and Christian Bibles there are many names for God. One of them is Elohim. Another one is El Shaddai, translated "God Almighty".[82] A third notable name is El Elyon, which means "The High God".[83]
God is described and referred in the Quran and hadith by certain names or attributes, the most common being Al-Rahman, meaning "Most Compassionate" and Al-Rahim, meaning "Most Merciful" (See Names of God in Islam).[84]
God
Many of these names are also used in the scriptures of the Bahá'í Faith.
Many traditions see God as incorporeal and eternal, and regard him as a point of living light like human souls, but without a physical body, as he does not enter the cycle of birth, death and rebirth. God is seen as the perfect and constant embodiment of all virtues, powers and values and that he is the unconditionally loving Father of all souls, irrespective of their religion, gender, or culture.[85]
Vaishnavism, a tradition in Hinduism, has a list of titles and names of Krishna.
Gender
The gender of God may be viewed as either a literal or an allegorical aspect of a deity who, in classical western philosophy, transcends bodily form.[86][87] Polytheistic religions commonly attribute to each of the gods a gender, allowing each to interact with any of the others, and perhaps with humans, sexually. In most monotheistic religions, God has no counterpart with which to relate sexually. Thus, in classical western philosophy the gender of this one-and-only deity is most likely to be an analogical statement of how humans and God address, and relate to, each other. Namely, God is seen as begetter of the world and revelation which corresponds to the active (as opposed to the receptive) role in sexual intercourse.[88]
Biblical sources usually refer to God using male words, except Genesis 1:26–27,[89][90] Psalm 123:2–3, and Luke 15:8–10 (female); Hosea 11:3–4, Deuteronomy 32:18, Isaiah 66:13, Isaiah 49:15, Isaiah 42:14, Psalm 131:2 (a mother); Deuteronomy 32:11–12 (a mother eagle); and Matthew 23:37 and Luke 13:34 (a mother hen).
Relationship with creation
And Elohim Created Adam by by William Blake , c. 1795
Prayer plays a significant role among many believers. Muslims believe that the purpose of existence is to worship God.[91][92] He is viewed as a personal God and there are no intermediaries, such as clergy, to contact God. Prayer often also includes supplication and asking forgiveness. God is often believed to be forgiving. For example, a hadith states God would replace a sinless people with one who sinned but still asked repentance.[93] Christian theologian Alister McGrath writes that there are good reasons to suggest that a "personal god" is integral to the Christian outlook, but that one has to understand it is an analogy. "To say that God is like a person is to affirm the divine ability and willingness to relate to others. This does not imply that God is human, or located at a specific point in the universe."[94]
Adherents of different religions generally disagree as to how to best worship God and what is God's plan for mankind, if there is one. There are different approaches to reconciling the contradictory claims of monotheistic religions. One view is taken by exclusivists, who believe they are the chosen people or have exclusive access to absolute truth, generally through revelation or encounter with the Divine, which adherents of other religions do not. Another view is religious pluralism. A pluralist typically believes that his religion is the right one, but does not deny the partial truth of other religions. An example of a pluralist view in Christianity is supersessionism, i.e., the belief that one's religion is the fulfillment of previous religions. A third approach is relativistic inclusivism, where everybody is seen as equally right; an example being universalism: the doctrine that salvation is eventually available for everyone. A fourth approach is syncretism, mixing different elements from different religions. An example of syncretism is the New Age movement.
Jews and Christians believe that humans are created in the likeness of God, and are the center, crown and key to God's creation, stewards for God, supreme over everything else God had made (Gen 1:26); for this reason, humans are in Christianity called the "Children of God".[95]
Depiction
Zoroastrianism
During the early Parthian Empire, Ahura Mazda was visually represented for worship. This practice ended during the beginning of the Sassanid empire. Zoroastrian iconoclasm, which can be traced to the end of the Parthian period and the beginning of the Sassanid, eventually put an end to the use of all images of Ahura Mazda in worship. However, Ahura Mazda continued to be symbolized by a dignified male figure, standing or on horseback which is found in Sassanian investiture.
Judaism
At least some Jews do not use any image for God, since God is the unimaginable Being who cannot be represented in material forms.[97] In some samples of Jewish Art, however, sometimes God, or at least his intervention, is indicated by a Hand Of God symbol, which represents the bath Kol (literally "daughter of a voice") or Voice of God.[98]
The burning bush that was not consumed by the flames is described in Book of Exodus as a symbolic representation of God when he appeared to Moses.[99]
Christianity
Early Christians believed that the words of the Gospel of John 1:18: "No man has seen God at any time" and numerous other statements were meant to apply not only to God, but to all attempts at the depiction of God.[100]
However, later depictions of God are found. Some, like the Hand of God, are depiction borrowed from Jewish art.
