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Story highlights Some members of the Green Party bristle at the thought of associating with the Democratic or Republican parties
They have gone public with their concerns over Stein's effort
Washington (CNN) The Green Party's Jill Stein has received a bounty of attention and money since she announced her intent to request election recounts in several states, but prominent voices within her party are rebuking the effort.
Among them: her own running mate, Ajamu Baraka, who told CNN on Tuesday: "I'm not in favor of the recount."
Baraka said he had spoken with Stein about his concerns, telling her "it was a potentially dangerous move" because it could be mischaracterized by the broader political community.
"It would be seen as carrying the water for the Democrats," Baraka said.
The former third-party vice presidential nominee had earlier expressed his thoughts on Facebook, where he vouched for Stein's ethics and intentions while outlining his concerns her effort could undermine the Green Party's independence.
Read More |
2016's been a bit of a shitter but Bastille have made the very best of it.
It’s been a big old year for Bastille. As second record ‘Wild World’ is about to go gold we talked to frontman Dan Smith about their absolutely mega twelve months and what he’s looking forward to in 2017.
Hello Dan – massive year! How did 2016 start for you?
It started off with us finishing the record. It was our first prolonged period of time at home in three or four years, back in our mate’s little studio. It was quite nice having a routine, going to the studio everyday and finishing off ‘Wild World’. It’s been a mad year. From it starting off feeling more normal than it had in a while, to doing a full summer of festivals, an arena tour and releasing our album. It’s been pretty all encompassing. All the while, outside of our little world of Bastille, it’s been a pretty nuts year.
Well, yeah. You wrote an album about making sense of the world, but since you wrote it the world has become a much more complicated place…
Yeah, totally. I guess a lot of those things were bubbling under the surface at the time when we were writing and finishing the album. There’s a tension on the record between me wanting it to be quite escapist but also feeling like it’s quite hard to not address a lot of things going on at the moment. It’s a bit of a weird position to be in.
I can completely understand why you’d want music to be a form of complete escapism – and there is an element of that in our stuff – but there’s also an inescapable thing of the world seeming a bit skewed and fucked up and us needing to try and make sense of it. But – as I’ve said loads of times – it’s very much from a position of us being complete idiots and trying to do it on quite an honest level!
It’s been surreal though, there are a few songs on the record which, particularly at the moment, feel very relevant, at least to us. And that is quite odd.
Jenn Five
You’re in America at the moment. Do songs like ‘The Currents’ seem to be resonating with fans in a way that you perhaps couldn’t have anticipated before all this, er, ‘stuff’, happened?
To be honest, I’m always really interested when people say they can relate to our songs. On the first album, that wasn’t something I’d ever anticipated or thought about. So when we were lucky enough to play shows in different countries and to hear people who live miles away tell me that something I wrote in my bedroom has some sort of resonance with them, it was very humbling and nice, but also very surreal.
Sharethrough (Mobile)
I guess it’s a bit more obvious when you’re writing about things like hearing divisive things on the news and feeling uncomfortable with that. People have said – I’m talking about a very small number of people – that it’s been interesting and helpful to have a record that feels relevant and honest. I wanted to write it in a way that’s a human response rather than a particularly politicised one.
What are you looking forward to in 2017?
I’m looking forward to a bunch of albums. Haim’s record and Lorde’s record and there’ll be a load of great stuff coming out.
I’ve also been working on my record label Best Laid Plans which I set up with my mate. It’s not something I’ve talked about loads before because I didn’t necessarily want it to be associated with Bastille, but Rag N’ Bone Man is signed to it. He just won the Brits Critics’ Choice Award for 2017 and I’m really excited for him as a mate and musically. I think he’s going to have an amazing year.
But mainly, like a lot of people, I’m just excited for 2016 to not be 2016 anymore!
What about Twin Peaks. As a fan, what questions do you want answered by the new series?
Looking at how much TV has changed since the first Twin Peaks was out there. At the time it was really shocking because it subverted the idea of a soap opera and brought surrealism and darkness into that world. It was so mainstream but also so weird and there was something so brilliant in that. But now, the whole landscape of TV has changed to the point where the best entertainment is coming out of Netflix and HBO and now that’s the frontier where people can be really creative because they have massive budgets, no censorship and they have these ten hour-long canvases on which to paint these stories.
I’m really excited to see what it’s like. ‘Fire Walk With Me’ [David Lynch’s ‘Twin Peaks’ spin-off movie] shocked people because it was way darker than the TV series so it will be interesting to see if the new series is more like that or a return to the tone of the TV show. But the cast is nuts! And apparently he shot the whole thing as one giant film and edited it all retrospectively. I’m just well excited to see what happens and I think it’s better to go into it not expecting any questions to be answered at all and then if there are any, it’ll be a nice surprise.
What can fans expect from Bastille in 2017?
We’ve got a big US tour and lots of festivals next summer which I’m excited about and I’ve got lots of sessions booked in to work with other people. There’s also this side project I’m involved in will be coming out next year. I’m not really supposed to talk about it at the moment but I’ll be banging on about it soon enough. We’re going to eastern Europe which will be fun. Since we released the record, we’ve only really been to the UK, Europe and the US so I’m excited about travelling a bit more again.
Jenn Five/NME
A new album?
I don’t want to say definitely in case it takes longer but we’re working on new material. I want the next record to be quite a radical departure from where we are now.
We’re just exploring things at the moment. I’m writing a whole lot of songs and figuring out the way to go. There are so many different points to ‘Wild World’ and it sounds quite different to what people would expect from us. There’s a part of me that wants to let all the different moments of ‘Wild World’ to have their moment and be released properly. But then I also can’t help but think about the next record. I’m trying to challenge myself to write differently to I have before so we’ll see what will come out of it.
See the video for Bastille’s new single ‘Blame’. |
Quote EricMusco Quote: Originally Posted by Hey folks,
Here is another update on the exploit, and the action we have taken. We are continuing to investigate accounts and action is on-going. Here are the actions we have taken against accounts: Suspension time, up to and including a permanent ban (more than 500 accounts have been permanently banned so far)
Removal of all Credits
Removal of all Currencies
Removal of all items which could be gotten from the exploit, including recurring Event Currencies and Companion gifts
Resetting of all Companion Influence to 0
Resetting progress of all Alliance Commanders to 0 The nature of this exploit is that players could use it to gain a wide array of things. This includes anything from credits, to event currency, to Companion affection via Rank 6 gifts. We are working to ensure that the action we take against player is fair, but makes it clear that use of exploits will not be tolerated.
We have seen quite a few comments and questions about accounts which have participated in laundering ill-gotten items and credits around. I will have an update on this later today. Thanks everyone.
-eric
EDIT- since my last one was so short minded...
Ill admit, im happy you're administering bans and punishments, but I think its best to just perma ban the people who did it in mass quantity, while resetting any possible progress from this is good, it feels like its just a slap on the wrist. People do game breaking things knowingly to shift the balance in there favor, and while resetting all possible progress is good, I think it should be perma ban worthy. While I am happy that they are getting severe punishments... maybe im just a sadist that wants them to suffer more. What about top 10 guild rewards withdrawn from the guilds with exploiters?EDIT- since my last one was so short minded...Ill admit, im happy you're administering bans and punishments, but I think its best to just perma ban the people who did it in mass quantity, while resetting any possible progress from this is good, it feels like its just a slap on the wrist. People do game breaking things knowingly to shift the balance in there favor, and while resetting all possible progress is good, I think it should be perma ban worthy. While I am happy that they are getting severe punishments... maybe im just a sadist that wants them to suffer more. |
BAD HERSFELD, GERMANY (AFP) - Thieves in Germany have made off with a truckload of Nutella, stealing five tonnes of the hazelnut chocolate spread from a parked semi-trailer, police said on Monday.
The theft of seven palettes of Nutella jars, worth a total of about 16,000 euros (S$25,850), took place at the weekend in the city of Niederaula in the central state of Hesse, said police.
Thieves in the region have previously stolen other large quantities of food products, including five tonnes of coffee worth 30,000 euros taken in March and 34,000 cans of an energy drink in August.
The site of the thefts, northeast of Frankfurt, is near a road transport hub where truck drivers living in the region tend to park their lorries at weekends, said a police spokesman. |
Had a fun time conversation on MLB Now with Brian Kenny. I guess my pal Bill James was there too though he didn’t get in on the conversation until the very end … it was Brian and me. I like arguing with him. He’s smart and passionate, and we have some good bouts.
This time, he hit me with something a bit surprising. He made the argument that the steroid guys — by hitting SO many home runs — have hurt the Hall of Fame chances of Fred McGriff because now his 493 home runs don’t look nearly as impressive.
I guess I’ve heard this argument before, but I probably didn’t pay much attention to it because I felt a little caught off-guard. He wanted me to respond, and I had to think of something to say. Something about what he was saying struck me wrong. Is McGriff getting overlooked because we are no longer impressed by 493 career home runs? I suppose it’s possible, but at that moment, I felt the exact opposite was much more likely.
So, off the cuff, I said the exact opposite. I said that, rather than hurt guys like McGriff (and Jim Rice and Andre Dawson), the PED-infused home run numbers have HELPED those guys. Why? Because the voting constituency is desperately eager to find steroid-clean candidates they can feel good about. Jim Rice was a power hitter with 382 career home runs, and in 1999, he was getting less than 30 percent of the vote. Then, as the steroid story unfolded, Rice’s numbers rapidly rose until he was elected. Jim Rice was a hero that voters could believe in.
Fred McGriff, I said, is a favorite candidate of quite a few voters precisely BECAUSE he is presumed clean. Brian powerfully disagreed with me — even using the line I once used on Mad Dog Russo, “I disagree with everything you just said” — and I listened for a bit after my segment was up and heard Jon Heyman also disagree. Jon is a big McGriff guy. I get that. McGriff was a terrific player. And I certainly could be wrong.
But I will say after pondering: I think I’m right.
Fred McGriff has 52.4 career WAR according to Baseball Reference, which places him ninth among first basemen not in the Hall of Fame. Now, this list does include Mark McGwire, who admitted using PEDs, Rafael Palmeiro, who tested positive, and Jeff Bagwell, who has had to shake the unsubstantiated whispers. So let’s not talk about them for a moment.
The list also includes Keith Hernandez, Will Clark, and John Olerud. All three of them have at least four more wins in their careers. I think you could make a non-sabermetric argument that all three were at least as good and arguably better players than McGriff. And yet none of them have done nearly as well in the Hall of Fame voting. Keith Hernandez stayed on the ballot for nine years but never broke 11 percent. Will Clark fell off the ballot after one year. John Olerud got four votes.
But there’s more. By WAR, Norm Cash had essentially the same career value as McGriff. He played in a dreadful hitting era, which dampened his numbers, but he was a fine player who had one legendary season and a few more very good ones. He got six votes his one year on the ballot.
What about Carlos Delgado? He hit about as many homers as McGriff (493 to 473) with a 40 more doubles, a higher on-base and slugging percentage and OPS+. He fell off the ballot after one year.
McGriff has been treated better than all that. There were a couple of years — when the ballot was overstuffed with candidates — that he fell a bit in the voting. Maybe that’s what Brian and Jon mean. But he has spent most of his time in the 20 to 24% range, which is just where he was this year. That’s not bad for a borderline Hall of Famer. It’s better than Dale Murphy did, better than Vada Pinson, better than Don Mattingly, better than Kenny Boyer, way better than Reggie Smith or Dwight Evans or Lou Whitaker or Bobby Grich or Jim Edmonds or Bobby Bonds or Graig Nettles or a whole bunch of other good baseball players.
Those are also, I might add, higher percentages than Rafael Palmeiro or Mark McGwire or Sammy Sosa or Gary Sheffield received, even though all of them have many more home runs. They are connected to steroids. He is not. That is the point. He’s getting support they did not get.
There is a sense among some that McGriff preceded the steroid era, that he is from a time gone by. His career began before, yes, but he played all the way through the era. He hit more than half of his career home runs from 1994 to 2004. I make this point not to connect him to the time but to point out what people seem unwilling to accept: The steroid era was CONDUCIVE TO HOME RUNS, even beyond the PEDs. The balls were jumpier, the bats were harder, the strike zone was smaller, the ballparks had shorter fences and some new ones were at altitude, the hitters got to wear armor. The game was wildly tilted toward the hitter then, and McGriff was able to take advantage of that. This isn’t to diminish McGriff’s home run total but to try and put it in context. He spent the bulk of his career in a prolific offensive era, for PED and non-PED users alike.
McGriff was a fantastic player, an absolute borderline Hall of Famer. But he is that: A borderline Hall of Famer. Brian and John want 493 homers to mean something again, and I get that. But I would argue that as a number, it means too much, not because steroid guys hit a bunch of homers but because the game was so angled toward the home run hitter.
Look: Frank Howard whacked 382 home runs in dead-end ballparks in the worst hitting era of the last 90 or so years. From 1967 to 1971 — the worst time for hitters — Frank Howard hit more homers than anybody, including Henry Aaron.
What does it mean? Baseball Reference has a little conversion chart that’s fun to use. Let’s convert Howard’s career numbers to, say, the run context in 1999 in Tampa Bay — when a 35-year old McGriff hit .310 with 32 home runs. Do you know how it comes out?
Suddenly Howard’s career slash line is: .318/.403/..579 with 477 career home runs. What do you know? That would have made him one of the greatest players in baseball history.
Frank Howard got six votes his one year on the ballot.
I don’t think Fred McGriff is getting overlooked at all. |
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President Obama did not invent the war from above, using drones and warplanes against a guerrilla force, but he has a clear preference for airborne counterinsurgency. He has loosed drones or airstrikes in some seven countries, regardless of whether the United States was on a war footing with them, and his use of drones dwarfs that of George W. Bush. Obama deployed the US Air Force extensively against the Taliban in Afghanistan, even while trying to build up the Afghanistan National Army. After the fall of Mosul in the summer of 2014, he went back into Iraq with drones, fighter jets, and a plan to rebuild the Iraqi Army. Other great powers have clearly been watching and learning, and Vladimir Putin’s Syria intervention is arguably a Russian adaptation of the Obama Doctrine of counterinsurgency. Ad Policy
Putin’s Syria campaign has exactly the same shape as Obama’s preferred methods. The Russians have expanded a military airbase near Latakia to allow provision of Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian Arab Army with more tanks and heavy artillery, brought in by huge military transport planes. Russian trainers and advisers are attempting to up the game of the SAA, now shrunk by defections and fatigue to only 90,000 troops from its former strength of some 300,000. The Russian air force is hitting arms depots and armed convoys of Syrian insurgents. It is giving close air support to the troops of the SAA and its Hezbollah allies in the region just north of the provincial Sunni city of Hama and in Idlib Province.
Idlib has fallen completely into the hands of the Army of Conquest and its allies. This coalition groups Al Qaeda (the Support Front, or Jabhat al-Nusra) with the Freemen of Syria (Ahrar al-Sham) and other small, fundamentalist Salafi guerrilla bands. The fall of Idlib threatens the port of Latakia just to its west, an Alawite Shiite population center, which is a major power base for Assad’s Baath regime. Latakia in the northwest is essential for supplying the southern capital, Damascus. If the guerrillas in Idlib take Latakia, an Al Qaeda–led group would for the first time fully control a major Mediterranean port, with dire implications for Europe.
The Support Front reports directly to Ayman al-Zawahiri, a mastermind of the September 11 attacks on the United States. If it takes Latakia, it would then be in a position to cut Damascus off before sweeping into the capital and killing the Assad regime. Further, it would certainly ethnically cleanse the some 2 million Alawites of the area, provoking another wave of refugees headed toward Europe. Washington’s complaints about the Russians focusing on this threat rather than on Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) in the country’s east therefore misses the whole point.
Although it is true that there are small remnants of the Free Syrian Army, as well, north of Hama and in Idlib, they are either local and relatively unimportant or have been drawn into tactical alliances with Al Qaeda. The refusal of the Freemen of Syria and other groups to break with Zawahiri’s Al Qaeda as they broke with Daesh has denied them effective Western support and hurt their cause. Putin’s military is relentlessly targeting all the insurgents who threaten regime control over key cities such as Latakia and Hama, which lie along the trunk road that is the capital’s lifeline, and on either side of which most Syrians live. In the end, though, Russia’s hope of restoring the authority of the Assad regime, which is guilty of mass torture and mass murder, seems forlorn.
The Obama Doctrine of counterinsurgency is the exact opposite of the theory put forward by Gen. David Petraeus, which helps explain the latter’s current impatience with administration policy. Petraeus argued that an insurgency is primarily a political phenomenon, which works by coercing and terrorizing the local population. For that reason, it is not enough for a military to simply kill insurgents or to take territory away from them. Locals will remain afraid of the insurgents lurking just over in the next valley. When the army deploys its men elsewhere, the guerrillas will simply come back.
Rather, Petraeus argued that the army must take the territory, clear it thoroughly of insurgents, hold it for a good long while, and during that time build (or bring in from the capital) local governing and policing capacity. The latter task might involve convincing insurgents to switch sides, giving them a salary and creating a pro-government militia out of them, as the US military did with Sunni insurgents in Iraq, turning them against Al Qaeda there.
Although Petraeus and his circle are convinced that this approach worked in Baghdad in 2007 to tamp down the Sunni-Shiite civil war and allow a soft landing for the US occupation of Iraq, they are misinterpreting what happened. Petraeus’s American forces took Sunni neighborhoods, cleared them of Al Qaeda, and disarmed the young men. Once the Sunnis were disarmed, Shiite militiamen went into their neighborhoods and alleyways at night and ethnically cleansed them, killing former guerrillas as an object lesson to their families and threatening the latter with a similar fate if they did not decamp. Baghdad went from being perhaps 45 percent Sunni to 15 percent. As a result, the civil war and killing petered out, but it wasn’t because of successful counterinsurgency. THE NATION IS READER FUNDED. YOUR SUPPORT IS VITAL TO OUR WORK. DONATE NOW!
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s ethnic cleansing of the Sunnis of Baghdad created waves of refugees and enormous resentment. Admittedly, the prime minister stabbed Petraeus in the back by refusing to hire on most of the some 100,000 Sunni “Sons of Iraq” who had joined the American side. Without arms or a government position, many of them were assassinated by their Al Qaeda foes. Maliki actually prosecuted some of them for guerrilla activities undertaken prior to their turnabout. Al Qaeda revived and morphed into Daesh.
While Obama was inveigled into letting Petraeus have his head in Afghanistan, the president appears to have been unimpressed with the results of the general’s grand experiment. The counterinsurgency campaign was taken over by Gen. Stanley McChrystal, former head of Joint Special Operations Command in Iraq. The attempt to take, clear, hold, and build had some local successes. The Taliban, however, were so little defeated that they have influence in entire provinces and recently took, at least for a time, the major northern provincial capital of Kunduz. Both McChrystal and Petraeus lost their positions, the former because of unwise remarks about administration officials in a Rolling Stone interview, the latter because he shared classified information with his biographer and lover while head of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Obama prefers aerial interventions to the infantry-intensive Petraeus approach. His deployment of drones has, however, raised a host of thorny legal issues, including the legitimacy of executing US citizens (and others) abroad with no due process.
Despite his initial reluctance to get involved, Obama deployed his air-war techniques extensively in Libya. The US Air Force used precision targeting to take out dictator Muammar Gadhafi’s anti-aircraft batteries, allowing NATO and its Arab League allies freedom of the Libyan skies. Most of the aerial interventions hit arms depots or tank and SCUD convoys out in the desert. Obama and his allies essentially leveled the playing field for Libyan insurgents fighting with light arms against tank brigades. Despite a black legend to the contrary, civilian deaths from the bombings were light, since NATO avoided operating near cities, with the exception of strikes on Gadhafi’s Tripoli headquarters. Human Rights Watch identified a few dozen cases of civilian deaths.
One difficulty with the Obama Doctrine can clearly be seen in Libya, which is that mere air support to one side in a revolution or civil war does nothing to build institutions in the aftermath. The very militias supported by NATO from the air declined to disarm after the war and then went to war with one another, leaving roughly 3,000 dead last year and the country in disarray.
Obama began proposing greater use of drones even while running for president in 2007-08, and once in office they were his favorite tool of counterinsurgency. He deployed them in the tribal belt of northwest Pakistan, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), against the remnants of Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda, who fled there from Afghanistan. The Pakistani government has a fragile purchase on governance in these rugged tribal areas, and locals were often willing to rent out rooms or houses to those they saw as holy warriors. Memories of the half-century of harsh British rule in what is now northwestern Pakistan had left the population congenitally anti-imperialist, and they stridently opposed the US military occupation of their cousins across the border in Afghanistan.
Ironically, from June 2014 the Pakistani government itself finally took on the Pakistani Taliban and the Haqqani group of insurgents in FATA from the air, launching a major and extended bombing campaign, Zarb-i Azb (“Cutting Strike”). The Obama Doctrine had spread to Islamabad.
Obama also used drones and airstrikes against Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, based in south Yemen. This campaign was authorized behind the scenes by then-president Ali Abdullah Saleh and his successor, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. In 2012 the Yemeni army, with US air support, forced AQAP into a strategic retreat from Abyan Province, where it had taken substantial territory. AQAP is the most active of the Al Qaeda affiliates in carrying out terrorist strikes in the West, including the 2009 underwear bomber attempt on an airliner over Detroit and possibly the Charlie Hebdo murders in Paris in January 2015.
When Houthi rebels from the Shiite Zaidi sect took over much of Yemen begininng in September of 2014, Saudi Arabia became alarmed that they were cat’s paws of Iran (they aren’t). The Gulf Cooperation Council of oil monarchies, along with allies Morocco and Jordan, began an intensive bombing campaign targeting Houthi-held cities this past spring, which still continues. The civil war in Yemen has allowed a resurgence of Al Qaeda in the south of the country, about which Riyadh and its allies seem far less concerned than they are about the Shiite Houthis. Although small contingents of troops from the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have landed at the southern port of Aden, the major campaign has been aerial, leaving Yemen’s urban areas and infrastructure a shambles and killing thousands. The Saudi-led air war conforms to the Obama Doctrine, as well, and is being given US logistical support.
When Mosul, Iraq, fell to Daesh in the summer of 2014, Obama responded by returning a small contingent of US trainers to Iraq and reestablishing a military command in Baghdad. Aside from the charge of rebuilding the collapsed Iraqi army, however, its main mission appears to be to launch drone and jet attacks on Daesh convoys and other targets, and to provide aerial bombing support to Iraqi land operations. American air power was consequential in saving the Shiite Turkmen city of Amerli from Daesh in 2014, and in allowing a motley crew of an Iraqi army brigade, 15,000 Shiite militiamen, and some Iranian special forces to take the Sunni city of Tikrit in April. This operation defied the Petraeus doctrine, since local Sunnis were not recruited to take the lead, and the resulting victory looks like a hard-line Shiite occupation of a Sunni city (many of whose inhabitants have fled the resulting rubble).
The air campaign against Daesh spread to Syria, where its one success was in keeping the minions of the caliph-beheader from taking the Syrian-Kurdish population center of Kobane. Yet when Obama reached out to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, asking that Ankara join in the bombardment of Daesh this summer, Erdogan took advantage of the invitation to instead concentrate his airstrikes on Kurdish guerrillas of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party). The Obama Doctrine of counterinsurgency was adopted by Ankara when Erdogan decided to end the peace process with the PKK Kurds and instead to seek ethnic polarization of Turkey in the hope that it would help his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the snap November 1 elections, called after a pro-Kurdish party did well enough to block the AKP from gaining an absolute majority in the June 7 polls.
The spread of the Obama Doctrine of counterinsurgency to the air forces of Russia, Pakistan, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia signals a new and dangerous phase of contemporary warfare. What might otherwise remain local conflicts and insurgencies are now attracting large-scale interventions from the air by regional powers. The temptation is great in part because the cost of aerial bombardment is relatively low, and does not provoke the same reaction in the public of the metropole as do troop deaths. (Moscow’s elites remember well the protests by mothers of slain veterans in the Afghanistan war of the 1980s.)
Nor are these twenty-first-century drone and air wars notably successful in defeating insurgencies or bringing order. Indeed, it may be that the dependence on anti-insurgent guerrillas by the great air powers is itself destabilizing, since the latter often decline to disarm after the main conflict is over. Or, as with Turkey, the value of a peace process with an insurgent group may be diminished in the eyes of ruling groups, since it is easy enough to simply take them on from the air. Bombed-out infrastructure is difficult and costly to rebuild, and countries like Iraq still have electricity shortages. Yemen may not recover for decades from the looming water, electricity, and food shortages created by the Saudi-led bombing. Obama has argued that drone and air wars are better than Bush-style infantry and armor interventions. This assertion is no doubt true, but poses a false dilemma, since some situations call for neither. Air war and drones as counterinsurgency clearly pose dangers of their own, with substantial populations in our world now living in permanent fear of the sky. |
LOS BAÑOS, Laguna — At least one suspected rebel was killed in a continuing firefight between members of the New People’s Army (NPA) and the Philippine Air Force in Batangas province on Sunday.
Col. Arnulfo Burgos, commander of the 202nd Infantry Brigade, said the firefight started around 8:50 a.m. after members of the 730th Combat Group of the Philippine Air Force chanced upon a supposed rebel encampment on Mt. Banoy in Barangay (village) Talumpok Silangan in Batangas City.
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The firefight continues as government forces pursue the rebels, Burgos said in a phone interview around 4 p.m.
Burgos said one male rebel was killed while undetermined number of NPA soldiers were wounded. He said they also recovered an M16 rifle.
“We have a body count (but) the body has yet to be extracted,” Burgos said of the fatality. No one is hurt on the government side.
Burgos said the Philippine Air Force and members of the Batangas police have been conducting a joint “security operation” in the area for the last three days after locals told them about the rebels’ presence.
The Philippine Coast Guard is monitoring sea ports while Batangas police chiefs were ordered to monitor hospitals for possibility of finding wounded rebels there, he said. /je
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Banjo-Kazooie said: Looking at the June numbers, PS4 sold around 100k MORE than PS3, Xb1 sold almost 200K LESS than 360.
MS really struggling to get 360 owners to convert over. Click to expand...
You are seeing the same thing in NPD every month also. PS4 outsells PS3 versions, but 360 outsells XBONE versions.At this second it shouldn't be "too" concerning for MS.. They are getting the licensing royalties/revenue either way. The concerning part becomes "will they be able to retain those latent adopters or will those customers simply go to the current gen market leader when they move?"I know a lot of fanboys believe in ecosystem.. but the reality is these growing margins in the UK and US can't solely be coming from faster playstation ecosystem uprgades vs. latent xbox ecosystem gamers. there is actual conversion happening here and THAT'S the part that has to be troubling to MS, compared to say actual XBONE revenue which for now is probably fine. |
Sean Payton has noticed that social media is becoming a distraction, and the recent incident with Antonio Brown in Pittsburgh has made everyone realize how easily that distraction can become a problem.
During an appearance on the Tiki and Tierney show on CBS Radio, Payton noted that he can’t conduct a meeting for more than 40 minutes without his players itching to grab their phones. And while he’s adjusted his approach to better reach his players and keep their attention, he doesn’t want them on social media before games.
Payton on finding next QB: Might not happen same year Brees is replaced There’s going to come a day when the Saints decide it’s time to move on from Drew Brees.
So, Payton's taking measures to limit those distractions by having a device installed in the locker room to keep players off social media before games. The coach called the device a "scrambler," but the exact nature of how the device will operate is not known.
“It’s just a simpler scrambler that just avoids the social media aspect. That will be in our locker room," Payton said, before being interrupted while giving a date for installation. "It’s not a violation of your freedom of nothing. But it’s the ability to two hours prior to kickoff, because I want them listening to music, but you can simply hit this little button.”
He was then asked if the scrambler will be a Saints thing or an NFL thing.
“It’s going to be a Sean Payton thing,” he said.
Payton was then asked what he would have done if one of his players had broadcast a post-game speech on social media, as Brown did after a recent playoff game.
“It’s a lot easier to handle if it’s a third-string tight end,” Payton said. “It’s much more difficult to handle when it’s one of your top players. But that being said, I would have been pissed. Look, corporate America is dealing with the same issue. In the work world, employees at their desk, how much time are they spending on social media. Close to 35, 40 percent of the time.” |
In a 2009 radio address making the case for his not yet passed health care overhaul, President Obama called out the pharmaceutical industry: "If the drugmakers pay their fair share," he said, "we can cut government spending on prescription drugs."
A fact sheet published alongside the speech proposed cutting drug payments for senior citizens who are “dual eligible” — qualifying for both Medicare and Medicaid. But the president wasn’t actually intent on changing dual eligible drug pricing, and the pharmaceutical industry knew it.
As The Washington Examiner’s Timothy Carney reported earlier this week, Bryant Hall, a senior drug industry lobbyist, had the text of the speech before it aired, and sent an email to fellow drug industry representatives telling them not to worry: "The reference to Duals does NOT mean that they want to do the duals policy .... Again -- this was a face save, not a real option."
During the debate over the health care law, the drug industry was never a real target. The White House just wanted to exploit the political benefits of making drug makers seem like a target. The administration also wanted the benefits of the drug industry's considerable promotional resources.
In fact, new emails made public by the House Energy & Commerce Committee show that the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) were actively involved in promoting the law — and that the White House specifically requested advertising support from the drug industry and its affiliates that would allow the administration to avoid being directly connected to ads for the law.
For example, a June 2009 email from PhRMA consultant Steve McMahon to Hall reported on discussions with White House Officials about how the drug industry could be a part of selling the health care law: “The WH-designated folks really like [a series of proposed ads featuring] testimonials and want them on the air...They understand that we a lot of resources [sic]...They definitely want us in the game and on the same side.” After more discussion, PhRMA seemed ready to come on board. In July 2009, Hall sent an email to a colleague reporting on yet another meeting with White House representatives. “Went great,” he wrote. “We are ready to goo. [sic] 100 percent. Rahm [Emanuel, then the White House chief of staff] asked for Harry and Louise ads thru third party. We’ve already contacted the agent.”
The “third party” in question turned out to be Healthy Economy Now, a 501(c)4 non-profit advocacy group that PhRMA funded to the tune of $10.2 million in 2009. Healthy Economy Now’s ad, a pro-ObamaCare riff on the Harry and Louise ads that famously helped derail the Clinton health care overhaul in the 1990s, ran a week later: |
114 Precinct Robbery Suspect View Full Caption NYPD
DITMARS — Police are looking for two suspects who robbed a pair of teenagers at a McDonald's in Astoria earlier this week, threatening to beat one of them with a brick when he asked for his stolen property back.
The two victims, both 17-year-old boys, were at the restaurant at 22-50 31st St. just before 4 p.m. Monday when they were approached by the 16-year-old suspects, who told one of them to empty his pockets, according to the NYPD.
Police said the victim handed over his cash and the suspects left, only to return again to demand the second victim also empty his pockets. He turned over money and an iPhone.
The suspects then left the eatery again. When one of the victims followed them and asked for his stuff back, they threatened to beat him with a brick, police said.
Neither victim was injured during the incident, according to police.
One of the suspects is about 5-foot-6 and 145 pounds and was seen wearing a mask. The other is 5-foot-5 and 135 pounds, police said.
Anyone with information asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS. The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers Website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or texting their tips to 274637(CRIMES) then entering TIP577. |
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MADISON, Wis. -- When Mobileye unveiled a fifth-generation SoC called EyeQ5 about a month ago, the company pitched it as the “central computer performing sensor fusion for self-driving cars in 2020.”
Obviously, the Israeli company wanted to make sure Tier Ones and car OEMs know about what Mobileye has in a few years from now. Perceiving the rush for driverless cars by automakers, Mobileye didn’t want the auto industry to make a hasty decision.
The timing of the Mobileye’s EyeQ5 announcement, however, raised a few analysts’ eyebrows.
In their view, Mobileye’s premature announcement of EyeQ5, was a pre-emptive strike on rival autonomous car platforms.
We caught up with Mobileye recently to find out in detail what’s inside EyeQ5, and what has driven Mobileye to devise an SoC with processing power of 12 Tera operations per second, while maintaining power consumption below 5W.
The EyeQ5’s claimed performance is nothing but impressive. The promised chip makes almost everything currently available on the ADAS market pale in comparison.
The hitch, though, is that the Mobileye SoC isn’t really sampling until 2018. Moreover, the company’s current SoC, EyeQ4, only began sampling in the first quarter of this year. EyeQ4 isn’t slated for volume production until 2018.
Rush for ‘driverless’ autonomous cars
So, why is Mobileye in such a hurry?
A Mobileye spokesman said the move reflects automakers’ growing impatience and an accelerated timetable for driverless autonomous vehicles.
12 to 18 months ago, automakers were more inclined to develop an autonomous car that allows a driver to take his mind off driving on the highway, according to Mobileye. That would be a Level 3 autonomous car – according to the SAE standard -- defined as “within known, limited environments (such as freeways), the driver can safely turn their attention away from driving tasks.”
Now, automakers want autonomous cars that can operate without a driver – much sooner than later, according to Mobileye.
The concept of “shared” autonomous vehicles pursued by ride-share companies like Uber has triggered the change. Rather than sitting on the sideline and viewing the ride-share business model as a threat, automakers now want a piece of the action. They see ride-sharing as a “testbed” for upcoming autonomous cars. If the technology works, consumers might be more willing to buy into autonomous cars in the future.
In keeping up with its customers’ more aggressive timetable, Mobileye has also “slightly pulled forward” — to 2020 — its plan for EyeQ5.
But how does Mobileye picture the architecture of a car in 2020, compared to what we have today?
Next page: Vision processors -- Mobileye's bailiwick |
A non-profit think tank devoted to citizen engagement says it’s time to consider some changes in the House of Commons to that help stamp out the great Parliamentary scourge known as heckling.
In an interview with The West Block‘s Vassy Kapelos, Samara Canada‘s research director, Michael Morden, suggested that longer time allocations for questions and answers, less reliance on written notes and even a loosening of the rules surrounding where TV cameras can point during Question Period could help reduce the hooting and hollering.
“There’s a lot of openness to trying some new things, which is great,” Morden said.
Samara recently released its latest survey on heckling in the House, which revealed that even our elected representatives are getting sick of the excessive outbursts that have become the norm.
“There’s a central paradox there,” noted Morden. “MPs don’t seem to like heckling that much, but overwhelmingly they do it.”
WATCH: Carolyn Bennett is heckled in Question Period
The non-compulsory survey (filled out by about a quarter of sitting MPs) found a majority of members — 53 per cent — think heckling is a problem, but 65 per cent confessed to participating. Men were more likely to be confirmed offenders than their female counterparts.
“Overwhelmingly MPs says they heckle to hold one another accountable … but only about 15 per cent actually think heckling increases accountability in the House,” Morden said, adding that the behaviour can actually have a negative effect on Canadian democracy as a whole.
“There’s good research evidence to suggest, for example, that just watching politicians behaved rudely to one another drives down our trust in not just those politicians, but in government and our institutions.”
This past week has provided several prime examples. On Thursday, Finance Minister Bill Morneau could barely be heard above the din from the Opposition benches as he dodged questions about his personal finances.
WATCH: University of Alberta student makes impassioned speech about Islamophobia in House of Commons
And on Monday, Green leader Elizabeth May found herself the subject of loud guffaws after Transport Minister Marc Garner answered her question in the House and referenced “spending all night with my honourable colleague.”
May called the reaction “schoolyard bullying,” pointing out that Garneau was talking about an all-night voting session they had both attended.
On Wednesday outside the House of Commons, Conservative MP Gérard Deltell openly admitted to heckling, but he said it’s usually out of frustration when the government refuses to give straightforward answers.
“The only way to be upset and to prove that we are upset is to heckle,” Deltell told reporters.
“That’s not the best way, I do recognize that. And I think that we do too much. Maybe I’m not the loudest, but I do play in that movie, so I don’t want to hide what I’m doing.”
But MPs can hide, thanks to a rule that only allows TV cameras to point at the person addressing the House at that moment. Cutting away to a red-faced Conservative, Liberal or NDP backbencher screaming “shame!” is a no-no.
Morden said that with nearly 200 rookie MPs in Parliament, now might be the perfect time to change the rules.
“We’ve been doing it a certain way for 40 years,” he said. “We think if we capture more of that behaviour on camera, it might be a really strong disincentive.”
— Watch the full interview with Samara Canada research director Michael Morden above. |
The Vilas County Sheriff's Department said they responded to a vehicle fire in Flambeau Tuesday morning after someone attempted to warm up their car by lighting a charcoal fire beneath it.
Vilas County Sheriff Joe Fath say said no one was injured and no citations were issued.
Lac du Flambeau police Chief Robert Brandenburg tells The Associated Press temperatures were about minus 23 degrees and the woman's 2007 Dodge Caravan wasn't starting. So first she took out the battery, warmed it up inside and reinstalled it.
Then she shoved a mound of hot coals under the van hoping to warm up the engine chamber. He says the undercarriage of the front bumper caught fire, causing about $1,000 of damage.
Brandenburg says he's used the charcoal trick successfully, but he doesn't advise that others try it. |
By Chris Mason
BBC News, Brussels
Vultures are often described as "nature's cleaners"
Farmers are to be allowed to leave dead livestock in their fields in parts of Europe - to help starving vultures.
MEPs voted for a change in the law after the hungry birds, most often found in Spain, had been spotted as far away as Brussels, scavenging for food.
The move allows farmers to leave dead livestock in their fields - providing it is deemed safe and hygienic.
Vultures are capable of stripping a dead cow or sheep carcass in a matter of hours.
Environmentalists describe the birds as "nature's cleaners".
But many vultures have been starving to death since European rules aimed at tackling mad cow disease forced all dead livestock to be cleared away.
This forced the birds to embark on some rather long-haul trips - one was even spotted recently perched on top of a bus shelter in Brussels. |
Posted on
In the News (from The New York Times):“Data Show College Endowments Loss Is Worst Drop Since ’70s” Battered by the markets… the drop found by the reports is the biggest in the value of college and university endowments since the mid-1970s.
In the News (from The New York Times): “Brandeis Says It Plans to Sell Art Collection to Raise Cash” The trustees of Brandeis University voted unanimously on Monday to close the Rose Art Museum and sell its collection to help shore up the university’s finances.
My Comment: The crisis will free the universities of excessive expenses and programs, and of unneeded specializations and specialists, leaving only what is necessary. And the same will happen in the day-to-day lives of all people.
In the News (from France24): “Number of Internet users tops one billion” The global number of Internet users has surpassed one billion. The digital research firm comScore Inc. reported that China had nearly 180 million people going online in December, followed by the United States with 163 million, Japan with 60 million, Germany and Britain with nearly 37 million each and France with 34 million. India was next with 32 million Internet users followed by Russia (29 million), Brazil (28 million), South Korea (27 million), Canada (22 million) and Italy (21 million).
My Comment: Based on this, we have to create a system of global education. This is what the web was created for!
Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: We Are Standing at the Threshold of an Extraordinary Discovery
Laitman.com Post: The Need for One Global Educational Program
Filed under: Crisis | Add Comment → |
IOWA – During a talk on income inequality in the US, Former Secretary of State and current presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was seen twitching her eye, stuttering over her words, and leaking mechanical fluids onto the stage. Shortly after, Clinton shouted “404 FILE: WINKING GESTURE NOT FOUND” repeatedly until her campaign manager, Ted Marbleson, rushed on stage, apparently shutting her down and wheeling her off.
“I can’t believe she malfunctioned like that,” said a sweaty Marbleson. “We installed the new winking gesture last night precisely for this talk, for some human-like charm to convince viewers that she’s a genuine person. But I guess this one was a bit too human for her.”
The chief-engineer, Edward Flowbitz, examined the Clintonbot immediately after the incident, and is confident he pinpointed the issue.
“Well, you see, the problem is that there wasn’t enough space on her hard drive to install this gesture,” said Flowbitz. “When I installed the gesture, I must’ve deleted the canned response files to questions about Benghazi. Plus, check this out,” he said, pointing to a glowing computer chip. “Her obviously fake laugh sensor is hot, watch what happens when I click it.”
Not everyone on the campaign trail is surprised by Clintonbot’s malfunction. Her husband and former President of the United States, Bill Clinton, unsurprisingly, had something to say.
“This isn’t the first time I’ve seen this ‘ol gal leak,” said the former President, while chuckling and leaning in for a high five.
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Jay Z lied.
Thirty is not the new 20. In the words of sould singer Lyfe Jennings, 'It's the same old 30,' and 40 certainly isn't the new 30. Friday night, 36 year-old Baron Davis made his return to professional basketball as a member of the Delaware 87ers. His first run of action shows you everything you need to know about his return. He no longer possesses the "it' factor athleticism and power that made him "BD" and a two-time all-star during a 10-plus year stint in the NBA, but he posses enough savvy and showmanship to keep watching.
MORE: The best NBA player at every age | Bynum is never coming back
His first points came on a breakaway dunk opportunity, created when he leaked out after a teammate picked up a steal. It was heads up play for Davis to run the floor and get ahea dof the opposition, but the half-hearted, grandfatherly layup-line worthy two-handed flush is indiciative that he's not focused on wowing fans with his athleticism.
Later in the first half, B-Diddy showed he can still launch it from deep.
He's still got 20/20 court vision too.
Baron Davis showing off his alley-oop skills with the lob to Sam Thompson. pic.twitter.com/yGeKptz0mq — D-League Digest (@DLeagueDigest) March 5, 2016
Hey, who knows if he'll ever step foot on an NBA court again, but he's worth paying attention to. |
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Robin van Persie might not be back to aid United’s top four battle until after the international break.
The Dutch striker has been absent with an ankle injury since hobbling off at the Liberty Stadium in the 2-1 defeat to Swansea and has missed three matches since.
The 2013 Golden Boot winner is set to miss the next game against Tottenham and then the trip to Liverpool.
The clubs then break for internationals before the Reds return for Premier League action at Old Trafford against Aston Villa on Easter Saturday.
Van Persie is doing some form of training but has not yet joined the first team squad.
“He is still with the medical department. You have to make a step to get to our department,” explained Van Gaal.
“He is always training but is training inside, not outside on the pitch. That is when he makes the step from the technical department. Then he has to train with us.”
But with Van Persie KO’d, Falcao struggling for form and rookie James Wilson not appearing since a substitute showing against Burnley last month at Old Trafford the striker stage is set to be Wayne Rooney’s.
The United and England captain has scored three goals in the last three matches since he was restored to the front man role against Preston in the FA Cup last month.
But Van Gaal hasn’t completely changed his mind set on Rooney’s role.
“At that time (when Rooney was in midfield), I have said, I had a lot of players and I wanted to use the best ones I had,” added Louis.
“I saw the training sessions. I looked at the composition of my team and the game plan of my opponent and the game plan we have for what players I use in what position.
“At that time, it was what I decided. Not only me but my staff.
“Now, in this moment, I think it is better to play Rooney up front.
“But it can be another line-up in the next game. It depends on what I see, what the game plan of my opponent and then also from the suspensions I have or the injured players, the composition of the team.
“I have said that Rooney is a striker who can also play in midfield. He has shown that. He has also played - once - as a defensive or holding midfielder.”
United will be without Jonny Evans again against Spurs as he is serving his six-match ban for the spitting incident at Newcastle and Angel di Maria is banned after his sending off against Arsenal for two yellow cards.
Argentine defender Marcos Rojo has a “slight problem” but is expected to still play against Tottenham.
Click below to see how United fans rated the players against Arsenal |
Craigslist classified ads may have kneecapped the newspaper business, but they are doing wonders for amateur comedians, finders of false teeth, and fashioners of crucifix-shaped guitars played by men dressed as Funky Jesus.
"I am an atheist seeking friends who are pious and who will be wisked away for the rapture that kirk cameron says is coming may 22nd 2011," said one obviously humorous ad last year. "I get to keep all your stuff because you won't need them as you will be in rapturous bliss basking in the love of the great creator. I, however, will need your stuff since I will be trapped here on earth with all the rest of the unclean, deniers, and cravens."
But most unbelievable posts concern sex. A famous find from 2008 instructed any interested woman to arrive at a certain hotel, walk into a certain room (the door would be open), and lie down naked on the bed with posterior in the air. The woman was to pick up the NES controller lying there and start up Super Mario Bros. The man who posted the ad—hiding in the bathroom until this point—said he would only come out when the game had begun.
"When you reach the end of level one, make sure to trigger the fireworks. This is vital to the entire experience. I must hear the fireworks. When level 2 begins and Mario walks into the pipe, I will penetrate you... I will continue having sex until the level ends. DO NOT take the secret level skip. If you die I will pull out and spank you until the level restarts."
And the trolls aren't just writing the posts; at least one guy makes his living by responding to classified ads in the most obnoxious possible way and posting the results.
So when one sees an ad on the site asking for "any single moms and dads around that would like to see me use your daughters panties" to masturbate with, one hopes that it falls into the same "unbelievable" category as many other posts. But what happens when the thirtysomething man writing the ad is serious?
"im DEF interested"
Baltimore County Police Detective Kevin Smith has served as a cop since 1994, starting on street patrol but taking classes in online investigation and peer-to-peer networking until, in 2008, he was assigned to the department's Crimes Against Children Unit. As part of the job, he struck up conversations with local people whose online postings suggested an unhealthy sexual interest in children.
On September 17, 2010, Smith responded to a Craigslist post titled "Your Daughters Panties - m4w - 30 (Harford County)." He told the person behind the post that he was a "40 wm [white male] stepdad with 11 yo step daughter... we r close and like to play... if interested let me no... we can work something out for her panties."
"I wasn't even really looking for panties, i was looking for someone like you to reply."
The response came quickly. That evening, [email protected] wrote back with the name "Billy Warner" in the header of his e-mail. "Hey man im def interested," he told the detective, "and if you have her trained already im DEF more interested in that then in just the panties."
So—not a joke, a prank, or a shock post. This was the real deal, and Billy Warner was insistent. He sent an e-mail at 6:14pm, then another at 9:55pm, and finally a third just after midnight. "Hey man are you around or what??" he asked. "I want to get some info about your step:)"
The e-mails continued throughout the weekend. On Sunday evening, Warner wrote twice more, begging for pictures or even just descriptions of the girl. "Is mommy in on it too?" he asked.
The next week, Smith began exchanging e-mails with the man. It took only hours for Warner to send over two pictures of nude children, one of which probably qualified as child pornography.
Conversations moved onto Yahoo Instant Messenger, where Warner made clear that his ad had only been a dangler, that he hoped to find something less legal than a child's underwear. "I wasnt even really looking for panties," he said. "i was looking for someone like you to reply."
People like Detective Smith had been replying—too many, in fact—and Warner freaked. Two days after he first exchanged instant messages with Smith, Warner returned to say that someone else had contacted him online with a very similar persona to Smith's own adopted "40 year old stepfather."
"I deleted my whole hard drive cuz i thought you 2 were the same guy and were coming for me," Warner wrote when he got back in touch. But his groin overpowered his good sense, and he went back to communicating with Smith—even providing his home phone number on October 4. Smith called him; "Billy" answered. For someone with his proclivities, Warner wasn't exercising much caution.
This isn't unusual. As Steve DeBrota, an assistant US attorney in Indianapolis who has brought down major child porn sites through extensive litigation, told me recently, "Being able to find a like-minded individual easily and communicate about sexual fetishes wasn’t very easy to do in 1992, but today is trivially easy. That lowers a barrier to what are people with already low impulse control.”
Now Smith just had to find Billy Warner.
Listing image by Photo illustration by Aurich Lawson |
The proposed merger of Comcast and Time Warner Cable is opposed by 56% of the public, with large percentages believing that it will lead to higher prices for cable and Internet service, according to a poll conducted by Consumer Reports.
The online survey, conducted in April, showed that just 11% support the transaction, and 32% of participants have no opinion of the deal.
The survey also showed that 74% agree that the combination will lead to higher prices for everyone, and the same percentage believe that consumers will have fewer choices became smaller companies will not be able to compete with Comcast.
Comcast has said that the benefits of the merger would be greater investments in technology and increased Internet speeds, and that the transaction would not remove any competitor from the market because its service does not overlap with Time Warner Cable.
Nevertheless, the Consumer Reports survey showed that 81% were concerned that Comcast’s increased market share would able it to favor its own programming over its competitors, and there were doubts that it would allow Comcast to operate more efficiently and lower its costs. It also showed that 61% believed it would lead to other mergers among TV and Internet providers. The survey was conducted in April, before the announcement of AT&T’s plans to merger with DirecTV.
Related Comcast Launches International Drama Service Walter Presents on Xfinity X1 Altice Aims to Carve Out Niche in Cable With Global-Themed i24News
Consumers Union, the advocacy arm of Consumer Reports, has expressed opposition to the merger. The survey sampled 1,573 individuals, with recruitment quotas designed to approximate a nationally representative sample. More results here.
The survey’s release was timed to a hearing on the transaction before the New York State Public Service Commission.
Comcast and Time Warner Cable also have filed an application with California’s Public Utilities Commission, which oversees cable franchises in the state. An administrative law judge has scheduled a pre-hearing conference on July 2 to determine whether there will be hearings on the proposed merger, as well as issues that may need to be studied. |
For other uses of "adamant" and similar terms, see Adamant (disambiguation)
Adamantium is a fictional metal alloy appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. It is best known as the substance bonded to the character Wolverine's skeleton and claws. Adamantium was created by writer Roy Thomas and artists Barry Windsor-Smith and Syd Shores in Marvel Comics' Avengers #66 (July 1969), which presents the substance as part of the character Ultron's outer shell.[1] In the stories where it appears, the defining quality of adamantium is its practical indestructibility.
Etymology [ edit ]
The word is a pseudo-Latin neologism (real Latin: adamans, from original Greek ἀδάμας [=indomitable]; adamantem [Latin accusative]) based on the English noun and adjective adamant (and the derived adjective adamantine) with the neo-Latin suffix "-ium." The adjective has long been used to refer to the property of impregnable, diamondlike hardness, or to describe a very firm/resolute position (e.g. He adamantly refused to leave). The noun adamant describes any impenetrably or unyieldingly hard substance and, formerly, a legendary stone/rock or mineral of impenetrable hardness and with many other properties, often identified with diamond or lodestone.[2] Adamant and the literary form adamantine occur in works such as The Faerie Queene, Paradise Lost, Gulliver's Travels, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Lord of the Rings, and the film Forbidden Planet (as "adamantine steel"), all of which predate the use of adamantium in Marvel's comics.
History and properties [ edit ]
According to the comic books, the components of the alloy are kept in separate batches—typically in blocks of resin—before molding. Adamantium is prepared by melting the blocks together, mixing the components while the resin evaporates. The alloy must then be cast within eight minutes. Marvel Comics' adamantium has an extremely stable molecular structure that prevents it from being further molded even if the temperature is high enough to keep it in its liquefied form. In its solid form, it is described as a dark, shiny gray like high-grade steel or titanium.[3] It is almost impossible to destroy or fracture in this state, and when molded to a sharp edge, it can penetrate most lesser materials with minimal force.[4]
The Marvel Comics character Wolverine discovers an adamantium-laced skull in the character Apocalypse's laboratory and says it seems to have been there for eons.[5]
As a key component [ edit ]
Adamantium appears in various Marvel Comics publications and licensed products, where it is found in:
Ultron's outer shell [1]
Wolverine's skeleton and claws [6]
Sabretooth's skeleton and claws [7]
The damaged bone of Bullseye's vertebrae. [8]
Lady Deathstrike's skeleton and talons [9]
X-23's claws [10]
The Russian's body, following his resurrection by General Kreigkopf[11]
Ultimate Marvel [ edit ]
In the Marvel Comics Ultimate Marvel imprint, adamantium is highly durable and can shield a person's mind from telepathic probing or attacks. It is a component of the claws and skeleton of Ultimate Wolverine and of the Ultimate Lady Deathstrike character. This version of adamantium is not unbreakable. In Ultimates #5, the Hulk breaks a needle made of adamantium. In Ultimate X-Men #11 (December 2001), an adamantium cage is damaged by a bomb. In Ultimate X-Men #12 (January 2002), one of Sabretooth's four adamantium claws is broken.[12]
See also [ edit ] |
During a segment on his Fox Business Network show Making Money, host Charles Payne said that he thinks Obama is making ready for a big push to pay billions in slavery reparations in 2016.
During a panel segment, Payne and his crew were discussing the reparations the city of Chicago is making to the mostly black victims of Police Commander Jon Burge, a now convicted Chicago policeman who in the 1970s and ’80s engaged in a long campaign of beating suspects into confessing to crimes they did not commit.
From that subject, Payne veered off into his prediction of what Obama might try in 2016.
“The news in my mind is a glimpse of really much bigger news that is going to come from the White House, I’m saying next year, I’m leaning towards,” Payne volunteered. “I think that there’s going to be an official apology from the White House for slavery in America and then a major push to get cash, and I’m talking lots of cash.”
“Many including those closest to President Obama will push him to make this happen,” the African American host continued. “I actually think it would be a major mistake. Instead, Obama really should discuss and focus on all the progress we have made and how all Americans need to move forward for better days for all of our kids.”
Obama has in the past claimed that he is not in favor of reparations for slavery. But more recently he did favor giving black farmers $1.25 billion in reparations for alleged racial discrimination suffered under Department of Agriculture loan programs.
This isn’t the first time that it has been posited that Obama will move for slavery reparations in his second term. Some have warned that as part of Obama’s support for the United Nations Declaration for the Rights of Indigenous People, he will support slave reparations as a way to satisfy the treaty.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at [email protected] |
The Congressional Oversight Panel overseeing the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), also known as the bank bailout, issued its year-end audit results (.pdf) today. Overall, the report found that the TARP was effective in stabilizing the financial sector. It also, however, lists quite a few criticisms of the TARP. With Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner asking for the TARP's extension today, considering its failures is particularly timely. I agree with much of the report, though it included few revelations.
First, here's the mission accomplished declaration about stabilizing banking:
Because so many different forces and programs have influenced financial markets over the last year, TARP's effects are impossible to isolate. Even so, there is broad consensus that the TARP was an important part of a broader government strategy that stabilized the U.S. financial system by renewing the flow of credit and averting a more acute crisis. Although the government's response to the crisis was at first haphazard and uncertain, it eventually proved decisive enough to stop the panic and restore market confidence.
I actually don't think the effects of the TARP are particularly difficult to isolate. It's pretty clear that the U.S. government used it to establish an implicit guarantee of large financial institutions. That calmed markets. While the Federal Reserve also had a great many programs, its work was more focused on market logistics and macroeconomics, rather than calming panic.
And to that end, the TARP was indisputably successful. I mean, it would almost have to be by definition. Anytime the government, particularly the U.S. government, will stand behind something no matter the cost, you can assume it's quite safe. After all, if the government can't manage to live up to that promise, then the country will have much bigger problems than just a credit crunch.
So, yes, government guarantees calm people down. No surprise there. But that doesn't mean that the TARP was completely effective. In fact, there are seven ways in which the TARP failed, according to the report. I wanted to go through those briefly, and add one more:
Getting Credit Flowing
No matter how red-in-the-face Congressmen got during hearings, they just couldn't get the bailout banks to lend more. And that's not surprising: the TARP contained no tangible mechanism with which to require them to do so. But that's okay -- it shouldn't have. By forcing banks to lend more in their fragile state, such a strict lending requirement could have endangered the very capital cushion that the TARP sought to create. So I think this was more of a misguided goal of the legislation. In fact, this end was better accomplished by the Federal Reserve through its programs like the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility.
Regional Bank Failures
While the TARP did a great job in healing the big banks very quickly, the same can't really be said of the smaller regional banks. I wrote about this problem yesterday, so I won't rehash all of that analysis here. As the report says, since January 1, 2008 there have been 149 bank failures. As commercial real estate struggles, there may be more to come. So while Wall Street is stabilized, regional banking is hardly out of the woods.
Removing Toxic Assets
The original purpose for the TARP was to purchase toxic assets from banks, as its name indicates. For whatever reason, former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson couldn't make that happen, so it used the fund as a blunt instrument to recapitalize banks instead. That worked for stabilization purposes in the short-term. But in the long-term, these bad assets continue to plague bank balance sheets. No effort to purge them with the TARP has been successful. At this point, banks will likely slowly sell some here and there and just allow the others to run off, with the losses spread out over time.
Preventing Foreclosures
The homeowner bailout, a sub-bailout within the TARP, hasn't done particularly well. Foreclosures continue to soar. I reported yesterday on how poorly the Treasury's program has done modifying troubled mortgages, according to Chase Bank's statistics. It's got around an 8% success rate for trial foreclosures that manage to be made permanent under the TARP-funded program. Obviously, the success rate is even lower for the total number of applicants who apply for the government program, as many probably don't even make it into the trial period. From any measure, that's a pretty awful result.
Slowing Job Losses
This is one of the few areas where I disagree with the COP report. I didn't see slowing job losses as a direct goal of TARP. I guess you could argue that, by making sure credit was available, fewer businesses would need to lay off workers. So, maybe in some indirect manner twice-removed, job loss prevention was a goal. But I don't think you can really blame unemployment on the TARP.
The Market Still Reliant On Government
This problem overlaps with a few others. So, while I find it legitimate, I'll defer to the next failure which better addresses this worry.
Created An Implicit Government Guarantee Of Big Banks
This is one of the most serious problems resulting from the TARP. Big financial institutions are now seen as having an implicit government guarantee. I was watching CNBC this morning and the COP chairwoman Elizabeth Warren actually made an interesting comment regarding this guarantee.
When asked whether she worried that banks were now rushing to pay back their bailout money before they were really ready, Warren cited this implicit guarantee as the reason why she wasn't so concerned. She said that, even if big banks appear to run into trouble again, the market won't worry, because it understands that the government will continue to stand behind the big financial institutions. So after paying back Uncle Sam, banks will still have the benefit of the government guarantee without any of those pesky pay constraints.
Here's that whole CNBC clip if you want to watch it. She makes some other interesting comments as well:
Of course, this implicit guarantee isn't an entirely good thing. It creates significant moral hazard for banks to continue taking risks, because everyone assumes the government will just bail them out again, if necessary. The TARP report notes this problem. If financial regulation is done right, however, this issue can be quickly eliminated. With a non-bank resolution authority in place, bank failure plans will be submitted. Then the systemic risk regulator can weigh if those plans will work, and if not the institution will be deemed too big to fail and will be broken up. At that time, the market should understand that the government will not stand behind any firm going forward.
Staying On Task
There's one final pretty clear flaw in the TARP that the report only kind of mentions in passing. The plan called for in the legislation barely resembled what actually occurred. Toxic assets were not purchased. To make matters worse, the money started being used for purposes other than stabilizing the financial market, like bailing out U.S. automakers. TARP never should have become the Treasury's a slush fund. If the Obama administration ends up using it for another jobs stimulus without Congressional approval, then it would be hard to describe it as anything other than that.
We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to [email protected]. |
This ridiculous farce of an invented controversy got way out of hand way too fast. My apologies for sleeping on this one. I thought that sanity would prevail, and everyone would surely see the perpetrators for the fools they are. It seems that I over estimated the Canadian media’s ability to be dedicated to journalistic integrity…a stupid mistake I will never make again.
I’m talking about the WiFi “debate” currently raging in some Ontario school boards, backed by embarrassing fringe academics and credulous media presenting the tired old “equal time to both sides” narrative on an issue where both sides are not equal.
As I previously discovered (and no media seemed to notice), at the head of this parade of delusory panic is one Rodney Palmer. Rodney lives in scenic Collingwood, Ontario, and sells warmish wooden boxes that he claims can cure/treat asthma and prevent cancer. Seriously. I’ve had a run in with Palmer’s product in the past, and the woman working the booth thought I was a Chinese spy. Seriously.
Had the media that credulously covered this inane story bothered to perform even a modicum of a background check on the man making extraordinary claims that don’t appear anywhere else in Canada (especially in WiFi saturated ares like Toronto and Ottawa), they would have given him the laughed-out-of-town treatment he deserves.
Instead, Palmer was granted a national audience, and instead of backing up his claims with anything more substantial than empty anecdotes, he continued his crusade of panic. This is what happens when you feed a narcissist: they only grow stronger with attention. Palmer and his group of “concerned parents” petitioned the Town of Collingwood to remove WiFi from the public library (which is an autonomous body under the Public Libraries Act, and not under the purview of municipal politics). By this point, Palmer’s name, face, and erroneous cause was national news on virtually every major Canadian news outlet, even catching the attention of Peter Mansbridge (who went with the tide, and presented the old media error of false balance) as he exclaimed, “It’s invisible, but it’s everywhere.”
Unstoppable narcissism never acts alone, and Palmer had brought in his trusty band of fringe non-experts-but-somehow-declared-experts Magda Havas (another narcissist academic whose entire career vests in the idea that cell phones, WiFi, and your laptop will cause cancer and sterility) and Barrie Trower (a cold war-era weapons ‘expert’ who equates ‘using’ WiFi signals with exploding bombs), whom Palmer and his group flew in from the UK to speak to the media on this story’s behalf.
And ho-boy does Palmer know how to manipulate the media. It should be noted that before he sold warm wooden boxes to treat lead poisoning, Palmer used to be a journalist for CTV news. Maybe “former journalist” was all the credentials our 4th Estate needed to hear before giving every word Palmer spoke with more weight then it deserved. I guess “purveyor of warm boxes” doesn’t have the same zing that it did in the good old days.
While most media outlets covering the story did point out that WiFi signals are well below the safe guidelines, and Health Canada is very clear that there is no evidence that WiFi causes any health risk, the narrative pushed was one of balance, not evidence. It is a narrative that media-savvy skeptics are are too familiar with:
X is not a problem. We know this for a FACT. But SOME people think that X is a huge problem, so let’s needlessly pursue this. Filling a 24-hour news cycle is hard, and we have bills to pay. Talk to one actual expert (out of 10,000 who agree) that says X is safe. Talk to one person (out of 3) who is not an expert, is probably just a concerned parent, and says X is dangerous. Talk to just about anyone we can find that will reinforce our preconceived narrative structure. Concerned parents get more screen time than the expert with 15 years of education. Close the story with a family, a child, and some playing. Shut up, that’s a better story. Brought to you by Vagisil and Capitol One. Stay Tuned for Canada’s Next Top Model….or something…..
Recently, Palmer’s parents’ group voted to shut off WiFi in a Meaford, Ont. school. This is a decision which, much like the Library in Collingwood, does not rest with the targets of Palmer’s grandstanding, but with the Bluewater School District. This is important to note, as it seems to be Palmer’s modus operandi: launch a loud, alarming, emotional plea against a target that has no ability to affect any policy at all.
Palmer’s track record of activist diversion includes:
Using a parents committee to vote down Wifi (which is the decision of the school board, not the school itself)
Petitioning Ottawa to place a moratorium on WiFi in Collingwood schools (which is a provincial matter, not federal)
Petitioning the municipal government of Collingwood to ban WiFi in its libraries (which are under the purview of the Public Libraries Act, not the Town of Collingwood)
Knowing that Palmer is such an accomplished journalist, I refuse to believe that he is so stupid as to petition an impotent political body.
I suspect that real change is not is primary goal: it’s making a huge public stink. And he is doing this is droves, getting the entire country to have panic attacks about a perfectly safe and proven technology.
As you can expect, Palmer never once provides any evidence of his claims, but instead farms that job out to Magda Havas (an embarrassment to a university if there ever was one), while he yammers on with testimonials and anecdotes.
I have one simple message to Rodney Palmer, the Safe School Committee that he runs, and every media outlet that has given his voice a megaphone:
ANECDOTES AND STORIES ARE NOT EVIDENCE, NO MATTER HOW MANY YOU HAVE!
If you tell me that lots of kids are reporting headaches and accelerated heart rates at school but not at home, maybe you should take the time to rule out EVERYTHING that is different at school than it is at home. Teachers, subjects, classrooms, bullies, friends, sleeping, recess, sports, girls, boys, the walk/bus to school….I can think of about a hundred different things that go on at school that don’t go on at home. Palmer says that he “ruled everything else out,” but has not provided one shred of evidence of his mythical study. Instead, he show videos of interviews, and re-tells stories. So once again,
ANECDOTES AND STORIES ARE NOT EVIDENCE, NO MATTER HOW MANY YOU HAVE!
If anecdotes are all it takes to convince you, then I have one for you: I remember when I was a boy in school, I had lots of headaches, stomach aches, and trouble concentrating. I couldn’t sleep very well and I had some behavior issues when I was at school. Miraculously, all these problems went away at home, especially on the weekends. WiFi wasn’t around in the 1980′s, so I wonder what it possibly could have been back then?
And yet, remarkably, the foolishness gets even foolishnessier. Palmer’s ego must be reaching a fevered pitch, because Parliament is launching a special committee to investigate his claims that WiFi is causing harm to children, and won’t somebody please think of the children!?
In this video produced by Global News, Palmer testifies before the Parliamentary committee that,
I’ve become an epidemiologist here, tracking down names of people phoning me and saying ‘My little daughter was brought home from school because her heart [was] pounding so much the teacher can see it through her shirt.’
No, Rodney. “Tracking down names of people” making complaints does not constitute epidemiology, and it does not make you an epidemiologist. You need an understanding of biology, statistics, demographics and then to actually publish the results. So far, all you did is show interviews. This is not epidemiology. This is raving.
“How is it that this is MY responsibility to bring all these people in in?”
That’s the rub, isn’t it? Rodney Palmer, this is NOT your responsibility. You have assumed this role upon yourself because you’ve proven either unwilling or incapable of understanding the existing scientific consensus that WiFi is safe. This is part of what makes you a narcissist.
In one of the most exaggerated uses of the word ‘expert’ I can imagine, Palmer was summoned to provide testimony before the Special Parliamentary Committee. That’s right: the man who sells wooden boxes that he claims can cure asthma was brought in as an expert. Have we devalued expertise in this country so much as to accept this man’s ego-mania as “expert testimony?” On the one hand, we have a doctor saying WiFi is safe. On the other hand, we have a “Father of Two”, saying it’s causing headaches. Like Mugatu in Zoolander, I feel like I’m taking crazy pills!
I have two clarion calls for this post:
1) National Media: You still can act responsibly. Put this man back to the fringe where he belongs. I know he is probably a personal and professional friend to some of you, and I know that he once did some good journalism work. But he is NOT an expert in this area…not in the slightest. ‘Fatherhood’, box selling, and being really concerned are not credentials. If you continue to give his demonstrably false theories such a loud voice, you will serve to undermine education and science discourse in this country for years.
2) Rodney Palmer: Go Away. You’re wrong, you’re an ego maniac, and you need to understand that you are not an expert, and being a father does not give you any special insight to the effects of non-ionizing radiation. You need to listen to what more scientists than just Magda Havas are saying. She is not a heroic scientist, challenging the paradigms and norms of her dogmatic scientist peers: She is more accurately lumped in with the lunatic fringe, screaming all the louder while no one listens to her ideas, because they’re crazy. And you’re wrong. You need to stop wasting the time and money of our government. But I know you won’t, because your ego drives you now.
I humbly suggest readers might do well to take the time to write to their MP, informing them that WiFi is perfectly safe, and the government should continue to listen to the actual scientific experts who have degrees, training, and don’t have an ideological axe to grind.
P.S.
This post will inevitably attract some of the more angry anti WiFi chorus of pseudo-science, and they will leave crazier and crazier posts accusing me and all skeptics as being dogmatic, and insisting that I “do my homework”. Wrong. The impetus is on you to provide the evidence of your claim. I’m not researching your point to make your argument, especially when existing science tells me you’re wrong.
**UPDATE, FEB 25, 2011**
If you scroll down into the comments section, you may notice that Rodney Palmer himself left a note, effectively threatening me with a libel lawsuit. After several months, I responded to this despicable tactic, and you can read it here.
DISCLAIMER: The words and opinions expressed in this post are mine alone, and do not necessarily reflect those of the other authors of Skeptic North, or any of my past or current employers. |
It’s always tough being the new kid in school, but Armaan Singh Sarai has had an especially rough start at his new school in Dallas. A woman claiming to be his cousin, Ginee Haer, took to Facebook to tell of his (alleged) heartbreaking week:
This goofball on the left is my 12 year old cousin, Armaan Singh Sarai. He was born and raised in Texas by a loving #Sikh family. In his spare time, he loves spending time with his family, watching tv, and playing video games. In his family, are his mom, dad, two sisters and a brother who love him more than life, after all he's the baby in the family. His family moved to Dallas, Texas about three to four months ago, and being the new kid wasn't that easy for him. It made it especially hard since he isn't able to get out much, due to a heart condition he was born with. The heart condition has led him to having three open heart surgeries, and he isn't able to do a lot of extra curricular activities. But his love from his family and friends has always been enough to keep his heart filled. His family and friends would describe to be really funny, nice, and a caring human being.
On Friday, December 11th, 2015, my cousin attended school, like any other normal 12 year old child. A bully in class thought it would be funny to accuse him of having a bomb, and so the principal, without any questioning, interrogation, or notification to his parents, called the police. Worried & frightened at home, his family was concerned as to why he had not reached home right after school. They started calling every police department in the area, only to find out he was sent to a Juvenile facility. They kept him held behind bars for three consecutive days, before finally releasing him on Monday, December 15th.
It hurts my heart and boils my blood that there are people stupid enough out there not only accusing us, but our innocent children of being terrorists! It sickens me even more that there are people even more stupid out there, taking their word for it. My cousin is a minor and was arrested without a guardian present! This should show you how fucked up the system is! There are good people out there, but the majority of the system is corrupt! All these bastards see is race & the color of your skin! He's more than what meets the eye people! I'm more, you're more, we're all more! The color of your skin does not define who you are! Please help share this post to open people's eyes to the fuckery that goes on in our system #JusticeForArmaan #SikhLivesMatter #HumanityMatters |
Just yesterday, we shared the stock wallpapers from the Samsung Galaxy Alpha which appears to be heavily inspired by the iPhone in terms of design. Today we have another pack of wallpaper and this one is from the upcoming MIUI V6 ROM which again is being regarded as one of the most blatant rip-offs of the iOS 7 so far.
MIUI V6 has been scheduled for launch by October and has been going through phases of beta-testing. The digital world we live in makes it almost impossible for smartphone OEMs to keep something secret for a long time. In most cases, we get leaked pictures and details of upcoming devices. Since MIUI V6 is being tested by 100 beta-testers who got the opportunity through direct application.
Well, the very V6 ROM has been leaked now and so are its goodies. Today, we have the full set of lock and homescreen wallpapers extracted from the leaked MIUI V6 ROM. There are a total of 12 wallpapers in the pack provided below. All wallpapers in full HD quality with different resolution. The home screen wallpapers are in 2160 x 1920 px and the lockscreen backgrounds are in 1080 x 1920 px size.
Besides the MIUI V6 official wallpapers, we also have the complete set of tones, including ringtones, alarm, UI and notification tones, from MIUI V6. To grab the official wallpapers and ringtones from the upcoming version of MIUI, you just need to click our links below. In case you want to get hold of the full MIUI V6 beta ROM, you can also download it below but keep in mind that it is meant for MIUI MI3W only.
Download MIUI V6 Official Wallpapers and Ringtones
MIUI-V6-Official-Wallpapers.zip
Mirror Link
MIUI-V6-Official-Ringtones.zip
Mirror Link
MIUI V6 Beta ROM
For more cool downloads, do not forget to take a look at our Downloads Section before leaving this page! Enjoy! |
5 I Am Legend
What the Original Was About:
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It started as a 1954 novel (I Am Legend) and was first made into a film in 1964, called The Last Man On Earth. It featured Vincent Price playing Dr. Robert Morgan, man of science and monster hunter extraordinaire. Living in a world where everyone has been infected by a disease that turns them into vampires (and not the sparkly Twilight variety, either), Morgan kills as many of the mutated as he can, while researching the plague and looking for a cure. You'd think he'd try to focus on one goal or the other, but hey, we're not doctors.
Pictured: Intensive scientific research.
There's a heavy emphasis on how Morgan tries to deal with the psychological issues that come with the complete loneliness and despair of his situation. Morgan eventually encounters another survivor by the name of Ruth, but he soon learns that she's part of a group of infected people who suffer some of the effects of the disease but are able to hold the worst at bay with a vaccine. They're working to rebuild society, but they're terrified of Morgan since he appears to them as a mysterious killing machine (as he's taken down some of their kind during his career in vampire slaughtering).
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Morgan escapes with Ruth's help, but he's eventually hunted down. In the novel he peacefully accepts his death, realizing that he's the last of his kind and the infected survivors represent the next step for humanity. The book's title, I Am Legend, referred to Morgan realizing that he, in his mass killings, had ironically become the mythical, nightmarish creature to this new breed.
The movie gets the same message across, but Morgan, half-crazy from years of isolation, goes out after a violent chase, eventually dying as angrily as possible. While it sounds like a huge change, the movie is otherwise pretty faithful, especially when compared to future attempts...
What the Remake Did Instead:
The first remake came out in 1971 under the name The Omega Man. Starring Charlton Heston, as Colonel Robert Neville, the monsters in this film are less scary than they are silly, with the vampires blaming the disease on the evils of science. So they're Luddite vampires, refusing to use anything other than the most primitive technologies. How do you think a bunch of bow and arrow wielding bad guys performed against the spokesperson for the NRA?
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The movie mostly involves Neville shooting shit up, eventually coming across a group of people who are semi-resistant to the disease. He gives them a serum of his blood so they can become fully immune and restore humanity. He then dies heroically, knowing that he helped save the world from a plague of Amish vampires.
The 2007 re-remake, while finally getting the title right, otherwise plays out exactly the same as the Heston version. Will Smith kills a bunch of vampires in order to help some kids escape with his cure, once again saving the world from those no good monsters. Well, at least they used technology this time. |
County Down jockey Meehan suffered a broken leg after the ambulance ran over it
The Northern Ireland jockey run over by an ambulance following a race in Italy is hoping to return to competitive action within the next two months.