The beginning of the 8th century witnessed the suppression and destruction of religious icons as the period of Byzantine iconoclasm (literally image-breaking) started. The Second Council of Nicaea in 787 effectively ended the first period of Byzantine iconoclasm and restored the honouring of icons and holy images in general.[101] However, this did not immediately translate into large scale depictions of God the Father. Even supporters of the use of icons in the 8th century, such as Saint John of Damascus, drew a distinction between images of God the Father and those of Christ.
Prior to the 10th century no attempt was made to use a human to symbolize God the Father in Western art.[100] Yet, Western art eventually required some way to illustrate the presence of the Father, so through successive representations a set of artistic styles for symbolizing the Father using a man gradually emerged around the 10th century AD. A rationale for the use of a human is the belief that God created the soul of Man in the image of his own (thus allowing Human to transcend the other animals).
It appears that when early artists designed to represent God the Father, fear and awe restrained them from a usage of the whole human figure. Typically only a small part would be used as the image, usually the hand, or sometimes the face, but rarely a whole human. In many images, the figure of the Son supplants the Father, so a smaller portion of the person of the Father is depicted.[102]
By the 12th century depictions of God the Father had started to appear in French illuminated manuscripts, which as a less public form could often be more adventurous in their iconography, and in stained glass church windows in England. Initially the head or bust was usually shown in some form of frame of clouds in the top of the picture space, where the Hand of God had formerly appeared; the Baptism of Christ on the famous baptismal font in Liège of Rainer of Huy is an example from 1118 (a Hand of God is used in another scene). Gradually the amount of the human symbol shown can increase to a half-length figure, then a full-length, usually enthroned, as in Giotto's fresco of c. 1305 in Padua.[103] In the 14th century the Naples Bible carried a depiction of God the Father in the Burning bush. By the early 15th century, the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry has a considerable number of symbols, including an elderly but tall and elegant full-length figure walking in the Garden of Eden, which show a considerable diversity of apparent ages and dress. The "Gates of Paradise" of the Florence Baptistry by Lorenzo Ghiberti, begun in 1425 use a similar tall full-length symbol for the Father. The Rohan Book of Hours of about 1430 also included depictions of God the Father in half-length human form, which were now becoming standard, and the Hand of God becoming rarer. At the same period other works, like the large Genesis altarpiece by the Hamburg painter Meister Bertram, continued to use the old depiction of Christ as Logos in Genesis scenes. In the 15th century there was a brief fashion for depicting all three persons of the Trinity as similar or identical figures with the usual appearance of Christ.
In an early Venetian school Coronation of the Virgin by Giovanni d'Alemagna and Antonio Vivarini (c. 1443), The Father is depicted using the symbol consistently used by other artists later, namely a patriarch, with benign, yet powerful countenance and with long white hair and a beard, a depiction largely derived from, and justified by, the near-physical, but still figurative, description of the Ancient of Days.[104]
. ...the Ancient of Days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. (Daniel 7:9)
In the Annunciation by Benvenuto di Giovanni in 1470, God the Father is portrayed in the red robe and a hat that resembles that of a Cardinal. However, even in the later part of the 15th century, the symbolic representation of the Father and the Holy Spirit as "hands and dove" continued, e.g. in Verrocchio's Baptism of Christ in 1472.[105]
God the Father with His Right Hand Raised in Blessing, with a triangular halo representing the Trinity, , with a triangular halo representing the Trinity, Girolamo dai Libri c. 1555
In Renaissance paintings of the adoration of the Trinity, God may be depicted in two ways, either with emphasis on The Father, or the three elements of the Trinity. The most usual depiction of the Trinity in Renaissance art depicts God the Father using an old man, usually with a long beard and patriarchal in appearance, sometimes with a triangular halo (as a reference to the Trinity), or with a papal crown, specially in Northern Renaissance painting. In these depictions The Father may hold a globe or book (to symbolize God's knowledge and as a reference to how knowledge is deemed divine). He is behind and above Christ on the Cross in the Throne of Mercy iconography. A dove, the symbol of the Holy Spirit may hover above. Various people from different classes of society, e.g. kings, popes or martyrs may be present in the picture. In a Trinitarian Pietà, God the Father is often symbolized using a man wearing a papal dress and a papal crown, supporting the dead Christ in his arms. They are depicted as floating in heaven with angels who carry the instruments of the Passion.[106]