Chris Meehan's leg was run over by the on-course ambulance at Merano after he was knocked unconscious in a fall.
The county Down man suffered a broken leg and needed 27 stitches in a facial gash but is now recovering "well".
"It will be another six weeks, I'd say, and probably two months until I'm race-riding again," said Meehan, 22.
"I had the operation and it's just a case of recovery now."
Meehan - whose father has worked in the ambulance service in Northern Ireland for 30 years - returned to his homeland for surgery on his broken leg and facial injuries and is now continuing his recovery at home.
The Crossgar man was put in the recovery position after his fall but then suffered his broken leg when the ambulance reversed over his outstretched leg and came to rest while still on top of him.
Meehan, who had been based with Jonathan Geake in Wiltshire, appears unlikely to return to Italy this autumn.
He is hoping to make the most of his British-based contacts when he does come back.
He said: "The season in Merano ends in October, so whether I would be able to get back in time I'm not sure." |
Only in SF: Someone built a graveyard for defunct startups in Dolores Park
San Francisco resident Evan Hynes built a graveyard to defunct startups in Mission Dolores Park on Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2017. San Francisco resident Evan Hynes built a graveyard to defunct startups in Mission Dolores Park on Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2017. Photo: Evan Hynes Photo: Evan Hynes Image 1 of / 14 Caption Close Only in SF: Someone built a graveyard for defunct startups in Dolores Park 1 / 14 Back to Gallery
Trick-or-treaters passing through San Francisco's Mission Dolores Park met a sorrowful sight Wednesday night: stark gravestones, nearly a dozen of them, in memoriam of existences taken too soon. It was a memorial to short-lived Bay Area startups.
Farewell, Juicero, we hardly knew ye.
A Halloween prankster with a San Francisco sensibility devised the stunt, which greeted costumed park-goers and their pups just as candy-seeking kids set out for the night.
The headstones paid homage to a diversity of Bay Area companies, all of which fizzled in the past year or so (the exception being troubled health-tech company Theranos, which is still open for business).
Evan Hynes, a former startup employee, devised the hoax.
"I asked myself, what's the scariest thing that can happen to an employee at a startup?" the 26-year-old told SFGATE. His answer: "Finding out that your two percent stake in a blockchain-based smart juice company is actually worthless."
Hynes made the gravestones with styrofoam and spray paint.
The homage to startups past followed a similar fate to the companies it lampooned; after a few hours, park rangers asked Hynes to take the gravestones down.
Michelle Robertson is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at [email protected] or find her on Twitter at @mrobertsonsf. |
Judge Jeanine: What's Wrong With 'America First'?
Knight: Benghazi Situation Won't Happen With Trump as Pres
Heidi Cruz referred to Sen. Ted Cruz as an immigrant while laying out the reasons people should vote for her husband in Indiana's primary, raising some eyebrows.
"Ted is an immigrant," Mrs. Cruz said. "He is Hispanic. We can unify this Party."
A Cruz aide later said that Mrs. Cruz misspoke and meant to refer to him as the "son of an immigrant," according to the Washington Examiner.
"That is a story she shares repeatedly on the campaign trail. It is an integral part of his background and personal story, one which resonates with the millions of Americans who share a similar background, and that gives hope to those struggling to climb the economic ladder," spokesperson Catherine Fazier said.
Cruz's Canadian origins have been raised repeatedly as an issue by GOP frontrunner Donald Trump. (Legal analysts have said that Cruz qualifies as a natural-born American citizen and therefore would be eligible to run for president, under the law.)
Reacting on Fox and Friends Weekend this morning, Trump affirmed what Mrs. Cruz said literally.
"He's an immigrant. I assume she's saying he's an immigrant from Canada because he lived in Canada for the first four years of his life."
He said that in the unlikely event Cruz is nominated, Democrats would bring a lawsuit on day one challenging his eligibility.
Watch the clip above.
Judge Nap: Cruz's American Citizenship Is Settled and Established
Cruz: Trump Posing as an Outsider Is Among 'Greatest Frauds' in Modern History
Heidi Cruz Opens Up About Husband's 'Fun' Side & 'Incredible Group of Friends' |
Politics took center stage at the Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday night as award winners used the spotlight to slam President Donald Trump’s halting of immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim nations.
The most blistering speech of the night came from David Harbour, one of the stars of the Netflix hit “Stranger Things.” Harbour was on stage to accept best ensemble in a TV drama series.
“It’s a call to arms from our fellow craftsmen and women to go deeper and through our art to battle against fear, self-centeredness and exclusivity of our predominantly narcissistic culture and through our craft to cultivate a more empathetic and understanding society by revealing intimate truths that serve as a forceful reminder to folks that, when they feel broken and afraid and tired, they are not alone.”
Mahershala Ali, who won best supporting actor for his performance in “Moonlight,” said his film, about a shy, gay Miami boy’s hard life, held lessons of acceptance. “We see what happens when you persecute people, Ali said. “They fold into themselves.”
Ali said his own relationship with his mother exemplified tolerance. The son of a Protestant minister, Ali converted to Islam 17 years ago.
"We put things to the side," Ali said of their differences. "I'm able to see her. She's able to see me. We love each other. The love has grown. That stuff is minutia. It's not that important."
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who added another award to her mantle for her performance in “Veep,” said she was the daughter of an immigrant who fled religious persecution in Nazi-occupied France.
‘HIDDEN FIGURES’ STUNS AT SCREEN ACTORS GUILD AWARDS
"Because I love this country, I am horrified by its blemishes," said Louis-Dreyfus. "And this immigrant ban is a blemish and it is un-American."
Lily Tomlin was the lifetime achievement honoree Sunday. The 77-year-old actress gave a warm, rollicking speech that dispensed both drinking advice and regret over wasting "a lot of time being ambitious about the wrong things."
"Did you hear? The Doomsday Clock has been moved up to two and a half minutes before midnight," said Tomlin. "And this award, it came just in the nick of time."
Wrapping up the night, “Hidden Fences” stunned with winning the award for best movie ensemble. Stars Taraji P. Henson, Janelle Monae and Octavia Spencer took the stage to accept the award. Henson concluded the show the same way its first presenter, Ashton Kutcher, began it.
“This story is about unity," Henson said. “This story is about what happens when we put our differences aside and we come together as a human race. We win. Love wins. Every time."
Trump and his policies have overshadowed award season. It began with Meryl Streep’s speech at the Golden Globes earlier this month and continued Sunday and will probably be talked about at the Oscars.
The immigration ban has already altered the Academy Awards. On Sunday, the revered Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi, whose "A Salesman" is nominated for best foreign language film, said he would boycott the Oscars, even if he was allowed to travel for them.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. |
As we head toward the Senate's tax bill endgame, the GOP finds itself forced to choose between a couple of unappealing options. On the one hand, you could vote in favor of an unpopular corporate tax cut that raises middle-class taxes and violates a number of key campaign promises. On the other hand, you could accept a humiliating defeat on your party's signature tax issue.
Not great.
But even as Republicans continue to tinker with the plan to try to resolve the dilemma, they are totally unwilling to revisit the core choice that's landed them here — the decision to cut the corporate income tax rate from 35 percent all the way down to 20 percent.
The irony, or perhaps tragedy, here is that the basic concept of a significant cut in the corporate rate is totally sound and reasonably bipartisan.
Barack Obama had a plan for a 28 percent corporate rate that he thought would also raise some revenue.
Mitt Romney, who didn't want to raise revenue and made some more aggressive assumptions, proposed a 25 percent rate.
The Business Roundtable, the main CEO group pushing for a corporate rate cut, was proposing 25 percent as recently as 2015.
The reason for these numbers is that if you look at the difference between the statutory corporate tax rate and the effective rate of taxes the government actually collects, you quickly reach the conclusion that base-broadening corporate tax reform could pay for a rate cut down to somewhere in the high 20s. Getting that done is still hard work politically. But it makes sense as policy, and in a general sense it's broadly supported.
But when you push to 20 percent, all kinds of problems arise. You need to blow up the deficit, pair with unpopular spending cuts, or pair with unpopular middle-class tax hikes. And precisely because you've now cut the corporate rate too low, you've generated a lot of spurious problems regarding whether pass-through businesses are receiving equitable treatment.
It's true that 25 percent would put us at the OECD average corporate rate rather than below it like the aspirational 20 percent rate. But it's also true that most big rich countries (Japan, Germany, France, Canada, Italy) have above-average rates, since bigger and richer countries are less exposed to international capital mobility than smaller and poorer ones, and the United States is both very big and very rich by OECD standards.
More broadly, stepping back from things, if Congress passed a corporate tax reform that slashed the statutory rate from 35 percent to 25 percent, that would be a big deal. Nobody would be saying, "Those clowns haven't accomplished anything"; they'd be saying, "Those guys achieved once-in-a-generation tax reform," which is exactly what they hope we'll say if they pass their cut to 20 percent. Except at a 25 percent rate, you could get the job done without including toxically unpopular provisions, and since it wouldn't be toxically unpopular, you'd probably get some Democratic votes too.
The crazy thing is, even at this late hour it's not too late to change this. Forget the unworkable trigger idea. Replace the 20 percent rate with a 25 percent rate. Plow the extra revenue into a mix of smaller deficits and more generous treatment of the middle class. Remind corporate America that a 25 percent rate is literally what they were asking for two years ago. And remind everyone that if Republicans cut all the way down to 20 percent and then lose power because only a crazy person elects a Republican Congress in order to see middle-class taxes go up, Democrats are going to pay for the next round of welfare state expansion by partially repealing the Trump tax cuts anyway.
This is an abbreviated web version of The Weeds newsletter, a limited-run policy newsletter from Vox’s Matt Yglesias. Sign up to get the full Weeds newsletter in your inbox, plus more charts, tweets, and email-only content. |
‘For the Love of Egypt’ Wins All 120 Party Seats in Elections
By Aswat Masriya, edited by Egyptian Streets
The “For the Love of Egypt” coalition has once more swept all 60 seats up for grabs, meaning that the coalition has secured all 120 seats allocated to the lists system in Egypt’s upcoming parliament.
The coalition is the brainchild of former military intelligence general Sameh Seif Elyazal, who openly seeks to limit the powers of parliament.
The upcoming parliament has been assigned many powers including the authority to withdraw confidence from the prime minister, other ministers or even the president. Article 161 of the 2014 constitution allows a super-majority of two thirds of parliament to call for a public referendum to end the president’s term and hold early presidential elections.
Elyazal previously told Reuters that in a year or two “we will see” what really needs to be amended in the constitution.
Egypt’s unicameral House of Representatives is made up of 568 elected representatives, of which 120 are chosen through coalition or party lists, and 28 appointed by the president, totaling 596.
Voter Turnout Increases
Voter turnout in the second phase of Egypt’s parliamentary elections is 29.83 percent, the Supreme Electoral Commission (SEC) said on Wednesday, up from 26.56 in the first phase, as 8,412,011 cast their votes in 13 provinces.
Ayman Abbas, the head of SEC told a press conference Wednesday evening that there were 7,839,611 valid votes in the second and final phase of elections for the House of Representatives, but 572,400 were invalid, representing 6.8 percent of the total.
Even in polls abroad, the second phase had a higher turnout than the first, withover 37,100 voters turning up, an increase of about 22 percent from the first phase, when just over 30,000 cast their votes.
The second phase included the capital Cairo, which recorded one of the lowest participation rates with less than a fifth of the province’s 6.8 million eligible voters casting their ballots.
The highest participation rate was in South Sinai, where 41.6 percent of eligible voters took part.
The total number of eligible voters in the second phase was 28.2 million.
As was the case in the first phase, the results of phase two were largely inconclusive, with only nine candidates running for individual seats coming out triumphant in the first round of polling. The winners include film director Khaled Youssef, known for his ardent support for the military ouster of former Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in July 2013.
Candidates eligible to compete in the run-offs scheduled for Nov. 30-Dec. 2 inside and outside Egypt will fill the remaining 213 seats allocated to the individual seats system.
Individual seat candidates or coalition lists must secure 50 percent plus one votes to win seats. In phase one only four candidates won individual seats in the first round, leading to run-offs in the majority of constituencies.
Leading up to the elections
The parliamentary elections were originally scheduled for earlier this year, with the two phases set to be held in late March and late April.
They were postponed when the Supreme Constitutional Court ruled in March against the constitutionality of an article in the constituency law, which was issued by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
The house elections mark the final phase of a “roadmap to democracy” which then-defence minister Sisi announced to the nation in July 2013, following the military ouster of Egypt’s first democratically-elected President Mursi after protests against his rule.
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World Series of Fighting lightweight champion Justin Gaethje will know who his next title defense will come against once this eight-man, one-night tournament is complete on November 20th in Phoenix, Arizona. Several former UFC fighters like Mike Ricci and Brian Foster feature in this tournament, as well as WSOF mainstays such as Luis Palomino (who is 0-2 vs. Gaethje) and Rich Patishnock.
With the tournament brackets set, the rules are now in place for next month's card. Here are the basic details per Thursday's press release:
No elbows allowed, ground or standing, until the tournament finals.
The quarter- and semifinals will consist of two five-minute rounds (ignore what their own poster says in the image at the top of the page).
If the three judges scoring the bouts have it as a draw, a fourth judge will be used to serve as the tiebreaker, but don't ask me what happens if the 4th judge has it as a draw as well.
Lastly, here's what happens in case of injury to any of the quarterfinalist winners:
Should any of the tournament's quarterfinal stage fight winners be unable to re-enter the cage for his semifinal stage commitment due to an injury sustained en route to victory, the loser of the bout will advance to the following tournament round in place of the hurt fighter.
If neither the winner nor loser are healthy enough to re-enter the cage, however, one of the reserve fight winners will serve as a replacement in the tournament field.
The tournament final will serve as the main event, while the non-tournament co-main is between Jason High and Estevan Payan. Here's the full tournament bracket:
Alternate bouts
LaRue Burley vs. Joe Condon
Benny Madrid vs. Ramil Mustapayev
Quarterfinals
Mike Ricci vs. Brian Cobb
Luis Palomino vs. Rich Patishnock
Brian Foster vs. Joao Zeferino
Jorge Patino vs. Islam Mamedov
Semifinals
Ricci/Cobb winner vs. Palomino/Patishnock winner
Foster/Zeferino winner vs. Patino/Mamedov winner
Finals
TBA vs. TBA
The card will broadcast live on NBC SN at 11 PM ET/8 PM PT. |
Thursday, November 19, 2009
File photograph of Baroness Catherine Ashton, who was chosen as the first High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy has been chosen as the first permanent President of the European Council, at a meeting of European Union leaders today in Brussels.
Baroness Catherine Ashton of the United Kingdom has been selected as the first High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. The positions are both newly created by the Lisbon Treaty.
Following a week of negotiations, Sweden's Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt was attempting to find a compromise among the leaders of the EU's 27 member states, after division over candidates had previously failed to result in a unanimous decision. Van Rompuy's selection finally took place today, and fairly quickly, over a dinner meeting among European leaders.
"I did not seek this high position, I didn't make any steps to achieve it, but from tonight I take on this task with conviction and enthusiasm," Van Rompuy said at a news conference after being chosen.
"Europe must be in every member state's advantage," he continued. "This cardinal principle leds me to a two-track approach. First of all, I will consider everyone's interests and sensitivities. Even if our unity is our strength, our diversity remains our wealth. Every country has its own history, its own culture, its own way of doing things. Our journey may be toward a common destination, but we will all bring along different luggage."
He also promised to ensure that every country in the EU will emerge victorious from any decision taken. He is to officially become the EU president on January 1 of next year.
Initially, former United Kingdom Prime Minister Tony Blair was a popular candidate for President. However, the relatively unknown Van Rompuy, apparently backed by France and Germany emerged as a compromise. Germany had denied backing Van Rompuy, despite its ambassador to Belgium saying to the De Morgen newspaper that "The German government is in favour of Prime Minister Van Rompuy, and if his candidacy fails it will not be because of Berlin."
Sources |
BOSTON (CBS) — Johnny Boychuk had an Incredible Hulk-like night Tuesday, except his uniform didn’t shred off his body after he got angry.
There were a few borderline plays early in the Bruins’ 3-1 win against the Vancouver Canucks at TD Garden that could’ve easily injured Boychuk. But all they did was incite him.
“Oh yeah, absolutely. When something like that happens to you, you get a little ticked off and you just want to crush people,” he said after the win. “It’s not a big secret. But you just have to try and do it cleanly.”
One play in particular stood out in Boychuk’s mind postgame. Midway through the second period, he hit the end boards awkwardly at the end of a chase with Canucks forward Kellan Lain for a waived-off icing. Boychuk, who missed a couple of games with back problems in December after a collision with the end wall, took exception to that play, as well as a few others.
“There were a couple little jabs to your back when you’re going to the puck,” Boychuk said. “It wasn’t an ideal situation for you when you’re that far away from the boards. And I’m sure the player that did it [Lain] knows what he did. And I mean, it is what it is.”
Boychuk didn’t seek out revenge against Lain. Instead, he threw his weight around against all the Canucks. Unfortunately for speedy forward David Booth, he bore the brunt of Boychuk’s rage, as the defenseman leveled him with a couple hip checks that had the fans in the Garden and his Bruins teammates rocking in playoff mode.
“Definitely he’s a big, strong guy. A little bit of a scare there on that race kind of when the icing was waved off. But he’s a big, strong boy and he always comes to play,” said forward Milan Lucic, who’s usually the Bruins player that’s setting the tone with physicality. “And he knows how to use his body well. So you saw it here today. On the back end, he started to kind of take over the game physically and we need that from him heading into the next two games because he’s our most veteran defenseman.”
Boychuk looked every bit a No. 1 defenseman for most of the game, and especially in the third period when the Bruins stifled the comeback-hungry Canucks. Now he gets to be the lead dog in a pack of puppies for two games because Boston captain Zdeno Chara is leaving the team early to carry the flag for Slovakia in the opening ceremonies at the 2014 Sochi Olympics on Friday. Sandwiched around those ceremonies are Bruins games — the first on the road against the St. Louis Blues on Thursday and the second at home against the Ottawa Senators on Saturday.
At 30 years old, Boychuk will be the elder statesman on a defense sextet featuring five players who combined haven’t played as many NHL games as he has.
Although the Bruins will try to take a balanced approach to filling in for Chara, Boychuk’s age and experience will definitely make him the focal point. Whatever pair he’s on will be the No. 1 pair. And he might have to increase his minutes and get a little more vocal.
“Yeah, I mean, I just realized that today,” Boychuk said about being the only veteran left without Chara. “But these guys that we have back here, they don’t play like rookies, that’s for sure. And I’m pretty sure that they’ll do a great job.”
Boychuk led the Bruins with more than just legal brutality. He also hit Daniel Paille with a 100-foot pass at the end of a shift for a breakaway goal. The Bruins are going to need everything Boychuk has to give for during their Chara-less period.
Maybe they should get him a little angry before taking the ice to make sure he’s ready to be their No. 1.
Matt Kalman covers the Bruins for CBSBoston.com and also contributes to NHL.com and several other media outlets. Follow him on Twitter @TheBruinsBlog. |
BONUS: LUMINOUS BEINGS ARE WE? No mammals have been shown to produce bioluminescence—at least in an intended, substrate-and-enzyme-based visual display like fireflies and many denizens of the deep—and humans are no exception. As a July PLoS ONE paper shows, however, the human body does throw off a slight glimmer, though at a luminosity about one thousandth of what the naked eye can see. Researchers used a special supercold camera to capture this so-called ultraweak biophoton emission. In study participants, the shimmer increased over the course of the day and peaked in the late afternoon, implying that our quasi-bioluminescence may be linked to the circadian rhythm, the 24-hour cycle of biological activity in our bodies.
This enigmatic glow does not appear tied to other well-known ebbs and flows, such as body temperature, which crests during the night. Nor can it be explained by skin surface temperatures: The warmest readings emanated from the participants' shoulder and neck regions, although their faces shone the brightest, according to the paper. Its authors believe these human lumens stem from the production of free radicals, or energetic molecules, from normal metabolic actions. Although our own subdued light show plays no discernible role in our daily lives, idioms about one being "aglow" might now claim a more literal basis. MASAKI KOBAYASHI/DAISUKE KIKUCHI/HITOSHI OKAMURA/PLOS ONE |
I’m catching on to why its so unsettling to be in the presence of chatty elderly women. Its because I like to do and there is nothing to be done beyond my presence. In my discomfort I default to what is most familiar, silence, and listening.
Here is the problem. When you’re dealing with someone who is a good listener, they wait. A good listener doesn’t try to alter what it is you’re thinking, or bring their personal bias into your words. It is in their waiting that you have to keep going, sharing and revealing to fill the silence of preconception.
And then its all out.
As from the confessional, not knowing yet what to do with what was revealed, I bow my head in prayer.
On this day, the feast of St. Hildegard, let us all pray to be attentive to those who come to us to be heard, and not just listened to. |
Nedum Onuoha is keen for FA Cup run this season
Onuoha reached quarter-finals with Manchester City in 2006
QPR visit Nottingham Forest in third round on Saturday
THIS Saturday sees QPR travel to Nottingham Forest looking to do something they haven’t managed in three years – reach the fourth round of the FA Cup.Cup runs, generally, haven’t been something QPR fans have been fortunate enough to experience in recent times, but captain Nedum Onuoha is hoping this season can be different – because he knows the impact it can have.Onuoha was at Manchester City when they reached the FA Cup quarter-finals in 2006, eventually losing out to West Ham United, and he told: “I remember that game well, it had a really big feel to it.”The defender, then 19, featured in City’s third round win over Scunthorpe United, and subsequent victories against Wigan and Aston Villa set up their home tie against the Hammers, which they lost 2-1.“A run like that really creates a buzz around the place,” Onuoha explained, “and it doesn’t take too many wins to find yourselves at the key stage of the competition.“And then you’re watching the draw, or you hear about the draw, and you’re thinking, ‘This could be us,’ it’s great. Those exciting moments in football are rare and you do remember them and enjoy them.”Raised in England, Onuoha admits he is a big fan of the FA Cup.“I love it,” he said, “especially in the early stages – everyone likes to see the shocks, and there’s a lot of interest around it.“Even going back to the FA Youth Cup when you are coming through the academies, you get a real buzz for those occasions.“It’s just a shame that very few people are fortunate enough to get through to the latter stages because it’s a competition that every player would love to do well in.”With QPR going through a difficult spell in the Championship, the R’s defender understands the notion that our cup fixture at the City Ground this weekend could be well timed.“We’ve not won for a while in the league even though we have had some good performances in there,” he said. “You could describe this as a welcome distraction, but regardless of whether it was a league game or a cup match, it is a game we would go into looking to win.“A competitive game is a competitive game and you get confidence from winning them.” |
An “unacceptable” level of rudeness toward the public by Toronto city bureaucrats is becoming a worrisome trend, says City of Toronto ombudsman Fiona Crean. In unveiling her 2013 annual report at City Hall Wednesday, Crean said 70 per cent of the 1,827 complaints her office fielded included allegations of poor communications and inadequate information provided by city staff.
City of Toronto Ombudsman Fiona Crean, seen in this November 2013 file photo, Wednesday released her annual report. ( Richard Lautens / Toronto Star ) The TTC is one of the top focal points for complaints about city workers, according to Toronto ombudsman Fiona Crean. ( DAVID COOPER / TORONTO STAR )
“It’s not returning phone calls, it’s rudeness; it’s problems that need fixing in a timely fashion such as basement flooding, where no responses are occurring or little to no explanation is provided,” Crean told reporters. “It’s the notion that somehow it’s the resident’s problem and not the public servant’s.” Related:
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Toronto ombudsman Fiona Crean takes on red tape Leaside Arena deal slammed by ombudsman Ombudsman no longer concerned about TCHC interference City agencies that drew the most complaints included Toronto Community Housing, the Toronto Transit Commission and bylaw inspectors working for municipal licensing and standards. It may be that city workers’ bad behaviour is due to stress, she said, noting that some 2,540 civil service jobs have been left vacant.
“There’s no question that resources are tight,” she said. “It’s a difficult time to be a public servant. The stress is tremendous, but there’s never an excuse for poor communication.” Crean said she has been speaking with city manager Joe Pennachetti about how to crack down on rudeness and unresponsiveness.
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The policies about dealing with the public are in place but need better enforcement by management, she suggested. At the same time, Crean said complainants are becoming more hostile. Citizens have shouted at and cussed her staff, and security has had to be called to intervene. Crean said she has detected a new level of desperation among complainants, including people who have lost jobs and housing. “There are more frustrated residents,” she said. “People are less patient, less tolerant, and when you add in poor communications, then you have a real challenge.” The increase in complaints overall, up 28 per cent from 2012, may reflect “growing social inequality” in Toronto, she said. “We have more complaints from seniors, from people who are poor, from people with disabilities, people with diminished capacity.” “People are becoming poorer; the waiting list for subsidized child care is over 15,000 now. The number of working poor has spiked from about 16 per cent to 21 per cent.” “The greater the marginalization, the more residents depend on public services.” |
HISTORICAL SERIES VICTORY PROBABILITIES (UP 1-GAME-NIL) Here's what has happened -- in both the series and the following game -- when an MLB/NBA/NHL team led a best-of-7 series 1 game to nil. "Site" means the site (H=home or V=road) where a team played Game 1: For example, the row in which sport=MLB, round=Finals, and site=V refers to MLB teams with a 1-game-nil MLB World Series lead, having played Game 1 on the road; for a second example, the row in which sport=NHL, round=Semis, and site=H refers to NHL teams with a 1-game-nil NHL Stanley Cup Semifinals-round lead, having played Game 1 at home. Theoretical series victory probability for series-leading team = .65625 (based on theoretical game victory probabilities of .5). Table updated through Fall 2017. sport round site Game 2 rec. series rec. all all all 734-618 (.543) 961-391 (.711) all all H 584-317 (.648) 709-192 (.787) all all V 150-301 (.333) 252-199 (.559) all Finals all 136-122 (.527) 180-78 (.698) all Finals H 107-69 (.608) 134-42 (.761) all Finals V 29-53 (.354) 46-36 (.561) all Semis all 181-157 (.536) 243-95 (.719) all Semis H 136-82 (.624) 168-50 (.771) all Semis V 45-75 (.375) 75-45 (.625) all Qtrs all 223-173 (.563) 290-106 (.732) all Qtrs H 186-93 (.667) 228-51 (.817) all Qtrs V 37-80 (.316) 62-55 (.530) all Prelim all 194-166 (.539) 248-112 (.689) all Prelim H 155-73 (.680) 179-49 (.785) all Prelim V 39-93 (.295) 69-63 (.523) MLB all all 82-91 (.474) 111-62 (.642) MLB all H 56-45 (.554) 68-33 (.673) MLB all V 26-46 (.361) 43-29 (.597) MLB Finals all 52-57 (.477) 69-40 (.633) MLB Finals H 38-28 (.576) 44-22 (.667) MLB Finals V 14-29 (.326) 25-18 (.581) MLB Semis all 30-34 (.469) 42-22 (.656) MLB Semis H 18-17 (.514) 24-11 (.686) MLB Semis V 12-17 (.414) 18-11 (.621) NBA all all 292-221 (.569) 393-120 (.766) NBA all H 259-117 (.689) 321-55 (.854) NBA all V 33-104 (.241) 72-65 (.526) NBA Finals all 33-38 (.465) 50-21 (.704) NBA Finals H 30-24 (.556) 42-12 (.778) NBA Finals V 3-14 (.176) 8-9 (.471) NBA Semis all 71-51 (.582) 97-25 (.795) NBA Semis H 57-28 (.671) 71-14 (.835) NBA Semis V 14-23 (.378) 26-11 (.703) NBA Qtrs all 110-90 (.550) 154-46 (.770) NBA Qtrs H 100-49 (.671) 131-18 (.879) NBA Qtrs V 10-41 (.196) 23-28 (.451) NBA Prelim all 78-42 (.650) 92-28 (.767) NBA Prelim H 72-16 (.818) 77-11 (.875) NBA Prelim V 6-26 (.188) 15-17 (.469) NHL all all 360-306 (.541) 457-209 (.686) NHL all H 269-155 (.634) 320-104 (.755) NHL all V 91-151 (.376) 137-105 (.566) NHL Finals all 51-27 (.654) 61-17 (.782) NHL Finals H 39-17 (.696) 48-8 (.857) NHL Finals V 12-10 (.545) 13-9 (.591) NHL Semis all 80-72 (.526) 104-48 (.684) NHL Semis H 61-37 (.622) 73-25 (.745) NHL Semis V 19-35 (.352) 31-23 (.574) NHL Qtrs all 113-83 (.577) 136-60 (.694) NHL Qtrs H 86-44 (.662) 97-33 (.746) NHL Qtrs V 27-39 (.409) 39-27 (.591) NHL Prelim all 116-124 (.483) 156-84 (.650) NHL Prelim H 83-57 (.593) 102-38 (.729) NHL Prelim V 33-67 (.330) 54-46 (.540) |
“…At the time immediately I didn’t feel frightened. I did subsequently feel that we were looking at something that really we shouldn’t be seeing. And I remember being told on landing that I looked fairly shaken, almost as if I had seen a ghost….”
Air Commodore Michael Swiney O.B.E. (RAF Retired)
October 2002 marked the 50th anniversary of what we believe to be the most impressive UFO incident ever reported to the Ministry of Defence. The sighting involved two highly experienced military pilots whose visual report was backed up by two independent radar plots. Yet details of their amazing story have remained an official secret for half a century – until the key witnesses agreed to be interviewed during the research for our book Out of the Shadows and the BBC Radio 4 production ‘Britain’s Secret X-Files’ broadcast in April 2002. Since that time further evidence has come to light which underlines our contention that this case constitutes the best evidence for unidentified flying objects as a real defence threat.
For the first time, the full story of the Little Rissington incident can now be told.
Background
1952 marked a turning point in terms of the British Government’s interest in the UFO enigma. In the previous year the final report of the Flying Saucer Working Party had recommended that no further investigations of aerial phenomena should be undertaken by the MoD “until some material evidence becomes available.” When, in July 1952 UFOs were tracked by radar and pursued by interceptors above Washington D.C. the USAF was obliged to hold an unprecedented press conference in an attempt to play down the furore. News of the Washington flap reached the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who famously asked his Air Minister for a briefing on the subject of ‘flying saucers.’ He was assured there was nothing to worry about: “….nothing has happened since 1951 to make the Air Staff change their opinion” that UFOs were optical illusions, hoaxes and misidentifications of known objects.
It is unfortunate that Churchill did not, as far as we are aware, pursue his question later that same year. For an incredible series of events occurred during the autumn of 1952 that produced a radical change in the attitude of both the MoD and the Royal Air Force towards unidentified flying objects. These were the sightings made by airmen and naval personnel who took part in the NATO Exercise Mainbrace staged in September 1952 to simulate a Soviet invasion of Western Europe. According to Captain Edward Ruppelt, who led the USAF’s Project Blue Book, it was these sightings which “caused the RAF to officially recognise the UFO.”
Indeed, the high-level of interest which the Mainbrace sightings generated is reflected in a sensational memorandum prepared by the CIA’s Assistant Director of Scientific Intelligence, Dr H. Marshall Chadwell in December 1952. The memo – ‘British Activity in the Field of UFOs’ – remained “Secret” for 50 years until we obtained a copy in 2001 following an application and appeal under the American Freedom of Information Act. Chadwell, who had worked closely with the British Flying Saucer Working Party in 1950-51, reported to the CIA director how the MoD had been forced to take a second look at UFOs as a direct result of the Mainbrace incidents. It had covertly reformed the British UFO ‘working party’ under Dr R.V. Jones who was the new Director of Scientific Intelligence at MoD. Chadwell further reported how Jones was ‘distressed’ at the newspaper coverage of sightings reported by military personnel, particularly those by Shackleton pilots at RAF Topcliffe in Yorkshire, that had made headlines across the globe.
Chadwell noted that UFO activity was “quiet and normal” until what he called “the Yorkshire incident”:
“…In some RAF field, there was some sort of demonstration to which high officials of the RAF in London had been invited. During the show, a ‘perfect flying saucer’ was seen by these officials as well as RAF pilots. So many people saw it that many articles appeared in the public press. This is distressing to [Dr] Jones because he realises that the creation of the correction of public opinion is a part of his responsibilities.”
Although the Topcliffe incident received wide publicity, the even more spectacular Little Rissington report was successfully kept secret. The former Royal equerry, the late Air Marshal Sir Peter Horsley, told us how he was personally notified of the report, but as he was about to leave England for a Royal tour of Australia, he was unable to interview the aircrew for his study on behalf of Prince Philip. As was the case with the Mainbrace sightings, the Little Rissington incident occurred in the midst of a major military exercise, code-named ARDENT, organised by RAF Bomber Command. This fact may explain the renewed concern, and the determination to prevent service personnel speaking about a phenomenon that could not be officially explained or controlled.
“What on Earth is going on?”
Flying saucers were the last thing on Flight Lieutenant Michael Swiney’s mind when he climbed into the cockpit of a Meteor trainer jet on the afternoon of 21 October 1952. Swiney was a staff instructor based at the RAF’s Central Flying School (CFS) at Little Rissington, Gloucestershire, where his job was to provide tuition to Royal Air Force and Fleet Air Arm student instructors. Seated behind him was his student for the day, a Royal Navy Lieutenant, David Crofts. In Michael Swiney’s Flying Logbook Exercise 18 is described as “a high-level cross-country flight” that would take the two men on a southwesterly course towards a turning point on the south coast, then return to Little Rissington. Swiney, who was instructing, occupied the front seat and his student was seated directly behind him in the small cockpit. As the aircraft taxied along the runway, there was nothing to suggest this exercise would be any different to other routine flights both men had made together. Little did they realise it would become the most dramatic – and unusual – experience of their entire flying careers.
In our interviews, Swiney described how, as the Meteor jet punched through a layer of cloud at around 15,000 feet he suddenly “..got the fright of my life because there appeared to be, smack in front of the aeroplane three white, or nearly white, circular objects. Two of them were on a level keel, and one of them was canted at a slight angle, to one side. I thought ‘God Almighty this is three chaps coming down on parachutes,’ and I literally took the stick or pole, as we used to call it, out of David’s hand so we didn’t tear through these parachutes. He issued some sort of expletive, I don’t know what it was, and said ‘What on Earth is going on?’ and I said: ‘David, have a look at this!’
“It was something supernatural. I immediately thought of course, of saucers, because that’s actually what they looked like. They were not leaving a condensation trail as I knew we were. They were circular and appeared to be stationary. We continued to climb to twice that height [to 30,000 feet] and as we did so they did in fact change position. They took on a slightly different perspective. For example the higher we got they lost their circular shape and took on more of a ‘flat plate’ appearance – like when you hold a tea-saucer above your head and look at it, and then bring it down to your eye-level, it loses the circular shape and becomes a flat plate. “At one time the objects, which were still very much in view, appeared to go from one side of us to the other, and to make quite sure it was not an illusion caused by us in our aeroplane moving to one side, I checked that we were absolutely still on a very steady heading, and sure enough they had moved across to the starboard side of the aircraft.”
As the Meteor levelled out at 35,000 feet the three strange objects remained clearly visible. They were saucer or plate shaped, slightly off-white in colour and emitted a fuzzy or iridescent light from their edges. There were no visible signs of propulsion: no portholes, turrets or other tell-tale signs that might have identified them as conventional aircraft viewed at an unusual angle.
According to the version recounted by Sir Peter Horsley, the instructor (Swiney) found it so difficult to take in what he was seeing that he thought he was suffering from oxygen failure. David Crofts’ account corroborates Horsley’s memory. In 2002 he told us:
“I remember doing the 35,000 foot check and Mick, who was in the front seat, said: ‘David, did you have anything to drink at lunchtime?’ and I said: ‘No, why?’ and he said: ‘Is your oxygen on?’ and I replied: ‘Mick, we’ve just done the 30,000 foot check and you checked with me that your oxygen was alright and I checked with you that my oxygen was alright’…then he said: ‘Well, look at that – straight ahead!’ “Mick [who was in the front seat] put his head to one side and I looked straight through the D-window and there were three dots ahead…[initially] they wouldn’t have been bigger than my thumb-nail at arm’s length and there were certainly three of them. I looked up from time to time and saw they were approaching and getting further and further apart. What I saw looked like the bottom of a stemmed glass. They were lens shaped, like an ellipse and the sun was behind them, and there was no cloud at that height. It was impossible to tell the size of them or how far away they were. “I was thinking all the time that I’ve got to make this a good exercise and didn’t want to muff it by looking around at extraneous things…but Mick kept talking about them and saying that he thought they were UFOs so I thought: ‘Oh yes, well let’s go after them!’ thinking well now we can stop doing the exercise and we can officially say we are off the hook. But he didn’t, he said: ‘Oh Lord no, don’t you remember something that happened on the West Coast of America where a couple of pilots went after one of these things and they all got vapourised and they have never been seen since.’ I then asked him what he intended to do, and with that he called Air Traffic Control at Little Rissington and said what he could see and within a very short time he said: ‘I have control’, he turned the aircraft and we headed back to base.”