Representations of God the Father and the Trinity were attacked both by Protestants and within Catholicism, by the Jansenist and Baianist movements as well as more orthodox theologians. As with other attacks on Catholic imagery, this had the effect both of reducing Church support for the less central depictions, and strengthening it for the core ones. In the Western Church, the pressure to restrain religious imagery resulted in the highly influential decrees of the final session of the Council of Trent in 1563. The Council of Trent decrees confirmed the traditional Catholic doctrine that images only represented the person depicted, and that veneration to them was paid to the person, not the image.[107]
Artistic depictions of God the Father were uncontroversial in Catholic art thereafter, but less common depictions of the Trinity were condemned. In 1745 Pope Benedict XIV explicitly supported the Throne of Mercy depiction, referring to the "Ancient of Days", but in 1786 it was still necessary for Pope Pius VI to issue a papal bull condemning the decision of an Italian church council to remove all images of the Trinity from churches.[108]
God the Father is symbolized in several Genesis scenes in Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling, most famously The Creation of Adam (whose image of near touching hands of God and Adam is iconic of humanity, being a reminder that Man is created in the Image and Likeness of God (Gen 1:26)).God the Father is depicted as a powerful figure, floating in the clouds in Titian's Assumption of the Virgin in the Frari of Venice, long admired as a masterpiece of High Renaissance art.[109] The Church of the Gesù in Rome includes a number of 16th-century depictions of God the Father. In some of these paintings the Trinity is still alluded to in terms of three angels, but Giovanni Battista Fiammeri also depicted God the Father as a man riding on a cloud, above the scenes.[110]
In both the Last Judgment and the Coronation of the Virgin paintings by Rubens he depicted God the Father using the image that by then had become widely accepted, a bearded patriarchal figure above the fray. In the 17th century, the two Spanish artists Diego Velázquez (whose father-in-law Francisco Pacheco was in charge of the approval of new images for the Inquisition) and Bartolomé Esteban Murillo both depicted God the Father using a patriarchal figure with a white beard in a purple robe.
The Ancient of Days (1794) Watercolor etching by (1794) Watercolor etching by William Blake
While representations of God the Father were growing in Italy, Spain, Germany and the Low Countries, there was resistance elsewhere in Europe, even during the 17th century. In 1632 most members of the Star Chamber court in England (except the Archbishop of York) condemned the use of the images of the Trinity in church windows, and some considered them illegal.[111] Later in the 17th century Sir Thomas Browne wrote that he considered the representation of God the Father using an old man "a dangerous act" that might lead to Egyptian symbolism.[112] In 1847, Charles Winston was still critical of such images as a "Romish trend" (a term used to refer to Roman Catholics) that he considered best avoided in England.[113]
In 1667 the 43rd chapter of the Great Moscow Council specifically included a ban on a number of symbolic depictions of God the Father and the Holy Spirit, which then also resulted in a whole range of other icons being placed on the forbidden list,[114][115] mostly affecting Western-style depictions which had been gaining ground in Orthodox icons. The Council also declared that the person of the Trinity who was the "Ancient of Days" was Christ, as Logos, not God the Father. However some icons continued to be produced in Russia, as well as Greece, Romania, and other Orthodox countries.
Islam
Muslims believe that God (Allah) is beyond all comprehension and equal, and does not resemble any of his creations in any way. Thus, Muslims are not iconodules, are not expected to visualize God, and instead of having pictures of Allah in their mosques, have religious scripts written on the wall.[35]
Bahá'í Faith
Bahá'u'lláh taught that God is directly unknowable to common mortals, but that his attributes and qualities can be indirectly known by learning from and imitating his divine Manifestations, which in Bahá'í theology are somewhat comparable to Hindu avatars or Abrahamic prophets. These Manifestations are the great prophets and teachers of many of the major religious traditions. These include Krishna, Buddha, Jesus, Zoroaster, Muhammad, Bahá'ú'lláh, and others. Although the faith is strictly monotheistic, it also preaches the unity of all religions and focuses on these multiple epiphanies as necessary for meeting the needs of humanity at different points in history and for different cultures, and as part of a scheme of progressive revelation and education of humanity.
Theological approaches
Classical theists (such as Ancient Greco-Medieval philosophers, Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox Christians, much of Jews and Muslims, and some Protestants) speak of God as a divinely simple “nothing” that is completely transcendent (totally independent of all else), and having attributes such as immutability, impassibility, and timelessness.[116] Theologians of theistic personalism (the view held by Rene Descartes, Isaac Newton, Alvin Plantinga, Richard Swinburne, William Lane Craig, and most modern evangelicals) argue that God is most generally the ground of all being, immanent in and transcendent over the whole world of reality, with immanence and transcendence being the contrapletes of personality.[117] Carl Jung equated religious ideas of God with transcendental metaphors of higher consciousness, in which God can be just as easily be imagined "as an eternally flowing current of vital energy that endlessly changes shape ... as an eternally unmoved, unchangeable essence."[6]
The attributes of the God of classical theism were all claimed to varying degrees by the early Jewish, Christian and Muslim scholars, including Maimonides,[48] St Augustine,[48] and Al-Ghazali.[118]
Many philosophers developed arguments for the existence of God,[8] while attempting to comprehend the precise implications of God's attributes. Reconciling some of those attributes-particularly the attributes of the God of theistic personalism- generated important philosophical problems and debates. For example, God's omniscience may seem to imply that God knows how free agents will choose to act. If God does know this, their ostensible free will might be illusory, or foreknowledge does not imply predestination, and if God does not know it, God may not be omniscient.[119]
The last centuries of philosophy have seen vigorous questions regarding the arguments for God's existence raised by such philosophers as Immanuel Kant, David Hume and Antony Flew, although Kant held that the argument from morality was valid. The theist response has been either to contend, as does Alvin Plantinga, that faith is "properly basic", or to take, as does Richard Swinburne, the evidentialist position.[120] Some theists agree that only some of the arguments for God's existence are compelling, but argue that faith is not a product of reason, but requires risk. There would be no risk, they say, if the arguments for God's existence were as solid as the laws of logic, a position summed up by Pascal as "the heart has reasons of which reason does not know."[121]
Many religious believers allow for the existence of other, less powerful spiritual beings such as angels, saints, jinn, demons, and devas.[122][123][124][125][126]
See also
References |
Issue 94 July 11th, 2013
News
Session submissions close on July 12th so submit your session/s for DrupalCon Prague today.
Articles
Wim Leers introduces us to mr-drupal, a novel, simpler way of managing Drupal sites. This looks very promising as an alternative to using Drush make, git-subtree, and other code management workflows
Mediacurrent’s Josh Estep gives us a good list of performance tools you can use to monitor your Drupal site as well as a few tips.
Emma Jane Westby over at Drupalize.Me gives us a high level look at three methods of controling the content layout on your Drupal site covering Display Suite, Panels, and Omega. Emma Jane explains why you would use one method over another.
Drupal 8
Good to see all of the improvements in multilingual Drupal. Gábor Hojtsy share more Drupal 8 goodness in his post.
LevelTen Interactive’s Ian Whitcomb continues his Drupal 8 module development series with a nice intro to the changes to the new form api.
Drupal 8 uses Twig as the theming engine. So if you’d like to get a head start converting your themes from PHPTemplate you can check out Erstellt von Luca Stockmann’s tutorial. Stockmann also mentions the Twigify module that attempts to automatically convert a Drupal 7 theme to use Twig.
Lin Clark shares what is needed to get RDFa support into Drupal 8.
Tutorials
A nice checklist from JD Collier of Digett. There used to be a cool Drupal site that had a great pre-launch checklist but it looks like it no longer exists. Maybe someone should make another one.
Silvio J. Gutierrez has written a nice tutorial covering a tricky part of the form api. As with any good tutorial, Gutierrez has included an example of a custom Drupal form element.
Brian Gilbert turned his Aegir on OS X installation tutorial into a script.
Modules
If you’ve ever wanted to give site admins the ability to add values to select lists without giving them permission to administer content types then Values module is something you should take a look at. I can’t say it any better than Chris Eastwood, “At it’s core, Values is an interface for managing reusable sets of key-value pairs.” This looks like a gem of a module.
Idan Arbel of Pixel Wrapped gives us an introduction to Nodequeue module. Nodequeue allows you to create arbitrary lists of nodes that can be displayed on your Drupal site. Nodequeue isn’t a new module but if you haven’t heard of it you should check it out.
Books
Podcasts
Events
July 12th - 15th, 2013
July 13th - 14th, 2013
July 13th - 14th, 2013
Jobs
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