Swiney recalled what happened at this stage:
“We got to the top of the climb and I decided that really there was nothing much we could do. I was too shaken by what I had seen and decided to call the exercise off and go back to base. I called up Air Traffic Control at Rissington and said I had three unidentified objects fairly close and gave them my course. I understand later that there was a certain amount of pandemonium on the ground because they weren’t used to having their own staff instructors calling up saying ‘we have got three unidentified flying objects in front, what do we do?’ They didn’t know what to do either.”
According to Horsley’s account, Air Traffic Control instructed Swiney to approach the UFOs and the pilot subsequently turned the aircraft towards them, opening up to full power. “At Mach.8 they gained quite rapidly but when the circular object [sic] filled half their windscreen, it suddenly turned on its side ‘like a plate’ (their words) and climbed away out of sight at great speed.”
Swiney and Croft’s memory is somewhat less dramatic.
“It was quite extraordinary. As we kept them under observation, thinking what else could they possibly be, all of a sudden, having looked across at them at one moment, then looked back in another direction just to clear one’s eyes a bit, we just looked back and they simply weren’t there. They had just disappeared.”
Altogether the three ‘flying saucers’ had been in view for around ten minutes. He added:
“I had then been flying for about nine years and I had seen many funny reflections, refractions through windscreens and lots of other things, but this was nothing of the sort. We tried very hard to explain away what we were looking at but there was no way we could do that. There was something there, there is absolutely no doubt about it. It was NOT a reflection.”
Tracked on Radar
Unknown to the two men on the ground, the control tower at Little Rissington had called HQ Fighter Command at Stanmore, near London. It was the height of the Cold War, and with fear of a Soviet attack looming, senior officers triggered an air defence alert. Simultaneous with the Meteor pilot’s visual report RAF Sopley, a Ground Controlled Interception (GCI) radar in southern England, were tracking an “unidentified aircraft” moving across the southwest of England. Sopley’s controller alerted the commander of RAF Southern Sector at Rudloe Manor between Chippenham and Bath in Wiltshire. The nerve centre of the Sector – known as RAF Box – was an underground bunker that contained a Signals HQ and a fighter plotting control room where aircraft movements were monitored over the whole of southern England.
All unidentified blips were treated as hostile until positively identified, and the Sector Commander gave the order to scramble interceptors. A pair of Meteors on 24-hour Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) duty at RAF Tangmere, Sussex, screamed into the air and were vectored towards the unidentified radar target under Sopley’s control. According to Sir Peter Horsley, officers in the filter room at Rudloe Manor were able to identify Swiney’s Meteor on the plotting table as it closed on the unidentified blips, which suddenly disappeared off the tube at speed estimated as 1,000 mph. The two Meteors from Tangmere followed the target, but failed to make contact.
Independently, Mick Swiney described from memory how on his return to Little Rissington he was informed that “a radar station, which I think was a place called Box, somewhere in the Bath area, confirmed that they could see exactly what [we] could see, but it was on their radar screens as opposed to visible.” David Crofts was even more precise about the source of this information. He said the radar tracking was confirmed to him by intelligence officers from the Air Ministry who had travelled from London to interview the two men. Crofts said:
“They also told me that they [the UFOs] had been picked up on radar. I’m sure he said Sopley radar [Sopley G.C.I. north of Ringwood, Hampshire]. He certainly said that the fighters had been alerted and scrambled and that the target had a ground speed of 600 knots or 600 miles per hour, heading east but the fighters saw nothing, didn’t make a contact and returned to base.”
Further confirmation came in November 2002 when a retired RAF Signals officer, Terry Barefoot, contacted us independently with his own story. Terry worked in the underground complex at Rudloe Manor as a switchboard operator in 1952 and remembered the telephone call they received from the GCI station. “The radar station called up saying that three objects had entered our airspace, going at a fantastic speed, approximately 3,000 miles per hour. We had nothing that went that fast, and neither had the Russians or the Americans.” Mr Barefoot said the incident triggered a commotion in the control room, and led to an order to scramble a squadron to intercept the UFOs. Before the pilots could be vectored towards the fast-moving blips, they had disappeared from the plotting tables – still in formation – off the coast of Kent and out towards the English Channel.
The central role played by RAF Signals in relaying messages between RAF stations during the UFO alert may explain another intriguing feature of this incident, which again underlines its unique status in official history. For it appears that GCHQ, the Government’s secret listening station at Cheltenham, in Gloucestershire, were made fully aware of the events as they took place. In 1997 researcher Robin Cole privately circulated a booklet researching GCHQ’s role in the alleged ‘UFO cover-up,’ drawing upon sources who worked there. Cole wrote that the earliest UFO case that was linked to the secret listening post occurred in 1952 “when pilots from RAF Little Rissington were out on manoeuvres when in their sights, an object similar to the descriptions of a flying saucer came into view.” This was clearly the same incident described by Swiney and Crofts.
Coles’ knowledge of the case came from the person who typed the report on the case at GCHQ. At that time the listening station had no ‘UFO branch’ of its own but became involved by virtue of its critical role in the collection of ‘Signals Intelligence’ (SIGINT). Cole concluded his account of the incident by noting “that it appears that GCHQ picked up on the various messages passing back and forth from the aircrew and RAF Little Rissington. In other words, GCHQ intercepted the conversation.”
What’s more, there is now evidence that a second, independent civilian radar station had plotted the movements of the UFOs during the incident. During our research at the PRO we came upon an entry in the Operations Record Book of CFS Little Rissington, dated 21 October 1952. It read:
“Flight Lieutenant M.J.E. SWINEY, instructor, and Lieutenant D.CROFTS, R.N., student, sighted three mysterious, ‘saucer-shaped objects’ travelling at high speed at about 35,000’ whilst on a high level navigation exercise, in a Meteor VII. Later, A.T.C.C. Gloucester reported radar plots to confirm this, but Air Ministry discounted any possibility of ‘extra terrestrial objects.”
The ORB entry was the first contemporary official record we found that corroborated the accounts of the eye witnesses. What’s more it confirmed that Air Traffic Control radars, in addition to the RAF’s air defence radars, had detected unidentified flying objects at the same time as the visual sighting from the Meteor jet. When we located the PRO record the first question that occurred to us was this: how could the Air Ministry “discount the possibility of extra terrestrial objects” so soon after the incident happened? Where is the file containing the final report? Maybe this is where the role of GCHQ – and its direct connections with the Security Services and US intelligence – played a crucial role in the investigation. To officially admit the role played by these secret agencies in a UFO incident would expose the agency’s interest in a subject that has long been denied. This factor alone may explain why the authorities continue to claim they have no record of this case to this day.
The Air Ministry investigation
David Crofts memory of what happened when they landed at Little Rissington after the experience are clear after 50 years.
“….[as soon as we disembarked] Wing Commander flying grabbed the pair of us, he came out to the aircraft if I remember rightly. I was told to go to my cabin, I was not to talk to anyone, all my meals would be brought to me, if I wanted anything to drink I would have to get in touch with someone to get them for me, I wasn’t to go in the bar. Mick was to go home forthwith, and stay there until he reported to Wing Commander flying the next morning. I was to be there too at 9 o’clock and there were a couple of officers from the Air Ministry intelligence section who debriefed us separately. They interviewed us and got us to talk about it and to draw what we thought we saw. “Thinking back I don’t think they asked the right questions. They didn’t give me the impression that they were very high powered, I wouldn’t have thought they were any higher than Squadron Leader in rank. I have an opinion now that they didn’t know much about what it was all about. They said yes we are looking into it, and gave me the impression that we had seen something unusual. But I got the impression that they were just going through a routine.”
We asked Lt Cdr Crofts what questions the intelligence officers asked.
“What did you see? What happened? Tell us your story?…Much the same as you’ve done now, but they didn’t go into the detail that you’ve gone into and they should have perhaps tried to locate where we were when we saw them. They told us, or he told me, that they had been in telecommunication with every country in the world that was likely to have that sort of aircraft in the vicinity at that time and they all agreed that they didn’t. “The only thing that I could think of was that we happened to see three Bell X supersonic aircraft that at that time were doing that sort of thing in a loose formation over the UK all the way from the USA. But of course it was not possible with the aircraft we had, and it was not possible with the Bell X-100. The only other possibility I have considered were lenticular clouds. But I remember going to the base Meteorological Officer afterwards and asking: ‘Is there any possibility that it could have been a lenticular cloud or any cloud at all?’ and he replied: ‘David, there was no possibility of there being any clouds above when you broke through the cloud base.”
When the officers left base, the incident was officially ‘closed.’ Neither Swiney nor Crofts recall being specifically warned not to discuss their sighting in public. However, a year later the Air Ministry felt it was necessary to issue new instructions to all RAF stations, warning all aircrew that reports of ‘aerial phenomena’ were classified as ‘Restricted.’ “Personnel are warned that they are not to communicate to anyone other than official persons any information about phenomena they have observed, unless officially authorised to do so.” (HQ No 11 Group letter ref 11G/0.2802/8/Int. 16 December 1953).
The reports produced by Swiney and Crofts, including drawings of the three UFOs were returned to London for scrutiny at the headquarters of the Deputy Directorate of Intelligence, or D.D.I. (Tech), on the 9th floor of the Hotel Metropole near Trafalgar Square. And there they disappeared into the same black hole that swallowed many other ‘classic’ UFO incidents reported to the MoD, never to be seen again.
In December 1953 the Assistant Chief of Air Staff (Intelligence) Air Marshal Sir Francis Fressanges delegated to D.D.I. (Tech) responsibility for the investigation of UFO reports made by radar stations and aircrew. Early in 1955 D.D.I. (Tech) produced a 10,000 word report on their study of reports received since 1950. A security-cleared version of this ‘Secret’ report, at a quarter of the original length, was published in the Air Ministry’s ‘Secret Intelligence Summary’ available at the PRO. It concluded that 90 percent of the reports could be explained as “meteors, balloons, flares and many other objects” but 10 percent remained unexplained. These cases “need be attributed to nothing more sinister than lack of data.”
Group Captain Harold Collins was Deputy Director of Intelligence at Air Ministry from 1950-52. Now aged 95, he still recalls receiving “about a dozen so-called reports of aerial phenomena” as part of his duties: “..they ranged from one woman who reported on a man from outer space knocking on her door to two reports we were never able to explain as misidentifications,” he recalled. Significantly, Group Captain Collins confirmed that the two reports that remained “unexplained” were made by RAF aircrew. We believe one of these was the Little Rissington incident.
GCHQ and Whitehall: UFO cover-up?
Mick Swiney was to rise in rank to Air Commodore before retirement at the end of a long and eventful career in the RAF. During the course of his career, he heard nothing further about his ‘UFO’ experience. Although he was to have two further, but less dramatic “sightings” whilst piloting aircraft from bases in Germany during 1953-54, he was able to ‘explain’ one of these as a sighting of an escaped meteorological balloon. But he was never able to account for his 1952 experience, and it continued to play upon his mind, particularly the official silence that continued to surround the circumstances. It was not until 1974, during a posting to the Ministry of Defence in Whitehall, that he decided to make some discreet inquiries of his own.
At that time, the MOD’s standard answer to all public and Parliamentary questions was that because UFO sightings had such mundane explanations all files were routinely destroyed at five yearly intervals. This practice, they said, had been halted in 1967, and as a result the earliest UFO records held in MoD archives dated from 1962. Evidently, in public at least, someone was being economical with the truth, because about 1974 – long after the date at which the MoD claimed they had been destroyed – the reports made by Swiney and his co-pilot remained on file.
“I was then in a position to say that I wanted to see the report I had written in 1952. I simply said ‘I want to see it’ and the next thing was one of my staff (a RAF Group Captain) plonked it on my desk,” Swiney explained. The file was obtained from an Air Intelligence branch that had inherited D.D.I. (Tech)’s records, and the officer who recovered the file said it had been located “in the Blue Book.”
“So I had a look at it,” Swiney continued. “It was all there, and if I remember rightly I also saw David Croft’s report which was attached to it. I had a look at it and when I was satisfied I put it in the out-tray. I should have taken a copy there and then.”
In 2002 Michael Swiney, now in retirement, made a fresh attempt to recover his original report with our assistance. Firstly he wrote to the RAF’s Air Historical Branch, now based in the old Fighter Command HQ building at Bentley Priory. They said that UFO reports submitted to Air Ministry intelligence could have been preserved for transfer to the PRO, or alternatively marked for destruction. If MoD record reviewers “did not consider it worthy of preservation then I am afraid it would have been destroyed, which [we] think is its most likely fate.”
Not satisfied with this response, Swiney wrote directly to the Director General of GCHQ to inquire if the station had retained a copy of his report. In reply, a civil servant said an archive search had failed to locate the file and his request had been passed to colleagues in London “who historically dealt with such matters.” This was of course, the Air Staff secretariat at Whitehall, DAS 4 (formerly Sec(AS)2a during Nick Pope’s incumbency in 1991-93). In due course, the ‘UFO desk’ replied with a standard statement that returned the inquiry to square one. Swiney was advised that “…it was generally the case that before 1967 all UFO report files were destroyed after five years…[but] since 1967, following an increase in public interest in this subject ‘UFO’ files are now routinely preserved. Any files from the 1950s and early 1960s which did survive are available for examination at the Public Record Office.”
In reply, Swiney asked a pertinent question:
“If it was generally the case that before 1967 all UFO report files were destroyed after five years, how was it that I actually saw and read it in about 1974, some seventeen years later, when serving at the MoD?”
The veteran airman does not expect to receive an answer, because to admit that ‘secret’ files on dramatic UFO incidents exist that fall outside the scope of the public records system would lead to questions about the honesty of the Government’s official policy that UFOs are “of no defence significance.”
Now in his late 70s, Air Commodore Swiney is obliged to accept that he may never learn the truth about what it was he saw half a century ago. “I can’t believe it is an intentional cover-up,” he told us, but I don’t really understand why they are being so difficult.” Although the official records relating to the Little Rissington incident are “missing presumed destroyed” Michael Swiney can still point to his own documentary evidence. In what is probably a unique in the in the history of RAF flying logbooks, there exists an entry, in Swiney’s handwriting, dated 21 October 1952, that reads:
“(SAUCERS!) 3 ‘Flying Saucers’ sighted at height. Confirmed by G.C.I.”
Michael Swiney’s final words on the UFO experience which made such a lasting impression on his life are these:
“I am completely open-minded. I don’t think there are little green men who are going to suddenly land and get out of peculiar-looking craft. But what I do know is that both David Crofts and I saw something, the like of which we had never seen before, and I have never seen since. I cannot explain it. But all I do know is that I did see, as did he, something which was most unusual.”
Acknowledgements:
This article is based upon transcripts of taped interviews with Air Commodore M.J.E. Swiney, April 2001 and May 2002 and with Lieutenant Commander D. Crofts in February 2002. We wish to thank both men for their assistance in our research. Thanks also to the late Sir Peter Horsley, Terry Lightfoot and to Nick Redfern.
Further reading:
David Clarke and Andy Roberts, Out of the Shadows: UFOs, the Establishment and the Official Cover-up (London: Piatkus, 2002).
Sir Peter Horsley, Sounds from Another Room (London: Leo Cooper, 1997)
Robin Cole, GCHQ and the UFO Cover-up (Cheltenham: Privately published, 1997)
Copyright David Clarke 2011 |
Some early voters in Texas are saying that the ballot machine changed their vote from Trump to Clinton despite selecting a straight party Republican ballot. Multiple voters have reported that after selecting the option for a straight Republican ballot, Clinton/Kaine was marked for president. The voters say the confirmation showed all the Republican candidates selected except when it came to the presidential ballot, in both cases Clinton was marked instead. The issue has caused at least one county to execute an “emergency protocol” and has removed all electronic machines until software can be updated to fix the issue.
KissFM969 reports that some early voters are concerned that ballot machines in Texas may not be registering straight Republican Party ballots correctly. Voters in both Canyon and Dallas have reported the issue in which Trump votes are being changed to Clinton, allegedly by the ballot machines.
All of the individuals making the claims say they informed polling staff and were able to correct the vote before processing; however, they say that all voters should check their confirmation screens before submitting their ballot.
Breitbart reports that Chambers County Clerk Heather Hawthorne has confirmed that electronic voting has currently been halted for early voting until software can be updated to correct the issue.
“Chambers County election officials have executed an emergency protocol to remove all electronic voting machines available during early voting until a software update can be completed to correct problems experienced by straight-ticket voters.”
Despite the purported validation of the claims by the Chambers County Clerk, at least one other county says the machines are fine. Potter County Judge Nancy Tanner says that “there is nothing wrong with the machines” and says it is not machines that flip votes, it is people that do that. Potter County is going even further by stating that paper ballots are not an option.
In a press release issued by Judge Tanner to the media, the judge blames “user error” for the Trump/Clinton ballot issues.
“There is nothing wrong with any of the machines we use for voting. They do not flip your vote. They do not flip parties. Humans do that.”
Though the judge claims that there is nothing wrong with the machines and that only a human could cause such an error, she seems to confirm at least one of the incidents as machine error.
“There was one incident in Randall County where a voter voted straight ticket and when they hit the vote button, it flipped parties. They reported it to the election official and they cancelled that ballot and allowed the voter to vote again on another machine.”
However, she says that after the incident, the machine was checked and it was operating properly. Therefore, it is unclear if the machine was taken out of commission or if it will continue to be used as it was deemed “operational.” Due to concerns over the potential problems with voting machines, some have encouraged voters to ask for a paper ballot instead.
Avoid #SmartMatic voting machines owned by #GeorgeSoros. Demand a paper ballot. Make an extraneous mark on it and photograph it for records. — James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) October 25, 2016
Nov 8, if machine is SmartMatic DEMAND paper ballot. G Soros owns SmartMatic. You’ve right 2 paper ballot under FED LAW.They MUST provide 1. — Scott Baio (@ScottBaio) October 24, 2016
REQUEST A PAPER BALLOT WHEN GOING TO THE POLLS. THIS IS SOOO IMPORTANT!! #SOROS VOTING MACHINES NATIONWIDE ARE A #RIGGEDSYSTEM https://t.co/T3xRNQ23hL — Vicky ☆F❤R☆ Trump (@VickyBrush) October 25, 2016
However, the Texas judge seemed to squash the idea that a paper ballot would or could be issued in Texas, noting that it is a “rumor” and one cannot request a paper ballot and will not be given one.
“I urge you, the media, to check out the stories before you report them and to also squelch any rumors that you ‘can ask for a paper ballot.’ You cannot.”
What do you think about the Potter County response to the purported ballot issues? If Chambers County has halted use of the electronic machines over straight party voting concerns, should all Texas counties do the same if they are utilizing the same machines? How do you feel about the county claiming they will not offer paper ballots to voters?
[Featured Image by John Minchillo/AP Images] |
Image copyright AP Image caption India's prime minister has described the Maoists as the country's biggest internal security threat
Maoist rebels have killed at least 15 policemen in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh, police say.
The patrol was on its way to provide security to workers building a road in Sukma district when rebels fired at them, officials say.
Twenty-five policemen were injured in the attack, senior police officer Mukesh Gupta told BBC Hindi.
Chhattisgarh is a stronghold of the rebels who say they are fighting for the rights of the poor.
The Maoists are active in more than a third of India's 600 districts and control large areas of several states in a "red corridor" stretching from north-east to central India.
Tuesday's ambush happened in the Tongpal area of Sukma.
It is not clear whether the rebels suffered any casualties.
Last May, rebels attacked a convoy carrying state Congress leaders and party workers in Sukma, killing 27 people, including some top state politicians.
And in April 2012, rebels kidnapped a senior government official in the district, which is part of the Maoist-dominated Bastar region. Alex Paul Menon was freed after 12 days in captivity.
The Maoist insurgency began in West Bengal state in the late 1960s and has become, according to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the country's "greatest internal security challenge".
Major military and police offensives in recent years have pushed the rebels back to their forest strongholds and levels of violence have fallen.
But hit-and-run attacks are still common, killing hundreds of people every year. |
Of all the moves and picks that were made before and during the draft, the biggest was the trade between the Chicago Bulls and Minnesota Timberwolves that sent Jimmy Butler to Minnesota in exchange for Zach LaVine and Kris Dunn, while the teams also swapped first-round picks.
Butler, who had spent his whole career to that point in Chicago and has turned into one of the best two-way players in the league in the last couple of seasons, will now be tasked with leading the Wolves as they try to make their first playoff appearance since 2004.
While he'll now be Minnesota's best player, please do not start calling Butler the face of the franchise for the Timberwolves. Via the Chicago Sun-Times:
"It doesn't mean a damn thing,'' the three-time All-Star told the Sun-Times in a phone interview from Paris on Friday. "I guess being called the face of an organization isn't as good as I thought. We all see where being the so-called face of the Chicago Bulls got me. So let me be just a player for the Timberwolves, man. That's all I want to do. I just want to be winning games. Do what I can for my respective organization and let them realize what I'm trying to do. "Whatever they want to call me ⦠face ⦠I don't even want to get into that anymore. Whose team is it? All that means nothing. You know what I've learned? Face of the team, eventually you're going to see the back of his head as he's leaving town, so no thanks.''
Well, OK, then.
If Butler doesn't want to be the face of the franchise, maybe Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins and he can go by the "Three Alphas."
Has anyone ever used that one before? |
CHENNAI, India (Reuters) - A cyclone barreled into the southeast coast of India on Monday, killing at least four people and bringing down trees and power lines as authorities moved tens of thousands of people from low-lying areas.
Policemen remove a tree that fell on a road after it was uprooted by strong winds in Chennai, India, December 12, 2016. REUTERS/Stringer
Cyclone Vardah moved west over the Bay of Bengal before hitting Chennai, capital of the southern state of Tamil Nadu, as well as neighboring Andhra Pradesh, the Indian Meteorological Department said, describing it as a “very severe storm”.
Strong wind of up to 140 kph (87 mph) battered the densely populated coast, uprooting trees and bringing down electricity pylons.
Flights at Chennai airport were canceled, railway services in the area suspended and schools and colleges were closed.
Chennai is home to Indian operations of major auto firms such as Ford Motor, Daimler, Hyundai and Nissan.
The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said Vardah is passing over Chennai, drenching the city in heavy rain, but is expected to ease in intensity later.
“Winds and rains might still intensify. Do not venture out,” the NDMA said on Twitter, adding that four people had been killed.
More than 23,000 people in Tamil Nadu have been moved to relief centers, with plans for tens of thousands more to be evacuated if needed, a senior state official, K. Satyagopal, told Reuters.
More than 10,000 people from two districts in Andhra Pradesh state had also been moved, its disaster management commissioner, M.V. Seshagiri Babu, said.
The NDMA warned fishermen not to venture out to sea for the next 36 hours, and urged residents to stay in safe places.
Navy ships and aircraft, as well as 30 diving teams, were on standby to help move people and deliver aid if needed, a navy spokesman said.
India’s cyclone season usually runs from April to December, with storms often causing dozens of deaths, evacuations of tens of thousands of people and widespread damage to crops and property.
Wind speeds topped 300 km per hour (186 mph) in an Indian “super-cyclone” that killed 10,000 people in 1999, while a cyclone packing speeds of more than 200 kph (124 mph) lashed the east coast in 2013. |
Bayou Teche Brewing is among the brewers capping their beers with special tops raising awareness for prostate health. (Photo: Submitted)
Bayou Teche Brewing has partnered with Pints for Prostates on a special project.
Pints for Prostates is teaming up with 40 craft brewers across the United States on a program designed to start conversations about men’s health when guys get together to relax and enjoy a beer, which in Louisiana is pretty much every dang day.
Pints for Prostates' Crowns for a Cure is distributing more than 1.6 million bottle caps to craft brewers around the country to use on beer they package for distribution during September, which is National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month. The caps feature the Pints for Prostates logo on the outside, with messages under the caps designed to encourage men to learn more about the importance of regular health screenings.
“We are partnering with some great breweries to put a reminder in the hands of men to take charge of their health,” said Rick Lyke, a prostate cancer survivor who started Pints for Prostates in 2008 after successful treatment for the disease. “After a successful trial of the program in 2015, we know these bottle caps will start thousands of conversations and encourage guys to talk with their doctors about scheduling health screenings.”
Each brewery taking part in the program is receiving a shipment of Pints for Prostates crowns. The brewers from 26 states will use the caps in bottling runs and distribute the beer to retail accounts during September. This year there are two Louisiana breweries taking part — Abita Brewing and Bayou Teche Brewing. Regionally, Lazy Magnolia from Mississippi and Saint Arnolds from Texas are in, too.
Pints for Prostates works with breweries to raise awareness for prostate health. (Photo: Submitted)
“The craft beer community has been incredibly supportive of the Pints for Prostates mission and generously assisted us in getting our message to millions of men over the last eight years,” Lyke said. “If Pints for Prostates' Crowns for as Cure reaches just one guy who benefits from a prostate health screening, then the effort will be a huge success.”
Beer drinkers who spot Pints for Prostates crowns are encouraged to help spread the word by tagging photos on social media with #CrownsforaCure and @pints4prostates, along with the brewery name and location where the bottle caps were found.
Pints for Prostates reaches men through the universal language of beer to encourage them to take charge of their health. The grassroots effort raises awareness among men about the importance of regular men’s health screenings by making appearances at beer festivals, social networking and pro bono advertising. According to the National Cancer Institute, approximately 233,000 new prostate cancer cases are diagnosed annually in the U.S. More information is available at www.pintsforprostates.org. Pints for Prostates also has a presence on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (@pints4prostates).
You should start spotting the special baby blue caps on bottles of Abita, Bayou Teche, Lazy Magnolia and Saint Arnold’s six packs soon. Make an appointment with your doctor, and bring him a gift: a six pack of one of these specially packaged beers, of course. Sure, it may be awkward talking about your prostate health and getting it checked out, but hey there’s a reward of a cold six pack in the fridge when you get home.
Read or Share this story: https://www.theadvertiser.com/story/entertainment/2016/08/15/beer-can-good-your-prostate/88567866/ |
A Texas sheriff is looking for the owner of a truck with an anti-Donald Trump sticker that has angered motorists in the area. Steven Senne/AP
Residents of a large county in Texas are allegedly upset over a truck bearing a large anti-Trump sticker, and now the county sheriff is involved.
In a Facebook post Wednesday afternoon, Fort Bend County Sheriff Troy E. Nehls referenced "numerous calls" about the "offensive" sticker which bears a common four-letter epithet, and encouraged the vehicle's owner to contact him. Nehls, a Republican, says that the county prosecutor would consider disorderly conduct charges for the owner of the truck, but Nehls says he would be willing to come to an agreement with the owner about a modification.
The post racked up 1,600 reactions in just three hours and generated thousands of comments, many of them decrying the post and its legal threats as a violation of the First Amendment. Democrat Hillary Clinton won the county in the 2016 presidential election with 51 percent of the vote, while Trump nabbed 45 percent of the vote.
Nehls was elected as the sheriff of Fort Bend County, situated just southeast of Houston, in 2012 and was reelected in 2016.
Other public forms of anti-Trump expression have recently led to consequences; a Virginia woman was fired from her job after a photo surfaced of her making an obscene hand gesture at the presidential motorcade while riding her bicycle. |
The Maley Drive Extension is a solid investment in the social, economic and environmental future of the City of Greater Sudbury that will deliver short-term, medium-term and long-term benefits to residents, business and industry in an affordable and fiscally responsible manner, made possible by a three-way cost sharing partnership.
The Maley Drive Extension will be built in two phases. Phase One will connect LaSalle Boulevard West with Falconbridge Highway.
A new four-lane road will be constructed from LaSalle Boulevard West, near Collège Boréal, to Barry Downe Road.
Traffic will access the new four-lane road via a new interchange to be constructed north of LaSalle Boulevard on Notre Dame Avenue (Municipal Road 80).
To accommodate the new interchange, Notre Dame Avenue will be widened from four lanes to six lanes, north of the improvements that have already been made to the LaSalle-Notre Dame intersection and approaching lanes.
Traffic control at new intersections created by the construction of the four-lane Maley Drive Extension will be achieved with roundabouts at Collège Boréal and Barry Downe Road.
An existing section of Maley Drive, between Barry Downe Road and Falconbridge Highway, will be rehabilitated to complete Phase One of this project.
The total construction cost of Phase One of the Maley Drive Extension is $80.1 million.
Phase Two will extend the Maley Drive Extension to Elm Street West (Municipal Road 35).
The existing LaSalle Extension will be widened from two to four lanes between Collège Boréal and Municipal Road 35 (Elm Street West), connecting with the new four lane Maley Drive for improved traffic flow and safety.
The rehabilitated section of Maley Drive will be widened from two to four lanes between Barry Downe Road and Falconbridge Highway.
An existing railway crossing on Maley Drive, west of Falconbridge Highway, will be reconstructed as an overhead crossing for the safety and convenience of motorists.
Roundabouts will be constructed for traffic control on Maley Drive at the intersection of Lansing Avenue and at the intersection of Montrose Avenue. The Montrose Avenue roundabout will connect with a road design through a private subdivision that will eventually extend Montrose north to intersect with Maley.
The total construction cost of Phase Two of the Maley Drive Extension is currently estimated at $70 million.
The Maley Drive Extension addresses the future needs of the City of Greater Sudbury.
The City of Greater Sudbury Official Plan has identified the Maley Drive Extension as the number one priority for municipal infrastructure development. The Plan envisions a perimeter highway-arterial road system around the City of Greater Sudbury for efficient routing of traffic through this part of the region and province.
Phases One and Two of the Maley Drive Extension are the first steps to a perimeter highway that will extend Maley Drive east of its current end at Falconbridge Highway, southeast to connect to Highway 17 East to North Bay and Ottawa and an existing by-pass leading to Highway 69 South to Toronto and Highway 17 West to Sault Ste. Marie.
The Maley Drive Extension Report to Council, dated November 3, 2015, is available in pdf format. (2.23 MB)
Affordable Investment
Economic Benefits
Social Benefits
Maley Drive Extension Cost-Benefit Analysis
Maley Drive Extension Staff Reports to Council
Maley Drive Extension Overview Video
Maley Drive Roundabout Video
Municipal Class Environmental Assessment (2008)
Maley Drive Extension Class Environmental Assessment (1995)
Maps
For more information, to view pictures, submit comments or ask questions visit Over to you Greater Sudbury. |
DfE source brands new course 'rubbish', but OCR exam board says texts are the most diverse yet for any English A-level
A-level students will study Russell Brand's views on drugs and Caitlin Moran's Twitter feed alongside more conventional literature in a new A-level that was immediately denounced as "rubbish" by sources at the Department for Education.
The OCR exam board said it had teamed up with an educational charity, the English and Media Centre, to develop the A-level in English language and literature to study unorthodox texts, such as a BBC Newsnight interview with rapper Dizzee Rascal and the work of former Guardian columnist the Secret Footballer.
OCR said the exam – a separate course from English or English literature – would include an anthology which included extracts from Brand's testimony on drug use to a parliamentary committee and tweets by Times journalist Caitlin Moran, as well as more conventional fare such as Samuel Pepys's diary entries.
But the education department launched a scathing attack. A senior DfE source said: "Schools should be aware that if they offer this rubbish in place of a proper A-level, then pupils may not get into good universities. We will expect other exam boards to do better.
"It is immensely patronising to young people to claim that they will only engage with English language and literature through celebrities such as Russell Brand."
Gove has said he wants to make A-levels and GCSEs more rigorous and focused on writers such as Shakespeare, while stripping out assessment and relying more on end-of-course examinations.
The DfE's official response hinted that the new A-level would fail to receive approval to be taught in schools from Ofqual, the exam standards regulator, under recent revisions to A-level course content published by the department.
"All new A-levels must be accredited by the independent exams regulator Ofqual against new, more rigorous criteria. This exam has not been accredited and we await Ofqual's decision with interest," a DfE spokesman said.
But despite the DfE's disapproval, OCR maintained that the course met the latest Ofqual and DfE guidelines, saying the range of texts to be studied was the most diverse in any English A-level, ranging from the poems of Emily Dickinson and William Blake to memoirs such as Solomon Northup's Twelve Years a Slave and contemporary works such as fiction by Jhumpa Lahiri.
Hester Glass, the exam board's subject specialist for English language and literature, said: "Historically, English language and literature A-level has lacked a clearly defined identity. By creating a new model with a linguistic approach to literary texts, we aim to set a new gold standard to transform the A-level into a more valuable, distinctive qualification."
Barbara Bleiman, co-director of the English and Media Centre, said Ofqual required the A-level to include spoken and written texts and that modern language use could not be taught through traditional texts alone.
"A Twitter feed is a hybrid that has features of written language and features of spoken language, so it's particularly interesting to study something like Twitter or a blog or online communication because it sharpens the questions of what distinguishes speech and writing," Bleiman said. She disputed the claim that pupils taking the course would suffer when applying to universities.
"This combination of study, of non-literary and literary texts, actually equips students who want to study English at university to do incredibly well because they will have finely tuned linguistic skills," she said.
"I don't think it's going out on a limb in any way. We're not trying to be provocative. We're aiming for something that is exciting, challenging and has some 21st-century texts that are fascinating and really worthy of study," she added.
The texts will include extracts from Russell Brand's 2012 appearance before MPs on the home affairs committee, in which the comedian and author gave evidence on his battle with heroin addiction. When asked by the committee chair, Keith Vaz, if he had been arrested "roughly" 12 times for drug possession, Brand quipped: "Yes, it was rough."
The new English language and literature exam comes as all A-levels in England are being revised, with exam boards creating new course specifications in collaboration with universities.
The DfE recently published a subject content outline that the exam boards are to follow. English language and literature must include at least six substantial texts, featuring at least three important works of prose, poetry or drama.
The new courses have to be approved by Ofqual before they can be offered to schools from 2015, and are also subject to post-examination evaluation. OCR – part of the Cambridge Assessment group – is one of the largest exam boards in England.
Existing English language and literature courses, such as that offered by the AQA exam board, include the poetry of Irish Republican hunger-striker Bobby Sands and interviews with Malcolm X as texts for study.
George Norton, team leader in English at Paston sixth-form college in Norfolk, defended the new course, saying it offered something different to the other English A-levels, was varied and had academic depth.
"It will be hard to resist a course that allows me to teach William Blake, the writing of the Secret Footballer and the script of Dizzee Rascal's Newsnight interview. I'm looking forward to it already," Norton said.
"No one from OCR is proposing that Shakespeare should be subsumed by Simon Cowell transcripts," said Alex Quigley, assistant head and English subject leader at Huntington school in York, who pointed out that the course has always included a wide mix of texts.
"There is no decline in standards to witness here. Just two quite different disciplines being merged in what looks like an interesting and varied course.
"If people are worried about Russell Brand becoming our next poet laureate then you needn't be. Not yet anyway."
• This article was amended on 7 May 2014 to correct the spelling of Solomon Northup's name. An earlier version spelled it as Northrop. |
About This Game
Key Features
Over 20 hours of twisted humor
Incredibly funny insane characters and crazy dialogs
Unique comic style
Unlockable achievements
German and English voiceovers
Winner of the 2009 Red Dot Design Award (PC Edition)
From the creators of the award-winning games The Whispered World and Deponia
The award-winning debut adventure game from the creators ofandnow on Steam. Accompany young Edna and her talking stuffed bunny Harvey on a whacky attempt to escape from her padded cell. Experience a bizarre journey all across the insane asylum and far beyond its brick walls.At the beginning, young Edna wakes up in the padded cell of an insane asylum with no memory of her past. She doesn’t have the slightest idea how she wound up there, but one thing is for sure, she wants out! After all, she feels perfectly sane – and her talking stuffed bunny Harvey agrees completely. Together, they attempt an escape and, in doing so, meet their extremely bizarre fellow patients – from the man in the bee costume to the pseudo-Siamese twins Hoti and Moti. But Dr. Marcel, head of the asylum, will stop at nothing to keep Edna from escaping. What does he have planned for her? And why was her memory erased? Gradually, Edna regains her memory of the time before her detention in her cell… |
After having defended Basic Income (BI) for the latest European Parliament elections and rejecting it in its first Economic Policy draft, Podemos maintains a conditional grant measure in its latest electoral program. In this document, the main economic policy instruments related to this conditional grant are the transfer of a guaranteed 600 € per month for every family or every citizen (this is not clear between sources) without a wage, and a complement of a sufficient amount so that every individual cannot earn less than 900 € per month, when employed.
An economic council including specialists like Nacho Álvarez, James Galbraith, Vicenç Navarro, Núria Alonso and Francisco Louçã, has calculated a cost of 15 000 million € per year to finance the 600 € per month measure. Until further notice, this attribution refers to individuals or families without an income as a sole condition, nothing more. That is not a basic income as usually defined, but could be a starting point for evolution later.
Thomas Piketty, professor of economics and author of the best seller book Capital in the Twenty-First Century, has also contributed to this latest version of Podemos economic program. Piketty has been a supporter of redistribution policies for a long time, some of which resemble basic income.
More information at:
Liam Upton, “Spain: Podemos leave Basic Income out of landmark economic document“, Basic Income News, November 30th 2014
In Portuguese:
Catarina Falcão, “Francisco Louçã integra Conselho Económico do Podemos [Francisco Louçã is a part of Podemos Economic Council]“, Observador, October 21st 2015
In Spanish:
Iolanda Mármol, “Podemos expone las líneas estratégicas de su programa económico [Podemos presents its economic program strategic lines]“, El Periódico, October 21st 2015 |
A Jewish man has been stabbed by a Muslim in Strasbourg, France. He was taken to hospital and is in a stable condition, while the perpetrator was arrested. Police say the incident is not terrorism-related and that the attacker is suffering from psychiatric issues.
The attack took place at around 11:00am local time (09:00 GMT). The man, named as Mr. Levy, an Orthodox Jew, was assaulted just outside his home around 500 meters from the main synagogue in the city, his friend Mendel Samama told RT.
“He was walking home from the market after buying some things for the Sabbath and when he was by his house, someone came up to him and screamed ‘Allahu Akhbar’ and stabbed him,” said Samama, who is a rabbi based in Strasbourg.
Je viens de voir M. Levy, victime d'une attaque au couteau. Sa situation est stable. Prions pour son établissement rapide.#Strasbourg — Mendel Samama (@EURORabbi) August 19, 2016
Samama also added that Mr. Levy was very lucky as the stab wound was very close to his heart. The victim is currently in hospital but is expected to be released within the next few days.
“He is very shocked and when he was telling me the story for the first time, he was crying,” Rabbi Samama told RT. “He feels that he has had a miracle because when the guy stabbed him the first time, he wanted to stab him again, but he had an amazing reaction and was able to run away.”
#Strasbourg > L'attaque a eu lieu en pleine rue. L'agresseur a été stoppé grâce à des passants. (@StanRacineOff) pic.twitter.com/gsHWJDMG5X — La Plume Libre (@lplweb) August 19, 2016
The perpetrator was detained by police and taken into custody for questioning. Witnesses say that the attacker was between 30 and 40 years old. According to the Journal du Dimanche publication, the attacker had a history of psychiatric problems.
“In 2010, he attacked another Jew in the city center of Strasbourg and he has psychological problems… How is it possible that someone like this can be on the streets as he can attack anybody,” Samama said.
FRANCE: Jewish man stabbed & moderately wounded by a Muslim in Strasbourg, attacker arrested. pic.twitter.com/GfZnSVfQMe#morningjoe#Israel — jaazee (@jaazee1) August 19, 2016
Strasbourg has one of the largest Jewish populations in France, with around 15,000 members of the faith living in the city, which sits on the German border. In total, Jews make up about 5 percent of the city’s population.
“We all live with the other different communities in peace and quiet. We hope that this will not disturb the peaceful atmosphere of Strasbourg. The chief rabbi of Strasbourg, Rabbi [Rene] Gutman has done a big job in the city to have an inter-religious and strong dialogue… I believe that Strasbourg is still a good city for the Jewish people,” Samama concluded.
The attack comes after two men pledging allegiance to Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) slit the throat of a Catholic priest in a church near Rouen in July. An elderly parishioner was also injured in the attack.
READ MORE: After slitting priest’s throat, France church attackers smiled & talked peace and God – witnesses
Abdel Malik Petitjean and Adel Kermiche, both 19, were killed by French police as they tried to flee the 17th century church in the town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray. |
Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II on Monday directed the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) to return to the New Bilibid Prison’s (NBP) maximum security compound some of the so-called “Bilibid 19” inmates who had linked detained Sen. Leila de Lima to the drug trade.
At the same time, he ordered the BuCor to first seek his permission before transferring drug convicts and other high-profile inmates from the maximum security compound to other detention cells at the national penitentiary.
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Aguirre issued Department Order No. 496 two weeks after he admitted that drug syndicates had resumed their illegal activities inside the NBP.
The resurgence of the drug trade within the state penitentiary prompted BuCor Director General Benjamin delos Santos, a lawyer and retired police chief superintendent, to resign on July 13.
“The order takes effect immediately and shall remain in force until further orders,” Aguirre said.
The order, however, did not identify the inmates who were previously transferred from the tightly guarded maximum security compound to the medium security area, a detention facility for convicted criminals serving time for less serious offenses.
Among those who were previously transferred to the medium security compound were convicts Vicente Sy, Jojo Baligad and Peter Co, who had testified against De Lima during the House inquiry on the illegal drug trade at the NBP.
Their statements were used by the Department of Justice to indict the senator who has been detained at Camp Crame since February for drug trafficking.
At the same time, Aguirre ordered BuCor officer in charge Rey Raagas to review all past transfers of NBP inmates and to submit within 10 days a report on the actions taken in compliance with his order.
The report should contain the “list and inventory of inmates who were previously transferred to another detention facility within the NBP, including the reason for such transfer, the date when the inmate was transferred, the original detention facility [in] which they were originally detained/confined, and the detention facility to which they were transferred.”
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Nontheistic religions are traditions of thought within a religious context—some otherwise aligned with theism, others not—in which nontheism informs religious beliefs or practices.[1] Nontheism has been applied[by whom?] to the fields of Christian apologetics and general liberal theology, and plays significant roles in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Satanism. While many approaches to religion exclude nontheism by definition, some inclusive definitions of religion show how religious practice and belief do not depend on the presence of god(s). For example, Paul James and Peter Mandaville distinguish between religion and spirituality, but provide a definition of the term that avoids the usual reduction to "religions of the book":
Religion can be defined as a relatively-bounded system of beliefs, symbols and practices that addresses the nature of existence, and in which communion with others and Otherness is lived as if it both takes in and spiritually transcends socially-grounded ontologies of time, space, embodiment and knowing.[2]
Buddhism [ edit ]
Existence of gods [ edit ]
The Buddha said that devas (translated as "gods") do exist, but they were regarded as still being trapped in samsara,[3] and are not necessarily wiser than we. In fact, the Buddha is often portrayed as a teacher of the gods,[4] and superior to them.[5]
Since the time of the Buddha, the denial of the existence of a creator deity has been seen as a key point in distinguishing Buddhist from non-Buddhist views.[6] The question of an independent creator deity was answered by the Buddha in the Brahmajala Sutta. The Buddha denounced the view of a creator and sees that such notions are related to the false view of eternalism, and like the 61 other views, this belief causes suffering when one is attached to it and states these views may lead to desire, aversion and delusion. At the end of the Sutta the Buddha says he knows these 62 views and he also knows the truth that surpasses them.
Metaphysical questions [ edit ]
On one occasion, when presented with a problem of metaphysics by the monk Malunkyaputta, the Buddha responded with the Parable of the Poison Arrow. When a man is shot with an arrow thickly smeared with poison, his family summons the doctor to have the poison removed, and the doctor gives an antidote:[7]
But the man refuses to let the doctor do anything before certain questions can be answered. The wounded man demands to know who shot the arrow, what his caste and job is, and why he shot him. He wants to know what kind of bow the man used and how he acquired the ingredients used in preparing the poison. Malunkyaputta, such a man will die before getting the answers to his questions. It is no different for one who follows the Way. I teach only those things necessary to realize the Way. Things which are not helpful or necessary, I do not teach.
Christianity [ edit ]
A few liberal Christian theologians, define a "nontheistic God" as "the ground of all being" rather than as a personal divine being. John Shelby Spong refers to a theistic God as "a personal being with expanded supernatural, human, and parental qualities, which has shaped every religious idea of the Western world."[8]
From a nontheist, naturalist, and rationalist perspective, the concept of divine grace appears to be the same concept as luck.[9]
Many of them owe much of their theology to the work of Christian existentialist philosopher Paul Tillich, including the phrase "the ground of all being". Another quotation from Tillich is, "God does not exist. He is being itself beyond essence and existence. Therefore to argue that God exists is to deny him."[10] This Tillich quotation summarizes his conception of God. He does not think of God as a being that exists in time and space, because that constrains God, and makes God finite. But all beings are finite, and if God is the Creator of all beings, God cannot logically be finite since a finite being cannot be the sustainer of an infinite variety of finite things. Thus God is considered beyond being, above finitude and limitation, the power or essence of being itself.
Nontheist Quakers [ edit ]
Logo of the Society of Nontheist Friends
A nontheist Friend or an atheist Quaker is someone who affiliates with, identifies with, engages in and/or affirms Quaker practices and processes, but who does not accept a belief in a theistic understanding of God, a Supreme Being, the divine, the soul or the supernatural. Like theistic Friends, nontheist Friends are actively interested in realizing centered peace, simplicity, integrity, community, equality, love, happiness and social justice in the Society of Friends and beyond.
Hinduism [ edit ]
Hinduism is characterised by extremely diverse beliefs and practices.[11] In the words of R.C. Zaehner, "it is perfectly possible to be a good Hindu whether one's personal views incline toward monism, monotheism, polytheism, or even atheism."[12] He goes on to say that it is a religion that neither depends on the existence or non-existence of God or Gods.[13] More broadly, Hinduism can be seen as having three more important strands: one featuring a personal Creator or Divine Being, one that emphasises an impersonal Absolute and a third that is pluralistic and non-absolute. The latter two traditions can be seen as nontheistic.[14]
Although the Vedas are broadly concerned with the completion of ritual, there are some elements that can be interpreted as either nontheistic or precursors to the later developments of the nontheistic tradition. The oldest Hindu scripture, the Rig Veda mentions that 'There is only one god though the sages may give it various names' (1.164.46). Max Müller termed this henotheism, and it can be seen as indicating one, non-dual divine reality, with little emphasis on personality.[15] The famous Nasadiya Sukta, the 129th Hymn of the tenth and final Mandala (or chapter) of the Rig Veda, considers creation and asks "The gods came afterwards, with the creation of this universe. /Who then knows whence it has arisen?".[16] This can be seen to contain the intuition that there must be a single principle behind all phenomena: 'That one' (tad ekam), self-sufficient, to which distinctions cannot be applied.[17][18]
It is with the Upanishads, reckoned to be written in the first millennia (coeval with the ritualistic Brahmanas), that the Vedic emphasis on ritual was challenged. The Upanishads can be seen as the expression of new sources of power in India. Also, separate from the Upanishadic tradition were bands of wandering ascetics called Vadins whose largely nontheistic notions rejected the notion that religious knowledge was the property of the Brahmins. Many of these were shramanas, who represented a non-Vedic tradition rooted in India's pre-Aryan history.[19] The emphasis of the Upanishads turned to knowledge, specifically the ultimate identity of all phenomena.[20] This is expressed in the notion of Brahman, the key idea of the Upanishads, and much later philosophizing has been taken up with deciding whether Brahman is personal or impersonal.[21] The understanding of the nature of Brahman as impersonal is based in the definition of it as 'ekam eva advitiyam' (Chandogya Upanishad 6.2.1) - it is one without a second and to which no substantive predicates can be attached.[22] Further, both the Chandogya and Brihadaranyaka Upanishads assert that the individual atman and the impersonal Brahman are one.[23] The mahāvākya statement Tat Tvam Asi, found in the Chandogya Upanishad, can be taken to indicate this unity.[24] The latter Upanishad uses the negative term Neti neti to 'describe' the divine.
Patañjali statue in Pantanjali Yog Peeth Haridwar
Classical Samkhya, Mimamsa, early Vaisheshika and early Nyaya schools of Hinduism do not accept the notion of an omnipotent creator God at all.[25][26] While the Sankhya and Mimamsa schools no longer have significant followings in India, they are both influential in the development of later schools of philosophy.[27][28] The Yoga of Patanjali is the school that probably owes most to the Samkhya thought. This school is dualistic, in the sense that there is a division between 'spirit' (Sanskrit: purusha) and 'nature' (Sanskrit: prakṛti).[29] It holds Samadhi or 'concentrative union' as its ultimate goal[30] and it does not consider God's existence as either essential or necessary to achieving this.[31]
The Bhagavad Gita, contains passages that bear a monistic reading and others that bear a theistic reading.[32] Generally, the book as a whole has been interpreted by some who see it as containing a primarily nontheistic message,[33] and by others who stress its theistic message.[34] These broadly either follow after either Sankara or Ramanuja[35] An example of a nontheistic passage might be "The supreme Brahman is without any beginning. That is called neither being nor non-being," which Sankara interpreted to mean that Brahman can only be talked of in terms of negation of all attributes—'Neti neti'.[36]
The Advaita Vedanta of Gaudapada and Sankara rejects theism as a consequence of its insistence that Brahman is "Without attributes, indivisible, subtle, inconceivable, and without blemish, Brahman is one and without a second. There is nothing other than He."[37] This means that it lacks properties usually associated with God such as omniscience, perfect goodness, omnipotence, and additionally is identical with the whole of reality, rather than being a causal agent or ruler of it.[38]
Jainism [ edit ]
Jain texts claim that the universe consists of jiva (life force or souls) and ajiva (lifeless objects). According to Jain doctrine, the universe and its constituents-soul, matter, space, time, and principles of motion-have always existed. The universe and the matter and souls within it are eternal and uncreated, and there is no omnipotent creator god. Jainism offers an elaborate cosmology, including heavenly beings/devas, but these heavenly beings are not viewed as creators-they are subject to suffering and change like all other living beings, and are portrayed as mortal.
According to the Jain concept of divinity, any soul who destroys its karmas and desires, achieves liberation/Nirvana. A soul who destroys all its passions and desires has no desire to interfere in the working of the universe. If godliness is defined as the state of having freed one's soul from karmas and the attainment of enlightenment/Nirvana and a god as one who exists in such a state, then those who have achieved such a state can be termed gods (Tirthankara).
Besides scriptural authority, Jains also employ syllogism and deductive reasoning to refute creationist theories. Various views on divinity and the universe held by the vedics, sāmkhyas, mimimsas, Buddhists, and other school of thoughts were criticized by Jain Ācāryas, such as Jinasena in Mahāpurāna.
Others [ edit ]
Philosophical models not falling within established religious structures, such as daoism, agnosticism, atheism, Confucianism, deism and pandeism, have also been considered to be nontheistic religions.[39]
See also [ edit ] |
For the video game series, see Mugen Senshi Valis
VALIS is a 1981 science fiction novel by American writer Philip K. Dick. The title is an acronym for Vast Active Living Intelligence System, Dick's gnostic vision of one aspect of God.
It is the first book in the incomplete VALIS trilogy of novels, followed by The Divine Invasion (1981). The planned third novel, The Owl in Daylight, had not yet taken definite shape at the time of the author's death.[1] Radio Free Albemuth, a posthumously published earlier version of VALIS, is not included as a component of the VALIS trilogy. Dick completed one more novel after The Divine Invasion, The Transmigration of Timothy Archer (1982), based on Dick's association with Bishop James A. Pike and not connected to the VALIS theme.
Synopsis [ edit ]
Horselover Fat believes his visions expose hidden facts about the reality of life on Earth, and a group of others join him in researching these matters. One of their theories is that there is some kind of alien space probe in orbit around Earth, and that it is aiding them in their quest. It also aided the United States in disclosing the Watergate scandal and the resignation of Richard Nixon in 1974. There is a filmed account of an alternative universe Nixon, "Ferris Fremont" and his fall, engineered by a fictionalised Valis, which leads them to an estate owned by the Lamptons, popular musicians. Valis (the fictional film) contains obvious references to identical revelations to those that Horselover Fat has experienced. They decide the goal that they have been led toward is Sophia, who is two years old and the Messiah or incarnation of Holy Wisdom ("pistis sophia") anticipated by some variants of Gnostic Christianity. She tells them that their conclusions are correct, but dies after a laser accident. Undeterred, Fat goes on a global search for the next incarnation of Sophia. Dick also offers a rationalist explanation of his apparent theophany, acknowledging that it might have been visual and auditory hallucinations from either schizophrenia or drug addiction sequelae.[2]
Characters [ edit ]
Phil: narrator, science fiction writer
Horselover Fat: narrator; Philip in Greek means "fond of horses"; "dick" is German for "fat". Later, it is disclosed that Fat is a schizophrenic modality of Phil himself.
Gloria Knudson: suicidal friend of Fat's
Kevin: friend of Fat's, skeptic, based on K. W. Jeter
Sherri Solvig: Fat's friend, eventually dies from lymphatic cancer
David: Catholic friend of Fat's, based on Tim Powers
Eric Lampton: rock star, screenwriter, actor, aka "Mother Goose" - apparently a fictionalised version of David Bowie
Linda Lampton: actress
Brent Mini: electronic composer, a fictionalised version of Brian Eno.
Sophia: Two-year-old child. Personalised incarnation of Holy Wisdom within some variants of Gnosticism
Reception [ edit ]
Thomas M. Disch reported that "the fascination of the book, what's most artful and confounding about it, is the way the line between Dick and Fat shifts and wavers." Disch concludes that "as a novel, as a whole novel . . . it went off the rails sometimes. But the first half holds together wonderfully, considering how much there is to be held together."[3]
Umberto Rossi posits that some degree of academic discomfort towards the novel has resulted from uncertainty whether Dick genuinely believed in the more fantastical aspects of the narrative (further supported by the Exegesis which followed). In detailing the many ideological shunts between skepticism and belief which occur within the plot, Rossi concludes Dick intended neither view to achieve hegemony, but that the synthesis of both effectively depict "the unyielding contradictions in [Dick's] experience of self... Being involved in a quest does not automatically confer enlightenment, but rather involves a search for the light; the condition of the quester is one of doubt, not certainty."[4]
Dick's Exegesis [ edit ]
VALIS has been described as one node of an artificial satellite network originating from the star Sirius in the Canis Major constellation. According to Dick, the Earth satellite used "pink laser beams" to transfer information and project holograms on Earth and to facilitate communication between an extraterrestrial species and humanity. Dick claimed that VALIS used "disinhibiting stimuli" to communicate, using symbols to trigger recollection of intrinsic knowledge through the loss of amnesia, achieving gnosis. Drawing directly from Platonism and Gnosticism, Dick wrote in his Exegesis: "We appear to be memory coils (DNA carriers capable of experience) in a computer-like thinking system which, although we have correctly recorded and stored thousands of years of experiential information, and each of us possesses somewhat different deposits from all the other life forms, there is a malfunction—a failure—of memory retrieval."
At one point, Dick claimed to be in a state of enthousiasmos with VALIS, where he was informed his infant son was in danger of perishing from an unnamed malady. Routine checkups on the child had shown no trouble or illness; however, Dick insisted that thorough tests be run to ensure his son's health. The doctor eventually complied, despite the fact that there were no apparent symptoms. During the examination doctors discovered an inguinal hernia, which would have killed the child if an operation was not quickly performed. His son survived thanks to the operation, which Dick attributed to the "intervention" of VALIS.
Another event was an episode of supposed xenoglossia. Supposedly, Dick's wife transcribed the sounds she heard him speak, and discovered that he was speaking Koine Greek—the common Greek dialect during the Hellenistic years (3rd century BC–4th century AD) and direct "father" of today's modern Greek language—which he had never studied. As Dick was to later discover, Koine Greek was originally used to write the New Testament and the Septuagint. However, this was not the first time Dick had claimed xenoglossia: a decade earlier, Dick insisted he was able to think, speak, and read fluent Koine Greek under the influence of Sandoz LSD-25.
The UK edition of VALIS also included "Cosmology and Cosmogony", a chapbook containing selections from Dick's Exegesis.
Philosophical and cultural references [ edit ]
Theology and philosophy, especially metaphysical philosophy, play an important role in VALIS, presenting not just Dick's (and/or Horselover Fat's) own views on these subjects but also his interpretation of numerous religions and philosophies of the past. The most prominent religious references are to Valentinian Gnosticism, the Rose Cross Brotherhood, Zoroastrianism and Buddhism, as well as Biblical writings including the Book of Daniel and the New Testament epistles. Many ancient Greek philosophers are discussed, including several Pre-Socratics (Pythagoras, Xenophanes, Heraclitus, Empedocles and Parmenides) as well as Plato and Aristotle. More recent thinkers that are mentioned include the philosophers Pascal and Schopenhauer, the Christian mystic Jakob Böhme, the alchemist Paracelsus, Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud, the Romanian historian of religion Mircea Eliade, and the author and psychologist Robert Anton Wilson. In Wilson's autobiographical Cosmic Trigger (released shortly before Dick commenced work on VALIS), Wilson describes similar musings concerning the 'Sirius Connection', contemplating the idea that alien entities are sending out waves of information that we can tune in on.
The action of VALIS is set firmly in the American popular culture of its time, with references to the Grateful Dead, Frank Zappa and Linda Ronstadt as well as the fictional rock musicians Eric Lampton and Brent Mini. However, the novel also contains a number of high culture references such as the poets Vaughan, Wordsworth and Goethe, and the classical composers Handel and Wagner. In particular, the novel contains several extended discussions about Wagner's metaphysical opera Parsifal.
Black Iron Prison [ edit ]
"The Black Iron Prison" is a concept of an all-pervasive system of social control postulated in the Tractates Cryptica Scriptura, a summary of an unpublished Gnostic exegesis included in VALIS. Dick wrote:
Once, in a cheap science fiction novel, Fat had come across a perfect description of the Black Iron Prison, but set in the far future. So if you superimposed the past (ancient Rome) over the present (California in the twentieth century) and superimposed the far future world of The Android Cried Me a River over that, you got the Empire, as the supra- or trans-temporal constant. Everyone who had ever lived was literally surrounded by the iron walls of the prison; they were all inside it and none of them knew it.[5]
In popular culture [ edit ]
VALIS was adapted in 1987 as an electronic opera by composer Tod Machover, and performed at Centre Georges Pompidou, with live singers and video installations created by artist Catherine Ikam.[6]
On February 1, 2004, Variety announced that Utopia Pictures & Television had acquired the rights to three of Philip K. Dick's works: Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said, VALIS, and Radio Free Albemuth.[7]
VALIS appeared in the TV show Lost. In the episode "Eggtown", aired February 21, 2008, the character John Locke gives Ben Linus the book to read from Ben's own book shelf, while Ben is being held captive. In "The Other Woman", aired March 6, 2008, Ben is again shown reading the novel before being interrupted by Locke.
John Alan Simon, director of the film adaptation of Radio Free Albemuth, remarked that VALIS will form the basis of a sequel to that film if it is successful: "Since Radio Free Albemuth is essentially the first draft of VALIS, we ended up with rights to both from the estate of Philip K. Dick. If Radio Free Albemuth is successful, VALIS the book would form the basis for the sequel to VALIS the movie. In other words, the story of VALIS would form the basis for VALIS 2."[8]
British indie rock band, Bloc Party, has a song titled "V.A.L.I.S." on their 2012 album Four.[9]
Progressive metal band Tacoma Narrows Bridge Disaster have songs named "Exegesis", "Valis" and "Black Iron Prison", all inspired by Dick's work, on their 2012 album Exegesis.[10]
Portuguese double bassist Hugo Carvalhais's 3rd album Grand Valis (Clean Feed Records 2015) is inspired by Dick's book.[11]
References [ edit ]
Sources [ edit ]
Galbreath, Robert, (1982). "Salvation-Knowledge: Ironic Gnosticism in VALIS and The Flight to Lucifer ," in Science-Fiction Dialogues , Gary K. Wolfe, ed. Chicago: Academy Chicago, pp. 115–32.
and ," in , Gary K. Wolfe, ed. Chicago: Academy Chicago, pp. 115–32. _______________ (1983). "Redemption and doubt in Philip K. Dick's VALIS Trilogy", Extrapolation 24:2, pp. 105–15.
24:2, pp. 105–15. Palmer, Christopher, (1991). "Postmodernism and the Birth of the Author in Philip K. Dick's VALIS ," Science-Fiction Studies 55, 18:3, pp. 330–42.
," 55, 18:3, pp. 330–42. Stilling, Roger J., (1991). "Mystical Healing: Reading Philip K. Dick's VALIS and The Divine Invasion as Metapsychoanalytic Novels", South Atlantic Review 56: 2, pp. 91–106
and as Metapsychoanalytic Novels", 56: 2, pp. 91–106 Dick, Philip K., Lee, Gwen, Sauter, Doris E., What If Our World is Their Heaven (2001) ISBN 978-1585670093 pp. 49–157 |
Rackspace, the cloud computing player that has been for sale since May, ended that process today, saying it intends to remain independent.
Investors apparently didn’t like the sound of that, and Rackspace shares fell by more than 16 percent after hours.
The company also named a new CEO to replace Graham Weston, its largest shareholder who stepped into the role following the unexpected departure of Lanham Napier in February.
The new CEO is Taylor Rhodes, Rackspace’s president, who joined the company in 2007 and has been overseeing its global operations.
The moves bring an end to what had been a drawn-out process in which numerous companies were suggested as possible suitors. IBM, Cisco Systems, Hewlett-Packard and CenturyLink were all rumored to have been in the running at one time or another. All of them save CenturyLink had taken themselves out of contention with public statements or by simply ignoring the deal chatter. And CenturyLink had rather long odds against getting a $7 billion deal for Rackspace done on favorable financing terms.
As I argued last month, the more likely scenario at Rackspace, given the lack of well-funded willing buyers was — and is — to do nothing, or more accurately, to stay the course.
Having failed to find a buyer, Rackspace may turn to some deal-making of its own. The company said on a conference call that rather than buy back shares, it may seek to buy some other companies. They would have to be small; Rackspace has only $340 million in cash on its balance sheet and about $15 million in long-term debt. But for now, unless a hostile suitor steps forward, we’re done with wondering who might buy Rackspace. |
Collaborator on films from Reservoir Dogs to Inglourious Basterds thought to have been overcome by heat while hiking
The editor who helped created the signature look of Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill and Inglourious Basterds has died in Los Angeles.
Sally Menke, 56, who worked on all of Quentin Tarantino's features as well as Oliver Stone's Heaven and Earth and Lee Tamahori's Mulholland Falls, was found in Beachwood Canyon in the Hollywood Hills this morning.
Menke was best known as part of Tarantino's regular post-production team, having been hired to edit his first feature. She told the Observer last year: "He sent me this script for a thing called Reservoir Dogs and I just thought it was amazing."
She went on to forge a strong creative relationship with the director, describing him as "encyclopaedic, passionate, electrifying".
Reports suggest that Menke may have been overcome by hot weather while out hiking with her dog, but the cause of death has not yet been established. Her most recent credit was a low-budget thriller called Peacock, directed by first-timer Michael Lander. |
Tiger attack at Australia Zoo; trainer in his 30s mauled on the neck
Updated
A tiger handler is being treated in hospital after being mauled during a show at Australia Zoo on Queensland's Sunshine Coast.
The zoo says the tiger became "over excited" during a regular play session.
Amateur vision shows a Sumatran tiger pouncing on the 30-year-old zoo worker, who was bitten on the shoulder and neck.
Several colleagues rushed to his rescue, dragging the man to safety.
The incident happened in front of a crowd of spectators, with one young girl saying: "He got scratched in the neck by a tiger when it jumped on him."
Paramedics treated the man at the scene and managed to stem the bleeding, but he was later flown to the Royal Brisbane Hospital.
His condition is listed as serious but stable.
Australia Zoo says the handler is very experienced with big cats and has been handling the animals at the zoo for nine years.
"Our support is with him and his family," the zoo said on Twitter.
A spokesman for the zoo added that there will be a full investigation into the incident.
The zoo keeps three Bengal and eight Sumatran tigers.
Topics: human-interest, animal-attacks, beerwah-4519, australia, qld
First posted |
Estonian president Toomas Hendrik Ilves knows the life of a refugee: His parents left Soviet-occupied Estonia for Sweden, where he was born, and then moved to the United States. His youth in Leonia, New Jersey happened to give him a perfect American accent—which he used this week to deliver one of the most eloquent and powerful speeches yet about Europe’s refugee crisis.
Ilves argued that Europe’s history should inform the way it should deal with the current refugee crisis. He pointed out that in the aftermath of World War II, Germany—currently taking in more people than any other European country—had 12 million internal refugees. The United Nations spent the equivalent of €50 billion on relief efforts, he said.
“We have seen far worse and we have prevailed,” he declared. ”We will handle this migration crisis if we show the resolve of our forebears.”
“So, ladies and gentlemen, let us now gather our wits and strengths, leave behind the indecision, finger-pointing and ducking of responsibility,” Ilves said. “We will handle this migration crisis if we show the resolve of our forebears.”
“Political speech today sometimes adopts language that a few years ago was found only in anonymous on-line fora,” he said (a line that could describe European politicians as well as American presidential candidates). “Democratic, centrist leaders advocating calm and responsible policies are increasingly under pressure, if not attack.”
Ilves is serving his second five-year term as Estonia’s president, a position he has held since 2006. The Columbia and University of Pennsylvania-educated psychologist and former journalist is credited with transforming the smallest Baltic state into “E-stonia,” a successful, highly-connected economy with a tech-savvy government. He likes to wear bow-ties.
Here’s the transcript of his speech. |
We exclusively reported about HMD planning to launch customized variants of Nokia 8 in US and China markets. These variants were supposed to come with higher RAM and storage as compared to other global variants.
Now, HMD has modified Nokia 8 variants TA-1004 and TA-1012 listings for US market and has added 6GB RAM+128GB ROM to the existing certifications. This kind of confirms that Nokia 8 will come to the US with 6GB RAM and 128GB ROM as revealed to us by our sources.
HMD has also modified the Nokia 8 variants for the US to enable ANT+ feature and WCDMA Band IV. ANT+ allows you to view your sport, fitness and health monitoring data in real-time on your phones.
Nokia 8 Details:
Read all Nokia 8 details including specs, features and check out gallery and videos at our dedicated Nokia 8 page.
You can read Nokia 8 full coverage by clicking here.
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Update, Sept. 27, 2013: The Justice Department released an updated version of its contingency plan. The infographic has been updated accordingly.
Even if lawmakers fail to head off a government shutdown by 11:59 p.m. this coming Monday, much of the government will continue to function as normal: the mail will still arrive, troops will remain at their posts, and the fathead minnows that the EPA is raising will not be loosed upon the world.
Both federal law and subsequent legal opinions carve out ample exceptions to the across-the-board furloughs that occur when budget authority expires, such as the protection of life and property. Last week, the Obama administration requested that federal agencies update their list of employees and programs that they consider exempt from shutdown orders in advance of a potential lapse.
Those plans are still in the works, according to a statement from Office of Management and Budget spokesperson Emily Cain. But we do have 2011 versions of the shutdown contingency plans, which the administration requested last time Congress was playing shutdown brinkmanship. One can safely assume that most agency priorities have not significantly changed: in many cases the spending bill that is set to expire Monday is the same one that nearly expired two years ago.
The EPA stated in 2011 that it plans to retain personnel to “protect the physical integrity of the test organisms,” like the fathead minnow, which it uses in toxicity studies. The Department of the Interior will continue to operate the Hoover Dam, though national parks will close. The IRS will keep up its undercover operations, and the Commerce Department will continue to predict the weather.
Even if a shutdown is averted, the contingency plans offer an intimate and often surprising picture of what the agencies actually do—like the fact that the Commerce Department is in the meteorology business, or that the Pentagon has something called “bachelor officer quarters” (emergency repairs for which will proceed unmolested in the event of a shutdown).
The following feature lists which programs and functions will close or remain open in seven major agencies, based on the 2011 contingency plans. It is far from a comprehensive list, as some agencies were much more diligent than others in following instructions on how to write their reports. Some were quite detailed about what would not remain open—often with more than a touch of bitterness—while others only specified what would stay open and left the rest to the imagination. |
One accusation often leveled at feminists is "oh, well, you see rape" as if we're a bunch of reactionary funsuckers who just want everyone to stop pole dancing and start reading Plath.The thing is, OK, and call me a hairy-faced PE teacher or whatever, rapeeverywhere.This week, for instance, we have had the shocking, disgusting and frankly incomprehensible Twitstorm surrounding the victim of Ched Evans (a man who will go down in history as the first rapist footballer to get the jail sentence that was bloody well coming to him) and news that Unilad (the lads' banterful guide to getting into a girl's pants whether she likes it or not) is back up.I was too busy to get to the Ched Evans story before everyone and their nan had had their say, and the less said about Unilad the better, so today I want to talk about Lush. *record scratch* You heard me.You might know Lush for their organic products and heady scents. I know them for making brilliant bubble baths, lovely soaps, oh and publicity that equates women with lab animals.Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Lush's latest campaign.Before I go any further, I'd like to state that I in no way condone animal testing in cosmetics. But then, neither do I condone a publicity stunt that clearly uses rape imagery to attract attention, and in doing so equates a rape victim to an animal.And before you go "but Becca, you see rape!" consider this: why is the 'victim' a woman? Why is the 'doctor' a man? Why is she wearing a skin-coloured, nude-effect body stocking? Why could you easily take the 'drinking' shot shown above, substitute the glass for a big spunky cock and not have this look out of place in a porno?*I don't doubt that the intention behind this stunt was to shock, to generate publicity, maybe even open up debate. And it is shocking, but not because of the original message. It is shocking that Lush believe that women (who must make up a hefty proportion of their clientele and staff) will stand for this.This publicity stunt is vulgar, unforgivable and exploitative. This publicity stunt says that the inhumane treatment of a lab animal is the same as sexual violence against a human woman. This publicity stunt says therefore, that women are animals. Passive, weak, eternally done-to rather than doing.*and if you think I'm over-egging the force-fed glass of spunk, you haven't seen the porn I've seen. Oh, and if you think I'm some anti-porn Dworkinite, a.) you're wrong and b.) sod off. |
After matching the Bucks' offer sheet on Jeff Teague and drafting Dennis Schröder with the 17th pick in the draft, the Atlanta Hawks appear to have set up a strong point guard tandem for the future. Schröder's impressive play in Summer League appears to have solidified his place as the clear back-up point guard heading into training camp.
The third point guard on the roster is Shelvin Mack, who signed a non-guaranteed contract near the end of last season for the minimum. Mack is also on the Hawks Summer League roster, but is not having as good of a week as his rookie teammate is. Mack is averaging 6.5 points and 2.8 assists per game on 38.5% shooting (25% from three) in 18.3 minutes per game. Stats don't tell the whole story, or really that much of the story, when it comes to Summer League, but there has been a difference in the effectiveness of the team when Schröder has played compared to Mack.
Talking with Mack and Hawks GM Danny Ferry, there appears to be a role on the Hawks for Shelvin that both seem to think he can fill.
"We've talked to him and his agent, and with us drafting a point guard and our roster being balanced the way it is, we are communicating with him. There is an opportunity for good players to be here, and you find a way to make that happen, if you need to."
In talking with Shelvin prior to their final Summer League game against the Sacramento Kings, Mack appeared confident that he had a place on the team, despite the actions of the Hawks that offseason.
"We really haven't gotten to [discussing my role], but there are three point guards on the team and every team has that. I just have to come in and compete. Wherever they need me, I'll be happy with that as long as I'm a Hawk. You know, Teague will be the starting point guard, and me and Dennis are going to push Teague to get better and compete for the back-up position."
Mack also seemed unconcerned with any poor performances in Summer League, knowing that he has showcased his talents in the NBA.
"I've just trying to play my game. You know, I've played in the NBA for two years and teams know what I can do. Just trying to come down, make the right plays, and try to do the stuff that will help the team win. Everyone knows Summer League is different from the season, so just trying to maintain and get better."
As to where Mack feels he is in learning the new offense, Mack thought he was doing well with it and seemed to be grasping the basic concepts.
"I'm becoming very comfortable with [the new offense]. You know, I'm learning that the point guard does a lot without the basketball, watching Tony Parker. It's a great offense. Not a lot of standing around, so once everyone's on the same page, everyone's going to be moving together and it's going to be hard to guard."
Speaking with Mack made it clear that he is confident that there is a place for him on the Hawks roster, and if nothing else, an NBA roster should the Hawks go in a different direction. Mack's confident in both his abilities and the body of work that he has put together over his first two years in the NBA. He is not putting too much stock into these Summer League outings, choosing instead to look at them as opportunities to improve, but not the final say on his talents or abilities.
From the Hawks perspective, it appears there is a possible place for Mack on the team. Mack would round-out a very solid point guard rotation of Teague, Schröder, and Mack, which would be one of the deeper rotations in the league. Add in the shooting guard rotation of Lou Williams, Kyle Korver, John Jenkins, and Jared Cunningham and the Hawks appear to be well set in the backcourt.
The question mark will be whether the Hawks are willing to carry seven guards on the roster. If not, the decision would come down to Mack or Cunningham for that final spot on the roster. From an on-court perspective, Mack appears to be a better fit. He is a quality ball-handler and was above average as a pick-and-roll ball-handler, a staple of the Budenholzer's offense, last year at 0.98 PPP on 51.1% shooting. Cunningham's play is like Lou Williams, and his inclusion over Mack on the roster would be somewhat redundant.
However, as we all know, in the NBA money talks. Cunningham, acquired on draft night from the Mavericks, was a first-round draft pick last season, meaning this year's salary is fully guaranteed. Mack is on the aforementioned non-guaranteed minimum contract, which means releasing him would not cost the Hawks the money it would to release Cunningham. Releasing Mack would likely be a cost-cutting maneuver if Atlanta decides to only keep six guards.
The Hawks still have roster moves to make this offseason, and, as Ferry told me earlier in the week, the plan is to bring in another big man and a wing player. With the way the current roster is set up, if they add one more big and one more wing, the Hawks would have 13 players on the roster, with decisions to come on Lucas Nogueira and Mike Muscala. Last season, Atlanta carried 13 or 14 players for the majority of the year, because Ferry likes to keep some roster flexibility to take on more players in trades. With the plans Ferry has for the roster, it appears that Mack has a safe spot on the roster...for now.
More from Peachtree Hoops: |
Vancouver’s foreign buyers, scared off by a 15 per cent tax additional property transfer tax that only applies to them, appear to be making their way to Toronto, according to a new report.
But Diana Petramala, the economist with Toronto-Dominion Bank, who wrote the note out Friday, says the impact on Toronto is no where near what was happening in Vancouver. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said at the peak up to 20 per cent of buyers were foreign until the tax went into effect on Aug. 2 in Vancouver.
“The million dollar question now is whether foreign investment has shifted east and Toronto has become the new Vancouver. With record immigration in 2016 and the strong growth in prime first-time homebuyer population, the fundamental factors supporting housing activity appear stronger in Toronto than Vancouver – helping drive existing home sales and prices up,” said Petramala. “Having said that, the sales-to-population ratio in Toronto has risen sharply recently, suggesting that foreign investment and speculation are playing a part, albeit likely smaller than in Vancouver.”
Her comments come as the Canadian Real Estate Association released results for September on the same day which show the strength of the Toronto market continues to impact national sales figures just as Vancouver, which suffered almost a 33 per cent pullback in September sales compared to a year ago, retreats.
CREA, which represents about 100 boards across the country, said existing home sales rose 0.8 per cent in September from August on a seasonally adjusted basis, but remain 5.6 per cent below the high hit in April, April 2016.
“The finance minister’s recent changes to regulations affecting mortgage lending has added to housing market uncertainty among buyers and sellers,” said Cliff Iverson, the president of CREA. “For first-time home buyers, the stress test for those who need mortgage default insurance will cause them to rethink how much home they can afford to buy.”
Among the changes are that all mortgage insurance backed by Ottawa include a provision that the borrower be forced to qualify for a loan based on the much higher rate posted rates of the major banks for a five-year fixed rate mortgage, now 4.6 per cent. Instead of 1.95 per cent, the lowest rate for a fixed five year mortgage, according to ratespy.com, consumers must now use the higher rate and get a smaller loan or not qualify at all.
Those new loan figures go into effect Monday and they could impact about one-third of all new borrowers, according to some estimates. Petramala said the regulations could take some steam out of the market and is predicting a 10 per cent decline in sales next year and a one per cent reduction in prices.
“This is the sixth time in eight years that the government has tightened mortgage regulation, and in each event, sales have fallen between 6 per cent and 14 per cent in the following three to six months,” she said. “The difference this time around is that the rules are more broadly targeted at insured borrowers (raising the bar on income testing), lenders (restricting the use of portfolio insurance) and foreign investors and speculators (increasing oversight of capital gain taxes on real estate and restricting non-residents from taking advantage of the principal residence exemption).”
Doug Porter, an economist with Bank of Montreal, sees similar storm clouds on the horizon for housing from the government’s changes.
“Prior to the new mortgage rules, the dominant story in Canada’s housing market was the diverging paths of previously white-hot Vancouver and still piping-hot Toronto. We are all along the market watchtower now, though, looking for some broad softening in sales in the wake of Ottawa’s new measures,” said Porter, who expects a five per cent drop in sales in 2017 and only a one to two per cent gain in prices next year after a 12 per cent rise in 2016.
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The Peel District School Board is stepping back from a new policy that forced Muslim students to choose from a bank of stock sermons during Friday prayers, rather than writing their own.
In a revised policy released Friday, board staff recommend that students be given a choice between delivering sermons of their own creation, or choosing between a series of pre-written sermons approved by local Imams.
Friday prayers will continue to be supervised by a staff member, the revised policy says.
Trustees will vote on the proposal at their regular meeting next Tuesday evening.
The problems first emerged in September.
That's when a new board policy insisted Muslim students use one of six pre-written sermons at their Friday prayers, rather than their own creations, something they'd been doing for years, Trustee Nokha Dakroub told CBC Toronto.
"You can't tell people, 'Here's your prayer, read it word for word,' and that's your prayer for the day," she said. "We should not be interfering."
Board Trustee Nokha Dakroub is expecting to receive a revised policy proposal Friday that will change the rules surrounding Muslim prayer in Peel classrooms. (CBC News)
Hamza Aziz, 19, said he and other Muslim students felt insulted at the inference that their sermons could degenerate into hate speech.
"It's as though you're looking at students through a lens of guilt, and making them feel like suspects as opposed to Canadians with rights and values," the student at Mississauga's John Fraser Secondary School said. "It's as though you're looked down upon."
Dakroub and Aziz said that both the board's code of conduct and existing laws prohibiting hate speech should be enough to ensure the sermons are appropriate.
"There are fears out there, and I understand that it's because of the world that we live in, but we can't put Muslim students under extra scrutiny just because of what we're watching on TV, or what one person might do," Dakroub said. "When something comes up, we will deal with it — just like we deal with all sorts of other issues."
Hamza Aziz, a Muslim student at John Fraser Secondary School, says students feel stigmatized by the policy that came down in September. (CBC News)
Muslim teachers supervise prayers
Under the old policy an adult, usually a Muslim teacher, supervised the students' sermons, Dakroub said. She couldn't recall a sermon ever having to be interrupted because of its content.
However, board spokesperson Ryan Reyes said in an email that "there have been a few situations where staff had to intervene, but rare. We don't formally track this data."
Prayers will continue to be supervised under the new policy.
After the policy change in September, some students asked Dakroub to lobby the board to return to the old system, which she did.
Muslim community members also sent representatives when the board met again in November to request a resolution.
After that somewhat heated meeting, the board put in place a compromise solution. Currently, students can write their own sermons, but they must be delivered to their school principal for approval on the Monday prior to their delivery at Friday prayers, Dakroub said.
In the meantime, trustees asked staff to come up with a more permanent solution. It was to be delivered at the December meeting, but could not be prepared in time, a board spokesperson said last month. |
The Dallas Cowboys placed the franchise tag on receiver Dez Bryant to ensure he wouldn't hit the open market while a long-term deal could be worked out. Jerry Jones doesn't sound in a hurry to get that multi-year deal done.
"It's not imperative for him or us to get something done by the season or otherwise," Jones said Tuesday, per the team's official website. "Let's be real clear: The franchise is there just to do exactly what it's doing, and it really rewards, financially, a player. And so while both of us would like to have a long-term agreement -- and I can speak to that, we both would -- it's not imperative on any type of timeframe of months or during the time the franchise is in to get something done."
Bryant will make $12.7 million on the tag this season. It's conceivable that the Cowboys could wield the tag again next season -- at 120 percent of the 2015 figure -- which would pay Bryant north of $15.2 million.
Jones said part of the trouble with Bryant's deal is that all NFL teams are trying to figure out what the market is for young receivers in an age with proliferating passing games and a burgeoning salary cap.
"I'd say, in general, that receiver market is a tough market right now. Obviously, you've got Demaryius (Thomas) out in Denver who was franchised, and you've got some good young ones coming up in A.J. (Green) and Julio (Jones)," he said. "In general, teams are trying to figure out what that wide receiver market should be for these top young guys."
One concern for Dallas could be Bryant holding out if a long-term agreement can't be finalized. It's a scenario the Cowboys' owner brushed aside.
"I'm not worried about that at all, and it's because of how much he loves the game, how much he knows that preparation, practice, all of that improves him," Jones said.
"There's no doubt in my mind that -- without being presumptuous, without doing anything -- that Dez will be on the field and a Dallas Cowboy under either of the circumstances -- long-term or franchise agreement."
The latest Around The NFL Podcast recaps the inaugural Veteran Combine and discusses which star players were helped (and hurt) by free agency. Find more Around The NFL content on NFL NOW. |
There are plenty of questions still to be answered about the future course for LMP1 Hybrid in the wake of the announcement of Porsche’s withdrawal after the 2017 season.
Amongst those are the future of the 2020 regulations, confirmed at Le Mans just weeks ago, and believed to be the carrot on what has proved to be a long stick for a return from Peugeot Sport.
It may have gone quiet there for the moment but Matt Fernandez has sniffed out a recent newspaper interview (in Dauphiné Libéré) with the Motorsport Director for Peugeot Sport Jean-Marc Finot.
It’s an interesting trot through the current state of play with the possible future programme, and it reveals another aspect of the cost-cutting picture that this writer at least was not previously aware of:
“Regulations keep on evolving and are headed in the right direction. There are some very interesting technical aspects in it such as the hybrid plug-in concept [or plug-in hybrid]. We will be able to load the car [electrically] while it pits and then have it leave the pits on zero emissions […].
“This evolution is totally aligned with PSA’s technical strategy as 80% of our cars should offer alternative traction options (electrical or plug-in) from 2023 onwards. There are also some very interesting aspects in the regulations that aim towards lower costs. For instance, there is the reduction in the number of test days. We also like the idea of achieving substantial cost reductions by having one aero kit in the season instead of two and the idea of using a standard underbody/substructure [the first time this writer has heard of this point, it is clarified below]
“It is all headed in the right direction. Yet, we need to look into the details of the rule book and use any other opportunities to further lower costs”
“Our return [in Endurance Racing] has not been endorsed yet by the executive board of Peugeot. With this being said, everyone in Peugeot wants this return… we are all passionate people in this company
“We would need two big years [between the moment when the decision is taken and the moment when the car is ready to compete] including 6 months to define the architecture of the car and choose our concepts, one small year to produce the spare parts and to assemble a car and then 6 months to run the car through several tests (on track, in the wind tunnel, etc)”
Underbody proposals
DSC has dug a little into the proposals for 2020 for the underbody and has established that this is not a pure, spec item that is being proposed. The discussions have thus far centred around severely reducing the opportunities for development of underbody aero, an area where some friction was in the air at the start of the 2017 season between Porsche and Toyota.
The current proposals are to define perimeters around the underbody section, restricting development in the areas where performance gains are most likely and therefore major cost is most likely to be incurred.
There will be so-called ‘free zones’ in the underbody to enable innovation but with strict cost controls.
Whether the withdrawal of Porsche makes a return from Peugeot less, or potentially more, likely is yet to be determined, and either way the interview above makes it very clear indeed that anything like a competitive return is unlikely before 2020.
In the short-term the WEC must look elsewhere. |
There has never been a question about Jay Cutler's natural ability, but former NFL general manager and president Bill Polian believes the Chicago Bears quarterback has the intangibles to be great as well.
"He wouldn't be the type of quarterback he is without the intangibles," Polian, now an ESPN analyst, told "The Waddle & Silvy Show" on ESPN Chicago 1000 Wednesday. "Just stop and think about this: What was he surrounded with at Vanderbilt? I saw him as a sophomore ... in the Swamp take Florida to the wire and come back about three or four times in that game. It took a miraculous play by the Gators, who were then in the top 10 in the country, to win the game.
"This is a guy who's done a lot with a little throughout his career. And his receiver corps -- it's no secret -- his receiving corps in Chicago has not been stellar during his time there. I don't know why people would question the intangibles. He's done a lot with a little throughout his career."
Cutler, who started all 45 career games at Vanderbilt before being picked in the first round of the 2006 NFL draft by the Denver Broncos, enters the final year of his contract with the Bears in 2013. Cutler has said he is content to play out the final year of his deal if he can't come to an agreement on an extension with the Bears before the season.
Polian, who drafted Peyton Manning during his 15-year run as president of the Indianapolis Colts, likes what he sees from Cutler, who he believes has rare talent.
"I see an incredibly talented guy. He's got a great arm, he's got a great delivery, he's got good knowledge of what defenses are doing to him," Polian said. "He's got really good timing; he can deliver the ball on time. He can make every throw. He can get it into tight windows which is extremely rare in quarterback talent. He's got some escapability. He can buy a second chance. He's not RGIII by any stretch of the imagination but he can buy a second chance. He's courageous; he'll take the hit in order to get a first down.
"I think if he's surrounded with better receiving and protection talent he'll shine. He's a very, very talented quarterback." |
Oscar-Nominated Editor And Fictional Person Roderick Jaynes Explains It All By Kristy Puchko Random Article Blend
A creation of the Coens, Jaynes is little more than a pseudonym the brothers share when cutting their movies together. Though he's not up for any honors this year, with the Academy Awards around the corner, it seemed a good time to look back to the closest thing to an interview "Jaynes" ever granted. It's from The Man Who Wasn't There.
Jaynes began by confessing that living in Haywards Heath, he had no motivation to keep up with pop culture. So when it came time to pick a title for the neo-noir he'd been cutting, he was mystified by the Coen's suggestions. He derides their picks, from "Pansies Don't Float," "Missing, Presumed Ed," "The Nirdlinger Doings," and "Ed Crane, You So Crazy!" Yet Jaynes didn't hate "I Love You, Birdie Abundas!"
But as the brothers bandied about titles, Jaynes tells us, he focused on the cut, lamenting, "The chore was familiar to me, this being my seventh picture with these film-makers, and prompted me to wonder whether a deft and resourceful film editor mightn't sometimes be less the director's friend than his enabler, licensing the sloppiness and ineptitude of he who might otherwise reform. This is a theme upon which, sadly, I could at this point write a book."
However, he was inspired to come up with a title of his own once these bumbling brothers he calls "cretins" offered him a paid holiday weekend in Blackpool should they choose his suggestion. Here's how that went:
"They had solicited my advice, they now told me, because they thought that, being British, I might know some 'Shakespearean stuff that might work'. They propounded the theory that a good title intrigues, is suggestive, allusive, and makes one want to know more. I was going to suggest "The Man with the Gas Hearth" but, mindful that they also wanted something that savoured of pulpy confession, proposed "My Hearth Is Gas". This prompted a few minutes' thought from Ethan at the end of which he asked: 'Is that from the sonnets?'"
The whole scathing "recounting" is worth a read. But in the end the fictional man explains, "my musings on their personal vacuity bore me to what I thought was not a bad title for their film: "The Man Who Wasn't There," and a movie was born." And of course, Jaynes got his holiday. Film editors are mysterious figures in Hollywood. This is in part because so few people really understand what an editor does, and partly because so few directors like to recognize how crucial a great editor is to their final cut. (Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese are notable exceptions.) So, it's not surprising if you haven't heard of two-time Oscar-nominated editor Roderick Jaynes, who is credited with cutting every film Joel and Ethan Coen have made. These fraternal filmmakers have described him as a cantankerous British chap whose in his late 80s or early 90s. But in all their years working with him, Jaynes has only ever spoken out about their collaboration once. Of course, that's pretty impressive considering Jaynes doesn't exist.A creation of the Coens, Jaynes is little more than a pseudonym the brothers share when cutting their movies together. Though he's not up for any honors this year, with the Academy Awards around the corner, it seemed a good time to look back to the closest thing to an interview "Jaynes" ever granted. It's from The Guardian circa 2001 (via Movies.com ) and in it, he reveals how he and the Coens came up with the title forJaynes began by confessing that living in Haywards Heath, he had no motivation to keep up with pop culture. So when it came time to pick a title for the neo-noir he'd been cutting, he was mystified by the Coen's suggestions. He derides their picks, from "Pansies Don't Float," "Missing, Presumed Ed," "The Nirdlinger Doings," and "Ed Crane, You So Crazy!" Yet Jaynes didn't hate "I Love You, Birdie Abundas!"But as the brothers bandied about titles, Jaynes tells us, he focused on the cut, lamenting, "The chore was familiar to me, this being my seventh picture with these film-makers, and prompted me to wonder whether a deft and resourceful film editor mightn't sometimes be less the director's friend than his enabler, licensing the sloppiness and ineptitude of he who might otherwise reform. This is a theme upon which, sadly, I could at this point write a book."However, he was inspired to come up with a title of his own once these bumbling brothers he calls "cretins" offered him a paid holiday weekend in Blackpool should they choose his suggestion. Here's how that went:The whole scathing "recounting" is worth a read. But in the end the fictional man explains, "my musings on their personal vacuity bore me to what I thought was not a bad title for their film: "The Man Who Wasn't There," and a movie was born." And of course, Jaynes got his holiday. Blended From Around The Web Facebook
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When most of us first heard about Torchlight, we only ever intended to think of it as a “Diablo” clone. Or even just as something to tide us over until “Diablo III” is released (if that ever happens!). However, “Torchlight“ has grown into a worthy title in its own right, and Relic Runic Games announced a sequel in 2010.
There’s a lot to be said for sticking with a winning formula, and there are many aspects of the original “Torchlight” that we want to see more of. There are also some completely new ideas that exist only in rumor, but that sound potentially awesome. With only a tiny peek at any details of the game at all, here are some things we’d like to see in “Torchlight 2”!
More Character Classes
While it was nice of them to have a fighter dude, a magic dude, and a hybridized ranged weapons lady, action RPGs really need more customization if they want to keep up with the kinds of options that gamers expect these days. How about 4 or 5 character classes that each focus on a different skill set? Or better yet, for each character class, how about allowing the player more freedom with regard to gender, hair, skin, and maybe even body type? This is probably a tall order, but customizable avatars are starting to become the norm, and the bar has already been set pretty high.
Pet Leveling
The whole idea of having a pet was part of what made the original “Torchlight” so great. Pets solve multiple problems. They could run back to town to sell off extra loot, aid players in battle, and even be taught spells to heal. It would be great to see the pets concept expanded a bit, so that perhaps pets could level up in certain skill sets as well. Imagine training your faithful dog specifically in melee attacks, or having your cat learn to hang back and use most of her power to cure you when wounded, poisoned, burnt or whatever else those ember-crazy monsters dish out.
Pet Armor
Pets had some limited ability to wear accessories and use spells in the original, which was great. Once you figure that out, it can change your whole game. But there comes a point when your pet just can’t quite be strong enough with a little more help than a necklace and healing spell can provide. Could there be options for pet armor, perhaps? No one wants their dog to look like Tinkerbell, but maybe something more dignified, like a fire protection vest or something similar.
Pet Weapons
And as long as we're contemplating pet-specific items such as armor, perhaps there's some kind of weapon that they can carry on their backs that deals a ranged attack, if that can be managed without looking too silly. After all, there’s already quite a lot of suspension of disbelief that has to go on in these games anyway. Is one little cat-mounted arbalest going to make that much difference?
Accessories
Seriously, you find so many of these things that it becomes kind of distracting trying to make a selection, since you can only wear so many. Either give us more space, or don't have as many choices. Otherwise, you end up with such a ridiculous amount of gold from selling them off that actually having money doesn't mean anything.
More Traps
There were some traps down in the secret labyrinthine passages beneath the ember mines, of course. Spikes that shot up from the floors, fires that suddenly blazed under grates when walked over, and little huts filled with demons. But see, the problem with this is that once you experience one of these, you can generally avoid them in the future, because they all looked the same and were easy to spot. The few that were unavoidable we not that difficult to get through, either. We’re not saying that it should be turned into a bunch of horrible timing puzzles that cause painful deaths unless done just so. Honestly, it kind of sucks if you’re into the hack and slash thing, and suddenly you find yourself dealing with a platform situation that you must navigate in order to progress. But perhaps if there was just a little more variety in the traps. Or maybe not have the same amount of demons storm out of the very same hut every time. You know, mix it up. Variety is the spice of life, after all.
More Dungeon Variety
There was a very distinctive look to various levels of the game, which was great. But within each area, things often seemed identical. Perhaps it was intended to add to the difficulty, but it often had the effect of making me try to die on purpose so that I could re-spawn somewhere else.
Weapons Upgrades
Rather than a traditional upgrading system where components have to be gathered, or a more simple system where players just keep obtaining newer, better weapons in place of the old ones, “Torchlight” had sort of a hybrid system with an element of randomness thrown in, as well. Players could find weapons, and some of these even had sockets in which to place various types and grades of ember. Players could choose to stick with this system, or they could rely on drops. Weapons could be obtained with minimal effort. However, the truly adventurous soul knows that the best way to get a badass weapon is to gamble on the magician back in the village. Sometimes nothing would happen, and sometimes the weapon might even lose a little something, but with patience and money, there were some unbelievable scores to be had. We hope they don’t change a thing, here, because it was awesome and should remain so.
Social Elements
Achievements on Steam are just not enough. “Torchlight 2” could stand to take some cues from Bioware and Blizzard by implementing profile pages for players to show off their characters, their assorted gear and their accomplishments.
Cooperative Multiplayer
Besides hunting for loot and slaying monsters, the biggest draw in any action RPGs is to do all of these things in the company of a friend. The experience of playing “Torchlight 2” could be twice as fun if the “2” in the title stood for “2 players,” though we’re not going to complain if the game supported more players than that. |
FITCHBURG - The narcotics raid by state, local and federal law enforcement Thursday led to the discovery of cocaine, heroin, cash and guns, but what disturbed police was the level of firepower found on scene.
During the raid at 7 Longwood St., police found a fully automatic AK-47 and nearly 500 rounds of 7.62x39mm ammunition.
"This was the real deal," said state police spokesman David Procopio.
The resident, Andrew Roman, was arrested on multiple drug and weapons charges.
Police also found a semi-automatic .40 caliber Smith & Wesson handgun and 80 rounds of ammo.
A semi-automatic weapon fires one round and reloads every time the trigger is depressed. A fully automatic weapon will fire and reload repeatedly as long as the trigger is depressed and it has ammunition.
Procopio said police seize several hundred illegal and unlawful guns each year, but finding one that is fully automatic is somewhat rare. "We do come across them but are not very common," he said.
He said it is not clear at this point where Roman got the weapon.
The seach also found 21 grams of heroin, 3.1 grams of cocaine and $1,680 in cash.
The raid was conducted by the state police Gang Unit along with Fitchburg police, members of the North Worcester County Drug Task Force and agents with the federal Department of Homeland Security.
Roman is charged with unlawful possession of a firearm and unlawful possession of a large capacity weapon, improper storage of a firearm and improper storage of a large capacity firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition, committing a firearm violation with a prior conviction for drugs or violent crime.
He was also charged with possession of a class B substance with intent to distribute, and trafficking in heroin. |
Microsoft announced its acquisition of LinkedIn back in 2016. More than a year later, the official LinkedIn app for Windows 10 is finally here. the official LinkedIn app for Windows 10 is only available for PCs, which isn’t surprising to see as it’s a web wrapper for LinkedIn’s web app.
LinkedIn is, however, building some of the native features of Windows 10 into the app. For example, the app includes real-time notification support and it will show all of your notifications from LinkedIn on the Action Center in Windows 10. The app also integrates into the Start Menu of Windows 10, showing you the latest notifications and other data from LinkedIn on a live tile.
The fact that LinkedIn’s official Windows 10 app is mostly just a web wrapper is quite disappointing. Microsoft keeps encouraging other companies and independent developers to build native Windows 10 apps that work across different types of devices, but the company itself isn’t doing so. LinkedIn recently killed off its Windows Phone app too, which means users now have to use the web app from a browser and they also don’t get to use the new app.
The download link for the app isn’t available yet, and Microsoft says it’s rolling out on the Windows Store at the moment. The app will be available to all users by the end of this month. |
A team led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) working with the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) has discovered a new vulnerable site on the HIV virus. The newly identified site can be attacked by human antibodies in a way that neutralizes the infectivity of a wide variety of HIV strains.
"HIV has very few known sites of vulnerability, but in this work we've described a new one, and we expect it will be useful in developing a vaccine," said Dennis R. Burton, professor in TSRI's Department of Immunology and Microbial Science and scientific director of the IAVI Neutralizing Antibody Center (NAC) and of the National Institutes of Health's Center for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Immunology and Immunogen Discovery (CHAVI-ID) on TSRI's La Jolla campus.
"It's very exciting that we're still finding new vulnerable sites on this virus," said Ian A. Wilson, Hansen Professor of Structural Biology, chair of the Department of Integrative Structural and Computational Biology and member of the Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology at TSRI and member of the NAC and CHAVI-ID.
The findings were reported in two papers -- one led by Burton and the second led by TSRI Assistant Professor Andrew B. Ward, also a member of NAC and CHAVI-ID, and Wilson -- appearing in the May issue of the journal Immunity.
The discovery is part of a large, IAVI- and NIH-sponsored effort to develop an effective vaccine against HIV. Such a vaccine would work by eliciting a strong and long-lasting immune response against vulnerable conserved sites on the virus -- sites that don't vary much from strain to strain, and that, when grabbed by an antibody, leave the virus unable to infect cells.
Cloaked by Shields
HIV generally conceals these vulnerable conserved sites under a dense layer of difficult-to-grasp sugars and fast-mutating parts of the virus surface. Much of the antibody response to infection is directed against the fast-mutating parts and thus is only transiently effective.
Prior to the new findings, scientists had been able to identify only a few different sets of "broadly neutralizing" antibodies, capable of reaching four conserved vulnerable sites on the virus. All these sites are on HIV's only exposed surface antigen, the flower-like envelope (Env) protein (gp140) that sprouts from the viral membrane and is designed to grab and penetrate host cells.
The identification of the new vulnerable site on the virus began with tests of blood samples from IAVI Protocol G, in which IAVI and its NAC partnered with clinical research centers in Africa, India, Thailand, Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States to collect blood samples from more than 1,800 healthy, HIV-positive volunteers to look for rare, broadly neutralizing antibodies. The serum from a small set of the samples indeed turned out to block the infectivity, in test cells, of a wide range of HIV isolates, suggesting the presence of broadly neutralizing antibodies. In 2009, scientists from IAVI, TSRI and Theraclone Sciences succeeded in isolating and characterizing the first new broadly neutralizing antibodies to HIV seen in a decade.
Emilia Falkowska, a research associate in the Burton laboratory who was a key author of the first paper, and colleagues soon found a set of eight closely related antibodies that accounted for most of one of the sample's HIV neutralizing activity. The scientists determined that the two broadest neutralizers among these antibodies, PGT151 and PGT152, could block the infectivity of about two-thirds of a large panel of HIV strains found in patients worldwide.
Curiously, despite their broad neutralizing ability, these antibodies did not bind to any previously described vulnerable sites, or epitopes, on Env -- and indeed failed to bind tightly anywhere on purified copies of gp120 or gp41, the two protein subunits of Env. Most previously described broadly neutralizing HIV antibodies bind to one or the other Env subunit. The researchers eventually determined, however, that PGT151 and PGT152 attach not just to gp120 or gp41 but to bits of both.
In fact, gp120 and gp41 assemble into an Env structure not as one gp120-gp41 combination but as three intertwined ones -- a trimer, in biologists' parlance. PGT151 and 152 (which are nearly identical) turned out to have a binding site that occurs only on this mature and properly assembled Env trimer structure.
"These are the first HIV neutralizing antibodies we've found that unequivocally distinguish mature Env trimer from all other forms of Env," said Falkowska. "That's important because this is the form of Env that the virus uses to infect cells."
Structure Revealed
The second of the two new studies was an initial structural analysis of the new vulnerable epitope.
Using an integrative approach that combined electron microscopy on the Env trimer complex with PGT151 (led by the Ward lab) with the structure of the PGT151 Fab by x-ray crystallography (led by the Wilson lab), the scientists were able to visualize the location of the PGT151-series binding site on the Env trimer -- which includes a spot on one gp41 protein with two associated sugars (glycans), a patch on the gp120 protein and even a piece of the adjacent gp41 within the trimer structure -- "a very complex epitope," said Claudia Blattner, a research associate in the Wilson laboratory at TSRI and member of the IAVI Neutralizing Antibody Center who, along with graduate student Jeong Hyun Lee, was a first author of the second paper.
A surprise finding was that the PGT151-series antibodies bind to the Env trimer in a way that stabilizes its otherwise fragile structure. "Typically when you try to purify the native Env trimer, it falls apart, which has made it very hard to study," said Ward. "It was a key breakthrough to find an antibody that stabilizes it."
Although the PGT151 site is valuable in itself as an attack point for an HIV vaccine, its discovery also hints at the existence of other similar complex and vulnerable epitopes on HIV. |
Search form Search View Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ products by category
Wi-Fi Alliance® introduces low power, long range Wi-Fi HaLow™
New technology will extend Wi-Fi® solutions for the Internet of Things
Las Vegas, NV, January 4, 2016 – With industry momentum mounting around a low power
Wi-Fi® solution, Wi-Fi Alliance® today announced the Wi-Fi HaLow™ designation for products incorporating IEEE 802.11ah technology. Wi-Fi HaLow operates in frequency bands below one gigahertz, offering longer range, lower power connectivity to Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ products. Wi-Fi HaLow will enable a variety of new power-efficient use cases in the Smart Home, connected car, and digital healthcare, as well as industrial, retail, agriculture, and Smart City environments.
Wi-Fi HaLow extends Wi-Fi into the 900 MHz band, enabling the low power connectivity necessary for applications including sensor and wearables. Wi-Fi HaLow’s range is nearly twice that of today’s Wi-Fi, and will not only be capable of transmitting signals further, but also providing a more robust connection in challenging environments where the ability to more easily penetrate walls or other barriers is an important consideration. Wi-Fi HaLow will broadly adopt existing Wi-Fi protocols and deliver many of the benefits that consumers have come to expect from Wi-Fi today, including multi-vendor interoperability, strong government-grade security, and easy setup.
“Wi-Fi HaLow is well suited to meet the unique needs of the Smart Home, Smart City, and industrial markets because of its ability to operate using very low power, penetrate through walls, and operate at significantly longer ranges than Wi-Fi today,” said Edgar Figueroa, President and CEO of Wi-Fi Alliance. “Wi-Fi HaLow expands the unmatched versatility of Wi-Fi to enable applications from small, battery-operated wearable devices to large-scale industrial facility deployments – and everything in between.”
Many devices that support Wi-Fi HaLow are expected to operate in 2.4 and 5 GHz as well as 900 MHz, allowing devices to connect with Wi-Fi’s ecosystem of more than 6.8 billion installed devices. Like all Wi-Fi devices, Wi-Fi HaLow devices will support IP-based connectivity to natively connect to the cloud, which will become increasingly important in reaching the full potential of the Internet of Things (IoT). Dense device deployments will also benefit from Wi-Fi HaLow’s ability to connect thousands of devices to a single access point.
“Wi-Fi Alliance programs have been instrumental in shaping and guiding the industry,” said Phil Solis, ABI Research. “Wi-Fi’s portfolio of technologies continues to address market needs, and Wi-Fi’s evolution will allow it to address a variety of new use cases.”
Wi-Fi HaLow complements existing Wi-Fi technologies and expands Wi-Fi Alliance’s overall portfolio with a low power solution that will enable Wi-Fi to maintain its critical role in the IoT. Additional IoT-related activities are underway in Wi-Fi Alliance that are helping to further proliferate Wi-Fi in the Smart Home and other segments. In particular, Wi-Fi Alliance is developing a new secure and simple way to connect and configure devices without a display or input mechanisms, as is the case with many Smart Home devices today. In addition to an expanding list of programs to address unique market needs, Wi-Fi Alliance recently announced a new membership category that will enable a wider variety of devices not historically thought of as high-tech, including vacuums and door knobs, to include certified Wi-Fi connectivity.
For more information on Wi-Fi HaLow, please visit: www.wi-fi.org/wi-fi-halow
About Wi-Fi Alliance:
www.wi-fi.org
Wi-Fi Alliance® is a global non-profit industry association – our members are the worldwide network of companies that brings you Wi-Fi®. The members of our collaboration forum come from across the Wi-Fi ecosystem and share a common vision of connecting everyone and everything, everywhere. Since 2000, the Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ seal of approval designates products with proven interoperability, industry-standard security protections, and the latest technology. Wi-Fi Alliance has certified more than 25,000 products, delivering the best user experience and encouraging the expanded use of Wi-Fi products and services in new and established markets. Today, billions of Wi-Fi products carry a significant portion of the world’s data traffic in an ever-expanding variety of applications.
Media contacts
Elliott Suthers
Highwire PR for Wi-Fi Alliance
[email protected]
+1-415-963-4174 ext. 6 |
Are your social skills as advanced as you think they are? Having a brilliant personality only gets you so far. Check yourself with the following list.
[DOs:]
1. Introduce yourself.
Everyone has certain levels of shyness and insecurity. Stepping out of your comfort zone and up to new people makes you appear assertive, confident and sure of yourself. You’ll be viewed as a highly accomplished “social-interacter” in people’s eyes, and your confidence will likely be contagious to the room. Enter a social setting knowing you’re going to be awesome and have a great time, and you will.
2. Listen.
This is a big one. Here’s how:
Look at the person talking. Looking around or fiddling with your smart phone is rude when someone is trying to talk to you. Stop thinking about what to say next. Try to actually ingest what they are saying, pause (it’s ok to pause), and then respond. Ask related questions. It shows that you’re paying attention and not thinking about something completely obscure or off-topic. Limit annoying sounds to show you’re listening, like “mhm”, “aha”, “ok” or “yes”. It’s natural, but don’t overdo it; it feels like you’re faking interest.
3. Learn how to accept compliments.
It’s not humility when you try to deflect or disagree with a compliment toward you, it comes across as low self-esteem. Learn how to take a compliment and own it. Just say “Thank you!”
4. Kill a bad mood.
This one resonates with me big time. Research shows that forcing a smile onto your face will actually initiate a positive chemical reaction in your brain that will in turn lighten your mood. Even if you’re not wanting to be social but you’re stuck in a social situation, you can make the most of it by deciding to have fun. In other words, “fake it ‘til you make it!”
5. Offer heartfelt compliments.
From time to time, remind the important people in your life how much they mean to you. It’s a little action that goes a long way. Not only will you make them feel spectacular, but your bond with them and their trust in you will grow stronger.
6. Talk about the other person.
People love to talk about themselves. If you’re noticing your interactions are mostly focused on you and your issues, try to begin allotting a portion of the conversation to find out about your listener. It will make you more likable and they will be more likely to want to talk with you in the future. Remember to ask specific questions, not just “what’s new with you?”
7. Be real.
“Pretty good” or “Just fine” are canned responses that often mask how we really feel. Maybe you are doing “just fine”, but being honest or specific about how you really feel will show the asker you’re an actual human with a personality, leaving them with a more memorable and connected impression. Don’t unload the depressing low-points of your terrible day onto somebody who was looking for a more concise response, but be candid and upfront. The other person will likely open up to you in return.
8. Don’t abandon the person you came with.
This may not seem like a big deal, especially if you consider yourself a “social butterfly” who can’t help but flutter around, talking to as many people as possible. Abandonment is a form of rejection, and the feeling that comes from both can be deeply painful and emotionally damaging.
“Rejections elicit emotional pain so sharp it affects our thinking, floods us with anger, erodes our confidence and self-esteem, and destabilizes our fundamental feeling of belonging.” –Guy Winch
This is not to say you should ignore everyone else in the room, just prioritize. Remember to consider the feelings of the person or persons you came with, and your loyalty will not go unnoticed.
9. Just go digital already.
This will upset some people. If you’re still refusing social media because you think it will ruin your social life, you may be ruining your social life. Yes, there are people who have unhealthy relationships with their phones, but that’s not the norm if you’re out of high school. It’s not necessarily “cool” to fight against social media anymore, it may actually be hurting your ability to relate to others in an increasingly-digital media-rich society. Depending on your career and lifestyle, you may be fine without a digital presence, but you may also be setting yourself up for social failure. I’ll let you figure this one out for yourself. Remember, some of these are more suggestions than rules.
10. Pick up on the signals.
You can learn a lot about how you’re doing from the signals others are giving you. Here are a few indicators according to writer, Julian Reisinger:
“Mh”, “aha”, “ok” + seeming absent minded = You are boring. Not asking any questions = Next topic please! Looking at the clock several times = Please Scotty beam me out of here! Looking around the room = All of the above. Staring into your eyes and listening closely = You are fascinating! Tell me more! Looking at your lips and not listening to your words (at a date) = Please undress me!
11. Look at everyone in the conversation.
Not only will you make everyone feel included and important, but you will influence each listener to remaining attentive to what you’re saying by forcing eye-contact. Nobody wants to be caught not listening.
12. Make someone an expert.
Give people the spotlight by asking questions specific to their field of work or study. Even if you already know the answer to a question, allowing them to show off their know-how in a certain area, not only fuels their ego (thanks to you), but you just might learn something new as well.
13. Accentuate the positives.
Simple but effective: if you notice a new change about someone, be the first to point it out. People, especially women, can invest a lot of effort (and money) into certain features of their life or appearance. Small compliments go a long way in boosting a friend’s self esteem.
[DON’Ts:]
1. Gossip
From a spectator’s experience, I can attest to the reality that gossip can be social poison. It doesn’t matter if you think you can trust the person you’re telling, it usually comes back to bite you. The more people you spread your negativity to, the more toxic the social punch bowl gets (and you get a reputation as a shit-talker). Eventually, your entire social circle is feeling more disheartened and disgusted than they were when they first got there, and congrats, it’s your fault.
2. Negativity
Similar to the previous point, negativity will ruin everyone’s mood, so avoid the urge to constantly complain about everything. You’re depressing everyone; don’t be a Debbie Downer.
3. Making everything about you
It’s okay to assert related points, because it shows you’re listening, but don’t over-do it. And PLEASE don’t try to “one-up” the person talking. I don’t care if you did eat more hot dogs in Tampa your freshman year, if you’re constantly trying appear better or more experienced than everyone else, you’ll end up appearing insecure and self-absorbed.
4. Interrupting
If you need clarification about something someone just said, it’s acceptable, but generally it’s rude. Hold your thought until the other person has completed his/hers. Blurting out your points of you in the middle of someone else’ just shows that you weren’t really interested in what was being said. I don’t care if that’s how your family communicates, it’s not cool in normal life.
5. Using others as an emotional dumpster
Please do not unload on anyone who will listen. Just because people are nice enough to not shut you up when you’re vomiting all of the devastation that is your love life onto them, does not mean that they enjoy hearing about it. It’s important to vent, but save it for a few close friends, and remember to be available to listen to their problems when that time comes.
6. Talking about people or topics others can’t relate to
Don’t alienate members of conversation by bringing up people or matters that leave them feeling clueless or alone. Talk about things that you know are common interests of all participants, so everyone feels involved.
7. Talking too much about yourself
Unless you just went through a breakup or lost a relative, know when to shut up about yourself. I’m not saying avoid talking about yourself at all costs, but there should be a good balance.
No matter how advanced you suppose your social skills are, there is always room for improvement. Hopefully this list will help you become a better person socially, as it has for me. |
MSHA chief Joe Main has filed his response to the efforts by his former employers at the United Mine Workers of America union and families of two miners killed at Upper Big Branch to force a more public investigation of the worst U.S. coal-mining disaster in 40 years.
I’ve posted a copy here, so you can read for yourself.
MSHA lawyers have filed a motion to dismiss — arguing that the families have no case that a court could possibly rule on — and also filed a response to the request for a temporary restraining order filed by the families and the UMWA.
For all of the talk from Labor Secretary Hilda Solis about increased transparency, for all of President Obama’s moving words at the miners’ memorial — and despite Main’s own long history of working to involve miners and miners’ families in accident investigations — now the real position of the government becomes clear. Basically, it goes something like this: We’re the real experts here, so leave us alone to investigate. We’ll show you our report when we’re done. And we’ll have a scripted public hearing that includes only the witnesses and only the testimony we want. But until then, we don’t need your help.
Here’s a few samples from the legal brief filed this morning on Joe Main’s behalf:
— There is nothing in the Mine Act or anywhere else that permits Plaintiffs to second-guess the Secretary’s judgment as to how best to conduct such investigations.
— Plaintiffs will be entitled to civil discovery if and when they file private civil proceedings … government investigations are not conducted for the benefit of private litigants.
— … Plaintiffs have already attempted to disrupt this process by the initiation of this action without legal authority …
— To force MSHA to conduct public interviews and require MSHA to coordinate investigative activities with Plaintiffs and others would necessarily impede the progress of this investigation …
— Finally, giving private lawyers and litigants control over MSHA’s investigation is a slippery slope. Subordinating MSHA’s investigative powers to private interests would be disastrous to the investigative process and make a mockery of Congress’ mandate to MSHA.
Is MSHA now in an adversarial court process with at least two of the miners’ families? Yes. And sometimes the tone takes off from there. But you have to wonder if Joe Main would look those families in the eye and accuse them of trying to “disrupt the process” … |
India’s conglomerates Tata Steel & JSW Group win bids for two new teams
Indian Super League – a globally renowned football competition from the Indian sub-continent will be seen in its new avatar this 2017-18 season.
After successfully establishing Indian football in the global arena and achieving the rare milestone of being the third most attended football league globally, the three-season young Indian Super League is positioned to provide exponential growth to the sport in India.
Much to the popular demand of a longer Indian Super League and Football Sports Development Limited’s (FSDL) objective of spreading the beautiful game to India’s vast geography, the ISL in its fourth edition will witness an expanded five-month module with number of participating clubs increasing to ten from its original eight founding member city clubs.
Football Sports Development Limited – the joint venture between IMG- Reliance & Star India today announced the addition of two of India’s largest conglomerates Tata Steel Ltd. – a US$ 18.12 billion company and subsidiary of Tata Group (US$ 103.51 billion 2015-16) and Jindal South West (JSW) Group – US$ 9 billion corporate into the fold of Indian Super League.
The inclusion of two new clubs came through the ‘Invitation To Bid’ tender process floated by FSDL last month. An independent panel along with consulting firm EY evaluated the bids to present its report today to the panel, in the presence of All India Football Federation General Secretary Mr Kushal Das.
Tata Steel Ltd., which has won the bid to participate in ISL from Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, are the pioneering Indian corporate to have provided national football with perennial pool of young footballers since 1987 through its Jamshedpur based facility – Tata Football Academy.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr Sunil Bhaskaran, Vice President Corporate Services, Tata Steel and Chairman TFA, said: “This is a momentous occasion for Tata Steel, which has always been a pioneer in the development of sports in the country, especially football. Our entry into the coveted Indian Super League reinforces our commitment to provide a fillip to the development of football in the country. We are extremely excited to have won the bid for our hometown Jamshedpur and will provide the best of facilities for football to prosper in the eastern part of our country”.
JSW Group which owns the successful football club Bengaluru FC through its subsidiary JSW Sports won the right to participate in ISL from Bengaluru city. JSW Group has to its credit established a very successful and professionally run football club in I-League within a short period of 3 years; winning the competition twice including in its debut year.
Parth Jindal, CEO, JSW Bengaluru FC attributed JSW Group’s decision to bid for an ISL team to the “interest of long-term future of Indian football.”
Mr Jindal said, “We’re glad that our bid to be part of the ISL has been accepted. A lot of time and thought has gone into our decision of wanting to be part of the Indian Super League. The biggest factor has been the interest of the long-term future of Indian football. A longer league is the right road ahead.”
Mr. Kushal Das, General Secretary, AIFF expressed satisfaction on the bid evaluation process, saying, “The interest shown by India’s two large corporates to be part of ISL and Indian football’s growth story is an indication of the growing popularity of the sport in the country. Their contribution to Indian football has been immense and will only set the high standards in ISL.” |
These are only averages. The "heaviest" load required in the Open was a 165-lb. clean and jerk (squat clean and jerk technically), which is roughly equivalent to a 130-lb. snatch, a 290-lb. deadlift or a 145-lb. overhead squat. I personally doubt we'll see that type of loading required in the future.
in the future. HQ has twice programmed workouts where the weight starts light (to allow everyone to participate) but gets progressively heavier. For those looking to make the Regionals, you'll likely need to be able to move weights that are about 75% heavier than the loads shown above (for instance, 165-lb. snatch for men).
For some reason, HQ hasn't gone heavy on the movements you'd expect, like deadlift. I'm guessing this could be a way to allow more people to compete who may only have access to a limited amount of weight. So honestly, I'd be a little surprised if we see a 225-lb. deadlift in the competition, although it would seem like a reasonable weight to me.
The chart below illustrates the distribution of weights that have been required in the past (so, ignoring the 135-, 165- and 210-lb. snatches that could be performed in 12.2 and 13.1). Above each bar on the chart, I've given some examples of the type of movement/loading combinations that would fall into that range (sorry for the crappy resolution on this one, Excel for Mac is pretty awful about text boxes on charts).
What types of WODs will be programmed? Will there be any fun chippers like "Filthy Fifty?"
To answer the second question first, no, there probably will not be any fun chippers. HQ has made it clear that they believe couplets and triplets are the bread-and-butter, so get any thoughts of a "Filthy Fifty" out of your head now. Also, they probably won't program "Murph" (at least, I certainly hope not).
In the past three years, we've seen 16 workouts:
All have included either one, two or three movements
All were metcons (no max-effort lifts)
All were between 4 and 20 minutes The chart below shows the duration, number of movements and load-based emphasis on lifting (LBEL) for each workout in the past three years*. The LBEL is a metric that tells us not only how heavy the loads were, but what percentage of the workout was based on lifting. So if the workout had 135-lb. cleans and burpees, the average relative weight is 1.00 but the LBEL is 1.00x50% = 0.50.
You'll notice that as the workouts get longer, the weights tend to decrease and the number of movements tends to increase. This is in line with what we typically see in CrossFit programming. Programming 7 minutes of burpees (Open 12.1) is torturous, but not unreasonable; programming 20 minutes of burpees is stupid (and dangerous, quite frankly).
OK, well, you did all this research, why can't you just tell us what the workouts will be?
Because I'm not Dave Castro, and ultimately, what happened in the past doesn't necessarily impact what will be coming in the future. There's nothing stopping HQ from saying "screw it, we're going to start requiring weighted pistols in the Open."
That being said, the Open has tended to be pretty predictable. After I published last year's version of this post, in which I emphasized how much value was placed on burpees and snatches, guess what showed up in the first workout last year? 17 minutes of burpees and snatches. My guess is that HQ's not really trying to trick us in the Open. They save that stuff for the Games.
So do with this information what you will. I'm not telling you how to train, I'm just telling you what you should be training for.
On a personal note, this may be my last post for a couple months, potentially until the Open starts. My wife and I are expecting our first child in the next few weeks, so I'm not exactly sure where blogging about CrossFit will fit into the schedule in those first couple months. We shall see. In any event, good luck with your training!
*Note that for this chart, I considered Open 11.1 a single-modality despite technically being a clean and jerk. Also, in calculating the LBEL for the snatch workouts with varying weights, I took the average weight lifted for someone who reached regionals. This reflects the fact that, while only 75 lbs. is required, for a regional-level athlete, they'll be moving somewhere around 130 lbs. on average throughout the workout.
As of the date of this post, we have about 5 months remaining until the 2014 CrossFit Games Open begins, give or take a week or two. Planning to compete this time around? If so, you'll probably be well-served to have some idea of what to expect when March rolls around.While we can't know for certain what Dave Castro and HQ have in store this year, we have plenty of data from the past three years that can inform us about what the Open is likely to look like. How you go about training for those events is another topic altogether (one I touched on briefly last year in my post "Does Our Training Look Like What We're Training For? Should It?"), but in any event, it's better off not to go in blind. We know CrossFit is all about preparing for the unknown, but here's a hint: if you actually want to do well in the Open, I'd worry more about getting your burpees and snatches in order and less about those pesky ring handstand push-ups.In many ways, today's post will be an update to last year's post "What to Expect from the 2013 Open and Beyond." However, I plan to expand on certain topics a bit more and really focus the discussion on the Open. We'll cover the Regionals and Games another day (you can read my most recent post for plenty of discussion of the Games programming). For those just getting into CrossFit after seeing the Games on TV, here's a quick and VERY important note: the Open workouts will not look much like what you saw on TV. But even the athletes who made it that far had to master this stuff first.OK, with that out of the way, let's get started. The easiest way I see to do this is to answer the questions that any athlete should have as he or she prepares for the Open.Good question. While the Games have used a total of 51 different movements in the past, the Open is testing a much smaller skill set. There have only been a total of 14 movements used in the Open in the past three years, and 10 of those have been used every year since the Open started in 2011. Below is a breakdown of the movements that have been used in the Open in the past, and thus the movements you can expect this year. The table shows the percentage of the total point value that each movement was worth each year, along with an estimate of how much they'll be worth this year. The projection for this year takes all three years into account but gives more weight to the more recent years.Right there at the top, the top five lifts (snatch, burpee, thruster, pull-up and jerk) account for over 50% of the points. Get really good at those movements, make sure you don't suck at toes-to-bar, box jumps, double-unders, wall balls or muscle-ups, and you should do well in the Open.Now, you'll notice I have a "Subcategory" listed for each lift (I know a wall ball isn't actually KB or DB, but I put it in there because it's a lift that doesn't use a barbell). I find that looking at things based on the subcategory can be useful, because it gives us an idea of the type of movements that will be used. For instance, cleans haven't actually been used that much in the Open the past two years, but I wouldn't recommend skipping them in training - the movement pattern is similar to that of a snatch, which is highly valued. Below is a table similar to the one above, but looking at subcategories instead of specific movements.Clearly, the focus is on two things: Olympic-style lifts and basic bodyweight gymnastics. This is partly due to equipment restrictions in the Open, but partly due to the fact that HQ seems to really value those two types of movements when making the first cut of athletes. This distribution changes quite a bit when we move into the Regionals and Games, but for now, we're focused on the Open.I came up with the concept of average relative weights last year as a way to understand this topic a bit better. You can read the full write-up on how I've done this in last year's post "What to Expect from the 2013 Open and Beyond," but here's the concept: depending on the movement, a certain weight may be heavy, medium or light, so I have normalized the weights prescribed on each workout so that we can get a fairer indication of how "heavy" the lift was. After looking at the normalized loads that were prescribed in the past three years, I applied the average relative weight we've seen to the various lifts to show the average expected weights in this year's Open.Now, while the above graph is useful, there are a couple other factors to consider: |
GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, July 7 (UPI) -- More than 100 inmates remained on a hunger strike at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on the eve of Ramadan, the military said.
The protest began in February, and military prison officials said this weekend that 106 were refusing to eat, 45 of whom were under orders to be force fed.
The protest began over what the United States said were false rumors that Guantanamo guards were desecrating the Muslim Koran. There was also a growing despair that Guantanamo was still operating after President Obama had pledged to shut down the prison.
The Miami Herald said prison officials denied a report that two inmates had ended their strike and had resumed eating.
The newspaper also noted the monthlong Ramadan holiday begins Monday and traditionally includes a series of fasts and feasts. |
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Donald Trump is at the centre of yet another scandal just days before he is due to be inaugurated as President of the United States.
A bombshell dossier, reportedly put together by a former British MI6 spy, claims Russia has 'compromising' evidence of Trump which it gathered in order to be able to blackmail him.
The memo, which is reportedly being investigated by the FBI, was first alluded to by CNN, then published in full by BuzzFeed on Tuesday night.
It claims that Trump arranged for a group of prostitutes to urinate on the Moscow hotel bed where the Obamas had slept.
The billionaire businessman has described the story as "fake news" in a tweet.
Here's a rundown on what we know, and don't know, about the scandal.
What we know
1. President Obama and Trump have been briefed on the dossier
(Image: AFP)
A two-page summary of the allegations were presented to Trump and Obama last week in meetings with the top intelligence chiefs in America.
They include Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, FBI Director James Comey, CIA Director John Brennan, and NSA Director Admiral Mike Rogers.
This was not to indicate they have verified any of the claims to be true.
But according to the New York Times, intelligence services believed the material so "explosive" it should be brought to the attention of the President and President-elect.
Officials were also concerned that it may leak before Trump knew of its existence, the NYT added.
2. The dossier has been around for some time
Politicians and journalists in Washington have been aware of the dossier since last autumn.
On October 31, 2016, MotherJones published a story entitled 'A Veteran Spy Has Given the FBI Information Alleging a Russian Operation to Cultivate Donald Trump'
(Image: Getty)
Journalist David Corn said he spoke to a "former senior intelligence officer for a Western country" who said he had evidence that "the Russian government has for years tried to co-opt and assist Trump".
3. It is unclear if the FBI is investigating the claims
The FBI has remained tight-lipped and not yet commented on-the-record about whether it is investigating the dossier.
FBI Director James Comey refused to answer Senator Ron Wyden when asked if the agency was investigating links between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Last night Mr Wyden said: "The American people have a right to know the answer to this question before January 20."
4. American security agencies ARE investigating Russian hacking of the election
Intelligence agencies believe Vladimir Putin ordered a cyber hacking campaign to help Donald Trump win the US presidential election .
A report produced by the CIA, the FBI and the NSA read: "We assess Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the US presidential election."
(Image: AFP)
"We further assess Putin and the Russian Government developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump.
"We have high confidence in these judgments."
Russia denies the US government's allegations of hacking during the election campaign.
5. Donald Trump denies the claims
Trump's team have not given a detailed comment, but the President-elect dismissed the story in typically bullish style.
He tweeted: "FAKE NEWS - A TOTAL POLITICAL WITCH HUNT!"
His lawyer and adviser, Michael Cohen, has also denied a specific claim in the memo which claims he secretly met with Russian officials in Prague in August or September last year to talk about Russian hacking of Democrats.
Mr. Cohen tweeted on Tuesday night:
What we don't know
1. Have any of the facts been checked?
None of the claims in the Trump dossier have been established as true at this point.
There are some abstract claims, such as Trump's "unorthodox behaviour in Russia over the years", but others are more concrete such as his lawyer Mr Cohen having visited Prague this year.
These should in theory be possible for intelligence agencies to verify as true or false.
(Image: AFP)
2. How credible is the source?
It has now been reported by multiple US outlets that the source of the Trump dossier is a retired former British spy.
He is believed to have spent almost two decades on Russian intelligence matters and a senior government source told MotherJones "he has been a credible source with a proven record of providing reliable, sensitive, and important information to the US government."
The source, now a private consultant, was initially asked to investigate Trump's links to Russia by a Republican rival.
The client later became a Democrat.
The spy reportedly became so concerned by what he found he decided to pass on his findings to the FBI directly.
3. Did it have any effect on the US election?
President Barack Obama expelled 35 Russian suspected spies and imposed sanctions on two Russian intelligence agencies last week for alleged Kremlin involvement in hacking that intelligence officials said aimed to help the Republican Trump defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton in the November 8 election
But Trump has poured scorn on intelligence claims of Russian meddling in the US presidential election.
(Image: AFP)
He eventually conceded hacking may have occurred, but maintains that it had no effect on the outcome on the result.
His press secretary Sean Spicer said: "There is zero evidence that they influenced the election."
4. Will there be a full investigation of the claims?
Opposition leaders have jumped on the latest scandal, and demanded a full inquiry.
Eric Swalwell told the New York Times: "The president-elect has spoken a number of times, including after being presented with this evidence, in flattering ways about Russia and its dictator.
"Considering the evidence of Russia hacking our democracy to his benefit, the president-elect would do a service to his presidency and our country by releasing his personal and business income taxes, as well as information on any global financial holdings.”
5. Will it stop Donald Trump becoming President?
It appears very unlikely.
Nothing has been proven at this point and it would require a lengthy process for Congress to impeach Trump.
For more on that process, read here. |
Lisp, Docker
こないだから触っていた netstatツールコンテナができました。
Gauche に付属していた example をごにょごにょしました。
実際に ポート情報を出力する部分（抜粋）はこんな感じ。
全体像は以下URLでコード見れます
https://github.com/moremagic/docker-netstat
結構複雑になっちゃった気がします。
もう少しうまい書き方があるんだろうな。
修行しよう
( define-http-handler "/port-check" ( ^[req app] ( respond/ok req ( html:html ( html:head ( html:title "Makiki-port-check" )) ( html:body ( html:h1 "You're running server port-check" ) ( html:p "The server is running since " app "at port " ( request-server-port req ) " on host " ( request-server-host req ) "." ) ( html:pre ( string-join ( use-port-string ( iota ( - 51000 32700 ) 32700 ) ( strlist->numlist ( map ( ^[s] ( string-drop s 3 )) ( partition ( ^[s] ( string-prefix? ":::" s )) ( map ( pick-num 3 ) ( map ( ^[str] ( string-split str #/\s+/ )) ( cmd-call '( netstat -an )))))))) "</br>" )))))))
なお、 Dockerコンテナとして起動する場合は以下のようにしてみてください
docker run -dP --net=host moremagic/docker-netstat
http://hostname:8012/ にアクセスしてみてください。 |
Madison police officer Eric Parker today turned himself in to face assault charges, following the severe injuries to an Indian citizen who was walking down the street outside his son's new home.
Chief Larry Muncey told a small press conference in Madison that he also recommended that Parker be fired for his use of force against a man who committed no crime, did not speak English and could not understand the commands.
Muncey said "I found that Officer Eric Parker's actions did not meet the high standards and expectations of the Madison City Police Department."
Five members of the local Indian community sat in the front row, along with Indian Consul Anil Kumar, to watch the video from the patrol cars and listen to the non-emergency call that led to the violent confrontation.
Call to police about Indian grandfather in Madison
The caller early Friday morning reports an individual walking on the street near his home. "He was doing it yesterday and today...He's just on foot. He's just kind of walking around close to the garage."
The operator asks what the man looks like. "He's a skinny black guy, he's got a toboggan on, he's really skinny."
He adds: "I've lived here four years and I've never seen him before."
Sureshbhai Patel had only arrived in the United States about a week earlier to help care for his grandson. Patel took a walk each morning, according to his son, Chirag Patel, an engineer who recently bought a home in Madison.
Eric Parker (Limestone County Jail)
The caller says: "I'm just kind of following from a distance now." He says he is about to go to work and is nervous to leave his wife with the man walking around outside.
The dashboard camera shows two officers, field trainer Parker and his trainee Andrew Slaughter, approach the man just after 8 a.m. on Friday. The man stops and turns and steps toward them. The audio offers a clips of the interaction, mainly just what the officers say.
"What's going on sir?"
Madison Mayor Troy Trulock shakes hands with Indian Consul Anil Kumar before the press conference Thursday. Kumar watched, but did not comment.
"You what?"
"India."
"Where you heading?"
"Where?"
"I can't understand you, sir."
"Where's your address?"
"Do you have any ID?"
"India?"
"Do you live here."
"Sir, sir, come here."
"Do not jerk away from me again, or I will put you on the ground. Do you understand?"
Eventually, the two officers turn Patel around and have his hands behind his back. At one point, as another patrol car pulls up, Parker yanks his arm and slams him into the ground. Patel can not put out his hands to break his fall. He would require cervical fusion and remains in Huntsville Hospital with limited mobility in his limbs. His son as of Tuesday said his father could not move one leg at all.
The video continues, with officers trying to get the man to stand. One officer begins picking dirt and debris off of him. The concern slowly becomes evident in their voices.
"He don't speak a lick of English."
"I tried to pat him down but he tried to walk away from me."
"I don't know what his problem is but he won't listen."
"He was trying to walk away."
"Did you bite your lip?"
"He OK?"
Parker turned himself in to Limestone County today, said Chief Muncey. He will face charges of assault third degree. Muncey apologized to Patel, his family and all of Madison. "Our desire is to exceed everyone's expectations."
Sureshbhai Patel at Huntsville Hospital
Parker was released on a $1,000 bond.
Muncey said the FBI is conducting a "parallel inquiry to ascertain if there were any federal violations."
Attorney Hank Sherrod filed suit today in federal court, arguing police used excessive force and that they had no cause to stop Patel on a public sidewalk and search him.
Sherrod welcomed the news of the dismissal of this officer, as he called for exactly that on Tuesday. But Sherrod said Madison should never have released a statement suggesting that Patel had been looking into garages or was in any way responsible for the incident.
[Click here for the initial story with details on Sureshbhai Patel, his family and his injuries]
"They didn't do that on Monday," said Sherrod. "On Monday they were trying to blame Mr. Patel. On Monday they were minimizing this. I'm glad they apparently are starting to do the right thing. But why weren't they doing this on Monday? With those videos."
Members of the local Hindu community, who asked not to be named, said after the press conference that they are known for non-violence. "We don't hurt nobody, that is our principle...we don't hurt the snake." |
WWE ANNOUNCES NEW TALENT SIGNINGS
WWE sent us the following:
WWE® PERFORMANCE CENTER WELCOMES NEW CLASS OF RECRUITS
STAMFORD, Conn., April 12, 2016 – WWE (NYSE: WWE) today announced that a new class of 10 recruits, including a former NFL player, All-American collegiate wrestler, U.S. Marine Corps veteran and talent from independent wrestling circuits have begun training at the state-of-the-art WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida.
“With support from our world-class coaching staff at the WWE Performance Center these men and women will have the chance to hone their skills and fulfill their dream of becoming a WWE Superstar,” said Paul “Triple H” Levesque, WWE Executive Vice President, Talent, Live Events & Creative. “Our state-of-the-art training facility gives our talent every opportunity to succeed and grow, and I’m pleased to welcome this new class to WWE.”
The new training class includes:
· Babatunde Aiyegbusi (Olesnica, Poland) – Standing 6 feet 9 inches and weighing 350 pounds, Aiyegbusi is a former professional football player who had stints in Poland and Germany. Most recently, he spent the 2015 pre-season with the Minnesota Vikings as an offensive lineman.
· Bianca Blair (Knoxville, Tennessee) – Blair was an All-American and All-SEC track & field performer in hurdles at the University of Tennessee, and was named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll in 2011 and 2012. A CrossFit competitor and powerlifter, Blair has been featured in RX Magazine, Femme Rouge Magazine and CrossFit.com.
· Nikola Bogojevic (Superior, Wisconsin) – World-class Greco Roman Wrestler who was the National Champion in Greco Roman Wrestling at the Junior Pan-American Games in 2011. Bogojevic also won bronze at the Pan-American Games in Greco Roman Wrestling in 2014 and has extensive experience training at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
· Carolyn Dunning (Las Vegas, Nevada) – Dunning is a former Air Force ROTC member and nationally ranked bodybuilding bikini competitor by The National Physique Committee (NPC).
· Macey Estrella (Parris Island, South Carolina) – Trained with Tom Caiazzo of American Premier Wrestling, Estrella is a former U.S. Marine and member of the Marine Corps SWAT Team.
· Nicola Glencross (Glasgow, Scotland) – Also known as Nikki Storm, Glencross has eight years of experience wrestling on the independent circuit for Japanese Women Pro-Wrestling (JWP), Pro Wrestling Eve, Scottish Wrestling Alliance, Insane Championship Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Elite, Stardom and Shine.
· Terrance Jean-Jacques (Boston, Massachusetts) – Standing 6 feet 3 inches and weighing 265 pounds, Jean-Jacques was an All-American wrestler at the University of Rhode Island in 2015. Prior to that, he accumulated a 32-2 record in wrestling at the University of Iowa.
· Daniella Kamela (Los Angeles, California) – Trained with Rikishi Fatu and David Gangrel Heath at Knokx Pro Entertainment, Kamela was an on-air talent for FOX Sports Arizona, Phoenix Suns dancer and Arizona Cardinals cheerleader.
· Michael Nicholls (Perth, Australia) – Also known as Mickey, Nicholls has 10 years of experience wrestling on the independent circuit for multiple organizations, including Pro Wrestling NOAH, where he was two-time Heavyweight Tag Team Champion with Shane Veryzer, New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) and Explosive Pro Wrestling.
· Shane Veryzer (Perth, Australia) – Also known as Shane Haste, Veryzer has 11 years of experience wrestling on the independent circuit for multiple organizations, including Pro Wrestling NOAH, where he was two-time Heavyweight Tag Team Champion with Michael Nicholls, and Explosive Pro Wrestling.
The new class will join a group of 69 men and women training out of the state-of-the-art, 26,000 square-foot WWE Performance Center. With seven training rings, a world-class strength and conditioning program and cutting-edge edit and production facilities, the Performance Center will allow the new class to hone their skills through a comprehensive program that includes in-ring training, physical preparedness and character development.
The venue offers a full training experience with real time feedback from WWE coaches, trainers and doctors, giving performers the resources they need to develop their talent both athletically and creatively. Additionally, recruits will be immersed in WWE’s Professional Development program that focuses on four key pillars of development – Life Skills, Education, Wellness and Career Success.
Below you can see a photo of the new class:
Good luck to the latest group of new recruits starting their training at the @WWEPerformCtr! https://t.co/8s4Su5duBA pic.twitter.com/rQrq5GJasf — WWE (@WWE) April 12, 2016
If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more, right now for THREE DAYS free by clicking here! |
Now more than ever, pop culture is about the small stuff — an obscure TV show, a few notes in a pop song, a tweet. To celebrate a year of micro moments, every day a new Grantland writer will highlight one specific thing — a Big Little Thing — that we won’t soon forget.
I had spent the day with my father at the hospital. He was not responsive and did not seem to recognize that I was there; I was actually hoping this was the case, since — if he had been conscious that I was in the room — it would likely mean he was equally aware of everything else that was happening, all of which was terrible.
That night I was back at my brother’s farm, watching Notre Dame play Michigan. My dad loved Notre Dame football, so the game adopted a strange symbolic significance in my mind. I knew he wasn’t watching it. I knew that was impossible. Throughout the first half, I wondered how many casual discussions I’d had with my father about which high school players Notre Dame was in the process of recruiting. It sometimes seemed like the main thing we talked about.
Tommy Rees threw a bad pick late in the second quarter and Michigan took a 27-13 lead. At halftime, I went into the basement to get more beer. When I returned, this was on the television:
Mass media makes a lot of simple things confusing. One of these things is the recognition of age and maturity. Whenever I watch sports on TV, I always feel like I’m watching athletes who are somehow older than I am, even though this is almost never true (even when I watch golf). It infantilizes me. Meanwhile, seeing Eminem generates the opposite sensation: We’re the same age, but it often feels like he’s 15 years younger. When The Slim Shady LP was released in 1999, I was already a full-on taxpayer; his work was brilliant, but also juvenile. It was like Zappa. His worldview seemed like an inaccurate reflection of the generation we both occupied. I knew he was the most technically proficient rapper I’d ever heard (at least in terms of wordplay and verbal dexterity), but I did not relate to him in any context that wasn’t a self-construction. This falls in stark contrast to my relationship with Brent Musburger, a stranger whose intertwinement with my existence is unnaturally deep. The number of raw minutes I’ve listened to Musburger speak aloud undoubtedly dwarfs the amount of time I’ve spent listening to almost anyone I know personally. (I mean, there just aren’t that many non-cult scenarios in which it’s normal to listen to the same person talk for three and a half straight hours on a weekly basis for 30 years.) I have a bizarre ongoing fantasy in which I randomly meet Musburger in a TGI Fridays and we end up watching a MAC game together on the bar television; I imagine Brent expressing enthusiastic opinions about the complimentary pot stickers. So now I’m watching this unnatural cultural collision (contrived by ABC for purposes of marketing), and I instantaneously find myself annoyed by the online reactions that have not yet been written. I know everyone is going to insist this interview is awkward and idiotic and hilarious. But I’m in the mind-set to be moved, so it moves me. I pretend like it doesn’t, but it does.
Here is Eminem, placed in a situation where he knows he will be mocked if he doesn’t make his discomfort obvious. He’s promoting the use of “Berzerk” as weekly bumper music for college football, a song that (not coincidentally, I’m sure) samples a Billy Squier riff so familiar that it seems totally reasonable to hear it on prime-time network television. He knows he’s actively re-branding himself as the classic-rock version of hip-hop, which is both his best commercial option and (almost certainly) an evolution he never imagined or desired. But he’s being cool about it. When Kirk Herbstreit asks what about his new album makes him most excited, he gives two answers that are different versions of the same truth: His first response is, “Nothing.” His second is, “To just be done with it.” This does not seem like sarcasm; I believe it’s how he really feels about this record, and maybe about his whole career. Still, he’s trying to make this work. He’s trying to build a weird bridge to somewhere reasonable. He forces his way through the publicity he knows is his responsibility, he sincerely compliments Brent on his broadcasting career, and he goes out of his way to note the passing of Pat Summerall. Musburger tries even harder: He drops Rick Rubin’s name into the conversation and asks a needlessly specific gambling question that derives (for reasons unknown) from the state of Montana. Who are these anonymous Montana-based degenerates who want to know Eminem’s take on an NFL point spread? And why is Eminem so reluctant to respond to that innocuous query?
I suspect it’s because he actually cares about his answer.
People don’t worry about the idea of a Generation Gap anymore. That notion has been replaced by a Technology Gap. The possibility of parents and children sharing the same cultural interests has increased dramatically over the past 25 years; today, the central bifurcation is how that communal culture is accessed and interpreted and experienced. Yet there are still certain chasms forged by the rudimentary passage of time. Musburger is, by all accounts, a deeply conservative guy (I love whenever he announces Cal home games, because he inevitably says something amusing and reactionary about the student body). It’s hard for me to imagine him listening to a song like “Berzerk” without wondering what the hell happened to the world he helped create. But you know what? He’s still engaged with that world. He still wants to know what Eminem thinks about the Detroit Lions. Sure, you could argue that he’s just doing his job. But there is no condescension in his voice. There is no distaste with the assignment. What we have is an old man saying, “Look — I don’t really understand what you do or why people care. But I don’t need to understand it in order to know it has value.” And what we have in response is a younger man saying, “I realize you have to treat me like a celebrity, because that’s the reason I was pushed into this press box. But I am not your equal. That’s not possible. I will never respect myself as much as I respect you.”
The promotional segment ended and the game returned. Notre Dame mounted a comeback but failed in the fourth. I finished the rest of the beer, took an Ambien, and went to bed around midnight. Ten minutes later, my brother knocked on the door and said the whole family had to go back to the hospital immediately. So that’s what we did. |
With an eye on the growing banking crisis in southern Europe, particularly in Spain, an increasing number of goverments as well as senior represenatives of the European Central Bank are pleading for the European Union's temporary euro backstop fund to be used to provide financial institutions with direct assistance.
Sources familiar with the discussions told the Süddeutsche Zeitung that the parties would like to see the criteria used by the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) to allocate aid be relaxed to include financial institutions in the event they represent a greater problem than a country's government finances. So far, this aid has been paid to governments, which in turn provided some forms of assistance to beleagured banks.
Such a move would enable the temporary euro-zone rescue fund, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), to directly transfer money to these banks, bypassing national governments.
Süddeutsche reports that the primary supporter for the calls is the Spanish government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, which is having increasing difficulty raising money on the markets to fill the country's budget shortfall. Relaxing the rules could help ease the burden of the banking crisis his government faces and it would enable Spain's comparably low debt-to-GDP ratio to remain constant. In addition, it would mean that his country wouldn't be forced to implement strict savings and reform measures that are stipulated by the rescue fund in exchange for aid. As some observers have noted, austerity measures appear to be contributing to Spain's slide into recession.
Germany Rejects Bank Support
Some senior representatives of the European Central Bank are also backing the proposal because it would mean that the ECB would no longer be alone in its efforts to stabilize the European banking sector. In recent months, the ECB has lent commercial banks a total of more than 1 trillion in cheap money in an effort to stop a credit crunch last seen after the collapse of the Lehman Brothers investment bank in 2008.
But it would also entail a number of losers -- namely the most important EFSF donor countries, led by Germany, because they would no longer be able to force countries obtaining the aid to push through reforms. In the event of a bank's collapse, the money those countries had lent would also be lost.
In Berlin, German officials have firmly rejected the proposal. "Spain doesn't need an aid program, and if it were to need one, then only under the known conditions," a government source told the newspaper.
Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble, for his part, has said he believes that Spain, Italy and Europe as a whole are headed down the right path in the financial crisis. But the government source speaking to the Süddeutsche pointed out another hitch: A direct payment of EFSF funds to private banks is not permissible under current legal provisions. |
Scott Sinclair, one of City's few Englishmen, rarely even makes Manuel Pellegrini's bench.
With the inevitable disappointment on the horizon ahead of Monday evening's England match, there will no doubt be more dissenting voices toward the Premier League not investing in English talent over the past couple of months.
Specifically, there will be dissatisfaction at Manchester City's transfer policy, given the Blues have brought in one English player in their six signings, while letting four depart -- three of them permanently, with the fourth will most likely leave when his contract ends next summer.
The one that came in retired from international duty in August, too.
- Curtis: Strength in depth crucial for Manchester City's trophy quest
- Mooney: Joe Hart running out of chances at Manchester City
There exists one big chasm between club and country, and no number of enforcements in positive discrimination of English talent is going to change that. The England national team has little interest in which club wins the Premier League title, while the board of directors, chairmen and managers of teams pushing to win the top division have no pressing desire to watch England lift the World Cup.
To that end, Manchester City's Manuel Pellegrini, Txiki Begiristain and Ferran Soriano have nothing but Manchester City's best interests at heart. They're indiscriminate when it comes to the nationality of the players they sign; they simply want the best -- and that there are so few Englishmen in their squad isn't the cause of the national team underperforming, but more a reflection of it managing to just scrape past Norway.
If England's players were some of the best in the world and weren't subject to over-inflated prices, then there would be more of them sought after by the Blues.
Why did the champions opt to bring in Willy Caballero ahead of someone such as Fraser Forster? What prompted the director of football to choose Fernando over a player such as Adam Lallana? The answer isn't going to sound too good to Roy Hodgson -- the foreigners present better value for money.
It's the same reason why Scott Sinclair has barely been near the Blues' first team. His nationality has nothing to do with it, but the fact that he faces competition from much better overseas players for his position is what keeps him unable to even secure a place on the bench.
James Milner has been upset at his lack of central midfield playing time, but it's no surprise he has been deployed wide right or left and given limited games when Yaya Toure and Fernandinho performed so well last season. When Milner did feature in the middle for City, he was hardly impressed.
Pellegrini has no interest in players who aren't up to the job because he needs to compete with the other top sides in the league. The issue that will upset many, though, isn't that there are only a couple of English players in City's team; nobody seemed to care when Kevin Keegan fielded an all foreign team in 2002 because that was a City side that was distinctly average. It contained Lucien Mettomo, Niclas Jensen and Danny Tiatto -- names non-City fans might struggle to remember.
The issue is that City are winning things without players from this country. If the Blues were still rubbish, there'd be little concern.
I can't say for sure because I'm no expert in predicting the future, but I have a pretty good feeling I know which way the country's FA will go when it comes to dealing with the problem. There are essentially two solutions: to invest significantly in grassroots football in order to train future generations to a better level than what the current crop are at, or to force top sides to include more English players. I suspect the latter is where we're headed (aka, the "papering over the cracks" solution).
To force substandard players into the first teams of the top sides will simply reduce their quality. It would mean all of them would have more weak links, not that the weak links would become stronger.
The question shouldn't be, Why are there few English players in the Premier League champions' squad? but rather, How do we create a situation where the English players are keeping the foreign stars out of the Premier League champions' team?
The reality is that Manchester City probably looked at one potential English player this summer. If reports are to be believed, they were reluctant to pursue Ross Barkley because of a combination of their Financial Fair Play restrictions and Everton's valuation. It would have been a huge risk to gamble most, if not all, of the summer budget on one player.
Other than that, England stars were either unavailable or too expensive for a club who could get someone they thought better for cheaper.
We approach the problems of the England team from the wrong angle. It isn't Manchester City's responsibility to worry about England's players. It's the FA's job to implement a system in which the England players can force their way into the champions' squad on merit.
Introducing an "English quota" will probably be one of the worst ideas the governing body could have.
David Mooney is ESPN FC's Manchester City blogger. Twitter: @DavidMooney |
About This Game
How long can you survive in this co-op wave based shooter? Featuring 35 characters with unique stats, over 100 weapons, 30 stat-boosting hats, and 6 unique levels, Zombie Estate 2 is a frantically fun experience to share with friends! Where else could you be a duck wielding a shotgun or a robot with his favorite flame thrower?Featuring both online and local co-op! Play unlimited wave mode to see how many waves you can survive!Purchase weapons in between waves to help tip the odds in your favor. The store has been stocked with new weapons such as the Nuke Gun and Welding Torch. Zombie Estate classics return like the Bubble Launcher and Card Shuffler!Face 13 unique zombie enemies! Randomized wave generation ensures every play-through is fraught with new challenges!Unlock new characters with Zombie Points earned at the end of each round! Want to be a duck? No problem. Sheep? Sure, why not? A sentient piece of broccoli? Why...? But sure!Balance your team's stats to create the optimal zombie-killing strategy. Want to be a beefy tank? A medic? A master of robot minions? Or how about dealing the most damage you can? Augment your character with accessories to boost their stats, customizing the character to your liking. |
This Post was originally written for Global Voices
After almost 2 years of siege, crisis in the Yarmouk Palestinian refugees camp in Syria worsened since ISIS invasion in 1st of April 2015. Both Assad regime and ISIS are rushing to take the camp by force. Around10 miles away from the presidential palace, Assad start bombing by dropping barrels bombs over the head of the people who retreated to their food-empty residences and afraid to take streets full of armed extremists, while according to news being circulated on social media, ISIS is arresting, executing and beheading the camp figures and clashing with other oppositions armed groups.
Many activists blame ISIS invasion to Assad regime’s army loose and pointed out that at a time when it is impossible to enter food and medical aid to the Palestinian refugee camp, ISIS appeared suddenly inside the camp.
The Hammer, Hunger to Death
“To know what it is like in Yarmouk, turn off your electricity, water, heating, eat once a day, live in the dark, live by burning wood.” – Anas, Yarmouk resident.
According to Unrwa, this is the situation of 18,000 Palestinian refugees -Of the 160,000 used to live in the camp- remain trapped in Yarmouk Camp of Damascus with no successful distribution has been completed since 6 December 2014. Though that people took the streets on January 18th to protest the siege imposed by the Assad regime since July 2013, the crisis yet leaving at least 200 people dead from starvation. After a year of posting a video showing the desperate of distributing food in Yarmouk Camp-Syria, yet, the documentary “Siege” emerges from the heart of the camp in 3rd of April. The short film records the daily life in four sketches reflect people’s suffers of food and utilities shortage.
Another video posted in 6th of Feb, 2015 by sami alselwadi shows a Palestinian refugee resident blames his government of leaving the camp to starve to death without taking an action against Assad regime. Then the footage move to a what believe a truck full of bread been distributed to people by throwing the packages to the air for a lucky catcher. In his words, the man blame Abbas, the Palestinian president:
All this is hunger, Abbas. You are in Ramalla, and you don’t know what your Palestinian people is suffering here. Thousands of people are in hunger here. Where are you from this? Shame on you.
The anvil, Extremism to Death
As on 1st of April, reports on social media confirmed that Islamic State has entered the besieged camp and controls 90% of the area. Netizens roam the news flood of this dramatic development where Twitter users reported that ISIS entered the camp after ALNusra front, affiliate of ALQaeda in Levant, eases their sneaking from Hajar Aswad, neighboring town.
A yr after the world’s inaction for these thousands starving in besieged Yarmouk, Isis has entered the camp. #Syria pic.twitter.com/tUWFAww4HF — The Syria Campaign (@TheSyriaCmpgn) April 1, 2015
Tom Finn and Linah Alsaafin explain the sudden appearance of ISIS and how they approach the camp from neighbor town.
While Talal Alyan shares a photo from inside the camp.
Photo a friend in #yarmouk sent of Akhnaf fighters, who have been repelling ISIS offensive all day #syria #palestine pic.twitter.com/4XgwrVjsI7 — Talal Alyan (@talalalyan) April 1, 2015
A map of the parties who control the camp was shared by Rami Allolah to his 16K followers showing the fragmented area controlled between ISIS, Palestinians armed groups, FSA (Free Syrian Army), Assad army and ALNusrah.
Activists didn’t wait for long to report ISIS horrifying and killing news which start to spill into the news stream as Raqqa_SI confirmed to his +21K followers.
#ISIS beheaded alot of young people in #YarmoukCamp and Coordinating of #Yarmouk city didn’t publish the photos because they are so terrible — الرقة تذبح بصمت (@Raqqa_Sl) April 4, 2015 |
Thousands of low-wage employees in approximately 190 cities walked off the job Thursday in what organizers are calling the largest fast food worker strike to date.
Demanding $15-an-hour pay and the right to unionize without retaliation, fast food workers across the country hit the streets for the eighth time since the movement began two years ago with about a couple hundred employees in New York City. The campaign has since gone global, with one strike in May accompanied by solidarity rallies in 32 other countries. During the last nationwide fast food workers’ strike, on September 4, nearly 500 striking protesters were arrested in civil disobedience actions, such as blocking traffic.
RELATED: Red states consider minimum wage hike
No one participating in Thursday’s protest had been arrested as of the afternoon, and there were no reported international rallies. But what made the strike unique was that for the first time employees from discount and convenience stores, as well as workers from 10 of the nation’s busiest airports joined forces with fast food employees in their call for higher wages and better working conditions. Home health care workers, who first participated in September’s strike, turned out in larger numbers this time around too, and some employees of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which recently saw its own series of strikes, also joined in.
“Now, it’s not just about fast food workers,” said Kendall Fells, organizing director for Fast Food Forward, in an interview with msnbc. “Just about every low-wage service sector industry is getting involved, which is pretty much the heart of the American economy.”
Their efforts are starting to show some results. In Seattle and San Francisco, lawmakers have passed measures raising wages to $15 an hour over the next couple of years. The growing campaign has also gained support from powerful allies, including the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. But many workers in low-wage service sector industries still live in poverty.
“I can’t make it on this type of income,” Shantel Walker, 32, told msnbc. She’s worked on and off at Papa John’s Pizza in Brooklyn since 1999, but earns just $8.50 an hour – $.50 above the state’s minimum wage. Though she struggles to see 30 hours of work per week, Walker took off Thursday to participate in the strike. She said she wasn’t afraid of being fired or punished. “The punishment is making this type of money,” Walker said.
From Miami to Milwaukee; New York City to Los Angeles, protests began in the early hours of Dec. 4, the date workers unanimously agreed upon during a November conference call for their latest and largest strike. One of the protests’ main targets this time was McDonald’s, which according to PayScale, pays its employees an average wage of $9.15 an hour.
McDonald’s has said in a statement to Al Jazeera that the labor actions weren’t “strikes” at all, but rather “organized rallies for which demonstrators are transported to various locations, and are often paid for their participation.” Organizers vehemently deny the accusation that strikers are paid, except for some who can’t afford to take the day off; they’re paid less than a day’s wages from SEIU’s strike fund, the Washington Post reported.
“McDonald’s has spent the last two years trying to divert attention from the fact that their workers live in poverty,” Fells said. “Bottom line is, workers are not being paid to be on strike.”
Thursday’s protest in New York City was colored with outrage that flared up a day earlier after a grand jury decided not to indict NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo in the death of Staten Island resident, Eric Garner. The decision came just one week after a different grand jury reached the same conclusion in the case of Darren Wilson, a police officer who shot and killed Ferguson teenager Mike Brown. Both Garner and Brown were unarmed black men killed by white police officers.
RELATED: Court releases limited details on Eric Garner grand jury process
After taking over a Burger King in Brooklyn, New York City protesters briefly disrupted an otherwise normal day at a McDonald’s in downtown Manhattan, cheering along with a marching band. Mixed in with “15 and a union” chants were the rallying cries, “Hands up, don’t shoot,” and “I can’t breathe,” both inspired by the deaths of Brown and Garner.
Many low-wage workers saw a connection between their protest Thursday and the ones that have covered the streets of Ferguson and Staten Island in the past week. As Fells put it, they’re all “fights against injustice in the U.S.”
“As fast food workers, we feel really upset about the [Eric Garner] decision,” Walker said outside the McDonald’s on Chambers Street. “This is our way of showing the world how we feel at this time. We want to fight the powers that be so we can be.” |
Story highlights Jews have been living in Iran for more than 2,500 years
1,500 Jews call Esfahan home despite tensions between Iran and Israel
Community leader: "Israel and Iran are countries, and we consider ourselves Iranian Jews"
Esfahan, Iran (CNN) If you're looking for the Jewish community in the Iranian town of Esfahan, you won't have to search for long.
The main synagogue is on Palestine Square, right in the heart of Iran's third largest city. There are public prayers several times a day -- sometimes with more than a hundred people in attendance.
The Jewish community in Iran does not hide its heritage. At the synagogue, Michael Malakon leads the prayer service. He says he is proud of his Jewish identity. And even in a country that is so hostile towards Israel, Malakon says he can practice freely and that he has many Muslim friends.
"I hang around with all kinds of young people and I have a lot of Muslim friends," Malakon tells CNN after finishing the noon prayer on a Monday. About 20 people were in attendance, usually from local businesses around the synagogue. None of them tried to hide the fact that they were Jewish -- and inside the synagogue the Star of David is proudly displayed in many places, alongside passages from the Torah.
JUST WATCHED What is it like inside Iran? Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH What is it like inside Iran? 01:21
Long history
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264 days since Hillary's last formal press conference. https://t.co/02wL2vYEGl — David Martosko (@dmartosko) August 25, 2016
Hillary Clinton delivered a pander-tastic speech in Reno, Nevada today in which she attempted to paint Donald Trump as racist, sexist and the person who started the “birther” movement.
After the speech, Clinton was eager to take questions from reporters. Well, maybe not so much:
Press corps tried to ask @HillaryClinton questions re foundation etc. She encouraged us to try the chocolates. pic.twitter.com/macVZm7C1C — Tamara Keith (@tamarakeithNPR) August 25, 2016
Reporters ask Clinton if she'll take some questions. Clinton, in response, tells reporters to try some chocolate pic.twitter.com/O5Syu1b7XQ — Liz Kreutz (@ABCLiz) August 25, 2016
(We tried to ask questions, but Clinton's only response was to suggest we try the chocolate) https://t.co/tnHgeZuTaD — Gabriel Debenedetti (@gdebenedetti) August 25, 2016
Looks like the @HillaryClinton no questions from the media streak will continue. But she did eat chocolate. pic.twitter.com/Rr89bHe3kp — Seth A. Richardson (@SethARichardson) August 25, 2016
The Clinton campaign better load up on the chocolates because there are 74 days to go until the election. |
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Title: Styx Master of Shadows
Genre: Stealth/Adventure
Developer: Cyanide Studios
Publisher: Focus Home Interactive
Release Date: Oct 7th, 2014
Platform(s): PS4, Xbox One, and PC Steam
Reviewed On: PC – Steam (Pre-release Reviewer Copy)
I don’t often play pure stealth based games, but Styx looked interesting to me. You play as Styx, a goblin who is a master assassin. Styx has his eye on the Heart of the World-Tree which is the source of Amber. Amber is a powerful, magical golden sap that humans don’t seem to fully understand, so they have put the tree on lock down and built a magnificent city around it. Styx seems to be the last of his kind and when spotted he sticks out like a sore thumb. But that’s the trick — don’t get spotted. Styx is indeed the master of shadows and his goal is to move around silently while trying to figure out how to get his hands on the Tree Heart.
The game takes place in the Tower of Akenash and there is almost always someone guarding something. The beauty of Styx is that there is no right or wrong way to get from point A to point B. There are many different ways and through infuriating, yet fun, trial and error you will find oftentimes the best route isn’t always the one directly in front of you. The map is large and has many options for each mission. I found at times the most logical route is often the best route. Shadows and silence are your friends just like in any other stealth game, but Styx strives to set itself apart from these games with an array of powers.
As you play you will begin to unlock certain powers and start to harness them. One of the first of Styx’s abilities you learn about is his ability to create a clone of himself. The clone is more of a striped down version of Styx, he can’t do much to start the game but he can fit in tighter places and open doors, and more importantly — scout ahead and create distractions so Styx can continue unnoticed. Later in the game he can help take out some of the guards so Styx can keep moving through map unnoticed. Amber vision is another skill that seems normal to this kind of play where it allows you see certain things better, such as enemies, places to hide, alternate routes, and dark objects that may have not been clear at first. Probably one of the most useful abilities is to turn Styx invisible. Styx can only do this for a short time, and it isn’t foolproof, but it does certainly help in sticky situations where guards always seem to be right where you need them not to be.
Speaking of guards, this master of shadows assassin doesn’t seem to be all that great at assassinating. He can preform stealth kills and quick kills on unsuspecting people in the castle, but if they see you, forget about it. Combat in this game is frustrating and hopefully gets tweaked by final release. If you are spotted and the enemy is close enough, you will lock onto the enemy. Then you will be forced to parry away his attacks a certain number of times (it seems to depend on the type of foe) before you can then kill the enemy. The problem here is while the game tells you what button to press for a parry, it doesn’t tell you when to parry; you just have to time it correctly. This can be easy to do, but it is also easy to miss. These sequences can take quite a while and when it comes to being stealthy, precious seconds tick away while other guards and people are notified of the fight. There is not quick kill at this point, you’re forced to follow through with parry, parry, parry, kill. The kill shot takes about two seconds which leaves you very vulnerable. If someone else was in the room while the combat phase is activated, those two seconds left to kill your first foe usually mean your death, as opponents are able to strike you while you’re in the killing animation. If you’re spotted in a room of more than two people and you lock onto the first foe, you may as well set the controller down because you’re dead no matter what.
It seems odd to me that an assassin would be so slow to kill and leave himself so vulnerable. I think this is to place heavier emphasis on the importance of stealth in the game, but for me it made combat feel unavoidable and made some of the parts of the gameplay more of a grind than fun. Another issue I’ve found with the combat is that the same button to parry is the same button to pick up a body. If you do get yourself into trouble and you kill the first enemy, sometimes when you’re locking onto the second, instead of parrying the strike, you pick up a dead body to hide it. This of course will leave you open and you will be killed fairly easily as Styx doesn’t take many hits, which is totally understandable. And should you ever get spotted by an archer at close range? You can’t even swing on these guys so you have to rely solely on evasiveness to get away. This can be managed, but it is horribly frustrating to not even be allowed to swing a weapon at an enemy standing next to you.
These are all tactics that really push the infiltration, stealthy style. I understand this, but I feel like while playing on the normal difficulty, as most gamers would, they should be offered something that has a little more flexibility and won’t punish you so harshly for slipping up. Goblin Mode is for that hardcore stealth gamer — once you’re spotted and within range, you won’t have the opportunity to parry attacks to avoid being killed.
Despite all of this the guard AI seemed very solid in this game. All the guards seemed to have their route they would pace out. And at certain points in their patrol they stop and rest or look out on something. The guards can spot you and they have levels of alertness. They could be mildly alerted such as they heard a noise or maybe thought they saw something (they did), then there would be something more alert like they definitely heard a loud crash or were more certain they saw something or are coming down from being on the hunt for Styx. Finally, you have the full-fledged, they saw you, and they are coming for you! All of this is indicated by a circle above the guard’s head that would be red, an orange-y shade, and then yellow. Guards with weapons drawn would be more alert and harder to sneak passed as well. The guard AI and their detection was done very well in this game.
The auto-save feature seemed unreliable and not an accurate representation of the progress you’ve made. Usually auto-saves find little check points throughout the mission that it would put you back to if you meet an unfortunate demise. In Styx however, this doesn’t seem to be the case. I hope in the final version this is addressed as well. Sometimes I would make it through the first or second part of the map and experience a cutscene, but if I died I would be forced all the way back to the beginning. It wasn’t until later I found out on my own that the regular save function will do a quick save and bring you back to the exact moment you saved. Once I learned about this I was pretty happy with it, but I feel like the auto-save should be better utilized. Maybe it isn’t because of the variance in ways you can get from point A to point B. But at times the auto-save would put me right in the middle of a situation where I got myself killed. For example, I was in a room with three men and I had knocked something over, the auto-save picked the moment right after I made myself known and somehow had to get out of that predicament with a guard right next to me. It was doable, but it felt impossible and shouldn’t have happened like that.
The Verdict:
Through all of this, I didn’t want to give Styx a bad score, because at the core I was having fun. While parts of the game were extremely frustrating and seemed like they were not as well thought out as they should be, the stealth and powers that Styx possesses made the game fun. Styx has lost his memory and so you learn about things as he learns about them and it makes for a great way to tell the story. Styx is a fun stealth game with multiple routes and options, but sometimes can be very linear. The combat system is atrocious in my opinion and the auto-save is poorly executed. You’re better off taking a moment to save every time you’ve made progress than relying on auto-save. The visuals are great, but at times the cut scenes seem lazy. I feel like this is a try before you buy type of game and may only really be targeted at those of you who really love stealth type games, while the players who don’t care for that style will be left in the lurch. Styx pulls you in with a cool story and cool abilities but leaves you wanting better gameplay. I must say though there is something in me that strives to play more and do better, but there are too many fundamental flaws in my opinion.
6/10 |
Date 02 Nov 2017 Tags Tokyo 2020 , Olympic News
Australia’s Mr Baseball has set his sights on more Olympic glory
Jon Deeble is known as Mr Baseball in Australia. A player, coach, scout and manager through his 30-plus years in the sport, the nickname is not a surprising one. As the pitcher in Australia’s first ever win at an Olympic Games and head coach of the national team that won a historic silver at the Athens 2004 Games, he could quite conceivably have a middle name of ‘Olympic’. Deeble is perfectly-placed to pass judgement on the sport’s return to the Olympic programme in Tokyo in 2020.
“The Olympics are a pinnacle of the sport,” Deeble said. “You talk to the guys who played in 2004, the ones in the major leagues, and they will tell you the biggest thrill was the Olympics. Make no mistake about that. That holds up for the American guys who won in 2000 (Sydney Olympic Games), if you talk to them the Olympics is right up there with being in the major leagues.”
You talk to the guys who played in 2004, the ones in the major leagues, and they will tell you the biggest thrill was the Olympics Jon Deeble
There is no doubt that extraordinary, Hollywood-style tales such as Australia’s march to the final in 2004 help make baseball such a natural fit with the Olympic ideals.
A team of amateurs – featuring among others, a personal trainer who plied his trade by day on Sydney’s Bondi Beach and a shower accessories salesman – stood up to the mighty and very nearly conquered them all.
“We lost the first two games and thought here we go, Sydney (2000 Games at which Australia finished second to last) again,” the head coach said. “But to the players’ credit, we rattled off six wins in a row, beat Japan twice in three days”.
Getty Images
While Deeble modestly puts it down to talent, belief and the work of renowned Australian sports psychologist Phil Jauncey, the players have always loudly praised the monumental efforts of their head coach. Not only did Deeble, and his staff, change the mind-set of the team, allowing them to beat the Japanese squad, but they also provided a remarkable advance scouting network, despite a severe lack of resources.
It is this sense of purpose and pride that makes international baseball so attractive. Deeble lists the little-known baseball hubs of Western Europe and Latin America as the places most likely to provide Australia’s main rivals in the race to snatch one of the five qualifying spots for the Tokyo 2020 Games.
“If you look at the last WBC (World Baseball Classic) the Japanese spent millions on their preparation as did Taiwan and Korea. We had AUS$40,000 to spend,” Deeble said. “We were still able to compete with them.”
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The current Australia team is a wonderful throwback to past eras of sport. More than half the team still work for a living yet they stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Major League Baseball (MLB) players on multi-million dollar contracts, such as Warwick Saupold (Detroit Tigers), Peter Moylan (Kansas City Royals) and Liam Hendriks (Oakland A’s).
The talent coming through the Australian system, a system led by the indefatigable Deeble, continues to be enviable.
“We have got 100 kids in college (on baseball scholarships), 40-50 kids in the minor leagues and four in the major leagues,” Deeble said. “We’ve got some really good arms coming through.”
As well as being Australia’s head coach, the 55-year-old also runs the MLB Australian Academies. Despite both of these roles being effectively voluntary, the workload is “nearly full-time”.
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“You are always doing something, trying to find places for people to play, trying to work with different countries, organising the academy kids, talking to and tracking the players, advance scouting, all that sort of stuff,” said the man whose actual day job is as a Pacific Rim scout for MLB side, the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Somehow he is fitting it all in, and his magic is rubbing off. Australia finished second at the last U23 World Championships and were fifth in the 2017 U18 version.
“The drive is to see Australian kids playing baseball and for us to get as high up the ladder as we possibly can,” Deeble said. “The pinnacle is to see our young players sign professional contracts to get in the major leagues. There is nothing better.”
Naturally, and of course quite rightly, Deeble credits the enormous amount of work fellow coaches and managers have put in to achieving such outcomes, but it is hard not to wonder where Australian baseball would be without him.
Son to a father who was a once-in-a-generation player and to a mother who represented Australia at netball, softball and baseball, Deeble was born with a ball and mitt in hand. A left-handed pitcher, he threw his nation to its first ever Olympic victory, against Canada at the Seoul 1988 Games. Subsequently, he spent 16 years as a scout for the Boston Red Sox and was responsible for bringing such luminaries as Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideki Okajima into the big leagues.
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You would be foolish to bet against him leading another unfancied team to the Olympic podium in three years’ time. After all, this is a man who is still affectionately dubbed “enemy number one” by the Japanese baseball community for masterminding those outrageous victories against them 13 years ago.
“Baseball is in as good a shape as it’s ever been in Australia,” Deeble said. “We haven’t beaten Japan since ’04, but you never know.” |
Colourful characters invade Adelaide to celebrate International Cosplay Day
Updated
Around 300 superheroes, anime stars, video game villains and costumed characters will invade Adelaide’s Elder Park this Saturday to celebrate the global craze of cosplay.
The term cosplay, or costume play, is believed to have originated in mid-1980s Japan, when reporter Nobuyuki Takahashi wrote about a group of extravagantly dressed fans at the 1984 World Science Fiction Convention.
As opposed to simply wearing a costume, cosplayers adopt the personality of their character.
The origins of costume play can be dated back to the first World Science Convention at New York in 1939 when sci-fi fan and collector Forrest J Ackerman dressed in a futuristic costume.
Current adaptations gained popularity through social media and similar conventions in the past two decades.
Dressing up for cosplay
Cosplayers go to great lengths to imitate their favourite character with wigs, make-up, contact lenses and body paint frequently used to complement outfits.
The sale of cosplay items and costumes is now a multi-billion dollar industry throughout Asia and the US.
Cosplayers either purchase pre-made costumes or hand-craft their own, though to some cosplayers the only true form is the homemade costume.
“Sometimes people can be a little bit elitist, especially if they have made their costumes,” Caroline Short, a cosplayer and the event organiser said.
“I, personally, don’t see that there is a difference.”
Ms Short, 16, decided to create a Facebook event to celebrate the international day.
She has been overwhelmed by the local response.
“When I made the event...I posted it to a couple of cosplay groups that I was a part of I thought a maximum number of people of about 30 [would be attending], so having over 250 people is a huge surprise.”
The attraction of cosplay
Ms Short said a wide range of people are attracted to cosplay, particularly those who might be introverted and see the hobby as a great way to lose their inhibitions by creating their own persona or hero.
“It has helped me get a lot more friends and made me more confident," she said.
Teenagers are not the only ones attracted to the culture, with participants' ages extending to their 30s and beyond.
International Cosplay Day Adelaide will be held at Elder Park, King William Road, from midday August 30.
Topics: popular-culture, roleplay, grown-ups, adelaide-5000
First posted |
Last week, we ran the OHL poll, today, it’s the Western League’s turn. We went to all 22 WHL teams and asked 16 questions ranging from best bet to win the scoring title to MasterCard Memorial Cup favourite.
Not surprisingly, Nolan Patrick leads the way, topping three categories. But after him, there’s not much consensus.
Here is your 2016–17 pre-season WHL coaches poll:
Who will win the WHL scoring title? Votes Adam Brooks (REG) 10 Nolan Patrick (BDN) 6 Soy (VIC), Barzal (SEA), Steel (REG), Gabriel (PG), Wong (LET), Yamamoto (SPO) 1
Who has the best hands? Votes Mathew Barzal (SEA) 10 Matthew Phillips (VIC) 3 Sam Steel (REG) 2 Burke (LET), Patrick (BDN), Popuagev (MJ), Stransky (PA), Bean (CGY), Dube (KEL), Morrison (PG) 1
Who is the most underrated player? Votes Tyler Soy (VIC) 8 Tyler Wong (LET) 2 12 others tied 1
Who is the best pure sniper? Votes Reid Gardiner (PA) 6 Nolan Patrick (BDN) 5 Tyler Soy (VIC) 3 Tyler Wong (LET) 2 Jesse Gabrielle (PG) 2 Hawryluk (BDN), Hannoun (VIC), Walker (VIC), Phillips (VIC) 1
Nolan Patrick of the Brandon Wheat Kings is the early favourite to go No. 1 in the 2017 NHL Draft, and topped three big categories in our poll. (Rob Wallator/CHL Images)
Who will be the WHL’s top NHL Draft prospect? Votes Nolan Patrick (BDN) 22
Who is the best overall player? Votes Nolan Patrick (BDN) 12 Mathew Barzal (SEA) 5 Bean (CGY), Provorov (BDN), Brooks (REG), Steel (REG), Howden (MJ) 1
Who is the best forward? Votes Nolan Patrick (BDN) 11 Mathew Barzal (SEA) 7 Adam Brooks (REG) 2 Wong (LET), Soy (VIC) 1
Who is the top playmaker? Votes Mathew Barzal (SEA) 8 Brayden Burke (LET) 5 Adam Brooks (REG) 5 Dube (KEL), Patrick (BDN), Merkley (KEL), Harkins (PG) 1
Who is the best defenceman? Votes Jake Bean (CGY) 10 Ivan Provorov (BDN) 4 Caleb Jones (POR) 3 Johansen (KEL), Guhle (PA), Bear (SEA), Wotherspoon (TC), Juulsen (EVT) 1
Carter Hart of the Everett Silvertips was the first goalie selected in the 2016 NHL Draft, No. 48 by the Philadelphia Flyers. (Marissa Baecker/Getty)
Who is the best goalie? Votes Connor Ingram (KAM) 14 Carter Hart (EVT) 4 Stuart Skinner (LET) 2 Sawchenko (MJ), Kehler (POR) 1
Who will be the best overage player? Votes Adam Brooks (REG) 9 Tyler Wong (LET) 8 Jack Walker (VIC) 2 Shirley (KAM), Sozanski (MJ), Gardiner (PA) 1
Who is the hardest hitter? Votes Ryan Gagnon (VIC) 4 Joe Gatenby (KAM) 2 Sam Ruopp (PG) 2 14 tied at 1
Noah Juulsen was just returned to the Everett Silvertips from Montreal Canadiens camp. He earned votes for hardest hitter and best defenceman. (Marissa Baecker/Getty Images)
Which team is favoured to win the Ed Chynoweth Cup? Votes Regina 14 Victoria 4 Red Deer, Brandon, Kelowna, Lethbridge 1
Which team will surprise most? Votes Kamloops 6 Swift Current 3 Spokane 3 Tri-City 2 Regina, Kootenay, Victoria, Calgary, Medicine Hat, Vancouver, Portland, Edmonton 1
What is the hardest road arena to play in? Votes Brandon 7 Seattle 5 Everett 3 Prince Albert 2 Kelowna 2 Victoria 2 Calgary 1 |
A GOOFY, selfie-loving Russian soldier might have supplied the best proof yet of Moscow’s direct support of Ukrainian rebels — and potential role in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17.
Alexander Sotkin, 24, has been posting pictures of himself in various combat settings, such as an armoured personnel carrier and military encampments.
And within his Instagram shots, Sotkin appears to have activated a locator map that showed how several images were shot and uploaded inside eastern Ukraine earlier this month.
media_camera Instagram geotagging ... this map from Alexander Sotkin’s Instagram aacount shows where he posted phots while allegedly in Ukraine. Picture: Instagram
His most recent shots, posted on Monday, pinpointed images to the rebel-controlled Ukrainian village of Donetsk, where much of Flight MH17’s wreckage was found.
Earlier this month, Sotkin’s pictures were traced to the Ukrainian village of Krasnyi Derkul.
By July 7, Sotkin began posting photos from back inside Russia, writing, “I still don’t understand what we’re doing here, so we’re continuing to go slightly crazy, listen to #swedishhousemafia and wait for new news from Ukraine!”
Buzzfeed reported a Sunday post below, when Sotkin captioned pictures: “Sitting around, working on a buk, listening to music, basically a good Sunday.”
It’s believed a Russian-made Buk missile system brought down Flight MH17 on July 17, killing all 298 on board. However, the word ‘buk’ is also a Russian slang term for a laptop, which accompanied with the computer emoji means he could have just been working away on his computer.
The Kremlin has steadfastly denied any role in the downing of Flight MH17 or fighting alongside pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Despite his serious work, Sotkin enjoys having fun on the job. One recent picture has him smiling widely just before biting into a watermelon wedge. He also likes to show off his tattoos and make funny faces for the camera.
Sotkin is not the only Russian soldier to give clues as to his country’s involvement in the Ukrainian conflict.
Vadim Grigoriev posted several images on the Russian social media site VK showing Russian artillery positions with the caption, “We Pounded Ukraine all night.”
He later went on Russian TV to explain that his account had been hacked.
Russian lawmakers are considering banning all military personnel from using social media while on active duty.
Originally published as Did soldier’s selfies expose Russia? |
I feel completely lost after an incident that occurred a couple weeks ago, I'm angry at myself; not entirely sure what to think or how to process any of this, and don't feel like I can talk to anyone IRL about it [anymore at least]. I'll try to keep this as short as possible. About a month ago at a party, I got acquainted with a semi-famous, local hockey player and we instantly hit it off; we spent a few short hours getting to know each other and eventually traded numbers. We sexted a lot over the following weeks and discovered we had similar fetishes, myself being submissive and him being adamantly dominant.
We had dinner twice, both at which I wanted to go dutch on the cost in order to avoid any unspoken sexual compensation expectations off the bat (not that, that should ever be the case). I'm submissive in bed, conversely not-so-much on the streets. Over the second dinner we finally discussed our carnal fantasies in person: I told him the idea of having my hands restrained behind my back while being "face fucked" appealed to me and he concurred it would be a good place to start.
After dinner, I walked him to his car to say good night (as I live within walking distance to the diner), the parking lot was otherwise deserted by this time. He opened his back door and pulled out a roll of hockey stick tape, he then leaned over and whispered in my ear: "no time like the present". We had previously discussed our safety word and boundaries had been set as well, so I smiled and complied - turning around so he could tape my wrists together behind my back. He put his cock into my mouth and immediately started thrusting full force; gagging and all, I was admittedly enjoying myself. Things quickly took a turn for the worse when I started feeling nauseous (probably a combination of too much alcohol, and having just had dinner), so in the midst of gagging I kept trying to mumble out the safety word but he didn't stop, I ended up puking all over his genitals before he finished. He was really upset, wiped off, and wanted me to continue but I refused firmly saying I no longer felt safe or comfortable because he wasn't respecting the boundaries we had laid out. He immediately grabbed a sizeable rock off the ground and smashed me on the head a few times (or so I've concluded), I don't know what happened after that point because I passed out cold.
I woke up in the hospital with a hairline break on the left side of my jaw and a complete break in my chin, as well as two broken back teeth. They also found signs of forced rectal entry and tearing (the rape kit was inconclusive, so I assume he used a condom, but I still plan on getting tested). They put two plates in and I'm wired shut for at least the next 8 weeks. I was told a good Samaritan called an ambulance and I was found on the parking lot ground half dressed. I haven't told the police who the culprit is because he's an aspiring athlete, en route to being drafted by the NHL; I did tell my best friend and she said it's my fault for handing him the reins in dominance, that he's used to getting "puck sluts" so I'm probably not the "only one" so I shouldn't ruin his future or clean-cut reputation based on those grounds. He called me once since and offered to pay me for my silence, I refused, but I'm not sure where to take things from here. I originally consented, even though I withdrew, so do I even have substantial ground to do anything about this? If you were me, what would you do? I'm mostly concerned that my friend is right, but for different reasons, I don't want this to happen to anyone else. At the same time, I'm afraid of being ridiculed, victim blamed, slut shamed, etc... Or that people might not believe me because of his renowned stature and my inadequate evidence besides my own testimony and some sexts.
Thanks for reading.
EDIT: First and foremost, I'd like to thank-you all for the advice, well wishes, and general kindness; the majority of messages here have been incredibly supportive and I can't tell you how much it's appreciated, a complete parallel to what I'm experiencing in person. I've read through every message and the gratitude I have is endless, I did not expect this kind of outreach. I wanted to clarify some things, if for no reason other than to explain myself a little better. Firstly, some people think this is a fake story, to which I only have on thing to say: I wish it were. I do not think because he's an athlete he's above the law but there are implications that come along side of having such a high rapport, there's a VERY good chance people will think I'm trying to extort money or fame out of him, or that I'm looking for attention otherwise. I also live in Canada, we admittedly do not have the best law system here, consequences to the law are often not taken seriously and sentencing is often laughable. Take Karla Homolka, for example, her and her husband raped and murdered at least three women [including her own sister], she was unconditionally released after 12 years in prison and allowed to move out of the country, change her name, etc...
What happens if he does end up imprisoned for an insignificant amount of time and after release he comes after me with a vendetta. It's selfish to worry about my own life and I realize that, but when he called me he also threatened my family because I wasn't yielding to his bribery. He hasn't contacted me since, likely because I haven't made any move forwards. My days are spent in isolation and in fear, it's just not as easily said as done. I'd appreciate if you considered the fact that I woke up in the hospital, unable to talk (even now my speaking is indecipherable) - my jaw wired shut and swollen beyond belief, alone, petrified, and trying my best to collect my thoughts. The police did come to my room and asked me questions, the nurse gave me a whiteboard in order to convey what I had to say; I was dazed, and in pain, not wanting to open a can of worms without processing things fully, I wrote that I didn't know who it was and can't remember what happened. I know that would also work against me in court, but I got thinking in my own head about him maybe not being completely guilty? For instance, my memory blanks after seeing him pick up the rock, what if he knocked me unconscious and left me for dead and someone else raped me before the bystander found me. I started crying and the nurse told the police officers that I should be left to rest and that my memory might just be fuzzy due to the head trauma, one of the officers left me a "business card" (for a lack of better word) with a number to contact and told me to call or come into the station when I'm ready. They did not heavily push me (for which, I'm thankful), but I was also on IV morphine, anti-inflammatory drugs, etc... so I was really in no place to give a coherent police report.
So here's where my mind is at: report him and possibly save future girls while preparing myself mentally for the naysayers and getting dragged across coals by the defense but also jeopardizing my safety and that of my family if he isn't prosecuted to the full-extent of the law. Yes, I have evidence in the form of an inconclusive rape kit and my injuries may speak for themselves as far as presenting assault/attempted manslaughter goes, but they don't prove that he was the culprit even if I can place him at the scene of the crime. And as I've said, if he does do jail time, what about when released? What are the consequences then? Am I still responsible for him continuing to do this to other girls then? Where does it end? At this point I'm not even sure why I'm still alive, I don't want to be. |
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